Gower Publications - July 1999 newsletter

TrainingZone

Gower Publications – July 1999 newsletter

By TrainingZone

Greetings from Gower. Here are details of our latest releases. A short description of the products featured is given here but full details of the products are available on the Gower website.

We have just launched a new Gower website aimed at trainers. The Gower Training Centre can be found at take a look and let us know what you think.

Titles featured in this edition:

• Organizational Learning Cycle
• Ethics at Work
• The Effective Strategist
• Communication in Management
• How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
• Managing Projects at Work
• Evaluating Training
• Management of Information from Archives
• 10 Teambuilders

Also featured are our Top 10 Training Activities.

You can order by using our Online Order Form on our website http://www.gowerpub.com or by e-mailing us at newsletter@gowerpub.com with your full mailing address and details of the products you want to order. Why not visit our Online Catalogue for details of other Gower products not featured in this newsletter?

• Organizational Learning Cycle
How We Can Learn Collectively Second Edition
By Nancy M Dixon
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566080583

This was the first book to provide the theory that underpins organizational learning. Its sophisticated approach enabled readers to not only understand how, but more importantly why, organizations are able to learn.

This completely revised edition shows how the approach is being put into action, giving many examples from organizations that are making real progress.

With new case material from BP, the US Army, Ernst and Young, and the Bank of Montreal, this book shows how you can make use of the collective reasoning, intelligence and knowledge of the organization and channel it into its ongoing and future development.

• Ethics at Work
By Bob Kelley
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566081504

It's hardly possible to operate in the business world without encountering ethical dilemmas. Yet few companies pause to work out a set of policies and a way to apply them in its day-to-day dealings. In this timely book Bob Kelley identifies some of the underlying questions, explores possible answers and describes recent attempts to control corporate conduct.

Part I discusses ethical behaviour. Part II looks at the issues from the point of view of each of the five Œstakeholders‚ involved - owners, employees, customers, suppliers, and the community. Part III examines some of the methods used to regulate business, indicates some of the practical implications and speculates briefly about the future. The book concludes with a set of useful

This book will be invaluable to every manager seeking guidance in this important and sensitive area.

• The Effective Strategist
Key Skills for All Managers
By John van Maurik
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566080443

Strategy is an elusive concept, too often assumed to be the province of directors and too 'difficult' for many managers. The skills required to think strategically are also difficult to define, and attempts often only increase the confusion. And yet we have all acted strategically - think of when you last planned a holiday, or bought a house, or thought about your career!

This book puts strategic thinking within the reach of all managers, showing you how you can learn to think and act more strategically to increase your business - and personal - effectiveness in numerous ways. The approach is down-to-earth, jargon-free and full of useful examples and tips.

John van Maurik clearly presents the key skills needed, helping you to be a better leader and change agent by applying the techniques to improve business effectiveness. The Effective Strategist covers the breadth of business life - from effective marketing and innovation to handling organizational politics - and will challenge you not only to think strategically but also to apply that thinking with confidence.

• Communication in Management
By Owen Hargie, David Dickson and Dennis Tourish
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566079860

Every serious study of managers at work comes to the same conclusion: what managers do more than anything else is communicate - with suppliers, with customers, with colleagues and, above all, with their own staff. Improve communication and you improve performance.

The authors of this book look in turn at each of the key management tasks, from meetings to negotiation, from writing reports to using the telephone, and they provide practical guidance for increased effectiveness. Other chapters cover non-verbal communication and Œdoing things right and doing the right thing‚. Exercises, checklists and ready-to-use formats support throughout the text.

Comprehensive, and as nearly definitive as such a book can be, Communication in Management is destined to become a classic in its field.

• How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
By Nigel Hill, John Brierley and Rob McDougall
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566081938

Written by three leading practitioners, How to Measure Customer Satisfaction, is a highly practical guide to developing and running an effective customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) programme. It takes readers step-by-step through designing and implementing a CSM survey, highlighting blunders that are commonly made and explaining how to make sure that the measures produced are accurate and credible. It also covers ways of gaining understanding and ownership of the CSM programme. Finally the relationship between customer satisfaction and concepts such as loyalty and delight are explored.

If you are committed to the future of your company the ability to measure what your customers think of you is essential - and so is this book!

• Managing Projects at Work
By Gordon Webster
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566079828

Straightforward and user friendly, this book takes the reader through a series of steps which results in the effective delivery of a project.

By the end of stage one the reader will know how to build a 'Defensible Plan' for successful project implementation. This process draws out in a unique way all the resources and support needed for an effective project delivery. The outcome is a confident project manager who can justify and secure what is needed for the stress-free implementation of the project. Stage two deals with implementing the 'Defensible Plan' under proper control, through motivated and well-led people.

• Evaluating Training
A Resource for Measuring the Results and Impact of Training on People, Departments and Organizations
By Sharon Bartram and Brenda Gibson
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566081962

Training without evaluation is like travelling without a destination. Today's trainers need to demonstrate that what they are doing produces a benefit to the organization that employs them.

This manual provides a variety of tools and techniques for measuring results. Part One introduces the idea of the evaluation audit and shows how to assess current practice and how to plan for the future. Part Two contains 18 instruments for measuring training effectiveness and the impact of training at various levels. The forms in Part Two can be copied for immediate use or adapted to suit the needs of your own organization.

Whether you are new to evaluation or an old hand, you will find much to help you here.

• The Management of Information from Archives
Second Edition
By Michael Cook
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566079933

This authoritative guide takes the reader through the history, definition and function of archives and archival services, international service models, staffing and resource issues. It explains how to set up and run a records management programme, manage the interface with archival management, conduct a records survey, set up retention schedules and organize appraisal, acquisition and disposal in a way which ensures the service meets organizational and individual needs.

Chapters covering the arrangement, coding and description of archival material, and the administration of its physical storage, demonstrate how efficient management facilitates the accessibility of archival information.

The book concludes with chapters on computing and user issues, such as rights of access, Freedom of Information, security and data protection standards.

• 10 Teambuilders
Ready-to-Use Games for Team Development
By Michèle Barca and Kate Cobb
http://www.gowerpub.com/cgi-bin/book98.cgi?cmd=show&isbn=0566079070

The toughest obstacle you face when developing people is often the people themselves - or rather their mindset.

10 Teambuilders is a collection that allows you to challenge your participants to leave their old mental constraints behind them. Each of the games places them in unfamiliar situations and environments: they're astronauts on a mission to Saturn, members of an archaeological team, or part of a bomb-disposal squad. By using this new perspective, they are encouraged to explore one of five key management areas: decision making; problem solving; team working; communication; leadership.

Includes plenty of guidance to help you plan, run and debrief each of the games, together with background notes and original material for handouts.

• Gower's Top 10 Training Activities
The activities referred to in the looseleaf Gower activity manuals are prepared exercises, games, role plays, questionnaires and so forth, all designed for use in training sessions. The activities include detailed instructions for the trainer or manager running the session and provide briefing sheets, handouts and overhead masters, all of which can be photocopied.

The idea behind the activity manuals is to inject professionalism, variety and fun into any training session and save a huge amount of time and effort for anyone preparing to run it.

Activity authors are consultants and trainers who have developed and tested the activities, as they themselves have run training sessions over the years.

1. 40 Activities for Training with NLP

By Roy Johnson