With the volatile nature of today's workplaces, analysis tools are more valuable than ever: this book provides those tools, to capture human expertise before it leaves the organization. The concepts of analysis may be timeless, but recent years have seen massive changes in terms of organizational structures, work systems, and worker requirements, such as remote working and increased employee turnover. This book covers the theory and concepts behind performance improvement, and then turns to the real-world work of performance diagnosis, process improvement, and task documentation, introducing cross-functional task analysis, which recognizes the changing nature of work as more of today's tasks are extensive and require collaboration across jobs. Each chapter can stand alone if organizations need to focus on a particular area, and includes examples that reflect contemporary work, from job descriptions to task inventories and specific task analyses. One of the only texts providing the tools and processes necessary to analyze workplace performance, document human expertise, and develop training materials, this book is intended for managers, executives, students, and any workplace or organization development professional interested in human expertise and how to manage it.

ANALYSIS

Business & Money

Swanson, Richard A.

Chermack, Thomas J.

Management & Leadership

Routledge

Product Description This is the first book to offer detailed guidance on how scenarios can be used to help organizations make their toughest decisions in a world of ever-escalating crisis and opportunity.To reap the full benefits of scenarios, you have to be able to apply them in the real world. This groundbreaking book goes beyond the theoretical to clearly explain different ways scenarios can be used in business decision-making—from strategic planning and financial modeling to crisis response. Connecting scenarios to strategy and action can have many benefits, including the ability to react quickly, anticipate major changes in the environment, and identify major opportunities. Thomas Chermack, a top expert on scenario planning, offers seven specific ways organizations can use scenarios and provides a wide variety of examples, along with proven processes, exercises, and workshops that have been used successfully in organizations across industries and countries for more than fifteen years. About the Author Thomas J. Chermack is professor of organizational learning, performance and change at Colorado State University, where he also directs the Scenario Planning Institute. He is the founder and president of Chermack Scenarios, a scenario-planning consultancy firm. He is the author of foundational books in the field, including Scenario Planning in Organizations and Foundations of Scenario Planning: The Story of Pierre Wack. Dr. Chermack has focused on how organizational leaders use scenarios to manage uncertainty, and he is often quoted in academic research and consults widely on topics related to scenarios.He is also a frequent speaker at planning and futures conferences around the world.

Using Scenarios: Scenario Planning for Improving Organizations

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Scenario planning helps organization leaders, executives and decision-makers envision and develop strategies for multiple possible futures instead of just one. It enables organizations to become resilient and agile, carefully calibrating their responses and adapting quickly to new circumstances in a fast-changing environment. This book is the most comprehensive treatment to date of the scenario planning process. Unlike existing books it offers a thorough discussion of the evolution and theoretical foundations of scenario planning, examining its connections to learning theory, decision-making theory, mental model theory and more. Chermack emphasizes that scenario planning is far more than a simple set of steps to follow, as so many other practice-focused books do—he addresses the subtleties and complexities of planning. And, unique among scenario planning books, he deals not just with developing different scenarios but also with applying scenarios once they have been constructed, and assessing the impact of the scenario project. Using a case study based on a real scenario project Chermack lays out a comprehensive five phase scenario planning system—project preparation, scenario exploration, scenario development, scenario implementation and project assessment. Each chapter describes specific techniques for gathering and analyzing relevant data with a particular emphasis on the use of workshops to encourage dialogue. He offers a scenario project worksheet to help readers structure and manage scenario projects as well as avoid common pitfalls, and a discussion, based in recent neurological findings, of how scenario planning helps people to overcome barriers to creative thinking. “This book is about action and performance. Compelling and thoroughly researched, it offers every business executive a playbook for including uncertainty in the organizational change process and driving competitive advantage”. -- Tim Reynolds, Vice President, Talent and Organization Effectiveness, Whirlpool Corporation

Scenario Planning in Organizations: How to Create, Use, and Assess Scenarios

Theory matters in applied disciplines—fields that apply scholarly research to professional practice, such as management, social work, health care, human resource development, education, and many others. Because these disciplines deal with human beings in the real world, a flawed theory can result in actual harm to people and institutions. When faced with a professional problem, practitioners resort to the latest fad or simply throw everything and anything at it because of the lack of sound theory. Scholars deal with problems by slicing them into small segments to study them but fail to address the practical implications. What’s needed is a way to unite research and practice to create robust theory. This is exactly what Richard Swanson and Thomas Chermack offer here: a complete, five-step method for developing sound, field-tested theory in applied disciplines. Unlike many existing methods, which cover only the initial conceptualization of a theory, the authors offer a complete approach, from conceptualizing a theory to creating relevant assessment criteria, establishing a research agenda to test the theory’s validity, applying the theoretical concepts in the real world, and using that experience to further refine and improve the theory. The method is not restricted to any single discipline, nor is it beholden to any research ideology. Swanson and Chermack provide a set of tools for each phase of the process, making this book accessible and applicable to a wide audience. And in addition to examples in each chapter, they offer two extended case examples of complete theory building. With flawed theories impeding the development of many applied disciplines, this book is desperately needed.

Theory Building in Applied Disciplines (Publication in the Berrett-Koehler Organizational Performance (Paperback))

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chermack, Thomas J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Chermack, Thomas J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Chermack, Thomas J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS

Using Scenarios: Scenario Planning for Improving Organizations

Scenario Planning in Organizations: How to Create, Use, and Assess Scenarios

Theory Building in Applied Disciplines (Publication in the Berrett-Koehler Organizational Performance (Paperback))