Presents a compelling case for measuring the value-added benefits of information technology; provides methodologies for strategic needs assessment, measurement of value-added benefits, and opportunity planning; 60 case histories of strategic systems show that value-added benefits can be quantified.

The Information Edge

Meyer, N. Dean

Boone, Mary E.

Computers & Technology

NDMA Publishing

Political in-fighting, limited teamwork, lack of customer focus, weak strategic alignment, slow pace of innovation, fragmentation and disintegration, a bureaucratic rather than entrepreneurial culture, pressure for decentralization and outsourcing, poor morale, and too much management time spent resolving internal problems... 
Why do these familiar problems seem so ingrained in organizations? Because they are. Many performance problems are unintentionally designed into the organization's structure. 
Organizational structure is a science, not a matter of personalities, politics, fads, and intuition. There are twelve fundamental building blocks of structure present in any organization. The way these are combined determines the health and performance of the organization. And the mechanisms of teamwork determine whether or not the organizational design actually works. 
Structural Cybernetics is a comprehensive treatment of the issues of organizational design. This brief overview presents the basics of organizational theory, clear definitions of the building blocks of structure, practical principles for designing organization charts, and an approach to high performance teamwork based on a "network" of entrepreneurs.

Structural Cybernetics: An Overview

Computer Science

People want to do a good job. But much too often, the organizational environment they work in gets in their way. At a minimum, this wastes people's talents and energies, and puts impossible loads on executives. At the worst, it induces people to perform poorly, work at cross purposes, fight with one another, and burn out. 
Meanwhile, organizations are facing tough challenges from their competition and a volatile, complex business environment. If everyone in an organization isn't doing everything possible to assure its success, the organization is doomed to mediocrity or even failure. 
This book describes a straightforward approach to building healthy organizations -- ones in which everybody's talents are fully engaged and their independent actions are well orchestrated. 
It is a handbook for executives who are disappointed with quick fixes, jaded about management fads, and fed up with solving the same problems day after day...for leaders who are tired of fighting alligators and ready to drain the swamp.

RoadMap: How To Understand, Diagnose, and Fix Your Organization

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

Computers have transformed the way people do business. Leaders who have harnessed the power of the computer to communicate, coach, convince, and compete have an edge over those who have not. In this ground-breaking book, Mary E. Boone, one of the world's foremost consultants on computers in the workplace, interviews sixteen of North America's most successful and forward-looking top executives. Here, they reveal how their hands-on relationship with computers is dramatically improving their ability to lead effectively and competitively. Among the leaders are: Ron Compton, CEO, Aetna Life &amp; Casualty Co. Debbi Fields, Chairman, Mrs. Field's Cookies, Inc. Sandy Sigoloff, CEO, LJ Hooker Corporation Thomas Stephens, Chairman, CEO, and President, Manville Corporation William Esrey, President and CEO, United Telecom, and Chairman and CEO, US Sprint

Leadership and the Computer

Mary E. Boone

Mary Boone

With promises of tantalizing payoffs and "strategic partnerships," outsourcing vendors have convinced a lot of top executives to replace entire staff groups with their services. Unfortunately, after a series of disappointments, executives find that once an outsourcing decision has been made, there's no turning back. Key staff have been lost, and lawyers have a lock on the relationship. How can corporations leverage the talents and economies of vendors without becoming hostages to people who serve other sharholders? This book cuts trough the hype, analyzes the fundamental trade-offs, and describes an approach called "extended staffing" which makes the right vendor decisions, in context, day after day.

Outsourcing: How to Make Vendors Work for Your Shareholders

Human Resources

The material in this book is supplanted by: Internal Market Economics: practical resource-governance processes based on principles we all believe in by N. Dean Meyer, ASIN: 1892606313.

An Introduction to Activity-based Budgeting: Key Concepts of ABC, ABB, and Cost-Based Rate Setting for Chargebacks

N. Dean Meyer

Note: This book has been obsoleted by: Principle-based Organizational Structure (also by Dean Meyer). An organization chart can make or break people's performance. In fact, organizational structure is one of the most powerful tools of leadership. But because of its complexity, it's all too easy to make mistakes, solving some problems while creating others. And when a new structure is announced, the results are often frustrating. Staff endure the chaos, and then return to their old patterns of work. A few years later, the painful process is repeated. There is a better way.... This book concisely describes the science of organizational structure. With it, you can diagnose the problems with your current organization chart; design an optimal structure; define flexible, dynamic processes of cross-boundary teamwork; and plan an implementation process that's participative and brings about meaningful change. Founded on the fundamentals of human nature and systems science, the Building Blocks Approach is applicable to every industry -- corporate, not-for-profit, or government -- and to any functional area. This is breakthrough thinking, concisely described in an easy-to-read style. It's a "must read" for every executive who's concerned about the performance of his or her organization.

The Building Blocks Approach to Organization Charts

The material in this book is supplanted by: Internal Market Economics: practical resource-governance processes based on principles we all believe in by N. Dean Meyer, ASIN: 1892606313.

The Internal Economy: How to Apply Market Principles within Organizations to Make Sense of Budgeting, Rate-Setting, Project-Approval, and Accounting Processes

Governance. Inspiration. Alignment. Control. Value. Empowerment. Performance. In just 42 pages, this monograph draws together many of the topical issues of leadership into a compelling vision of how organizations should work. It challenges executives to think in new ways: Organizations as networks of entrepreneurs, rather than hierarchies of power. Governance by designing the right influences into the organizational fabric, rather than by bureaucratic, disempowering policies and controls. Leadership by building organizations in which everyone can succeed, rather than by personally making all the big decisions. The vision it presents can be used to guide day-to-day decisions about organizations and business processes toward a consistent long-term goal; or it can provide the foundation for a breakthrough transformation process. You'll wish your vendors worked this way. You'll wish your government worked this way. You'll wish your staff thought this way. You'll wish your bosses believed in it. An understanding of this vision characterizes -- perhaps even defines -- the new-think leader. It's a quick, stimulating read for executives in corporations, not-for-profit institutions, and government.

An Introduction to the Business-Within-a-Business Paradigm: A Vision of How Organizations Should Work

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

Books by NDMA Publishing

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

The Information Edge

Structural Cybernetics: An Overview

RoadMap: How To Understand, Diagnose, and Fix Your Organization

Leadership and the Computer

Leadership and the Computer

Outsourcing: How to Make Vendors Work for Your Shareholders

An Introduction to Activity-based Budgeting: Key Concepts of ABC, ABB, and Cost-Based Rate Setting for Chargebacks

The Building Blocks Approach to Organization Charts

The Internal Economy: How to Apply Market Principles within Organizations to Make Sense of Budgeting, Rate-Setting, Project-Approval, and Accounting Processes

An Introduction to the Business-Within-a-Business Paradigm: A Vision of How Organizations Should Work