The Self and Others: Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political, and Cultural Contexts, editied by Rom Harre (Ed.), Luk Van Lagenhove (Ed.),
Chapter 16 by Dr Lionel Boxer
This volume focuses on relations between the self and other individuals, the self and groups, and the self and context. Leading scholars in the field of positioning theory present the newest developments from this field on human social relations. The discussion is international, multidisciplinary, and multimethod, aiming to achieve a more dynamic and powerful account of human social relations, and to break disciplinary boundaries.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, by Jim Collins
Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come.
Quality is Free, by Philip B. Crosby
The first and only nontechnical method for installing, maintaining, and measuring a comprehensive quality improvement program in your business operation. Special features: Emphasizes throughout that doing things right the first time adds nothing to the cost of a product or service. (What costs, and costs dearly in terms of rework, test, warranty, inspection, and service after service, is doing things wrong). Introduces the proven Make Certain program (the best way known to get management and service personnel participating in the improvement effort). Shows how to recognize and guard against the kinds of problems that can cost your company money, damage its reputation, invite litigation. Proves that quality is a people business, not a ``manufacturing'' function or statistical mystery (note, for example, the chapter on management style to help you improve your personal quality). Illustrated throughout with actual case examples, enabling profit-minded managers to understand and install quality programs in their own operations. Management at all levels: Quality is not only free, it is a supreme source of profit. Quality professionals and company executives: Don't forget that current ``consumer'' and ``environmental'' pressures fall under this quality responsibility. MBA or undergraduate students and company trainees: the basics for specific training programs are included.
The Minto Pyramid Principle, by Barbara Minto
Barbara Minto has written a very solid reference with a clear focus on how to present your ideas in a way, which will allow others to follow your thinking. The book is mainly directed towards those who write about complex issues or prepare important decision papers (MBA's, lawyers, etc.). However, many, many people could improve their writing markedly by picking up on Minto's ideas. The book itself is very focused. There are two main sections: a) how to focus on core issues and b) how to best organise your ideas for others to understand.
Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action, by Rom Harre (Ed.), Luk Van Lagenhove (Ed.)
The word "position" has long been used in the field of social psychology. Now social psychologists are creating new theories on group positioning by studying everyday language and discourse and the application of some of these ideas has revealed the necessity of paying close attention to the local moral order within which both public and private intentional acts are performed. The study of local moral orders as ever-shifting patterns of rights and obligations of speaking and acting has come to be called by a new name - positioning theory - of which Rom Harré is one of the leading exponents. In this book, Rom Harré give a state of the art overview of positioning theory via contributions from some of the world's leading experts in the field.
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