What separates excellent organizations from the truly ordinary? What allows some organizations to rapidly change and continually reinvent themselves while others have trouble making even modest improvements? the fundamental ingredient is the presence of change agents. Change agents are individuals who have the knowledge, skills and tools to help organizations create radical improvement. They achieve results through their keen ability to facilitate groups of people through well-defined processes to develop, organize, and sell new ideas. They are the invisible hands that turn vision into action. The Change Agentes Guide to Radical Improvement is a comprehensive how-to book, packed with all of the information and tools necessary to make any improvement project a rousing success. Its unique methods integrate the best practices in organizational development, team building, voice of the customer, reengineering, problem solving, creativity, innovation, and project management. the systematic change agent model introduced in this book will help you: Pick the right improvement projects to work on, by diagnosing the real issues effecting the organization. Organize the project so that it has the best chance to succeed, by uncovering the projectes success criteria, securing management support, and building the right team. Select the best change process to improve customer satisfaction, reengineer a process, solve a problem or develop a plan. Generate innovative out of the box ideas that dramatically impact the bottom line. Navigate the politics of change; ensuring radical ideas become radical improvements.

There are many techniques and a variety of tools available to improve or change an organization, but how do executives and senior management decide which are right for their organizations? The Executive Guide to Improvement and Change is designed to help managers and executives understand the many different approaches to organizational change and improvement. The book explains that there is not one technique that works best for any organization, but rather that the managers and executives need to develop their own strategies with a blending of different methods. The authors share the tools and techniques that they have used to successfully make changes and improvements in their own organizations, which include examples from manufacturing, healthcare, service, government, telecommunications, education, and more. The Executive Guide to Improvement and Change covers a variety of techniques ranging from auditing to teamwork, Six Sigma to Customer Satisfaction, and more. The book will assist executives and managers lead improvement and change initiatives within the organization and the larger business community, as well as educate those who aspire to senior positions of leadership.

Organizations are being called upon to evolve to "Organizations of Meaning", where purpose informs all facets of the organization, people and teams operate with a strong sense of intent and common will, and breakthrough results are achieved. Organizations of Meaning are highly talented in their ability to bring purpose to daily work. Leaders and managers grow the culture such that people are clear about their own life direction and its fit with the organization. Relationships are mature and people operate with a casual mind-set, taking responsibility and accountability for the success of the organization. Results are achieved not through manipulative or coercive management techniques but as a natural, authentic expression of the commitment, clarity and conviction of the total organization. A new kind of leadership is required to create and lead an Organization of Meaning. Delivering on the promises of breakthrough change initiatives requires more than management techniques. The calling is for leadership that honors and appreciates the uniqueness of each individual in the organization, aligning distinctive spirits toward a collective thrust, while at the same time bringing commitment, tenacity and focus to key result areas. With effective transformational leadership bringing forth the new order, amazing results are possible. Not simply theory, but demonstrated in a growing number of organizations around the world. Transformational Leadership: Creating Organizations of Meaning was written specifically to guide leaders, managers and change agents through an organizational transformation delivering breakthrough results. Authors Stephen Hacker and Tammy Roberts draw on their immense experiences with organizational transformation to write a book that will help guide leaders through these important but trying times. Includes a life plan, a transformational leadership assessment survey, and summary lesson plans on each major model in the book.

Only 39 percent of projects today are successful. Nearly half of the projects that fail do so because of “poor requirements management” (PMI 2014). Leveraging Business Analysis for Project Success, Second Edition explores the role of the business analyst in setting a project up for success. It informs and educates project managers, sponsors, and organization leaders on what is necessary for project success. This book goes beyond requirements management in exploring how business analysis professionals (business analysts, product managers, product owners, and others) can contribute to increased profitability through project selection, scope definition, and postimplementation evaluation. The reader will learn about the history of business analysis, professional organizations and resources to support the profession, and what to expect from the business analysis professional at each phase of the project lifecycle as presented in a case study throughout the book. Project leaders will better be able to support the business analysis needs of the project by understanding the skills, expertise, tasks, resources, and time needed to do business analysis right and maximize the return on investment for each project.

As the face of business continues to change, organizations are looking for new ways to remain competitive and profitable. Many businesses have succumb to the "program du jour" management trap, jumping from one management philosophy to the next looking for the ultimate solution. ISO 9000, Baldrige, Six Sigma...which is the best program for your company? From Quality to Business Excellence: A Systems Approach to Management demonstrates how these and other management philosophies compliment each other and form the basis for a new systems approach to management. By better understanding how these approaches all potentially fit together, managers will be able to use these tools more effectively in a much more integrated approach. From Quality to Business Excellence will show how to integrate a management approach using a variety of methods to bring the most out of your business. COMMENTS FROM OTHER CUSTOMERS Average Customer Rating: (5 of 5 based on 2 reviews) "This is a great book! It does a very effective job of integrating quality concepts into the notion of Business Excellence. The book recommends a systems approach to management systems design and covers a broad range relevant topics. The author backs up his recommendations with a fair amount of actual cases. End notes itemize a broad range of references that can be used to gain more in-depth knowledge about the topics. The book is loaded with figures and tables to make the material understandable. This is good reading for business professionals. If you want to get your line managers hooked on quality get them a copy of this book." A reader from New Hampshire" An excellent book for the new direction of quality implementation. Quality is becoming part of business that is responsible for improving its bottom line results rather than policing its activities. I found the book easy to read and very informative." Ahmed Almaziad – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Benefits: Shift from a narrow, compliance-orientation to Quality Management to a high-impact, continuous improvement orientation that drives business resultsliLearn how to apply the right management tools to your situationliCreate your own high performance management system to last for decadesliUse Information Technology More Effectively to Drive Business ResultsliBuild in the capability to absorb new techniques as they emergeliAvoid gut-wrenching (and costly) restarts to accommodate new methods and standards. Contents: Introduction (Historical Backgrounds and Trends, A Vision for the Future), Quality Systems Background (ISO 9000, Baldrige, Compliance vs. Continuous Improvement), Management Approach, Designing Integrated Management Systems Strategic Planning, Alignment, and Metrics Integrated Process Improvement Approach, The Role of Information Technology Other Enablers and Constraints Putting it All Together Keeping the Process Moving Overall Summary (Integrated Systems Approach, Business Systems Engineering)

This book argues that the vast majority of errors and system failures are the result of ineffective leadership. Most of the shortcomings of leadership stem from the lack of a unified and structured system that incorporates resources, accountability, culture, understanding, and leadership into one synergistic formula that will help drive consistent success. This synergistic system will help lead to consistency throughout the organization - leader to leader and department to department - which will lead to better communication, greater reliability, and ultimately more success. Author Michael Dreikorn introduces the concept of Integrated Performance Leadership (IPL), which combines various academic theories of management, performance, and leadership into one single stream of thought. Dreikorn cites examples from successful organizations, and provides numerous charts and graphs to help emphasize the points made.

Maintaining solid corporate ethics goes beyond just being a ‘feel good’ story or a good public relations angle. Organizations that demonstrate strong ethical commitments can gain a real competitive advantage over others by keeping employees happy and productive and keeping customers satisfied and loyal, while avoiding some of the unexpected pitfalls that may beset a less ethical organization. These factors all lead to a more stable and consistent organization, and will improve the bottom line and drives higher profits. The erosion of business ethics affects everyone, from the employees laid off, stockholders losing investments, to customers paying a higher price or receiving lesser quality. In Bringing Business Ethics to Life: Achieving Corporate Social Responsibility, best selling author Bjørn Andersen has written an easy to read yet powerful book demonstrating the need for solid ethics in every organization. Andersen first explains the importance of creating a strong ethical culture within every organization, demonstrating the positive effects it will have throughout the business. He then shows how business leaders can make this happen, by introducing a holistic value-driven and ethically based model of leadership and management that can bring about dramatic changes for any organization.