Product Description

Learn from experts at the world′s top organizations!

Best Practices in Organization Development and Change is a state–of–the–art resource that presents the most important ideas and effective strategies from experts and top companies in the field. Comprehensive in scope, the book addresses the five most important organization development or human resource development (OD/HRD) topics––organization development and change, leadership development, recruitment and retention, performance management, and coaching and mentoring––and offers a practical framework for design, implementation, and evaluation. It includes best–practice case studies from seventeen leading organizations that have achieved their change objectives.

The case studies will help you:
∗ Analyze the need for the specific OD/HRD initiative
∗ Build a solid business case for OD/HRD
∗ Identify the audience for the initiative
∗ Design an effective OD/HRD initiative
∗ Implement a successful design of the initiative
∗ Evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative

You′ll benefit from expertise at trend–setting companies such as: Kraft Foods ∗ Smithkline Beecham ∗ Westinghouse ∗ Sun Microsystems . . . and many more!

"An extremely important volume with useful contextual perspectives plus vivid and important case studies of companies that know what they′re doing to lead change."
––Warren Bennis, author, On Becoming a Leader and Organizing Genius

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #817913 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 560 pages

Review
"An extremely important volume with useful contextual perspectives plus vivid and important case studies of companies that know what they′re doing to lead change."(Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader and Organizing Genius)

"very useful reference, loaded with first–rate exhibits and tables. Outstanding." (Stern′s Management Review online, 1/02)

"Here in a single volume is about all that is needed to design, implement, and then monitor a program through which to achieve organizational information." (Amazon.com (Top 10 Reviewer), (1/02)

Review
"An extremely important volume with useful contextual perspectives plus vivid and important case studies of companies that know what they′re doing to lead change." (Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader and Organizing Genius )

"very useful reference, loaded with first–rate exhibits and tables. Outstanding." (Stern′s Management Review online, 1/02)

"Here in a single volume is about all that is needed to design, implement, and then monitor a program through which to achieve organizational information." (Amazon.com (Top 10 Reviewer), (1/02)

Sarah M. Plasky, strategic planning manager, The Document Company, Xerox
"...The book documents excellent examples of benchmark tools and processes."

Customer Reviews

Many Interesting Case Histories of Making Improvements
Reading this book reminded me of attending a good conference where lots of company executives provide detailed examples of the issues they faced, and how they went about dealing with those issues. Since such conferences usually cost several hundred dollars, this book is a real bargain -- and you don't have to get on an airplane and fly someplace!

One of the strengths of the book is that you receive several perspectives on the context for each case history. The editors describe what each case means, and the conclusions section summarizes general patterns. Also, each case is presented in the same format which makes it easier to understand what is being shared. I was particularly grateful for the exhibits (which exist in electronic form in the CD enclosed in the book). I also appreciated that the cases were primarily written by Human Resources professionals inside the companies, rather than being a consultant's take on what happened.

Having said all those positive things, let me share some concerns. First, I looked in vain for my favorite examples of outstanding work in recruiting, retention, knowledge encouragement, and executive development. If this book is about "best practices" where were GE, Disney, Motorola, Ritz Carlton, and SAS Institute? Second, many of the cases involved companies that are better known for their poor performance than for excellence. If they are developing their people so well, what happened? Third, a lot of these cases involve new initiatives where the long-term consequences are hard to see. Fourth, the profit impact on the organizations was not well documented. That makes it hard to use these cases as examples to encourage your own company to follow suit. Fifth, as change management processes, most of these cases are far behind the curve of what is described in Peter Senge's various books of case histories such as The Dance of Change. Part of the reason seems to be that a number of these cases aren't very new.

Of the cases in the book, I recommend the ServiceMASTER, Westinghouse, Johnson & Johnson, Allstate, and Case Corporation examples as the most helpful to me. I mention that because there's a lot of material in this book. I read a lot and rapidly, and I found this book hard to tackle. By being more selective in what you go after, you can help avoid some of that problem. Naturally, if your own issues are only in a few areas, just look at those cases.

Develop the full potential of everyone, beginning with yourself!