The Learning Paradox: Gaining Success and Security in a World of Change, 2nd Edition

Book Description

The most potent catalyst in a firm's success: change
In this insightful book, Jim Harris details the philosophy and specifics of creating companies that respond successfully to change. With practical advice from companies who've made resilience a corporate motto, The Learning Paradox offers insights on how to adapt to the chaotic new world of business, including how to: create, motivate, and continuously improve; create learning organizations; design systems and structures for growth; maximize shareholder value, employee security, and customer loyalty; and attract and retain the best employees. He also addresses such critical managerial issues as maintaining control, while allowing people freedom and building a positive vision of the future, even during a reorganization.

Customer Reviews:

Useful, informative, and enlightening.......2003-08-21

In "The Learning Paradox," Jim Harris weaves together topics including leadership, customer service, value, economy, information, technology, learning organizations, and environment. He shows how the current economy is changing the relationships between customers, organizations, employees, and managers. "The Learning Paradox" is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals adapt to this economy. Harris divides twelve chapters into two parts.

In Part I, Harris examines the paradoxes between the "Old Rules" and the "New Rules". He discusses how security is now based on adaptability, not stability. He writes entire chapters on how leaders can become Problem-Finders and Opportunity Seekers, how to create sustainable enterprises, and how to create value within organizations.

Part II is dedicated to the shifts in thinking required for an organization to thrive in the changing economy. He practices what he preaches in the value-added department: he includes discussion questions with these chapters. Readers can share the chapters with their teams and use these questions to discuss their organization's future.

Harris fills his book with case studies and examples of how some organizations already are shifting gears, taking advantage of technological advances, and adding value for their employees and customers. His research is carefully documented and end-noted so his readers can easily learn more if they like. Harris' writing style is straight-forward and very easy to read. This book has been very useful for me in thinking about our organization's needs and future.

Useful, informative, and enlightening.......2000-03-31

An excellent book on finding the edge you need!.......1999-11-19

The Learning Paradox shares its practical concepts and insightful ideas in many areas that people and organizations need work on! From the page that you are encouraged to rip out before you start to the final words from other leaders and authors, Jim Harris captured my imagination.

At work it is often hard to remember where you are going, let alone how to get there. When I look to enhance the workplace and make myself more valuable, Jim's chapter on Creating Value reminds me about control, teamwork, alignment and continuous learning.

The section called Shifting to the New Realities delves into the information technology impacting us all, from the Web to the Environment. It also serves as an excellent handbook on customer retention and delight. How often we aim for that -- but how hard it is to maintain! Jim manages to use substantial evidence to support his ideas, yet makes it all seem absolutely do-able!

I can't recommend this book and author highly enough! Be sure to also read his technology and Internet information -- it is provocative and exciting.

Book Description

Drawing on archival materials previously unavailable to Western scholars, Husband here presents the first detailed local perspective on political, economic, and social relations during the critical years of the Soviet state. Taking into account local loyalties, family and gender
identifications, and impulses toward self-preservation--in addition to class frictions--this study of the textile industry shows how unskilled workers shaped their expectations and perceptions of the revolutionary process on their experiences in society and in the workplace, not on ideology or
effective political mobilization. Scholars and students of the Soviet Union will find in this lucid analysis a wealth of material that provides a compelling new answer to the much-debated question: To what degree and for what reasons did industrial workers support the Russian Revolution?

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Good book; discusses the positive aspects of the revolution.

The First Industrial Revolution
Deane
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521296099

Book Description

An industrial revolution is the process of economic change by which a country is shifted on to a path of sustained growth in productivity and living standards. It represents the origins of modern industry in today’s developed countries and it is what today’s developing countries are now trying to promote or to bring to a successful conclusion. The book identifies the strategic changes in economic organisation, industrial structure and technological progress associated with the industrial revolution which took place in Britain over the century 1750–1850 and which marked a watershed in world economic development - the beginnings of modern economic growth for today’s developed countries and an example of spontaneous industrialisation for today’s third world countries. The book assesses both starting point and achievement, analyses the substance of economic transformation and evaluates the role of government policy and institutional change in retarding or accelerating economic development. The second edition updates and expands the first by taking into account (and giving bibliographical references for) major new knowledge and ideas appearing within the past 15 years on the industrial revolution. This work has proved a successful textbook for sixth form students as well as undergraduate students in faculties of economics, history, geography or social science generally. It is, however, sufficiently nontechnical to be intelligible to a general reader interested in putting problems of economic development into historical perspective.

Customer Reviews:

Good book; discusses the positive aspects of the revolution........1997-01-12

This book is one of a number of books on the Industrial Revolution by Phyllis Deane. She focuses more on the positive aspects of the revolution, and has many good primary source quotes from famous people who lived during that time. If you don't want to pick it up here, definitely check it out at your local library.
-Jason Fooks

The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 19001938 (Studies in Environment and History)

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The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor, and the Mexican Revolution, 19001938 (Studies in Environment and History)
Myrna I. Santiago
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521863244

Book Description

An exploration of the social and environmental consequences of oil extraction in the tropical rainforest. Using northern Veracruz as a case study, the author argues that oil production generated major historical and environmental transformations in land tenure systems and uses, and social organization. Such changes, furthermore, entailed effects, including the marginalization of indigenes, environmental destruction, and tense labor relations. In the context of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), however, the results of oil development did not go unchallenged. Mexican oil workers responded to their experience by forging a politicized culture and a radical left militancy that turned ‘oil country’ into one of the most significant sites of class conflict in revolutionary Mexico. Ultimately, the book argues, Mexican oil workers deserve their share of credit for the 1938 decree nationalizing the foreign oil industry - heretofore reserved for President Lazaro Cardenas - and thus changing the course of Mexican history.

The Human Resources Revolution: Why Putting People First Matters

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The Human Resources Revolution: Why Putting People First Matters

Manufacturer: Elsevier Science
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0080447139

Book Description

The world of work and organization has become increasingly demanding and turbulent as firms respond to forces of globalization, the introduction of new technology, requirements to increase revenues while decreasing costs, and the needs of a more diverse workforce, while building organizational capability. Most organizations can acquire or copy technology, manufacturing processes, products and business strategies. However human resource management practices and organizational culture are difficult to copy and represent a truly unique competitive advantage.. Managers are coming to believe that the most important organizational resource is human.

This collection presents research evidence and company examples developed over the past decade showing how to create organizations that add value to investors, customers and employees. It first illustrates why and how human resource management practices become a competitive advantage. These practices are also reviewed in an international context, an increasingly important reality as business become more global.
Special attention is devoted to building organizational capability while simultaneously fostering employee well-being, learning and development. In addition, support for the link between human resource management practices and organizational performance is summarized using examples of effective human resource management practices. This collection lays out specific ways in which people can be mobilized to satisfy both organizational and individual needs.

* Cary Cooper is one of THE leaders in the field of organizational psychology
* This collection presents research evidence and company examples developed over the past decade showing how to create organizations that add value to investors, customers and employees
* International in scope

Average customer rating:

Incomplete analysis of an important problem

Shows what can be done, how to do it, and why.

Now it includes the ecology, but where is the justice?

The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the Twenty-First Century (Comstock Book)
Gordon Conway
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Food's Frontier: The Next Green Revolution

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth

State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future (State of the World)

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

ASIN: 0801486106

Book Description

Today more than three quarters of a billion people go hungry in a world where food is plentiful. A distinguished scientist here sets out an agenda for addressing this situation. Initially published in 1997 in the United Kingdom, the book is now available in the first edition produced for the Western hemisphere. In it, the author has updated information to reflect current economic indicators. This volume includes a foreword written for the previous edition by Ismail Serageldin of the World Bank. The original Green Revolution produced new technologies for farmers, creating food abundance. A second transformation of agriculture is now required--specifically, Gordon Conway argues, a "doubly green" revolution that stresses conservation as well as productivity. He calls for researchers and farmers to forge genuine partnerships in an effort to design better plants and animals. He also urges them to develop (or rediscover) alternatives to inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, improve soil and water management, and enhance earning opportunities for the poor, especially women.

Customer Reviews:

Incomplete analysis of an important problem.......2003-05-13

Gordon Conway presents to us a problem: an unacceptably large number in absolute terms suffers from staggering levels of poverty, malnutrition, and hunger. He acknowledges that there is enough food in the world to meet aggregate demand, and he indicates that he is not Malthusian or even Neo-Malthusian. The main problem, and theme of his book, is that certain high-population, low-income areas lack the purchasing power and access to technology and capital necessary to support a "doubly green revolution" to bring the successes of agricultural technology to all peoples. His normative analysis is that the costs of this are acceptable given humanitarian concerns and practicality for industrialized countries that would benefit from trade liberalization and some level or agricultural/economic convergence. He also believes that market forces alone are insufficient to fixing the problems he has outlined, and encourages nation-states and inter-government organizations to pursue policies that include stabilization of legal rights, subsidies for research in technologies to provide food and capital for the poor (especially women and ethnic minorities), and even redistribution of property.

I consider it a possibility that not enough time has gone by since the Green Revolution started showing diminishing returns to make judgments on the immense inequality of distribution. I would like to point out that most of the world lived in poverty for thousands of years, and only within the past century have we been able to make any significant progress at this level and perhaps the inequalities may smooth out over time if trade is liberalized.

Ultimately, Conway presents a well-researched book and some interesting ideas and alternatives to reach these ideas. I think that he could have explored market solutions more deeply and that this significantly weakens his book. His devotion to the poor and willingness to use governments to interefere significantly with trade and agriculture is disheartening. However, the topic is very interesting and the ultimate goal of increasing food production to meet aggregate demand and basic human needs is noble and important to all of us and generations to come.

Shows what can be done, how to do it, and why........2002-03-24

Participation in agricultural production, it has been repeatedly demonstrated, is the only clear guarantee of participation in food consumption.

The author's central theme is that it is possible to raise yields three-fold on most smallholder farms worldwide by practicing sustainable agriculture. As an architect of the original Green Revolution he can acknowledge its failings (and its successes) better than most. The book's title refers to a need to move beyond the original Green Revolution to a new and more environmentally friendly agenda.

The basic goals outlined in the book are:

-Increase crop yields of small-scale farmers threefold per farm.

-Do so at very low cost by making maximum use of indigenous resources: physical, biological, and human -thereby allowing even the very poor to benefit from improved methods.

-Improve the health of families living on small farms by raising nutrition levels.

-Expand access to food, energy, and water.

-Expand access to economic resources.

Disregard the neo-communist rhetoric of the first reviewer and buy this book - easily earns 8 stars on a scale of 1 to 5.

Now it includes the ecology, but where is the justice?.......2001-03-06

The original "Green Revolution" was presented by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations as a way to put off imminent starvation worldwide, buying time while humanity tackled the problem of population increase. While crop yields surely increased in the 1960s-1980s (though much less since then), efforts to limit population growth (outside China) mostly faltered. Worse, many of the chemical-intensive practices of the GR proved to be ecologically unsound. Worse still, the focus on yields and population effectively erased the question of food ACCESS from mainstream debates. While we have had food stocks adequate to feed every human on the planet for many decades, we have lacked the will and mechanisms to insure the poor access to that food. Indeed, millions of formerly self-sufficient smallholder farmers have "become" poor in the GR era because they no longer have access to land, nor access to sufficient cash.

This book rightfully states that future green-revolutionaries will need to pay far more attention to the environment, to ensure ecologically sustainable production in the future; and that agricultural scientists will need to work in genuine partnership with farmers (though previous efforts at so-called "partnerships" by such organizations as the World Bank or International Rice Research Institute have been laughably one-sided and dominated by elites). This is (nowadays, at least) relatively uncontroversial. But until and unless we make large political changes regarding food distribution -- food justice, if you will -- we're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, as far as the poor are concerned.

Customer Reviews:

Trotsky and E.H. Carr.......2007-01-29

If one wants to understand contemporary world politics then one ought to read this book.The Russian Revolution WAS and IS the most important event of the 20th century. Trotsky, the consumate Marxist, explains to us the whole story from the inside ---looking out. I might add that as a companion to Trotsky's works one should read the British historian E.H. Carr's History of the Russian Revolution. Carr was no Marxist but gives us as a view of the revolution from the outside--- looking in.
ET Seattle

A revolutionary retrospective .......2006-06-28

A reader of 'The Revolution Betrayed' will find invaluable insight into the 'intellectual response' of a leading Soviet politician. Trotsky was a very important contributor to the theoretical idiom which frames the 'conceptual creation' of the USSR. He had a part to play in many critical phases of the October Revolution and Civil War, organizing and propagandizing, enforcing harsh discipline and imposing his theoretical brand of Marxism on the Soviet State. His distinguished position in Lenin's party is beyond debate. Reading this text gives the reader a deeper analytical impression into the changes and transformations that occurred in the highest echelons of the Soviet bureaucracy, as Stalin began to accrue power. Indispensable reading for anybody with an interest in Russia history.

Revolutions revisited.......2006-02-01

In my humble opinion, Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed" is the best analysis of not only the Russian revolution, but revolutions in general. I have studied revolutions in the modern world quite extensively, and re-reading this book at this particular time in history was a true eye-opener - again. To be simplistic, revolutions do not provide lasting success when nothing is to be gained. Those who rise against existing power expect to be rewarded, not with poverty, but with a certain degree of wealth and privilege. If there is nothing to be distributed, then what is the use in fighting? Stalin unfortunately stepped in at the right place, at the right time. Not good for the outcome of that revolution, not good for socialism, but good for Stalin's kind of power.

A few years ago I visited Komsomolsk, Stalin's "Youth" city. It was decaying, a pitiful sight to behold. Buildings on ultra-wide neglected avenues in need of repair, high weeds everywhere, crime uncontrolled. Power gone bad?

Stalin and his compulsive bureaucracy were feared all over Europe. Blessed with clear early childhood memories that include the conversation of adults, I vividly remember my grandmother's fear of Stalin discussed with friends and family members. They witnessed the rise of this awful bureaucracy next door, word of the killings and the horrible brutality didn't just dribble out, it flowed out. I want to say that the Stalinist bureaucracy is unique, but all bureaucracies are designed to increase continuously and feed of themselves, and exist everywhere in the world. And people flock to them for employment, protection, security, in great masses, because bureaucracies deliver security. And if people do not fly into bureaucratic arms directly, they deal with them on a daily basis. There is no getting away from that apparatus of suffocation, nowhere.

Bureaucracy does not have to be bad, and Trotsky dwells on the need for leadership from within the workers, the suppressed, creating a bureaucracy that is just and fair. Is that ever possible? I believe that capitalism and bureaucracy are a contradiction, and unless corruption reigns, they cannot coexist. What comes next?

Trotsky's book raises more questions than it answers, but I am sure it was written for that purpose as well as enlightening the scholar of his interpretation of a betrayed revolution. And where do we go from here?

Trotsky: Mass Murderer and Liar.......2005-01-30

You know, I hate to burst the bubble of devoted Trotskyites across the globe, but Trotsky was just as responsible for Stalin's rule as anyone. For Leon to blame Stalin is the height of hypocrisy. Without Lenin's apparatus of social repression and Trotsky's apparatus of military dictatorship, Stalin would never have been.
The Russian Revolution was never a win for workers. It destroyed them, some 4 million at Lenin's hands, 30 million by Stalin, and 65 million by Mao Tse-tung.

No policy or ideology that denies the soul can ever succeed. And communism does just that. By denying that which makes humans humans, it can bring only suffering.

why workers state is stronger than the bureaucracy.......2003-03-25

First published over 60 years ago, this definitely is a book for today. Leon Trotsky, a central leader of Russian revolution and commander of the Red Army offers an insightful analysis of what led to the rise of the Stalinist Bureaucracy in the former Soviet Union.

War weariness, scarcity of the necessities of life, and the retreat of the world revolution created conditions for career seekers, faint hearts, dogmatists and bullies to thrive, and slowly but surely drive the Russian workers and peasants out of politics.

The idea that the fall of the Stalinist regimes in the late 1980's and early 90's would usher in a new prolonged period of prosperity for capitalism has proven to be wishful thinking at best. As Trotsky painstakingly details in the book, the workers states is stronger than the Bureaucracy that sits and feeds upon it.

Book Description

This book presents an optimistic picture of the future of Bangladesh. The author forecasts that given the political will and economic effort Bangladesh can become and industrial society in an integrated world economy by the year 2040.

British factory towns during the first industrial revolution (Warne's modern history monographs)

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British factory towns during the first industrial revolution (Warne's modern history monographs)
Gordon Rimmer
Manufacturer: Warne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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English Quakers and the first industrial revolution: A study of the Quaker community in four industrial counties, Lancashire, York, Warwick, and Gloucester, 1750-1830 (British economic history)

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English Quakers and the first industrial revolution: A study of the Quaker community in four industrial counties, Lancashire, York, Warwick, and Gloucester, 1750-1830 (British economic history)
David H Pratt
Manufacturer: Garland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The First Industrial Revolution
Phyllis Deane
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JIJ2SE

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