North Dakota State University
NDSU Extension Service

Organizational Management -- Books

The 75 Greatest Management Decisions Ever Made… and Some of the Worst.
Stuart Crainer
1991, 231 Pages
Find out a pithy compendium celebrating pinnacles of decision-making that have shaped management through the ages--and left their indelible impressions on business and society. Each entry describes a feat of management brilliance, extracts the invaluable lessons it contains, and explores its ultimate impact. Readers will learn about the history-making decisions (some of them from highly surprising sources) that gave rise to: the assembly line, the first reliable system of weights and measures, the credit card, the discovery of America, print and television advertising, the Walkman, Microsoft, CNN, the mainframe computer, the PC, the weight-loss industry, market research, mass production, brand management, and more.

The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace: How to Select for, Measure, and Improve Emotional Intelligence in Individuals, Groups and Organizations
Cary Cherniss and Daniel Goleman
2001, 351 Pages
The authors in this book show HR managers, executives, consultants, and psychologists how to move beyond working with the individual and enhance the performance of the entire organization.

Expanding Our Now: The Story of Open Space Technology
Harrison Owen
1997, 139 Pages
In this book, Harrison Owen offers  numerous examples to illustrate the evolution of Open Space Technology and explores what it is, how it developed as a process for meeting management, and how and why it works all over the world, for groups of all sizes dealing with a vast range of issues. Owen shows how OST can move organizations to higher levels of performance, without elaborate training of professional facilitators.

The Employee Handbook for Organizational Change: Facing the Problems, Finding the Opportunities
1994, 40 Page Book
Pritchett and Pound discuss the myths and realities of surviving in the age of instability, overcoming resistance to change, clearing up the myths and becoming a change agent.

The Fifth Discipline
Peter Senge
This book introduces managers to a new source of competitive advantage as well as a marvelously empowering approach to work. These theories help businesses to clarify their goals, to defy the odds, to more clearly understand threats, and to recognize new opportunities.

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
Art Kleiner, Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts
1994, 591-page Book
The Fieldbook shows how to create an organization of learners where memories are brought to life, where collaboration is the lifeblood of every endeavor and where the tough questions are fearlessly asked.

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, The Gallup Organization
1999, 271-page Book
This book is based on in-depth interviews by The Gallup Organization of more than 80,000 managers in over 400 companies - the largest study of its kind ever undertaken. The results show that, despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom.

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive
Patrick Lencioni
2000, 183 pages
In this book, you are being helped to understand the disarming simplicity and power of creating a healthy organization, and it reveals four key disciplines that you can follow to achieve it.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Jim Collins
2001, 260-page book
A five-year study of good-to-great companies found:
* Level 5 Leaders --The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
* The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles) -- To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.
* A Culture of Discipline -- When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results.
* Technology Accelerators -- Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
* The Flywheel and the Doom Loop -- Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

Gung Ho! Turn on the People in Any Organization
Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
1998, 187 Pages
Here is an invaluable management tool that outlines foolproof ways to increase productivity by fostering excellent morale in the workplace. It is a must-read for everyone who wants to stay on top in today's ultra-competitive business world.

Hot Groups: Seeding them, Feeding them, and Using them to Ignite Your Organization
Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt
1999, 299 Pages
Great book - Full of “ah-Has” and insights, as well as implied tips and watch-outs. You may be able to pull a great deal of information out of the book and integrate it into what you do when helping kick-start project teams. Making you drop major thoughts and concepts from the book into the both curriculum of our School for Innovators and the process of Thinking Expeditions. This is a must read for any manager or leader who wants to make some important things happen fast - with his or her eyes wide open to the ramifications of a Hot Group's impact on the rest of the organization.

How to Get Extraordinary Performance from Ordinary People
Rollin Glaser
1987, 18-page Booklet
Extraordinary performance must be designed - consciously designed - by a manager for each subordinate.  That is a difficult, time consuming, analytical, involving process. Extraordinary performance must be calculated, coaxed and encouraged.

Land-Grant Universities and Extension into the 21st Century: Renegotiating or Abandoning a Social Contract
George R. McDowell
2001, 198-page Book
McDowell, a Virginia Tech ag economist, says the original purpose of extension -- bringing applicable solutions from the science and research of the land-grant institution to the people of the home state -- may be in peril as the needs of the public evolve. He suggests specific action steps for maintaining the value and viability of extension's service to the people. McDowell will be the opening keynote speaker at the NDSU Extension Service spring conference March 19, 2002.

The Living Organization
John Nirenberg
1993, 280-page Book
The Living Organization shows managers the next step after teams - creating workplace community.  It is a powerful new way of turning around a disenchanted workforce that has lost faith in management fads.

Management in Extension
James A. Buford, Arthur Bedeian, James Lindner
1995, 357 Pages
This book attempts to balance management theory and application in a manner that both instructors and students will find useful and easy to understand.

Management Insights: Discovering the Truths to Management Success
Ken Carnes, David Cottrel, and Mark C. Layton
2004, 93 Pages
This book is written for today's fast paced business environment. It provides tips and useful ideas, as well as an important look into the anatomy of management as a career and gives us the necessary building blocks for success.

Managing Change Assertively
John E. Jones, Ph.D. and William L. Bearley, Ed.D.
1987, 12-page Booklet
Managing change almost always has been a headache for organizational leaders.  People seem to resist improvements and innovations in technology and procedures - even improvements in the physical environments in which they work.  But organizational change has many benefits, and this book points out ideas and strategies that can help you  make change work for you.

Open Space Technology
Harrison Owen
1997, 173 Pages
Owen outlines all the practical considerations necessary to create Open Space.  He starts with the most important question—should you do Open Space at all—and examines what times of situations are appropriate for OST and what types are not.  He goes on to look at nuts-and-bolts issues such as supplies, logistics, and who should come and how you should go about getting them there.

Out-learning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in a Learning Organization
David Hutchens
1998, 61 Pages
Organizations around the world today are struggling to stay ahead of the pack.  This book is a story of an organization that might resemble yours--complete with bad habits, nagging vulnerabilities, and resignation to the status quo. This book presents a powerful metaphor for understanding issues organizations face when they realize they must have learn how to learn differently.

The Passion Plan at Work: Building a Passion-Driven Organization
Richard Chang
Organizational Management
2001, 273 Pages
"Passion is the single most powerful competitive advantage an organization can claim in building its success," argues veteran leadership consultant Richard Chang in The Passion Plan at Work: Building a Passion-Driven Organization. Stressing that passion is a motivator and a unifier, that it provides direction and focus and attracts both employees and customers, he suggests that when a company has the skill and resources it needs to succeed, passion can put it over the top. With a foreword by FedEx CEO Fred Smith, this sequel to Chang's relationship guide (The Passion Plan) outlines the seven-part plan business leaders need to implement to realize "the capital P" in "Profits."

People: Managing Your Most Important Asset
Collaboration of Authors
1990, 145-page Book

Quality Interviewing
Robert B. Maddux
1988, 66-page Book
This book is for anyone interested in learning job interview techniques, especially those who select others to work with them. No matter which position you hold, you must be able to assess candidates and arrive at the best choice. This book will help you think through the selection process and learn to conduct interviews that will lead to sound decisions based on your pre-determined specifications. Those who master good interviewing skills will greatly improve the quality of their organization.

Real Time Strategic Change: How to Involve an Entire Organization in Fast and Far-Reaching Change
Robert W. Jacobs
1994, 335 Pages
Business consultant Jacobs promotes here a strategy that involves both managers and employees in planning and incorporating change throughout companies on a regular basis. He stresses that "real time strategic change," which "involves an entire organization in fundamental, far-reaching and fast-paced change," unleashes "extraordinary energy and optimism" among employees by focusing their attention on mastering change and achieving business goals, a process Jacobs contends rarely happens in American companies. He argues that democratic procedures allow employees to develop loyalty to organizations "they want to call their own." Jacobs's organizational theories make good sense.

Resistance: Moving Beyond the Barriers to Change
Price Pritchet
1996
34 Page Booklet
The 16 guidelines in this handbook show you how to free up the valuable energy that's being wasted on resistance. Ideas include explain the rationale for change, over-communicate and make sure people have the know-how needed.

Service Edge: 101 Companies that Profit from Customer Care
Ron Zemke and Dick Schaaf
1989, 569-page Book
The authors give you the inside story of how America's 101 top service companies and organizations create, manage and maintain their edge. It is an indispensable guide for anyone charged with improving service quality -- and through it, the bottom line -- in the face of fierce competition, a shrinking labor pool, uncertain financial and regulatory conditions, and the ever-quickening pace of change in the marketplace. Executive strategies and front line tactics alike are explored in detail -- not only who provides outstanding service, but how they do it and why they believe it is so important.

Shadows of the Neanderthal: Illuminating the Beliefs That Limit Our Organization
David Hutchens
1999, 82 Pages
Join David Hutchens’ hilarious journey of discovery and learn how to surface, share, and challenge your own and others’ hidden beliefs and to recognize how they inform—and often misinform—what we do. This book is a must-have resource for any organization on its own quest to break free from the unspoken assumptions that cause conflict and limit progress.

Supervisor's Standard Reference Handbook
W. H. Weiss
1980, 246-page Book
This handbook provides instant access to the tested techniques you need for boosting quality and productivity. 

A Survival Guide to the Stress of Organizational Change
Price Pritchett and Ron Pound
36 Pages (2 Copies)
Talks about the three key drivers of change, coming to grips with reality and the basic mistakes we all make.

Take the Mystery Out of Media
Lorraine B. Kingdon
1994, 137 Pages
Media publicity can polish up the image of every business. If your business’s budget won’t stretch to afford a professional public relations consultant, you need this book. This book explains the rules of the media and the popular notions surrounding the media that persuade businesses.

The Team Handbook
Peter Scholtes
1988, 7 Chapters
The Team Handbook is a practical guide to working in or with project teams. It is packed with step-by-step instructions, illustrations and worksheets, all showing how to implement many quality improvement principles.

T.G.I.M.: Making Your Work Fulfilling and Finding Fulfilling Work
Charles Cameron and Suzanne Elusorr
1986, 208-page Book
Work satisfaction, as much as any other factor in your life, is essential for true happiness. T.G.I.M. can show you not only how to find deeper personal fulfillment from any job you may have, it can lead you toward one of the greatest discoveries you can make: finding the work you were born to do. T.G.I.M. is a practical book that aims to transform your "job" into an "affair of the heart." This book uses dozens of revealing techniques and effective self-exploration exercises.

Who's Driving Your Bus? Codependent Business Behaviors of Workaholics, Perfectionists, Martyrs, Tap Dancers, Caretakers and People-Pleasers
Earnie Larsen, Jeanette Goodstein
1993, 168-page Book
When employees bring dysfunctional habits to work, the possibilities for disaster multiply. This book looks at employees' behaviors and how they can impede an organization's long-term productivity plus shows how they can be addressed appropriately.

Books can be checked out for one month, audio and video tapes for two weeks. Contact the Distribution Center at NDSU.distributioncenter@ndsu.edu or 701 231-7882 to check out Staff Resource Library materials, or stop by Morrill 10 to browse the shelves.