"Public Private Partnership is a key issue in the construction industry - causing much concern among contractors, funders and facility managers. Demand has been building for a thorough analysis ...

"This edited book will familiarise both researchers and construction professionals working with public private partnerships (PPP) with the issues involved in the planning, implementation and day-to-day management of public private projects. It will show how current risk management methods can help the complex process of managing procurement via such partnerships.

The chapters - most authored by a practitioner/academic partnership - are organised round the concepts of best value and use the findings of a major research project investigating Risk Assessment and Management in Private Finance Initiative Projects. The analysis of this research will be supplemented with contributions by leading international experts from Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, covering hospitals, schools, waste management and housing - to exemplify best practice in PPP-based procurement.

Contents:
1. Introduction: Costs associated with occupational stress: Risk Management of stress: The Structure of the book: 2. The Effects of Stress on Employee-Related Outcomes: Absenteeism, Turnover and Productivity: Work-Related Accidents: 3. Environmental Factors and Occupational Safety: Organisational Accidents: Organisation and Management: Safety Management Practices: Safety Culture: Safety Climate: Leadership: Supervision: Safety Subclimates: 4. Psychological Factors and Occupational Safety: Human Factors: Human Error: Violations: Accident Proneness: Personality Characteristics: Risk Propensity: 5. Job-Stress and Work-Related Accidents: Job Stress and Unsafe Acts: Job Stress and Safety Behavior: Individual Differences: 6. A Risk Management Approach to Occupational Stress: The Concept of Risk Assessment: Risk Assessment Methodologies: Risk Assessment of Occupational Stress: Risk Evaluation: Risk Reduction: Stress Interventions: 7. Assessment of Job Stress: Stress Audit Tools: Case Study - Stress Auditing at Somerset County Council: Stage One: Assessment of Job Stress: 8. Risk Evaluation: Risk Factors: Assessing Safety Risks: Case Study - Managing Stress and Accidents in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry: Stage Two: Risk Evaluation: Risk Control: 9. Risk Reduction: Secondary / Tertiary Stress Prevention: Primary Stress Prevention: Reducing Safety Risks: Stage Three: Risk Reduction: Index

How do you implement mindfulness in the workplace? Today's leaders and organisations need to develop an agile mindset and take bold risks. This Authority Guide shows you how to link mindfulness directly to business challenges and offers practical and accessible tools for change. Written by an expert on leadership, meditation and mindfulness, the book teaches you how to manage your inner landscape of thoughts, emotions and interruptions so that you can create a compassionate, innovative and sustainable working culture.

A hydrocode refers to a computer program used for the study of the dynamic response of materials and structures to impulse (primary blast), impact (involving everything from car and aircraft collisions to impacts of space structures by assorted debris).
The understanding of hydrocodes requires knowledge of numerical methods in the code as well as a keen understanding of the physics of the problem being addressed. This can take many years to learn via codes. There are currently a number of titles addressing the physics of high pressure and high rate material but nothing introducing the novice to the fundamentals of this highly technical and complicated study. This title bridges the gap, bringing together the large body of literature, scattered through diverse journals, government and corporate reports and conference proceedings. As valuable as the text are the cited references and the combination will take years off the preparation time of future code users.
* Introduces complex physics essential for the understanding of hydrocodes
* Infused with over 30 years practical experience in the field
* Brings together a wide range of literature saving valuable research time

Safety is not easy, it is a full time effort, and is equally important whether people are on the job or on personal time. If an organization is serious about mission success, it must take 'risk' seriously as well. Leaders need to be involved in the risk game at every turn, and understand the key elements (discussed throughout this book) that help them to win. Winning the risk game is what safety is all about. As in operational success, risk management requires the best human faculties to achieve victory; talent of organizational players and commitment from top leadership rule the day. The book covers leadership, safety programs, and risk management for organizations and individuals. It helps in professional development, grooming current and future leaders to understand their roles in safety and risk management. Central to the author's message are: Seven truths of safety that the author discovered as a senior safety officer. Four roadblocks to achieving zero mishaps that must be aggressively addressed. Nine elements to risk reduction, with which leaders must become familiar. He establishes the importance of an organizational leader's role in the safety/risk management game and provides the answer to, 'How safe is safe enough?' Often, managers at various levels do not have an understanding of what goes into a safety program, this book tells them, from an expert's view. The readership includes: executives and middle management; all leaders as a professional development book and students. It is also a supplemental textbook for safety and risk management courses.

When the landmark book Collaborative Leadership was first published in 1994, it described the premise, principles, and leadership characteristics of successful collaboration. The book outlined an innovative way of building partnerships to solve the civic problems too big for anyone to solve alone as well as a new type of leadership that brings together diverse stakeholders to solve a community's problems. While that book provides a much-needed framework for working together, The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook offers nonprofit practitioners, community leaders, and public officials a practical, hands-on resource. It presents the tools needed for applying the lessons learned, powerful approaches that get results, and guidance for solving complex community problems. In clear and concise terms, the Fieldbook

• Presents a wide range of tools and concepts that can be readily applied
• Provides a comprehensive guide to collaboration from conception to implementation
• Describes how to establish effective civic leadership development programs to support collaborative efforts
• Contains stories and examples that clearly illustrate the book's concepts and tools
• Helps readers find-quickly and easily-what they need for their specific situations

  
  

Working in a stressful environment not only increases the risk of physical illness or distress, but also increases the likelihood of workplace accidents. While legislation provides some guidelines for risk assessment of physical hazards, there remains limited guidance on the risks of psychosocial hazards, such as occupational stress.
This book takes the risk management approach to stress evaluation in the workplace, offering practical guidelines for the audit, assessment and mitigation of workplace stressors. Based on both research and case-studies, this book provides a comprehensive source of theoretical and practical information for students and practitioners alike.
This book includes chapters on:
*environmental stress factors
* psychological stress factors
*work-related accidents
*job stress evaluation methods
With its up-to-date approach to a fascinating area of study, Managing the Risk of Workplace Stress is key reading for all students of organizational psychology and those responsible for workplace safety.

The Microeconomics of Wellbeing and Sustainability: Recasting the Economic Process explores the civil economy tradition in economic thought. Gaining increasing consensus worldwide, this alternative-not heterodox-view of the economic process and agents explains how modern economics is placing increasing emphasis on the determinants of subjective wellbeing and environmental sustainability. With support from behavioral economics, this book makes a foundational contribution that will help users better understand and prepare for future economic challenges.

This book, originally published in 1975, is an attempt to bridge the gap between economic theory and business practice by relating the tools of economic analysis to the decision making process itself. It is written from a decision making systems analysis viewpoint. This approach enables the reader to perceive the integrative nature of the subject matter in relation to the functioning of the business enterprise. Although the unifying theme of 'decision making' is at the heart of the book, where necessary some of the theoretical underpinnings of traditional neo-classical theory of the firm are covered.

Recent work has demonstrated that incidents, accidents and disasters tend to result from complex socio-technical failures, rather than just 'human error' on the one hand, or simple technical failures on the other. For the reduction of accidents, therefore, it is necessary to deal with systems factors, in which both technical and human-factors elements play an equal and complementary role. However, many of the existing techniques in ergonomics and risk management concentrate on plant/technical issues and downplay human factors and "subjectivity". The present text describes a body of theory and data which addresses this issue squarely, drawing on systems theory and applied psychology, and which stresses the importance of human agency within systems. The central roles of social consensus and reliability, and the nature of verbal reports and 'functional discourse' are explained in some detail.

This book therefore presents a new, 'Qualitative Systems Approach' to safety management, offering both greater safety and economic savings. It presents a series of methodological 'tools' whose reliability and validity have been shown through extensive work in the rail and nuclear industries and which allow organisational and systems failures to be analysed much more effectively in terms of quantity, precision and usefulness.

This is a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in occupational psychology, human factors, ergonomics and HCI, and the sociology of disasters and risk. It is also useful for safety managers and professionals in many safety critical firms and organisations, reliability engineers, risk managers, and human factors specialists.

What algorithms are tractable depends on the speed of the processor. Given the speed of digital computers, polynomial algorithms are considered tractable. But, a human can take several seconds to make one binary comparison between two pens. Given this slow speed, sublinear algorithms are considered tractable for an unaided human and this defines Simon's concept of bounded rationality.Humans make simplifications to solve the intractable consumer optimization problem. Consumers search for goods and services item-by-item, which greatly reduces the number of alternatives to consider. In addition, consumers have operators that can process a set in a single operation. Also, consumers budget by incremental adjustment.In considering consumer performance the question to ask is how close to optimal is consumer performance and not whether consumers optimize as a yes/no question. Given the ordinal nature of utility theory this creates a basic measurement problem. The book presents a review of the literature on consumer performance.This is an opportune time to study consumer procedures because the Internet provides a media to make substantial improvements in consumer performance. The book includes a case study comparing the performance of a digital camera selection code with the advice of sales people. A field experiment demonstrates that the software code provides better advice.

This edited volume looks at whether it is possible to be more transparent about uncertainty in scientific evidence without undermining public understanding and trust. With contributions from leading experts in the field, this book explores the communication of risk and decision-making in an increasingly post-truth world. Drawing on case studies from climate change to genetic testing, the authors argue for better quality evidence synthesis to cut through the noise and highlight the need for more structured public dialogue. For uncertainty in scientific evidence to be communicated effectively, they conclude that trustworthiness is vital: the data and methods underlying statistics must be transparent, valid, and sound, and the numbers need to demonstrate practical utility and add social value to people's lives. Presenting a conceptual framework to help navigate the reader through the key social and scientific challenges of a post-truth era, this book will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and policy makers with an interest in risk analysis and communication.

This book shows business leaders how to develop successful online communities of practice in their organizations by describing the approach for organizing and supporting such communities used by Clarica Life Insurance Company in Canada--widely regarded as one of the best companies for managing knowledge under the direction of Hubert Saint-Onge. Saint-Onge has been recognized by Fortune magazine as a leader in the field of leveraging knowledge capital. He is responsible for integrating progressive knowledge-based strategies within Clarica's overall strategy. Communities of Practice are an integral part of Clarica's Knowledge Capital Initiative to increase intellectual capital through knowledge creation and sharing. Based on the success of a recent project to establish an online community of practice for Clarica's independent agents, this book combines theory and practice to outline a model for successfully developing communities of practice. The authors argue that by acknowledging the value of such communities (e.g., recognition of membership contribution, support for time commitment) and providing them with an infrastructure (e.g., communication platforms, facilitation, information resources), organizations can increase the speed at which communities innovate, extend the reach of the community's knowledge sharing, and provide an opportunity to make the community's knowledge persistent.

Business Excellence and Total Quality Management (TQM) models provide a means of measuring the satisfaction of customers, employees and shareholders simultaneously. A number of such models currently exist, but, the author argues, none of these address all dimensions of TQM.
This book introduces the principles of TQM, and establishes their use in measuring Business Excellence in an organisational environment. It comparatively evaluates various TQM and Business Excellence models, and discusses the complexities of measuring success.
Presenting important, innovative work by one of the most eminent scholars in the field, this book is essential reading for both academics and professionals working in quality management.

Never Underestimate the Power of an Effective Team As today's businesses increasingly structure work around teams, it's more important than ever for students to understand group processes. Through the research summaries and case studies of this text, students will learn valuable theory and develop a rich picture of teams in action. Blending theory and practice in areas such as team design, team social processes, and team effectiveness provides them with a realistic view of how teams function in actual work organizations. The combination of research and case examples also shows students how to help teams become more effective. Because key concepts are specifically presented in and applied to business settings, students can gain a real-world perspective of ways they can influence teams. They'll not only learn the complex issues associated with teams, but they'll not only learn the complex issues associated with teams, but they'll also develop tools to succeed as designers, leaders, and members. Special Features of the Text:
* Numerous examples are included to clearly illustrate important theoretical points.
* Theory and research is summarized in a non-technical style that is applied to situations familiar to students.
* Each unit includes a short scenario that provides students with the perspective of someone who is actually involved with teams in an organizational setting.
* Relationships between group theories and business goals (e.g., increasing profit, providing a motivating work environment) are discussed throughout.

Is Apple conscious?

Could a cyber–human system sense a potential terrorist attack?

Or make diagnosing a rare and little-known disease routine?

Computers are not replacing us: they are enhancing us. Different intelligences are joining together to do things we thought were impossible.

Whether it’s devising innovations to tackle climate change, helping job seekers and employers find one another, or identifying the outbreak of a serious disease, groups of humans and machines are already working together to solve all sorts of problems. And they will do a lot more.

The future will be like another world – a place where we’ll think differently. In many ways, we are already there.

Finance professionals grapple with risk every day--it's the inescapable partner of all financial market participants. As a result, high-stakes financial professionals are continually trying to streamline and perfect their risk management techniques. Financial risk management quantifies and controls risk (loss potential) and helps drive capital to its optimal use (profit seeking). This book is a much-needed guide for financial firms. It describes the latest risk management tools, financial instruments, and practical implementation strategies. And they're presented in a real-world, nonacademic manner. This book presents the latest information onIdentifying risk: the spectrum of risks faced by market participantsMeasuring and quantifying risk: ways to track and value market and credit risksManaging risk: a practical framework for financial risk management implementation

Also includes "The Ten Commandments of Financial Risk Management," how and when to use the latest financial instruments and derivatives, and setting up a trackable risk management initiative.

Risk as we now know it is a wholly new phenomenon, the by-product of our ever more complex and powerful technologies. In business, policy making, and in everyday life, it demands a new way of looking at technological and environmental uncertainty. In this definitive volume, four of the world's leading risk researchers present a fundamental critique of the prevailing approaches to understanding and managing risk - the 'rational actor paradigm'. They show how risk studies must incorporate the competing interests, values, and rationalities of those involved and find a balance of trust and acceptable risk. Their work points to a comprehensive and significant new theory of risk and uncertainty and of the decision making process they require. The implications for social, political, and environmental theory and practice are enormous. Winner of the 2000-2002 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association

Workers' compensation causes headaches throughout all levels of an organization. Injuries affect production, costs, and morale. Managing Workers' Compensation: A Guide to Injury Reduction and Effective Claim Management lays out - in logical order - management and safety procedures that reduce injuries and the aggravation that follows. The authors cover hiring, training, and managing employees with injury avoidance in mind. They provide a blueprint for dealing with injured employees and their families, and for determining the correct time for the employee to return to work.

The book discusses the all-important issues of fraud, modified duty, substance abuse testing and accident investigations. It also provides guidance for managing your organization's safety efforts in a manner that targets workers' compensation cost control as one of its major objectives. In addition to comprehensive coverage of workers' compensation, the book gives you a thorough explanation of additional sources of assistance, including the availability and utility of Internet safety resources, a complete listing of state workers' compensation agencies, and sample checklists that help you evaluate your workplace.

Although workers' compensation laws vary from state-to-state, the principles behind the system and the ability of employers to influence their own premiums remain consistent. By gaining a thorough understanding of these principles and implementing proven cost control strategies, you can realize substantial savings. Managing Workers' Compensation: A Guide to Injury Reduction and Effective Claim Management explains the process by which premiums are calculated and shows how you can impact - favorably - the amount your organization pays in premiums.

This book examines the field of behavioral economics and provides insights into the following questions:The book looks at decision making and behavior from the point of view of (i) individual behavior and choice; (ii) group and interactive choice; and (iii) collective choices and decision making. In particular, it covers the following aspects: instances when bounded rationality leads to decisions inconsistent with standard economic assumptions; risk and the processes by which investors and consumers make decisions; altruistic and cooperative behavior as alternatives to competition; game theory as a way to explore motives of cooperation versus competition; the determinants of happiness and the relationship between utility and well-being; the concept of social capital, including motivations for charity and being a responsible citizen; how trust and fairness relate to economic actions and the motivation to cooperate rather than compete; behavior such as crime, corruption and bribery from ethical, social and economic viewpoints; and, finally, the decision making process of collective choice and how societies develop rules for governing themselves.This is the first book to bridge economics, psychology, sociology and political sciences and explain the nuanced subtleties of decision making.

For the public sector, which is globally the largest employer of people and repository of information, managing information and knowledge is an extremely problematic area to address. The essence of both resources is that they are intangible, their impact and value cannot be measured through traditional accounting methods, yet they are also, paradoxically, where the greatest value and potential for improvement is located. In this book Eileen Milner introduces the reader to the concepts of information and knowledge and explores a variety of tools and techniques which may be usefully adopted in actively managing and developing these resources. Wherever possible real-life public sector case studies and examples are used to illustrate good practice, as well as some of the pitfalls of poor application. Down-to-earth and taking into account the critically important characteristics unique to public services, this will be an illuminating text both for managers and policy makers already working in the public sector and for those considering doing so.

A book on practical business forecasting belongs in the library of everyone interested in business. Forecasting is extremely important to finance and accounting executives, business economists and managers at all levels.
Strategic Business Forecasting: The Complete Guide to Forecasting Real World Company Performance provides you with a working knowledge of the fundamentals of business forecasting that can be applied in the real world regardless of the size of the firm. The author explains the basic forecasting methodology and the practical applications. All aspects of business are discussed, making this a comprehensive and valuable reference.
The author avoids theoretical and mathematical discussions to gets right into how, when , and why to use this book. Many practical examples, applications, illustrations, guidelines, measures, checklists, rules of thumb, tips, graphs, diagrams and tables aid your comprehension of the subject. The author displays and explains printouts obtained using many popular spreadsheet programs and software packages.
The book goes far beyond just sales forecasting, encompassing a wide range of topics of major importance to practical business managers and finance professionals, including cash flow forecasting, cost prediction, earnings forecasts, bankruptcy prediction, foreign exchange forecasting, and interest rate forecasting. Written in an easy-to-read style, it is practical, current, and intriguing - a reference book to use throughout your business career.

Author Biography:
Eileen Milner is a Principal Lecturer in Information Management at the University of North London

Risk or uncertainty assessments are used as aids to decision making in nearly every aspect of business, education, and government. As a follow-up to the author's bestselling Risk Assessment and Decision Making in Business and Industry: A Practical Guide, Risk Modeling for Determining Value and Decision Making presents comprehensive examples of risk/uncertainty analyses from a broad range of applications.

Decision/option selection Manufacturing
Environmental assessment Pricing
Identification of business drivers Production sharing
Insurance Scheduling and optimization
Investing Security
Law

Emphasizing value as the focus of risk assessment, this book offers discussions on how to make decisions using each risk model and what insights the model can provide. The presentation of each model also includes computer code that encapsulates its logic and direction on how to apply the model to other types of problems.

The author devotes a chapter to techniques for consistently collecting data in an inconsistent world and offers another chapter on how to reflect the effect of "soft" issues in the value of an opportunity. The book's final chapters delineate the techniques and technologies used to perform risk/uncertainty analyses, including sections on distribution, Monte Carlo process, dependence, sensitivity analysis, time series analysis, and chance of failure.

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Bring strategy into your daily work. It's your responsibility as a manager to ensure that your work--and the work of your team--aligns with the overarching objectives of your organization. But when you're faced with competing projects and limited time, it's difficult to keep strategy front of mind. How do you keep your eye on the long term amid a sea of short-term demands? The HBR Guide to Thinking Strategically provides practical advice and tips to help you see the big-picture perspective in every aspect of your daily work, from making decisions to setting team priorities to attacking your own to-do list. You'll learn how to: Understand your organization's strategy Align your team around key objectives Focus on the priorities that matter most Spot trends in your company and in your industry Consider future outcomes when making decisions Manage trade-offs Embrace a leadership mindset