Presenting: Problem Solving Sans Statistics Enhance your problem-solving skills, and improve your company's profitability using the methods outlined in Solving Complex Industrial Problems without Statistics. Introducing a process that involves working through problems and solutions without relying on complicated statistical design or analysis, this book pulls away from data-driven thinking and provides the problem solver with a new way of solving problems. Utilizing techniques that have been applied in facilities throughout the U.S., Canada, Italy, China, and Hong Kong, it demonstrates the use of process and problem differences and similarities, and provides a better understanding of analogous comparisons. The book incorporates visual analysis tools and problem examples in a format that facilitates comprehension and learning, presents novel concepts that do not require numbers or statistics, and provides a better understanding of the solution system/process overall. Each chapter presents new information, as well as case studies that include: Different problem situations Short histories detailing the operation, condition, and circumstances that were present at the time of each study Photographs, sketches, or tables with simple explanations to describe the circumstances, conditions, and the actions taken Methods of solution in rudimentary form Chapter summaries to review important mechanisms and workings Final summaries to tie together the important methods and techniques that facilitate easy problem solutions Solving Complex Industrial Problems without Statistics provides valuable insight into the solution of complex quality and manufacturing problems, without the use of statistics, and is essential to anyone involved in quality, control, problem-solving activities, or total quality management.

In the last few years, competition has become increasingly more complex, variable and dynamic, as can be seen in phenomena like globalization and technological acceleration. To cope with the dynamism and uncertainty of competition, enterprises need capabilities that enable them to respond to competition, as well as to improve their analytical skills and knowledge in order to better manage new strategic projects. Strategic analysis uses both quantitative and qualitative tools to understand both competitive contexts and available company resources. In Strategic Analysis: Processes and Tools, author Andrea Beretta Zanoni develops a theory of strategic analysis and offers models for the application of strategic analysis tools during all phases of the process including planning and decision-making, the development of control, and the formulation of a strategic diagnosis.

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.

Managerial Decision Making is an essential and insightful title that brings together classic articles on the subject of behavioral decision research. Professor Don Moore has selected the seminal articles that are the cornerstone of a discipline that has exploded in both productivity and influence. It covers Herbert Simon's groundbreaking work on bounded rationality, as well as important papers on anchoring, the bias of framing, the problem of overconfidence, the preference for fairness, emotional influences and the strengths and weaknesses of human intuitive judgement. This research review will appeal to a wide readership as decision research plays an important role in such diverse areas as business, marketing, law, finance, medicine and public policy.

Verna Allee, whose groundbreaking book 'The Knowledge Evolution' helped usher in the exploding field of knowledge management, has brought her experience-tested insights into an exciting new synthesis, penetrating to the very heart of value creation. 'The Future of Knowledge' strips away traditional business thinking to reveal the new patterns of management thought and practice essential for success in a more complex world. With a gift for making the complex simple and practical, Allee weaves together diverse threads such as business webs, communities of practice, knowledge technologies, intangibles, network analysis, and biology to show why organizations must be supported as living systems before their natural networked pattern of organization can emerge. Embodying Allee's visionary approach, 'The Future of Knowledge' brings forward a practical view of new theories, frameworks, tools, and methods offering businesses a guide to managing the increasing levels of complexity within their organizations and in society at large. 'The Future of Knowledge' works on many levels: * At the strategic level, the new tools are intangible scorecards and understanding value networks * At the tactical level, the knowledge management tools for exchanging and applying knowledge are knowledge networks and communities of practice * At the operational level, a wealth of new technologies is supporting the codification, storage and delivery of the knowledge people need to complete their routine tasks.

'The New Knowledge Management' is the story of the birth of "second-generation knowledge management," told from the perspective of one its chief architects, Mark W. McElroy. Unlike its first-generation cousin, second-generation Knowledge Management seeks to enhance knowledge production, not just knowledge sharing. As a result, 'The New Knowledge Management' expands the overall reach of knowledge management to include "innovation management" for the very first time. 'The New Knowledge Management' introduces the concept of "second-generation knowledge management" to the business community. Mark W. McElroy has assembled a collection of his own essays, written over the past four years, chronicling the development of related thinking in the field. Unlike first-generation KM, mainly focusing on value derived from knowledge sharing, second-generation thinking formally adds knowledge making to the scope of KM. In this way second-generation KM expands the overall reach of KM to include "innovation management" for the very first time. 'The New Knowledge Management' finally begins to bridge the gap between KM and the field of organizational learning, which up until now have been viewed as miles apart.

"Artful scenario spinning is a form of convergent thinking about divergent futures. It ensures that you are not always right about the future but--better--that you are almost never wrong about the future. The technology is powerful, simple, and enjoyable, and so is Schwartza s book." --Stewart Brand What increasingly affects all of us, whether professional planners or individuals preparing for a better future, is not the tangibles of life--bottom--line numbers, for instance--but the intangibles: our hopes and fears, our beliefs and dreams. Only stories--scenarios--and our ability to visualize different kinds of futures adequately capture these intangibles. In The Art of the Long View, now for the first time in paperback and with the addition of an all--new Usera s Guide, Peter Schwartz outlines the "scenaric" approach, giving you the tools for developing a strategic vision within your business. Schwartz describes the new techniques, originally developed within Royal/Dutch Shell, based on many of his firsthand scenario exercises with the worlda s leading institutions and companies, including the White House, EPA, BellSouth, PG&E, and the International Stock Exchange.

Complex problem solving is the core skill for 21st Century Teams Complex problem solving is at the very top of the list of essential skills for career progression in the modern world. But how problem solving is taught in our schools, universities, businesses and organizations comes up short. In Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything you'll learn the seven-step systematic approach to creative problem solving developed in top consulting firms that will work in any field or industry, turning you into a highly sought-after bulletproof problem solver who can tackle challenges that others balk at. The problem-solving technique outlined in this book is based on a highly visual, logic-tree method that can be applied to everything from everyday decisions to strategic issues in business to global social challenges. The authors, with decades of experience at McKinsey and Company, provide 30 detailed, real-world examples, so you can see exactly how the technique works in action. With this bulletproof approach to defining, unpacking, understanding, and ultimately solving problems, you'll have a personal superpower for developing compelling solutions in your workplace. Discover the time-tested 7-step technique to problem solving that top consulting professionals employ Learn how a simple visual system can help you break down and understand the component parts of even the most complex problems Build team brainstorming techniques that fight cognitive bias, streamline workplanning, and speed solutions Know when and how to employ modern analytic tools and techniques from machine learning to game theory Learn how to structure and communicate your findings to convince audiences and compel action The secrets revealed in Bulletproof Problem Solving will transform the way you approach problems and take you to the next level of business and personal success.

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.

Reinforce your understanding of CCEA A2 Unit 1: Strategic decision making and improve your exam technique for the CCEA A2 Unit A assessment. Packed full of clear topic summaries, knowledge check questions and sample exam-style questions and answers with commentaries, this guide will help you aim for and achieve the highest grades. This Student Guide will help you to: - Identify key content for the exams with our concise coverage of topics - Avoid common pitfalls with clear definitions and exam tips throughout - Reinforce your learning with bullet-list summaries at the end of each section - Test your knowledge with rapid-fire knowledge check questions and answers - Find out what examiners are looking for with our Questions & Answers section

Modern organizations must constantly adapt to survive in today's rapidly changing environment. A stagnant organization that cannot innovate to meet evolving conditions will eventually find itself no longer competitive in an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated economy. Innovation and Knowledge Management focuses on three issues critical to success: knowledge management, innovation, and consortia. The author examines the interplay of these factors during a critical four-year period in the operation of the Cancer Information Service (CIS) - a knowledge management organization charged with delivering up-to-date, authoritative information to the public. The forerunner of many other knowledge delivery organizations, CIS was under pressure not only to distribute knowledge but to generate it. A consortium was formed between practitioners within CIS and researchers outside it to explore various innovative intervention strategies. The intersection of knowledge management, innovation and consortial arrangements at CIS provides a unique opportunity to examine no less than the future of organizations. This distinctive study will be of great interest to scholars, students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of health, communications, knowledge management, information science and management.

The third volume in the internationally bestselling McKinsey Trilogy, "The McKinsey Engagement" is an action guide to realizing the consistently high level of business solutions achieved by the experts at the world's most respected consulting firms.

Former consultant Dr. Paul Friga distills the guiding principles first presented in the bestselling "The McKinsey Way" and the tested-in-the-trenches methodologies outlined in "The McKinsey Mind," and combines them with many of the principles and procedures implemented by the military and other organizations. The result is nothing less than the business equivalent of a "Special Forces Field Manual."

True to its stated goal of arming consultants and corporate problem solvers with a blueprint for achieving consistently phenomenal results, "The McKinsey Engagement" is short on theory and long on action. Each chapter focuses on one element in the celebrated TEAM FOCUS problem-solving model and features a concise discussion of a key concept or principle, followed by: Clear rules of engagement A set of operating tactics Sophisticated problem solving tools Easy-to-follow action steps Exercises, checklists, and training tips War stories and best practices case studies

A toolkit for bringing clarity, discipline, and purpose to all your problem-solving and change management initiatives, "The McKinsey Engagement" is an indispensable guide for consultants, as well as for executives, managers, students, and corporate trainers.

Today there are more technology, technologists, knowledge and experts than at any time in human history; but from a global perspective, it is difficult to argue that this accumulation of knowledge and technology has put the world in an unambiguously better position than it was in the past. Business is not getting any easier to do and major corporate collapses based on poor decisions, poor conduct, and poor judgement continue to occur. In public administration too, basic institutions and services (education, health, transport) seem to be continually undergoing "crises" of inadequate delivery and excessive pressure. Wisdom and Management in the Knowledge Economy explains why unwise managerial practice can happen in a world characterized by an excess of information and knowledge. Drawing on Aristotle's idea of practical wisdom, the book develops a theory of social practice wisdom that addresses important social psychological and sociological dynamics that underpin wise management and organizations. As well as providing a detailed theory of social practice wisdom, this book considers practical issues in organizational communication, behavior, culture, change and knowledge as well as in HRM, leadership, ethics, strategy, international business, business education, and wisdom research. By introducing the notion of social practice wisdom, aspects of social structure, organizational culture, and organizational communication needed for wisdom to flourish are for the first time rendered visible in a way that opens new possibilities for wiser management, wiser organizations, and wisdom research.

Trust is an important factor in risk management, affecting judgements of risk and benefit, technology acceptance and other forms of cooperation. In this book the world's leading risk researchers explore all aspects of trust as it relates to risk management and communication. Drawing on a wide variety of disciplinary approaches and empirical case studies (on topics such as mobile phone technology, well-known food accidents and crises, wetland management, smallpox vaccination, cooperative risk management of US forests and the disposal of the Brent Spar oil drilling platform), this is the most thorough and up-to-date examination of trust in all its forms and complexities. The book integrates diverse research traditions and provides new insights into the phenomenon of trust. Factors that lead to the establishment and erosion of trust are identified. Insightful analyses are provided for researchers and students of environmental and social science and professionals engaged in risk management and communication in both public and private sectors. Related titles The Tolerability of Risk (2007) 978-1-84407-398-6

"Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages" analyzes a $15 million community change initiative designed to bridge the digital divide in East Palo Alto, East Baltimore, and San Diego. Involving a partnership between Hewlett-Packard, Stanford University, and three ethnically diverse communities, this initiative enabled its constituencies to build their own technology-oriented businesses, improve their education systems, and improve their economic health. While examining this large-scale, multi-site case, Fetterman highlights the potential for empowerment evaluation to build local capacity and sustain improvements within communities. He provides deep insights into key steps in empowerment evaluation by exploring the way that each of these phases took place in the digital villages. Additionally, the text provides evaluators with real-world stories and practical advice from the front lines. The Digital Village case also demonstrates the social value of combining corporate philanthropy, academic prowess, and community empowerment--highlighting the role of evaluation in this process.

Whether you're 20, 40, 60 or older, many of us are still looking for an answer to that perennial question, `What do I want to be when I grow up?' In Designing Your Life, Silicon Valley design innovators Bill Burnett and Dave Evans use their expertise to help you work out what you want -- and how to get it. Their phenomenally successful Life Design course has been tried and tested by thousands of people, from students to mid-career professionals to retirees contemplating a whole new future. Now in book form for the first time, their simple method will teach you how to use basic design tools to create a life that will work for you. Using lots of real-life stories and proven techniques like reframing, prototyping and mind-mapping you will learn how to build your way forwards, step-by-positive-step, to a life that's better by a design of your own making. Because a well-designed life means a life well-lived.

It's not what we know, but how we learn. This is the key that Learning to Read the Signs uses in order to evaluate and apply ideas and facts to one's organization life. The book asks the reader to go back to and reclaim pragmatism: an activity of thought involving four parts: Investigation, Hypothesis, Action, and Testing. Pragmatism is a method of interpretation or inquiry which offers to the thoughtful business practitioner a way to better understand the reality in which we operate, to think critically and creatively, and for business people to think together to make the best use of all our perspectives and talents. Questions raised in this book include: What are the signs telling us? Where are we headed and why? Why are things going the way they are? What is our purpose?

This book takes a fresh look at safety decision-making by documenting and examining stories told by front-line managers in three different high-hazard industries: a chemical plant, a nuclear power station and an air-navigation service provider. From Piper Alpha to Deepwater Horizon, accident analysis has stressed the importance of excellent decision-making by those in charge out in the field. Organizations rely critically on the judgement and experience of such senior operations personnel and yet these qualities are undervalued in a business environment that emphasises documentation and measurement. Whilst operational managers are guided by rules, they also draw on their own long experience and can formulate a situation-specific 'line in the sand' to apply the experience of the operating team to complex, real-world situations that rule writers may not have foreseen. This volume refocuses our attention on the people who make these important decisions and the organizational processes that support the best choices. Jan Hayes uses her multi-disciplinary experience to draw together an account of safety decision-making that is both technically robust and yet accessible to academics, practitioners and regulators alike. Readers will see that the stories retold in this book provide a way for operational managers to share their knowledge, experience and expertise - with each other and with us.

Analytics is one of a number of terms which are used to describe a data-driven more scientific approach to management. Ability in analytics is an essential management skill: knowledge of data and analytics helps the manager to analyze decision situations, prevent problem situations from arising, identify new opportunities, and often enables many millions of dollars to be added to the bottom line for the organization. The objective of this book is to introduce analytics from the perspective of the general manager of a corporation. Rather than examine the details or attempt an encyclopaedic review of the field, this text emphasizes the strategic role that analytics is playing in globally competitive corporations today. The chapters of this book are organized in two main parts. The first part introduces a problem area and presents some basic analytical concepts that have been successfully used to address the problem area. The objective of this material is to provide the student, the manager of the future, with a general understanding of the tools and techniques used by the analyst.

This two-volume collection of key papers by leading scholars provides a comprehensive perspective on the evaluation and performance of risk regulation policies. An analysis of the statistical life provides the basis for an examination of the risk money tradeoffs reflected in individual decisions in the labour, product and housing markets and an investigation of how these concepts can be used to evaluate government regulatory policies, including the newly developed risk-risk analysis approach. The volumes also offer an assessment of the performance of government risk regulations and a comprehensive analysis of the formation of risk beliefs and the role of hazard warnings policies in fostering improved risk decisions. The editors have written an authoritative introduction which presents a review of the selected papers and identifies interesting topics for future research.

In real-life scenarios, service management involves complex decision-making processes usually affected by random or stochastic variables. Under such uncertain conditions, the development and use of robust and flexible strategies, algorithms, and methods can provide the quantitative information necessary to make better business decisions. Decision Making in Service Industries: A Practical Approach explores the challenges that must be faced to provide intelligent strategies for efficient management and decision making that will increase your organization s competitiveness and profitability.
The book provides insight and understanding into practical and methodological issues related to decision-making processes under uncertainty in service industries. It examines current and future trends regarding how these decision-making processes can be efficiently performed for better design of service systems by using probabilistic algorithms as well as hybrid and simulation-based approaches.

Traditionally, many quantitative tools have been developed to make decisions in production companies. This book explores how to use these tools for making decisions inside service industries. Thus, the authors tackle strategic, tactical, and operational problems in service companies with the help of suitable quantitative models such as heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms, simulation, or queuing theory.

Generally speaking, decision making is a hard task in business fields. Making the issue more complex, most service companies problems are related to the uncertainty of the service demand. This book sheds light on these types of decision problems. It provides studies that demonstrate the suitability of quantitative methods to make the right decisions. Consequently, this book presents the business analytics needed to make strategic decisions in service industries.

Games, or contexts of strategic interaction, pervade and suffuse our lives and the lives of all organisms. How are we to make sense of and cope with such situations? How should an agent play? When will and when won't cooperation arise and be maintained? Using examples and a careful digestion of the literature, Agents, Games, and Evolution: Strategies at Work and Play addresses these encompassing themes throughout, and is organized into four parts: Part I introduces classical game theory and strategy selection. It compares ideally rational and the "naturalist" approach used by this book, which focuses on how actual agents chose their strategies, and the effects of these strategies on model systems. Part II explores a number of basic games, using models in which agents have fixed strategies. This section draws heavily on the substantial literature associated with the relevant application areas in the social sciences. Part III reviews core results and applications of agent-based models in which strategic interaction is present and for which design issues have genuine practical import. This section draws heavily on the substantial literature associated with the application area to hand. Part IV addresses miscellaneous topics in strategic interaction, including lying in negotiations, reasoning by backward induction, and evolutionary models. Modeled after the authors' Agents, Games, and Evolution course at the University of Pennsylvania, this book keeps mathematics to a minimum, focusing on computational strategies and useful methods for dealing with a variety of situations.

In the last few years, competition has become increasingly more complex, variable and dynamic, as can be seen in phenomena like globalization and technological acceleration. To cope with the dynamism and uncertainty of competition, enterprises need capabilities that enable them to respond to competition, as well as to improve their analytical skills and knowledge in order to better manage new strategic projects.

Strategic analysis uses both quantitative and qualitative tools to understand both competitive contexts and available company resources. In Strategic Analysis: Processes and Tools, author Andrea Beretta Zanoni develops a theory of strategic analysis and offers models for the application of strategic analysis tools during all phases of the process including planning and decision-making, the development of control, and the formulation of a strategic diagnosis.