Increasingly, people working in teams face complex issues that need resolving in an efficient, participatory manner that honors the group's diverse perspectives and individual creativity. "The Workshop Book "outlines the best practices of the workshop method, based on the Institute for Cultural Affair's Technology of Participation, (TM) and its use in consensus formation, planning, problem solving, and research. It also discusses workshop preparation and design, leadership styles, dealing with difficult behaviors, and special applications such as its use in large groups and for planning purposes.

R. Brian Stanfield is the Director of Publications at the Canadian Institute of Cultural Affairs and author of the companion volume, "The Art of Focused Conversation," and "The Courage to Lead "(New Society Publishers).

Nowadays, managing and promoting diversity is of paramount importance to the future of sustainability and the political and business agenda. Despite a tremendous growth in diversity management scholarship in recent years, a strong tendency has emerged whereby existing theories focus on a single level of analysis, using a limited range of mostly Western research settings, and on a narrow range of diversity types. Diversity research has insofar focused on prioritizing visible forms of diversity, such as gender or disability, with less emphasis placed on diversity in culture and values internationally. This edited book provides new practical and strategic insights for practitioners, managers, students and policy makers; it delves into the strategic nature of policy intervention with thought-provoking contributions written by experts from around the world. Contributors aim to provide critical reflection of current debate areas on workplace equality and diversity in under-researched countries to inform and support evidence-based decision making for a wide variety of academic and practice-oriented stakeholders.

The "informal" economy economic activity and income outside government regulation, taxation and observation is, by its very nature, difficult to quantify. Recent estimates suggest it accounts, in OECD countries, for around 13% of national income (in the UK, the equivalent of GBP150 billion) and in developing nations it can make up as much as three-quarters of all non-agricultural employment. Whatever the exact figures, it is clear that the informal economy plays a significant role in national incomes (eventhough excluded from calculations of GDP or GNP) and affects a large share of the global workforce. Colin C. Williams provides an authoritative introduction to the topic, explaining what the informal economy is (and what it isn't) and how it can best be measured. Taking a global perspective, he examines its characteristics in developed, developing and transitional economies, and looks at its role as a driver of economic growth. The theoretical underpinnings are explored, from conceptual origins in the development models of the 1950s, through to present-day discussions, which question whether a formalised economy is always the ideal. The book considers the economic motivations of the informal economy workforce, which may include tax evasion, circumventing regulations and maintaining state benefits, and assesses the different policy options available to governments to combat them, whether a punitive policy of deterrence, or one of accommodation that recognises the value of the sector in generating income and in meeting the needs of poor consumers. The book provides a masterly summation of the published research on the informal economy and an expert assessment of the key areas for research going forward. It will be welcomed by students taking courses in development economics, economic growth, labour economics, welfare economics and public policy.

Nowadays, work is all about relationships Getting things done depends on getting along. And when relationships are difficult, it's not just our work that suffers: it's often our health and wellbeing too. Making Relationships Work at Work is the first book to cover comprehensively all the main components of building and maintaining great relationships at work. Based on 50 years' experience of working with a wide variety of organisations, teams and individuals and packed with practical strategies, tips and tools for making work relationships work better, it will not only help you to become more effective with less stress, but also to enjoy your working life more.

From old-fashioned bricks-and-mortars to cutting-edge startups, businesses are moving into uncharted territory as they determine how to move from an analog past to a digital future effectively. How can you make sure not to leave human instinct behind? Businesses are leaving behind traditional meetings in favor of virtual ones, transitioning from surveys and studies to analytics and algorithms. The startling and often unacknowledged truth is that?the promise of digital transformation can only be realized when we find a way to balance it with the promise of people.?In the end, it's the people that matter, and companies must never forget the soul that drives them. In Restoring the Soul of Business, business leader Rishad Tobaccowala?teaches you to: Understand how to unleash the significant benefit that can be realized by combining emotion and data, human and machine, analog and digital. Spot the warning signs of data-blinded companies: cold cultures with little human interaction, poor innovation stemming from discouraged employees who don't contribute ideas, and poor customer service due to automated, robotic processes. Explore how organizations of various sizes and from different industries have successfully reoriented their thinking on how to fuse technology and humanity. Gain skills to become an expert in connections critical to growth and success, including the connection between being creative and using technology. Everyone working in an organization will find penetrating observations and guidance about how and why establishing the proper balance between human intuition and creativity and data-driven insights can lead to increased revenue, profitability, retention-and even joy-in their careers and business. Restoring the Soul of Business provides practical tools and techniques that every organization can and should implement, and challenges you to move forward with the kind of balance that capitalizes transformation and produces one great success after another.

'The lessons and practices here will shift a sense of chaos to one of clarity and a mindset of fear to one of hope' Margaret Heffernan, bestselling author of Wilful Blindness ___________________________________________________________________________________ How often do you interrupt? How often do people interrupt you? Can you remember the last time someone listened to you all the way through your thinking? In a time when communication is more challenging than ever and relationships need to be nurtured, listening to one another could not be more important. In her new book, Nancy Kline, bestselling author of Time To Think, suggests that for us to radically improve our communication we should make the propmise 'I won't interrupt you'. This promise matters because when we interrupt each other, we interrupt our thinking, and that interrupts the quality of everything we do. By making this promise to our colleagues and loved ones we can deepen our relationships, increase our productivity, and enjoy deeper, richer conversations. It may, in fact, be the most important promise we ever make. Nancy has spent the last three decades researching independent thought and the barriers that prevent us from thinking for ourselves. In this book she tells us the truth about the damage that interruption can cause, she shares case studies and stories from her work with clients, as well as simple ways we can improve our communication, and change our lives. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 'This generous, useful and important book is a delight to read and will fundamentally change the way you interact with people' - Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler, authors of The Communication Book 'This timely and persuasive book shows us that the foundation for independent thinking is the promise to actually listen, without interruption, to what others have to say' Cal Newport, bestselling author of Digital Minimalism

Choosing the right people to carry out a project is essential to its success, and when multiple projects are combined into a complex program, the human aspect becomes even more important. Project and Program Management: A Competency-Based Approach, Fifth Edition balances a complete account of the technical aspects of project and program management with a practical approach to understanding and developing the core competencies required to accomplish desired goals. On the technical side, this book is a complete introduction to predicting costs, setting schedules, and assessing risks. On the human side, it sheds new light on how to mold different personality types into a team, how to motivate the team's members, and how to produce extraordinary results. The author details the blocking and tackling of the program management approach, describing the best way to define, organize, and schedule the work to be done, while identifying risks and controlling costs throughout the process.This fifth edition has been significantly revised, with every chapter updated. The volume considers the magnitude of recent social, political, and technological changes. Included are insights from numerous students who bring to the forefront their current real-world practices from their individual businesses, industries, and disciplines.

Provides vital skills practice for retrieving and using information communicated through graphic sources in the workplace.

Sewing Hope offers the first account of a bold challenge to apparel-industry sweatshops. The Alta Gracia factory in the Dominican Republic is the anti-sweatshop. It boasts a living wage three times the legal minimum, high health and safety standards, and a legitimate union-all verified by an independent monitor. It is the only apparel factory in the global south to meet these criteria. The Alta Gracia business model represents an alternative to the industry's "race to the bottom" with its inherent poverty wages and unsafe factory conditions. Workers' stories reveal how adding $0.90 to a sweatshirt's production price can change lives: from getting a life-saving operation to reuniting families; from obtaining first-ever bank loans to getting running water; from purchasing children's school uniforms to taking night classes. Sewing Hope invites readers into the apparel industry's sweatshops and the Alta Gracia factory. Learn how the anti-sweatshop started, how it overcame challenges, and how the impact of its business model could transform the global industry.

Winner of a 2012 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award Demystifying the application of Lean methods, Lean Office and Service Simplified: The Definitive How-To Guide goes beyond the basic tools to detail the key concepts of Lean as they apply to office and service environments. It begins by discussing value stream management, followed by chapters on standard work, flow, level pull, and visual management. Winner of a 2012 Shingo Prize, this book covers essential Lean tools, including 5S and mistake proofing. It breaks down Lean concepts into their elementary components, describes them in a nonmanufacturing context, and supplies readers with specific how-to methodologies. Providing detailed examples throughout, the text illustrates the functions found in most service organizations, as well as the administrative areas of manufacturing companies. Drawing on more than two decades of practical experience, the author provides implementation strategies on a function-by-function and department-by-department basis. He examines the most common obstacles that readers are likely to encounter and supplies strategies to address those obstacles. The text includes a toolbox of helpful forms, charts, checklists, templates, and worksheets to help kick-start your Lean implementation efforts. Watch Shingo Prize-winning author Drew Locher discuss how to implement Lean concepts into your office and service settings.

Between Conflict and Collegiality explores how ethnonational-religious struggle between Jews and Palestinians affects relations in ethnically mixed work teams in Israel. Asaf Darr documents the tensions that permeate the workplace and reveals when such tensions threaten the cohesion of the work environment. Darr chronicles the grassroots coping strategies employed by both Jewish and Palestinian through field studies conducted with workers in various sectors in Israel, adopting a comparative method that identifies the differences in how ethnonational-religious tensions play out. Between Conflict and Collegiality asks how workers deal with external ethnonational and religious pressures and whether the broader ethnonational conflict is reflected in the career expectations and trajectories of minority group members. Darr examines whether minority group members' use of their own language at work become a point of contestation; how religion is manifested in the workplace; whether co-workers from different ethnonational groups form amicable relations that extend beyond the workplace; and whether positive experiences working in ethnically mixed workplaces have the potential to mitigate conflict in the wider society.

At times when you say to yourself, I thought I have seen and heard it all but, as reality comes into play you haven't seen and heard it all. As you read from the first to the last page of this book at times I know you will stop and ask yourself, I've never given it a lot of thought but what he is saying is true. Also a number of questions not only while you are reading but even once you finish will more than likely be popping up in your head. When you go to work and talk to your co-workers, get on the phone and talk to your family and or friends, or just when you invite or people come over to your house I'm pretty sure that this book will be a big topic of discussion. I know that there are a lot of other topics that can be talked about and a continuation of some of the one's that are already mentioned, and I'm pretty sure that you can come up with even more. Right now don't pass up something educational, noteworthy, and topics that can be argued, debated and if enough people get together as spokesman and voters can change and do something about it.

"Straightforward and practical, this book is a must-read for any leader or change practitioner." Mark Porter, Executive Vice President People & Culture, WestJet Airlines Leading Meaningful Change is an essential guide for executives, leaders, managers, consultants, and other professionals who need to go beyond applying tactics in a change plan to truly capture the hearts, minds, and souls of the people they lead. Based on her research and 30 years of experience helping people lead and manage meaningful change, Beverley Patwell offers a new framework to guide and enhance the change journey. This approach is humanizing, engaging, and results in the belief in a higher purpose that permeates throughout the organization while at the same time achieves outcomes that are far greater than one person's single contribution. Patwell's framework is effective in: * creating a shared vision that compels people to be engaged and involved in the change journey; * developing internal leaders and strong, cohesive and aligned teams to lead, manage and support the changes; and * developing strategies to effectively lead, manage and evaluate the human side of change. At the core of the framework are the Use-of-Self principles applied to the change process as seen through interviews with 24 multi-generational emerging, current and long-service leaders who explain why Use-of-Self remains a key element in successfully leading and managing change. The book also includes practical tools to help leaders and managers across the globe address change leadership challenges. Of special note is a two-year case study of the Senior Leadership Team in the City of Ottawa who led a significant city-wide culture shift using the framework.

The #1 New York Times bestseller that examines how people can champion new ideas in their careers and everyday life-and how leaders can fight groupthink, from the author of Think Again and co-author of Option B "Filled with fresh insights on a broad array of topics that are important to our personal and professional lives."-The New York Times DealBook "Originals is one of the most important and captivating books I have ever read, full of surprising and powerful ideas. It will not only change the way you see the world; it might just change the way you live your life. And it could very well inspire you to change your world." -Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generation's most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent. Learn from an entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him, and a TV executive who didn't even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.

Co-published with SHRM.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a strong indicator of individual, team, and organizational success. But stocking up on emotionally intelligent employees isn't enough: you need a concrete plan for putting this valuable resource to work. The EQ Difference offers an array of self-assessment tools and team-focused exercises that will help increase and leverage emotional intelligence both in individuals and in groups. It's filled with practical tips and suggestions for developing your own ""emotional quotient,"" as well as that of your peers, employees, and even senior executives.

Featuring real workplace examples, Letters to Leaders, and excerpts from actual performance reviews that show the positive impact of EI in a variety of environments, The EQ Difference will help your organization achieve greater productivity, higher morale, and better employee retention -- all keys to stronger bottom line results.