The information market is booming. During the past two decades, information technology has advanced at an overwhelming pace. Since the mid-1990s, information has replaced capital as the key differentiator in global competition. The result: executive headaches and a great deal of the mother of opportunity, confusion. This book on managing information systems well is vital to a corporation's long-term competitive success. If companies are to continue to add value to customers by helping them make substantial, lasting improvements in performance, managing information is a critical tool. And almost every company has exploitable information assets, but few companies systematically explore the opportunities they create. And although there is no simple silver bullet approach to implement, the rewards can more than justify the effort. Thus this book is a must read for all those in the information systems management and others who want to broaden their understanding of MIS or use information systems for decision making and competitive advantage.

Internationally, education is recognized as a basic human right. All children of schooling age should have access to free quality education devoid of gender disparities. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) drawn from the UN General Assembly Resolution A/56/326 in September 2001 affirmed the need for poverty alleviation and elimination of gender inequalities in education systems. Nevertheless the advent of HIV and AIDS appear to have brought in a new dimension and puzzle to the education of the girl-child because in spite of the Millennium goals, school dropout is still a common phenomenon, which frustrates the developing nations in their effort to attain access to basic education for all. In the most unequal regions of the planet, poverty has the face of a girl child and low enrolment figures are tilted more towards girls at primary school level. This study thus looked at gender, HIV and AIDS and the accompanying challenges. It is a must read to all those with interest in equality, equity, gender, HIV and AIDS related challenges.

Results based management is inevitable in contemporary organisations because unmanaged performance is chaotic.Accountability is the biggest challenge facing contemporary organisations especially those in the public services domain. However the truth of the matter is that people can not be held accountable if nothing is expected of them. This means to say Results Based Management has the answer to service delivery woos in the public sector where empowered people should be their own performance managers. However implimentation challenges appear to place a glass cliff in the way. this becomes a grey area.This research unpacks the theoretical and practical underpinnings of Results Based Management and is an indispensable companion to those facing RBM implimentation challenges.It has been desined for use by organisations in both private and public sectors with intrests in managing performance.

Organisations need magnetic leadership that attracts followers. The growing consensus among organisations is that problems encountered in organisations are a result of lack of leadership. The view that organisations are viewed as learning organisations depends upon the influence and direction of leadership. Effective leadership removes the roadblocks and clears the stumps and blocks that deter followers from goal achievement. This book attempts to show the critical role of leadership in organisations and is directed at practising, aspiring and students of leadership in any organisation.

Research is almost unanimous in finding that the principal's role has typically been crucial to successful schools yet many practices are too simple for the complexity of dealing with hyper-turbulence facing school leaders these days. This book was written to an international audience in order to provide a state-of-the-evidence description of what is missing about successful school leadership in a hyper-turbulent environment. It was anticipated that such a description would be of some immediate use and guidance to those already in leadership positions, those aspiring to be school leaders and those with responsibilities for leading schools in a changing external context. It is also hoped that the book will helped to clarify the most important questions for inquiry and offer conceptual lenses on key variables of interest to school leaders who lead schools in a changing contexts where global forces are defining, changing, and perhaps even diminishing the role of school leaders as prime leaders.

Managing performance has been a thorny issue throughout the world. It is more marked in developing countries in which institutions are not fully developed. This research interrogated practices in a teachers' college with the view to unravel the manner, spirit, commitment and challenges faced in managing performance in public sectors.Performance management, based on the principles of measurement, appraisal, action and monitoring, manifests in different forms depending on whether the aim is to further imrove good performers or deal with under-performance while applying to individuals, teams or organisations. Mangers who have cited performance management as one of their most disliked tasks will find this study useful and handy.

E-learning has become a mainstay in the educational milieu.The exponential growth of information has made it imperative for learning to happen quickly. This book taps on the networked technologies and wireless devices to transform education through quality. Online instructors and providers who continually seek methods to engage students in the learning process with technology at the forefront, will find this book as a useful companion. One of this book's objectives is to establish a long lasting mark on quality for e-learning because the perceived lack of quality is recognised by many as an inhibiting factor for the expansion of e-learning. The existence of a reference textbook on quality for e-learning might, it is strongly believed, contribute to strengthening cross-country confidence in the quality of e-learning, and serve as a reference worldwide.The future of all institutions engaged in online learning, e-learning and web based learning lies on the quality of programmes and courses that they are offering.

This book aims to share recent research to inform the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) community on how to attain and sustain quality. It aims to revisit quality issues by stimulating and enhancing interaction, creativity and ultimately innovation in Open and Distance Teaching practices. It looks at quality in higher education, the history of distance education and then proceed to quality in open and distance teaching. In this regard, factors that contribute to quality in staff, students and technology are interrogated and so is the issue of conditions that lead to attaining and sustaining quality. The book then rounds off with a discussion on leadership for quality.