Olmstead writes from an open systems perspective--a viewpoint of organizations that adapt quickly to turbulent, uncertain business environments--offering an integrated, understandable, and highly practical way to analyze, assess, and improve organization performance. He demonstrates how organizations actually function, and shows how they can identify and overcome obstacles by creating organizational competence-the critical elements that give organizations the ability to perform effectively in the modern business world.

Upper level students, scholars, and teachers will find Olmstead's book an important addition to their academic reading lists. For practitioners, particularly those in rapid response organizations, this book will be an indispensable aid in the struggle to keep their organizations up to date and abreast of the competition.

This book provides a genuine understanding of practical leadership based upon years of research and development. It identifies the essential components of leadership, and supplies guidelines for developing and implementing those skills. Clear, straightforward explanations and examples direct executives on how to establish objectives, delegate authority, direct subordinates, and motivate the team. Executive Leadership supplies a comprehensive analysis of effective leadership at senior levels and presents a model for establishing an efficient and productive workplace. Joseph A. Olmstead, Ph.D., is vice-president for product development with the Vanguard Research Group. His experience includes 22 years as a senior staff scientist and a program director for the Human Resources Research Organization. Dr. Olmstead is the author of numerous books on leadership and organizational effectiveness

In most organizations today, the greatest stress afflicts those working in groups: teams, task forces, and other units with special goals and purposes. Customary manners of management style and leadership largely fail to alleviate this stress. Olmstead's challenging new book shows why. DEGREESLRapid change is one reason. Extreme uncertainty is another. But the effects need not be so debilitating. This book argues that groups can be developed to resist stress and achieve effectiveness. Olmstead offers a conceptual framework and draws upon his own experiences--supported by the similar experiences of others who have worked in most types of organizations under various stressful conditions--to show how. He provides proven, practical means of analyzing, assessing, and improving your own leadership methods, and in doing so, bolstering your group's performance.

A 250-item annotated bibliography and lucid, readable style, this book is a straightforward, state of the art presentation of what leaders under stress need to know about themselves, and how to apply that understanding to the activities of the groups they lead.