Why does management encounter people problems whenever organizations attempt to change? Green and Butkus say this occurs because organizations overlook one of the most critical problems of change: how employees react it emotionally. Change is not about work processes or information systems alone. It is also about what people believe and feel--emotions such as anger, anxiety, confusion, and fear. Yet managers are usually unaware of these things, and those who are aware usually lack skills to manage these emotions effectively. They tend to rely on traditional incentive systems, which usually do not work. What does work? The one approach that has been applied consistently with positive results is Green's belief system of motivation and performance.

Green and Butkus show how the belief system helps to bring negative feelings and convictions to the surface. They provide ways to identify the underlying emotional problems and find effective solutions. The belief system works, say the authors, because it goes directly to the source of the problem--employees themselves--to discover why motivation and performance problems occur and what can be done to solve them. This book describes applications of the belief system in a variety of work situations, including a recent effort at organizational transformation with AT&T's Business Communications Services (BCS) Division. It outlines in detail the process that BCS used to implement the belief system, starting at the highest management levels and cascading down to the organization's front lines. With a clear exposition of the belief systeM's theoretical underpinnings and nuts-and-bolts methods, Green and Butkus provide executive decision makers and planners throughout the organization with critical insights into the pitfalls in the implementation process and workable guidance on how to avoid them.

Although considered the best approach to motivation in terms of theoretical soundness for some 25 years, expectancy theory was considered lacking in applications. For the first time this book presents an application model that gives practical value to the expectancy theory of motivation thus enabling managers to use it to improve individual and organizational performance. While other theories of motivation provide a theoretical framework for thinking about and understanding what motivates people in the workplace, the application model presented here for the expectancy theory of motivation goes far beyond this to provide a practical framework for diagnosing and solving individual motivation problems. Emphasis is not on simple motivation problems with straightfoward solutions, but instead the focus is on how to handle difficult motivation problems, and how to deal with them in difficult circumstances, such as when the manager does not have all of the resources or authority needed to solve the problem. The application model has a bottom-line, problem-solving orientation with a focus on the individuality of employees. The book describes specific things managers can say and do to identify potential and existing motivation problems in the early stages before they get out of hand. Techniques for determining the causes of individual motivation problems are presented. Practical solution approaches are offered along with guidelines for choosing solutions that match problem causes and suggestions for effectively implementing the solutions. The core of the application model is found in a one-on-one format for managers to follow in working with individual employees to jointly identify motivationproblems, causes, and solutions. The principal contribution of the application model rests with the special ways presented for dealing with difficult motivation problems when the manager's hands are tied relative to the solutions that can be offered.

Faced with the ever increasing difficulty of reaching their targets, sales executives need new ways to improve their organizations' results. Thad Green, consultant, former university professor, and widely recognized authority on motivation and performance in the United States, sees it this way: there are two aspects that sales executives have some control over-- the way their sales force sells, and the way it is managed and motivated. Green draws on his extensive experience to explain how to motivate prospects to buy, how to motivate salespeople to sell, and how to prepare and motivate the organization itself. His method is remarkably obvious, but it works exceptionally well. Instead of trying to do something different, Green says get back to the basics, but in a way that is all his own. His book provides this essentially simple but proven method for leading the sales organization in a clear, easily grasped way that sales executives, and their people, can put to immediate use.

Green shows sales executives how to improve the sales organization by equipping it with motivation techniques and a full comprehension of the selling process. His message is clear and proven. Sales results improve dramatically when selling is viewed as motivating people to buy and when sales organizations learn to use this concept. Sales executives who learn this--and it is definitely not common knowledge, says Green--can pass these techniques to their sales managers, who can then train and motivate the sales force. It's an approach that in practice sounds right and feels good, Green explains, and it produces results. It also creates the desire to learn more about motivation and selling, and this in turn will have added benefits. For people in any occupation involving sales and a knowledge of sales techniques, this book will be a pleasant surprise: a way to understand sales strategies and how an organization can implement them, in a way that few have thought of--a simple way that works.

Much has been written about communicating within organizations but relatively little on the critical skill of communicating upward. Green and Knippen, experts in employee motivation and performance, show how essential it is to the success of an organization, public or private, for employees to get their ideas up the ladder and into the hands of the top decision-makers. Their book outlines more than 40 specific upward communication needs and offers a structure that will ensure that the movement of ideas upward actually takes place. Unique in that it provides concrete advice for executives, managers, and employees alike, the book is especially important for human resource specialists, people engaged in training and developing the managers of tomorrow and contributing to the organization's success today.

Green and Knippen are quick to identify the barriers to communication of any kind, and particularly the special barriers that inhibit the flow of ideas upward. They provide readers with concrete advice, not only on what to communicate upward but the essential skills of how to do it. They maintain that knowing both what to communicate and how to communicate are the most crucial talents that one can have, and yes, they can be taught. But not only do they help people in their careers, they also help people take control of their lives off the job as well. Those who want to improve these essential skills and in doing so get along better with people in higher level positions will find much wisdom here, in a readable, engaging presentation, and a thoughtful look at what they must do first, and do now.