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Title: Thank God It's Monday!: 14 Values We Need to Humanize the Way We Work by Kenneth Cloke ISBN: 0-7863-1096-0 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: it is good for you
Comment: this book is one of the greatest book that you have to read so read it and tell me what you tought. syed omar the American University in Cairo- egypt
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book on how to make workplace better
Comment: When I started Class 27 of the Command College I was repeatedly exposed to the concept of a post-industrial leadership model, a new organizational paradigm for the 21st century. Over the past several months the concept of a new organizational model has been repeatedly visited, as it is throughout Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmiths very enjoyable book, Thank God It's Monday! 14 Values We Need to Humanize the Way We Work.
After laying a good foundation (with many of the same tenants as other organizational authors of the day) Cloke and Goldsmith lay out a number of self assessment steps for the reader who is persuaded to shift to what they see as the new organizational and leadership model of self directed work teams. One of the main reasons the authors see this paradigm shift is because they see work as a relationship that needs to provides personal fulfilment.
The book is packed with a number of lists and fill in the blank assessments to help the reader make the transition to a more humanized and empowered organization. The fourteen values they believe will humanize organizations, empower workers, reduce conflict and increase employee satisfaction includes: INCLUSION - involving everyone in the process, COLLABORATION - working together for consensus, not compromise; TEAMS and NETWORKS - small work teams; VISION - toward something better and worthwhile; CELEBRATION of DIVERSITY - diversity valued as a source of richness, vitality and strength; PROCESS AWARENESS - the value of process (listening, ability to work with others, ...) more then technical ability; OPEN and HONEST COMMUNICATION - and how destructive poor information sharing can be to an organization's health; RISK TAKING- and the need to trust those we work with; INDIVIDUAL and TEAM OWNERSHIP of RESULTS; PARADOXICAL PROBLEM SOLVING - willingness to solve problems with outside the box solutions that are not necessarily consistent with popular notions of the problem; EVERYONE is a LEADER - shift from a leader to everyone playing a role in decision making; PERSONAL GROWTH SATISFACTION - seeking to make work personally and emotionally rewarding for employees; SEEING CONFLICT as an OPPORTUNITY - the positive value of conflict; and EMBRACING CHANGE.
If the various concepts described in Thank God It's Monday! were applied collectively, in the manner described, and with a group of people who could work under this model, I have no reason to doubt that the workers and those who were the recipient of their service/product would see the efforts of the leader as a success. If these types of cooperative, self led work groups became a work model of the future, our work places would be very different. Creativity and employee satisfaction would no doubt increase. Customer satisfaction would likely also improve, as would profit because of a better work product and a reduction in overhead costs (less managers, less oversight, less litigation, less conflict management).
Two of the themes that Cloke and Goldsmith explore are, "Who Selects the Managers and How do the Manage," and "Who Gets Promoted, How and by What Criteria." If our organizational structures shifted along with our selection processes to those of a self managed group, our para military, hieracical organizations would no doubt change dramatically.
This text does a very good job of making a case for more humanized, employee operated work units. Even the skeptic should find himself closing the back page and asking, "Could we really be more effective and have less employee trouble and the associated costs with a model like this?" Given that possibility, I think the forward looking leader will seek out opportunites to implement the concepts communcated in the 233 pages of this publication. The transition might be difficult, and the model may not work in every police situation, but it defintely could improve our work environments and improve many of the distracting situations we deal with daily.
The success of this effort would fit well with our community oriented policing efforts. Organizations would be able to easily see self directed work units identify and resolve community problems in a manner that was not only prompt, but also with a degree of creativity that our current structure likely inhibits. The success of this model could also be measured by reductions in management problems, such as worker's compensation claims, medical retirements and grievances. The humanized, self managed work group should reduces the numbers of these actions (and when they do arise they will typically be handled at the work group level) and the management time/cost required to address them.
While participative management has for some time been the mantra of leadership experts, the level to which this proposal for humanized organizations takes it, will likely push the comfort level of not only police managers but line level personnel as well. To expect that such a dramatic shift could occur quickly and without some serious transitional problems is unrealistic. However, we live and work in a changing environment. There is no reason to believe that we should not at least have a role in choosing the battles we want to fight. Would we rather have conflict over trying to keep operational a model that will no longer work with the employee of the 21st century, or do we want to deal with conflicts moving us in the direction of making work and our organizations better than they were in the 1990's?
If we choose to move forward, and retool our organizations to optimize the potential of our personnel, we will more likely be able to keep pace with an ever increasing work demand and externally imposed mandates to do more with less.
Lest it not yet be apparent, I would highly recommend this text for any manager or aspiring leader. The concepts are thought provoking and helpful, and the format of the book is such that it can be used as personal or organizational assessment tool.
Rating: 4
Summary: The book was a must read for ALL working people.
Comment: T.G.I.M. provides a type of How-To discussion for the enrichment of your personal and professional life. It discussed some major issues commonly facing individuals both at work and at home: values, conflict, relationships. The underlying principles, if applied in daily life, could improve current situations making your life much more successful. Cloke did a fine job at bringing some 'real' issues to light in his enjoyable book, Thank God It's Monday.
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Title: The Art of Waking People Up: Cultivating Awareness and Authenticity at Work by Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith ISBN: 0787963801 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 22 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy by Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith ISBN: 078795912X Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 15 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Resolving Conflicts at Work: A Complete Guide for Everyone on the Job by Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith ISBN: 0787954810 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 02 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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