Building A New Performance Vision

Despite their best efforts, many organizations find it difficult to shake the silo mentality that stands in the way of real strides in performance improvement. Building a New Performance Vision addresses this issue head on by arguing that training, human resources, organizational development, quality, information technology, and knowledge management professionals should all be playing on the same HPI team. Each of these functions spends most of its energy promoting individual agendas and not the organization’s business and performance needs. The cure for this unhappy state of affairs is the creation of a single, unified HPI process and function that brings together these disparate groups under the banner of shared business goals. Readers are offered a clear path to accomplish this organizational feat through the use of step-by-step instructions, tools, tips, and job aids.

This authoritative sourcebook is a timely decision-making tool for companies making the transition to (or already using) e-learning. Featuring all-original contributions from high-profile practitioners and renowned theorists, the book reveals how top companies are implementing and using this crucial employee development tool. Topics include: * analyzing organizational need * selling e-learning to the organization * learning management systems * synchronous collaboration * learning portals * repurposing materials * outsourcing and vendor relations. Other chapters focus on motivation and retention, technological and software options, measuring ROI, and more.

Take a shortcut! Explore the pop-up market! Breathe the fresh scents of flowers in a secret garden! What if backlanes were far from the state they are in today — lively chatter and laughter replacing the heat and noise of air-conditioning condensers and foul smells from trash bins? Reclaiming Backlanes presents design visions for future development of shophouse neighbourhoods, reprogramming backlanes into viable and high-quality common spaces, while improving energy efficiency of shophouses by up to 50%. These visions mark the convergence of studies in energy efficiency, pedestrian movement, historic building stock analysis and urban diversity by a multidisciplinary team. Contents: IntroductionBacklanes in SingaporeBacklane Infrastructure & ServicesFocus Area: Boat Quay AnalysisFocus Area: Emerald Hill AnalysisFindings & AlternativesScenarios Boat QuayScenarios Emerald HillConclusion & Outlook Readership: Practitioners and students of architecture, urban design, urban planning and building technology; real estate developers; government agencies; and policy makers. Keywords:Reclaiming;Backlanes;Shophouse;Neighbourhood;Cooling;Heat Bus;Low Exergy;Urban Design;Public Space;Activation;Urban Heat Island;Planning;Green Retrofit;Passive;District Cooling

The Bled workshops have traditionally produced reference documents providing visions for the future development of earthquake engineering as foreseen by leading researchers in the field. The participants of the 2011 workshop built on the tradition of these events initiated by Professors Fajfar and Krawinkler to honor their important research contributions and have now produced a book providing answers to crucial questions in today’s earthquake engineering: “What visible changes in the design practice have been brought about by performance-based seismic engineering? What are the critical needs for future advances? What actions should be taken to respond to those needs?” The key answer is that research interests should go beyond the narrow technical aspects and that the seismic resilience of society as a whole should become an essential part of the planning and design process. The book aims to provide essential guidelines for researchers, professionals and students in the field of earthquake engineering. It will also be of particular interest for all those working at insurance companies, governmental, civil protection and emergency management agencies that are responsible for assessing and planning community resilience. The introductory chapter of the book is based on the keynote presentation given at the workshop by the late Professor Helmut Krawinkler. As such, the book includes Helmut’s last and priceless address to the engineering community, together with his vision and advice for the future development of performance-based design, earthquake engineering and seismic risk management.

Research clearly indicates that there is a strong need for the Human Resources (HR) function, and the people in it, to adopt a more strategic and business-linked approach. In one study business executives ranked the HR function as third, after sales and customer service, as a function that makes a very significant contribution to a company's bottom line. Unfortunately research also indicates that few HR functions have become strategic. Most still operate in a primarily administrative and tactical manner—the very work that is increasingly being outsourced. Clearly there is a gap between what business leaders and employees need from their HR departments and what HR is providing. HR functions must become more integrated into the business, with some people on the HR team assuming the role of Strategic Business Partner (SBP). Here, Dana and Jim Robinson offer guidance for HR, Organization Development and Learning professionals who aspire to transform themselves into effective Strategic Business Partners. They explain how SBPs build partnerships, based upon credibility and trust, with key organization leaders. These partnerships provide SBPs with opportunities to identify and support projects directly aligned with business goals. The success of these projects deepens the SBPs' credibility, enabling them to be viewed as strategic partners. At this higher level of accountability, SBPs work with business leaders to form long-range business strategies and plans, creating and implementing people initiatives that link into and support the business strategies and plans. This practical guide offers case studies, exercises, tips, and tools you can use to become a Strategic Business Partner in your organization.

Experts consider green construction and the social, institutional, and cultural changes associated with it, through a sociological and organizational lens. Buildings are the nation's greatest energy consumers. Forty percent of all our energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and powering machines and devices in buildings. And despite decades of investment in green construction technologies, residential and commercial buildings remain stubbornly energy inefficient. This book looks beyond the technological and material aspects of green construction to examine the cultural, social, and organizational shifts that sustainable building requires, examining the fundamental challenge to centuries-long traditions in design and construction that green building represents. The contributors consider the changes associated with green building through a sociological and organizational lens. They discuss shifts in professional expertise created by new social concerns about green building, including evolving boundaries of professional jurisdictions; changing industry strategies and structures, including the roles of ownership, supply firms, and market niches; new operational, organizational, and cultural arrangements, including the mainstreaming of environmental concerns; narratives and frames that influence the perception of green building; and future directions for the theory and practice of sustainable construction. The essays offer uniquely multidisciplinary insights into the transformative potential of green building and the obstacles that must be overcome to make it the norm. Contributors Lauren Barhydt, Clayton Bartczak, Lyn Bartram, Olivier Berthod, Nicole Woolsey Biggart, Lenora Bohren, Bertien Broekhans, William Browning, Zinta S. Byrne, Michael Conger, Jennifer E. Cross, David Deal, Beth M. Duckles, Brian Dunbar, Robert Eccles, Amy Edmondson, Bill Franzen, Ronald Fry, Rebecca L. Henn, Jock Herron, Stephen Hockley, Andrew J. Hoffman, Kathryn B. Janda, Nitin Joglekar, Gavin Killip, Alison G. Kwok, Larissa Larsen, Michelle A. Meyer, Christine Mondor, Monica Ponce de Leon, Nicholas B. Rajkovich, Stuart Reeve, Johnny Rodgers, Garima Sharma, Geoffrey Thün, Ellen van Bueren, Kathy Velikov, Rohit Verma, Robert Woodbury, Jeffrey G. York, Jie Zhang

Ethical Exchanges in Translation, Adaptation and Dramaturgy examines the ethics of specific artistic practices. The book highlights the significant continuities between translation, adaptation, and dramaturgy; it considers the ethics of spectatorship; and it identifies the tightly interwoven relationship between ethics and politics.

Build a Better Vision Statement summarizes scientific research, along with advice from thirty entrepreneurs and CEOs of well-known and award winning companies, on how to write, communicate, and implement an effective vision statement. This book contains dozens of company vision statements along with stories from entrepreneurs and CEOs describing how and why they created their vision statements. Several decades of studies have demonstrated the profound impact that a vision statement can have on a company’s performance and growth, but only if the vision statement reflects certain characteristics. Build a Better Vision Statement presents proven principles for writing a motivational vision statement and offers guidance to company leaders about when and how to write a vision statement. Build a Better Vision Statement is a must-have for any business leader or entrepreneur looking for a low-cost, high-impact, proven approach for growing their business.