Rethinking Resource Management

This book offers students and practitioners a sophisticated and convincing framework for rethinking the usual approaches to resource management. It uses case studies to argue that professional resource managers do not take responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of their decisions on the often vulnerable indigenous communities they affect. It also discusses the invisibility of indigenous people' values and knowledge within traditional resource management. It offers a new approach to social impact assessment methods which are more participatory and empowering. The book employs a range of case studies from Australia, North America and Norway.

This book offers students and practitioners a sophisticated and convincing framework for rethinking the usual approaches to resource management. It uses case studies to argue that professional resource managers do not take responsibility for the social and environmental consequences of their decisions on the often vulnerable indigenous communities they affect. It also discusses the invisibility of indigenous people' values and knowledge within traditional resource management. It offers a new approach to social impact assessment methods which are more participatory and empowering. The book employs a range of case studies from Australia, North America and Norway.

Why, despite an emphasis on 'getting institutions right', do development initiatives so infrequently deliver as planned? Why do many institutions designed for natural resource management (e.g. Water User Associations, Irrigation Committees, Forest Management Councils) not work as planners intended? This book disputes the model of development by design and argues that institutions are formed through the uneven patching together of old practices and accepted norms with new arrangements. The managing of natural resources and delivery of development through such processes of 'bricolage' is likened to 'institutional 'DIY' rather than engineering or design. The author explores the processes involved in institutional bricolage; the constant renegotiation of norms, the reinvention of tradition, the importance of legitimate authority and the role of people themselves in shaping such arrangements. Bricolage is seen as an inevitable, but not always benign process; the extent to which it reproduces social inequalities or creates space for challenging them is also considered. The book draws on a number of contemporary strands of development thinking about collective action, participation, governance, natural resource management, political ecology and wellbeing. It synthesises these to develop new understandings of why and how people act to manage resources and how access is secured or denied. A variety of case studies ranging from the management of water (Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan), conflict and cooperation over land, grazing and water (Tanzania), and the emergence of community management of forests (Sweden, Nepal), illustrate the context specific and generalised nature of bricolage and the resultant challenges for development policy and practice.

What do business school graduates learn, and how helpful is it for managing in the everyday, messy reality of organisations? What does it mean to apply 'best practice', or to take up 'evidence-based management' and what kind of thinking does this imply? In Rethinking Management, Chris Mowles argues that many management courses still largely assume a linear and predictable world, when experience tells us that the opposite is the case. He questions some of the more orthodox conceptual assumptions that underpin much management education and instead, encourages leaders and managers to take their everyday experience of working with others seriously. People in organisations co-operate and compete to get things done, and constrain and enable each other in relationships of power. Because of this there are always unintended consequences of our actions - uncertainty is inherent in the everyday. Chris Mowles draws on the complexity sciences, the sciences of uncertainty rather than certainty, and the social sciences to explore more helpful ways to think and talk about our lived reality. He takes concrete examples from contemporary organisations, to argue that understanding the radical implications of uncertainty is central to the task of leading. Rethinking Management explores narrative alternatives to the ubiquitous grids and frameworks that are routinely taught in business schools, and encourages management professionals and educators to recognise the importance of judgement, improvisation and the everyday politics of organisational life.

If water resources are to be distributed efficiently, equitably and cost-effectively in this rapidly changing world, then it is clear that current water management practices are no longer feasible. Innovative approaches are required to meet the increasing water demands of a growing world population and economy and the needs of the ecosystems supporting them. New approaches have to be employed at global, national and local levels. In Rethinking Water Management, a new generation of water experts from around the world examine the critical challenges confronting the water profession, including rainwater and groundwater management, recycling and reuse, water rights, transboundary access to water and financing of water. They offer important new perspectives on the use, management and conservation of fresh water, in terms of both quantity and quality, for the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors, and show how a new set of paradigms can be applied to successfully manage water for the future. Caroline Figueres is Head of the Urban Infrastructure Department at UNESCO-IHE Water Education Institute in The Netherlands. Cecilia Tortajada is Vice President of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico and Vice President-elect of the International Water Resources Association. Johan Rockström is Water Resources Expert at UNESCO-IHE.

Presenting both the need for - and difficulty of - introducing effective cultural resource management (CRM) in the region, 'Rethinking Cultural Resource Management' in Southeast Asia explores the challenges facing efforts to protect Southeast Asia's indigenous cultures and archaeological sites from the ravages of tourism and economic development. Recognising the inapplicability of Euro-American solutions to this part of the world, the essays of this volume investigate their own set of region-specific CRM strategies, and acknowledge both the necessity and possibility of mediating between the conflicting interests of short-term profitability and long-term sustainability.

The primary goal of this book is to show you new ways to improve the business impact of your HR function by up to 25 percent. Because the goal is so high, The approaches that permeate this book are aggressive ones that are designed to make you rethink everything you do in HR. Authored by one of the industry's most respected thinkers, Rethinking Strategic HR is a forward-thinking look at building a smarter, more powerful HR strategy in any organization. Throwing out the old, conventional approaches, this provocative book provides a hard-hitting guide to 21st century HR strategy that will challenge you to think in bold, new ways. From critiques of traditional practices to specific day-to-day steps to strategic thinking, you'll get a new perspective on HR including: A clear definition of what is and what is not strategic the five distinct levels of contribution that HR can make A list of the most-used HR department strategies Tools for assessing your own strategic level A chart on how to make 'fact-based' decisions How HR routinely 'under-costs' its decisions How to make a strategic case to your CFO and more!

This book presents a novel viewpoint in HR management: in addition to the macroeconomic factors (demographic development, industry 4.0, digitization, etc.) and its micro-political counterparts (shortage of skilled workers, an aging workforce, shortage of MINTs), personnel policy in the highly developed economic regions of the world can increasingly be seen from the third point of view, which is the ego-perspective. The complexity of the economic world 4.0 is manifesting itself for the employees in a working world of unlimited possibilities, offering almost limitless freedom of choice, especially for younger people. Due to this shift in the balance of power, the influence of the employers decreases and is often reduced to countering the pronounced self-confidence of the employees in asserting their expectations with corresponding company incentives. The author emphasizes that dealing with the challenges of this extremely fragile world of work - currently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic - must by no means be left solely in the hands of overburdened personnel managers. The contribution of the line manager or direct superior is becoming increasingly important. And it is only through close and clearly defined cooperation between the two that the opportunity for effective human resources management lies. This book aims to illustrate this process of division of labor in the individual phases of personnel management.