Books

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Beyond Communities of Practice: Language Power and Social Context

The concept of ‘communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger 1991, Wenger 1998) has become an influential one in education, management, and social sciences in recent years. This book consists of a series of studies by linguists and educational researchers, examining and developing aspects of the concept which have remained relatively unexplored. Framings provided by theories of language-in-use, literacy practices, and discourse extend the concept, bringing to light issues around conflict, power, and the significance of the broader social context which have been overlooked. Chapters assess the relationship between communities of practice and other theories including literacy studies, critical language studies, the ethnography of communication, socio-cultural activity theory, and sociological theories of risk. Domains of empirical research reported include schools, police stations, adult basic education, higher education, and multilingual settings. The book highlights the need to incorporate thinking around language-in-use, power and conflict, and social context into communities of practice.

Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: The Failure of the Reform Regime…. and a Manifesto for a Better Way

With the UK’s public sector in crisis, John Seddon’s fiercely outspoken new book is already causing a stir. Wrong-headed, ill thought-out reform from a succession of monetarist governments has led to unwieldy systems of mass production that do little for the people they are supposed to serve. Hospitals, local authorities, schools, housing associations, taxation and benefits offices: all are victims of a dysfunctional regime created by a government-enforced culture of deliverology that puts targets and red tape before people. In Systems Thinking in the Public Sector, John Seddon argues powerfully for the government to forget sticking plasters like CRM and citizen empowerment and says don’t tweak the system. Ditch it. Systems Thinking in the Public Sector gives example after example of exactly how the system fails from housing benefits and care for the elderly to call centres like Consumer Direct. Drawing on Seddon’s extensive experience working as a consultant with UK public sector managers, this is a fiercely uncompromising, yet rigorous manifesto for change.

Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives

Communities of practice has become an increasingly influential model of learning, organization and creativity, and is informing current debates about learning processes, managerial control of organizational knowledge, and general and vocational education. This benchmark text provides an accessible yet critical introduction to the theory and application of communities of practice and their use in a diverse range of managerial and professional contexts, from education to human resource development.The book charts the development of the idea of communities of practice and explores the key relationship between learning and identity among: newcomers and ‘old timers’; male and female workers; the low skilled and the high skilled professionals and managers; and adults and adolescents. Drawing on international empirical studies and adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, this book is useful reading for all students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers with an interest in work, employment, labour markets, learning, training or education.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs

KPIs, while used commonly around the world, have never been clearly defined until now. Management has often referred to certain measures as KPIs that have never been KPIs. The lack of understanding of performance measures has led to most monitoring and reporting of measures failing to deliver. The casualty has often been the balanced scorecard, a brilliant tool that can only work if the appropriate measures are in it. By exploring measures that have transformed businesses, David Parmenter has developed a methodology that is breathtaking in its simplicity and yet profound in its impact. It has been said that Key Performance Indicators is the missing link between the balanced scorecard work of Robert Kaplan and David Norton and the reality of implementing performance measurement in an organization.

The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures

Innovation is an evergreen topic because it is such an essential ingredient for successful growth – and this book provides a new and fascinating perspective on how new innovations can best be found and developed. Managers from all kinds of companies will find this book of interest. This book is so well written and is filled with such engaging examples that we expect it to break out beyond a business audience to general readers. It is similar to The Tipping Point in terms of tone, readability, and rich, interesting stories, which show how innovative ideas were born in intersections that combined arenas as diverse as card games and sky rises, Palm Pilots and carrots, airplanes and cookies, ants and truck drivers. Offers practical strategies anyone can use to develop novel new ideas big and small, in all areas of life and work. The book’s title refers to an explosion of creativity that occurred in Florence during the Renaissance, when the Medici banking family funded creators from many different disciplines to come together to debate, discuss, and discover new ideas. The book is about how any of us can create our own ‘Medici effects’ using the concept of ‘the intersection’.

I/T Architecture in Action

This book is for business professionals interested in learning techniques for managing change in technology driven companies. It focuses on bridging business and I/T strategies through the Enterprise Architecture function. Unlike many books about I/T, it is not about building things. Rather, it is about what business people can do with what I/T produces.