Handbook of Strategies and Tools for the Learning Company

Many books on management improvement focus on the newest fads without providing an understanding of the whole system that is being affected by the new approach. Even the concept of a learning organization has been reduced by many to a meaningless fad.

Here, however, we comprehend the substance of that exciting new wave of management thought. This is a management book that goes beyond the current fads to the very core of what it means to be a learning company. To truly learn, a company must use a variety of techniques and approaches. This book combines the best of management strategies, from the tried and true techniques to new innovations into a complete and powerful management tool.

In Handbook of Strategies and Tools for the Learning Company, Carl Pegels provides keen insight into the dilemma faced by innovative managers as they try to make sense of the plethora of new management tools available today. He shows us learning companies in action with real-world examples from companies including Motorola, IBM, Ford, Boeing, and Saturn. Arranged in eight parts and 34 chapters, this handbook is a powerful resource spanning today's most critical management topics - empowerment of employees, teams and participation, successful restructuring, outsourcing components and services, improving productivity and efficiency, customers and product management, and the use of analytical tools. It is a powerful, comprehensive resource for management practitioners.

Companies will not prosper by distracting themselves with the latest fads. Real and continuous learning is the only way to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. With this book, management practitioners now have a complete resource for increasing the health of an organization and its ability to move forward effectively and competitively into the 21st century.

Publisher’s Message
Acknowledgments

Part 1 : Learning
Chapter 1 : Introduction
Chapter 2 : What is A Learning Organization?
Chapter 3 : Illustrations and Benefits of Learning Organizations

Part 2 : Employee Focus and Empowerment
Chapter 4 : Strategic Human Resources Management
Chapter 5 : Organizational Leadership
Chapter 6 : Empowerment of Employees
Chapter 7 : Employee Education and Training
Chapter 8 : Incentives and Motivation of Individuals and Teams

Part 3 : Teams and Employee Participation
Chapter 9 : Team-Based Management
Chapter 10 : Cross-Functional Teams
Chapter 11 : Self-Managed Work Teams

Part 4 : Improving Operations Through Restructuring
Chapter 12 : Alliances and Joint Ventures
Chapter 13 : Benchmarking
Chapter 14 : Business Process Reengineering
Chapter 15 : Flexibility, Adaptability, and Agility
Chapter 16 : Concurrent Engineering and Functional Integration

Part 5 : Outsourcing Components and Services
Chapter 17 : Supply Chain Management
Chapter 18 : Outsourcing Services–Health Systems Orientation
Chapter 19 : Outsourcing for Manufacturing Firms
Chapter 20 : Global Economic Issues

Part 6 : Improving Efficiency and Productivity
Chapter 21 : Productivity and Its Measurement
Chapter 22 : Productivity Measurement with Data Envelopment Analysis
Chapter 23 : Relative Productivities of Operating Units
Chapter 24 : Activity-Based Costing
Chapter 25 : Time-Based Competition – Cycle-Time Reduction
Chapter 26 : Just-in-Time Applications

Part 7 : Customers and Product Management
Chapter 27 : Innovation in Product Design and Development
Chapter 28 : Focus on the Customer
Chapter 29 : Data, Information, and Knowledge

Part 8 : Use of Analytical Tools
Chapter 30 : Problem-Solving, Brainstorming, and Process Charting
Chapter 31 : Cause-and-Effect Diagrams and Pareto Analysis
Chapter 32 : Control Charts
Chapter 33 : Quality Function Deployment
Chapter 34 : ISO Quality and Environmental Standards

About the Author
Index