1 comments about Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico.

1. Essential reading for anyone interested in the functioning of labor markets and in the Mexican labor market in particular. A must-read for any economics student in Mexico and should be a requirement for any aspiring mexican politician.
   On the style I can only say that it is very well written; it is a shame though that is plagued by annoying cursive letters that don't show much respect for the reader.

5 comments about Diversity Consciousness: Opening Our Minds to People, Cultures, and Opportunities (2nd Edition).

1. I truly dislike being lied to, and the author lies in this book, saying that diversity awareness isn't common sense. It is in large part common sense. It also requires maturity to apply the common sense. It does not require a degree or formal training. It does not require college classes, or textbooks. Information can help, but dealing with other cultures, however they are delineated, requires more than knowledge. Specifics on how to avoid offending particular cultures (in the broad spectrum, since it often comes down to individuals, not collectives) can be helpful, but providing such help is beyond the scope of any single, short and overpriced book. A better book to buy would be "Making Friends With Black People," which is informed by common sense and humor, something profoundly lacking in this book.



2. Richard Bucher has hit the proverbial nail on the head with this insightful, down-to-earth text. I am a humanities professor in a small junior college, where students have little chance to experience more than minimal diversity. This somewhat cloistered environment is a perfect spot for the wisdom and practicality of "Diversity Consciousness." The contents introduce, through case studies, team activities, and individual exercises, concepts of racism, discrimination, ethnocentrism, and other population characteristics capable of damaging personal as well as international relationships. Bucher's careful and logical exploration of the opportunities presented by a diverse culture are more than welcome in my classroom, any time!



3. I've been using this text for three years now for a graduate-level course for teachers. Every year my teachers let me know how much they enjoy the book and what a difference the course has made in their ability to relate to diverse populations. Thanks, Dr. Bucher for a great book.



4. This book was mandatory reading for a diversity class that I just finished and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Especially helpful were the opportunities to personally reflect on the sidebar questions, which the reader can use to journal and explore their journey as they become more aware and accepting of diversity. Dr. Bucher (and his wife Pat) have written an thoughful book that provides readers with the tools they need to become more open-minded of differences, whether it be race, gender, religion, sexuality--the book touches a variety of aspects. I would recomment this book to anyone!



5. The book is very easy to read. It is short and to the point. It was also cheap.

5 comments about Immigrants Unions & The New Us Labor Mkt.

1. Professor Immanuel Ness brings a lot to the lectern in this story of spirited, but impoverished immigrant workers organizing in New York City. Ness is a professor of political science. He's written widely on cities. And his years as a union organizer give him instant street credibility.
   
   All this experience and knowledge is effectively woven into his book, Immigrants, Unions and the New U.S. Labor market The title is accurate although Ness rarely strays far from the battles in New York's five boroughs. New York is a kind of testing ground. Immigrant workers in New York City make up more a than half the labor force. The low wages of these immigrants explain why New York County has the biggest spread between rich and poor in America -- It's in these organizing campaigns that the struggle to keep America from sliding back to the pay and conditions of the Gilded Age are being determined.
   
   Ness focuses on three campaigns: Mexicans who work in Korean deli's, Pakistani limo drivers; and west African grocery store workers. With dozens of candid interviews, he takes us inside these immigrant communities, to hear the voices of New York's most silent workers.
   
   Everyone knows that immigrants have it hard. But Ness forces us to see just what it means to be delivery man from Mali and be forced to live on $1.00 an hour - plus tips of course - while working for A&P's Food Emporium.
   
   These workers are so exploited they aren't even permitted the status of workers. They're "independent contractors" "a fiction that allows employers the right to ignore the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) regulating minimum wage, maximum hours and safety conditions. The upshot is that the grocery baggers from Mali wind up making that $1.00 an hour - which is more than they would make in Mali but not as much as Americans made a century ago. .
   
   Ness shows us how these immigrants nevertheless have been able to come together to demand dignity, rights and a few extra dollars - at great risk, despite threats of physical harm, deportation, and job loss. It's not exactly workers of the world unite. But a triumph of the resilience of traditional social bonds which somehow survive even in the Global City. Plus it turns out they can mobilize a lot of outside support - the Mexican workers in Korean deli's got help from State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer who obligating sued the employers for back pay; a formidable community campaign sprang up on the Lower East Side to support the workers when they went on strike; the Mexican Consul-general got involved, too.
   
   Ness' most surprising finding is that American unions - the institution you might expect to be leading the charge on behalf of the most exploited workers - the established unions - are mostly missing in action or actively undermining the immigrant organizing campaigns. There are some splendid exceptions, like Ernesto Joffre the former Chilean miner, jailed for subversion under the Pinochet dictatorship who went into exile here in New York and became head of an exemplary garment workers local. But mostly organized labor is too busy patrolling its jurisdictional boundaries to give more than perfunctory help. Almost immediately after Joffre's untimely death, his parent union liquidated support for the organizing campaign. A shady longshore union located in New Jersey wound up with sweetheart contracts with several of the Korean deli's.
   
   Ness' accomplishment is dual: anthropology of New York's newest immigrant communities and a political science of the city's unions. It adds up to the most valuable account yet of the astringent realities of immigrant organizing in America.



2. This is one of the very few books that addresses the issue of worker organizing and the importance of migrant workers to the oranized labor movement. The AFL-CIO increasingly recognizes the need for immigrant workers as they form a larger part of the labor force in low-wage jobs amenable to organizing. Unions have a range of responses to this newfound worker militancy, from complacency to building power and support for workers otherwise left to their own. Unlike other books, Ness shows that migrant workers from similar backgrounds tend to have strong ties to their co-workers. In fact, these strong ties contributes to solidarity and the will to confront rapacious employers. Surely U.S. workers have much to learn from migrants whose bonds of solidarity are reinforced by common religious, national, language, and ethnic identities.
   U.S. workers are no less militant if confronted with identifical circumstances as immigrants. However, the rise in contingent work contributes to fewer bonds of solidarity as native-born frequently move from job to job as they seek out individual gains--mostly without success.
   
   The case studies in this book will be instructive to international unions in seeking out new strategies for organizing immigrant and native-born workers alike. This book is the most important contribution to the literature on labor organizing in recent memory, and provides the basis for understanding the labor struggles of the early 20th century when mobilized immigrant workers formed unions and were consolidated by the national unions. This book offers hope to all of us as the government seeks to marginalize immigrants through imposing draconian laws and weaken their legal status as workers.



3. This book is far and away the most important book on labor in many years. While it covers immigrant laborers in the U.S. the book can be applied to U.S. workers as well. The book counters the intuitive notion that migrant workers are too afraid to organize. In fact they are the most likely to organize! Then the book provides a road map for all labor organizing, both immigrant and U.S.-born workers. Of all the books I have read, this book provides the most theoretically sound approach to labor organizing and mobilization in a clear and concise manner. The book is accessible to any reader and, without hubris or jargon, explains in a clear way that it is workers who organize first. Power is consolidated for the workers by unions. But even without unions, the book shows us that workers are more willing to take risks and are much more militant than their unions. Written clearly, the book is the best book on immigrants for university students. In my class, I found that students were so enthusiastic that the book in fact sparked discussion without my intervention. Bravo to Ness.



4. No other book brings to life the work and struggles of new migrants in the United States. Ness sets the stage for the impending crisis that the labor movement will most certainly confront in the years to come. The book is eye-opening political-economy that points to new strategies and directions for the labor movement and the broader the working class. Striking is the absence of unions, labor institutions, and a party capable or willing to support the new realities of what is effectively the post-NLRA era.



5. Immanuel Ness' vivid descriptions of three labor struggles among immigrants in New York City provides an alternative both to the mindless boosting of the city as a paradise of gentrification and to some of the more overly optimistic characterizations of labor found in academia. Far from being a new paradise, for these workers (driving black cars, working in green groceries, and doing supermarket deliveries) New York offers working conditions not much different from some of the worst in the world. Employees at the green groceries are locked in the freezers as punishment. Delivery men earn about $100/week (in NYC!). And so on. But Ness' real focus is on the logic of their organizing to improve the conditions and pay. Because these workplaces are characterized by tight-knit, immigrant communities isolated from the rest of the population, they are better able to build bonds of solidarity than, say, workers at Wal Mart who go home at night to various suburban developments. In all cases, organizing began as self-organizing, rather than union-driven campaigns. Nevertheless, the supportive (or not) role of unions is crucial. In the case of the green grocers, some support is found, until the untimely death of a crucial organizer. For the delivery men, the union actively opposes their interest. Only in the case of the black car drivers is there a relatively happy ending, in which they found a local that was comfortable working with their organization on an enduring basis. But even this is tempered by the material in a chapter on Post 9-11 working and organizing. 9-11 triggered an increase in state surveillance of immigrant communities and 'grassroots' racism among the wider population that had an extremely negative impact. The future of these efforts is highly uncertain. I strongly recommend this book to people concerned with labor organizing, contemporary immigrant life, and general interest in cities. My only complaint is that in the conclusion Ness invokes some crude Marxist formulations about the centrality of class over culture that are contradicted by his own material--there is no evidence that workers in New York are uniting on the basis of class. Instead, the workers described joined together through a mixture of class and identity, and efforts to knit them together with each other or with the traditional unions based in slightly better paying jobs (staffed mostly by US citizens) will require considerable cultural work.

5 comments about Confessions of a Union Buster.

1. A well-written and comprehensive account of a labor relations consultant's misdeeds. Catalogues with many accute psychological observations the harm many managers and labor relations consultants cause workers through wrong actions--often, he confesses, willfully. Also, the personal experience of holding a destructive job and the accompanying mechanisms denial are important to understand, both in this book and in all our lives as workers, consultants, or managers. In his career, Levitt's cycle of destructive work was linked with alcoholism and compensatory over-spending, and the authors make it clear that the personal psychological knots of consultants and managers perpetuate their wrong actions and livelihoods. This narration is heartrending and sickening, but is a vital call to examination of the labor crimes in this country and of personal responsibility for suffering.



2. I read Mr. Levitt's book on the recommendation of a coworker. While I found it to be an informative and digusting peek into the sordid world of the professional union-buster, I was dismayed that Mr. Levitt was using his misery causing professional experience to make more money from the victims he is now trying to make ammends to after the crime.

   The book is a must read for any American worker - particularly those who labor in a Right To Work state or under a Birmingham Plan minded management. I only wish that any profits from the book were going to fund union organizing drives in an effort to make some small reparation to those who were harmed by the odious and demeaning tactics Mr. Levitt wielded as his tools of trade in the employ of greedy, capricious managers.




3. Marty is an extrordinary man who, not only through this book, is helping workers gain the right to better working conditions and benefits.

   In Las Vegas we are organizing all the Wal-Mart's and Sam's Club's and recently my Sam's Club was the first one in quite some time to petition for an entire store election.

   Marty volunteered his time to talk with us about what the company would do (which they did) and how to counter it.

   His book is full of his exploits as a 'union buster' and the damage he created. For anyone who believes that their company is trying to 'educate' them about unions should first read this book.

   Bottom line: If you want to know how far corporate America wants to restrict their employees rights under Federal law to have a Union, read this book.




4. In retrospect, this author is able to see what choices and decisions he had to make in his working life made on others; not a usual occurrence in the real world.

   What Marty Levitt passes on to his readers is that even though he didn't feel the brunt of his decisions at the time, he realized the difference that he made on their lives later, when he was able to review and reflect on his own choices.

   The tale of alcoholism is sad, but admirable in that he acknowledged it and was seeking a better life for the future.

   Marty's decision was a good one, to share this story with the world. It is well written and well presented; an enlightening way to share his knowledge and experience about unions and union busting, as well as own personal weaknesses with the world in order to move on. I even enjoyed re-reading it after over five years.




5. This book is a fascinating account of not only union busting but a man's descent into greed. I couldn't put it down.

2 comments about Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series).

1. Here we have a collection of several articles about balancing work and life. I liked the book because of that. You don't have to begin reading on page 1. Just see the index for an article of choice an begin reading there. The ideas the authors propose are written in an easy reading manner an are always backed on serious researches. I licked it a lot.



2. The package came overseas to Japan in less time than expected. Great service! I was so excited to get the package of books before I had to leave for a business trip for a week. (If the books had come "on time," then I would have already left.)

1 comments about The Progressive Discipline Handbook: Smart Strategies for Coaching Employees (Book w/ CD Rom).

1. Business managers can learn how to couch troubled performers and increase productivity with The Progressive Discipline Handbook, which moves beyond the general advice guide to get down to the specifics of management. From learning how to identify problems early and decide when discipline is needed to engaging employees in cooperative production, this handbook is key for any manager - especially those who would guide effectively while avoiding lawsuits. A 'must' for any business library catering to managers.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

No comments about The New Spirit of Capitalism.

5 comments about Mastering Monday: A Guide to Integrating Faith And Work.

1. How refreshing to find someone who has a positive, creative angle on business! Whether you are a CEO or simply in the work force "Mastering Monday" is essential study to help pave the way to a fruitful and fulfilling experience for those looking for a balanced family, community and business life.
   
   From the outset "Mastering Monday" steps right into the nitty gritty work situations that regularly grab newspaper headlines tackling issues like .... personal conflict....union confrontation....attempted takeovers....global fall-out of bad business, etc. this leads into John Beckett focusing the reader on essential management policies and practices, the need to rethink relationships, as well as the balance between work and family, employee health, safety issues, and the bottom line in the balance sheet. This book sets out a corporate roadmap that spells out vision, mission, core values and principles essential to forge a balanced corporate character of your business.
   
   "Mastering Monday" is designed to help businesses in the work place to bridge the gap between faith in God and everyday work bringing these two worlds together. John boldly relates some well known Biblical examples of godly personalities who set the highest standards of outstanding leadership from Noah to Jesus. There is a compelling chapter spelling out the end of business where God's principles of integrity and equity are ignored. John illustrates his point with some well known examples of corporate collapse due to business excess, pride, abusing influence in the workplace and devaluing people, with the subsequent impact on the business community and society in general.
   
   In the final chapters John lays out five rock solid structural building blocks for a business based on sound Biblical principles that transcended time and circumstances. These principles cover areas such as....a sense of purpose....core values....the importance of people....stewardship in business and what it means to serve. Again John uses practical examples of these principles which have dynamically effected many spheres of today's business world and the benefits they have brought, not only to individuals but to the community by and large.
   
   Momentum for change is touching hundreds of corporations and organisations as they rethink how they can live out sound Biblical principles in business in seeking to integrate faith and work. This is a genuine move of God potentially changing the whole landscape of work as an integrated part of living out a Christ-centered life naturally in the business world. I would highly reccommend "Mastering Monday" to every one involved in business and management.
   
   Noel Bell.
   Retired partner of Noel Bell Ridley Smith, Architects and Planners.



2. John Beckett has accurately captured many of the struggles and tensions Christians experience daily in the marketplace. Aspects of the author's journey are common to many Christians. His chapter "Integrating two Worlds" will be a help to any Christian in the marketplace -it is an issue that continually manifests itself. The phrase "I found that my growing faith was often relevant to work issues - but the reverse was also true. Workplace issues challenged and strengthened my faith, occasionally more than I anticipated." provides an encouraging perspective. The author shares his own experiences in this realm - in a transparent way that should be encouraging to all who read.
   
   The section "Companions on the Journey" provides a number of biblical stories and characters from which much is to be learned and applied to our work world today. These are not one size fits all stories, but the characters and illustrations the author selects will provide much to think about. This is mixed in with some stories of contemporary business leaders and recent situations they have faced and their responses.
   
   Finally, a discussion of God's workplace agenda and what theme's the author believes are critical in this discussion. In light of some recent business failures (more specifically failures of leadership) - this section does a good job of connecting the themes to "good business". It is a reminder of what really matters - and some encouragement to have the courage to do the right things.
   
   This is a pretty quick reading book, but I don't think it is a read once and put it on the shelf. I'm sure I'll be referring back to it every year or so to remind myself of proper perspectives and to be encouraged in my work.



3. John Beckett has a perspective of nearly 50 years in grappling with faith and work issues. His book, Mastering Monday, gives a remarkable perspective from a Biblical and contemporary setting to understand important issues. Beckett is well versed, well travelled, and has a thoughtful spirituality.
   
   I know of few other marketplace leaders in the world as respected as John. His book should be a primer for every markteplace ministry and every church that understands the sacredness of vocational calling. Those of us who live in vocationally driven metropolitan areas will well appreciate the clarity with which John writes on the topic of calling.
   
   We will encourage our church and marketplace networks here in New York City to make wide usage of this invaluable resource.
   
   Dr. Mac Pier
   President, Concerts of Prayer Greater New York
   Chairman, Fulton Street Anniversary Congress



4. I've read some great stuff on leadership, but "Mastering Monday" is one of my favorites.
   
   John Beckett is not a theorist, but a practitioner. I've actually had the privilege of visiting his plant in Elyria, OH. I was deeply impressed with the way John interacts with his employees--they're family.
   
   John is unashamed of his faith. The Bible is his source of inspiration. His use of biblical characters as examples of both success and failure doesn't come across as preachy, but prove that the Bible is still relevant for the world of work today. Ironically, John Beckett the `businessman' cites the Bible more than most preachers who attempt 'cross-over' books on leadership for the general public.
   
   From personal observation I can confirm that John Beckett is the same person in and out of the marketplace. His godly character is particularly evident in the kind of family he and Wendy have raised. That's true success.
   
   Surprisingly, for a man who is not a writer by profession, John Beckett communicates with remarkable clarity and creativity.
   
   John Beckett has shown that integrating work with faith is possible---and the dividends are worth the investment.
   
   I like "Mastering Monday" so much that I ordered a whole box!



5. The book, Mastering Monday, set the perfect example for all business people to follow. As I was always curious of why "church versus state" this book answered lots of my questions. There is such a thing as "it's just business" somewhere in our line of duty, but this book gives the big picture and how "God" and business is truly connected.

2 comments about Whistleblowers: Broken Lives and Organizational Power.

1. If the 20th century was the era of totalitarian states then it was also the era of many isolated and unsung individuals attempting to withstand particular instances of cruelty, brutality and inhumanity. Surprisingly, the institutions of oppression associated with Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the People's Republic of China resonate to one degree or another in larger modern organizations found in contemporary North America: multi-nationals, municipal entities, Federal corporations and agencies. The methods for destroying individuals are vastly improved over the knock on the door at midnight and the train ride to an Arctic concentration camp. Now, dissidents are eliminated cleanly, quietly, even "legally."

   The point of this book is that the forms of ethical resistance associated with the incredible heroism of figures such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Oscar Schnidler, and Harry Wu occur under different appearances today.

   Unfortunately, the effect of resistance to evil ordinarily produces futile results - the walls seem to specialize in falling in on the individual resister while the public good and general interest is hardly advanced following the episodes. In a sense, this is a dark book perhaps of neo-Gothic horror since the reality is that the doers of evil escape thanks to enjoying the presumption of right and virtual invisibility. Repressive organizational technique includes "learned helplessness" (the bureaucratic ability to appear innocent while invariably smashing the box marked "fragile"), the employment of lawyers skilled in turning statutes into injustice, and the exploitation of the inherent ability of modern organizations to avoid accountability and, even, recognition.

   Who needs this book?

   Professor Alford's book has particular value to would be authors, instructors, and playwrights. These will find the book muse-like for its stock of great and gory chucks of raw reality. In its pages new ideas, vistas and themes to inspire the imaginative writer, even the artist. One can readily imagine a contemporary Arthur Miller carefully taking notes as he or she turns the pages.

   For the discerning reader, this book is even collectible for its future scarcity - like a copy of Freud in Hitler's Third Reich. Prim organizational librarians and censorious officials will recoil at the ghastly truths and pitiable realities described within its pages. One may rest assured that the book will never found in the libraries of Federal agencies - unless the agency's business involves harassing whistle blowers. Those few copies placed in public libraries will certainly be culled out and disappear from sight when the real meaning and significance of it become known to the authorities.

   For the general consumer, entranced with the illusory world purveyed by the mass media - luxuriating in consumerism, searching for impressive books to place on the coffee table, Prof. Alford's tome is apt to be baffling, improbable, and irritating.

   Moreover, and worse of all, it has no pictures and does not even come with a music CD.

   "Tom Hardy"(see pages 27-29)




2. I suspect that the problem with this book is that it is mostly read by whistleblowers who've already acted.
   It needs to be read by management in every organization so that they understand whistleblowers, and perhaps will deal with them differently.
   It needs to be read by those contemplating whistleblowing, although it would likely convince many not to act--and then where would the world be?
   I am a whistleblower, but early in the process. This book describes my feelings and the reaction of others to the point of being eerie. It has helped me understand what is happening. This makes Mr. Alford's prediction of the likely outcomes very distressing. I believe my outcome will be different, but he says that is a common delusion among whistleblowers.

5 comments about The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator (2nd Edition).

1. We used this book in our negotiations class and actually found Getting to Yes to be more useful. This is one of those textbooks that I have written about in other classes that has a lot of common sense in it but it actually makes thinking about negotiation harder than it really is. The book could easily have been shrunk from 430 pages to about 150 pages. The book actually presents too many things to think about in a negotiation that you end up becoming confused about which strategy to use or how to play defense. Of course, like any book some people might like it but I know myself and other classmates did not find it that helpful.



2. The book has many excellent points, but is written in a manner that will bore you. Several of us in class have three books to read, and this one is the least interesting. I still would recommend it as a good textbook, but only if used as an additional resource to "Getting to Yes" and "You can negotiate anything". Between the three you'll stay interested and the overlap will reinforce.



3. This was the text in a grad level class I took, and I'm glad the prof chose it! This is a great read for anyone that wants to learn how negotiation affects all aspects of your life as well as for those who want to improve their negotiating skills!



4. This book is a good balance of academic/research reviews and an even better practical guide for improving your negotiation style.



5. This has helped my husband negotiate jobs, and it has helped us negotiate with each other on what we want to accomplish with our family. It gives great examples and simple steps. It is clear and a quick read.