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Essay Instructions: I need a book review of Sessa, V. I. & London, M. (2006). Continuous Learning in Organizations: Individual, Group, and Organizational Perspectives. Mahwah, N J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN: 0-8058-5018-X..... If you dont have a copy try and find it on amazon and I will add an extra page to cover cost(e-book copy) just let me know. If you use other sources use scholarly only

You are asked to keep an interactive reading journal (a summary of key points and your personal reactions and/or experiences related to the points) . The review journal should contain a minimum of two or three paragraphs of text (not bullets or lists) per chapter. Please preference your personal reactions with sentences that start with wording "I think", "I believe", or "I've seen or similar wording so that I can distinguish your comments from the text concepts. Please note that the "minimum" I've described would not be considered excellent work or "A" level!! Use APA, 12 Font, double spaced. It breaks down to a page a chapter, it all depends on how much more you are willing to write over the 9 pages I am paying for. Any questions please get to me ASAP. Thanks.

Essay Instructions: Write an essay reply to each question using the uploaded documents or scholarly/empirical articles no older that 5 years to justify the answer. If uploaded documents are used please cite the document in the reply and on reference page.

1. What is the relationship between continuous learning, improvement, and adaptation? Why is understanding this relationship important to those leading systemic change? How might understanding this relationship assist leaders in determining whether the organizational structure will promote and support a given change initiative? Explain.

2. Engaging employees in the change process can help assure successful implementation and sustainability of the change initiative. What is the best way for leaders to engage employees or other stakeholders in the change process in an organization? Why?

Essay Instructions: The purpose of this assignment is the development of skill in analyzing a group work practice experience and understanding how theory guides practice. The exercise involves identifying, studying, and generalizing the actions of the social worker in the group in a specific helping situation. Approximately 4 separate consecutive interventions should be discussed (this is a very important in the paper). In this paper you are going to write about a group experience you observed (I hope the write could make up the observation based on the information I will be sending to complete this paper.)

Please include the following outline for the introduction piece of the paper:

Agency type (Do not use real names): The Department of Social Service (DSS) is the Massachusetts state agency charged with the responsibility of protecting children from child abuse and neglect. DSS is committed to protecting children and strengthening families. When children are abused or neglected by the people responsible for caring for them, DSS will intervene to ensure the safety of the children.
DSS responds to reports of abuse or neglect 24 hours a day. DSS becomes involved if there are any concerns that caretakers, parents, step-parents, guardians or other persons responsible for caring for children may be abusing or neglecting these children.
Whenever possible and appropriate, DSS attempts to keep families intact. DSS reviews all the reports of child abuse and neglect received by the agency. If it is determined that abuse or neglect has occurred, or if a child appears to be at risk of being hurt, or is being neglected, DSS takes action to protect that child.
The Department?s vision is to ensure the safety of children in a manner that holds the best hope of nurturing a sustained, resilient network of relationships to support the child?s growth and development into adulthood.
DSS Core Values
The DSS Core Values are anchors that ground their practice. DSS is committed to making these values more than words on paper. By strengthening the links between the Department, families and communities, DSS will move closer to service delivery systems that reflect the core values:
? Child-driven
? Family-centered
? Community-focused
? Strength-based
? Committed to Diversity and Cultural Competence
? Committed to Continuous Learning

Meeting time line: The DSS Family Group Conference is a Short Term ongoing group that meets once a month for four hours and has been in existence for three months.

Purpose of group: The purpose of the group is to empower families to make safe and appropriate decisions for their family. When there are issues of child safety or permanency planning, one means by which family members can decide what to do. This approach allows plans to be made by the family together with their relatives, friends, and other close supports. This group helps redefine family to include extended members and others the family considers important in making decisions about the best interest of their children. Family Group Conference can allow children who are in foster homes to remain connected to their families while increasing the number of caring adults in their lives. This group reinforces and expands the support networks that exist within all families and can prevent unnecessary out of home placements. This process provides kin with the opportunity to provide support, assist with case monitoring and if needed provide an alternative placement.

Members' gender, age range, cultural/racial/ethnic information, and/or any other significant information: The number of members varies each month from 5-15 depending on the family size and whom they invite as their support. It is the policy of this agency that both sides of a child?s family are represented at the meeting, but that each parent will be able to invite whom they want. The types of families come from a diverse culture and with difficult histories.

Leader(s)? significant identifying information: The group leader is a 35 years old American male, with an MSW from Salem State University. He has had several years of previous experience leading groups with family in hospitals, conferences and mental health agencies.

Context of excerpt (brief statement of relevant events, issues or themes surrounding the process
piece): The group has a unique character and format. The beginning of the group ?belongs? to the family. This is their time to affirm their ties and culture through an opening ceremony, or ritual or by arranging themselves in a way that is comfortable to them. The group leader makes sure that everyone is introduced by name and relationship to the children, knows the group process and ground rules (e.g., no violence, respect for others), and understands that the meeting is confidential, with two exceptions: 1. When a group member threatens the safety of himself or others and 2. If information of new issues of abuse is brought forward and that the group includes mandated reporters. The group leader tells the group why they decided to request a group conference. The social worker defines what issues need to be addressed by the family and any ?bottom lines? that exist. The social worker gives a brief summary of the family and the reasons that brought the family to the attention of the agency. Also provided is relevant information about systems issues such as court dates and pending legal proceedings as well as progress towards service plan goals. Individuals in the group identify things that are right and good in the family. What do individuals bring to the family that are valued? What strengths can the family use in reaching its goals? Then there is a shared social time between all group participants. After that, individuals in the group share their concerns for the child and the family. What are they worried about? What must be resolved if they are to reach their goal? The family then is given private family alone time where the professionals leave the family alone. The family deliberates and develops a plan to address the goal. The family and professionals come back together. The family presents the plan, which must be approved by the social worker. The plan is reviewed for clarity (who does what?) and plans for overseeing the plan and any contingencies are made at this time. Final decisions are documented and the final agreement is written up. Copies are given to all participants.
The following excerpt is taken from the meeting on Tuesday November 1st, 2005. There were 8 family members and present in the group 5 women and 3 men. The purpose of the meeting was __________________________ (state the purpose of the meeting here.)




1. Create (make up) (don?t mention in the paper that you made this up) a present a (process recording excerpt from the group meeting in which you have tried to provide specific help to your group members during a defined segment of the group session. The excerpt should be only one or two paragraphs long and should consist of 4 sequential actions by the leader. Underline the things the you (meaning the leader) said and did. Where silence was your response, use the margin to call attention to this as an action. (Do not use a paragraph where all of your activities were remaining silent.) Number all of your actions including those noted in the margin. (See example)

2. On attached pages, analyze each intervention (including the active silences) using the following format:

a. Stimulus. What happened in the group immediately before you responded (The stimulus could be internal or external to the worker.).

b. Interpretation of Stimulus. How do you think you interpreted the meaning of the behavior at the time? Include your affective responses where appropriate. Do you see it differently now?

Worker action: what you said or did.
(Repeat the statement from the process recording, underline and number as in the recording.)

c. Valued Outcome. At the time, what immediate result did you hope might result from your action? Do you see it differently now?

d. Underlying Propositions. What propositions support your analysis? If you understand the interaction differently now, remark on the new propositions that inform you.

The use of at least three relevant citations is required for each analysis. Make a connection between the idea cited and your action, that is, give a rationale for selecting each citation. Draw particularly from the course readings. Add readings related specifically to your group and its propose (located by further research). Citations should be diverse and represent a range of theoretical supports. You may include a few references from human behavior (re: systems, life cycle, issues of class, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) and from clinical practice (re: defenses, transference, resiliency, etc.).

e. Include a brief (one paragraph) summary of your thoughts about each analysis. For example, you might want to comment on whether you would do things the same way again, or how you might do it differently.

3. Present a general summarizing statement about the worker's actions in this chosen process excerpt, including your feelings, insights, dilemmas, lessons learned, identified areas for further study, and/or professional development goals.

For all of the above see example I emailed (example format of the paper). i will also email articles you could use for the references.

Essay Instructions: The book is digital on coursesmart.com called "The Manager's Bookshelf" my login is jaelb34atyahoodotcom with password $1Dollarbill. click on my bookshelf and it is there.

Eight (8) readings are required for this week in preparation for each class.
Readings:

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization

Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance

The One Thing You Need to Know about Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success

Big Winners and Big Losers: The 4 Secrets of Long-Term Business Success and Failure

Beyond Teams: Building the Collaborative Organization

The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure

Responsible Restructuring: Creative and Profitable Alternatives to Layoffs

Treat People Right! How Organizations and Individuals Can Propel Each Other Into a Virtuous Spiral of Success


Review Research and Documentation from "The Business Writer's Companion".
Eight (8) readings are required for this week in preparation for each class.
Readings:
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
The One Thing You Need to Know about Great Managing, Great LEading, and Sustained Individual Success
Big Winners and Big Losers: The 4 Secrets of Long-Term Business Success and Failure
Beyond Teams: Building the Collaborative Organization
The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure
Responsible Restructuring: Creative and Profitable Alternatives to Layoffs
Treat People Right! How Organizations and Individuals Can Propel Each Other Into a Virtuous Spiral of Success


Write 6+ page paper commenting on and analyzing the readings from "The Manager's Bookshelf".
1. Highlight the management theories or principles of each reading (2 pages).
2. Apply them to your organization (2 pages).
3. Compare and contrast two of the articles as they relate to your organization (1 page).
4. Evaluate your organization in the light of your analyses (1 page).

Grading Criteria
1. Clarity of ideas.
2. Effective Application of Management Principles
3. Effective Introduction & Conclusion
4. Grammar and Mechanics---few surface errors
5. Utilizes subheading for clarity and transitional words or phrases to link paragraphs.
6. APA Citation Style required.


Additional information - Lectures
? The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter M. Senge
The author identified seven learning disabilities that may be fatal to an organization. He noted that firms that are learners will succeed in the competitive global market. Further, he identified five disciplines for a learning organization: personal mastering (personal learning and growth), mental models (internal images of how the world works), shared vision (a sense of purpose that provides energy and focus for learning), team learning (alignment where teams function as a unit with focused and harmonized energies), and system thinking (viewing organization from system's perspective). The author outlined the laws of the Fifth Discipline.
?
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, by Michael E. Porter
The author maintained that a firm in an industry creates competitive advantage over its competitors by providing more value for customers than their competitors. The possible competitive advantages are based on costs, differentiation and technology.
Competitive Advantage through Low Cost
A firm is considered to have a cost-based competitive advantage if the total costs of all its products are lower than any competitor. Factors that are generally under control are: Economics or diseconomies of scale, learning, capacity utilization, linkages within the value chain, interrelationships between business units, integration, timing, policies, location and institutional factors.
Competitive Advantage through Differentiation
Differentiation occurs when a firm creates a unique product for which buyers are willing to pay premium in excess of the extra costs incurred by the firm. The differentiation-based competitive advantage can be sustainable if the competitors do not imitate the uniqueness of the product and the buyers' need and perceptions remain stable or high.
Competitive Advantage through Technology
A firm can achieve low cost or differentiation through technology or technological improvements. If competitors are unable to meet the technological challenge, this could be a source of sustainable competitive advantage .
?
The One Thing You Need to Know about Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, by Marcus Buckingham.
In this reading, the author contends that greatness is not accomplished by avoiding what causes failure, but rather by following a distinct set of behaviors. He believes that the controlling insight for managers is to capitalize the concept of uniqueness. To do this, managers should: select the right people, define clear behavioral expectations, motivate and shape employee behavior using praise, and demonstrate care and concern for employees.
He also espouses to be a successful leader, one must begin with a vision. Furthermore, sustaining individual success requires using the talents that are found to be the most rewarding and fulfilling, over a long period of time.
?
Big Winners and Big Losers: The 4 Secrets of Long-Term Business Success and Failure, by Alfred Marcus
The author identified big winners and losers from Wall Street Journal's scorecard on the basis of stock market returns from 1992 to 2002. He noted that over 500 experienced managers participated in the effort to identify what differentiated the big winners from the big losers. Knowledge of customer's needs was considered essential for the success of the big winners. Common traits shared by the winners were Agility, Discipline and focus.
Evidence of Agility
Respond quickly to changes in market condition
Flexibility with focus to profitable growth areas
Seek growth in customers' changing needs
Focus on underserved and perceived unattractive or ignored market
Evidence of Discipline
Reduce cost and raise quality
Control Distribution
Integrate acquisition effectively
Create a culture of employee involvement
Monitor and influence regulatory changes
Evidence of Focus
Emphasis on core strengths
Develop high-growth, application-specific products for growth market
Expand growth opportunities to overseas market
Losers shared the following characteristics:
Rigidity- Lack of offensive initiate to align with customer's need.
Ineptness- Losers lacked the skill to create best-value for their customers.
Diffuseness- Ineffectiveness in building competitive advantage because of lack While Safeco Insurance moved from a loser's position to a winner's position because of embracing focus, cutting back on acquisition and divesting non-core business, manufacturer SPX, a winner, became a loser by losing its strategic direction and spreading too thin.
?
Beyond Teams: Building the Collaborative Organization, by Michael Beyerlein, Sue Freedman, Craig McGee, and Linda Moran.
The authors of this reading espouse the use of "Collaborative Work Systems" which provide the fundamental principles for organizations to be flexible, adaptable, and competitive. Their 10 principles include:
1) Focusing collaboration on achieving business results.
2) Aligning organizational support systems to promote ownership.
3) Articulating and enforcing rules.
4) Exploiting divergence and convergence.
5) Managing complex trade-offs.
6) Creating higher standards for discussion, dialog, and sharing.
7) Fostering personal accountability.
8) Aligning authority, information, and decision making.
9) Treat collaborating as a disciplined process.
10) Designing and promoting flexible organizations.
?
The Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure (And What to Do About It), by Michael Porter
Porter discusses the Strategy Paradox and that the commitments required to achieve breakthrough success make it difficult to adapt when the future turns out differently than expected. He elaborates upon various principles, including commitment, adaptability, and forecasting. He believes that the use of "scenarios" are the hallmark of a flexible organizational strategy. These scenarios can be created by: asking the right questions, identifying the dimensions of uncertainty, determining the limits of uncertainty, determining the final scenario set, and determining relative probabilities.
?
Responsible Restructuring: Creative and Profitable Alternatives to Layoffs, by Wayne F. Cascio.
Responsible Restructuring is an approach that views employee expertise and contributions as central to any solution. They view their employees as essential in providing solution to competitive challenges. Broad-based layoff is considered only as a last resort. Examples of companies that utilize this approach are; Southwest Airlines, Cisco, Procter & Gamble and 3M.
The author noted that responsible restructurers use layoffs and compensation cuts as a last resort. They use a variety of varieties developmental and effectiveness oriented practices to maintain competitive edge or viability. Some of the practices they utilize include the following:
1. Flatten the organizational structures
2. Create an empowered team-oriented work environment
3. Seek labor-management partnership
4. Share information
5. Use training extensively
6. Maintain culture of continuous learning
7. Link compensation to performance and skills
The responsible restructuring tend to provide lasting solutions, increased customers' satisfaction and maintain a recruiting and retention advantages over its competitors.
?
Treat People Right! How Organizations and Individuals Can Propel Each Other Into a Virtuous Spiral of Success, by Edward Lawler.
In this reading, the author asserts that to be effective organizations must have alignment between their strategy, their capabilities, their core competencies, and their environment. He articulates seven key principles for treating people right:
1) Attraction and Retention
2) Hiring Practices
3) Training and Development
4) Work Design
5) Mission, Strategies, and Goals
6) Reward Systems
7) Leadership