The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America

Book Description

The Culture of Spontaneity is the first comprehensive history of the postwar avant-garde, integrating such diverse moments in American culture as abstract expressionism, bebop jazz, gestalt therapy, Black Mountain College, Jungian psychology, beat poetry, experimental dance, Zen Buddhism, Alfred North Whitehead's cosmology, and the antinuclear movement. Daniel Belgrad shows how a startling variety of artistic movements actually had one unifying theme: spontaneous improvisation.

"A compelling narrative, putting living flesh on shorthand intuitions that connect North Beach to Black Mountain College, Fenollosa to Pollock, Jackson Lears's No Place of Grace to Todd Gitlin's The Sixties."—Joel Smith, Boston Review

"An invaluable introduction to postwar modernism across the arts."—Thomas Augst, Boston Book Review

"Belgrad's extensive probing of the artists and movements with their profound sociological roots is timely as well as comprehensive....A major contribution for serious scholars."—Choice

Customer Reviews:

Required Reading.......2000-09-24

Whether your interest is in improvisation, spontaneity, creativity, performance, popular culture, or modern history, this book provides necessary background in understanding origins of much of the creativity that defines the lives we lead in the Western World today. Mr. Belgrad's work is academically rigorous and beautifully written at the same time. The connections among and between the people who have often previously been thought of as individuals or members of subcultural cliques is amazing. Belgrad's list is long and impressive and beautifully researched. From the beat poets and writers (Keroac, Ginsberg, Leroi Jones), to the abstract impressionists (Pollack); from the Zen potters to the modern and improvisational dancers (Merce Cunningham); from New York to Black Mountain College to San Francisco, the era of Post War America was explored by amazing people. This book links and weaves the lives, ideas, work, and play of these people as no one has ever done before. Mr. Belgrad's reference list is a gold mine of research directions. If you are seriously involved in Improvisation at any level this is absolutely required reading.

The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America

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The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America
Daniel Belgrad
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPGQIG

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Comprehensive Modern Guide to Fabric Covered Hats

A milliner's milliner

Excellent Hat-Making Guide

Milliner ~ Hatmaker

A good book if you want to design Your own hats

Classic Millinery Techniques: A Complete Guide to Making & Designing Today's Hats
Ann Albrizio , and Osnat Lustig
Manufacturer: Lark Books (NC)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fashion | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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From the Neck Up: An Illustrated Guide to Hatmaking

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Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 157990016X

Book Description

Take basic sewing skills, add half a yard of fabric, and make one of 15 custom hats designed by an award-winning milliner. More than 250 illustrations guide you from drafting patterns to creating classic, head-turning hats. Start with a shirred beret, move on to a cloche, pillbox, or sailor hat.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive Modern Guide to Fabric Covered Hats.......2007-03-30

This text features incredibly well photographed images and clear diagrams. The writing itself is very easy to understand. Naturally it helps if you have a basic understanding of fabric (such as bias and fabric content) and at the bare minimum basic sewing skills (sewing machine, hand sewing and lots of patience.) This is a very thorough text.

This book features highly on the list of millinery resources that I reccomend to people. The others being From the Neck Up and Hats on Heads.

Please note that it doesn't refer to sinamay work, but techniques can be adapted. Nor does it address the blocking of hats such as felts or straw (only covering them if memory serves...). You would require a basic block to shape the lining fabrics for some cocktail pieces.

Classic Millinery Techniques is a beautiful and virtually priceless book that will compliment your millinery work, hobby and studies. It's an astute investment and very inspirational.

A milliner's milliner.......2006-08-02

Ms. Albrizio based this book on the courses she used to teach at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is now 93 years old and retired from the millinery business, but I have never forgotten her spirit and determination to teach the future milliners of the world and to inspire all her students to wear their creations with flair. I spent a decade in the millinery business because of her instruction and had some great fun. I highly recommend this book and will always remember Ms. Albrizio, the Grand Dame...all decked out for the NY Easter Parade with her students...all wearing their favorite creations. Great fun!!!

Excellent Hat-Making Guide.......2004-06-15

This book covers most of the techniques needed for making hats. It is beautifully bound and tasefully illustrated.

Milliner ~ Hatmaker.......2002-02-09

Lovely compelation of photos that go hand in hand w/ technique.
Gets you to jump right in making hats starting w/ basic techniques. An easy to follow learning method that moves you along starting w/ the basic cut and sew and moving on to more advaced methods.
Follow her suggested guide lines for using the book.
Are you the hands on type? Get this book. Youll be wearing a hat you made in no time.

A good book if you want to design Your own hats.......2002-02-05

I have attended evening-classes in millinery, and it was obvius to me that the writer is an experienced teacher. The book focuses mainly on how to make hats of ones own design. You are instructed how to construct your own patterns and how to make the patterns into hats. Most techniques were familliar to me from the evening-classes, some were variations. If You have some experience of sewing or millinery and wish to transform your dreamhat into reality I recomend this book to you.

Book Description

Fueled by the front and back cover paintings of Mark Ryden, the outsider art movement's leading contemporary painter, Vol. 11 broke new sales records for our preeminent anthology of the graphic arts. BLAB!'s list of contributors past and present reads like a Who's Who of the contemporary visual art world. Vol. 11 earned raves from both Print and Graphis magazines. BLAB! is edited and designed by five-time New York Festival of Advertising award-winner Monte Beauchamp. Under his guidance, BLAB! has grown from a fanzine begun almost 20 years ago to an annual coffee-table showcase of impeccable production values, wild experimentation and master craftsmanship. BLAB! is an objet d'art that has become a standard-bearer in the world of professional graphic arts.

This volume features leading contemporary cartoonists and illustrators like Gary Baseman (creator of ABC's Teacher's Pet), Christian Northeast, the Clayton Brothers, New York Times art director Steven Guarnaccia, Zap artist Spain Rodriguez, Richard Sala, Jonathon Rosen, Peter Kuper, Doug Allen, Drew Friedman, and many others. Vol. 11 and also include a feature on the popular Krampus devil cards that comprise the accompanying Fantagraphics title The Devil In Design (also edited by Beauchamp). Fully illustrated throughout with 42 pages color.

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2006-09-02

I am a collector of these little books! They're very strange and inspiring at the same time.

Hardly revolutionary, but pretty........2003-05-18

Just look at the lovely cover by Mark Ryden. It's practically impossible not to like his work even though the "ironic" juxtapositions of fluffy bunnies and raw meat, etc were NEVER really clever or thought-provoking and have since become mere conventions. So for most of the stuff in a typical issue of BLAB - a rather aptly named journal indeed. It's supposed to look as though it's being incendiary or at least cutting-edge, but it's really just so much hot air. Not that I'm not recommending it. It has always functioned as a showcase for my favorite commercial illustrators - Ryden, Christian Northeast, Gary Baseman, Camille Rose Garcia, Fred Stonehouse, blabblabblab - and thus there are always at least a couple pages of technically interesting artwork per issue. But I say "technically" because there is just not a whole lot going on conceptually with BLAB. It's just a bunch of pretty weirdness. It's the literary equivalent of "Liquid Television." But I don't know that anybody was expecting anything else out of it...nor should they, really. Fans of Ryden or Baseman know what to expect.

Let's start a new book category and call it BLAB!.......2002-01-09

BLAB! sets a new standard in printed art media. One most often finds this beautifully crafted book displayed along with comic books and comics anthologies, graphic novels, etc,...when in fact, it's obviously none of the above. BLAB! exists in a realm beyond these other categories of which I am also an avid connoisseur. It's an amusement park ride that I'll savor to take upon my first glance at a new cover when it appears at a local bookstore! But what makes BLAB! truly special, aside from the highest degree of artist/writer talent, is it's remarkable eccentricity in design and conception. Blab! is the definitive wunderbook! Congratulations, Monte!

Let's start a new book category and call it BLAB!.......2002-01-09

Zany illustrations and art deco.......2001-03-06

The black and white and color cartoons of the social commentary/cartoon book presentation Blab are presented in an oversized, eye-catching publication. Zany illustrations and art deco illustration make for a hard to describe yet appealing presentation.

Amazon.com

When David Greenberg graduated from art school he knew he wanted to work with the elderly--this book explains why. David asked his friends at the nursing home such questions as "Would you rather have a dizzy spell or stub your toe?"; "What is sleep?"; "Who is Frankenstein?"; "Why do people yell?"; "What is embarrassment?"; and "What can robots do?" He wrote down their odd, often unconnected answers and published them in his zine, Duplex Planet, from which he collected the extracts reprinted in this book. While at times it seems that sport is being made of the mental drift of the elderly, at other times the nursing home residents are shown to be sharp and witty, or sad and reflective. The book, which promises cheap laughs, actually delivers a variety of strong emotions, and at the same time offers a balanced portrayal of aging that doesn't shy away from its more frightening aspects.

Customer Reviews:

"Shhh...It's an old man and he's talking....".......2002-04-25

Yeah that's a quote from Milhouse on The Simpsons...

but he's right. Old folks have a lot to say and finally someone took the time to listen and write it all down. I've been a huge fan of Duplex Planet as a zine. It's nice to read a simple, Xeroxed mag with quotes from all kinds of old people who've already pretty much seen it all.

But instead of dwelling on the past, you might be surprised to see that a lot of the questions they're asked regard the present:

"What's your favorite monster movie?"

"How can you tell someone's a genius?"

"What's more important: romance or food?"

The answers are always honest, blunt and sometimes truly hilarious.

Check out this book, then the comics series and of course the zine. ...

sounds great once you've actually read it.......1999-08-13

preferably aloud, as a kind of modern scherezade, but ten times longer and a lot less one-sided

or maybe it should be set to music

An entertaining book full of wit and wisdom.......1998-11-05

'Duplex Planet' can be read all the way through or in a flip-and-read manner. It is the kind of book that makes an excellent coffee table conversation piece. You will want to share it with your friends and family; but, don't make the same mistake I did - don't give your copy away, or you'll end up, like me, having to buy another copy.

No More Shaves: A Duplex Planet Collection

Average customer rating:

A nice idea, but not the most satisfying execution
Nothing Else Like It
Old Age is Funny
The great Duplex Planet illustrated

No More Shaves: A Duplex Planet Collection
David Greenberger
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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Duplex Planet

ASIN: 1560972572

Book Description

Take a trip to the amusing and poignant Duplex Planet.

The Duplex Planet started in 1979 as a small, self-Xeroxed fanzine by David Greenberger. In 20 years, it has become a veritable cottage industry and endless source of inspiration for Greenberger. The Duplex Planet features stories and conversations that Greenberger had with the residents of the Duplex Nursing Home in Boston, where he worked in the late-1970s and '80s. Greenberger presents the beauty and comical wisdom of the often-bizarre and occasionally poignant things said by his elderly friends. Greenberger never imposes his own worldview, allowing the residents to quietly flesh themselves into some of the more remarkable characters in contemporary literature. No More Shaves presents these stories in comics form, interpreted by many of today's best cartoonists, including Dave Cooper, Jason Lutes, Rick Altergott, and more. Too frequently the elderly are ignored or denied a voice in our contemporary culture; Greenberger allows them the opportunity to share their opinions, wit and creativity in ways rarely experienced by many. No More Shaves builds on Greenberger's text by further humanizing the residents of the Duplex Nursing Home through the comics medium; the sympathetic lines of these excellent cartoonists give them immediate life and form.

Customer Reviews:

A nice idea, but not the most satisfying execution.......2005-05-17

I was really intrigued by the premise of this collection and really wanted to love it. However, it just didn't work out for me. This had its amusing bits...the fact that many different artists contributed made it seem disjointed at times (the narrative being stories from elderly men in a nursing home didn't help with continuity, either *Smile* )

Still, it helped me pass the time. Some were truly sweet, some interesting, others scary and some dull...and then there were those that left me scratching my head. Oh well.

Nothing Else Like It.......2005-04-30

No More Shaves, as with all the Duplex Planet books, CDs, etc., is a unique journey stemming from the synergistic vision of David Greenberger and the residents with whom he connects so well and on so many levels--connects for the benefit of the residents, and for the benefit of anyone fortunate enough to cross the path of the Duplex Planet.

No More Shaves offers the added deminsion of the sort usually found in top-flight graphic novels--by some of the most esteemed practioners of the genre--to successfully bring the soulful conversations and musings into yet another organic medium.

To summarize: it's great. I love it.

Old Age is Funny.......2004-04-27

A grown-up comic book collection - easier to maintain than the 15 separate issues. Great Dan Clowes, Wayno, Dean Roher drawings. You have to laugh, and feel good about it. This book honors these men's lives.

The great Duplex Planet illustrated.......2003-04-01

I feel that Duplex planet is is in the same vain as Arthur Bradford's How's Your News. Elderly people, much like handicapped people, are often times vibrant,colorful, funny and moving parts of our culture. Greenberger, like Bradford, lets us hear thier voices. The zine, Duplex Planet, has always been something that I felt is beautiful and necessary. The special illustrated versions somehow added to the dimensions of the yarns by the inhabitants of the Duplex. No More Shaves is a wonderful collection brought to us by the wonderful publishers, Fantagraphics, that collects some of the greats in the world of alternative illustration. Highly recommended by the OilCan!

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Duplex Planet
David Greenberger
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PBO5UU

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Duplex Planet 173
David Greenberger
Manufacturer: THE DUPLEX PLANET
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VW1W7W

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Duplex Planet: Number 30, November 1981
David Greenberger
Manufacturer: David B. Greenberger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KZ9TSO

Tell Me If I'Ve Stopped: Voice from the Duplex Planet

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Tell Me If I'Ve Stopped: Voice from the Duplex Planet
David Greenberger
Manufacturer: Sun Tavern Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0951701231

Book Description

This unique volume collects a series of essays that link new developments in Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and recent trends in contemporary cinema.

Though Lacanian theory has long had a privileged place in the analysis of film, film theory has tended to ignore some of Lacan's most important ideas. As a result, Lacanian film theory has never properly integrated the disruptive and troubling aspects of the filmic experience that result from the encounter with the Real that this experience makes possible. Many contemporary theorists emphasize the importance of the encounter with the Real in Lacan's thought, but rarely in discussions of film. By bringing the encounter with the Real into the dialogue of film theory, the contributors to this volume present a new version of Lacan to the world of film studies. These essays bring this rediscovered Lacan to bear on contemporary cinema through analysis of a wide variety of films including Memento, Eyes Wide Shut, Breaking the Waves, and Fight Club. The films discussed here demand a turn to Lacanian theory because they emphasize the disruptive role of the Real and of jouissance in the experience of the human subject. There are a growing number of films in contemporary cinema that speak to film's power to challenge and disturb the complacency of spectators, and the essays in Lacan and Contemporary Film analyze some of these films and bring their power to light. Because of its dual focus on developments in Lacanian theory and in contemporary film, this collection serves as both an accessible introduction to current Lacanian film theory and an introduction to the study of contemporary cinema. Each essay provides an accessible, jargon-free analysis of one or more important films, and at the same time each explains and utilizes key concepts of Lacanian theory. The collection stages an encounter between Lacanian theory and contemporary cinema, and the result is the enrichment of both.

Book Description

Titles are: Dance With Me * Everybody's Girl * First You Dream * the Last Girl * Love Bird * Rita's Theme * Second Chance * Somebody Older * Steel Pier * Wet * Willing to Ride.

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A sound Nimzo-repertoire for black

good repertoire book for black on the nimzo

Oh what might have been ...

Easy Guide to the Nimzo-Indian
John Emms
Manufacturer: Everyman Chess
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1857445139

Customer Reviews:

A sound Nimzo-repertoire for black.......2003-09-04

Many GM:s have expressed that the author of 'Easy Guide to the Nimzo-Indian' John Emms is a real expert on the Nimzo. He presents a very sound repertoire for black.No strange lines. He prefers lines where Nimzowitsh Ideas are prefered. With other words..the lines where black controls the center with pieces rather than pawns. For Example the b6 variation after 0-0 in the capablancavariation. The 5..Ne4 in the Rubinstein fianchetto variation and the 4..b6 variation after 4.Nf3-the flexible variation.This will learn us to get the the real Nimzo-spirit/knowledge. He gives a good strategical introduction before the theoretical section of every variation.

The only drawback of the book as I view it is that it is too thin! But it follows the title 'Guide'.....so. I think the book is very good to build your nimzo-defence on. I hope that GM Emms as a very respected nimzo expert will wright more books on the nimzo. A book which also would include a lot of games which he annotates.

good repertoire book for black on the nimzo.......2000-03-18

The nimzo indian is one of the most solid reply's to queen's pawn openings there is. John Emms takes us through all the different variations making decisions at key junctures about what to play as black. Below, the criticism of his choice of b6 versus the rubinstein variation is not quite correct. He does gloss over other options that black can play, but that is done only to save the reader time when they are studying. Emms did have reservations at first when he was thinking about recommending b6, but he says those disappeared when he realized that Viktor Korchnoi, Michael Adams, and Garry Kasparov play b6 against the rubinstein.

The strategy for both sides is explained thoroughly at the beginning of each chapter and the beginning of the book. There are also many examples from games at the beginning of each chapter. A very good effort from Emms.

Oh what might have been ..........1998-09-16

John Emms, co-winner of the 1997 British Championship plays the Nimzo-Indian himself and has attempted to write a 'road map' for us lesser fry. He only partly succeeded. The games are mostly modern - good enough. The diagrams are clear - OK. The notes are opinionated at times - no complaints here; I like a guy who can stand up for himself. Best of all he gives us a quiz at the back to see if we were paying attention - good stuff! But ... the quiz could have been longer; the recommended reply for Black vs. e3 is ... b6 only. There are many other valid tries but Emms glosses over them, and even admits that he had reservations about ... b6 while writing his book ,,,hmmmm.. And we are subjected to some tired replays of famous games including Botwinnik-Capablanca, AVRO '38 and Johner-Niemzowitsch, Dresden '26. Both fine games to be sure, but published many times before. All in all I think he dropped the ball ...

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How to have discipline and accountability without punishment

Discipline Without Punishment: The Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Superior Performers
Dick Grote
Manufacturer: AMACOM/American Management Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book: A Survival Guide for Managers

Forced Ranking: Making Performance Management Work

101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems

The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal

Keeping Employees Accountable for Results: Quick Tips for Busy Managers

ASIN: 081447330X

Book Description

The original edition of Discipline Without Punishment introduced a positive approach for getting problem employees to meet--and often even exceed--job requirements. The book still delivers on that promise, and in this revised edition, Dick Grote provides new insights, along with sample dialogues, memos, and worksheets. Grote's revolutionary method helps readers:

* avoid confrontational, anger-provoking sessions * prepare for and conduct performance improvement discussions that enhance relationships and emphasize problem-solving * create and administer the entire disciplinary process, including a paid leave of absence as a final chance to commit to better performance

This proven guidebook, from one of the country's leading experts on performance management, will help any organization get potentially great employees back on track.

Customer Reviews:

How to have discipline and accountability without punishment.......2006-07-15

This is the second edition of a book which was initially published in 1995 and I have the same question now that I did then: How can any one strategy turn all "problem employees into superior performers"? That said, years ago Grote recognized sooner than many others did that the command-and-control management style was often the cause of serious discipline problems. He cites as an example what he once experienced as Frito-Lay's manager of training and development. He was directed to visit a plant at which 58 of its employees had been fired during the previous year for various breaches of discipline. Angry customers reported finding obscene messages written on potato chips, all of which had been produced at the plant at which the climate had become "toxic." What to do? Supervisors had been using the traditional "progressive-discipline" system for all violations of company policy, serious or trivial, and there had been no improvement in workers' behavior. If anything, as the recent "public relations nightmare" caused by the obscene messages indicated, the behavior had become even worse. What to do?

At this point, it may helpful to cite the differences between the "Traditional Approach to Discipline" and what Grote advocates:

Traditional Approach

Step 1: Oral Warning
Step 2: Written Warning
Step 3: Suspension Without Pay/Final Warning/Probation
Step 4: Termination

"Discipline without Punishment" (DWP) Approach

Informal Transactions

Positive Contacts (i.e. recognition of what is done well)
Performance Improvement Discussions

Formal Disciplinary Transactions

First: Reminder 1
Second: Reminder 2
Final: Decision Making Leave (a one-day suspension with pay)

Termination

According to Grote, there were (and are) significant benefits to the "Decision Making Leave" policy which was introduced at the Frito-Lay plant:

"It allows us to demonstrate good faith."
"It transforms anger into guilt."
"It eliminates the need to `save face.'"
"It makes it easier for the supervisor"
"It reduces hostility and the risk of workplace violence."
"It increases defensibility if the employee is later terminated."
"It removes money as an issue."
"It's consistent with our values."

As I understand it, the "Decision Making Leave" (please see pages 18-21) allows everyone involved to take a "Time Out" in order to calm down, re-examine the given issues, perhaps seek opinions from (preferably open-minded) third-parties, and thus be better prepared to resolve (if possible) the given issues.

In no sense does Grote question the importance of personal accountability. On the contrary, he vigorously and eloquently argues that DWP strengthens it. Think of it not as a policy or two but rather as a cohesive and comprehensive system by which to improve overall organizational performance. The best way to encourage such improvement is to provide a positive consequence - recognition -- whenever (a) an individual performs "above and beyond the call of duty" (what Napoleon Hill characterizes as "going the extra mile"), (b) an individual achieves significant improvement under direct supervision, after a disciplinary transaction such as a "Decision Making Leave," or (c) an individual has consistently met all of an organization's expectations over an extended period of time.

In the final paragraph, Grote observes "The final test of the effectiveness and success of Discipline Without Punishment is when it stops being a program...a project...a policy. Discipline Without Punishment is finally and fully implemented when it has been incorporated into the grain of organizational life that everyone considers it `just the way we do business here.'" Of course, Grote realizes that not all employees can become "superior performers," nor are all "problem employees" willing and/or able to produce acceptable (much less superior) performance, even within an organization in which DWP "has been incorporated into [its] grain." Nonetheless, these are worthy goals to seek.

To me, one of Grote's most important points is that the DWP approach to unacceptable performance and inappropriate behavior will succeed only if it is viewed, indeed embraced as an active and on-going partnership between a supervisor and each of those those for whom she or he is directly responsible. Expectations must be made crystal clear. Criteria for measurement of performance must be clearly understood and consistently applied. Presumably Grote agrees with me that recognition of outstanding performance must be immediately recognized, preferably within a public domain, and that constructive criticism should also be offered in a timely manner but only in private and it should be specific. Of course, mutual trust is the "glue" which holds any organization together and it must be earned.

This second edition takes into account most of the major changes which have occurred in the workplace during the past eleven years, notably the substantially greater emphasis on increasing and improving communication, cooperation, collaboration, between and among all areas within an organization's structure. My guess (only a guess) is that many of the same DWP principles can - and should - be effectively applied to an organization's external relationships, notably with its customers and, when appropriate, with its competitors. Each year, those companies which Fortune magazine identifies as the most profitable tend to be among those it also identifies as the most highly admired. A coincidence? I don't think so.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out two of Grote's other books, Forced Ranking and The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book, as well as Bruce Bodaken and Robert Fritz's The Managerial Moment of Truth, David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Frederick Reichheld's The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules!, and Primal Leadership co-authored by Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee.

Discipline Without Punishment/the Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Superior Performers

Average customer rating:

Good Tool
A more effective way to address problem behavior in the workplace
Simple but Effective
Tried and tested
Excellent! Superb, easy reading.

Discipline Without Punishment/the Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Superior Performers
Dick Grote
Manufacturer: American Management Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0814402763

Customer Reviews:

Good Tool.......2007-01-16

I thought it was a pretty good book and had some good ideas in it.

A more effective way to address problem behavior in the workplace.......2006-01-27

For over sixty years the system for dealing with unsatisfactory work performance has remained the same. When a problem appears, a manager will talk to an employee informally. If the problem continues, the employee receives a verbal reprimand, followed by a written warning. Then, various punishments are applied to the offender including probation, unpaid suspension and eventually, dismissal. This traditional system is based on the idea of progressively worse punishment. Managers see the discipline system as a way to dismiss employees. While he worked at Frito Lay, Dick Grote designed a new discipline system, with the goal of saving employees, rather than dismissing them.

This new system, called Discipline Without Punishment, was put into practice at Frito Lay with phenomenal results, and has since been implemented at hundreds of companies. Discipline Without Punishment starts with the notion that good performance must be rewarded. When good behavior is not recognized, people have less reason to continue it. Mediocre performance may not require disciplinary action, but it shouldn't be rewarded. You should save recognition for those who try hard to do their best.

Simple but Effective.......2005-12-03

Simple and effective way to address employee problems and get real (& positive) results without using typical old-fashioned punishing procedures (verbal & written reprimands, leave w/o pay, etc). Creates a win-win way to change behavior. Wish he would have spend more time & detail on coaching and the other managerial aspects that should take place between a supervisor and his/her workers (ie: those things that may prevent having to use the actual "disciplining").

Tried and tested.......2004-10-15

The system and principles laid out in Grote's book make sense. Traditional systems of discipline are largely ineffective because of their punitive nature. And because traditional systems are adversarial, they are often shunned by managers who (understandably) want to avoid conflict. The book is easy to read and uses examples of realistic dialogue between supervisor and employee. As a Human Resource Management practitioner, I highly recommend this book.

Excellent! Superb, easy reading........1999-08-19

Grote's writing style is easy and captivating. Puts discussing difficult issues with employees into perspective. Highly recommended for any supervisor or manager that will deal with a difficult employee situation.....and guess what....eventually you will! A must read. Being used in our training program for future supervisors.

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