This a valuable book for consultants.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

This is a very good book. I recommend it in addition to my own book, "Strategic Organizational Change."

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

This 'Guide' book is one of four used in a Human Resource Development course that I took in a masters program. The content is the type that will be referred to over and over again in the course of an HRDV career. Some principles should not change, and the ones in this book are rich. A copy is staying in my personal library.

The book was shipped more faster than I expected. Thanks for your effort.

"What does the future hold for the HR function and for HR practitioners? Many studies have been undertaken to answer this question. However, three of them stand out as being the must comprehensive: (1) the 1995-1996 Hman Resource Planning Society State-of-the-Art Study (R.Eichinger & D.Ulrich); (2) the Penn State Executive Programs Management Skills Assessment-Human Resources, which was conducted between 1985 and 1997 (A.Vicere & R.Prescott); (3) A 21st-Century Vision of Strategic Human Resource Management (W.Rothwell, S.Schechter & S.McLane). A review of tese studies shows that the HR field is on the verge of moving beyond its recently acquired responsibilities for performance consulting and business partnering to assume strategic leadership" (p.26).

In this context, W.J.Rothwell, P.K.Prescott, and M.W.Taylor review these studies as following:

I- 1995-1996 HR Planning Society State-of-the-Art Study.

1. Seven most essential skills for HR executives today:

* Business savvy and acumen

* Leading organizational change initiatives using personal power and indirect influence skills

* Deep and working knowledge of the basic HR technologies

* Global strategic thinking and planning skills

* Change management technology

* Analytical, conceptual, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills

* Financial analysis and costing skills

2. Seven most essential skills for HR executives in the future:

* Master global operating skills

* Business and financial savvy

* Strategic, visioning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills

* Using information technology

* Deep HR technology savvy

* Change management skills

* Organizational effectiveness

II- Penn State Executive Program Mnagement Skills Assesment-Human Resources (1997)

1. Six general roles of the new HR leaders: Partner, problem solver, model manager, oracle, conduit, and change agent.

2. Most important competencies of the HR leader:

* Is committed to the success of the organization

* Acts consistently in a manner that instills trust

* Is an effective listner

* Exhibits high standards of performance

* Can manage conflict effectively

* Works effectively with other managers outside the HR function

* Recruits and selects high-quality professionals

* Communicates effectively both orally and in writing

* Understands the overall corporate mission

* Develops HR plans that are clearly linked to the mission and strategy of business units

III- A 21st-Century Vision of Strategic Human Resource Management (1995-1996): The results of the study indicate differences between the most important present and future competencies required for success by HR leaders (see pp.29-30, and Appendix 1).

Within this general framework, they write that "taken together, these three studies provide compelling evidence that HR practitioners of the future must demonstrate exemplary leadership skills if they are to be successful. For HR practitioners, it is no longer enough to be a compliance-oriented practitioner, a supportive, or even a performance consultant. Exemplary HR practitioners of the future will be leaders who are capable of demonstrating a new value-added component to their organizations by managing and developing knowledge capital. By comparing the studies (just summarized above), we can see that six key roles for HR leaders have emerged: change agent, HR strategist, business strategist, HR functional aligner, partner to general managers, and problem solver and consultant."

Highly recommended.

Following an initial, probing discussion of the history and present problems plaguing human resource management, the authors present a vision of a new HR function. They carry these ideas forward in terms of six trends: the advance of technology; globalization; cost containment; increasing speed in market change; the increasing importance of knowledge capital; and the overall pace and scope of change. They discuss how to apply insights about these trends to shaping and leading the HR function, specifically in terms of action plans and the requisite leadership competencies to implement these plans. The book contains work sheets for guiding professionals in action planning. Importantly, the results of research underlying the book are included. A worthy contribution to the human resource management field and something of a career heads-up for HR practitioners.

"This book", writes W.Rothwell in his Introduction, "is a primer that serves a three-fold purpose. The first purpose is to show how Action Learning can be used as a real-time strategy for problem finding or problem solving. It can be valuable tool by which to tackle business problems and meet business needs. The second purpose is to show how Action Learning can be applied to training design. It is intended to stimulate the thinking of instructional designers about a new way to analyze needs, design and develop training, deliver training, and evaluate results. The third purpose is to show how Action Learning can be maximized to build intellectual capital and enhance human talent. In this sense, the book shows how team or group work can be become a means for developing people in its own right."

In this context, W.Rothwell :

* defines Action Learning, lists barriers that may prevent its application, and introduces a model of the Action Learning process.

* reviews occasions when applying Action Learning is and is not appropriate.

* focuses on who decides when Action Learning is appropriate, how decision makers recognize situations suitable for the use of Action Learning, and when a problem or improvement opportunity should be handed over to an Action Learning team.

* focuses on issues associated with recruiting, selecting, and orienting members of an Action Learning team.

* examines the team facilitator's role.

* focuses on the application of Action Learning as a means for identifying and solving problems or addressing other organizational issues.

* describes the application of Action Learning to training design.

* explains advantages and disadvantages of using an Action Learning team to design training.

* focuses on evaluating Action Learning efforts and on debriefing Action Learning teams and individuals who participated on those teams.

I highly recommend this invaluable study to all line managers, trainers and HR professionals.

(Reviewed by FreeImage HR Consulting / a division of T.B. FreeImage HR Group, Istanbul, Turkey)

*

All HRD professionals should have this book (in two vols) in their personal library. As a practicing HRD professional, I often turn to this work as the 'first' place to look for information. In addition, to containing a wealth of information--this work also directs you to additional resources on your topic. This is an excellent source for HRD professionals and students of HRD.

I was completing my graduate degree when I started a search for sound practical material related to on the job training. (OJT) Much of what I found was weak, until I came across Dr. Rothwell's book.

This is an excellent book for someone responsible for OJT directly or even indirectly, ex. a Human Resources Manager. Dr. Rothwell provides a very clear and easy to follow format for establishing or fixing a broken OJT system.

I'm an HR Manager, and I used Dr. Rothwell's book as a part of a training program for our employee trainers who train our new and existing employees. They would read material assigned from the book and then make application to problems we experienced in our training. Using a facilitative style of training, in addition to the book for follow-up, provided for a good transfer of learning.

I highly recommend this for someone willing to put the effort into implementing or repairing an existing OJT process.

No matter what your role in training and developing the workforce, "The Workplace Learner" is as essential to your toolkit as a measuring tape is to the carpenter. If you're like me, we've spent so much time developing and measuring all other aspects of our training and development, that we've neglected the recipient of our labors-the LEARNER. To me, this volume was like a whack on the side of the head.

What I especially like about "The Workplace Learner" is the logical, easy-to-follow layout of the contents. First, Rothwell's introductory discussion of training, learning, and performance in the workplace plus the discussion of the free agent learner and learning theory all provide a thorough grounding in the "as is" and the "to be's" of our profession.

Step-by step, Rothwell sets the stage for easy understanding and the building of individual learning competence by defining roles, competencies, and outputs of the workplace learner and then explains how to apply them. Next, the focus is on the all-important organizational climate and why it must be "workplace learning-friendly." Rothwell and several contributors do a magnificent job in explaining what the organization must do in order to make workplace learning a certified success. The last segment is a most essential "how-to" transform a training department into a LEARNING department.

In addition to the Rothwellian style of "demystifying" all the terms and concepts, what really brings value to this book are the more than 50 exhibits that turn this text into an actual workbook...with tons of worksheets, too. As a recognized "workplace learning and performance" guru and author, this text is Rothwell at his finest in converting the seemingly complex into an easy-to-read living blueprint for building your working knowledge of the workplace learner...complete with all the tools to apply it in your organization.

I concur with Mr. Dell of Boston, although the exigencies of contemporary business publishing make errors of that nature all but inevitable due to revision schedules, quick-to-market requirements and even the sheer number of editorial and advisory hands a book like this one goes through. Beyond that, Dr. Rothwell's classic is particularly useful to someone like me involved with multiple but related and sometimes parallel industries. My library contains a number of texts of this nature and subject, and my utilization is often differential in focus, with Rothwell being the standard in most situations. I appreciate the pragmatism of his examples and his insights, both objective and subjective. He knows the value of intuition, as simply another rational decision-making mechanism, despite widespread discounting and even suspicion. Recommended.

In exhaustive detail William J. Rothwell shows you the hows and whys of succession planning and management in this second edition of his landmark book. Given the general corporate predilection for systems and bureaucracies, top executives and managers of both large and small businesses will revel in the way Rothwell lays out his well-researched plan. His ample how-to lists and charts can be adapted to fit almost any industry. Despite the author's scholarly credentials and depth of information, his writing is not academic. We from getAbstract recommend this book to executives and managers, particularly if your company doesn't already have a succession plan.

This is a very good book. In addition to this, I would strongly recommend "Strategic Organizational Change" by Beitler. The two books make a powerful combination.

I could not review the book because I have not seen or read it. In any case the cover and the title appear to be very good for particularly employers who may want high productivity from their employees and also for the employees who more often want more responsibility and advancements either in their present posts or to higher ones. The prints (electronic)appear reader-friendly.

"Building effective technical training: How to develop hard skills within organizations" by Rothwell and Benkowski is intended for any worker who must apply devices (such as PC's, software) that "govern them and their work", engineers and workers who apply special knowledge in manufacturing settings, and MIS professionals who apply knowledge in high-tech companies. The organization of the book is logical walking the reader through the contents of this resource. Their "Lessons Learned" chapter (Part V) is particularly well done. The added bonus of a CD-ROM and Appendices (specifically IV) enhance an already highly useable text making it easier for those of us who straddle both the practitioner and academic worlds.

This book was used in my 1994 Bachelor's program in Workforce Education, Training, and Development undertaken at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. It provided readily applied techniques for improving employee performance. I still use it today as a wonderful reference tool. I receommend this book to anyone tasked with instructional design.

We used this book in out graduate program at Penn State. It quickly provides detailed information for every step of the instructional design process. It is a good text to learn about training and an even better reference book for later use.

I should state outright that I'm not an HR professional -- this book is required reading for a course I'm taking. Rothwell writes a very professional (much more so than some of the other HR texts I've been assigned) and well designed textbook that makes it relatively easy to transition a traditional HR office to more of a Human performance office. Every once in a while you'll think to yourself, "well isn't that obvious," (hire bright workers and you won't need to train them as much...), but Rothwell does provide charts and checklists that provide a blueprint to enact these ideas which can only help an organization be more productive. Highly recommended in its field.