David A. Whitsett – författare

Athlete. Runner. Marathoner. Are these words you wouldn''t exactly use to describe yourself? Do you consider yourself too old or too out of shape to run a marathon? But somewhere deep inside have you always admired the people who could reach down and come up with the mental and physical strength to complete such a daunting and rewarding accomplishment? It doesn''t have to be somebody else crossing the finish line. You can be a marathoner. The Non-Runner''s Marathon Trainer is based on the highly successful marathon class offered by the University of Northern Iowa, which was featured in a Runner''s World article titled "Marathoning 101." The class has been offered five times over 10 years, and all but one student finished the marathon. That is approximately 200 students -- all first time marathoners and many with absolutely no running background. This book follows the same 16-week, four-day-a-week workout plan. What makes the success rate of this program so much higher than any other? The special emphasis on the psychological aspects of endurance activities. You don''t have to love to run -- you don''t even have to like it -- but you have to realize that you are capable of more than you have ever thought possible. One participant in the program explained it like this: "I''m doing this for me -- not for others or the time clock. I just feel better when I run, plus it helps me to cope with things in general. The skills we''ve learned in this class don''t apply just to marathoning -- they apply to life! Just like you never know what the next step in a marathon will bring, so too, you never know what will happen next in life. But if you don''t keep going, you''re never going to find out. By staying relaxed, centered, and positive you handle just about anything that comes your way." This is marathon running for real people, people with jobs and families and obligations outside of running. The Non-Runner''s Marathon Trainer has proven successful for men and women of all ages. Now let it work for you.

During the past two decades, many organizations have sought to utilize a number of participative management techniques in order to both motivate their workforce and to make their operations more effective in terms of costs, quality, productivity, and customer service. This study examines one such technique that has gained widespread popularity: job enrichment or job redesign. Written for students and practitioners of human resource management and organizational development, the authors report on the experience with job enrichment and work restructuring in four firms and compare the experiences of two. Throughout, the authors focus particularly on the primary challenge confronted by job redesign advocates within the individual organization: how to diffuse the relevant concepts in such a way that they have a widespread and lasting impact on the performance of the organization.Using detailed written documentation from the four companies as well as in-depth interviews, the authors describe how each company attempted to diffuse job redesign throughout the organization and identify the lessons for management that can be learned from each case. The reasons for the success or failure of diffusion in each company are examined in detail as are the particular steps taken by personnel within the organization. As the authors demonstrate, the successful spread of new management concepts throughout the organization requires skillful manipulation by internal advocates of the process. The most effective advocates, they argue, have detailed knowledge of the operations of an organization and use this knowledge to develop their innovations.