America's Army

Both the public and many scholars assert that both federal and international efforts such as peacekeeping efforts and disaster management have been failures because agencies and governments fail to cooperate. In this book, retired BG Bradford and LTG Brown propose that the U.S. Army be used as a model for improvement and interagency cooperation. They portray the Army as a "constantly evolving learning organization." By carefully selecting and adacpting specific programs and procedures, they explain that since the Vietnam War, the Army has improved its ability to meet its daily demands and execute its missions. This has enabled the Army to take the lead in international cooperation efforts, the war on terrorism, and in stabilization and development efforts around the world.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

America's Army: A Model for Interagency Effectiveness
Zeb B. Bradford, Jr., and Frederic J. Brown
UA 25 .B64 2008

The Five Literacies of Global Leadership

Hames asserts that the current leadership standard is a mess of flawed models and practices that will continue to be practiced by the next generation of leaders unless some new understanding is reached. By observing exceptional leaders, Hames has found that they share a group of thought processes and behavior traits. He has captured these and translated them into the five literacies of leadership. The first of these, networked intelligence, suggests that all information is connected, is situational, and depends on the environment in which it exists. The second of these, futuring, asserts that effective leaders are always looking for patterns and thinking about how things happening today will affect the future. The third literacy, strategic navigation, recommends that while you plan for today, you develop contingencies and stragies to guide you into your desired future. The fourth literacy, deep design, is an appreciation for diversity, multiple perspectives, and discussion with others that give leaders a broader view than they would have alone. The final literacy, brand resonance, recommends that leaders and their organizations work to develop a consistent image, communicating openly with their stakeholders, rather than relying on spin or damage control to repair poor judgements. This is a complex, sophisticated look at how leaders think and operate and will cause readers to consider their own leadership behaviors more consciously.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

The Five Literacies of Global Leadership: What Authentic Leaders Know and You Need to Find Out
Richard David Hames
HM 1261 .H35 2007

The Engineer of 2020

The Engineer of 2020 Project is an effort to envision the future and predict what roles engineers might play in it. At the same time, it is used as a framework for engineering education in order to prepare future engineers for these roles. This report is a culmination of the first part of this project. It attempts to develop scenarios in which engineering expertise will be used in the future and to describe the roles that engineers will play in 2020. The next phase of this project will analyze and evaluate the effect on engineering education that this vision of 2020 will have and how to begin making changes now in order to prepare for it.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century
National Academy of Engineering of the National Academies
TA 157 .E535 2004

Facility Inspection Field Manual

This very practical inspection guide provides checklists and forms to use during a facility inspection. It also points out key places to look and suggests timelines, schedules, and suggestions to divide tasks among an inspection team. This book is full of time-saving tips and techniques that have been field tested.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Facility Inspection Field Manual: A Complete Condition Assessment Guide
Bernard T. Lewis, Richard P. Payant
TA 190 .L42 2001

Guerrilla P.R. Wired

Hollywood public relations expert Levine offers quick, simple, and inexpensive publicity tactics and techniques in this book. Tailored specifically for the internet environment, he offers strategies for understanding the online environment, establishing a web presence and using it effectively for marketing, and enabling your site to be found. Drawing from the traditional field of marketing, he advises on how to create effective branding, how to target communications to particular markets, and how to get yourself noticed. He discusses successful marketing, what it means, and how to prevent yourself from becoming too successful. At the same time, he offers strategies to keep success going and to grow the market once sit stabilizes. This book is full of examples and cases studies that illustrate the points that Levine makes.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Guerrilla P.R. Wired: Waging a Successful Publicity Campaign Online, Offline, and Everywhere in Between
Michael Levine
HD 59 .L483 2002

The Many Faces of Political Islam

This book attempts to define the relationship between politics and Islam for the non-expert. While many detailed, country-specific texts on this topic have been written, there is little scholarship to help people get started with this complex topic. Ayoob, an undergraduate professor, wrote this book as an introductory text for his political science students to provide them with sufficient background on Islam and the Muslim world. At the same time, he intends to revel the complexity and depth of this topic by dispelling misconceptions and stereotypes about political Islam and showing the relationship variations between politics and religion that occur throughout the vast Muslim world. Scholarly references can be found throught the text and a glossary is included to help understand the Arabic terminology that is used. An extensive bibliography provides suggestions for further reading on more specific topics.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World
Mohammed Ayoob
BP 173.7 .A875 2008

The Bridge at the Edge of the World

This book begins with the observation that although our understanding of the environment has grown, environmental destruction is continuing at an alarming rate. If we continue to do exactly what we are doing right now--without any population growth or changes in the way we treat the earth--scientists estimate that the planet will be unfit for human life by the second half of this century. But, the population is not remaining constant. Instead, it is growing rapidly, and with it, pollution is increasing, natural resources are being used up, and biological species and habitats are disappearing. Speth believes that these are caused by capitalism as it now operates and the political systems that support it. His book provides "operating instructions" for changing human societies and behavior before it is too late. In the first part, he analyzes the system, pointing out how capitalism is at the root of today's environmental problems. In the second part, he suggests corrections for economic and market systems that promote the well-being of both people and nature, but are not driven by accumulation and growth. In the third part, he asserts that these economic changes must be supported by fundamental changes in human consciousness and changed political systems.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability
James Gustave Speth
HC 79 .E5 .S6652 2008

Fast Strategy

Challenge and change are constants in the corporate world. Doz and Kosonen assert, therefore, that the most successful companies are not only strategic, but have agile strategies. They are able to change quickly, even transform themselves without loosing momentum. Drawing on research into winning companies, these authors determine how agile companies are led, organized and make decisions. The first part of the book discusses what it means to be strategically agile. The second part describes how this trait can be fostered and sharpened among employees. In the third and largest part of the book, they describe how this skill can be built, either from scratch or after a setback.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game
Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen
HD 30.28 .D696 2008

Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere

This is a country-by-country study of 11 oil and natural gas producers in the Western Hemisphere. The authors examine the oil and gas interests of each state, the current status of energy cooperation between the states, and the plans for future projects. This collection is notable because of the years of in-country field research and interviews that were added to research using data and published records, producing thorough studies and insightful analysis.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere: Benefits and Impediments
Edited by Sidney Weintraub with Annette Hester and Veronica R. Prado
HD 9560.5 .E5315 2007

Mangrove Management & Conservation

The term mangrove is typically used to describe plants in the intertidal zone in tropical and subtropical regions. This collection of papers discusses mangrove ecosystems, which provide a rich habitat and breeding ground for a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic species. Degradation and destruction of mangrove forests is increasing in both tropical and subtropical zones. Rather than focusing strictly on the science, these essays discuss the pollution status of mangrove forests, how the resources are used, and what policies and management strategies can be put in place to make these forests sustainable.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Mangrove Management & Conservation: Present & Future
edited by Marta Vannucci
SD 397 .M25 M373 2004

Work Breakdown Structures

The concept of work breakdown structures has become an important tool in project management. It enables clear communication of project scope while ensuring that important tasks within the project are monitored and controlled. This text goes beyond previous Project Management Institute publications to describe work breakdown structures and explain how to implement them within the project life cycle. Included here are examples of how to use work breakdown structures such as contracts, agreements, and statements of work to initiate projects, how to use these tools for financial planning, and the link to activities and deliverables that dominate the execution, monitoring, and quality control portions of a project. This is an important supplement to PMBOK materials for project managers.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Work Breakdown Structures: The Foundation for Project Management Excellence
Eric S. Norman, Shelly A. Brotherton, and Robert T. Fried
HD 69 .P75 N67 2008

Uniting the Virtual Workforce

In this internet age, new challenges are introduced into the way we work. Sobel Lojeski and Reilly introduce the concept of virtual distance in this book. They define it to have three major components. The first of these is physical distance, including geographic distance, time zones, or space across an organizational chart. The second component is operational distance caused by technological problems, communication barriers, and multitasking. The third of these is affinity distance. This factor includes personality differences, cultural differences, social differences, working relationships and preferences, and other variations in peoples interdependence on others. Sobel Lojeski and Reilly consider each of these three components as if it were an axis on a 3-dimensional plot. When two individuals are plotted, the virtual distance between them can be determined. While interesting at the level of single individuals, doing this for an entire department or organization points out real challenges to doing business today. Chapters focus on stratgies to overcome virtual distance in areas of collaboration, innovation, leadership, and work productivity. Discussion of psychological distance as well as physical distance is critical to measuring and managing the impact of working to overcome virtual distance. This book is relevant to all organizations today, but is particularly appropriate for USACE because of its wide geographical workforce distribution, organizational diversity, and wide range of perspectives on the effectiveness of technology and communication being used to link people virtually.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Transforming Leadership and Innovation in the Globally Integrated Enterprise
Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly
HD 66 .S648 2008

Connect!

This book is a manual on how you can use the web to reach out from your cubicle to collaborate with others. It suggests new web tools that can improve your work life and web sites and services that you might want to try. It introduces you to new ways of thinking and working. For example, re-examine your relationship with e-mail. Do you keep your "In Box" clean or cluttered with stuff "to do"? Have you considered using instant messenger (IM), chat, networking, or collaboration sites to exchange the same kind of information that you currently find in your e-mail? Try it. You might find that you like working in some new way better. Other suggestions that might improve your work productivity include how you surf or search for information on the web and your use of mobile information tools. Finally, the book acknowledges that for many people, work life and personal life are blending. Read about the pros and cons so that you can draw boundaries between them that are appropriate for you.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Connect! A Guide to a New Way of Working from GigaOM's Web Worker Daily: Tips, Resources, and Inspiration for the Web Worker in All of Us
Ann Truitt Zelenka
HD 30.37 .Z45 2008

Water Management in Islam

The Middle East and North Africa have one of the fastest population growth rates in the world. However, natural water resources in the region are scarce, and water is quickly becoming a key issue in the region's further development. Many tactics have been used to try to regulate water use in the region, but none of these have considered the cultural or religious practices of those who live there. The region is home to numerous cultural, ethnic, and religious groups, but at least 300 million of these are Muslims. Without a clear understanding of Islamic perspectives on water resources, attempts at managing and regulating water use in the Middle East and North Africa will be unsuccessful. This volume includes studies of a number of proposed water management schemes. These include initiatives to reduce water demand, reuse and recycle wastewater, and increasing tariffs for water use. This book is interesting because it points out the intersection between formal policy making and informal negotiations. It will also be interesting to scholars studying water management in other regions of the world because it points out the importance of considering culture and values when establishing policies concerning development.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Water Management in Islam
edited by Naser I. Faruqui, Asit K. Biswas, and Murad J. Bino
TD 313.5 .W38 2000

It Starts with One

Black and Gregersen's book is written around a simple idea--that if you want to change an organization, you must change the individuals within that organization, often one at a time. Using the analogy of a map, they explain that organizations are guided by strategic plans, while individuals are guided by mental maps. If you change these mental maps and the behaviors that follow them, then, the individual will change, and organizational change will eventually follow. The book identifies three challenges or barriers that individuals often face when changing their mental maps: the failure to see, failure to move, and failure to finish. Each of these barriers is examined thoroughly, and strategies, solutions, and tools are offered to help people overcome these limitations. This is at the same time a book full of ideas and one containing many practical tips and tools. It should be read by everyone trying to lead or survive change.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

It Starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations
J. Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregersen
2nd ed.
HD 58.8 B547 2008

Conservation and Sustainability in Historic Cities

This book seeks to relate the concepts of conservation and sustainability in the context of urban architecture. Conservation, particularly in urban areas, has been growing since the 1960's. The idea of sustainable development took hold in the 1980's and has become one of the primary design and construction agendas since. These ideas are always discussed separately, though--conservation in relation to preserving old buildings and sustainable design in the context of building new ones with less environmental impact. This book shows the relationships between these concepts as they apply to historic cities. Using examples from cities across Europe, Rodwell demonstrates how conservation of old architectural structures is taking place along side the thoughtful design and building of new ones, resulting in cities and towns that have similar architectural features, visually pleasing consistency, and modern livability, yet retain their notable historic landmarks. This book is not only an interesting read, but it is full of photographs that illustrate points that the author makes throughout the text.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Conservation and Sustainability in Historic Cities
Dennis Rodwell
NA 105 .R65 2007

Everyday Negotiation

This book, originally titled Shadow Negotiation, provided lessons learned from interviewing numerous women about their negotiation strategies, techniques, successes, and failures. However, many of these lessons were believed to be universal, as applicable to men as to women. In this new edition, Kolb and Williams expand their earlier research, building skills so that people can recognize the agendas that are hidden in everyday negotiations. In part one, they discuss how to advocate effectively for yourself, making strategic moves and decisions and avoiding rising to the bait that others might put out. In part two, they offer strategies to build collaborative relationships, a process that they believe occurs in discrete steps. In part three, they describe how to balance advocacy with relationships in order to come to agreements and negotiate change. Kolb and Williams skillfully use anecdotes and personal stories throughout their narrative, making this process seem natural, with one part building on another.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Everyday Negotiation: Navigating the Hidden Agendas in Bargaining
Deborah M. Kolb and Judith Williams
BF 637 .N4 K655 2003

Democratization in the Middle East

This book analyzes patterns of democratization in the Middle East. The authors assert that with the possible exception of Israel, the nation-states in the Middle East have yet to get onto a path toward stable democracy, or to uncouple religion from economy or society. Using conceptual and country analyses, the authors examine the costs, benefits, barriers to, and support for democratization. They look at both internal and external factors in the democratization process, and consider the role that Islam, Judaism, and civil society play in that process. Additionally, they consider the dependence of democratization on development and peace, not only within nation states, but in the Middle East region as a whole. This book is particularly helpful for understanding many of the pressures facing Iraq and Iran.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Democratization in the Middle East: Experiences, Struggles, Challenges
edited by Amin Saikal and Albrecht Schnabel
JQ 1758 .A91 D466 2003

Leading with Kindness

Frequently, people who are kind are assumed to be weak. In the business world, people who are kind are stereotypically believed to be too timid to be effective, not tough enough to take criticism, not sufficiently knowledgeable, or unable to persuade others. Baker and O'Malley assert that quite the opposite is, in fact, true--that kindness is an important trait of effective leaders. They believe that kindness has six ingredients--compassion, integrity, gratitude, authenticity, humility, and humor--and explain how these traits can be learned. Obstacles to each of these components are pointed out, and the authors explain how leaders can change and grow beyond their own seeming limitations to inspire and develop others.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results
William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley
HD 57.7 .B3475 2008

State Science and Technology Policy Advice

Since World War II, the federal government has played a primary role in supporting scientific research and development. Nearly every policy issue is influenced by scientific and technical information, and numerous federal agencies exist to collect, pursue, and develop these ideas. However, there is never enough money in the federal budget to support all necessary scientific programs, so increasingly, scientific and technological research and development has been supported by individual states. This trend has certainly helped to increase the amount of research and development taking place, particularly that which has policy implications, but it is happening in an uncoordinated manner. This book presents a narrative summary of a national convocation to discuss the roles of science and technology on policies at the state level and to begin discussions on how to improve communication and coordination of these efforts.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

State Science and Technology Policy Advice: Issues, Opportunities, and Challenges
National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
Q 127 .U5 S73 2008

Drawing Louisiana's New Map

The Louisiana coast is rich in sea life, a fertile agricultural area, and an ideal habitat for birds, reptiles, and mammals of many varieties. Over decades, humans have gravitated to this area, using levees, channels, and other built infrastructure to harness the Mississippi river, improve navigation and transportation routes, and make the area more habitable and profitable for themselves. While this was effective for some time, the disruptions to nature have had long-term consequences which have eroded the area's wetlands and depleted many of the natural resources there. Although wetland restoration efforts have been underway in Louisiana for some time, the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 offers an opportunity to accelerate the environmental restoration efforts during the reconstruction process. This book assesses what we currently know about the environment in coastal Louisiana and identifies current knowledge gaps. It puts forward a plan to further study coastal Louisiana and develop a plan for restoration projects there, including discussion of the feasibility of the proposals and recommendations for the future.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

Drawing Louisiana's New Map: Addressing Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana
Committee on the Restoration and Protection of Coastal Louisiana, Ocean Studies Board, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies
QH 76.5 .L8 D73 2006

International Water Security

Water is essential for all living things and is often the focus for all human life. However, managing this resource is incredibly challenging because most water supplies are shared. Although there have always been attempts to divide water resources fairly, state sovereignty and national security issues have often overshadowed the negotiations. Since World War II, international organizations have an increasing role in these discussions and domestic concerns have a growing influence on foreign policy. This collection of essays explores the threats that our world faces if we are unable to manage and share our water resources. At the same time, it uncovers opportunities that we may realize by effectively cooperating to ensure that there is water for all. Essays use the case study method, examining disputes, both past and present, in locations throughout the world.

This book can be found in HECSA Library:

International Water Security: Domestic Threats and Opportunities
ed. by Nevelina I. Pachova, Mikiyasu Nakayama, and Libor Jansky
HD 1691 .I54 2008