PSC Library Newsletter
October 2007

New Books | New Journal Articles | New on the Web
New PSC Publications | Archives

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New Books

Beyond HR : the new science of human capital / John W. Boudreau, Peter M. Ramstad. Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business School Pub., c2007. x, 258 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "[The book] shows how organizations can uncover distinctive talent contributions, strategically differentiate their HR practices and metrics, and more optimally allocate talent to create value." 352.38 B756 2007

Human resource management ethics / edited by John R. Deckop. Greenwich, Conn. : Information Age Pub., c2006. x, 306 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. "The book examines ethics and employment issues in contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM)." 174.4 H918 2006

Made in Canada leadership : wisdom from the nation's best and brightest on leadership practice and development / Amal Henein & Françoise Morissette. Mississauga, Ont. : John Wiley & Sons Canada, c2007. xii, 364 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "[The book] seeks to answer three fundamental questions: What are the best ways to develop competent leaders? How to ensure a reliable supply of capable leaders for the country? How to strengthen Canadian leadership?." 658.40920971 H498 2007

How Ottawa spends, 2006-2007 : in from the cold - the Tory rise and the Liberal demise / edited by G. Bruce Doern. Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006. vi, 292 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. "The priorities and policies of the Harper conservatives as they confront a climate of change both politically and environmentally." 354.710072236 H847 2006

Hiring success : the art and science of staffing assessment and employee selection / Steven T. Hunt. San Francisco : Wiley, c2007. xv, 282 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "[This book] is a comprehensive guide for using staffing assessments to hire the best employees. Research-based, but written in easy-to-understand terms, the book explains what staffing assessments are, why they work, and how to use them." 658.311 H943 2007

The consequences of decision-making / Nils Brunsson. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2007. vi, 166 p. ; 24 cm. "This book collects together a wide range of Nils Brunsson's most important writing on decision-making, brought together in one volume for the first time." 658.403 B899 2007

Business and public management in the UK 1900-2003 / Duncan McTavish. Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2005. 274 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "This book examines the historical development of business and public sector management in the UK from 1900 to the present day." 658.009410904 M175 2005

Coaching and mentoring at work : developing effective practice / Mary Connor and Julia Pokora. Maidenhead : Open University Press, c2007. viii, 248 p. ; 23 cm. "The book focuses on the common ground between coaching and mentoring, offering nine key principles for effective practice." 658.3124 C752 2007

Effective project management : traditional, adaptive, extreme / Robert K. Wysocki. Indianapolis, IN : Wiley Pub., 2007. xlvii, 615 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "[This book] not only guides you through the traditional methods, but also covers the adaptive and extreme approaches as well. You'll gain an in-depth understanding of each one and know exactly when and how to use them." 658.404 W994 2007

The 5 paths to persuasion: the art of selling your message / Robert B. Miller, Gary A. Williams ; with Alden M. Hayashi. London : Kogan Page, 2007. x, 223 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "Groundbreaking business research reveals it's not what you say but how you say it that is the key to getting important decision makers to say 'yes.' The truth is-it doesn't matter how smart or how slick a presentation is, if it isn't in sync with the decision maker's mindset, then it's bound to fail." 658.45 M649 2007

Power points! : how to design and deliver presentations that sizzle and sell / Harry Mills. New York : AMACOM, c2007. xvii, 213 p., 16 p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 24 cm. + 1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.) "Today’s audiences have come to expect presentations that are not only informative, but also innovative and visually exciting. [The book] shows readers how to create and use stunning PowerPoint graphics and visuals to their fullest, while also speaking with greater eloquence and persuasiveness." 658.452 M657 2007

Gallery of best resumes : a collection of quality resumes by professional resume writers / by David F. Noble. Indianapolis, IN : JIST Works, c2007. viii, 424 p. ; 28 cm. "[The book] presents over 400 pages of sample resumes and cover letters, encompassing a broad spectrum of occupations." 650.142 N748 2007

Les stratégies des ressources humaines / Bernard Gazier. Paris : La Découverte, c2004. 122 p. ; 18 cm. "Un excellent livre qui vient à point pour mettre à mal l'idée trop répandue selon laquelle stratégie des ressources humaines se conjugue nécessairement avec valorisation des salariés." 658.3 G289 2004

Management des compétences : réalisations, concepts, analyses / Jacques Aubret, Patrick Gilbert, Frédérique Pigeyre. Paris : Dunod, 2005. xvi, 200 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. "Nouveau champ de la gestion des ressources humaines, le management des compétences permet d’envisager les effets des relations des individus au travail sur la conduite des organisations." 658.312 A895 2005

Le management interculturel / Noël Equilbey. Colombelles : EMS, 2004. 215 p. ; 21 cm. "Alors que l'on parle de plus en plus de dialogue, voire de choc des cultures, le management d'équipes interculturelles ne se présente plus comme une spécialité : c'est une situation normale dans l'entreprise. Cet ouvrage s'adresse donc autant aux responsables d'entreprises qu'aux managers eux mêmes et aux personnes qui souhaitent le devenir." 650 E64 2004

La gestion du temps / Laurent Hermel. Saint-Denis-La Plaine, France : AFNOR, c2005. xvi, 130 p. : ill. ;21 cm. "Vous êtes pris par le temps ? Vous n'arrivez plus à faire face à vos obligations ? Vous aspirez à davantage d'équilibre entre vie professionnelle et vie personnelle ?[…] Grâce à une approche pragmatique et très documentée, l'auteur répond à ces questions qui nous permettent d'acquérir les bons réflexes et d'optimiser nos propres rythmes." 650.11 H553 2005

New Journal Articles

• Revitalizing a vital institution (Canadian Government Executive, v.13, n.7, September 2007, p.6-9)
  
  "A high-quality public service is essential to economic competitiveness and quality of life. Public service is a vital national institution. The public service faces imposing challenges, both longstanding and emerging."
  
  
  
• Government could listen better to public service advice: report (The Hill Times, Monday, October 8, 2007, p.28)
  
  "The federal government could help rebuild trust between the senior levels of the public service and ministers by placing more trust in the advice of senior officials and not makking efforts to 'work around the bureaucracy' or 'guard information' a new report on the public service said last week."
  
  
  
• The Reform Agenda in the Northern Ireland Civil Service: The Influences of Parity, Integration, Devolution and Direct Rule (Public Policy and Administration, v.22, n.3, July 2007, p.275-288)
  
  "This article examines the impact of the reform and modernization agenda of the United Kingdom Home Civil Service on the Northern Ireland Civil Service, which has always existed as a separate civil service."
  
  
  
• Accountability should be the standard for managers as well as employees (Employment Relations, v.34, n.2, Summer 2007, p.21-28)
  
  "Accountability is a popular watchword in just about every business these days. What does it really mean? And why are business leaders trying so desperately to spread the message that employees must be accountable for their job performance?."
  
  
  
• Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era (The Leadership Quarterly, v.18, n.4, August 2007, p.298-318)
  
  "This article draws from complexity science to develop an overarching framework for the study of Complexity Leadership Theory, a leadership paradigm that focuses on enabling the learning, creative, and adaptive capacity of complex adaptive systems (CAS) within a context of knowledge-producing organizations."
  
  
  
• The most 100 influential people in government and politics in Ottawa (The Hill Times, Monday, October 15, 2007, p.23-31,36)
  
  "Through consultation with many informed people around Ottawa, the list is intended to be comprehensive but it is also arbitrary, and some names will inevitabley seem missing."
  
  
  
• Under What Conditions Do Public Managers Favor and Pursue Organizational Change? (American Review of Public Administration, v.37, n.3, September 2007, p.324-341)
  
  "Managerial leaders play a prominent role in organizational change--as champions for change and as key players in its implementation. This study seeks to understand why public managers choose to support change and initiate it within their organizations."
  
  
  
• Managing Outcomes While Accounting for Outpouts (Public Performance & Management Review, v.30, n.4, June 2007, p.536-549)
  
  "After 15 years of extreme focus on outputs, the New Zealand government's performance management system now expects public servants to 'manage for outcomes' while continuing to be accountable for outputs."
  
  
  
• Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership (Harvard Business Review, v.85, n.9, September 2007, p.63-71)
  
  "Two decades ago, people began using the ‘glass ceiling’ catchphrase to describe organizations' failure to promote women into top leadership roles. Eagly and Carli, of Northwestern University and Wellesley College, argue in this article (based on a forthcoming book from Harvard Business School Press) that the metaphor has outlived its usefulness."
  
  
  
• Conflict Management (IPMA-HR News, July 2007, p.5, 8)
  
  "Open the door to any organization today and you will discover people of all ages from all over the world working together, creating an environment that reflects a world of differences—different values, goals, expectations and experiences. An organization’s vision for progress and success embraces diversity in the workplace as a valuable business characteristic."
  
  
  
• Evidence-Based Policy and Performance Management: Challenges and Prospects in Two Parallel Movements (American Review of Public Administration, v. 37, n.3, September 2007, p.255-277)
  
  "Both the evidence-based policy and performance management movements aim to improve government effectiveness by developing and utilizing a more rigorous base of information and scientific evidence to guide decisions about program design, funding, implementation, and management. In practice, however, differences and tensions between these movements—such as their methods and standards for assembling and analyzing data, and the strategic timing and use of this information to influence policy and hold public managers accountable for performance—could limit their success."
  
  
  
• Predictors of Workplace Accommodations for Employees With Mobility-Related Disabilities (Administration & Society, v.39, n.5, September 2007, p.656-683)
  
  "Our understanding of reasonable accommodations in the workplace is incomplete. Frequently, research on disability either neglects issues of accommodation or examines the receipt of any accommodation, without specifying type. However, people with disabilities need specific accommodations, not any accommodation. This article uses comprehensive models to test the predictors of four types of accommodations received by employees with mobility-related disabilities."
  
  
  
• Making Sense of Policy Advice (Public Money & Management, v.27, n.4, September 2007, p.257-264)
  
  "The relationship between theory and practice is complex, ambiguous, incomplete and frequently contested. This article explores the labyrinth of the policy-making process along with changes in economists' discourses."
  
  
  
• Public servants propose 'evaluator general' (The Hill Times, Monday, October 15, 2007, p.51)
  
  "A group of current and former public servants with experience in program evaluation has written an proposing the creation of a new 'evaluator general' for the federal government."
  
  
  
• Organizational career development is not dead: a case study on managing the new career during organizational change (Journal of Organizational Behavior, v.28, n.6, September 2007, p.771-792)
  
  "New forms of careers have received increased attention in contemporary organizational research. A prominent focus in this research has been whether and how, in an increasingly unpredictable career environment, individuals are taking responsibility for their own career development."
  
  
  
• The challenge of workplace bullying (Employment Relations, v.34, n.2, Summer 2007, p. 43-51)
  
  "Aggression at work is nothing new. Tempers flare for no apparent reason. One of the toughest parts of your job must be to orchestrate an end to outrageous workplace misbehavior in the most serious situations."
  
  
  
• Pieces of a puzzle (Public Performance & Management Review, v.30, n.4, June 2007, p.521-535)
  
  "This article presents a basic conceptual framework for investigating the relations among government performance, citizen satisfaction, and trust."
  
  
  
• Using ROI to Demonstrate HR Value in the Public Sector: A Review of Best Practices (IPMA-HR News, August 2007, p.14-15, 21)
  
  "The demand for HR’s accountability through measurement continues to increase. Here, Jack and Patti Phillips provide an overview of best practices in the return on investment (ROI) process and describe how application of these measurement practices can positively impact the HR function in the public sector."
  
  

New On The Web

• Leading by Example: 50 Prominent Canadians Talk to us About the Federal Public Service and why Leadership Matters / by André Coté and Ian Green (Public Policy Forum)
  
  "The importance of effective relationships – the need for high quality leadership – the impact of leadership on organizational culture and workplace well-being. These leadership challenges and issues were raised over and over again in our conversations with 50 prominent Canadians." Full story...
  
  
  
• Controlling sensitive expenditure: Guidelines for public entities (Office of the Auditor General, New Zealand)
  
  "These guidelines are our view of good practice that public entities should use to control sensitive expenditure." Full story...
  
  
  
• 21st Century Job Quality: Achieving What Canadians Want / by Graham Lowe (CPRN)
  
  "A new study by CPRN is urging employers and governments to focus on job quality as a means to recruit and retain the workers needed for Canada's future prosperity." Full story...
  
  
  
• Employer-Sponsored Training in Canada: Synthesis of the Literature using Data from the Workplace and Employee Survey - July 2007 / by Benoit Dostie and Claude Montmarquette (Human Resources and Social Development Canada)
  
  "This report presents a review of studies and articles on employer-sponsored training in Canada." Full story...
  
  
  
• 'jobs.govt.nz' gets a facelift (Australian Public Service Commission)
  
  "The State Services Commissioner, Mark Prebble, launched a new, more user-friendly version of the popular government employment website." Full story...
  
  
  
• Best Places to Work in the Federal Government: 2007 Rankings (Partnership for Public Service - Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation)
  
  "The Best Places to Work rankings are the most comprehensive and authoritative rating and analysis of employee engagement in the federal government. The 2007 rankings are the third edition of this ongoing series, following the 2003 and 2005 versions." Full story...
  
  
  
• Leadership in Customer Service: Delivering on the Promise (Accenture)
  
  "Governments are in a new phase of their journeys toward leadership in customer service. They have already made a bold promise to citizens—that they would fundamentally change the nature of their interactions with government by structuring services in an entirely new, citizen-centric way." Full story...
  
  
  
• Note for file: A report on recordkeeping in the Australian Public Service (Australian Public Service Commission)
  
  "Recordkeeping is an essential part of every Australian Public Service (APS) employee’s job. We all have an obligation to ensure that key decisions and events are recorded in a way that captures the important features of a discussion or decision, presents a faithful and accurate account of the key things that have occurred and can easily be retrieved when needed." Full story...
  
  
  
• Employee turnover and retention (CIPD)
  
  "This factsheet gives introductory guidance. It summarises our latest figures on UK employee turnover levels; explains how to measure and cost employee turnover; sets out why people leave organisations voluntarily and provides advice on developing an employee retention strategy." Full story...
  
  
  
• Retirement Decisions: Federal Policies Offer Mixed Signals about When to Retire (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
  
  "While many factors influence workers’ decisions to retire, Social Security, Medicare, and pension laws also play a role, offering incentives to retire earlier and later. Identifying these incentives and how workers respond can help policy makers address the demographic challenges facing the nation." Full story...
  
  
  
• Diversité, un enjeu de performance dans le secteur public (Instistut de la gestion publique et du développement économique, France)
  
  "Ce numéro est consacré à la question de l'égalité des chances dans le secteur public. Il permet de clarifier les concepts d'action positive – ‘Affirmative action’- et de diversité." Full story...
  
  
  
• Safeguarding Against and Responding to the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information (Office of Management and Budget, U.S.A.)
  
  "Safeguarding personally identifiable information in the possession of the government and preventing its breach are essential to ensure the government retains the trust of the American public." Full story...
  
  
  
• The Canadian Immigrant Labour Market in 2006: First Results from Canada’s Labour Force Survey / by Danielle Zietsma (Statistics Canada)
  
  "New results from the Labour Force Survey show immigrants had a wide array of labour market experiences, often influenced by their time since landing, where they settled, their gender, their age and also their educational attainment." Full story...
  
  
  
• Politics and Administration: Ministers and Civil Servants (House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, U.K.)
  
  "The Public Administration Select Committee is inquiring into politicisation of the public service. The Committee wishes to explore what we now mean by politicisation, whether politicisation is an entirely negative phenomenon, and, if it is not, what kinds of politicisation would be appropriate in the United Kingdom." Full story...
  
  
  
• Fiscal Policy Rules and the Reform of Spending Limits in Finland (Ministry of Finance, Finland)
  
  "The spending limits system has worked well in the main, but on the basis of experiences gained in the 2004-2007 spending limits period, certain changes are proposed in order to improve the system." Full story...