The Night Stalkers 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment are aloft once again. Five new tales of danger and romance to lift your hearts aloft: · Mending Fences - a stealth attack against a technically friendly ally · Just So Precious - a storm rips apart a rescue mission at sea · Playing the Air Game - sometimes seeing is believing, especially when it’s done by a top-secret surveillance plane · In the Balance - air crews aren’t the only elite in the Night Stalkers; the ground teams shine as brightly · Perfect Swing at Henderson’s Ranch - a return to Henderson’s Ranch where old friends welcome others to a new challenge
The femme fatale of the streets is back and she's deadlier than ever. Precious miraculously survives her brush with death, but the celebration is cut short when tragedy strikes. Convinced that Nico Carter is responsible for ripping her world apart, Precious? sole purpose for living is to make him pay in blood.
Matrix management was introduced in the 1970s in the context of competition from Japanese manufacturers, computerization of many technical and administrative tasks, and a recognition among business leaders that cross-functional teams (comprised of people from different departments and specialties) were necessary to create and produce complex products rapidly. Ideally, this approach, in which people are assigned to projects, rather than department managers, encourages collaboration, flexibility, and knowledge sharing, but in reality, it can often cause confusion, friction, and excessive bureaucracy. It fell out of fashion in the 1990s, but has resurfaced in a much wider array of companies today, as the pressure to innovate on ever-faster schedules encourages experimentation in organizational design. Marvin Gottlieb, who has studied and applied the principles of matrix management for over 25 years, takes us on a tour of this phenomenon—its evolution, current practices, and future applications. He argues that most organizations are taking on characteristics of matrix structure, with fluid teams and dotted-line reporting relationships across departments and divisions. Featuring case studies of successes and failures, he shows readers how to harness the power of the matrix structure while minimizing the conflict, disorientation, and resistance that often accompany the approach. In an environment where every company—large or small, entrepreneurial or established—is wrestling with the question of how to organize for maximum performance in a harshly competitive world, this book will give leaders and managers valuable insights and tools for promoting cultures that reward creativity and teamwork while maintaining strong leadership and accountability.
The Hungarian city of Sztálinváros, or "Stalin-City," was intended to be the paradigmatic urban community of the new communist society in the 1950s. In Stalinism Reloaded, Sándor Horváth explores how Stalin-City and the socialist regime were built and stabilized not only by the state but also by the people who came there with hope for a better future. By focusing on the everyday experiences of citizens, Horváth considers the contradictions in the Stalinist policies and the strategies these bricklayers, bureaucrats, shop girls, and even children put in place in order to cope with and shape the expectations of the state. Stalinism Reloaded reveals how the state influenced marriage patterns, family structure, and gender relations. While the devastating effects of this regime are considered, a convincing case is made that ordinary citizens had significant agency in shaping the political policies that governed them.
In Democracy Reloaded, Cristina Flesher Fominaya tells the story of one of the most influential social movements of recent times: Spain's "Indignados" or "15-M" movement that took to the streets of Spain on May 15, 2011 with the rallying cry "Real Democracy Now! We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians!" Based on access to key participants in the 15-M movement and Podemos and extensive participant observation, Flesher Fominaya tells a provocative and original story of this remarkable movement, its emergence, evolution, and impact. In so doing, she argues that in times of global economic and democratic crisis, movements organized around autonomous network logics can build and sustain strong movements in the absence of formal organizations, strong professionalized leadership, and the ability to attract external resources. Further, she challenges explanations for success that rest on the mobilizing power of social media. Through in-depth analysis of the month long occupation of Madrid's Puerta del Sol, and subsequent 15-M mobilization, Democracy Reloaded shows how the experience of the protest camp revitalized pre-existing networks, forged bonds of solidarity, and gave birth to a new movement that went on to influence public debate and the political agenda, in Spain and beyond.
A new update of the classic text on benchmarking Strategic Benchmarking Reloaded with Six Sigma updates benchmarking, the revolutionary business performance methodology, by adding statistical concepts from Six Sigma. These two methodologies combine to form a powerful platform for improving any company's overall performance. This new revision reviews the first twenty-five years of development in benchmarking and features new appendices, case studies, and topics, making this the most complete and comprehensive coverage of the subject available. Topics include: Stimulating business improvement with benchmarking Linking Six Sigma to strategic planning and benchmarking Understanding the essence of process benchmarking Making statistical comparisons in benchmarking Applying benchmarking results for maximum utility Reviewing lessons learned from old case studies Conducting a strategic benchmarking study Performing an operational benchmarking study Mainstreaming benchmarking into strategic planning Creating a sustainable benchmarking capability Plus: appendices covering the benchmarking code of conduct, operating procedures, and Web resources
DIVAt a time when few people seriously consider alternatives to global capitalism, this work argues that Lenin demonstrates the inseparability of truth and partisanship (the taking of sides), an argument liberal leftists must hear now./div
Nine-year-old Astrid has been reincarnated as an otome game villainess, and now sheâs locked in a battle with fate that she refuses to lose. Although she has found herself powerless to stop the sequence of events that she knows will end with her destruction, that could all be about to change. With a talent for magic and some knowledge from her geeky past-life, sheâs already made herself an automatic pistol, an automatic rifle, a shotgun, a machine gun, and a grenade launcher. Thatâs quite an arsenal for a little girl in a world where soldiers still use crossbows...but itâs still not enough! Astrid wonât stop until she has enough firepower to make her unassailable, and that means bigger guns, more combat experience, and some morally questionable magic. Sheâs going to tear fate a new one, even if it means bringing down an entire empire!
Shakespeare Reloaded encourages middle secondary students to imaginatively engage with Shakespeare's plays and poetry as they actively explore key ideas and themes and how these are expressed through language. This active approach to studying Shakespeare will complement and enhance the study of individual text.
