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Globalisation, ICT and Developing Nations: Challenges in the Information Age
Sumit Roy
Manufacturer: SAGE Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Policy & Current Events
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ASIN: 0761933468 |
Product Description
This comparative study of the political economies of East and South Asia and Africa offers new analytical and policy insights into the links between globalization and information and communication technology (ICT). The author explores the replacement of state institutions by non-state ones; analyzes the prospects of developing regions sharing the gains of globalization; and explains the relationship between new technology and development. He also demonstrates how new ICT policies can pave the way for innovations, increased production and rapid diffusions of ideas in technology. Key features of Globalisation, ICT and Developing Nations are: - it discusses the concepts and policies underscoring the shift from state to non-state institutions in furthering the impetus of globalisation and also its implications for development; - it explores the scope of different developing regions to participate in globalisation based on camparision of their experiences of growth and development. - it explores the ways in which policies on ICT can be both a challenge and a unique opportunity for paving the way to for development.
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A Self-Diagnostic Approach to Understanding Organizational and Personal Stressors: The C-O-P-E Model for Stress Reduction
Bernadette H. Schell
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0899309380 |
Book Description
This book was written to help organizations and their members better manage stress. Through a simple framework, C-O-P-E, human resource managers are provided the tools with which to determine if they and their organization are in Control, are showing Outward signs of distress, have Personality predispositions which escalate or de-escalate stress levels, and are Energy-balanced. The book's tone is optimistic, and its theme is: If there is a stress problem, identify it, fix it, but never ignore it. Treatment interventions typically employed by stress experts for fixing stress problems are discussed. Case histories are discussed to give managers a clearer understanding of what can go wrong with coping efforts, and what individuals and organizations can do to turn a negative situation into a positive one. Professionals, such as human resource managers and industrial psychologists, and those teaching and researching in such fields as human resource development and training and organizational behavior, will be interested in this work.
Customer Reviews:
The use of process consultation to improve organizations.......2005-05-17
Edgar H. Schein is Professor of Management Emeritus in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a real academic heavyweight having written numerous books, articles and papers. In 1969 he published 'Process Consultation: Its Role in Organizational Development', of which he states that he "was writing more in anger than with perspective". In this follow-up book he tried to explain and clarify the concept of consultation and helping which was outlined in the first volume. "The goals of this new book, then, are (1) to reaffirm the concept of process consultation as a viable model of how to work with human systems, (2) to clarify the concept were needed, and (3) to introduce some modifications and new ideas that elaborate on the original ideas."
The book is split up in 3 parts. In Part I - Introduction and Overview, which consists of three chapters, Schein introduces the common grounds of managers and consultants (which is the helping orientation), process consultation, and "the process" itself. He introduces a definition of process consultation which "is a set of activities on the part of the consultant that help the client to perceive, understand, and act upon the process events that occur in the client's environment." Whereby he emphasizes that the concept of process central is to understanding consultation and management. "Process refers to how things are done rather than what is done." He continues, "Process is everywhere. In order to help, intervene, and facilitate human problem solving, one must focus on communication and interpersonal processes."
In Part II - Simplifying Models of Human Processes, which also consists of three chapters, Schein examines several models of consultation and argues that the process-consultation model works for consultants as interveners and is potentially most useful for managers. "The most important thing for managers or consultants to understand is what goes on inside their own heads." He introduces the basic ORJI cycle, which is based on the fact that our nervous system observes (O), reacts (R), analyzes, processes, and make judgments (J), and intervenes in order to make something happen (I). He later updates this cycle into a more realistic depiction of the ORJI cycle, through the introduction of 4 traps. Schein than states that the cultural rules of interaction is possibly the most powerful determinant whether a viable helping relationship will be established. In the final chapter of this part, he examines in detail a simplified model of the change process: (1) Unfreezing; (2) changing; and (3) refreezing.
In the final part of the book - The Consulting Process in Action, which is also the longest part of the book with five chapters, the author examines in detail the strategy and tactics of intervention. "The most important point to be made about clients is that the consultant must always be clear who the client is at any given moment in time, and must distinguish clearly among contact, intermediate, primary, and ultimate client." Schein discusses what the consultant or manager can actually say or do to accomplish some of the goals of process consultation. "The strategy and tactics of intervention have to be guided by the ultimate assumptions underlying the helping process." In addition, he provides categories of types of interventions and discusses the possible dilemmas that can arise in the consultation processes. "The skill of intervening is to be so tuned in to what is going on that one's sense of timing and appropriateness is based on the external events, not one's internal assumptions or theories."
Yes, this is a good book on process consultation. I was somewhat concerned when I started reading this book, due to Schein's highly academical background. However, the book has been a revelation. It is highly practical and has good tips on which can be put in practical use. I believe that it useful for both consultants and managers, as the author set out from the start. I believe that the three parts can be read in any order, whereby the last part is possibly the most useful as it is the most practical. Please note that the writing style is now somewhat outdated and academical. Highly recommended to consultants and managers alike.
Process Consultation Volume II Review.......2003-06-21
In this second volume, Schein builds on Volume I by dissecting the nature of process and change in lieu of the specific group processes that make or break effective group work. Likewise, in this volume, he brings the concept of process consultation home, so to speak, to help managers and leaders understand themselves and their organizations as a consultant might understand them.
Given that process consultation assumes that organizational leaders know their organizations best and are the most appropriate and capable managers of change, it makes sense that organizational leaders understand group processes. Schein emphasizes that diagnosing an organization's problems is intervening to fix them. He provides explanations of the circumstances when process consultation is most necessary. He advises leaders that more time must be spent intervening on how things get done than on what actually needs to get done. "An effective manager must be able to create situations that will ensure that good decisions are made, without making those decisions himself and without even knowing ahead of time what he might do if he had to make the decision alone." (p.39)
Schein provides a useful model for differentiating between the content, process, and structure of organizational challenges and the task and interpersonal aspects of those challenges. He advises that process should always be favored over content; that task aspects should always be favored over the interpersonal; and that structure, while potentially the most transformative element of change, is the most difficult area to address, because people will resist tampering with the comfort structure provides. He also provides explanations on the essential challenges relevant to content and process that every group must face. The lesson he offers for leaders and consultants is that whatever is done to solve a problem must begin with a clarification of the primary task of the group.
Schein devotes considerable space to explaining the ORJI model of intrapsychic processes. (We observe, we react - emotionally, we judge based on our observations and feelings, and we intervene to make something happen.) "The most important thing for managers or consultants to understand is what goes on inside their own heads." (p.63) The trap of ORJI is MIRI, i.e., that we misperceive, inappropriately react, react rationally based on bad data, and intervene incorrectly. To avoid the MIRI trap, we must check our cultural assumptions, our personal filters (see volume I), and our situational expectations based on previous experiences. Schein also provides a clear synthesis of the unfreezing, changing, refreezing model of change and improvement. In unfreezing, the motivation and readiness for change are developed; in changing, new points of view are adopted; and in refreezing, new points of view are integrated to affect changes in the process approaches to tasks.
Schein devotes most of the latter half of his book to explanations and analyses of intervention processes. He discusses the "exploratory", "diagnostic", "action alternative", and "confrontive" models of intervening, how they might initiated and when one might use each. "...The tactics of intervention should focus initially on exploration, inquiry, and diagnosis. Only when the consultant feels that the client is ready to think about alternative next steps is it appropriate to move to action alternatives and confrontive interventions." (p.157) Schein also provides specific kinds of interventions which might fall into any one of these four basic categories of intervention.
This volume, taken with the first, provide not only a clear theoretical framework for understanding organizational change, but also useful tools and approaches for pre-empting organizational roadblocks and addressing organizational dilemmas once they've appeared. These books are essential reading for any leader or consultant.
Process Consultation Volume II Review.......2003-06-21
In this second volume, Schein builds on Volume I by dissecting the nature of process and change in lieu of the specific group processes that make or break effective group work. Likewise, in this volume, he brings the concept of process consultation home, so to speak, to help managers and leaders understand themselves and their organizations as a consultant might understand them.
Given that process consultation assumes that organizational leaders know their organizations best and are the most appropriate and capable managers of change, it makes sense that organizational leaders understand group processes. Schein emphasizes that diagnosing an organization's problems is intervening to fix them. He provides explanations of the circumstances when process consultation is most necessary. He advises leaders that more time must be spent intervening on how things get done than on what actually needs to get done. "An effective manager must be able to create situations that will ensure that good decisions are made, without making those decisions himself and without even knowing ahead of time what he might do if he had to make the decision alone." (p.39)
Schein provides a useful model for differentiating between the content, process, and structure of organizational challenges and the task and interpersonal aspects of those challenges. He advises that process should always be favored over content; that task aspects should always be favored over the interpersonal; and that structure, while potentially the most transformative element of change, is the most difficult area to address, because people will resist tampering with the comfort structure provides. He also provides explanations on the essential challenges relevant to content and process that every group must face. The lesson he offers for leaders and consultants is that whatever is done to solve a problem must begin with a clarification of the primary task of the group.
Schein devotes considerable space to explaining the ORJI model of intrapsychic processes. (We observe, we react - emotionally, we judge based on our observations and feelings, and we intervene to make something happen.) "The most important thing for managers or consultants to understand is what goes on inside their own heads." (p.63) The trap of ORJI is MIRI, i.e., that we misperceive, inappropriately react, react rationally based on bad data, and intervene incorrectly. To avoid the MIRI trap, we must check our cultural assumptions, our personal filters (see volume I), and our situational expectations based on previous experiences. Schein also provides a clear synthesis of the unfreezing, changing, refreezing model of change and improvement. In unfreezing, the motivation and readiness for change are developed; in changing, new points of view are adopted; and in refreezing, new points of view are integrated to affect changes in the process approaches to tasks.
Schein devotes most of the latter half of his book to explanations and analyses of intervention processes. He discusses the "exploratory", "diagnostic", "action alternative", and "confrontive" models of intervening, how they might initiated and when one might use each. "...The tactics of intervention should focus initially on exploration, inquiry, and diagnosis. Only when the consultant feels that the client is ready to think about alternative next steps is it appropriate to move to action alternatives and confrontive interventions." (p.157) Schein also provides specific kinds of interventions which might fall into any one of these four basic categories of intervention.
This volume, taken with the first, provide not only a clear theoretical framework for understanding organizational change, but also useful tools and approaches for pre-empting organizational roadblocks and addressing organizational dilemmas once they've appeared. These books are essential reading for any leader or consultant.
Process Consultation.......2003-06-21
This volume and its follow-up, Volume II, are essential reading for consultants and anyone interesting in taking a leadership role in improving an organization. Schein devotes entire chapters to the key human processes in organizations: communication, roles, group problem-solving, group decision-making, leadership and authority, intergroup processes, and interventions. In each one, he not only explains what he has learned through years of study and experience, but also the most salient aspects of organizational theory relevant to each area.
Schein differentiates process consultation from other forms of consultation by first making clear the role of the process consultant, who is not an expert providing information or advice, but rather a coach who seeks to help a client understand and act on events, which happen in the client's organization. Consulting is helping the client to understand problems and to decide how to solve them. The consultant's role is to teach diagnostic and problem-solving skills, not to work on the actual problems.
Communication is a central group process critical for effective functioning of groups and organizations. The process-consultant can help a client understand the communication patterns in a group by assessing who talks whom and how much. Interruptions, who interrupts whom, how much and when can be useful information when attempting to diagnose an organization's shortcomings. Schein includes in this chapter an explanation of the filters, which inhibit or enhance an individual's capacity to communicate effectively. They are: self-image, the image of other people, the definition of the situation, motives, feelings, intentions, attitudes, and expectations. When groups come together to accomplish a goal, certain predictable tensions may undermine the groups ability to solve problems. Individuals in the group may be concerned with their own role in the group, their ability or expectation to influence the group, the need to have the group's goals connect with their own goals, or whether they will be accepted and respected in the group. Sometimes groups need assistance in identifying and processing these tensions before they can concern themselves with the necessary task and maintenance functions required to accomplish their task.
For groups to solve problems they must become good at problem formulation, evaluating solutions, forecasting consequences and testing proposals, action planning, implementing action steps, and evaluating outcomes. Schein offers sage advice for groups wishing to develop their capacity to improve: (1) Don't confuse the symptom with the problem itself (2) Don't evaluate courses of action prematurely - remain open (3) Test proposals using multiple sources and methods, and (4) Plan for action carefully and methodically. Schein offers clear explanations of various decision-making models, which are helpful for a consultant or leader to understand. Groups will function most effectively when the decision-making model is clear and understood. Often models are employed by default, which can alienate and undermine group members and subvert effective improvement efforts. A central failure of leadership is often the gap between what leaders say and how they behave. An effective leaders and process consultants need to become experts in this problem and its potential effects. Awareness of group processes will not only help the leader avoid interpersonal or intergroup problems, but it will also help solve them should they arise. Schein includes useful sets of Likert scales to rate group effectiveness and mature group processes; a model of the stages of group problem-solving; and a continuum of leadership behavior.
Schein's view of the process consultant as a capacity builder parallels his implicit view that organizational leaders need to understand and seek patterns of behavior that downplay coercion and expertise and emphasize participation and differentiated responsibility. This volume and its partner, despite their ages, are still relevant and useful to the leader or consultant.
Not your regular Consultant type.......2003-01-27
If you are interested in this high challenging and highly satisfying skill of becoming a process consultant, read this book, by one of the biggest names in the PC universe...Edgar Schien. This book is a classic and all OD consultants should read it !
Process Consulting is not the typical consulting intervention where 20 somethings come into your organization, do a survey and hand over a thick report after collecting $ per hour !!
Process Consulting is both an art and craft performed by people who intervene in organization systems that are seen as 'human systems' and are sensitive in not inducing 'dependency' of the client. The delicate art is to intervene at the process level rather than the content level and extricate without creating much ripples. Most known consulting deals with 'content' consulting and therefore has more measurale outcomes than the supposedly soft process consulting.
Process consulting is truly empowering and the consultant is a traveller in the process of discovery with the client, constantly asking questions.
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Management Consultancy, 2nd Edition
Manufacturer: Kogan Page
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0749436530 |
Book Description
"Management Consultancy" is the definitive reference guide for all management consultants. It covers all aspects of the management consultants role and provides: guidelines on best practice, expert contributions. helpful case studies, and a complete overview of the industry. This title explores the principles behind the application of specialized management techniques to the consultancy process. It also seeks to promote an understanding of the dynamics of the client-consultant relationship. Comprehensive in its coverage and full of practical advice, techniques and useful information, it is of equal value to the MBA student, sole practitioner or professional in a large multi-national consultancy. This title is also the recommended reading for students on the MSc in Management Consultancy.
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Management Consulting: Delivering an Effective Project (2nd Edition)
Philip A. Wickham
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0273683470 |
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Competitive Advantage in SMEs: Organising for Innovation and Change
Manufacturer: Wiley
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0470843349 |
Book Description
* Draws on up-to-date empirical evident to illustrate how SMEs can become more innovative through the introduction of new products and services.
* Discusses the effective and efficient use of information technology by broadening management skills and knowledge.
Download Description
SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) comprise 99% of all businesses in the UK, account for 55% of non-governmental jobs and provide 51% of the national turnover. Competitive Advantage in SMEs, Organising for Innovation and Change draws on the experience of staff at Manchester Metropolitan University, focusing on how smaller firms can improve company performance to create and sustain long-term competitive advantage. The book draws on up-to-date empirical data and the latest research to illustrate ways in which SMEs can become: More innovative by introducing new products and services More effective through better use of information technology More efficient by broadening management skills and knowledge Competitive Advantage in SMEs, Organising for Innovation and Change has been written for final year undergraduate students and postgraduate students studying small business management. It will also be a valuable resource for those already owning and managing small firms.
Book Description
The success of any endeavor depends upon effective communication, which in turn depends upon two important elements: simplicity and relevance. This is true whether you are presenting a business plan for financial support or tailoring a speech to a specific platform, designing a visual program for a presentation or having a simple conversation. Every day we are overwhelmed with thousands of pieces of communication, some simple and relevant but most confusing and inconsistent. New formats and delivery methods are developed continuously, while the difficulty of receiving, processing and responding is evolving in a similar fashion!
"I Didn't Ask You To Dance!" is a collection of practical, real-life experiences: a resource helping people respond to similar situations in similar ways. Because everyone has encountered most of the experiences in here at one point or another, this book is for everyone: from Corporate Executives to Church Leaders, Counselors to Humorists. This book is about the nature of people, the nature of work, and the nature of life!
Book Description
John Brady, editor of Writer's Digest and himself an accomplished interviewer, has put together an indispensable guide to the art of questioning. In a lively, down-to-earth manner, "The Craft of Interviewing" covers all aspects of the interview process -- getting the interview, doing research, handling the subject face-to-face, hurdling hazards, getting tough, taking notes (on the sly, if need be), taping, dealing with off-the-record types, concluding the interview, verifying it, and writing it up. Brady has also filled the book with a myriad of anecdotes revealing the experiences of some of the best known interviewers of our times. A noteworthy appendix on the history of the interview is included.
Customer Reviews:
A Smart Part of a Journalist's Library.......2003-02-24
"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady is just one book a beginning journalist should read. Most of journalism involves local newspapers covering local people, and despite how the internet has altered the speed and process of interviewing, good ol' gumshoe journalism still lives and breathes. That's why this book still matters 30 years after it first hit the college bookstores of j-school.
A good interview requires knowledge, diplomacy, fearlessness, rapport, organization, and knowing how to separate and summarize it all for a good story. This book has chapters on all of this. One complete chapter, "Off the Record" discusses some interesting approaches and policies this misunderstood phrase calls for. As you build relationships with key sources, this chapter, and others, can assist you in seeing ways through the thorny challenges of integrity and journalism.
Brady provides anecdotes about complicated interviews and interviewees. Even though these are with celebrities, the examples show the reader how to walk the line carefully and confidently.
"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady should not be the only book you read, and probably not your first. I fully recommend it as both a classroom text, and as a personal edification book. Your interviewing will be better you apply what Brady suggests.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
Not a Cookbook, but a Guide for Thinkers.......2002-05-23
Some people seem to be looking for just one way to conduct an interview: John Brady describes several. If you are looking for something like a cookbook where the specific questions you should ask and in what order are listed, you won't like this book. If you are looking to develop your own interview style and want to pick and choose from a variety of methods, then you will find Brady's book an excellent source of information. Brady covers everything from getting appointments to to research to notetaking to tape recorders to knowing when the interview is over. He shows how different people handle interviews over the phone or by letter. When you finish this book, the choice of what questions to ask and how you should go about the interview remain up to you, but Brady's book will have given you a solid base.
Just about the only topic that is uncovered (due to the date of the book) is how to conduct an interview by Internet Chat. But a smart reader can easily adapt Brady's ideas to that situation.
If you're an easily offended woman, you are not a journalist.......2001-10-18
Funny, I don't remember the parts about batting eyelashes and such. This book covers the fundamentals of interviewing and pre interview research.
I found the book to be a useful tool for conducting interviews, and think that it would be very helpful to beginners. I am a nurse turned free lance writer, and the techniques and tips for securing interviews were helpful to me.
I particularly liked the section on the "wrong questions"--this should be mandatory reading for local and national news reporters.
Great in the 70s, Outdated in 2000.......2000-04-11
It is true that the basics of good interviewing haven't change much over the years, but they have changed some. And this book, while it was surely a must-read in the 70s, is so outdated that I found myself skipping the first chapter, then the second, then the third ... then much of the rest of the book. For example: there is a full chapter, and several pages scattered through the book, that talk about research techniques. This is pre-internet, pre-much-of-what's-out-there-today, and as a result, those 75 or so pages are useless. The same is true for the roughly 25 or 30 pages that talk about how to get an interview, and how to make a good first appearance. This is pre-email, and clearly pre-women's-lib. Many of the tips for women on how to get interviews and make sure they come out successful are down right offensive to women today. Fortunately, most female interviewers no longer have to rely solely on looking nice, batting eyelashes, and agreeing with everything their interviewee has to say. Yes, there are a few good pointers, but to buy and read an entire book for mearly a few pointers isn't necessary. There was nothing here that I hadn't seen elsewhere. For a good, up-to-date book on interviewing, try "Creative Interviewing," by Ken Metzler, it's over priced, but filled with great and useful information.
This captures the essence of interviewing.......1999-10-14
I read this book ( published in 1976) many years ago. Since then, I've been a reporter and writer for the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Fortune. After a request to teach a journalism class, I purchased the book again, and found that it still captures the essence of interviewing. The examples in the book are a bit dated (it hasn't been revised ), but the underlying truths are still very close to those I've experienced in many interviews throughout my career.
Book Description
THE ULTIMATE INSIDER’S LOOK AT THE FINE ART OF INTERVIEWING
“I had a fantasy the other night that this interview is so great that they no longer want me to act—just do interviews. I thought of us going all over the world doing interviews—we’ve signed for three interviews a day for six weeks.”
—Al Pacino, in an interview with Lawrence Grobel
Highly respected in journalist circles and hailed as “the Interviewer’s Interviewer,” Lawrence Grobel is the author of well-received biographies of Truman Capote, Marlon Brando, James Michener, and the Huston family, with bylines from Rolling Stone and Playboy to the New York Times. He has spent his thirty-year career getting tough subjects to truly open up and talk. Now, in The Art of the Interview, he offers step-by-step instruction on all aspects of nailing an effective interview and provides an inside look on how he elicted such colorful responses as:
“I don’t like Shakespeare. I’d rather be in Malibu.” —Anthony Hopkins
“Feminists don’t like me, and I don’t like them.”—Mel Gibson
“I hope to God my friends steal my body out of a morgue and throw a party when I’m dead.”—Drew Barrymore
“I want you out of here. And I want those goddamn tapes!”—Bob Knight
“I smoked pot with my father when I was eleven in 1973. . . . He thought he was giving me a mind-extending experience just like he used to give me Hemingway novels and Woody Allen films.”—Anthony Kiedis
In The Art of the Interview, Grobel reveals the most memorable stories from his career, along with examples of the most candid moments from his long list of famous interviewees, from Oscar-winning actors and Nobel laureates to Pulitzer Prizewinning writers and sports figures. Taking us step by step through the interview process, from research and question writing to final editing,
The Art of the Interview is a treat for journalists and culture vultures alike.
Customer Reviews:
Book purchase.......2007-01-11
Book arrived on time, in excellent condition and I even had a follow-up contact from the seller to be sure I got it. Good experience.
So Amazon, my first question for you is...........2006-03-11
As one aspiring to become an interviewer, Grobel's book acts as what I feel, a decent guide for even the most amateur interviewer. Sure, as many have pointed out, this book does seem to double as a memoir. Still, one can find pointers, or at least relevance.
Particularly what was fascinating about this book was just the way in which he talked about his interviews. I mean, it is always good to have a presence of sorts when interviewing, and this seems to come out in his book.
Now my greatest problem is that it is hard to equate interviews with Barrymore to interviews with the local police chief; however, Grobel does make it seem possible enough, and that is what matters.
Great book!.......2005-09-01
A wonderful read...there's some really juicy information about some high profile people in here too. Very accessible and highly interesting.
More of a Memior.......2005-07-14
I didn't buy this book to pick up tips - I've been an interviewer / writer for most of my life and am comfortable with my style. I bought the book because Larry Grobel is a great journalist and wordsmith, and I was curious to know about how he does what he does. On that count, the book is a hit.
Where it misses is in trying to instruct. The midsection of the book covers several different types of interviews (for print, online, TV, etc.) but completely neglects covering what I consider to be some very important ground. Most celebrity interviewers, like myself, are not at the highest echelon - most of us will not get exclusive sit-down TV interviews for the Playboy Channel; will never spend weeks with Marlon Brando on his private island; or get five or six sessions with Barbra Striesand for a big magazine cover story. Grobel's been there, done that. (But it's nice to know that even Grobel has the same experience with brick-wall publicists; he doesn't necessarily have Oscar winners banging his door down all the time.)
I have interviewed quite a few of the same big stars Grobel has - Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Meryl Streep - but my experience is quite different. I usually get about five minutes at a red carpet premiere, four minutes at a TV junket, or 20 minutes at an on-the-set press conference in which I must compete with other reporters for answers. It's rather appalling that Grobel does not even mention press junkets, red carpet premieres, or set visits in his book - let alone e-mail interviews which are becoming more and more commonplace as the world goes online.
Grobel has the time to make an "art" of the interview - given the limitations of the situations, what the vast majority of reporters do is a quick caricature or a sketch. Still, there is a certain excitement and spontaneity to the randomness of a red carpet premiere, or having a chat at a press junket with young up and comers who aren't so guarded around the press. As long as the interviewee can express themselves well in writing, even e-mail interviews can be cool. It's too bad that Grobel doesn't mention any of this.
Had I been looking for tips to break into the business of interviewing celebrities, I would have been pretty disappointed in The Art of the Interview. However, if you are looking for more of a memoir and are interested in the process of what an interviewer actually does, then The Art of the Interview is highly recommended. Grobel is an excellent writer, and he does a good job of seamlessly going from point A to point B.
A Memoir Miscast as a How-To.......2004-10-31
Interviewing has been part of my professional life for nearly 15 years, so I was looking forward to reading a book by someone who's been doing it twice as long, and with far more famous interview subjects than I tend to work with.
But it wasn't too far into the book before I realized the same points were being made over and over and over, using scenarios with different famous people as examples. The book seems to be part memoir, part how-to, and doesn't really satisfy as either one. It's too repetitive and not quite in-depth enough to be a good how-to, and it's not quite personal enough to be a memoir. By the time Grobel resorted to interviewing _himself_, I felt the book had wavered so much between memoir and how-to, that the self-interview seemed not only redundant (bringing up many of the same how-to points that had been reiterated throughout the rest of the book) but self-indulgent.
The book feels padded, especially by the interviews with prominent editors and interviewers -- I feel those could have been trimmed even more than they no doubt already were. I think the material in this book could have made a compelling magazine article. As it stands, however, it's a rather lightweight book.
The parts I most enjoyed were the parts that approached memoir. I loved hearing about Grobel's personal reactions to, and opinions of, big-name celebrities. I loved hearing stories about battling recalcitrant publicists. I appreciated the bits of personal information, such as Grobel's initial desire to be a novelist. Maybe there _is_ a memoir inside Grobel. If he ever writes it, I'll read it, because the scraps of information he throws in "The Art of the Interview" are fascinating.
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Performing the Literary Interview: How Writers Craft Their Public Selves
John Rodden
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0803239394 |
Book Description
When authors are interviewed about their books or themselves, much more is going on than a simple conversation. The interview becomes a performance space for authorial orchestration and self-promotion, and interviewers in turn respond to such self-display and theatrics.
Featuring absorbing conversations with nine well-known authors, including poets Richard Howard and Gerald Stern, novelist Isabel Allende, and scholar-intellectual Camille Paglia, Performing the Literary Interview is the first in-depth look at this type of performance art. Interviews with poets, fiction writers, and intellectuals enable John Rodden to identify a range of rhetorical strategies and their effects and to formulate a typology for appreciating the various roles that interviewers and interviewees assume. Traditionalists foreground their work rather than themselves, raconteurs are storytellers who skillfully spin anecdotes and creatively showcase their personalities, and advertisers more explicitly use the literary interview to promote and sell themselves. This pioneering, persuasive study stakes a claim to a new area of scholarly inquiry in the humanities. The literary interview can no longer be considered only as a voyeuristic window on an author, or a celebrity vehicle, or even an entertaining diversion, but should also be approached as a serious genre meriting scholarly attention and analysis.
Book Description
In this novel, Fisherman Hank Crawford must fight to keep his business and family intact in this thrilling sequel to the cult classic Highliners.
Customer Reviews:
Read highliners first.......2003-10-19
This is a continuation from the book highliners and the life of hank crawford.This continues to follow hank as his family grows and he takes on further progress by purchasing a bigger and better boat but along with this comes more bills to pay and eventually some tough decision which may be good for business and to make bills it is tough on old friendships.
The author does a terrific job in both these books while they are fiction they seem to be very acurate with fishing descriptions both this book and the first (highliners) are excellent reads
Alaskan adventure.......2001-03-08
Hank McCloskey is a man torn between his love of the sea and fishing with the love of his family. His wife Jody fished the seas with him until they started their family. Three children later, Hank feels a distance growing between them and his desire to be at sea. Trouble comes in patches, Hank over extends their finances by buying a new boat and building a new house. Suddenly their baby boy becomes ill on the heels of a devasting season of crabbing. Faced with mounting debts and pressures, Hank must decide whether to join forces with the Japanese knowing this will strain friendships with other skippers or facing the possible loss of his boat. He is put to the test business wise and personal wise. This book did a great job of getting you to feel and experience the love of the sea fisherman have. I liked the depth and exploration into Hank and Jody's relationship. I'm a land locked Midwesterner who fell in love with this book. Enjoy!
Next Best Thing To Being There!.......2001-01-18
An excellent story, well written and done in a manner that allows the reader to 'experience' the moment. Accurately describes the Asian attitude and gives good insight as to how and why the Japanese in particular do business in a way that is certainly foreign to most Americans. The Japanese 'method' is not right or wrong, just different from the American 'method'.
Read 'Highliners' first, then 'Breakers'.
You say pollock, I say pollack.......2001-01-03
I would just like to point out, concerning the review below, that Webster's dictionary definition lists "pollack or pollock" as the correct spelling. Here's what it reads: "Pollack or pollock: 1 -- a commercially important north Atlantic food fish (Pollachius virens) related to and resembling the cods but darker. 2 -- a commercially important northern Pacific food fish (Theragra chalcogramma) of the cod family that closely resembles the pollack -- called also walleye pollack."
niggly details bugged me, but overall...a good read.......2000-12-19
I work with walleye pollock on a daily basis so the misspelling of the name of this fish ('pollack')throughout 'Breakers' bugged the heck out of me, but overall this was a good read. Same thing bugged me in Russell Drumm's 'In the Slick of the Cricket' when he misspelled otolith (fish do NOT have otaliths!). 'Breakers' explores the pervasive nature of our relationship with Japanese fish market buyers and their financing of American fisheries. I'm very interested to explore this dynamic myself in the 'real world' as I hadn't really paid much attention to the changeover from joint-venture and foreign fisheries to domestic catch. I did not find 'Breakers' to be as enthralling as 'Highliners', hence the lower rating.
Books:
- Globalism: The New Market Ideology
- Globalization and Labour: The New 'Great Transformation'
- Globalizing South China (Institute of British Geographers Special Publications(Paper))
- Governing Financial Globalisation: The Political Economy of Multi-Level Governance (Routledge/Ripe Studies in Global Political Economy)
- Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy: European and American Experiments
- Handbook of International Economics Volume 3 (Handbooks in Economics)
- Harness the Future: The 9 Keys to Emerging Consumer Behaviour
- Industry Structure, Strategy, and Public Policy (The Harpercollins Series in Economics)
- La riqueza de las naciones / An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (El Libro De Bolsillo / the Pocket Book)
- Ludwig Von Mises: The Man and His Economics (Library of Modern Thinkers)
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