Ian Macdonald

The Work of Management demonstrates how the concepts, models and tools of Systems Leadership can be applied, enabling you to become a more effective manager by improving your own work to create a more positive and effective organisation.Positive organisations, where people come together to achieve a productive and personally satisfying purpose, and which provide the basis for a good society, do not occur by chance. They are created by the work of leaders and members who are dependent upon the way the organisation is designed and operates – its structure and systems. While the theory is explained, this book primarily presents the practical aspects – the specific values, methods and tools – that can be used to improve work and the work performance of direct reports. Building on the bestselling book Systems Leadership, this book provides leaders with a manual for the application of concepts as well as an introduction to Systems Leadership Theory, a method that has been used successfully by businesses from large multinational firms and banks, to SMEs, public agencies and NGOs. It provides a predictive capability, allowing a leader to predict what will work well and what is likely to fail, according to the context. It gives the benefit of foresight as decisions must be made.Designed as a leader’s manual for the application of the concepts around Systems Leadership, this book is for people who want to improve their own, and their organisation’s, work practices and performance.

The Work of Management demonstrates how the concepts, models and tools of Systems Leadership can be applied, enabling you to become a more effective manager by improving your own work to create a more positive and effective organisation.Positive organisations, where people come together to achieve a productive and personally satisfying purpose, and which provide the basis for a good society, do not occur by chance. They are created by the work of leaders and members who are dependent upon the way the organisation is designed and operates – its structure and systems. While the theory is explained, this book primarily presents the practical aspects – the specific values, methods and tools – that can be used to improve work and the work performance of direct reports. Building on the bestselling book Systems Leadership, this book provides leaders with a manual for the application of concepts as well as an introduction to Systems Leadership Theory, a method that has been used successfully by businesses from large multinational firms and banks, to SMEs, public agencies and NGOs. It provides a predictive capability, allowing a leader to predict what will work well and what is likely to fail, according to the context. It gives the benefit of foresight as decisions must be made.Designed as a leader’s manual for the application of the concepts around Systems Leadership, this book is for people who want to improve their own, and their organisation’s, work practices and performance.

The very best fiction from Open Pen Magazine between 2016 and 2021.

The new edition of this influential and bestselling book is concerned with how people come together to achieve a productive purpose. Survival and success in business and social terms have always depended upon our ability to form and sustain social organisations. People have a deep need to be creative and to belong. By creating positive organisations we can fulfil these needs and build a worthwhile society. One of the failures of organisations is precisely the lack of efficient and effective social organisation, which is what this whole book is about. Poor social organisation, including poor leadership, are major drivers of poor productivity and lead people to give up or retreat into a minimalist approach of just doing what is needed to get by and survive.The authors provide a language for developing, discussing, thinking and working with propositions about organisations and management. They do not tell you what decision to make but rather present tools to help you consider, analyse and predict the consequences of your decisions. This new edition is much broader in its application areas – public, private and not-for-profit sectors. It contains new models and propositions with regard to types of social organisation, domains of work and the nature and use of authority. It contains a range of new case studies, and throughout looks at how these ideas can be used to achieve an organisation’s purpose while encouraging creative working. It is not a book about fads or fashion but an integrated approach that offers the user the benefit of foresight.

The new edition of this influential and bestselling book is concerned with how people come together to achieve a productive purpose. Survival and success in business and social terms have always depended upon our ability to form and sustain social organisations. People have a deep need to be creative and to belong. By creating positive organisations we can fulfil these needs and build a worthwhile society. One of the failures of organisations is precisely the lack of efficient and effective social organisation, which is what this whole book is about. Poor social organisation, including poor leadership, are major drivers of poor productivity and lead people to give up or retreat into a minimalist approach of just doing what is needed to get by and survive.The authors provide a language for developing, discussing, thinking and working with propositions about organisations and management. They do not tell you what decision to make but rather present tools to help you consider, analyse and predict the consequences of your decisions. This new edition is much broader in its application areas – public, private and not-for-profit sectors. It contains new models and propositions with regard to types of social organisation, domains of work and the nature and use of authority. It contains a range of new case studies, and throughout looks at how these ideas can be used to achieve an organisation’s purpose while encouraging creative working. It is not a book about fads or fashion but an integrated approach that offers the user the benefit of foresight.

Project X Origins Graphic Texts can help children to reach higher standards in comprehension. This action-packed, fiction story told in graphic form signals the start of a brand new time-travelling adventure for the popular Project X characters, Max, Cat, Ant and Tiger. The micro-friends go back in time to Saxon England and find themselves in the midst of King Alfred's battle against the Vikings! Can the friends help the king and stop the Tick-Tock Man from stealing his candle clock? This book also contains notes on the inside front and back covers with advice on supporting older children with their reading, ideas for follow-up activities and higher-level comprehension questions.

Project X Origins is a ground-breaking guided reading programme for the whole school. This exciting Graphic Texts pack includes action-packed stories, fascinating non-fiction, carefully selected poetry and comprehensive guided reading support to meet the needs of children at every stage of their reading development. Each book contains inside cover notes with advice on supporting older children with their reading, ideas for follow-up activities and higher-level comprehension questions. Project X Origins guided reading notes offer step-by-step teaching support for each book with guidance about comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, spelling, punctuation, grammar and writing. Each set of notes has in-built assessment and is fully correlated to all UK curricula. This pack contains 1 set of guided reading notes and 4 reading books, 1 each of: Time Stealer, The Jungle Book, If and other poems, Great Inventors.

'The masterpiece The Beatles deserved' Vox 'The finest piece of Fabs scholarship ever published' MOJO Revolution in the Head goes to the heart of The Beatles – their records. Drawing on his unique knowledge and experience to 'read' their tracks, Ian MacDonald offers a detailed examination of the 241 tracks the Fab Four wrote, placing them in their musical, cultural and social context and creating an engrossing classic of popular criticism. Fully updated to include material from The Beatles Live at the BBC and the Anthology series.

Engaging fiction and non-fiction fully aligned to each week of Essential Letters and Sounds, allowing children to consolidate their phonic knowledge through reading in context. These fully decodable readers are 100% matched to the phonic progression of Essential Letters and Sounds. Essential Letters and Sounds is a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the Department for Education. These readers complement your existing decodable readers from Oxford University Press and can be used alongside them to support the teaching of Essential Letters and Sounds. A Day at the Castle allows children to apply their phonics learning from Year 1, Spring 2, Week 4 of Essential Letters and Sounds.

Vroom vroom! It's time for the Road Car Cup and Scoot is joining the race. Scoot is nervous because he's just a worn-out little car. How can he go up against the super fast Flash? (Letter-sounds featured: igh oa oo ar or) The Road Car Cup is part of the Rocket Phonics systematic synthetic phonics programme from Reading Planet. Rocket Phonics ensures that every child achieves phonics success. This fully-decodable Target Practice reading book provides focused practice of a small group of letter-sounds. The book also includes useful notes and activities to support reading in school and at home as well as comprehension questions to check understanding. Reading age: 4-5.

April and Pete love to play video games and are amazing at it! But one day, when they try to exit a game, Pete sees April on the screen ... She's trapped in the game! To escape, she must follow the Button Chief's orders and collect all three gold buttons. Can Pete and April work together to complete the quest and get April out of the game? (Letter-sounds featured: /ai/ a /ee/ e-e ie ea)Delete! Delete! is part of the Rocket Phonics systematic synthetic phonics programme from Reading Planet. Rocket Phonics ensures that every child achieves phonics success. This fully-decodable Target Practice reading book provides focused practice of a small group of letter-sounds. The book also includes useful notes and activities to support reading in school and at home as well as comprehension questions to check understanding. Reading age: 5-6.

Engaging fiction and non-fiction fully aligned to each week of Essential Letters and Sounds, allowing children to consolidate their phonic knowledge through reading in context. Agnes, the Giant and the Bridge allows children to apply their phonics learning from Year 1 , Summer 1, Week 6 of Essential Letters and Sounds.

Engaging fiction and non-fiction fully aligned to each week of Essential Letters and Sounds, allowing children to consolidate their phonic knowledge through reading in context. Simran Makes a Splash allows children to apply their phonics learning from Year 1, Autumn 2, Week 4 of Essential Letters and Sounds.

Engaging fiction and non-fiction fully aligned to each week of Essential Letters and Sounds, allowing children to consolidate their phonic knowledge through reading in context. Scruffy at the Show allows children to apply their phonics learning from Year 1, Spring 1, Week 1 of Essential Letters and Sounds.

Engaging fiction and non-fiction fully aligned to each week of Essential Letters and Sounds, allowing children to consolidate their phonic knowledge through reading in context. These fully decodable readers are 100% matched to the phonic progression of Essential Letters and Sounds. Essential Letters and Sounds is a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the Department for Education. These readers complement your existing decodable readers from Oxford University Press and can be used alongside them to support the teaching of Essential Letters and Sounds. Be a Fossil Hunter allows children to apply their phonics learning from Year 1 ,Summer 1, Week 4 of Essential Letters and Sounds.

Joe's school friends don't know he lives on a barge and he is worried about telling them. What will happen when the whole class come to visit his unusual home? (Letter-sounds featured: /k/ /sh/ ch /j/ ge dge /uh/ o) Joe's Barge is part of the Rocket Phonics teaching and learning programme from Reading Planet. Rocket Phonics ensures that every child achieves phonics success. This fully-decodable Target Practice reading book provides focused practice of a small group of letter-sounds. The book also includes useful notes and activities to support reading in school and at home as well as comprehension questions to check understanding. Reading age: 5-6/Year 1

As a young man in Glasgow's underworld, Ian 'Blink' MacDonald earned a reputation for fighting and stabbing his enemies. After refusing to work for Arthur "The Godfather" Thompson, he tried to steal 6 million in a high-risk armed bank robbery. While serving 16 years, Blink met the torture-gang boss Eddie Richardson, the serial killer Archie Hall, notorious lifer Charles Bronson and members of the Krays.After his release, his drug-fuelled violent lifestyle created conflict with the police and rival gangsters. Rearrested several times, he was the target of a gruesome assassination attempt.During filming for Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men, a bomb was discovered under Blink's car and the terrified camera-crew members fled from Scotland.In Scotland's Wildest Bank Robber, Blink provides a jaw-dropping account of how he survived gangland warfare, prisons, stabbings and bombs.

It is easy to underestimate the impact that school organisation has on the behaviour, effectiveness, engagement and creativity of the teachers, staff and students who work within it. It also has a marked effect on the well-being of staff members, and how families and the community relate to the school. Attempts to improve school organisation are often short term "initiatives" that only cover only one or two aspects of what it takes to organise a school effectively.Improving Schools Using Systems Leadership, in contrast, provides those involved in the design and delivery of educational services with a coherent and easy-to-follow framework to help run an effective organisation. Based on theory, real data on education improvements at school and regional level, and case studies, this book demonstrates how Systems Leadership can be used to improve school organisation. It integrates models of leadership, teamwork, capability, structure and systems to help make them more effective in improving the learning outcomes of students and also sustain this improvement over time. This book explains how Systems Leadership can and has been applied in schools to bring clarity to the purpose, structure and systems within a school and have a major impact on its success. As such, it is an essential text for school leaders and managers looking for practical tools to help improve the working lives of the people within their organisation, and hence their effectiveness.

It is easy to underestimate the impact that school organisation has on the behaviour, effectiveness, engagement and creativity of the teachers, staff and students who work within it. It also has a marked effect on the well-being of staff members, and how families and the community relate to the school. Attempts to improve school organisation are often short term "initiatives" that only cover only one or two aspects of what it takes to organise a school effectively.Improving Schools Using Systems Leadership, in contrast, provides those involved in the design and delivery of educational services with a coherent and easy-to-follow framework to help run an effective organisation. Based on theory, real data on education improvements at school and regional level, and case studies, this book demonstrates how Systems Leadership can be used to improve school organisation. It integrates models of leadership, teamwork, capability, structure and systems to help make them more effective in improving the learning outcomes of students and also sustain this improvement over time. This book explains how Systems Leadership can and has been applied in schools to bring clarity to the purpose, structure and systems within a school and have a major impact on its success. As such, it is an essential text for school leaders and managers looking for practical tools to help improve the working lives of the people within their organisation, and hence their effectiveness.