The principal aim of this book is to help practising managers to develop and implement a strategy for the introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM) within their own organizations. It provides a practical guide to the stages, key considerations and potential pitfalls of implementation.

TQM in Action:A Practical Approach to Continuous Performance Improvement

Pike, John

Science & Math

Springer

Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Watson-Guptill (January 1, 1978) Language: English ISBN-10: 0823025772 ISBN-13: 978-0823025770 Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 9.5 x 12.2 inches Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds

John Pike Paints Watercolor

Arts & Photography

Painting

Watson/Guptill

The distinguished American artist instructs individuals in the tools and mechanics of watercolor painting and presents examples of works to demonstrate special effects

Watercolor

Watson-Guptill Publications

Iron Horse to the Sea: Railways in South Devon

History

Europe

Ex-Libris Press

Explore the epic conflict and contrasting leadership styles of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Albrecht von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, two titanic figures in the Thirty Years War whose strategic brilliance and dramatic deaths shaped the course of modern warfare, analyzed in vivid detail by the author. The conflict, personal rivalry and contrast in personality, generalship and command, between the two iconic commanders in the Thirty Years War, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden for the Protestant powers, and Albrecht von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland. More than just commanders at the tactical level they were statesmen, military organizers and strategists on a continental scale. Both commanders represented the 17th-century 'military revolution in action'. The writing is vivid, graphic and detailed, without overloading, and readers can feel 'involved' in the action, from strategic planning to battlefield tactics, and even the melee. Both generals are titanic figures come, and their respective deaths - Gustavus heroically in battle and Wallenstein, murdered with the Emperor's compliance - were dramatic highpoints in the long war. This is no hagiography, and the author analyses the contrasting reputations of two of the greatest military figures in modern history and analyses mistakes as well their triumphs. Both commanders' understanding of the role of the modern state and finance as vital factors in the military revolution and modern warfare. A major contrast was Gustavus's constant search for the tactical and strategic initiative compared to Wallenstein's caution and patience and development of counter-punch defensive tactics. Exceptional for the period, a young warrior like an 'Alexander', Gustavus excelled in inspired battlefield leadership even at huge risk. Despite his death at Lutzen in 1632, he and his steadfast chancellor Oxenstierna, had decisively defeated the Emperor's attempt to subjugate the Empire and introduce the Catholic counter-reformation. Gustavus contributed hugely to the ending of Habsburg supremacy while advancing new concepts in modern war. His death ushered in his acolytes including generals Baner, Saxe-Weimar and Torstensson. Gustavus or Wallenstein, the greater of the two? The reader must judge but Napoleon included Gustavus in his list of ten greats with Julius Caesar, Hannibal Barca, and Alexander the Great.

Gustavus v Wallenstein: Military Revolution, Rivalry and Tragedy in the Thirty Years War

Pen and Sword Military

The 'Defenestration of Prague', the coup d'etat staged by Protestant Bohemian nobles against officials of the Hapsburg Emperor triggered the Thirty Years War. When Habsburg Spain intervened in support of their Holy Roman Emperor relative, what had started as a localized political and religious dispute in Germany, transformed into a European and global conflict.\nIn seeking to exploit the Bohemian revolt, Spanish Habsburg revanchist ambitions directed by the Spanish Count of Olivarez at the economically powerful Dutch Republic were allied with the Habsburg Emperor’s counter-reformation ambitions. After the Bohemian defeat at the White Mountain in 1620 the war widened as the Dutch Republic, England, Transylvania, Denmark, Sweden, and Richelieu’s France all intervened to roll back Habsburg hegemony and restore the balance power.\nThere was extensive fighting across the globe, as the Dutch and English sought to challenge the Spanish Habsburg global monopoly. These colonial wars were a major factor in the Iberian revolutions with brought down the Habsburg Imperium. Professor Charles Boxer called it: “the first world war”.\nIt was a tragic war of attrition but also an epic story of remarkable individuals including the 'titans’ of the era, Imperial General Wallenstein, warrior King Gustavus, sinister Count Olivarez, and the masters of international intrigue, realpolitik and diplomacy- Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin. Above all there were the decisive victories of the under-sung military genius of the era, Lennart Torstensson.\nThe Treaties of Westphalia followed a war which not only changed the global balance of power, but accelerated over thirty years the transformation of the European continent from a world characterized by dynasties and the medieval concept of United Christendom to a European order that was recognizably modern.

The Thirty Years War, 1618 - 1648: The First Global War and the end of Habsburg Supremacy

Vietnam and the Cold War 1945-1954: French Imperial Decline and Defeat at Dien Bien Phu

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