Book excerpt: Poised to influence innovative management thinking into the 21st century, Total Productivity Management (TPmgt), written by one of the pioneers of productivity management, has been a decade in the making. This landmark publication is the most extensive book available on the subject of total productivity management. At a time when downsizing and layoffs are the norm, this innovative and highly organized book shows you how to treat human resource situations with a caring, customer-oriented, yet competitive attitude through integration of technical and human dimensions. This book makes use of a set of proven models and provides a systematic framework and structure to link total productivity to an organization's profitability. Total Productivity Management describes the tasks required of all constituents in an understandable format that they can relate to and by which regards can be realized for performance in all resource categories including direct labor, administrative staff, managers, professional personnel, materials, liquid assets, technologies, energy, and other areas.