-Local Reading

Estelle first laid eyes on Mark St. Auburn when she was only eleven years old. She was St. Euribius's rich plantation girl, and he a well-known but troubled villager. The attraction was instantaneous and strong enough that their lives remain intertwined despite infidelity, emotional breakdowns, and violence.

But when Mark disappears, Estelle is forced to move on, and she takes refuge in the love of her lifelong friends.

When Mark resurfaces after twenty years bringing violence and fear into their lives, they are forced to come to terms with the impact this charismatic but insular man has had on their lives. As they discover more about Mark's past, not only their future but the nation itself is threatened.

This is a story of hope. Grace Delarua, a civil servant with the government of Cygnus Beta, remembers when the Sadiri arrived on their planet, a galactic hinterland for pioneers and refugees. This is a story of survival. Dllenahkh, leader of the small group of Sadiri settlers on Cygnus Beta, remembers the cool strong blues and gentle sunlight of his home world. He also remembers the moment he was told his planet was destroyed. This is a story of love. Now they must work together to rebuild his decimated population by searching for the last surviving members of his race. This is a story about finding the best of all possible worlds.

Consider this: The significant impact human beings have exerted on the planet throughout history has always been executed through human organizations.

What qualifies as a human organization? Any entity that exists within defined boundaries; that includes human resources; and that takes inputs from, as well as produces outputs into, its surrounding environment.

Since the beginning of time, humankind has tried to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of its organizations. And yet, despite intense academic research, we still lack any kind of consensus on, or meaningful response to, the age-old question of what constitutes success or failure. In fact, the only agreement researchers appear to have come to is that organizational effectiveness cannot be universally modeled.

The Science of Human Performance begs to differ.

This daring dissertation establishes a conceptual model of organizational effectiveness. By first examining the critical role of quantitative performance measurement and then exploring the root meaning of organizational core values, it blasts beyond the limits of current thinking to a new understanding.

Through this new understanding, a meaningful, objective, consistent, and repeatable performance framework can be applied to any and all types of organizations—opening the door to a practically unlimited number of possibilities and potentialities.