When you have to deal with one of your team who's complaining to you, rather than allowing your negative programmes to take over, get your thinking part in gear and try to see the situation the way they see it. You don't necessarily have to agree with them but perhaps you can empathise with their point of view. The successful manager thinks about the people they have to deal with, is sensitive to how they see things and knows that they might think differently than they do. Let me give you an e More..

Rapport - How to Build it with Your Team

I've often heard managers say - "My door is always open, come and talk to me anytime." You have to accept the fact that your team won't always do that. They might not want to bother you or they may feel that they should know the answers to their questions and they'll look stupid if they ask. And how many times have they approached you and you've been on the phone or "too busy?"It's your job to get out and talk to them. I've also heard managers say - "I sit with my team in an open-plan office s More..

People - You Cant Make Them What Theyre Not

Many business people and managers are spending too much time trying to change the underperforming people who work for them. They seem to believe that if they train people - tell them what to do or even threaten them with the sack - then the performance level will go up. The successful manager concentrates on developing the strengths of his team members - not trying to correct their weaknesses. Sometimes you have to manage around a weakness, but you can't make people what they're not. Some year More..

Is Your Management Style Assisting or Hurting Your Business?

Many times business owners can have significant differences in management styles that can deter the growth of both the employees and the business. Employees can have differing needs that require differing methods of management as well. Problems arise when the management style of a business owner does not match the needs of the employees. There are two basic management styles that are also broken down into more minor categories, the Autocratic Management Style and the Permissive Management Styl More..

Issue Management Methodology for Tracking Project Issues

1. What is an Issue? An issue is an incident, circumstance, problem or inquiry that affects or potentially affects the timely delivery of the project, product or service, it may also impact the quality of deliverables and the cost of production. Some projects are ongoing and the definition of an issue is a little different. A help desk defines an issue as a request for help that requires a response. A service department keeps track of service requests as issues. A software maintenance group tr More..

Interviewing Applicants Can Be Hazardous to Your Wealth

1st Fact: Interviewing applicants is the most common way companies decide whom to hire. 2nd Fact: Research proves most interviewers do lousy at predicting if an applicant will succeed - or flop - if hired. 3rd Fact: Research shows that customized pre-employment tests do great at predicting if an applicant may succeed or fail on-the-job. 4th Fact: Since you must interview applicants, even if you use tests, you need to make better predictions based on interviews. If you do not learn how to do More..

How to Reject a Job Applicant

A Nightmare That Really Happened Over 10 years ago, when I worked as a manager at a major corporation, I received a call from a headhunter about a magnificent job opening. It sounded like the perfect job for me. So, I went and was interviewed by the vice-president I would report to, if hired. He told me I was one of two finalists for the position. A week later, I got on an elevator with a person who looked totally elated. I asked her why she felt so jubilant. She proudly told me she was offere More..

Coaching Champions at Work

I saw Brian Kerr (the Irish national football coach) on television not so long ago and it reminded me of a platform I shared with him at a Banking Institute seminar in Dublin. Whilst I was waiting for my turn I listened to Brian and experienced two emotions - admiration and jealousy. Firstly I admired what Brian had already achieved at under 21 level and the passion with which he expressed his love of the game. Secondly I was jealous at the way in which coaching in the sports world is readily ac More..

Productive Meetings: How to Make Your Meetings More Productive

There's one simple secret to effective meetings: set an agenda and stick to it. The agenda drives the content and outcomes of the meeting and, where appropriate, should reflect the needs of all attendees so everyone has a buy-in and an interest in the outcomes. Follow these simple steps for planning and running meetings and you'll be amazed at what you can achieve. And, just in case not everyone in your organisation is following these steps to great meetings, I've included some key questions you More..

Are You in Control of Your Practice or Does it Control You?

One of the most common complaints that business owners have today is that they feel their practice is running them and that they're being pulled in every direction instead of really running the business themselves. Well, I'd like to tell you, when I was in practice I experienced the same thing. I was working too many hours, not seeing my family as much as I should; my staff always came to me looking for the solutions to day-to-day scenarios and so on. I found I was lacking the amount of time ne More..

Teaching Large Companies To Think Like The Little Guys

Q: I am an executive at a large company and in our industry we are seeing a trend wherein smaller companies are gaining market share at an alarming rate. Our CEO believes the reason for this is that smaller companies are more prone to innovation and more entrepreneurial than larger companies. He has instructed me to form a committee to study this trend and make recommendations on how we should deal with it. I'm an executive, not an entrepreneur. Any advice would be very much appreciated. -- Name More..

Organizational Culture, Creativity, Innovation

It can be concluded with great certainty that certain organizational cultures inhibit creativity and innovation whilst others foster it. Some organizations are just better at identifying problems, generating and selecting valuable ideas and developing and commercialising them - this is why those firms tend to maintain competitive advantage and remain leaders in their field. Another way to look at the problem is in terms of blocks. Certain organizations create or enhance blocks that prevent thei More..

Organizational Structure, Creativity, Innovation

Organizational structure can inhibit or foster creativity and innovation. The problem with organizational structure though, is that it is resultant of many factors, including history, organic growth, strategy, operational design, product diversity, logistics, marketing, client base, supplier base and so forth. Therefore, what managers need, are not recipes for complete structural change, but insights into the properties of fostering structures that can be adapted into the existing structure. To More..

Measuring Creativity, DIY style

Creativity measurement is often required in order to benchmark existing competencies, monitor improvement, increase output and generally provide tangible and useable processes and structures for clients. Individuals can measure their own creativity, the creativity levels of their group, department or organisation. However, a fundamental lack of understanding of creativity and innovation seems to make this a difficult task for many. First, we need to define the difference between creativity an More..

Innovation, Idea Selection, Valuation

There is no sure fire route to commercial success, but one can maximize the chances of selecting those ideas that are most likely to succeed. Organizations short of R & D resources must implement such processes. The Economist (2003) states that 3000 bright ideas result in 100 worthwhile projects, which are winnowed down to four development programmes. And four such development programmes are required to stand any chance of getting one winner. So how do we value ideas? There are quite a few More..

Creative People, Innovative People

The title implies that some people are and others not. This is a myth. First, creativity can be described as problem identification and the generation of a quantity of ideas, a number of novel ideas and a number of diverse ideas. Innovation can be described as idea selection, development and commercialisation. Therefore creative people and innovative people are separate and distinct. Apple was founded by two people, the guy who came up with the ideas (few people seem to remember or even note h More..

How to Delegate More Effectively

Do this simple excercise, and transform your life. First, Make a list of recurring "to do's". (Daily To-Do's, Weekly To-Do's,monthly To-Do's, Quarterly To-Do's, Annual To Do's, and "Event-Driven" To- Do's) Then, change the titles to "delegation Worksheet" (Daily delegation worksheet,weekly delegation worksheet, monthly delegation worksheet,Quarterly delegation worksheet, Annual delegation worksheet, and event drivendelegation worksheet) You may end up delegating everything back to yourself... More..

Satisfied Employees, A Powerful Marketing Strategy

Even in today's still uncertain economic times, there are companies who are doing extraordinarily well. Why is it that some companies are thriving while others are barely making it? You can always blame the economy, but is that the only reason? The answer could be as simple as how respected and appreciated your staff feels. Recently I visited a store to buy pet supplies. I was given a pleasant greeting, assisted with my purchase and made to feel like a valued customer. It was a good experience More..

Ten Secrets of Super Successful Meeting Planners

Whoever said that being a meeting planner was easy, lied! Rather, it should be classified under the tough and demanding job category. But, along with being tough, it's also fun, exciting, exhilarating, stimulating, and never, never boring. You have the opportunity to go to exotic places, stay in luxurious hotels, and experience life from a totally different angle. Who could ask for anything more? For those of you ready to shoot me at this point, know that I fully understand your pain! The purpo More..

Measure for Measure

Can you imagine playing hockey without a goal? Basketball without hoops and nets? Football without a goal line? Golfing without holes or greens? There may be leagues where it doesn't matter whether anyone is keeping score, but not the big leagues. Champions of the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the Masters can only be determined when there is someone keeping score. In hockey, keeping score means counting the number of times the puck gets into the net. In golf, keeping score means counting the nu More..

Read more About Measure for Measure

A Rare Leadership Skill: Dealing With People Who Want Out By Offering Crowns For Convoy

As a leader, you'll inevitably be faced with people wanting to leave your team or organization. Dealing with the challenge is critical for your leadership success. Your response will have ramifications far beyond your immediate circumstances. One of the best ways to respond comes from Shakespeare's Henry V. The stirring speech of Shakespeare's Henry before the battle of Agincourt contains many leadership nuggets. But commentators who recount the speech usually overlook a particularly valuable o More..

Does Your State Like To Keep Your Workers Compensation Secrets Hidden?

Workers compensation secrets are hidden deep within piles and piles of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. They are sometimes used as high priced paper weights for over worked government workers who may or may not be totally interested in seeing that you find the exact information that you are looking for. However, this is just an opinion. From what I've seen on the Internet finding information about workers compensation secrets can be confusing at best. Where do you start if you want to find relevant fa More..

30 Ways to be a Butt-Head Boss

1. Trust no one. Not your superiors and not your employees. Especially not your employees. They're probably out to get you anyway. 2. Believe that all of your people are lazy, good-for-nothing slackers. Remind them of that frequently. 3. Get mad and shout a lot. This will reinforce to your "workers" that you mean business. 4. Never grant special favors. Having babies, being sick, taking time off to go to weddings, funerals or 50th anniversaries are just ways to get out of work. Don't let them More..

Radical Creativity from Incremental Creativity - large movements from small changes

Positive radical movement is the holy grail of nearly every decision maker. Every CEO wants to radically shift his profit and loss statement into the black, every inventor yearns to find the next killer gadget and every screenwriter wants to make the next significant leap in film. Radical creativity (also known as transformational and disruptive) is the root of radical movement. The polar opposite of radical creativity is incremental creativity. A pervasive perception is that the two are separa More..

Creativity Management and Time Pressure

There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity. This is both true and false. There are a number of forces at work: a) Time pressure increases creative output. By forcing idea production, setting goals and incremental deadlines, a greater number of ideas are produced than if a "do your best" approach is taken. If a leader asks particpants in an idea generating session to address a problem and think of at least 5 ideas every half an hour, then 80 ideas are produced by one i More..

Creativity Management and Behaviour

What behaviour maximises the chances of thinking of great ideas? What behaviour maximises the ability to nurture ideas until they begin to reveal their potential? To begin answering the above questions we will briefly explore five areas: a) Creativity versus innovation. It is correct that the above questions are separated, as they refer to two distinct disciplines - defining problems and generating ideas (creativity) and selecting those ideas, developing and then commercialising them (innovati More..

Innovation Management - idea selection and valuation issues

Innovation is different and distinct from creativity in that it is idea selection, development and commercialisation as opposed to creativity, which is problem identification and idea generation. The core issue with innovation management is, therefore, how to select those ideas that are most likely to succeed? Ideas have to pass though an idea funnel as most organizations lack the resources to try out all their good ideas. The Economist (2003) states that 3000 bright ideas result in 100 worthwh More..

Creativity and Innovation Directors, Consultants and Managers

Creativity and Innovation is essential for competitive advantage, yet the role of Creativity and Innovation Manager is often not viewed as essential. Organizations without such a role will simply not perform as competitively as their rivals. People within and outside of an organization see problems all the time, but rarely are those problems dealt with in time. Tangible negative movements usually force change - shortcomings in expected growth, a fall in share price etc. Some of the requirement More..

Lateral Thinking, Logical Thinking, Applied Creativity

Certain processes enhance creative output and others enhance innovative output. Defining creativity as problem identification and idea generation and innovation as idea selection, development and commercialisation, this article will tackle stages two and three using the three-stage process of lateral thinking, logical thinking and applied creativity. The start of the process involves building a sizeable idea pool of quality ideas. In this article, we can define quality as being a large number o More..

Success at Work : People Skills : Dealing with New Ideas

Re-organizing, re-engineering, re-training, down-sizing, outsourcing, changing-changing-changing. Organizations today think they need to be constantly changing or they will perish. Corporate leaders worship at the alter of new ideas where the motto is, "Any new idea is a good idea". Every organization operates based on work-flow and processes. The reason the current processes are in effect is because over the years, many different ways of doing things have been tried, and the organization adapt More..

Boost Your Leadership Skills Simply By Answering The Question, What Does Our Organization Really...

The difference between leaders is ears. Good leaders not only ask good questions, but they actually listen to the answers. Ask people in your organization: "What does our organization REALLY reward?" Listening to the answer may help you achieve marked increased in results. Rewards and punishments make up the drive shaft of any organization. But my experience of working with thousands of leader during the past 21 years reveals that most of their organizations reward the wrong things. Such org More..

3 Keys to Being a Fearless Executive

In my work with business executives, I have come to the conclusion that most individuals in positions of influence got there accidentally. This may sound harsh to those of you in the business world reading this article, but the truth CAN be harsh, much like the medicine our mothers gave us as young children. There is a bright side, however, to this fact: Those of you who put in the effort can rise far above the average executive. Here are three tips to do that, and quickly: 1. Learn to love res More..

Appraisal Systems - Not Living Up to Their Objectives

Almost, if not all organisations have them, they've been around for a very long time and some organisations swear by them, however on the whole the average appraisal system fails to live up to the expectations of the organisation and often they can cause more trouble than they are worth. "So, minister, here we are at the end of your government and the record doesn't look to good, crime is up, hospital care down, the economy still shaky and poor public services. It certainly doesn't look good fo More..

An Honest Look at Your Business

There is a difference between being comfortable and being in apathy. It is very comfortable to have a smooth running organization when you have a team that knows what to do and does it. It is comfortable to have this group take care of your company and make it expand, and all you have to do is take care of the team. It is comfortable when the staff will actually handle the discipline problems of other staff members and not give it to you to handle. It is, of course, very comfortable to have a c More..

Temporary Employees and Operational Problems; Your Use of Temps Might Reveal Warning Signs

A recent Washington Post article, described the life of temporary employees working at an automobile plant in Kentucky. Working at a fraction of what permanent employees make at the plant, some employees had been working as temps for extended periods, as long as three or four years, when early indications had been they would be permanent within six to 12 months. At four years, making two thirds of their permanent fellow workers and without benefits, the plant had essentially treated these emplo More..

Relationship Building - 5 Tips and 5 Questions

And is isn't hard - it's more about focusing on people, who they are and what interests them. And that's just where you spend your time. About them - not you, not your business. Create partnerships. 5 tips Be natural - by being yourself, you will build relationships with ease. Trust yourself - let yourself go. Be open, share your feelings, but mostly, listen to others. Ask questions - you will find out more about others by listening to what they have to say, so be nosy, ask open questions, f More..

Blame Culture Blues - How the Language of Blame Manifests Organisational Underperformance

If you have ever worked within a large organisation then you are sure to have heard the term 'we will not have a blame culture' at some point. However the sheer fact that this statement can be made is an indication that a blame culture already exists. Where the statement 'don't think of the colour blue', immediately makes one think of blue, the 'no blame culture' statement is more likely to raise within the organisation the possibility of blame than remove it. In fact an organisation must know More..

Creative and Innovative Culture, Change Management - Three Easy Tests

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation and innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. From this simple definition, it is clear that certain cultural characteristics ought to be prevalent if creativity and innovation are to be maximised. And maximisation of these ought to be a priority for senior leaders, as those organisations that take them seriously, tend to be leaders in their field, tend to maintain their leadership positi More..

What is Knowledge Management Anyway?

When you think of all the things companies have, you do not always consider the knowledge they have. For instance, a company is only as good as its employees, its resources, and its knowledge. But, where and what is that knowledge? How is that knowledge managed within the company? A basic definition of knowledge management is this. Knowledge management is a process that companies use to generate value from their assets. Knowledge management can be much more, but this is the basics of it. Now, t More..

Managing Change - Get it Right

In any event, getting the process right is a vital component. The credibility of the change managers will be scrutinised closely enough on the issue itself, with all processes in place. If process is at fault too, then things can get very messy indeed. Legalities Legalities of how you are dealing with people issues must be resolved first and a clear understanding of HR technicalities requires the right level of expertise. Within this are elements of fairness, consistency and honesty. Although More..

Make the Most of Your Time - Focus on Strengths

Once working and focused in tune with what they do best, your people are freed up to deliver their very best performances. They encourage others to work to their strengths too. Thus, each is far more effective. By recognising this in each other, there is another benefit. Everyone realises the value that differences can bring to the team, business or organisation. And that is valued - people work together much more freely. So, by challenging each other to be honest about what others can do bette More..

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines - Part I Permission is hereby granted to modify and use the information in this draft sexual harassment guideline, provided you include reference to the author as shown at the end. We shall take all reasonable steps to see that this sexual harassment policy is followed everyone in our organization who has contact with employees. This prevention plan will include training sessions, ongoing monitoring of the work site and a confidential employee survey to be c More..

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part II

SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE Every complaint will be thoroughly investigated. When a complaint of sexual harassment is received we will take the following actions: 1. Question both parties in detail. 2. Probe deeply for corroborative evidence. Here is what we are trying to determine with our investigation: Is the testimony of the victim internally consistent? Is the testimony of the accused internally consistent? Does each follow logically? Are both accounts externally More..

CEOs And Boards Are Locked In A Spiral Of Doom

American CEOs are dropping like flies. Boards, armed with new federal rules and stock exchange requirements coming in the wake of the corporate scandals of the past few years, are getting rid of underperforming CEOs at record rates. This trend is all the more notable because it's happening during an improving economy and stock market. However, the real reasons for the CEO bloodbath are being overlooked. Analysts pin the bloodbath on the CEOs. But it's not just the CEOs who are failing. Boards a More..

Creativity and Innovation Management - Competition versus Collaboration

There is much confusion as to whether competition or collaboration is most beneficial to creativity and innovation. Though there are negatives to collaboration and it is not easy separating the effects of time pressure and group activity, in general collaboration beats competition. This article will set out some of the arguments. a) Competition forces some individuals to produce a greater number of ideas than they would do otherwise. But crucially, competition forces other people to shut down. More..

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Providing Career Opportunity

This article relates to the Career Opportunity competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It explores issues such as internal growth opportunities, potential for advancement, career development importance, and the relationship between job performance and career advancement. It examines whether your employees believe they have a chance to grow within the organization. Studies show that lack of career opportunity is one of the top reasons why employees leave an organization. More..

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Human Resources at Work

This article relates to the Human Resource Functions competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It reflects one employee's satisfaction with the manner in which her HR department carried out their work. This competency examines how your employees feel with regards to the quality and implementation of the human resource role within your organization. A human resource department that is properly informed of employee issues, demonstrates a high integrity level, and communicate More..

Intercultural Management

The role of a manager is evolving in response to the needs of companies operating on the international stage. The complexities of globalisation brought to the area of management are great and require the 21st century manager to adapt in order to offer modern solutions to modern problems. One area in particular of growing importance is intercultural management skills. The majority of companies can no longer escape the need to buy, sell or work with people from different cultures. Multinationals More..

Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration

The steps need to be taken to prepare an organization for ISO 9001 2000 registration: Whilst the following text is not exhaustive in its content it should give you a reasonable idea of what's involved in setting up an ISO 9001 2000 registration within an organization. First and most importantly you should either purchase a copy of the ISO 9001 2000 standard or read a copy at your local library. At first glance many of the terms referred to in the standard sound quite confusing but if you stud More..

ISO 9001 the Process Approach to Quality Assurance

What is the Process Approach to Quality? The ISO 9001 2000 standard is designed to manage and improve organizations processes. There is a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the meaning of the process approach to Quality. If you have at all been involved with quality assurance I am sure that you will at least heard of the "process approach" to Quality Assurance even if you are not fully aware of its meaning. The process approach to Quality Assurance is based on the idea tha More..

< < Previous

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 [ 10 ] 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Next > >

Have Query? Contact Us Now

Name:
Email:
Country
Telephone:
Requirement:

Management Articles

Have Query? Contact Us Now