Management Information
Innovation Management - Selecting Good Ideas
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Manufacturing Capacity as a Commodity
Excess capacity in an automobile plant at Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, GM, and Honda is a commodity and those who study finite capacity scheduling modules can readily see the possibilities for increased production and that means profit. Einstein said time is relative, that is true, time is relative, manipulating commodity theoretical models allows companies to see thru time and keep costs and purchases on an even keel without the problems of relative time.
Character: Is It Necessary In Leadership? (Part Two)
In the first part of this two part article, I talked about the importance of character in leadership. After all, the best leadership involves the people bonding with the leader in deep, human, emotional ways.
Character: Is It Necessary In Leadership? (Part One)
We know character when we see it, but what exactly is it? How do we define it? What role does it play in our getting results as leaders? What role does character play in our careers?In this two part article, I'll explore these questions and give tips on using character to get results and build your career.A key function of character in leadership is to engender trust in people, and the function of their trust is to have them take action for results.
Credibility - A Golden Key to Becoming More Influential
You have been named a new leader in your organization, or you are a long time leader with some new people in your organization. Or maybe you aren't a formal leader but are working on an important new project.
When Code Freeze Turns To Code Slush
Time To Market (TTM) is a vital concept that every executive understands. Releasing a product to market before your competition gives you a significant first-mover advantage.
Must Project Managers Be Technically Savvy?
"Must Project Managers be technically savvy?" This topic always seems to cause quite a stir. While some believe that all you need to manage a project is a PMP certification, others are convinced that you can't successfully manage a software development project unless you truly understand the intricacies of the product.
Eight Key Steps to Building B2B Major Account Client Alliances
Audiences who saw the fabled Broadway musical, Chorus Line, marveled at the intricate timing and seamless interaction of the dancers as they mastered the choreographer's precision steps after many false starts in rehearsal.At the final curtain, the stage is crowded with dancers whose images are multiplied by mirrors strategically placed about the stage.
Marketing Miracle: Outsource Your Creative Services
The current economy is causing most companies to tighten their belts. With limited staffing and a restricted budget, how do you continue to promote your business? The simple solution is the occasional or ongoing use of outside resources such as graphic designers, writers, webmasters, and other creative talent.
Empowering Others - Giving Them Some Control
It's been a pretty good weekend around the place - not done a lot, but I have done what I've wanted to do - and that makes the difference.I changed my role when I first left the employed world.
Management Training: Are You Satisfied With The Results?
If you're not satfied with the results of your management training programs, maybe it's because you handle training as a 'one shot' event rather than a process of developing your people to be better managers.One of the common misconceptions is that a manager can take a course and voila he is now skilled in communicating with others, or managing his time or delegating work.
You're Hired, Now Go Home: Managing Workers at a Distance
Telecommuting or virtual work opens up a wider net of potential employees for businesses - the disabled, the stay-at-home parent, the student, the retired, the flextime person, etc. However, it also creates unique challenges in hiring, supporting and managing this new group of workers.
Employee Orientation: The 90 Day Difference
Why do some new managers succeed while others fail? It all depends on the first three months - the critical time when the new hire is learning the ropes. The new manager's boss plays a vital role in the orientation process.
Jewelry Use by Employees
Many companies have dress codes, which include jewelry. Some companies do this because they do not wish to offend customers who are of various faiths by employees who wear necklaces with religious symbols.
Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have a Complete Agenda
Most agendas for a meeting look like this.* Budget* Payroll* Staff* Sales* VutszxtnSome people would tell me, "That's a perfectly good agenda.
How to Hold Effective Staff Meetings
Many people believe that they conduct effective meetings, when all they really do is host a party. Or worse, they deliver a monologue.
Why Would Anyone Hold a Bad Meeting?
Pssst, want a stock tip that will make you rich? Okay, here it is: phone a public corporation and ask to speak with the CEO.If a secretary tells you that the CEO expects to be busy in meetings for the next six hundred years, call your broker and sell the stock short.
Effective Meetings - Quick Survey
Here's an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings.1) Who leads your meetings? a) No one, b) Everyone, c) A facilitator2) What happens to the ideas in your meetings? a) If we had to think of ideas, it would be work, b) We make fun of them, c) A scribe writes them on a chart pad3) Are results obtained in your meetings? a) We eat all the donuts, b) And we drink all of the coffee, c) Yes!4) Do your meetings have an agenda? a) Is that some kind of cabinet?, b) I saw one once in an article, c) Yes!5) Who attends your meetings? a) We have bleachers to hold the spectators, b) The entire staff plus any homeless people in the neighborhood, c) Only those who can contribute6) How long are your meetings? a) I'll let you know when this one ends, b) All day, c) An hour or less7) During a meeting do you: a) Break a foam cup into bits, b) Prepare for the next meeting, c) Focus on the topic8) How soon after the meeting do you issue minutes? a) If you think I want to publicize how much time we wasted, you're nuts, b) Within a few months or so, c) As soon as possible, if not faster9) While someone is speaking, do you: a) Wonder about the strength of plastic foams, b) Plan a way to change the subject, c) Listen empathetically10) What structured activities do you use in your meetings? a) We sit on chairs, b) Everyone leaves at the same time, c) Process tools designed to gather information, make decisions, and manage participation.
Employee Motivation: It's More Than A Paycheck
Managers often ask, usually with exasperation, "How can I keep my employees motivated? I pay them decently. What else is there?"Offering competitive salaries is certainly important.
Employee Surveys: a Strategic Tool for Positive Change
Do you want to measure your workers' level of satisfaction? Or change policies and procedures to make them more effective? Or find out if your supervisors are stuck in out-dated ways of managing? Good Idea! But how do you make sure you are getting reliable information to make sound management decisions?When it comes to conducting quality research, a pound of prevention is worth much more than one ounce of cure. Here are five steps to turn your employee surveys into a powerful strategic change management tool.
Quality Hiring: Are You Doing It Right?
Quality hiring is more than running ads, screening, interviewing and checking references. It is a series of specific procedures that can bring in top candidates or create bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Employee Turnover: Is It Eating Up Your Profits?
Keeping the cost of doing business down, yet providing a quality product or service, is one of the most critical components of success for today's leader. What many fail to realize is that employee turnover can represent a very substantial price tag to a company's productivity and its bottom line.
Another Use for Meetings
Every meeting is a laboratory where you can observe and learn important things about the people who attend. In fact, you can use meetings to identify people who merit being promoted into leadership positions.
Why Training Fails
Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."Then the person laughs.
Interviewing: How to Stay Out of legal Hot Water
Some interviewers ask great questions; others ask dumb questions; and, worst of all, some ask questions that can get them into legal hot water.Every recruiter, hiring manager, executive, and department manager must realize that asking the wrong questions or making improper inquiries can lead to discrimination or wrongful-discharge lawsuits.
Recognition: A Quick, Low-cost Way to Motivate Employees
Recognizing good performance through praise or other positive action is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to motivate people. It provides three major benefits:It lets people know that their performance was valued, and increases the likelihood that they will continue to perform well.
Change Management: Avoid Havoc In Very Uncertain Times
Escalating gas prices..
Managers' Biggest Blunders
Nobody's perfect, including the boss. Managers, we polled recently, acknowledged making a number of mistakes, from not recognizing staff accomplishments to inadequate communication to poor hiring decisions.
Employee Motivation: Make Everyone A Cheerleader For Your Company
Do you manage by walking around? What do you see? People excited about their job or people just going through the motions? Here are seven ways, that do not cost much if anything, to turn the "it's just a job" employee into one that is powered up and willing to give their best every day.Spend time out in the field.
Bullying and the Not for Profit Organisation
Where there is people there is politics! Bullying is now a major workplace issue that has invaded our not for profit organisations. Take the following example.
How to Prepare for Your Companys Financial Future
Sooner or later, most business owners need to look for outside financing. Whether it's a line of credit with a bank to handle predictable cash crunches or a significant capital investment to improve plant and equipment, virtually every business will need access to additional funds at some point in its life.
How You Can Learn to be a Better Manager
When you first take over a department, expectations are usually high but operations are sometimes in disarray. The staff is disorganized, goals aren't being met, and hours are spent on unproductive tasks.
Building Trust in Your Business Relationships - 10 Steps
There are some simple things you can do with your people to ensure that they start to trust you. As a letter from Mike Emmott of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK says, in April 2005's UK Management Today says:-"Our surveys show that only one in four employees trust senior management to look after their interests"Is that not appalling? How on earth can businesses develop, survive and above all hang onto their best people if they are seen to be untrustworthy?It's horrible.
Leadership Styles - the Ten Top Qualities the Best Leaders Show
Top leaders..
Time Management Tip: Stop Micro-Managing Employees
If I was a fly on the wall what would I hear your employees say? Would it something like this? "They won't allow me to make even the simplest decisions." "The red tape here makes it very difficult for me to do my job.
Smart Staffing Practices: Don't Confuse Activity with Results
Does your hiring process consist of proven practices or just a hodgepodge of activities that get into gear when someone says, "I need more people" or "Sally has left and we need someone to take her place NOW?"Smart hiring is more than running ads, screening, interviewing and checking references. It is a series of specific procedures that can work well or create bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Hire Winners: Avoid These 10 Interview No-No's
Have you ever hired someone who did not live up to expectations? I'm sure many of us have at one time. The purpose of the interview is to obtain good information about an applicant to make a wise selection decision.
The New Five Truths of Employee Motivation
Motivation is a term that is so widely used, yet many managers know little about how it really works. But it doesn't have to be confusing-in fact, it's quite simple.
Déjà Vu MCI to Qwest International Inc: Can this Corporate Marriage Survive?
Current Situation:As of this writing, the MCI Board of Governors has given Verizon Communications Inc. one week to sweeten their $7.
The Challenges of Human Resource Management
IntroductionThe role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources.
ISO 9001 Compliant Program: Steps to Build
Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality.
Turnover is Not a Problem
"Ha!" you say. "For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven't worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company.
Lack of Operations Manuals Stunting Your Growth?
Lack of Operations Manuals stunting your growth?CONTENTS:1. Do you lack functional Operations Manuals?2.
Document management : A dream of paperless office
What is document management: When we think about "Document Management" we usually see a picture of paperless office. It is not an easy task to make an office paperless due to several existing problems based on Industrial needs.
Conflict Resolution Training- When Personal Safety is an Issue
Conflict generally arises by having your needs, desires, perceptions and values challenged.When a person feels that their values are being challenged they generally respond the strongest.
Contract Management Software: the Solution to the Problem of Coordination
Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a short article entitled "The Problem of Coordination," which highlights 4 categories in which businesses find it difficult to connect:InteroperabilityAgent CommunicationSemantic UnificationCoordinationThough this article refers to a specific type of business, its principles are just as applicable to any business, especially when collaborating on a contract. Contract collaboration and management is difficult in any business, and the negotiations can go on for weeks, months, or even years.
Best Workplaces
The Best Workplaces report (Financial Times, April 28, 2005) notes many factors in common with Managing Creativity and Innovation.Material reward is not the sole factor in determining satisfaction.
Is It Worth To Outsource? How One Can Outsource Wisely
Recent trends in software development market show that it is no longer the most efficient way to work onshore. Competition is too high and in some particular cases, US or European IT people even go farming rather than admit the situation and adapt themselves.
Too Much Time Treating Symptoms
A man drives down the highway each day on his way to work. On Monday he gets a flat tire.
Indecent Proposal in the Workplace - An Overview of Workplace Harassment & Employer Liability
An allegation of harassment in the workplace is a growing phenomenon facing companies across the U.S.
Human Resource Employee Risk Profile - Management Risks Explained
Human Resource Employee Risk ProfileIs your business at risk? Do you want peace of mind?Please answer the following question honestly by drawing a circle around or shading in the column. If you can only answer part of the question in the affirmative, then you should select 'No' eg in Q1 if you have employment contracts for your employees and not for your management team then select 'No'.
Computer Consulting Profit Secrets
Do you own or manage a computer consulting company? Are you having trouble growing your computer consulting company's profits?If so, then you must learn how to focus on your computer consulting firm's profit and bottom line.In this article, we'll look at 7 profit secrets and strategies you can use in your computer consulting business, to ensure that you are able to balance your clients' small business IT needs against your own computer consulting company's profitability challenges.
Offshore This! (Outsourcing Tech Support Overseas)
So I call my telephone company and someone picks up 15,000 miles away. I asked the rep where she's from.
A Leadership Screw Driver: The 90 Day Improvement Plan
I was talking with first-line supervisors in a utility company about how to deal with poor performing employees."You've gotta put the screws to him!" suggested one supervisor to his colleague who was having trouble managing one particular poor performer.
Know Your Client - The First Rule of Business Coaching
Whilst the very best coaches have undertaken independently accredited training and or have years of experience with clients, new self-assessment questionnaires are coming available which is evolving coaching into a far more focused activity. And that is to the benefit of coach/client relationships for the following reasons:- Key AreasResults from assessments enable the coach and client to understand key areas for development and the client can then choose which will be most beneficial.
Recruitment - Pick People Who Think
Old style management doesn't encourage personal mindcontrol, employees aren't encouraged to think. That wascertainly the case when I started work back in the bad olddays however it's still prevalent in many businesses today.
Recruitment - What Youre Really, Really Looking For
Imagine that you're a sports coach and you need a new playeron the team. Would you walk up to someone in the street andsay - "I want you to come and play for my team.
Recruitment - Do You Know What Youre Looking For?
The time will come when you'll need to interview someone tojoin your business or your existing team. If you work in alarge organisation then this could be someone from insidethe company.
Creativity Management - The Value of Being Prolific
When asked his secret to success, the author Graham Green said that it was down to his always writing 500 words a day. There are real reasons why this philosophy rings true:a) The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific - quality of output is closely related to quantity.
Management Consultants, Creativity, Innovation
Most firms have intelligent, capable, knowledgeable managers who are very good at day-to-day problem solving. So why do they need management consultants? There are occasions when consultants bring in specialist competencies, but if that is not the case then their value only really lies in their outside perspective - their ability to frame break from the "company way" and their ability to come up with and implement good ideas that would not otherwise have been thought of.