Business articles
Showing page 36 of 79 - There are 2359 Business articles
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - The new economy
- This technological revolution has organization, efficiency and productivity requirements well above what was needed in the past. And although all three of these have always been important, they are now considered crucial in the growth and maintenance of businesses worldwide. Technology's power gives us the tools to reduce routine tasking in order to increase productivity, spend more time with cust...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Tales from the corporate frontlines: adapting human resource functions
- This article relates to the human resource functions competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It deals with employee feelings with regard 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 communicates effectively with staff ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Doing more with less
- This is a bottom-line environment.Decreasing the downtime of revenue producing employees is a major concern. Efficiency, effectiveness, productivity gains, lowering expenses and increasing ROI are words we are all hearing more of these days. Yet "Sales and Marketing Management" magazine says that less than half of today's sales forces have ever sold during the type of economic market we are...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Tales from the corporate frontlines: the best incentives are free
- This article relates to the Recognition competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It tells the story of how the performance of one team was affected when the powerful motivator of daily praise and recognition disappeared. This competency also explores what type of behavior is appreciated and rewarded within your organization. Studies show that employees who receive regular r...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Tales from the corporate frontlines: creating a culture of empowerment
- This article relates to the Culture & Climate competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. AlphaMeasure defines climate as the effect an organization has on the employees, while culture refers more to the acceptable behaviors, attitudes, and habits of the organization as a whole. Some relevant topics include employee values, attitudes, and morale throughout your organization. K...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Tales from the corporate frontlines: team dynamics and communication
- This article relates to the Team Dynamics competency, which evaluates interpersonal communication, cooperation, and productivity between members of a single team, group, or department within your organization. In today's marketplace, in order for organizations to operate efficiently, it is essential that they understand how to create and utilize effective work teams at all levels of the organizati...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Group discussion guidelines
- DISCUSSION METHODS: There are two basic types of discussion methods; the conference method and the workshop method. The conference method involves meetings of staff members, usually from the same organization, and is convened to pass on information, communicate management policies or decisions, or to solve organizational problems. These meetings are usually held for only one or two days, and gener...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Employee motivation - access their unique talents
- Your people are invaluable to you. They are the lifeblood of your business or organisation. And yet, in many situations, managers take little time to truly find out what makes each of their people special. Makes them unique.But why would this be important to know?When people bring their special blend of skills to your workplace, it's important to know about it. And not ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Got a meeting planned? ask this question
- Meetings ? they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today.Anything that consumes a major chunk of our time is ripe for analysis and is likely a great source of productivity improvement. And meetings are no exception....
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - You cant not communicate
- Most of us would like to be better communicators. As leaders, co-workers, team members and in all of the other roles we play both professionally and personally, we know that communication is a major key to success.When we are frustrated or stymied by something, often better communication would have improved it.Consider the new executive or manager who walks into their first meeting. ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Safety policy sample outline
- Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most larger corporations outsource such jobs or they have someone on staff with the proper credentials in risk management. Imagine writing the safety manuals for NASA? I had the opportunity to be in the unique position of being able to imagine just such a thing when writing our company safety manuals. It takes lots of studying and review of case law to do...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Drafting an employee manual sample outline
- One of the hardest things I had discovered running my company was drafting an Employee Manual. Also added to the stress was the fact that if you made a mistake someone could sue you and you might lose all your hard work and money that you had earned thru blood, sweat and tears as an entrepreneur. You will need an employee manual for your company to protect yourself; but where do you start?H...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Passion for profits
- Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don't have the time to be all things to all people. In the early stages of a business, the owner or manager waits on customers, does the buying, collects past due accounts, supervises just about everyone on staff and may even stay late to stuff the monthly statements.At e...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Business relationship germs
- In management seminars I often compare debt to an infection. A reasonable amount of debt will not kill a business, but too much debt will. While most businesses carry a substantial amount of debt from time to time, it must be maintained in an acceptable relationship to stockholder's equity.Infection is also a threat in business relationships. How serious the illness your business' relations...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - You get the behavior you reward
- On consulting assignments, here are some of the questions I frequently ask the employees I interview:1. How does your boss measure you?2. When the end of the year rolls around, how do you know if you have done a good job over the previous 12 months?3. If you wanted to receive a raise double the amount that you typically receive, what do you believe you would have to do to qual...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Management apathy
- I recently received a most interesting phone call.When I answered the phone, I immediately recognized the name of the company as one of the most visible distributors in our construction supply industry. The owner described how this seemingly invincible 75-year-old firm had very little to show for all those years except their good name. In fact, over the past five years, their sales had dete...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Ceos role in family business
- I first met Roland (not his real name) in 1972. He was a high school student working a summer job in his father's business."We're teaching him the business from the ground up," his father told me proudly as he introduced me to the tall good looking kid. We shook hands, exchanged a few words, then Roland jumped on a fork lift and was off to stage another delivery.The next ti...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Influencing the organisation
- There is a saying about management that suggests some managers are so focussed on the details of a business, that when the Titanic was sinking those particular managers were still straightening chairs in the dining room. Whether we love 'em or hate 'em, managers are here to stay, and their job is fundamentally to manage the resources within an organisation for optimum efficiency and effectiveness,...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Performance appraisal scenarios: improve your communication
- IMPROVING COMMUNICATION DURING THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: If the employee has trouble getting started on the self-appraisal you might say: "Why don't you start by talking about the XYZ project?" (Pick a topic that the employee will feel comfortable with, a success rather than a failure.) "It seems to me that the PDQ project was harder than we expected. What's your perspective on tha...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Having your phil
- February 2nd, at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time on Gobbler's Knob in a small town in western Pennsylvania, 20,000 people and a national radio and television audience anxiously await the prognostication of America's favorite furry forecaster. In a tradition dating back 119 years, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from hibernation?and if he sees his shadow, it's back into the burrow for six more weeks o...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Behavioral extensions and its implications at workplaces
- The study of Behavioral extension involves investigating the source of an actual demonstrated behavioral action. According to Behavioral Extension belief, no action can be seen as a disconnected expression. Every action is a result of deep set embedded Behavioral sets that are almost unalterable. The unalterable Behavioral set is a result of rooted beliefs and/or prejudices built and integrated in...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Saying one thing, doing another...
- This week I was asked to speak at an internal conference for a bank. The subject was how to build a great customer experience. However, the reality was somewhat different to the title. I sat listening to speaker after speaker - all coming along with the same message "how can we stuff more products into our clients and achieve our targets".As I sat there I started to think, why do ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Five steps to successful business succession
- The great majority of family businesses in North America are still owned and operated by descendants of the founder. The business acumen that these first, second, third, and sometimes fourth generation managers possess largely determines how much longer the business will remain under family control. To perpetuate a business, the current owners and managers must first identify and then prepare a su...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Dont take new hires for granted
- Hiring good people is only half the battle. The other half is keeping them, especially in a relatively strong economy where quality people are difficult to attract.Let's face it. It has never been tougher to find quality people. While national unemployment figures have increased over the past year, there are many markets that are still classified as tight labor markets. In these markets, es...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - How to reduce temporary employee turnover
- The use of temporary services to stock a farm of employees is beneficial in a number of ways for an employer, and detrimental in others; but the one that will always be heard is that good labor is hard to find when using these services.This is a very real and expensive reality for some, and the blame always falls on the employee. However, denial is a great way to be unsuccessful, and the wo...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Transparency: a key to your effectiveness
- Last month I talked about the Skilled Facilitator principle of being curious. This month I want to talk about the complementary principle transparency. Transparency has recently become a popular topic in business as organizations seek to build (or rebuild) trust with customers, shareholders, and employees. This morning as I opened the op-ed page of my Sunday New York Times, the title read, "The Ne...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Tales from the corporate frontlines: improving workplace safety
- This article relates to the Safety and Working Environment competency and explores how your employees feel with regard to their physical and environmental working conditions, the quality of their equipment and tools, and overall attention to safety within the workplace. Every organization is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of their employees. An unsafe working environment can lead t...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - I cant use this approach unless my boss does - power, accountability, and consequences
- People who work with us often struggle with this dilemma: in theory, they come to believe that it would be very helpful to use our approach with people who have more power than they do, and in practice, sometimes it seems too risky to try. Some examples of things that feel too risky include raising questions with your boss about his or her performance, disagreeing publicly with people who have mor...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - When being a facilitator doesnt help
- I talked with a group of internal consultants last week - they felt they had to wear too many hats in their work. They had to be consultants, facilitators, coaches and trainers - sometimes in the same one-hour session. They weren't always sure what role to be in and they felt that all this role-switching was draining them and was decreasing their credibility and effectiveness.After learning...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - My companys leadership sucks!
- Maybe it's the season or just a more buoyant job market; but lately I'm sure involved in a lot more discussions about leadership.I'm receiving more requests for help defining the key characteristics which make a great leader; and I'm hearing a lot of negative stuff from clients about their bosses.Most leaders die with their mouths open:I recently read an article in Fast Compan...