The X'ln'Z Mantra

2010-06-14T13:09:00.003+06:00

The Art of Down selling

Lots of businesses have mastered the up-sell. You take a common product and give it premium characteristics with a higher price tag to match.

In this economy, the down-sell might be a better move. Consumers may be spending again, but they’re doing so cautiously and with a new found resolve to stick to a budget. If they’re giving up the bells and whistles in favor of more basic and affordable products, why not follow suit and take the “premium” out of your premium products?

It’s a much trickier proposition — that’s why. If you go too cheap, you risk, among other dangers, killing your profit margins and diluting your brand. Marketing experts say smaller businesses are better positioned to experiment with new products and new pricing more easily, and to respond more quickly to customers’ feedback. If you can’t sell your premium product, there’s no shame in pushing low-end items to keep sales up. Just make sure that by going cheap, you don’t cheapen your brand. Here are three things to keep in mind.

Give Customers Something New

You could simplify an existing product by stripping it down to its essentials, or use this economy as an opportunity to invent a completely new, cheaper product ( Maruti EECO story)

Pitch the Value

Marketing non-premium products in a down economy requires a different kind of sales pitch. here You have to work at helping people understand the value difference,ou need to convey that they are still getting a valuable product, but it’s priced for the recession, and they “would be crazy not to take that offer,” says Cox. That way, customers get the message that you are looking out for their needs and you are still providing the high quality that they associate with your brand.

Know Your Brand

Down-selling customers won’t work for every company, particularly if the brand image depends on an air of high-end exclusivity to differentiate it from competitors.

2010-06-11T16:32:00.002+06:00

JOBS of Future

I,ve been following a fun little foresight project organized by Rohit Talwar of “FastFuture” contributed to by many members of the Association of Professional Futurists, which looks at new jobs that may emerge in the next 10-20 years as the result of science and technology advancement.

One of the benefits of thinking about science and technology foresight in terms of jobs is that doing so encourages a reality check, forcing the question: will someone get paid to do this, if so, by whom and why (how will it be profitable to the job giver?) In other words, the question is taken beyond whether one can imagine a job that will need doing or a job that someone might like to do it – that’s just mental bubble gum – to the more interesting and taxing issue of whether such need will justify enough paying customers such that the job will exist at all.

Of course, in all this science and technology progress will make new products and services possible partly by reducing the price point of providing them.

Not all of the jobs of the future listed below, I feel, pass this test. But many do. And it’s an interesting thought experiment. It’s a work in progress (see below.) The list as exists so far is:

1. Body Part Maker
Due to the huge advances being made in bio-tissues, robotics and plastics, the creation of body parts – from organs to limbs – will soon be possible, requiring body part makers, body part stores and body part repair shops.

2. Nano-Medic
Advances in nanotechnology offer the potential for a range of sub-atomic ‘nanoscale’ devices, inserts and procedures that could transform personal healthcare.. A new range of nano-medicine specialists will be required to administer these treatments.

3. Pharmer (sic) of Genetically Engineered Crops and Livestock
New-age farmers will raise crops and livestock that have been genetically engineered to improve yields and produce therapeutic proteins. Works in progress include a vaccine-carrying tomato and therapeutic milk from cows, sheep and goats.

4. Old Age Wellness Manager / Consultant Specialists
Drawing on a range of medical, pharmaceutical, prosthetic, psychiatric, natural and fitness solutions to help manage the various health and personal needs of the aging population.

5. Memory Augmentation Surgeon
Surgeons that add extra memory to people who want to increase their memory capacity and to help those who have been over exposed to information in the course of their life and simply can no longer take on any more information – thus leading to sensory shutdown.

6. ‘New Science’ Ethicist
As scientific advances accelerate in new and emerging fields such as cloning, proteomics and nanotechnology, a new breed of ethicist may be required. These science ethicists will need to understand a range of underlying scientific fields and help society make consistent choices about what developments to allow. Much of science will not be a question of can we, but should we..

7. Space Pilots, Architects and Tour Guides
With Virgin Galactic and others pioneering space tourism, space trained pilots and tour guides will be needed, as well as designers to enable the habitation of space and the planets. Current projects at SICSA (University of Houston) include a greenhouse on Mars, lunar outposts and space exploration vehicles.

8. Vertical Farmers
There is growing interest in the concept of city based vertical farms, with hydroponically-fed food being grown in multi-storey buildings. These offer the potential to dramatically increase farm yield and reduce environmental degradation. The managers of such entities will require expertise in a range of scientific disciplines, engineering and commerce.

9. Climate Change Reversal Specialist
As the threats and impacts of climate change increase, a new breed of engineer-scientists will be required to help reduce or reverse the effects of climate change on particular locations. They will need to apply multi-disciplinary solutions ranging from filling the oceans with iron filings to erecting giant umbrellas that deflect the sun’s rays.

10. Quarantine Enforcer
If a deadly virus starts spreading rapidly, few countries, and few people, will be prepared. Nurses will be in short supply. Moreover, as mortality rates rise, and neighborhoods are shut down, someone will have to guard the gates.

11. Weather Modification Police
The act of stealing clouds to create rain is already happening in some parts of the world, and is altering weather patterns thousands of miles away. Weather modification police will need to control and monitor who is allowed to shoot rockets containing silver iodine into the air – a way to provoke rainfall from passing clouds.

12. Virtual Lawyer
As more and more of our daily life goes online, specialists will be required to resolve legal disputes which could involve citizens resident in different legal jurisdictions.

13. Avatar Manager / Devotees – Virtual Teachers
Avatars could be used to support or even replace teachers in the elementary classroom, i.e., computer personas that serve as personal interactive guides. The Devotee is the human that makes sure that the Avatar and the student are properly matched and engaged.

14. Alternative Vehicle Developers
Designers and builders of the next generations of vehicle transport using alternative materials and fuels. Could the dream of underwater and flying cars become a reality within the next two decades?

15. Narrowcasters
As the broadcasting media become increasingly personalized, roles will emerge for specialists working with content providers and advertisers to create content tailored to individual needs. While mass market customisation solutions may be automated, premium rate narrow casting could be performed by humans.

16. Waste Data Handler
Specialists providing a secure data disposal service for those who do not want to be tracked, electronically or otherwise.

17. Virtual Clutter Organizer
Specialists will help us organise our electronic lives. Clutter management would include effective handling of email, ensuring orderly storage of data, management of electronic ID’s and rationalizing the applications we use.

18. Time Broker / Time Bank Trader
Alternative currencies will evolve their own markets – for example time banking already exists. (Time banking facilitates reciprocal service exchange based on units of time.)

19. Social ‘Networking’ Worker
Social workers for those in some way traumatized or marginalized by social networking.

20. Personal Branders
An extension of the role played by stylists, publicists and executive coaches –advising on how to create a personal ‘brand’ using social and other media. What personality are you projecting via your Blog, Twitter, etc? What personal values do you want to build into your image – and is your image consistent with your real life persona and your goals?

I added a few of my own to the database (trying to avoid repetition) which would both be needed and economically justifiable:
(1) Organ Agent: person who sources and negotiates real or artificial organs on behalf of those in who want them. Interacts with donor, manages prices or bids if applicable, negotiates with hospitals, and so on.
(2) Automated Systems Monitor: person who oversees automated systems (e.g. smart highways) and intervenes and corrects as necessary. “ASMs” would each need specific expertise in their field — transport or manufacturing or surgery or whatever is automated — but would share the specific skill of being a complex-automated-system monitor, evaluator, and emergency troubleshooter.
(3) End-of-Life Planner: person who helps people plan and manage their own death (combating the fact that medicine/technology will be able to keep most people technically alive pretty much forever).

You can add your own thought (the craziest dreams)

2007-06-15T17:06:00.000+06:00

What will you dot face cut throat competition

The best way to win a pricing war is to avoid the fight entirely. These products do battle in tough markets, but they generate profits without competing on the basis of price.

The Champion: Apple

The Market: MP3 players

The Competition: Sony

The Spread: $250 (Apple iPod nano 8GB) versus $120 (SanDisk Sansa e250)
Background: Sony created the personal-music-player category with the Walkman cassette player. When the technology upgraded to CDs, Sony continued as the market leader, although it faced major competition from other Japanese firms. Apple had no presence in consumer electronics, but it wanted to make the Macintosh a "digital hub."

Strategy: Apple's hardware engineering chief, Jon Rubinstein, assembled a team of engineers to design a product that would play music directly from a hard drive, rather than a CD. The iPod was launched as a Macintosh peripheral but quickly grew into its own product category. Apple helped the process along by launching iTunes to provide content and continues to lead the product category by releasing new devices that look better and are easier to use than competitive offerings.

Quote: "I'm sure Apple employees won't take this as a compliment, but Apple is a great watch that's stopped. This means that twice a day it's on time. When Apple is right, it's very right: as with the iPod. But other times, Apple is very wrong: e.g., Newton, Lisa, Apple III. But most companies that Apple competes with are like a day calendar that's stopped working. They're only right once a year." — Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Fellow and Macintosh marketer

2007-05-10T10:11:00.000+06:00

Know your role

Teams are important because they can accomplish much more than any of the members could achieve individually. The team that functions effectively and efficiently brings together a diverse range of characters, skills, and talents, and is able to realize large, complex projects.

You may ask a question how I will create an effective team

Two factors need to be in place in order for a team to have the best chance of succeeding:The team leader needs to specify clearly the purpose, objective, or goal of the team, and all team members need to work together to achieve it.

Team members need to understand and agree on the role of each person

You may ask a question how will I create an effective team

The answer is
Learn about the various team role models

Have a look at the Belbin Team Roles below and see which one best describes your preferred behaviors. Then think about the behavior patterns of your team colleagues and try to figure out which roles would best suit each of them.

1. Plant: Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. Excusable weaknesses: Ignores incidentals. Too preoccupied to communicate effectively.

2. Resource Investigator: Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts. Excusable weaknesses: Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.

3. Co-ordinator: Mature, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well. Excusable weaknesses: Can be seen as manipulative. Offloads personal work.

4. Shaper: Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles. Excusable weaknesses: Prone to provocation. Offends people’s feelings.

5. Monitor Evaluator: Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately. Excusable weaknesses: Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.

6. Teamworker: Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. Excusable weaknesses: Indecisive in crunch situations.

7. Implementer: Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions. Excusable weaknesses: Can be inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

8. Completer Finisher: Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. Excusable weaknesses: Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.

9. Specialist: Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. Excusable weaknesses: Contributes on only a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

The action-orientated roles are numbers 4, 7 and 8. The people-oriented roles are numbers 3, 6 and 2. The cerebral roles are numbers 1, 5 and 9.

It is important that you understand your preferred team role, as well as that of your team colleagues. This will help you develop the ability to adapt to the demands arising from the particular challenges you are facing. However, the context in which the team exists, the external pressures on it, and your own personal motivations will all change over time. It is behavior that determines the various roles and not knowledge or skills. Thus, your preferred team role may well fluctuate over time, depending on changes in circumstances.

2007-05-08T10:33:00.000+06:00

The Boss Pedia (part 2)

The Lost Lamb

Features Description

Characteristics : Got over promoted and now has no idea what to do.

Plumage : Dresses exactly like the employees being Managed

Archetype : Michael Scott ( The Boss On the Movie " The ofice")

Quote : " I don't know ,What do you think "

Pros : will probably be demoted soon

Cons : May remain inplace if you help him too much

Takeaway/Warning : I sin denial of own ineffectiveness

Care and Feeding : Do your own work.Get your project files approved. sooner or later he will be pushed off

7.The Hatchet Man

Features Description

Characteristics : Hired to down size your organisation

Plumage : Dresses exactly like the employees being Managed

Archetype : "Chain saw Al" Dunlap former CEO of Sunbean

Quote : "There is absoluteltly no truth of that Lay-off rumour"

Pros : None

Cons : Generally effective in doing what he has been hired for

Takeaway/Warning :You are in his crosschairs

Care and Feeding : Update your resume unlless you work in human resource department . (which grows insize during Layofftimes

8.The Dictator

Features Description

Characteristics :Thinks that empowerment means empowering managemeent to give orders

Plumage : Military Haircut

Archetype : Dick Cheney

Quote : "Because Iam the boss,That's Why"

Pros : Has no problems indecision making

Cons : Makes wrong decisions at most of the time

Takeaway/Warning : will chew you out like a drill sergeant

Care and Feeding : Shut up and go back to work,I'll her you when i want to hear your bloody opinion

9.Social

Features Description

Characteristics :Thinksof the corporate environment as a community of stakeholders.often can be seen at Non business orgaistions and health care industry.

Plumage : Tie or scarf with bright colours

Archetype : Hilary Clinton

Quote : "There's cake in the break room"

Pros : Pleasant

Cons : Avoids decision that affest their imagery

Takeaway/Warning : May become cranky under pressure

Care and Feeding : Build consensus , line up every one behind you before bringing the agenda tothe boss ; Most important try to be the person who brought the cake . ie present your self as the master of deas but give credit to team and boss

10 The Hero

Features Description

Characteristics :Competent and knowledgeable,but yet easy to work with

Plumage : Usually a variation of the casual Friday look

Archetype : Lee Iacoca, off course Tom hanks ( in all movies other than forest Gump)

Quote : "Tell me what you are thinking and let's come up with a solution"

Pros : Actually thinks that managers are supposed to act and think to make their employees successful

Cons : probably Gets promoted earlier and will be replaced soon.

Takeaway/Warning : Working for bad managers in the future will be more painful

Care and Feeding : Enjoy it while it last and do your best. try to make yourselves indispensable.She/he may brings you in their next work and promotions

2007-05-04T16:50:00.001+06:00

Friday, May 04, 2007

A field guide to know Your Boss

The office is a jungle. That's why intrepid employees need a field guide to help them spot and identify the most powerful creature in the workplace: the boss. Here are ten common examples of the species, along with care and feeding tips should you encounter a manager in the wild.
1.Visionary

Features Description

Characteristics : Creates a reality distortion field that makes people the improbable.Commonly found in high tech and Bio tech habitats

Plumage : Nike Air Jordan 7 Retro running shoes

Archetype : Steve Jobs

Quote : “ Seriously this technology is going to change the world”

Pros : Highly inspirational

Cons : Yells at people Who don’t share His dreams 24/7

Takeaway/Warning : You will not have a life

Care and Feeding : Drink the kool aid.Once you find your career points are worth the long hours . throw your self into job as if your work is the only thing that matters

2. Climber

Features Description

Characteristics : Despaerately wants to get to the to get to the top

Plumage : Armani wool suit

Archetype : Nicholo Machiavelli

Quote : “ Let us run upto the flagpost and see that who salutes”

Pros : May create an opening for you if and when he is promoted

Cons : You are nothing but a mean to climb his ladder of his success

Takeaway/Warning : will dump you like a month old mackeral if you make make him look good

Care and Feeding : Make sure that he knows you.Feed him with titbits that you get fin corporate grape vine:your job is to make him look good

3.Propeller Head

Features Description

Characteristics : Used to be a top performing Engineer

Plumage : Casio 40CMD database calculator watch

Archetype : Bill Gates

Quote : "Dielectric interference will overload 45 nm even with reticular imaging"

Pros : Communicates only through e-mail

Cons : Considers Non engineers to be completely idiotic

Warning /Takeaway : totally imaginative

Care and Feeding ; Be anexpert in an area which is pivotal for groups success.

4. Fogey

Features Description

Characteristics : Been in the organisation for a long period

Plumage : Sports jacket with 1980s labels

Archetype : peterman

Quote : " I've got lot of experience stored in my memory banks"

Pros : Easy going , especially if close to the retirement

Cons : Has hundreds of anecdotes

Warning/Takeaway : You will be bored out of your mind

Care and Feeding : Cultivate paience , smile and mnod your head as i you are listening,use the extra time for day dreaming

5. Bureaucrat

Features Description

Characteristics : believes that the world will collapse without rules and regulations. Usually found in Government agencies , deence contractors and fortune 500 companies

Plumage : White colour /Light colourshirts, Dark Coloured tie

Archetype :Dilbert's PHB(a amous Point hairy boss in a fiction)

Quote : "If it ain't broke,don't fisx it"

Pros : Highly predictable, Thus easy to manipulate

Cons : Rendered totally ineective by any major change in the business environment

Warning/Takeaway : Can grind your creativity to dead pulp

Care and Feeding : Likes Red Tape.Keep all activities in the content of what had been done in the past> Whether it is effective or not.Document everything and share it with all

To be continued
" UpDate your Knowledge by visisting "
www.managerialgrid.blogspot.com

2007-04-03T16:46:00.000+06:00

One year of blogging

The art of wriritng something without irritating others to a greater extent here on wards the focus of the blog will be Performance management aspects 0on various functional areas

2007-04-03T16:35:00.000+06:00

Thou Shalt Not Steal Thy Competitor's Secrets
There's nothing unethical about competitive intelligence. Most of the time, it simply involves gathering together pieces of a puzzle that are available to anyone — if they have the time and the determination to find them. But because the search can be tedious, it's tempting to look for shortcuts to get the information you need, especially when time is tight. When that happens, legal and ethical lines are easily crossed — often with disastrous financial or public-relations consequences. There are also times when ethical ambiguities arise, particularly during face-to-face interviews. So in addition to providing tips onthe right way to gather competitior info.

Pretexting

What It Is:
Approaching a source for sensitive information under a false identity or deceptive pretense.
Why It's Wrong:
It's against the law. It's also lying, and lying is bad.
Potential Consequences:
Criminal conviction, litigation, fines, or prison time.
As part of an effort to clamp down on leaks to the press, in 2006 Hewlett-Packard hired an outside firm that used a false identity to collect phone records of several HP directors and journalists. The discovery that HP had been involved in "pretexting" (i.e., operating under a false pretext) shined a klieg light on one of the most controversial tactics used in corporate investigations. Researchers seeking competitive data — or even data about their own company — should not 1.) make fraudulent claims about why they need data, 2.) use forged information or a forged identity to request the data, or 3.) ask a third party to pull data for them using false information.

Dumpster Diving
What It Is:
Picking through garbage cans to find key paperwork and documents.
Why It's Wrong:
If you dive on private property, you could be arrested for trespassing. And, well, there's the smell.
Potential Consequences:
Embarrassment for all involved if caught and possible legal consequences depending on the Dumpster's location.
Would a Fortune 500 company's competitive analysis team climb into corporate trash cans to get competitive information? It happens. In 2001, Procter & Gamble staffers were accused of rummaging through rival Unilever's garbage in search of documents containing competitive information. The Dumpsters in this case were not on private property, so the public dive was technically legal. Still, Dumpster diving doesn't pass the "sniff test," according to many in competitive intelligence professionals. The question to ask yourself is: If your techniques were to end up the front page of the Wall Street Journal, would top brass be embarrassed?

NDA-Busting
What It Is:
Encouraging a source to violate terms of a non-compete or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) they signed with their employer.
Why It's Wrong:
It may be their neck, but you shouldn't help them stick it out.
Potential Consequences:
If your source gets fired or sued, they may try to take you down with them.
Some believe that if a source inside a company shares information that violates a nondisclosure or non-compete agreement, then that's the source's decision to make. But Wendy Schmidt, a principal of the Forensic & Dispute Services team at Deloitte, says if an intelligence researcher learns that a source can't talk without violating an NDA, then it's better to find an alternative source whose NDA restrictions are different (or expired) and who can thus speak freely to the topic at hand.

Outing a Source
What It Is:
Naming who talked and what they said.
Why It's Wrong:
You could get your source into trouble.
Potential Consequences:
Your source could be fired or face litigation, while executives in your company may be tempted to use unethical techniques to get more information from the source.
Full-time competitive-intelligence researchers generally agree that individuals who provide proprietary data should not be identified, except in general terms (such as "a line manager in the Northeast division," or "a store manager planning holiday inventory"). It's natural to want to know who disclosed red-hot data, but it's essential to protect your sources — both to ensure that the source doesn't get fired and to prevent someone in your company from ending up in a potentially unethical situation. For example, an executive in your company might knowingly or unknowingly try to hire the source, or someone could try to pay the source for more information.

2007-03-13T12:07:00.000+06:00

Iam Back

The rain is over the sky is clear so is my mind

so I want to speak about one of the mlost crucial situation which every one one goes through

Have you ever had the displeasure of working with someone who is difficult? It is fairly common to work alongside people who are condescending, ineffective communicators, or bullies, or whose personalities and actions simply annoy you. This problem becomes even worse when that person is your boss or supervisor. Frustrations and anger created from your interaction with a difficult boss can mount, and it may eventually lead to decreased productivity, low morale, or even your decision to quit your job. Alternately, your frustrations can come to the surface and cause hostility between you and your boss, which may lead to your termination.Here are some tips to follow to help improve your dealings with a difficult boss.Don't Lose Your HeadRudyard Kipling wrote an inspiration poem entitled "If". He writes, "If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on youYours is the Earth and everything that's in it." I have always understood this poem to be a mantra on patience and tolerance. Applied to this situation of dealing with a difficult boss, take a deep breath before making a decision to react to your supervisor's annoying behavior. Think about whether there is a way you can approach your boss to discuss your concerns. Rather than making it a personal or emotional conversation in which you vent your anger, try to couch your discussion in terms of how you can improve your performance and make your job more productive. If your supervisor is a poor communicator, try giving a couple examples of how your boss' certain poorly-communicated message made a negative impact on your job performance. If your boss can see a benefit to communicating in a different way, you will have a better chance of affecting change.However, if your boss' behavior created a vitriolic or toxic environment, think about your options and decide whether you should seek an opportunity elsewhere. Give yourself a few months' time to look for a new opportunity, contacting your professional associates, references, and other trusted peers to help you seek a new job.

Reporting Your Boss If your boss' behavior is truly abusive, you should consider discussing your situation with an HR manager. Be honest with this manager about the problems you've encountered. Although the HR manager may record the complaints, he or she may not be able to take action to improve the situation for you. Instead, your HR manager may be able to provide help in getting you a new position outside of the company.

One caveat to consider:

Your complaints may get back to your boss, who may treat you with distrust or contempt. Especially if you have not made an attempt to improve the situation directly with your boss, going above your boss' head to an HR manager or any other manager may backfire on you.

In conclusion, it is important that you consider the full extent of the problems that you are having with your boss, and try to remedy them before they become large obstacles that prevent you from having a fulfilling and enjoyable career. Above all, don't let your frustrations get the best of you. If you cannot improve the work situation with your supervisor, maybe it is time to consider looking for a new position.

2007-02-23T10:45:00.001+06:00

Change is the only phenonmenon which never changes

2007-01-31T15:51:00.000+06:00

Waking Up to The Wrong Side of the Bed : The Effect of Mood on Work Performance

u know how it goes: A traffic jam blocks your way to work. A rude driver swerves in front of your car and you spill that just-purchased food into your lap. You arrive late, in a lousy mood. From there, the day just goes downhill and your workplace performance falls to pieces.

Or does it? Everyone has bad mornings. But does a bad mood really color one's entire day and undermine productivity? Some people, after all, thrive on tension; for others, perhaps settling in to work helps them shake off the lousy mood they started with.

"In my experience, and in the experience of many others, people are not able to completely wall off and compartmentalize different parts of their lives. There is a spillover between the multiple roles that people inhabit."

significant amount of research has been done in the past two decades on work-family conflicts.

The researchers found that both positive and negative moods affect employee productivity, but that positive moods are more potent. Most importantly, they discovered, the mood you bring with you to work has a stronger effect on the day's mood -- and on work performance -- than mood changes caused by events in the workplace. This, suggests that a business's performance might be enhanced by efforts to help employees cope with mood-affecting influences in their private lives -- including advising employees on how to best handle commuting hassles or offering counseling for family problems.

“Ultimately it is the fact the fact that start-of-the-day mood has such a strong and consistent effect is pretty powerful ,It is something that organizations don't take seriously."

Is it the jerking brake on the road or or the cranky customer on the phone?

which upsets you more:

Think about it will be back

2007-01-23T18:02:00.000+06:00

Managing without Macho Words

Utilizing result-driven verbal communication can steer a company and its leader toward an undefined paradigm. In other words, using buzzwords like the ones in the preceding sentence won’t make you a better manager.

Instead of padding your language with unnecessary and often meaningless words and phrases (i.e., “globalize,” “push the envelope,” “intellectual capital,” “core competency”), consider ways that will help you speak and write with more clarity and less jargon. By communicating more clearly you give your employees, customers, and prospective customers a reason to listen. And in today’s crowded and competitive marketplace, getting someone’s attention is key.

Here are some strategies that will help you break the buzzword habit:

Stop pretending. Some people use jargon (vs. real words) to sound intelligent. This works up to a point, but eventually somebody figures it out. Like the boy who announces that the emperor has no clothes, it only takes one person -- though hopefully not a customer -- to recognize that buzzwords do little more than inflate plain-sounding facts.
Be brave. Just because everyone else is “thinking outside the box” doesn’t mean you have to join in. Show some courage by putting a moratorium on the use of buzzwords. Eventually, clarity will take over and become the norm.
Speak (and write) by example. Show your employees how to talk clearly by minimizing your reliance on buzzwords in communication to your managers. Resist using phrases like “strategic fit,” “out of the loop,” “24/7,” “redeployed people,” “brain dump,” and “core competencies.”

Monitor and beware of the clear-speaking competitor. If you’re not careful, a competitor that uses clear and plain language to describe its products and services and why they are important may muscle its way into your territory. Once you lose your spot it’s not easy to get it back.
Jargon-proof your products and services. Minimize your use of buzzwords in product literature and you’ll lower the number of support calls from customers. Rereading something you don’t understand wastes time. Don’t waste your customers’ time by making it harder to figure out exactly what your products do and how they make life easier.

Don’t forget the customer. As you practice using jargon-free language among your staff, do the same in your direct communication with customers. They’ll notice the change and may adopt their own moratorium on buzzwords.

Avoid clichés. If it’s trite or overused, it’s probably a cliché and should be avoided. Clichés lose their meaning, which ultimately turns them into buzzwords.

Don’t use $60 words. “Utilize” may sound more important than “use,” but it’s clunky, pretentious, and one of the most offensive buzzwords around. Big words are not equivalent to smart words. Keep it simple: the less syllables the better.

2006-12-11T16:04:00.000+06:00

Some News 2 b Scribbled

Getting an edge has never been so tough. As competition intensifies, segment boundaries blur and pressure on margins mounts, more and more companies are struggling to combat commoditization by enhancing customer relationships.

Yet as many of the CEOs who gathered for a roundtable sponsored by Chief Executive and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young are quick to point out, that's no easy feat. "One of the issues that flows from commoditization is how to distinguish your-self from your neighbor," says Olive Mendelow, vice chairman and COO of industrial and commercial brokerage consulting firm Binswanger/CBB . "You have to attach a certain value to your brand even though it's a commoditized product that you're selling."

Increasingly, companies seeking to meet that challenge are learning to excel at integrated marketing and to reposition themselves as customer relationship managers that not only produce products and services but repackage the products and services of other providers. At the same time, customer demands are growing ever more distinct, exacerbating the difficulty of delivering a positive customer experience, points out Phil Lawrence, director of wealth management for consulting firm Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. "It's the dilemma of any, any, any," he asserts. "Any product, any device, any time, any place--that's what the typical customer wants. How do you balance these channels out--whatever your value proposition or your customer experience decision is--to make money?"

2006-12-01T13:47:00.000+06:00

Dealing with Difficult People

Your workday can have hundreds of irritants — the person who smacks her lips eating breakfast at her desk; the person who's a drummer during all your phone calls; the person who puts his dirty running shoes up on your cubicle when he talks to you; the boss who yells too much; the colleague whose cologne permeates your cubicle like smoke, and a number of problem personalities that require real effort to deal with. What are you supposed to do? There is no better gauge of your strength of character than your unfailing politeness, whether to Respond to petty annoyances or problem personalities. Certain tips which I observed in many occassions
Petty annoyances

How should you respond to the petty annoyances that are an inevitable consequence of being with other people in confined spaces? Others will irritate you. You just have to be ready for it. If you're constantly surprised at the strange things people say, eat, or smell like, your first change should be of your expectations. People are different, often irritatingly so—deal with it!
Next, figure out the most helpful strategies for cooling your temper, such as the following:
· Excuse yourself from the situation to get a drink of water.
· Imagine that you're doing your favorite activity in your favorite place.
· Remind yourself that, in a certain number of hours, you'll be on your way home.
· Return to your desk or office, sit quietly for a few minutes, and plan your response.
If you're in a situation where you have to make an instant response to an incredibly annoying comment, swallow hard and be polite, but remember to stick up for yourself and your ideas.
Problem personalities
In addition to the normal hassles that can arise in the workplace, you can also run into the following personality types, who make everyday a problem. Here are the most common types and how to deal with them:
· The hothead:
Hotheads are often embarrassed by their bad tempers and, after flailing away for five minutes, apologize profusely. Let the hothead blow his stack . . . privately, if at all possible. If you have a hide as thick as an elephant's, offer to listen to him. If you have a hothead in a group meeting and the hothead turns vicious, pretend you're listening to a play and are not involved directly, even if you're the object of the rant. Just write down the tirade so you can resolve the issue with the hothead's supervisor.

·
The rumormonger:

The rumormonger uses gossip to skewer others and to advance his own career. If a rumormonger is spreading rumors about you, confront him politely and publicly — politely because you do not wish to embarrass him, publicly because you want to ensure that others hear him recant. Ask the gossip where he heard the rumor, and, when you get the name, talk to that person, too.

2006-11-30T14:53:00.000+06:00

HIre PEople Who WIll CHallenge You

productively irreverent. . (Part-2)
Ask Yourself if there are tasks, projects, or processes that are taking up people’s time and energy that do not directly support the results you are being asked to produce. Evaluate everything, even small things like reports, meetings, approvals required, or documentation. Each day, question one action or task with the appropriate people in a productive way. Here´s an example of how you might start up that conversation:
We all have way too much on our to-do lists and I want to do my part in helping us reduce the activities that might no longer make sense relative to our other priorities. Let us do a quick map of the process we use to get product specifications to the marketing department. Everyone is frustrated with how long this takes and it´s nobody´s fault, the process is just very long and I think there might be a couple places where we can cut steps and make everyone happier.
I call someone who is productively irreverent in short words prodIR (sounds like prodder). Effective prodIRs share their intent first, which should always be something along the lines of making everyone´s work life easier and more productive. ProdIRs are a bit like beauty pageant contestants, they always want to create world peace. Productive irreverence is all about making the work planet a lot better. The power of this work is that when we improve our workplace, everyone raises his or her standard of performance.

That´s how you become a prodIR — start small and start having well intended, open, and positive conversations that ask, "Why?" Don´t get upset if people defend the status quo and decide they want to keep things as is. Do your best job of sharing potential opportunities for improvement and keep plugging away (to an extent, remember, we still need to be selective).

Never go negative — if you go negative that´s not productive, it´s just plain irreverent. I had a manager pal who would occasionally blow a gasket if he did not get his way when he brought up things he thought needed to change. This immaturity hurt his ability to influence his peers and managers and got in the way of his career. He eventually overcame this derailing factor, which is great, because had he not changed he would have one day become more of a troublemaker than the business could tolerate.

The second strategy for cultivating productive irreverence is to ask for it. Seek all kinds of input and show you are thankful for challenging questions, concerns, and diverse ideas. Call it productive irreverence and ask for it by name when you meet with your team. This will help some get over the fear of sharing their concerns. Ask for ideas that might seem crazy or impossible. Make it a routine to ask your team members for the tasks on their list that they think is not worth the effort. Show gratitude, no matter which tasks they identify. Ask clarifying questions to better understand why he or she thinks the task is of low value.
Hire people who you know will challenge you. Promote employees who take the initiative to try and improve processes and practices, even when doing so might involve bringing up a sensitive topic (like your pet project!). If an employee questions your pet project — great! (Really, it´s great.)

2006-11-27T10:53:00.000+06:00

IRreverence Is Magical
when we are irreverent, we show a lack of respect for people or things. Productive irreverence is showing a lack of respect for things, processes, practices, and tasks that ought to change in order for the team to progress. I am not advocating that team members demonstrate a lack of respect for one another, but I am encouraging a lack of respect for teams and projects that makes no sense.

You may be wondering that What nuisance is this guy beating around the bush , Productive irreverence is needed to ensure that you and your team members are questioning practices and tasks that ought to be questioned. Someone who is productively irreverent is an occasional troublemaker and a person you want on your team — more than one would be even better.

Another aspect of being productively irreverent is knowing when and how to communicate concerns and knowing when to stop. I love occasional troublemakers, I really do. That said, too much is too much! Productive irreverence is selective. I have had the occasion to coach several less than selective folks about how to pick battles to have maximum influence and impact.

How do you, as the manager, cultivate productive irreverence? Here are two powerful strategies. I bet you can guess the first one — role model productive irreverence. Make sure that you challenge the status quo when warranted and show impatience with continuing to do the wrong things. I have heard managers telling me that their work environment does not tolerate productive irreverence. I wonder why this is? Yes I mean what I say , Of the people who say this, perhaps 5% are really stuck — they work for the top paying employer, need the work to feed their kids, and the work environment is really looking more for compliance than contribution. Honestly, this is not written for people who work in this type of environment. And I believe that most managers — the other 95% or so - would improve their reputation, not harm it, by being productively irreverent.

Here´s a bonus - being productively irreverent is so much fun! It is fun because when we help our managers, peers, or team members see something in a new way, breakthroughs can occur. Breakthroughs are cool. Think about your current list of assignment. I bet one or more of these assignments ought to be changed or killed. What a relief to the team and business it would be to cross off irrelevant projects from their lists of worries. And this relates to enlivening the mind too, because working on a stupid project feels stupid — and draining — and no fun.
(to be continued)

2006-11-21T17:10:00.000+06:00

Know your competitor

For anyone trying to grow a business, one of the first tasks is to map the competitive landscape. With a good understanding of the competition facing your company, you'll be able to spot and exploit opportunities as they develop. These dozen points should help you draw and refine your map, beginning with your earliest efforts to plan your new venture and continuing as long as you stay in business.

1. Be a customer. Bring a notepad and pencil to competing establishments and ask a lot of questions. Testing a firm's ability to serve you will reveal much about their business. And don't just pretend to shop from competitors. Buy something. It's the only way to gain first-hand experience with the company's products and services.

2. Find out as much as you can about the people who run competing businesses. Where did they go to school? Where have they worked? How long have they been in the business? What are their strengths and weaknesses? This information can help you anticipate your competition's moves. For example, a local, merchant without much formal education will run an Retail store company very differently than will a young MBA.

3.Buy stock in your competitors.

If you're competing against a publicly traded firm, consider buying a few shares of its stock. That way you'll receive regular updates on the firm's financial results and business strategies.
4. Talk to your competitors' customers. Why do they buy from your competitors? Is it because of the quality of the product or service, the price, the location or the customer support? What do they dislike about the company? What do they wish that company would provide? Why don't they buy from you?

5. Use the Internet.

Online services helps you to search through thousands of publications for information about your competitors, especially if they include large companies. Searches are free, but you'll have to pay a fee for articles on for a monthly subscription. You also can learn a great deal about competing businesses simply by going to their Web sites.

1. Check public filings. As an entrepreneur, you already know that companies must disclose information to government agencies. Such disclosures are required to undertake public offerings, receive building permits, and register for patents or trademarks and so on. Many of those filings are public record and contain information about the company's goals, strategies and technologies.
2. Get to know local librarians. Many are virtuoso researchers and can save you a great deal of time and effort. Your library also will have local publications that may have information on competitors in your area.
3. Attend industry conferences and trade shows. Your competitors' representatives will be pounding their chests about their firms' products or services. Take advantage of the opportunity to familiarize yourself with their product offerings and strategies, and how they sell themselves.

2006-11-20T11:56:00.000+06:00

Look B4 U Leap

Sir “I had hopped from ICICI to McKinsey ,” A call from Vivek das one of my students whom I had taught a couple of years ago. “Fine Vivek when did you joined ICICI “ for me his joining in ICICI itself was a news.”Last January sir”
Vivek changed three companies within a two year period.Not only Vivek Many young graduates do the same . I thought of One of MY senior colleague Professor Sabesan who was mentioning about his uncle who served in a PSU for 33 years . Almost half of his whole life time, See the change ,in our society The liberalization and globalisation had really made something which my father or uncle could ever imagine.
Recently y, I was talking to someone about job-hopping, an area which I am lways interested to know more about. Some people job hop to raise their salaries, which some might think dastardly. I don´t think so; I think in many industries, such as publishing, that is the only way to make more money. On the other hand, if you jump around too much, no matter how big an increase in salary, someone, somewhere sitting across that interview desk is going to want to know why and you better have a good answer.

I was talking to someone recently, a seasoned someone who´s been in the workforce for many years and has actually stayed with the same company for nearly 21 years. He was telling me about a colleague whose daughter is in her fourth job as a lawyer. She just can´t seem to find happiness in her work. I don´t think she´s even 30. I´m not suggesting that one stays put merely to put in the time. Some jobs really do feel like a prison sentence, but in many cases you need to find your happiness, because as much as we´d like it to happen, that happiness, especially on the job, isn´t going to find you.

I wonder, though, if it´s incumbent upon an employer to take some responsibility. People, especially those just entering the workforce, need to be not just patient but strategic in their outlook. Again, I´m not recommending that someone stay in a job just for the sake of staying.. Sometimes you need to show a little history somewhere just so you can demonstrate an ability to stick to something. On the other hand, if you are going to leave an employer after a relatively short time, then you need to have a plan. But getting back to the employer-it´s true that companies must do certain things and have certain programs in place to retain their star employees, but these firms must also show their people how to find happiness on their own. That means not giving up so fast when a job looks bleak or learning how to stand up for yourself (in a smart and strategic way of course) instead of backing down before a bully colleague or boss. But all of that takes practice and maybe you´ve got some colleagues down the line who have a word or two about developing a layer of thick skin or honing your language skills so that you can "talk a bully down," letting him or her know that you´re not going to be affected (read: intimidated) by his or her actions.

I know it´s not as easy as it sounds. In most cases, it takes years really to develop your own strong voice in a company, but very often we don´t have that much time. So what do you do? Sometimes, for better or worse, you need to fake it. That´s right; do the "act as if" routine and make believe you´re stronger than you might be at that particular moment when someone or something is causing dissatisfaction at work. In fact, that should be part of your strategy for sticking it out somewhere so that you don´t begin the process of job-hopping. Again, I´m not suggesting that people make themselves miserable by staying in a job they hate. Been there, done that. But before you hop to another job (that could very well be worse than what you have now) consider ways that could make your stay more bearable and more dynamic

2006-11-16T12:55:00.000+06:00

Sensing The Need for Change

An old Ambassador Car Lies in the Garage opposite to My house, with rust coated in and out, shabby glasses, protruded Headlight, But one thing was there a Shining Logo of Hindustan Motors which Proclaims “ Yes I am the king Who Lost the Battle” un affected. What Happened to Amby, Is it a lack of Vision or innovation? , You may argue on various aspects, But I feel the leaders of Amby miserably failed to sense the need for change .Let us take the case of Bajaj , Bajaj was leading in two wheeler segment, But the sudden change in customers out look disarmed Bajaj and India witnessed a Hero Honda Urge. It is Nothing else the Munjals ability to sense the opportunity and Honda’s Technology that gave them the upper Edge. However Bajaj’s Decided not to give up the battle so easily , and the answer was a Definitely Male Pulsar . You can see a transformation over there even in minute things to more complesx things such as advertising campaigns, “The Hamara Bajaj” was replaced by a sexy advertising campaign , You could see the young line taking up responsibilities. The success mantra is only one Bajaj realized the concept “ that Change is something which never Change” How long can you wait to change your company's strategic direction? How long before it's too late? These haunting questions have more relevancy today than ever before. Fortunately, they now have glimmers of an answer.

Industry tsunamis, or major shifts in the competitive landscape in the form of disruptive new competitors or technologies, may seem to appear overnight, but in reality usually evolve quietly over a number of years. CEOs usually have enough time to adapt to the shift once they observe uncertainty creep into the competitive picture--but only if they embrace the changes. Here are three ways to avoid being over-whelmed by inevitable change:
1. Learn to appreciate--and internalize--the fact that major changes in your industry are inevitable. Analyze potential changes on the basis of certainty and impact. For example, a group of senior managers at a certain health care company told me recently that of the many trends swirling about the pharmaceutical industry, the matter of whether new delivery technology will replace some of their company's therapies is both uncertain and potentially high impact to their business. This means it is worth watching but not necessarily acting on. This was exactly the position that executives at Ambassador and Bajaj found themselves in--facing an uncertain yet potentially high-impact trend.
2. Use an early-warning system to create different futures, different worlds, in which your company may find itself. The best way to understand my point is to compare how a professional baseball game looks on a television screen, from a two-dimensional perspective that mostly shows a pitcher versus a batter, and then from the three-dimensional view of a box seat, where you can also see the coaches giving their signs, the fielders positioning themselves and the base runners taking their leads. Suddenly, the game becomes richer, and more complex. Most strategic plans envision a two-dimensional world, one obvious set of rivals governed by certain predetermined industry forces. But companies that use an early-warning system see the whole field, and make the necessary adjustments.
3. Identify legitimate but clear signals that will forewarn of change taking place. Early-warning scenarios don't just appear, they emerge relatively slowly. Executives learn to catch the signals by acting out scenarios, such as via carefully orchestrated war games, and thereby learn to appreciate the intensity of approaching tsunamis. Bajaj was able to make it where as Amby executives took it in a lighter manner, and as you know both paid off.

2006-10-19T12:57:00.000+06:00

BUsiness and PArivaar

One of the biggest — and simplest — reasons for keeping a business "in the family" is money. A family business can give the owner(s) and employees a sense of control that a publicly held company cannot. Also, a family-run business can ensure a certain degree of trust that other types of companies cannot achieve.

Naturally, family businesses have problems, too, but for the ones that succeed, keeping it in the family is a winning strategy. Here's why:
· F amily-run businesses connect well with customers.
Family-owned firms are known for making deep connections with their customers. Suppliers and the community benefit, too. Every day the family name is tested, which is often the best incentive for doing a good job every time.
· The long-term is at stake. A family-run business depends on today's success for tomorrow's security. To survive and grow, everyone needs to be committed. Family members feel a responsibility every day and, instead of worrying about this week's profits and a disparate group of investors, they can — and want — to plan for benefits that will help not just today's owners but generations to come.
· Family-owned businesses are often grounded in love, respect, and trust.

Of course this isn't always the case, but many family businesses thrive because of these bonds. For many business owners, having trustworthy family members as colleagues is an asset and an essential component for success.
· Family members tend to see the business through downturns. Because family members have a vested interest in the business and a sense of responsibility and commitment, they tend to stick by the company during rough times. While a downturn might cause a non-family worker to seek other employment, a son or daughter is more likely to stay put.
· Family members are more inclined to make sacrifices. In a family-run business, people are more likely to make sacrifices to ensure long-term success. Instead of succumbing to immediate gratification, family-run businesses are often more patient, since long-term financial security is at stake.
· Advertising campaigns can play up the family advantage.

Family businesses can create advertising campaigns that stress the company's longstanding role in the local community and its strong values. For many customers, a family-owned business if preferable over one that is run by a group of investors thousands of miles away.
· Family-run companies understand business and family.
I

2006-10-13T14:12:00.000+06:00

Performance Management System

Setting up a good performance management system doesn´t happen overnight or by accident. You need to consider its design and carefully plan how it will work - before managers begin using it to evaluate employees.
A performance management system should provide employees with these four basic benefits:
1. A clear understanding of job expectations
2. Regular feedback about performance
3. Advice and steps for improving performance
4. Rewards for good performance
The goal of a performance management system is to help boost employee performance and, ultimately, the productivity
of the business. For it to be effective, a performance management system should incorporate the following critical elements:
Updated job descriptions. Job descriptions should clearly describe the employee´s current duties and performance expectations. Position descriptions should be specific, clearly defining the job function, required skills, deadlines and goals, and should delineate expectations for the employee´s relations with peers and customers.
Keep job descriptions current, especially during times of organizational change. Rapid growth and downsizing inevitably add new responsibilities and shift employees´ workloads.
Performance measures and standards. Once you have job descriptions in place, you need to establish performance standards that describe what constitutes below-average, average, and above-average performance. Start by thinking about the best- and worst-case scenarios until you reach realistic standards for measuring performance.
Next, determine how you´re going to measure the expectations outlined in the job description. This requires both objective and subjective methods of assessment. In some situations it´s easy to gauge performance by looking at the numbers: for example, how many new accounts an employee brought in or how many products an employee assembled.
Quantifying; an employee´s coping skills, customer service skills or attitude is much more difficult. Some managers also have biases or poor evaluation skills. Establish clear guidelines and measures that eliminate potential bias and prevent evaluators from subjectively determining what constitutes excellent and unacceptable behavior.
Evaluator training. Research shows that managers with poor communication or interpersonal skills are often the downfall of a company´s otherwise sound performance management program. All managers need training on how to communicate and how to conduct fair, nonjudgmental and consistent appraisals. An effective performance management system will administer training to managers before they conduct their first reviews.

Guidelines for improvement. Institute basic policies to cope with employee weaknesses and poor performance. Decide if you´ll provide training or mentoring for employees exhibiting sub par performance. Set guidelines that outline how long it should it take an employee to improve and what steps will be taken if the employee fails to show improvement.
Employee input. Solicit and evaluate staff suggestions for your performance management program. Incorporate employee input into your program or system as needed.
Compensation and rewards. When your employees perform well they should be compensated. Rewards keep morale high, generate loyalty and foster additional improvement. But closely linking pay hikes and promotions to performance appraisals is a contested issue. Critics say that too close a tie between performance evaluation and compensation may be punishing or unfair to employees who don´t overachieve.

Regardless of how and when you choose to compensate your employees, an above-average appraisal deserves acknowledgment. Make sure you consistently reward employees for their hard work.

2006-10-10T10:49:00.000+06:00

"ADvance In YOur CAreer"

Ajith was totally confused . “Iam giing to quit “ He shouted to me in phone . Even if Iam in his position Iwill do the same .In the post of Area sales Manager four past four years,Ajith is my brothers class mate,34, married and leading a comfortable life .But last time when I met him he was totally confused . Why ? he shared all his fear and fantasies. Yes he is right . what could be the problem. I thought over the night , Atlast I decided to seek help of my Professor Ms.Anusha, Alady who was a close aide of Hema ravichander once a while, But turned into academics to have a well balanced family life. "Murale" She said “ An extended stay in middle management may occur for a few reasons: the manager may fall into the “complacency trap,” a sort of holding tank for those who are content with a little bit of success. Or the manager could be instructed to overhaul a project in the midst of “change,” which is sort of like being invited to a party without an end. Another common scenario is the manager who’s viewed as too valuable to go anywhere else. Being indispensable may be the highest form of workplace flattery, but it won’t always help you get ahead.”. “then how can I help him?I asked her “no way either he can quit or try one more year or he can approach his appraiser” she said “but he could have avoided this if he had

1.Stay informed. Information is still power and the more you know about why you are where you are, the better equipped you’ll be to move through a situation. Knowing why, for instance, you were chosen to manage a particular project will help you determine how to complete the task and move on. Ask a lot of questions and, before informing your team, make sure you have as many answers as possible. Again, this will help you maintain momentum. Staying informed is also good medicine for remaining calm.
2.Maintain a professional attitude. Sometimes managers get stuck because they forget to act like executives-in-training. If, say, you are given the unsavory task of letting someone go, do your best to be kind but professional. This is one of the thorniest issues that can arise, but it’s critical to maintain some objectivity. As private as this situation is, be assured that higher management is listening and watching. Laying people off is never fun, but it is, unfortunately, a part of business life.
3. Influence upper management. Don’t forget to use your influence. You may feel stuck in middle management, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have something valuable to share. Nothing speaks louder than data with hard figures. Anecdotal evidence that supports the project is also valuable, as are priceless customer testimonials.
4. Be a bridge of trust. The middle manager’s job is to implement new ideas that come down from the executive leadership. The line staff does their work and any questioning of the top brass is often whispered from one cubicle to the next. Rather than have your people guess and wonder and, ultimately, worry (which can significantly disrupt productivity), become the bridge of trust. In this role, you present top management’s vision to your staff and demonstrate where they fit in. If you have to translate, then do so. If you don’t know the answer to a question, tell them you’ll find out and be sure to fulfill that promise. Sound easy? It’s not and that’s why so many managers get burned out and stuck. Just as you must speak the language of upper management, you must also communicate with your staff so they know what they have to do. Making time for both paths of communication -- with leadership and the line workers -- is essential.
5. Don’t be timid or risk-averse. Sometimes being in the middle is confusing. You may ask yourself, “Am I a worker bee or the one in charge?” “Where are my alliances?” “Who’s looking out for me?” When we’re unsure we tend to be more careful, sometimes too much so. Don’t be timid or risk-averse just because you’re nervous about an outcome. Remember, the more information you have, the better equipped you are to make decisions. “

Okay Mam thank you very Much. I hope Ajith would have understood what she meant from his experience without the need of a consultant like anusha , let me wish him goodluck

2006-10-09T12:53:00.000+06:00

"Shyam's Success"
Shyam was my class mate during, post garduation, very talented in academics, but very poor in his interpersonal skills, after our MBA shyam started his career with UMS coimbatore, asa sales man, we used to wonder (*as if we are great mangement wizards)how he will succeed.A year later shyam joined VIP as a Territory sales executive, ater that no mails.....no info about him, last week during return journey from cbe to cochin quite amazingly I found him same bus along with me.Where are you now, I asked after exchanging some greetings, "Iam with a leading Insurance company in Bangalore as a team manger for six unit manager" for a minute I wondered ."How did he made it happen" as you know curiosity kills the cat I could not control my anxiety, after sometime, with aslight amount of fear I went to him asked the same questio. I expected an explosion he smiled and said" the reason is Iam a approachable Manager." Then i realized about being an approachable manager , Cant everyone be like that, if so how beautiful it will . we had a chat about an hour of how to be an approachable manager and shyam shared some tips which I would like to share with you

If you want to be an approachable manager, here are some key points to remember:

· Leave your door open.
The times when you shut your office door to conduct sensitive business or ensure privacy should be the exception rather than the rule. An employer who does most of his or her work behind closed doors does little to promote a sense of connection with his or her staff. Employees can feel alienated and cut off by such an imposing physical barrier. So even if it means more people distract you by stopping by to say hello, try to keep your office door wide open whenever possible.

· Chat up your staff. These are the individuals whom you’ve hired to help run your business. It therefore behooves you, as their boss, to know a bit of what they’re all about. You don’t need to engage in deeply personal interactions to create an environment where workers feel you take an interest in them beyond the work they do. A simple “Good morning, how was your weekend?” can work wonders in getting an employee to feel the boss cares. As many managers know, workers who feel they’re regarded with respect are likelier to perform well.

· Set your staff up for success. While last-minute tasks or projects are inevitable, plan carefully so as to give sufficient lead time to employees whenever possible. Ensure that all assignments are explained carefully, with clear instructions as to what needs to be done, by whom, and within what time frame. Inform your staff that you are available for guidance when needed, and answer all questions with a mind toward enabling them to accomplish the goals you have set for them.

· Don’t punish the messenger.
If you present yourself as a boss who only wants to hear good news, you run the risk of extra work or unpleasant surprises down the road. Let your staff know that they can come to you with potential problems or suggestions on how to improve their processes. Show them you recognize that since they’re the ones on the ground doing the day-to-day work, they may have a better insight into what is really going on.

2006-08-12T16:55:00.000+06:00

Do You have it in You

The caption of Indian army really remembers me of the quote, which some one delivered in a meeting "real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination"

It made me think about the qualities of leadership and how we know leaders from managers.
Key leadership attributes are considered to be integrity, trust, respect for others, curiosity, passion, business acumen, initiative, drive and vision.

We could debate any of these but in my view they form a pretty good basis and people who have most of these characteristics are likely to be good leaders, but only if they actively work to the characteristics as part of their leadership development.

To differentiate leaders from managers is to be able to think in such terms as;

Do the right thing, not do things right - effectiveness not efficiency.

Have a long term approach - eyes on the horizon, not on the here and now.

Rely on trust rather than control – personal relationships rather than hierarchical relationships.

Innovation rather than maintenance – dissatisfaction with the status quo.

If these pointers give you some indication of the differentiation you will grasp some essentials of leadership.

To me the great differentiator is the leader who has the confidence to stand alone focussed on the horizon while making happen those things that need to happen to realise the vision.

Leadership development and training usually involves identifying and imitating the behaviour of great leaders. But how can this be effective?

Great leaders are usually at their best when they stand alone doing their own thing rather than copying what someone else has done.

Which in turn can mean that leaders are at their best when facing some form of crisis which makes them draw on the originality of their own fundamental values.

This in turn will probably mean that they are also aware of their own need for personal leadership development.

When you think about it working in a business leading others is little different from a sole trader trying to achieve objectives.

In a business the leader will be thinking strategically while encouraging and guiding others to meet corporate objectives.

The sole trader will be split, working on the immediate needs of the business with an eye on the horizon (difficult).

Whatever our particular situation corporate or individual our success will be based on our ability to always be aware of strategic goals and making sure we get there in the end – no matter what it takes.

If you are a leader you will thrive in the entrepreneurial world. If you are manager you are probably best suited to some form of employment. Only by knowing for yourself honestly will you get the fit right.

Tip: Obstacles are the things a person sees when he takes his eye off the goal.

2006-08-12T10:44:00.000+06:00

HR Man - the man of match - part ii
yes hr guys are always side lined in an organisation where marketing macho,s and financial wizards always steals away the limelite, but you can also hr managers

A Bad Hire Is Worse Than You Think
According to the Harvard Business Review, 80 percent of turnover is caused by bad hiring decisions. These are costly mistakes. The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that it costs one-third of a new hire’s annual salary to replace him. These figures include money spent on recruitment, selection and training plus costs due to decreased productivity as other employees fill in to take up the slack.
But these numbers don’t reflect the intangible damages an exiting employee can have such as lost customers and low employee morale across the rest of the organization.

And, turnover costs climb even higher as you move up the organization: mid- and upper–level managers can cost over twice their annual salary to replace.
Interviewing Doesn’t Work
Traditional interviews don’t help you select top talent. In fact, a large study conducted by John and Rhonda Hunter at the University of Michigan on the predictors of job performance found that a typical job interview increased the likelihood of choosing the best candidate by less than 2 percent.
Worse, the traditional job interview is a highly subjective process. Interviewers often have a range of biases that dramatically affect their perceptions of individual job candidates. Despite the best of intentions, interviewers and supervisors have an unconscious tendency to favor people who are similar to themselves.
An interview-only hiring process can create teams that get along reasonably well - but lack the blend of skills needed to excel in business together.
The Galliard Group of Boise, Idaho, works with family-owned and closely held companies to build cost-effective hiring practices. Managing Partner Lisë Stewart points out that there is a real danger in simply collecting resumes and interviewing a few top candidates. “Desktop publishing and resume writers can make almost anyone look good on paper.”
Stewart continues, “Do a web search on ‘job interviewing’ and you’ll find thousands of websites full of advice on how to ‘ace’ the interview. We’ve seen well-rehearsed candidates give great interviews. Unfortunately, those great interviews do not predict success in the job; they predict success in doing job interviews.”
The Most Neglected Aspect of Hiring
A job analysis is the most neglected aspect of hiring. Performed correctly, a job analysis provides a list of the personal attributes required to work effectively in the role. This list of attributes is identified first by breaking down a person's job into logical parts.
Next, each job task is analyzed according to the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes required to perform the job correctly. Once a business knows what the position requires, the hiring process is faster and more effective because job candidates are evaluated on a common set of criteria. When you know exactly what talents are required—you know what to look for and what to test for.
“Most Human Resource departments know that a good job analysis is needed to get the best person but it’s surprising how many just aren’t doing it at a basic level,” says Stewart. “Turnover is reduced when the person fits the job. It’s just common sense: people love their jobs when the position matches their personality, attitudes, and skills.” Stewart says that an effective job analysis is critical in achieving this ‘fit.’
Matching People to Jobs
Once a business understands what the job demands, there are several tools that help identify the right people for the job. Candidate screening, personality and skill assessments, performance-based interviews and behavioral based interviews all help identify top candidates.
“No single technique on its own can predict on-the-job performance so companies need to use a blend of tools that reflect their needs." says Stewart. “The research on hiring is clear on one point: using multiple selection methods gives you the best employees.”
Stewart notes that a multi-faceted approach can both streamline the process and ensure much better, fit—increasing employee retention and productivity. She adds, “Hiring people does not need to cost a lot or take a long time. Once a business has a sensible hiring process in place, finding top talent is much easier.”

2006-08-08T09:54:00.000+06:00

Picking the Man of the Match - Innings 1

Hire for Today’s Need and Tomorrow’s Vision
Remember that you’re hiring for the future. While a new employee has to make economic sense for today’s tasks, the best hires are people who position you to profit as your business moves into the future. New people should provide the skills you need in the future, not just match the job demands you see today. Be clear about your strategic direction for the future, and then hire the talent to help you achieve it.

Understand the Job
Finding the right people to hire is much easier when you first analyze the job you want to fill. Ask yourself what kinds of people do the best in this job? If you’re lucky enough to have a top performer already in the job, learn from them.
Observe their behavior, ask them questions and talk with their peers to get a clear understanding what characteristics make them effective in their job.

This kind of job analysis drives your selection standards—do a good job at this first step and the rest of the hiring process will be faster, easier and yield a better match.

Be Legal
countries insist corporates to abide upon laws while hiring employess typically to quote the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)which is the federal agency responsible for enforcing Title VII (Civil Rights Act), Title I, Title V (Americans with Disabilities), Equal Pay Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act can interfere if an interviewee feels he has been denied a job because of discrimination., He can also file a lawsuit with the EEOC.
If the claimant ultimately wins the lawsuit, remedies may include, among other things, compensatory damages, back wages, reinstatement and possibly punitive damages. Make sure your hiring process is legal.

Build a Standardized Hiring Process and Use It
Don’t count on your conversational skills to choose between candidates. At a basic level, your standardized hiring process should include criteria-based screening of an adequate number of candidates, a background check, standardized assessments and structured interviews.
Many assessment and interview tools are available, all of which will provide much more reliable results than the traditional interview. The more important the position, the more rigorous the hiring process should be.
Hiring Top Talent Means More Profit
The right person will make contributions to your company’s productivity and profitability that far exceed salary cost. But the wrong person can cost you a hell lot of money

To be coninued

2006-07-31T17:00:00.000+06:00

The People Capability Maturity Model (People CMM)

The People Capability Maturity Model framework is maintained by the Carnegie Mellon SEI. It helps organizations to develop the maturity of their workforce, and to address their critical people issues. Based on current best practices in fields such as: human resources, knowledge management, and organizational development, it can guide organizations in improving their processes for managing and developing their workforces. It helps organizations to characterize the maturity of their workforce practices, to establish a program of continuous workforce development, to set priorities for improvement actions, to integrate workforce development with process improvement, and to establish a culture of excellence.
People CMM

People CMM provides a roadmap for implementing workforce practices that continuously improve the capability of an organization's workforce. Since an organization cannot imTplement all of the best workforce practices in an afternoon, a step by step approach is taken. Each progressive level of the model produces a unique transformation in the culture of an organization. In order to achieve this, organizations are equipped with more powerful practices to attract, develop, organize, and motivate its workforce. Thus, People CMM establishes an integrated system of workforce practices that matures through increasing alignment with the organization's business objectives, performance, and changing needs.

Ten principles of People CMM. Philosophy

1. In mature organizations, the capability of the workforce is directly related to business performance.
2. Workforce capability is a competitive issue and a source of strategic advantage.
3. Workforce capability must be defined in relation to the strategic business objectives of the organization.
4. Knowledge-intense work can shift the focus from job elements to workforce competencies.
5. Capability can be measured and improved at multiple levels. Including individuals, workgroups, workforce competencies, and the organization.
6. An organization should invest in improving the capability of those workforce competencies that are critical for its core competency as a business.
7. Operational management is responsible for the capability of the workforce.
8. The improvement of workforce capability can be pursued as a process composed from proven practices and procedures.
9. The organization is responsible for providing improvement opportunities, while individuals are responsible for taking advantage of them.
10. Since technologies and organizational forms evolve rapidly, organizations must continually evolve their workforce practices and develop new workforce competencies.

The People Capability Maturity Model consists of five maturity levels that establish successive foundations that are aimed at

1.For continuously improving individual competencies.
2.For developing effective teams.
3. For motivating improved performance.
4. For shaping the workforce the organization needs to accomplish its future business plans.

Each maturity level is a well-defined evolutionary plateau that institutionalizes new capabilities for developing the organization's workforce. By following the maturity framework, an organization can avoid introducing workforce practices that its employees are unprepared to implement effectively.

1.Initial Level. Typical characteristics: Inconsistency in performing practices, Displacement of responsibility, Ritualistic practices, and Emotionally detached workforce.
2.Managed Level. Typical characteristics: Work overload, Environmental distractions, Unclear performance objectives or feedback, Lack of relevant knowledge, or skill, Poor communication, Low morale.
3.Defined Level. Although there are performing basic workforce practices, there is inconsistency in how these practices are performed across units and little synergy across the organization. The organization misses opportunities to standardize workforce practices because the common knowledge and skills needed for conducting its business activities have not been identified.
4.Predictable Level. The organization manages and exploits the capability created by its framework of workforce competencies. The organization is now able to manage its capability and performance quantitatively. The organization is able to predict its capability for performing work because it can quantify the capability of its workforce and of the competency-based processes they use in performing their assignments.
5.Optimizing Level. The entire organization is focused on continual improvement. These improvements are made to the capability of individuals and workgroups, to the performance of competency-based processes, and to workforce practices and activities. The organization uses the established results of the quantitative management activities at Maturity Level 4, for improvements at Level 5. Maturity Level 5 organizations treat change management as an ordinary business process to be performed in an orderly way on a regular basis.

2006-07-28T16:45:00.000+06:00

Are you measuring and managing your intellectual and intangible value drivers appropriately?

The most likely answer to this is no!
Even though most executives recognize the importance of intellectual capital as a principle driver of firm performance, most are still struggling to find appropriate ways of measuring and managing this illusive resource.

Intellectual Capital scores highly on the agenda of executives and managers worldwide, and few people doubt the importance of measuring, managing, and reporting intellectual capital. Most are in agreement that intangible assets such as knowledge, brands, relationships, organizational culture, and intellectual property are primary drivers of competitiveness in today's global economy. The consulting firm Accenture recently commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to conduct a survey of executives around the world in order to understand their views on intellectual capital. Most executives responded that intellectual capital is in fact critical for the future success of their businesses. However, at the same time, most agreed that their approaches of managing it were poor or non-existent.
Today, governments are also recognizing the importance of intellectual capital. The European Union aims for their membership countries to invest a minimum of three per cent of their GDP into research and development initiatives. In the United Kingdom, for example, Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in a recent Government White Paper that creativity and inventiveness is the greatest source of economic success but that too many firms have failed to put enough emphasis on R&D and developing skills. Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, added in a recent DTI report that increasingly it is the intangible factors that underpin innovation and the best-performing businesses.

An increasing number of firms have started to measure, manage, and report more of the intangible aspects of their business, even without the force of regulations. This trend is especially observable in Europe with various initiatives by the European Commission (e.g. projects such as METITUM, E*KNOW NET, PRISM). Another example is presented by the Danish Department of Trade and Industry, which produced guidelines of how companies can produce intellectual capital reports. In Austria the government has passed a law that all universities have to report on their intellectual capital, in the UK companies will be forced to produce an Operating and Financial Review outlining many intangible elements of their business, and countries as diverse as Iceland, Germany, or Spain have started their own initiatives.

"Creativity and inventiveness is the greatest source of economic success."

At the same time accounting guidelines are being developed and standards are being questioned and reviewed. With the introduction of the International Accounting Standards more emphasis will be placed on accounting for intangible components and stricter compliance rules force companies to report on other intangible aspects of their performance. Leading software companies such as SAP, Hyperion, Oracle, 4GHI or Peoplesoft are developing applications to address this, and even governments are beginning to measure the intellectual capital of cities, regions, and countries.

Many consulting companies have discovered different areas of this increasing awareness and interest in intellectual capital to offer their services. PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, offer their services to help companies in their value reporting initiatives to increase transparency in corporate reporting whereas WatsonWyatt offer human capital audits. In recent reports or marketing material from different consulting firms this trend is apparent: Accenture writes that today's economy depends on the ability of companies to create, capture, and leverage intellectual capital faster than the competition. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young believes that intangibles are the key drivers for competitive advantage and KPMG states that most general business risks derive from intangibles and organizations therefore need to manage their intangibles very carefully. PricewaterhouseCoopers writes that in a globalized world, the intellectual capital in any organization becomes essential and its correct distribution at all organizational levels requires the best strategy integrated solutions, processes and technology.

Even though the leading management consulting firms recognize the importance of intellectual capital, they seem to suffer from the same predicament as the field as a whole. Intellectual capital is defined differently and the concept is often fuzzy. As a result, many firms provide point solutions only addressing particular isolated aspects of a firm's intellectual capital such as:

* help with implementing accounting for some intangibles,
* legal advice of how to protect intellectual property such as patents, copy rights, etc.
* guidance on building customer or stakeholder relationships
* improved stakeholder dialogue and value reporting
* human capital or capabilities assessments
* solutions for valuing brands

Even though these are all important areas, the danger is that organizations are missing out on the big picture. What is often not clearly understood is that intellectual capital is a truly multidisciplinary field with many different interpretations of what intellectual capital means.

Furthermore, different words are being used to describe very similar constructs from different perspectives, which adds to the confusion. In accounting, most people would refer to intangible assets to explain the non-financial and non-physical drivers of success. In Economics the phrase knowledge assets is often used to describe similar ideas and in strategic management they use intellectual or intangible resources or capabilities. The potential power of the field of intellectual capital is to create a truly inter-disciplinary view of these different constructs and ideas.

Much emphasis has recently been placed on the interactions and interdependencies of different intellectual capital components. Firms are now realising that, for example, by valuing their brands companies only get a partial view of the truth since their brand value is linked to other crucial aspects such as their processes that produce high-quality products and services, their relationship, the reputation, and the competencies of their employees. Examples such as Arthur Andersen show how quickly a well recognised brand can disappear over night if some of the other organizational components are missing. What the field of intellectual capital has to offer is a more comprehensive view of the organizational elements and how they deliver value and competitive advantage.

2006-06-27T11:23:00.000+06:00

India’s family-run firms face talent management challenge

A shortage of executive talent is seriously endangering India’s competitive advantage, according to an article in Business Week. However, the wider implications of the current talent war in India should also be taken into consideration, especially its impact on local family businesses.

In today’s emerging markets, value maximization is one of the key challenges on the path to growth for local family businesses. In most emerging countries, like India, a significant component of GDP is generated by family-run companies. It is therefore vital to ensure that these organizations are adequately resourced both financially and with human capital. Attracting, motivating and retaining leadership talent in such firms is consequently a top priority.

Talent retention is the key to attracting “best in class” talent on a long-term basis. In recent years, some Indian businesses have been more successful in retaining top individuals, largely due to their consistent business strategies and efforts to provide an environment that embraces different work experiences. There has also been a drive to promote “positive debate on issues” through open and transparent communication. Another significant change has been the growing investment in professional development. Greater skill development and executive education opportunities are seen as enablers, demonstrating long-term organizational commitment to the individual. These are normally already institutionalized in large multinational corporations. Smaller businesses restricted to local markets also need to institutionalize development programs to hold on to star performers.

Attraction becomes much easier when retention is high. One of the major issues in attracting individuals to an organization is its ability to recognize the individual achievements of its successful managers. Successful organizations often have many equally vibrant and capable business leaders. This reinforces the belief that such companies are built on many pillars, and not on one “all empowering leader” who is clearly the external face of the organization. While care should be taken to ensure that there are no “prima donnas”, motivating talented managers with professional recognition and making them feel appreciated within the company is clearly a key factor.

In a recent roundtable discussion, a well-known expert in value creation for family firms and director on a number of family boards made it clear that, to be successful, family businesses need independent and “progressive” boards that promote transparency for all stakeholders - including employees.

According to Nasscom, India’s software industry association, some 20,000 professionals returned from abroad to India over the last three years. Family businesses should enjoy a significant competitive advantage in attracting individuals seeking long-term, local stability and a career in their native country. The ability of family-run firms to leverage this advantage will be critical in meeting the talent shortage challenge.

2006-06-06T14:35:00.000+06:00

Parallel Learning

The Xerox way

Xerox found that its technical representatives (tech reps) often made it a point to spend time not with customers but with each other. The tech reps would gather in common areas (the local parts warehouse or coffee pot) and swap stories from the field. Rather than trying to discourage this practice to improve productivity, Xerox decided to formalize the knowledge exchange.
These technicians were knowledge workers in the truest sense. The tech reps were not just repairing machines; they were also coproducing insights about how to repair machines better. Rich knowledge transfer took place through these conversations that were not a step in any formal "business process" or a box in any official "org chart."
So Xerox turned conventional wisdom on its head. Rather than eliminate the informal conversations in pursuit of corporate efficiency, the corporation decided to expand them in the name of learning and innovation.
Xerox uses a system called Eureka. Eureka is an electronic "knowledge refinery" that organizes and categorizes a database of tips generated by the field staff. Technically, Eureka is a relational database of hypertext documents. In practice, it's an electronic version of war stories told around the coffee pot. Eureka has the added benefits of an institutional memory, expert validation, and a search engine.
Eureka operates as a free-flowing knowledge democracy, much like the natural, informal collaborations among tech reps. The system relies on voluntary information exchanges. All tech reps, regardless of rank, can submit a tip, but they are neither required to nor are they explicitly rewarded. In Eureka, the incentive is to be a good colleague, to contribute and receive knowledge as a member of the community.

National Semiconductor

At National Semiconductor, an informal community of engineers who specialize in one critical technology began conducting joint reviews of new chip designs. As word spread within the company, other product groups started bringing designs to this group (on a strictly "off-the-org-chart basis") to solicit its advice. The more reviews this group has done, the more effective it has become-earning a company-wide reputation for excellence.
What these engineers found is that they cannot simply publish their "rules" and teach the rest of organization how to do design reviews. The practice and knowledge is embedded in the community that created it. The only way to learn the practice is to become a member. The best way to access the knowledge is to interact with the community. Therefore, National Semiconductor encourages and supports the formation of Communities of Practice (CoPs). (CoPs is their name for Parallel Learning Structures.)
CoPs are a small group of people (in this case, about 20) who have worked together over a period of time. At National Semiconductor, a CoP is not a team, not a task force, not necessarily an authorized or identified group. People in CoPs can perform the same job or collaborate on a shared task or work together on a product. They are peers in the execution of "real work." What holds them together is a common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other knows.
This example was summarized from an online article titled, "The People Are the Company."

Anderson Consulting Education
Anderson Consulting managers believe that groups of people can collectively address issues of importance to the organization as a whole. By doing so, they could learn something new and valuable that would contribute directly to their own professional development and indirectly to the success of the organization. Anderson Consulting supported the formation of Communities of Practice (Parallel Learning Structures). The organization set aside resources to allow each employee to spend about 2 hours per week in Community of Practice activities. Participation is purely voluntary. Leadership does not pressure employees to join particular groups because they want the community's culture to develop and mature on its own. The Community of Practice charter calls the program a "professional self-development association" and features a statement of mission and goals: "The community's success depends primarily on participants working together effectively for a common purpose-learning."

2006-06-05T15:36:00.000+06:00

Learn from the Leaders
Motorola continues to grow at a significant rate, with 20000 associates hired each year. With this growth, Motorola has the need to train people for their own hiring. Jeff Oberlin, director of Motorola University's Department of Emerging Technologies and Human Resource Trends explained:
"We can't keep using traditional classroom methods of instruction to spread the message for Motorola. Our reach isn't far enough to get to everybody. We must find creative ways to help new associates, world-wide, become productive members of a team and receive consistent messages about how we do business; the core values of Motorola, and the tools and techniques we use."
Jeff's charter is to closely re-examine MU's methods of spreading information, delivering training, and determining new and better ways of providing Motorolans with the knowledge and skills required to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.
He went on to say, "The use of CD-ROM, Internet applications, wireless data, and a host of other emerging technologies must be fully explored. Our intent is to find those situations where alternative training delivery is the best way to transfer information."
Multimedia training would allow Motorola to:
· Get training to all Motorolans world-wide, including emerging markets
· Reduce training times and costs
· Increase knowledge of the firm
The first step is to build a department of technology to research, develop, and eventually teach the how-to aspects of multimedia based learning.
"Once we determine how to use the various technologies available to us, we want to share that knowledge with the business." Motorola is looking for associates with expertise in a number of areas:
· Computer based training
· The Internet
· Satellite and business television
· Wireless communication
# Corporate education departments
# Software
# Video
The Conception
Motorola University was started in 1981 as the Motorola Training and Education Centre. It was created to provide training needs and established itself as a corporate department.

During the 1980s, Motorola University's original aim was to help its company build a quality culture which would then develop an internal training system. In addition, they set up corporate-wide training plans and training investment policies.

By 1990, Motorola University had expanded its operations in the United States, Eastern Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region. The Galvin Centre for Continuing Education was opened in 1986 while the Singapore Training Design Centre was opened in 1989.

Today, many mangers, supervisors and employees from all parts of Motorola have attended diversity training. This training helps participants to have more opportunities to develop and achieve their full potential
The Apple Module

ntil 1989, Apple Japan, the Japanese arm of the multinational Apple Computing corporation, held only 1 percent of the country's personal computer market. The appointment of a new company president marked the beginning of an era -- he started the drive to increase Apple's presence in the market and accelerated change. The company was to achieve annual sales of $1 billion by the end of 1995.

To meet this challenge the corporation approached the management consultant firm, Arthur D. Little, who have built up a wealth of experience in information technology and company restructuring. Apple Japan requested a sweeping plan to penetrate the market and increase efficiency within the company. In order to do this, they planned to reposition the brand, expand the range of distributors, improve customer management, and introduce the concept of the Learning Organisation into the workplace.

Methods
In order to implement Learning Organisation techniques, Apple was advised to tackle the Five Disciplines which are essential to a learning organisation: Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, Personal Mastery and Systems Thinking.

Although group meetings were a regular part of company practice, more time was allowed for group discussions and team education. This kept the work teams well informed and increased every individual's input to their project. With the increased emphasis on team learning, a shared vision was naturally introduced, allowing each member to work towards the same goal irrespective of their position.

Each employee of the company had their own mental model of how the organisation, their managers and team colleagues operate. By trying to bring each person's mental model into line with the rest of the team, the learning process was made more efficient and teams acted more coherently. Personal Mastery was also addressed by encouraging managers to set their staff challenging but reasonable goals, and introducing training programmes.

The crucial discipline was Systems Thinking, which brought all the other factors together. This enabled each employee to make decisions, taking the whole system into account, instead of focusing specifically on their own problems.

These disciplines were implemented by moderate restructuring and a program of education that was applied to everyone in the organisation.

Results
The re-organisation resulted in a marked improvement in the company's sales, with growth exceeding the most optimistic projections:
# Market Share grew to 15% in 1995 from 1% in 1989.
# Annual sales soared to $1.3 billion in 1994, with the sale of 520 000 computers

Although not all of the success can be attributed to the introduction of the Learning Organisation concept, the results indicate an unprecedented improvement. The learning organisation was a major player in instituting this growth.

2006-05-19T12:40:00.000+06:00

Pink collar Mania)
Roopa " The new Indian women"

Today I would like to Higjlight some of the budding young managers of India Inc:
1.Ms.Roopa puroshotaman
27/pantaloon
Pantaloon may have had to carve out a unique designation , keeping in mind the research background of former Goldman Sachs economist Roopa Purushothaman, who’s relocating to Mumbai from Manhattan.
This Young Global economist of Gold man Saach will shine amongindian corporate managers as an executive of kishore biyanis Pantaloon, Roopa who co authored the famous bric report “The BRIC and Global Market: Car,Crude, and capial”,She had authored papers ranging from long term growth In India to Global migration and global integration.Roopa holds a BA in ethics, politics and international studies from the Famous Yale university and the post graduation in development studies from London school of economics
2.SANGITA SINGH
34/Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro Technologies
Sold on selling
Married at 22, saleswoman for Borland, Adobe, and Microsoft products, sales manager for Kerala and Karnataka, youngest vice president at Wipro (and arguably, the first woman to hold down a senior position in the still-slightly-old-fashioned company), chief marketing officer, custodian of the global Wipro brand, mother.... phew! That's Sangita Singh for you: dimunitive, almost frail in person, fast in speech, and a bundle of energy in action. Not surprisingly, her stated goal is to position Wipro among the top 10 it services brands in the world. "There is no magic bullet," she says. "It needs a series of small, incremental, yet very important things." Well, if Wipro's now-ubiquitous appearance in the global press is any measure the company is getting there, and Singh's hand is beginning to show.
3.SUDIPTA SEN
32/Head, Marketing, Café Coffee Day
A Passion For Java
Growing up in Kolkata, all Sudipta Sen Gupta wanted to be was an astrophysicist. She nearly became one: after completing her bachelors degree in physics at the city's Presidency College, she enrolled for the masters. Then came a year of what she calls "soul-searching". She learnt German, dabbled in theatre, and read anything she could lay her hands on. It did not take long for Sen Gupta to realise that she wasn't cut out for a career in research. So, she packed her bags and fled to distant Delhi for a management degree from the Faculty of Management Studies. Two years later, she was working for Coca-Cola India. "I wanted to work for the biggest possible brand and it didn't get any better than Coke," she recalls. For four years she cut her teeth selling sugared water; then, in 2001, she quit to sign on with Café Coffee Day, a retail chain promoted by a then-unknown Bangalore firm, Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company. "I knew retail had great potential," says Sen Gupta simply, explaining the rationale behind her move. Then, the company had 14 outlets in five cities; today, it boasts 153 across 37. Much of the growth has come from innovations introduced by Sen Gupta and her nine-member team: merchandising, loyalty programmes, an in-café magazine, and specialised formats such as book- and music-cafes. "A lot can happen over coffee," say the business cards of all Café Coffee Day employees. Sen Gupta, who likes to travel or whip up Bengali delicacies for her husband, Marut, the Head of Confederation of Indian Industry's Western India Operations, believes it can.
4.MADHABI PURI-BUCH
38/Country Head, Operations & Service Delivery, ICICI Bank
Seven in Seven
Seven key assignments in seven years: that's Madhabi Puri-Buch's track record at ICICI Bank. And it all began innocuously enough in 1997 when, as the head of research firm ORG MARG's financial research division, she called on ICICI's Nachiket Mor (now Executive Director) with a presentation on financial intermediaries. Mor was impressed enough to call her the next day with a job-offer. Since then, the gold medalist from Delhi's hoary St. Stephen's college and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad alum has done it all: head of corporate brand management, CEO of ICICI Capital Services (under her, it became the largest distributor of mutual funds, sold a record Rs 4,000-crore worth of ICICI bonds), CEO of ICICI Web Trade (again, it became the leader with a 65 per cent share of the market), and CEO of ICICI Home Finance she grew the home loanbusiness seven times in a year). Most of these achievements owe something to Puri-Buch's mantra of ''zooming in'' to understand the business and ''zooming out'' to get the big picture. When ICICI and ICICI Bank merged in 2002, the lady realised she knew little about banking; so, in keeping with her ''zooming in'' philosophy she decided to learn all about it by getting her hands dirty with operations. Another mantra followed-this one says that people multiplied by processes raised to the power technology equals customer value. Today, apart from operations and service delivery, Puri-Buch heads transaction banking and technology (corporate banking) and the brand management group. That's a bit, and the high-flying mother of a 13-year-old boy is still zooming in, zooming out. grew the home loanbusiness seven times in a year). Most of these achievements owe something to Puri-Buch's mantra of ''zooming in'' to understand the business and ''zooming out'' to get the big picture. When ICICI and ICICI Bank merged in 2002, the lady realised she knew little about banking; so, in keeping with her ''zooming in'' philosophy she decided to learn all about it by getting her hands dirty with operations. Another mantra followed-this one says that people multiplied by processes raised to the power technology equals customer value. Today, apart from operations and service delivery, Puri-Buch heads transaction banking and technology (corporate banking) and the brand management group. That's a bit, and the high-flying mother of a 13-year-old boy is still zooming in, zooming out.

2006-05-18T09:48:00.000+06:00

"Laagan and Leadership"

You may Think that what does a movie has to do with leadership but still the crux of the movies is the leadership style followed by Bhuvan in the film.
Don't Laugh. While it is not often that movies offer more than entertainment, ever so often there comes a film which can make a deep impact and teach us a few things. I just thought of sharing somthing which I felt that I learned from the movie. It is about Bhuvan and his team, who, against all odds, fight for pride, land and country - and win.
Lagaan is set in the village of Champaner (somewhere in Central India) in the late 19th century. Yet, it does not seem too far removed from us in the 21st century.

Each of us has someone we know in some Indian village. Many of us still pay a visit to our native place every once in a while. It is about the unchanged reality of India - the wait for the rains every year. It is also about the only sport which matters in India and which each of us has grown up with - cricket.

Above all, Lagaan is about people. Ordinary, average people, who are going about their lives - like each of us. Who, when the moment demands, do extraordinary deeds. It is about the power of a Team - the muthi ("closed fist"). As a team, they were fighting for the future of tens of thousands of their countrymen against a heartless enemy (the British). They had few resources, and little knowledge of the game of cricket. What they did not lack was fighting and team spirit, and the will to win. They were not playing a game; they were fighting a war.

Our mother india faces a lot of challenges in todays context ,If we can learn from Bhuvan and his bunch of motley cricketers, the New India that is being built can be a different place, one which occupies pride of place in the world economy, one which is respected and feared but not ignored, one in which the community and nation come before self, one which Bhuvan's XI would have been proud of.

Think of Problems as Opportunities.
When Captain Russel challenges Bhuvan to a cricket match, Bhuvan accepts it because he knows that there is really no option. It is a risk, but without taking risks, there are no rewards. Given the state of his brethren (and with no looming rains), Bhuvan viewed the incrementalism of trying to reduce the "double tax" as a non-option against the possibility of a "10-100x" quality of life improvement offered by a victory in the cricket match. In our lives too, we face a lot of problems. We need to think of these as opportunities for innovation.

Dream Big and Define the Goal.

Once Bhuvan accepted the challenge, his dream was three years of no tax. It may have seemed unrealistic or even improbable, but then that's what dreams are. Dreaming is about imagining a different future. In the case of Bhuvan, he not only dreamt big but also put in place a strategy to make that a reality. Another name for Dream is Vision. To make things happen the way we want, we have to envision the future, and paint a picture in front of the others of what we want to achieve.

Put Community Before Self.

The important thing about Bhuvan's dream was that it was not for himself, it was for the community. Never in his talk or action did Bhuvan put himself or his self-interest before that of what his village needed. Bhuvan's dream of greater good thus elicited (after some initial resistance) the support of the entire province.

Be Determined in face of Opposition.

This comes across many times in the movie. Right from the start when the entire village opposes Bhuvan's having taken up the challenge to when the rest of his team refuses to play because Bhuvan wants to take on board Kachra, who is an untouchable. On all occasions, Bhuvan knows he is right, and faces up and answers his critics with courage, winning their support in the end. We face this situation many times in our organisations. Many a time, we give up and accept what we feel is perhaps a lesser decision. It is at times like these that we need to speak up - as long as we know we are fighting for the right issue, and not against an individual.

Give Examples to Enhance Understanding.

Even though Bhuvan didn't know the difference at that time, he simplified the challenge of learning cricket by portraying it as something similar to gilli-danda. By doing this, he made the impossible seem achievable, he made the mountain seem climbable. Analogies have that effect and can be powerful in helping tame the seemingly difficult. As managers and leaders, we too have the task of motivating the troops to take up challenges in the marketplace. Vision needs to be translated into a series of tasks that the team can understand, thus building a path through the fog.

Make a Beginning.

Bhuvan did not wait to start. He did not see around. He made a bat and a ball, got the kid interested and started. Many times, we brood and end up thinking too much. The only way one can test out new ideas is by jumping in, by getting started. Only when we close the door behind us will we see the doors in front start opening.

Small Victories are Important at the Start.

The first time Bhuvan hits the ball, he does so in public, in full view of the entire village. He makes it seem easy, he makes them want to participate. In the film, watch the faces of the villagers after Bhuvan's first strike. When starting any project, it is important to have small wins at the start to motivate the team.

Building the Team.

This is at the heart of the film in the first half. Building the team is like recruitment. One needs to select the right people and motivate them. Just watching Bhuvan go from one to eleven offers a lot of learning. He understands the pressures and the soft points of people, and uses this knowledge to make them part of his team. Watch and listen to the song which he uses to recruit Goli, the largest land owner in the village, and Ishwar Kaka, Gauri's father. To get Bhura, the murgiwalla, he makes him feel important as a person who can teach something (catching) to the rest of the lot. Watch also how Bhuvan talks to each of his team members. Each one is treated as special, as being different.

Allocating Roles.

Bhuvan also assigns responsibilities to each of his people. Just getting the people on board is not good enough. They have to be told what the goal is. Just as the hand consists of a thumb and four fingers, a team consists of different individuals. The objective is to make them all work together like a fist, like a team.

Support the Team Members.

Bhuvan backs his people to the hilt, even when they make mistakes. He is willing to give Kachra a second chance (on the second afternoon of the match) despite the skepticism of others. He knows Kachra can be a match-winner - and Kachra proves him right. It is very important in any team that the captain support his team, backing the right person at the right time for the right job.

Passion as the Differentiator.

Bhuvan and his team were playing for the hopes and aspirations of a nation. Their passion, especially Bhuvan's, made all the difference. It is in crunch times that one's passion for the work helps in bringing out that extra strength from within. Bhuvan's body language, his actions all speak for themselves. He is confident, not arrogant. As leaders, we all have to be careful of what we say and do, for the slightest sign of weakness can get magnified within the rest of the team.

Overconfidence Destroys.

Look at Captain Russel. In trying to destroy Bhuvan (a personal enmity), he forgets what he is speaking and what he is offering (when he puts up the challenge). What he was trying to do was to take his anger against an individual against the entire province - and it boomeranged back at him. It made the opposition (the villagers) united, it made them discover talents they never had. One should never overestimate oneself or underestimate others.

Train and Practice.

Bhuvan and his team did not just go into the match; they trained and practiced day and night. There are no short-cuts for physical and mental fitness. To be fit, one needs to work hard.

Never Give Up.

Because the Last Ball can be the winner. A small opening - as in Chess, as in Cricket, as in a battle, and as in life - is all that it takes to make the difference and turn the tide. But you have to be prepared to be able to exploit it. Look at the situation in the Lagaan match. One ball to go in the match, 5 runs to win and Bhuvan is at the non-striker's end, with the partly handicapped Kachra facing. A seemingly lost cause. But Bhuvan did not give up. When Kachra hit the ball, he ran and took a single. As it turned out, the ball was a no-ball. That single created the opening for Bhuvan. If he had not taken that run assuming that they could not have won, the extra ball would not have made a difference. In sport, in life and in business, always be alert because you never know how and when opportunity comes.
Make the Best of Limited Resources.

Watch how Bhuvan makes the bat and ball, and later how the pads are made. Look at the scene where Bhuvan and his team are practicing at night - the entire village is gathered around their team with mashaals to create the light. The villagers of Champaner have limited resources, but they make the best use of them. One cannot always wait for the perfect tools or for the availability of infinite resources. As entrepreneurs, we must innovate - focus on getting the work done. When one has fewer resources, the brain and body work that much harder and much more imaginatively.

Face the Challenges.

When you are batting and facing a fast bowler, if you run away it is all over. You have to stand there and face the bowling to have a chance of winning. The balls being thrown are like the challenges we have to face every day: the answer is not trying to escape from them, but to stand there and let the bat (our actions) do the talking.

Take the Unexpected in Your Stride.

The runout of Devaa, the "Mankading" (bowler running out the non-striker before delivering the ball) of the kid (and thus, Ismail), Russel's kicking the ball for a boundary towards the end to keep Bhuvan away from the strike - unfortunate things will always happen. One cannot dwell or worry too much about the setbacks. One has to take them with the good and move on.

It's about Team Spirit.

However good and passionate Bhuvan was, he could not have won the match on his own. Cricket needs eleven players. It is a team game. So is business. Individual brilliance means a lot, but as Bhuvan showed, an average group filled with team spirit and playing with passion can overcome a group of talented, experienced but under-motivated individuals. Members must put the Team before Self. Take the time when Bhuvan is batting with Bhura, and he (Bhuvan) slips while going for a run. Bhura pushes Bhuvan away to the other half of the pitch, and sacrifices his own wicket because he knows that the captain is the one who can lead the way.

It's about People.

Lagaan is about how ordinary people can do extraordinary deeds. We all have it within us. Look at the Reader's Digest "Drama In Real Life" stories. When the occasion comes, people - each one of us - can do amazing things.

The Legacy of Lagaan

Movies come and go. Ever so often, one movie comes and leaves a mark, an indelible impression -

Because it succeeds in bringing out something from within us. Something which has been hidden and perhaps long forgotten. Something whose existence which we didn't even know about. As we go about our lives, we need to be reminded that each of us matters, that each of us has it within us to make a difference. Living in today's India makes optimists out of all us ("tomorrow can only be better"). But it is we who have to create tomorrow's India. Our ideas, our vision, our skills have to come together to build this New India. Lagaan's Bhuvan stokes us somewhere to become part of that team.

2006-05-17T12:25:00.000+06:00

" DoING tHE uNtHINkaBle"

This is what Jack Welch is famous for and for this only Abraham Lincoln was admired
Are they super humans or Avatars, definitely not ,then what is the magic , nothing they practiced some unique things , for their success like

* Being Proactive:an attitude of initiative-taking and compares this to the less effective, but more common "reactive" stance.

*Begin with the End in Mind.: It is all about setting long-term goals based on "true-north principles". Covey recommends to formulate a "personal mission statement" to document one's perception of one's own purpose in life. He sees visualization as an important tool to develop this. He also deals with organizational mission statements, which he claims to be more effective if developed and supported by all members of an organization, rather than being prescribed.

*Put First Things First. a framework for prioritizing work that is aimed at long-term goals, at the expense of tasks that appear to be urgent, but are in fact less important. Delegation is presented as an important part of time management. Successful delegation, focuses on results and benchmarks that are to be agreed in advance, rather than on prescribing detailed work plans.

Think Win-Win describes an attitude whereby solutions are sought that benefit oneself as well as others, or, in the case of a conflict, people on both sides of that conflict.

*Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.It is very easy to advice but giving out advice before having understood a person and their situation will likely result in the advice being rejected. Thoroughly listening to another person's concerns is purported to increase the chance of establishing a working communication.

Synergize: describes a way of working in teams. It is purported that, when this is pursued as a habit, the result of the team work will exceed the sum of what each of the members could have achieved on their own.

Sharpen the saw focuses on regaining what Covey calls productive capacity by engaging in carefully selected recreational activities.

2006-05-17T09:50:00.000+06:00

"Ethics: What’s the Fuss"

Educational Institutions have established ethics codes for their students, e.g. the U.S. Air Force Academy:

"We Will Not Lie, Steal Or Cheat, Nor
Tolerate Among Us Anyone Who Does"
-- Which do you think is the harder part:
Line 1 or Line 2? Why?

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Psychology professor Steven Davis says that cheating by high school students has increased from about 20 percent in the 1940’s to 75 percent today. “Students say cheating in high school is for grades, cheating in college is for a career.”

If students lack ethics in high school and college, then there should be little surprise that they lack ethics in their careers. Greed and over-reaching ambition often end in disastrous personal consequences.

Is there an ethics crisis in India?

One recent national election day poll indicated that 56 percent of voters thought that India's problems are “primarily moral and social.” Only 36 percent thought that the nation’s problems were “primarily economic

In his best-seller, The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom says that the eternal conflict between good and evil has been replaced with “I’m okay, you’re okay.” Students unthinkingly embrace a blind tolerance in which they consider it “moral” never to think they are right because that mean someone else is wrong.

Where Do We Start?
Upon What Can We Agree
Whether we derive a code of ethics from religious beliefs, a study of history and literature, or personal experience and observation: We can all agree upon some basic values.

A nation or a culture cannot endure for long unless it is undergirded by common values such as valor, public spiritedness, respect for others and for the law;
It cannot stand unless it is populated by people who will act on the motives superior to their own immediate interest.

When the situation needs improvement, Gandhi offers guidance: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Can you make a difference?
Until about 50 years ago, it was commonly accepted that universities were to provide students not only with knowledge and skills, but also moral guidance based on the essentials of the tradition
and i strongly feel that If we want to produce people who share the values of a democratic culture, they must be taught those values and not be left to acquire them by chance.

please share your ideas in this regard

2006-05-10T10:01:00.000+06:00

cAN eNTREPRENEURsHIP bE tAUGHT?

cAN ntrepreneurship be Taught? This question has been asked a lot lately and I am not sure it can be taught as you teach other social science ,bcpz i strongly beleive that entrepreneurs are born but not made, so what is th point in offering it as a part of normal curriculum, now days I can see an entreperenural fever throughout the nation, and I was just not talking about out B-school students. Fledgling engineers, teachers, artists, pharmacists, lawyers, nurses, and even dancers have heard the siren call of the startup.

iversities are investing heavily, offering these moguls in the making everything from residence halls outfitted as business incubators to startup money to access to business networks.

"Twenty years ago students who dared to say they wanted to start their own companies would be sent for counseling," says Jerome Katz, a professor of management at St. Louis University, who has studied the trend. "Today entrepreneurship is the fastest-growing course of study on campuses nationwide."

Can it be taught?

But can entrepreneurship really be taught in a classroom? Fierce debate erupted over that question when a few maverick professors first introduced entrepreneurship classes to business schools more than 20 years ago. Now that the courses are a powerful draw at many universities, it is an issue worth revisiting, especially given the rising cost of higher education.

any acclaimed business builders say success depends as much on temperament as on teaching. "An entrepreneur is a kind of genius who is born, not made," says kiran majumdar of biocon ,She would know: The former software entrepreneur is a prominent venture capitalist who has successfully gambled millions on her ability to discern who could become an entrepreneur. "It's in the DNA," she says. "Or, most of the time, it isn't."

2006-05-09T10:16:00.000+06:00

A Tribute to lee iacocca
· "Management is nothing more than motivating other people."

· "People want economy and they will pay any price to get it."

· "The speed of the boss is the speed of the team."

· "The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come."

· "There ain't no free lunches in this country. And don't go spending your whole life commiserating that you got raw deals. You've got to say, 'I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.'"

Lee A Legend

Lido A. Iacocca was born on October 25, 1924.(Lido would change his name to Lee after going to work for Ford. He felt it would be easier for business associates and contacts to recognize and understand.) His parents, Nicola and Antoinette, were Italian immigrants. Nicola came to the United States from San Marco in 1902. He was only 12 years old. He did odd jobs until he saved up enough money to return to Italy in 1921 to bring his widowed mother back to the United States. While he was there he fell in love with Antoinette, a shoemakers daughter, who was 17 years old. They were married a few weeks later, and he brought both his mother and new bride back to his new country

Lee’s parents worked hard to provide for their family. Nicola believed in America. He felt in America you had the freedom to become anything you wanted to be if you were willing to work hard for it, and he did just that. He opened a hot dog stand called the Orpheum Wiener House, sold real estate, and started the first rental car business called U-Drive-It. He did all this with only a 4th grade education.

Lee was never afraid of work. When he was 10 years old, he would take his wagon to the grocery store and wait outside. As shoppers came out he would offer to pull their groceries home for them for a tip. When he turned 16, he worked 16 hours a day in a fruit market. Lee attributes his work ethic to the example set by his father.

The Transformation

One of the reasons I feel Lee did so well in business was his ability to adapt quickly in any situation. He had to do a sales presentation in the South, and even though these are the friendliest people anywhere, they tend to be cautious with outsiders. Rather than introduce himself as Lee Iacocca, he stated that his first name was Iacocca, and his family name was Lee. He no longer seemed to be an outsider, but one of the good old boys.

Lee says there is one word that describes a good manager, and it is DECISIVENESS. You have to think on your feet. This is exactly what he did in 1956. His district was last in sales. He decided to introduce a new program called “56 for 56”. This program made it possible to purchase a new 1956 Ford for 20 % down and $56.00 a month for 3 years. The program was a huge success. His district went from last place in sales to first place. Due to this program it was estimated that an extra 75,000,000 cars were sold.

After the huge success of the Mustang, Lee was made President of Ford on December 10,1970. He realized quickly that his job as President was far different than that of a manager. He now had to cut costs and increase profits instead of selling, marketing and design. He initiated a program called “Shuck The Losers”. This program gave managers 3 years to make their departments profitable or sell them off . He was also involved several other projects while at Ford. Two of these projects were partnering with Honda to produce cars, and the development of a mini-van.(Both of these projects were rejected by Henry Ford II.) He was also instrumental in the development of the Pinto. He used the same approach that was used with the Mustang. The car was to cost less than $2,000.00 and weigh less than 2,000 LB. The car was to be developed for fuel economy and price to compete with foreign cars that were already on the market. Unfortunately this project backfired due to the safety issue of the fuel tank igniting when the Pinto was hit from the rear.

By the end of 1975 Lee began having trouble at Ford. Most of this seemed to be a personality conflict between Henry Ford II and Lee. The tension continued to escalate, and Lee was fired in July of 1978. He didn’t sit around for long. He joined forces with Chrysler on November 2, 1978.

It didn’t take long for Lee to figure out that Chrysler was in a state of emergency. There was a serious lack of communication, and there was no team work. Each department seemed to be working in a vacuum. He had to make some drastic decisions. He was forced to fire many of the executives. He tried to set up a partnership between Chrysler and Volkswagen, but Volkswagen realized how deep in debt Chrysler was and the deal fell through. Lee was not able to pull everything together and make it work. He had to go to the government to get Government backed loans. He also bargained with the union for cuts in salary and benefits. He reduced his salary to $1.00 per year to show that everyone at the company must be willing to sacrifice if their company was to survive. This again gives you an idea of his management style. He was able to understand the worker as well as the executives, and somehow pull them together. By 1983 Lee had Chrysler back on their feet, and on July 13, 1983 Chrysler paid back all their government loans. Lee made a public statement, “We at Chrysler borrow money the old fashioned way. We pay it back.”

Lee feels the keys to successful management are the ability to concentrate and use time wisely. Establishing priorities and being a problem solver are a must. Managers need to be decision makers as well as motivators. The best way to motivate people is to communicate with them. A good manager needs to listen at least as much as he talks. One of the most important things to remember in business is that every problem can not be structured and reduced to a case study if you want to stay ahead of the competition in today’s global market place. In corporate life there are always people who feel they need additional research, but after a certain point when most of the relevant facts are in, a decision must be made. A certain amount of risk taking is necessary. Businesses don’t have the luxury of slow decision making today.

Lee Iacocca’s success in business shows he not only talks about the above keys to success, but he has practiced them, and for him they have worked well.

2006-05-06T15:23:00.000+06:00

Top Ten Ways to Show Appreciation to Employees and Coworkers

You can tell your colleagues, coworkers and employees how much you value them and their contribution any day of the year. Trust me. No occasion is necessary. In fact, small surprises and tokens of your appreciation spread throughout the year help the people in your work life feel valued all year long.

Looking for ideas about how to praise and thank coworkers and employees? Here are ten ways to show your appreciation to employees and coworkers.

* Praise something your coworker has done well. Identify the specific actions that you found admirable.

* Say "thank you." Show your appreciation for their hard work and contributions. And, don't forget to say "please" often as well. Social niceties do belong at work. A more gracious, polite workplace is appreciated by all.

* Ask youryour coworkers about their family, their hobby, their w weekend or a special events they attended. Yourur genuine interest - as opposed to being nosey – causes people to feel valued and cared about.

* Offer staff members flexible scheduling for the holidays, if feasible. If work coverage is critical, post a calendar so people can balance their time off with that of their coworkers.

* Know your coworker’s interests well enough to present a small gift occasionally. An appreciated gift, and the gesture of providing it, will light up your coworker’s day.

* If you can afford to, give staff money. End of the year bonuses, attendance bonuses, quarterly bonuses and gift certificates say “thank you” quite nicely. TechSmith staff received a percentage of their annual salary for their end of year bonus.

* Almost everyone appreciates food. Take coworkers or staff to lunch for a birthday, a special occasion or for no reason at all. Let your guest pick the restaurant.

* Create a fun tradition for a seasonal holiday. ReCellular employees draw names for their Secret Santa gift exchange. Alison Doyle, About's Guide to Job Searching, also works in Career Services at Skidmore College where they do a "gift grab" at their holiday party.

LuAnn Johnson who works in Human Resources at the Schaller Anderson Mercy Care Plan says, "We celebrate Treat Tuesday, every Tuesday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We match up departments or people who don't normally work together as a unit and assign a day to provide gooey, healthy or scrumptious treats for the other groups. It's a great mixer, an opportunity to show off our culinary skills and a morale builder - to say nothing of the sugar high!"

*Gave personalised letters and motivational messages.

* Last, but not least, provide opportunity. People want chances for training and cross-training. They want to participate on a special committee where their talents are noticed. They like to attend professional association meetings and represent your organization at civic and philanthropic events.

These are my top ten ways to show appreciation to employees and coworkers. Stretch your imagination. There are hundreds of other employee and coworker appreciation ideas just waiting to be found. They'll bring you success in employee motivation, employee recognition and in building a positive, productive workplace.

2006-05-05T13:20:00.000+06:00

Smart Way Of Managing

Management often deludes itself that the “bottom line” is everything. But as Polaroid’s millionaire inventor Edwin Land cautioned: “The ‘bottom line’ is in heaven !”

No manager can ignore the bottom line – the key indicator of what has happened (i.e., a “lagging indicator”). But you need a “balanced scorecard” to measure not just how you’ve been doing, but also how well you are doing (“current indicators”) and can expect to do in the future (“leading indicators”). Then you’ll have clear picture of reality.

Our skill is using our experience to help you zoom in on the indicators tied to your strategic objectives, indicators that clearly measure performance against those objectives. We’ll also help you set “smart targets” – specific, realistic, measurable, agreed-upon and time-bound – so you get where you want to go.
Finally, you can count on us to stick with you as long as you need us at your side. Because in the end, persistence and effective allies count, too.

Problems with just one measure of success

If you were to ask most anyone how they would measure company performance, they might give you a funny look and say, "How much money the company makes, of course! Isn't that obvious?" To a certain extent, they are right. Profitability, gross revenues, return on capital, etc. are the critical, "bottom line" kind of results that companies must deliver to survive. Unfortunately, if senior management only focuses on the financial health of the organization, several unfortunate consequences arise. One of these is that financial measures are "lagging indicators" of success. This means that how high or low these numbers go depends on a wide variety of events (talked about later) that may have happened months or years before and that you have no immediate control of in the present. Being in a plane falling from the sky is a bad time to realize that you should have done routine maintenance, and oh, by the way, filled it with gasoline!

Another of the consequences of just focusing on financial measures is that they have nothing to do directly with the customers who use your organization's product or service. Decisions may be made that help your organization financially, but hurt the long-term relationships with one's customers, who may eventually reduce the purchases or leave you altogether. We all may have been in the spot of paying for car repairs that we need, but we know that we are paying too much and will never go back to that service station again.

Instead of such a short-sighted, after-the-fact view of company performance, we need a more comprehensive view with an equal emphasis on outcome measures (the financial measures or lagging indicators), measures that will tell us how well the company is doing now (current indicators) and measures of how it might do in the future (leading indicators)

What is the balanced scorecard?

The balanced scorecard is just remedy for this kind of problem. First of all, the balanced scorecard is a way of:

· measuring organizational, business unit or department success

· balancing long-term and short-term actions

· balancing different measures of success

o Financial
o Customer
o Internal Operations
o Human Resource Systems & Development (learning and growth)

· A way of tying strategy to measures to action

Four Kinds of Measures

Under the balanced scorecard system, financial measures are the outcome, but do not give a good indication of what is or will be going on in the organization. Measures of customer satisfaction, growth and retention is the current indicator of company performance, and internal operations(efficiency, speed, reducing non-value added work, minimizing quality problems) and human resource systems and development are leading indicators of company performance.
Context and Strategy

Just as financial measures have to be put in context, so does measurement itself. Without a tie to a company strategy, more importantly, as the measure of company strategy, the balanced scorecard (or BSC) is useless. A mission, strategy and objectives must be defined, measures of that strategy (the BSC) must be agreed to and actions need to be performed for a measurement system to be fully effective. Otherwise, to use an American expression, the company is all dressed up but nowhere to go.

Finding the causes(drivers) of success

Once the company mission, strategy and measures have been defined and agreed upon, the next step is to understand fully the drivers(causes) behind movement (up and down) of your balanced scorecard. Without the specific knowledge of what drivers will affect your scorecard, your organization just might spend much time, money and effort and achieve very little.

These drivers fall into four categories:

· Environmental - those factors outside the influence of your organization, such as governmental regulations, the economic cycle, local, national and global politics, etc.

· Organizational - systems inside the organization such as company strategy, human resource systems, policies, procedures, organizational structure, pay, etc.

· Group or departmental - work processes, group relationships, work responsibilities, work assignments

· Individual - personality, management style, skills, behaviors.

A good method of outlining the causes and effects among these drivers is a flowchart or affinity diagram.

Creating SMART targets

After a full understanding the relationships among the drivers and between the drivers and measures is reached, the next step is to create a SMART target or objective. A SMART target is:

· Specific

· Measurable

· Agreed upon

· Realistic &

· Time-bound

In reality, though, a SMART target is not enough. A SMART project must be created as shown in the following example describing not only the target, but the methods, timetables and resources needed to accomplish the task:

· We will reduce the current cost-per-barrel by 20% by the end of April 2002 by:

o Adding a 10% bonus to all employees salaries for every 10% drop of the cost-per-barrel
o Moving to a completely asset- or area-based organizational structure
o Creating a team to eliminate non-value-added steps from the administrative and operations functions, so that only critically essential functions are kept.

· The implementation plans for these steps are attached, including personnel assignments, workloads, budget assignments, sequence of implementation, etc.

2006-05-04T09:35:00.000+06:00

Charismatic Leadership: Do You Believe in Magic?

* "A full moon blanks out all the stars around it." Ted Turner (also known as Captain Outrageous) about himself
* "I care more about being a leader than being liked, especially when I see someone with ability who isn't trying his hardest." Michael Jordan
* "A huge portion of what Netscape is worth is Jim Barksdale telling investors it's going to work; he has this great ability to convey confidence and give comfort."
* "Charisima, to me is almost a phony thing. It's what those TV evangelists have." Jim Barksdale

"Charisma is a tricky thing. Jack Kennedy oozed it-but so did Hitler and Charles Manson. Con artists, charlatans, and megalomaniacs can make it their instrument as effectively as the best CEO's entertainers, and Presidents. Used wisely, it's a blessing; indulged, it can be a curse. Charismatic visionaries lead people ahead-and sometimes astray." Fortune, January 15, 1996

Charisma matters more than it used to; when you had command-and-control environments, everyone knew his role and executed his boss's program. Today, if you're able to galvanize people into action, all the thinking, the analysis, the strategic prioritizing doesn't matter at all." Sears CEO Arthur Martinez.
Whenever problems seem intractable there comes a call for MORE LEADERSHIP. This usually means a call for better leadership and for many it is a call for charismatic leadership, something that we think we know when we see it but is very hard to define. We can't seem to get enough of movies like Rocky, Patton, or Godfather that center on charismatic leadership; we seem to think that if only we had better leaders, we could solve our problems.

Yet it isn't that simple. While on the one hand we call for more charismatic leadership, we also have a distrust of charismatic leadership. Charismatic leaders can lead us astray and into disaster (see David Kouresh of the Branch Davidians or Jones of Jonestown).
Does Charisma Matter?
It seems to-sometimes. Charismatic leaders can inspire and create excitement. Yet there are times or situations where it probably doesn't matter at all. Do you want a banker to have charisma. Some companies do fine without charismatic leaders and some companies do poorly with charismatic leaders. Robert House, a researcher on the topic concluded that "when conditions are uncertain, charismatic bosses spur subordinates to work above and beyond the call of duty."
What do Charismatic Leaders Do"?

* Charismatic people have a remarkable ability to distill complex ideas into simple messages ("I have a dream"); they communicate by using symbols, analogies, metaphors and stories. Anyone can understand them
* they relish risk and feel empty without it; they are great optimists
* they are rebels who fight convention; they may seem idiosyncratic

An "Academic" Look at what they do
There appear to be four stages in the development of charismatic leadership

* Sensing opportunity and formulating a vision: these leaders seem to sense their constitutents needs as well as see the deficiencies of the existing sitaution and untapped opportunities. The combination of these leads to an idealized vision of the future. These visions at least in organizations seem to fall along one of four major types: an innovative product or service; a contribution to society; a transformation of the organization; or a contribution to the workforce
* Articulating the Vision: these leaders seem to have a great sense of strategic vision and a capacity to convey the essence and viability of that to a broad group of people
* Building Trust in the Vision: subordinates must desire and support the goals of the leader and this is likely to be accomplished by more than coercion; rather the leader builds trust in the leader and the viaiblilty of the goals; this is likely to be done through personal risk taking, unconventional expertise, and self-sacrifice
* Achieving the Vision: these leaders use personal example and role modeling, reliance on unconventional tactics and their use of empowerment practices to demonstrate how the vision can be achieved and how motivation can be sustained

A Trip to the Dark Side: Charisma doesn't guarantee success
Charismatic leaders are pictured as organizational heroes or "magic" leaders who can orchestrate turnarounds, launch new enterprises, inspire organizational renewal, and obtian extraordinary erformance form organizational members. These leaders inspire trust, faith and belief in themselves. Of course none of this is a guarantee that the mission will be correct, ethical, or successful. These leaders can be agents of destruction and can lead to disastrous outcomes. Some even question whether charismatic leadership is good for an organization rather than people being able to lead themselves. By believing in the leader as hero, we may ignore that many of the key solutions to today's organization are in ourselves and we should not depend on a "hero" to rescue us.
Where do we find these leaders?
Despite a stated need for major transformation and charismatic leadership, a number of organizational practices may make it difficult for charismatic leadership to emerge and for charismatic leaders to be effective. Charismatic leadership can be very risky and in most cases organizations are not willing to take the risk-often for good reason. The cost of following the wrong vision can be worse than having no vision at all.
Sources:
# Sellers, Patricia, "What exactly is Charisma?" Fortune, January 15, 1996

2006-03-30T13:11:00.000+06:00

Glim’mers of Hope - Dr Bala V Balachandran talks of his vision for a future India
In terms of driving educational programmes and enhancing rural life

It’s an unexpected setting but yet, in a quaint Chennai paradox, there it is. Walking into the temporary premises of the Great Lakes School of Management, set in Shrinagar Colony in Saidapet is something of a shock. From outside, the building looks like a smallish business esablishment, no more.
Walk in past the security sign-in and there you are. Groups of students dressed in jeans and tees or crumpled salwars, mill around looking at ease in what appears to be a global environment. Perched at the reception desk quite casually, scribbling away at a slip of paper, quite oblivious to the people around, is Dr Bala V Balachandran, Kellog Distinguished Professor of Accounting, Information and Management; Director, Accounting Research Center; who is also Hon Dean at the Great Lakes Institute of Management(GLIM) that offers an intensive twelve-month post-grad programme in business management.
If Dr Bala’s various credentials impress, his beginnings offer glimpses of the man who took wing to the US of A, simply for the vast choices in academia that country offered. Born in a small village in the Chettinad region, Dr Bala was brought up at Pudukottai till he was eighteen years of age. He went on to take a Masters from the then fledgling Annamalai University, after which he took on the post of a lecturer. But academics beckoned and Dr Bala looked to greener pastures in this quest for knowledge – America became the given destination. An illustrious academic career followed… which included the No.1 rank and gold medal for his Phd from the Carnegie Mellon University – a feat that remains unsurpassed so far.
Now, 37 years later and a US citizen to book, Dr Bala is back to the city he loves best, a country he wants to give something back to. “I am an Indian,” says the academic whose many students today can be counted among the world’s achievers, “I am back in Chennai because in a sense this is a city where my roots are, my mother and a brother are here. I have lived here and want to return something to the community.”
This longing to `give back’ drives Dr Bala’s other passion – creating quality primary education and spearheading wealth generation in the country’s villages. A programme which has already been drafted on paper, he tells us, one that he has co-written with 77-year-old Kohli, Dept Chairman of TCS and the person he dubs as the `Father of IT’ in India. “Village schools don’t work when there’s just one teacher to oversee all subjects,” he says, “Very often the father makes the children help him in the fields – school then becomes the casualty.” Dr Bala goes on to describe how this vision melds popular media(vis: films and filmstars) to technology(the portable computer/television) to take education to where the child is. “For example,” says he, “Just imagine this laptop or TV fixed to the plough belting out various subjects; and say a popular filmstar like a Jyotika or an Ajit singing it to a tune set by Rahman. The repetitive nature of such a medium would ensure that the subject is memorised well.” This, says the academic, should trigger off an interest in the education process in the children, in turn, drawing them into the world of books and learning. He also describes how such education can be aided and monitored through centralised village systems.
If such a system seems far-fetched, Dr Bala is emphatic that it is workable. “Ensure that every major company adopts at least 2-3 villages,” says he, “Make the NRI put money and `brains’ into the community he came from. For instance, if every NRI puts in a 1,000 dollars and an initiative to help back into his native village – we can make this country prosperous. I am from a village myself and I know how I struggled…”
This coming together of the `American Greatness’ in academics and research with the Indian ethos and values - is at the core of Dr Bala’s vision for India - to bring to enlightenment, its vast knowledge potential. So it’s no surprise that this Padmashri, who has been among the prime movers in setting up B-schools in Gurgaon(Management Development Inst) and Hyderabad(Indian School of Business) bills his state-of-the-art up-and-coming GLIM campus on Old Mahabalipuram Road as a `gurukulam’!

2006-03-04T16:17:00.000+06:00

Human Sigma
We know that six sigma is a quality improvement programme aimed at reducing defects to a level of 3.4 defects per million. It is a system that focus on the linkage between output quality and financial performance of an organistion.As we know many Indian companies like TVS Lucas are runaway success in implementing it.
To our wonder this concept is now gaining momentum among H R practitioners also .They call it by the name “Human Sigma”.
The term was coined by the great global practice leader Curt Coffman .
Human sigma is used as measure that focuses on reducing the variance between the employee service and customer outcomes .In simple words “ it s the art of managing and maximizing human potential for organisational excellence”
The concept was born out of an extensive research study by the Gallup Organization involving more than 80,000 managers in more than 400 companies – the largest study of it’s kind ever undertaken. The study revealed direct links between the engagement levels of employees and customers and the bottom-line performance of the firm.
The Managerial Challenge
As a practitioner you may ask a question “ how to incorporate a operational tool in managing human beings and that too for maximizing their performance.”
Gentleman, Even though even if I say that you can use motivational incentives .you may laugh it as a theoretical concept .
In a survey conducted by business world magazine where employees of more than 170 companies being interviewed for its survey to identify great places to work (business world 6th Dec 2004) in which employees defines great work place as one where employees trust the people they work for, take pride in what they do and enjoy the company of people they work with.
In other words While financial benefits certainly have a role to play in influencing employee performance, what is really the key factor is - intrinsic motivation, which is the self-motivation to do a task simply for the challenge involved. If we find our jobs interesting, challenging, and meaningful, regardless of the payment involved, its intrinsic motivation at work.
Actually the four pillars of an assignment s that results in maximum contribution are as follows
Ø Survival
ØPersonal development
ØRelationships
ØOpportunities for contribution
Typically we have a practice of adopting a job that comes in our way. We never thinks that whether it match our profile or not .this hinders our contribution because we are forced to adjust to new way of life.
So every manger should ensure that whether the candidate is interested in the organization and its culture rather than going behind his academic abilities. This will result in better long term relationship.
Employees should be encouraged to enhance their skills. This can be in the form inbound training programmes and by sponsoring them for MDP’s.
Career path should be clear and non ambiguous which gives an equal opportunity for every employee to advance in their corporate life. The managers should show initiative in discussing career paths with the employees. They should be able to identify training needs of a particular employee. So that the development process will result in a situation where managers need a very good person to hire from outside.
The last two activities are a sought of confidence building measures in employee which will facilitate a long term commitment from him
All these processes and activities are measured by a 360-degree appraisal system where every employee has to judge his manager (imagine!) on two parameters – satisfied or not satisfied.
Woe is to the manager who is rated unsatisfactory – he is put on notice, and if he fails to improve over the next few quarters, they are asked to leave.
That is one legacy that no one wants to leave behind!

2006-03-04T11:56:00.000+06:00

17 Year Old CEO

At a seminar on 'Education System in India' at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, last year, a boy dressed in casuals stepped out of his car and entered the gate. He is stopped by the security personnel: "This event is only for CEOs, you are a college boy.''The boy smiled, picked up his cellphone and soon a whole swarm of organizers arrived at the entrance to usher him in.

But then we really can't blame the security. Even the wisest of men probably wont guess that the 17-year-old Suhas Gopinath can be the CEO and President of a Bangalore-based IT solutions company, Globals Inc. Suhas had actually been invited as one of the speakers at the seminar... "Because of my age and looks, I often land in embarrassing situations and do not know how to handle the confusion,''says a candid Suhas, who is currently juggling is corporate life with a BE in Information Science at the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Information Technology. He owns a car, bought out of his earnings, but doesn't have a license to drive it around the city as he is too young to get a license! As a CEO, he wraps up mega deals, but cannot sign on the dotted line as legally he is not yet an adult.

His is a story of a pastime turning into obsession. As a student at Air Force School in Mathikere, he frequented a cyber cafe near his home. "I was overwhelmed by the world of Internet. It became a passion. Though my parents were completely against it, I would spend hours before the computer. My elder brother Shreyas encouraged a lot. I learnt HTML, ASP and every possible software at the cyber cafe,'' recalls Gopinath.

On May 14, 2000, along with friends Clifford Leslie and Vinay M.N, he floated his own website-www.coolhindustani.com. "I did not have the money to start. My parents refused to give my a penny, saying it was not worth it. So I wrote to Network Solutions Inc in the US and they readily agreed,''he says.

Suhas, really had 'IT' in him. In August, the same year, he set up Globals Inc, a web solutions and n e t wor k i n g company, with a team of four.

>Now, he has 350 employees, offices in 11 countries, and a turnover of $1 million this year. "Initially we offered the services for free. As most of us were studying and were very young to actually run the company, many clients were not keen on us. But after seeing the work we delivered, they were impressed. Lot of them in fact still are very encouraging,’ he smiles. At the Bangalore office, there are more than 15 full-time software engineers today. How does he deal with employees elder to him by many years? "Most of the people who work with me are between the age group of 17-19 yrs.I treat them as friends first, than act like a boss. So the job becomes much more easier,'' adds Gopinath.
>
>But it's a stressful life, he admits."As I got more interested in the company, my studies went for a toss. In my Class X exams I scored 80 percent, but in I PUC could barely get 65 per cent. Even here I try and not bunk too many classes, but clients cannot be given lame excuses.
>
>When I have exams, I tell them I am unwell...'' he is candid.
>
Success comes with a price and Suhas has understood the importance of it. "At times, I repent that I am not a normal boy, enjoying a teenager's carefree life. Most of the time I am forced to wear blazers and I am always nervous-about work or studies,'' he says.

While most others of his age are rolling balls down a bowling alley, he is charting the road map for his company. "We are planning to start management consultancy in the industry sector as well. There are plans to expand our services to non-IT areas by next year,'' explains Suhas.

But ask him what's his message for to-be entrepreneurs and he's cautious.” I don't think I am mature enough advise others, but if you have it in you, go for it. One should also make time to enjoy other things in life.

With work, you get too busy to even repent,'' he adds.