Management Information
Janitorial Compensation: What's Fair?
When it comes to the discussion of money, rarely will you find a common ground between the employer and the employee. And, this is true even in the janitorial industry.
Illegal Janitors: How They Threaten Your Business
Everyone has heard of the streams of illegal aliens that are crossing into America. We know that they’re coming here to better their lives, to find work.
Value - Creation process
Are you adding value to your organization? Is your team 'valuable' to the organization? How are you measuring that value?
Why My Cat Refuses to Attend Meetings
1) No one asks her to participate.
How to Start Meetings on Time
1) Make it part of the agenda.
Leader or Manager?
If it is your aim to move from simply being a manager to being a true leader, you will find out here how to go about it.
Project Management: How to Eat an Elephant
1. Size up the entire job. Make sure you have a good grasp of the scope of the total project. Just how big and complex is that job? Walk around it. Take a look from many different perspectives. Make sure you have a clear idea of the whole before attacking the parts.
In Search of Full-Time Candidates? Tips On How To Be Successful In Your Search
In today's competitive labor market, good help is getting increasingly difficult to find. The aging baby boomer population has created a hiring crunch of qualified human resources
Why Discussion Fails in Meetings
Most people use discussion for their meetings. And it seldom works. Here’s why.
Questions That Save Money
Have you ever asked a question that saved you money?
Small Things in Conversation That Make a Difference
Sometimes little things prevent leaders from being great leaders.
Take Care of Your People – Don't Coddle Them
At its core, leadership is about people. Fundamental to this is that leaders take care of their people. But this concept also uncovers one of the biggest clich?s in American business; people are our most important asset.
Outsource Your Veterans!
Corporate America is missing a HUGE opportunity! Most companies, regardless of the improved economy, are still searching for ways to reduce their costs and become more competitive.
Small Companies Really Can Compete - Here's How
Extensive research recently completed by the Corporate Transformation Department at Luton University in England, confirms suspicions and beliefs that I have had for some time now.
Insurance and Environmental Issues in Mobile Car Washing
Well many in the mobile car washing Industry sub-sector say that running a home based small business like a mobile car wash is perhaps one of the simplest businesses in the World to operate.
Managing Profitability in a Mobile Onsite Car Wash Business
Having been in the mobile cleaning business and specifically mobile car washing for over 25 years many people have asked me; Is Mobile Car Washing a profitable business? Well, it certainly can be if it is managed correctly and efficiently.
Small Business Plans, Proformas and Service Companies
Making spread sheets for a service company in a business plan requires a little extra thought so before you go hog-wild on the MBA spread sheet; business plan proformas, I think it is wise to understand the market place differently and really understand some abstract issues concerning the number you place in little boxes to make every thing Look Right because there is more to business than; News, Weather and Sports!
Mobile Oil Changing; Viable Business?
Have you been considering a Mobile Automotive type business lately? Many people like cars and consider starting their own business but may not have the $100,000 to $500,000 needed to start an automotive business.
Not-So-Human Resources
How do human resources departments decide to give up their own humanity? Does it happen overnight, I wonder, or is it more often a gradual decline into anonymity--a slippery slope that lands them in the muck without anyone's conscious intention?
Seven Types of Goals
1) Achievement goals - These describe results that you will have when you finish the goal. Examples include: retire with a million dollars at age 65, earn a promotion by June, increase sales by 5%. Most major goals are achievement goals.
Make Your Phone Win Customers
Here's how distinguish your business as one worthy of a customer's trust (and business).
Sales Tax On Electricity: Does Your Company Really Owe It...Or Not?
As utilities auditors and consultants, one of the most common overcharges we encounter is in the area of sales tax. Our consultancy is in New York State, where some commercial uses of electricity are taxable and some are not.
The Value of Process
Process…even the word itself has come to hold a negative connotation for many. With the plethora of conflicting information that has been written about process management combined with the nightmares we have all experienced as a result of bad process, many executives fear the pain associated with flawed process more than they value the benefits created by good process.
PMI - An Integral Part Of Value Driven M&A Success
A merger or acquisition is a corporate intervention, sometimes with a cataclysmic force, that if left unchecked may destroy the acquirer as well as the acquired. Defecting key personnel, competitor reactions, poor customer service and supplier unrest can upset the best deals.
Keeping Valued Employees: Why Terminate When You Can Turnaround
When the once-successful, top-flight executive loses momentum and no longer performs to potential, the questions to be asked are "Why?" and "What now?" As the once-effective manager begins to flounder or derail, these very same questions must be considered.
Taking Responsibility for your Own Career Development - How to Make the Most of it - Part 2
In Part One we concentrated on how to build a career that meets your personal aspirations, drivers and values. In this part of the article, we'll concentrate on the other key requirement for effective career development - your organisation's needs.
Time Management Consulting 101
Increasing your company's profitability revolves around the focal point of numbers and the ability to access those numbers quickly to implement a plan to reduce internal costs while increasing project profitability.
Getting the Best Performance Out of Your Employees
How do you create flourishing™ employees? You empower them to do what they do best. I use the word empower because you can be in control of that action. Empowering flourishing employees is something that successful businesses do in the way that they treat and give direction to the people who work for them.
Your Greatest Asset
I talked recently with a fellow who has a staff of eighty-five people. They’re not his sales team. He wants to increase his sales, and I suggested he consider turning these employees into salespeople.
The New Era Of Outsourcing: Why Web-Based Human Resources Has Come Of Age
• Application service providers offer a type of outsourcing that increasingly answers requirements to control and secure company data while experiencing, the convenience of minimal technical overhead.
Why Rationalize Your Supplier Base
Organizations that procure commodities or multiple services often find themselves with a range of suppliers. As organizations grow the number of suppliers may increase, large companies may have a supplier base of tens of thousands of suppliers and this “tail” can become increasingly complex to manage coupled with a relatively poor return from fragmented use of spending power.
Strategic Aspects of Business Intelligence
Business intelligence infrastructures reduce the time needed to analyse situations and take actionable decisions. In a competitive environment, a Business may apply two alternative strategies, in order to build advantage:
Taking Responsibility for Your Own Career Development – How to Make the Most of It, Part 1
Executives, professionals and managers are faced with ever greater demands; greater demands from internal and external clients for delivery, greater demands from their leaders for performance and greater demands on their time from their non-work interests and commitments.
The Office Administrator
There are a number of descriptions of the administrative function but quite often it is the oil that keeps a business ticking over efficiently. Without a workable administrative system amazing things can happen in a business.
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Acknowledge and Thank Everyone Who Helps
With the continual press of more things to do than there is time for, it's easy to forget this important step. Solving an important problem deserves recognition, and nobody else is going to take care of this for you.
Information as a Competitive Advantage – Part 8, Risk Mitigation
Risk management has always been a critical issue in business. Banks lending money to tens of thousands of Customers, are in absolute need of an internal automated credit risk management system. Businesses which sell products or services on credit, also need to manage credit risk
Time Management - Stop The Madness of Mindless Meetings
Meetings...meetings...meetings...I often wonder if anyone out there dislikes meetings as much as I do. Do you have to participate in mindless meeting after mindless meeting in which some of the participants actually seem to believe that they are accomplishing something productive by endlessly talking?
The Challenge
George’s high productivity got stopped dead in its tracks. His mother was demanding meeting after time-consuming meeting over the details of how to renovate their new facility. George was making a major expansion in his family-owned business.
Leadership - The Proper Relationship with Subordinates
In the army, “the men” are kept separated from “the officers.” This comes from the idea that the leaders should not be too close to the individuals they command. In the military this makes a lot of logical sense because if you are too close, you might have a difficult time making decisions that could result in harm to someone.
What is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)?
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is neither a Goal, nor a Key Result Area (KRA), nor a Target, nor a Result nor a Critical Success Factor. And yet these terms are often used interchangeably with a KPI.
Tips On Working Smarter
When you move up the management ladder remember, more is expected of you. Many folk take on the "junkyard dog" personality: they don't do much but sit around and growl. Unless you're guarding twenty year-old rusted out Citations, this probably won't work well.
Successful Companies Strike a Balance
Optimists are more fun to be around; pessimists tend to be organizational wet blankets. Despite the essential truth, there is considerable evidence that pessimists possess a critical quality: the ability to see reality more accurately.
Infrastructure - Enabler of a Higher Productivity (3)
“All roads lead to Rome,” is the saying. The same method -- of centralizing infrastructure -- was used centuries later when the British designed and developed the Argentinean railroad system; all the railroads lead to Buenos Aires to ship goods back to Britain.
What Do Workers Really Want Anyway?
If you think that giving workers what they want means giving them extra high wages, lots of free time, and no pressure, think again. Giving that to the people who work for you probably won't have an ounce of effect on productivity.
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Acknowledge Setbacks and Adjust
If the problem you are working on is significant, you will run into trouble along the way—count on it. Maybe you’ll find that your problem definition is too narrow or too broad.
The Motivated Workplace: Hire Well and Beyond
In the late 1950’s Fredrick Herzberg did a landmark study on human relations and how it related to motivation in the workplace. He concluded that there were two factors relating to motivation in the workplace and broke it down into the hygiene theory and the motivation theory.
Profession of Human Resource Management and Development – Who Should Join and Who Should Not
Profession of Human Resource Management and Development (HRM & D), call it by any name - HR Operations, HR-Generalist, Recruitment, Talent Management, Training and Development, Employee Relations, Industrial Relations, Organization Development, Performance Management or Compensation and Benefits...they all come under the umbrella of HRM & D.
Seven Questions About... Generation Y
They’re young, audacious, hip, and nimble. They may show up to work late – or not all. They don’t respect authority simply because a boss has “paid her dues” or has a fancy title. Respect for authority has to be earned. They are also smart, technically savvy and will easily adapt to change.
Positive Power vs. Force
Force can be defined as – coercion, pressure, to compel, to restrain, compulsory, obligatory, etc., etc. There are many managers, as well as organizations, who still rely on this unproductive approach to motivation and productivity. Management by coercion (force or fear) contributes to:
Performance Appraisal for HR Professionals
Today, on 12th Nov. 2006 as I am sitting in my study-room, a thought just passed through my mind. The thought was that what will happen:
Two Types of Dysfunctional Personnel - Benign and Malignant Tumours
Similar to the human body, the corporate body has two types of dysfunctional tumours – the benign or inactive ones, which are often dormant as well as the malignant or harmful types which are very dangerous. Both types of dysfunctional cannot be left to their own devices for they can cause damage to the company.
Reasons For Background Checks on Employees
Do you own a business? Are you responsible for the hiring of firing of employees? Do you also have the responsibility of job assignment and duties and are you the one who is held ultimately responsible for the actions of those working under you?
The 12 Blocks to Listening
There are twelve blocks to listening. You will find that some are old favorites that you use over and over. Others are held in reserve for certain types of people or situations. Everyone uses listening blocks, so you should not worry if a lot of blocks are familiar. This is an opportunity to become more aware of your blocks at the time you actually use them.
The Hidden Dangers of Achievement - How Getting Ahead Can Put You Behind
I hear it in business everyday, though couched in different terms and expressions, the essence is the same, “We need to do more.” That “more” may be in the form of more sales, more profit, more growth, more stores, but the common denominator is the ever-present, ever-nagging need for “more.”
International Business Travel - How To Reduce The Stress
International business travel is an activity that is becoming more and more complex on a daily basis. You must be well prepared before you start your journey and be prepared for all eventualities.
Passing The Casablanca Test Of Leadership
Go to the library or local bookseller and look for books on leadership. You will find volumes and volumes. From business to the military to politics, every author will have his or her own nuanced definition and approach. Which one, however, is right?
Leadership Lessons From The Poker Table
Poker, the little game that took hold in the 1800’s, has grown into a global phenomenon. From card rooms to house games, from the World Series of Poker to the Internet, people are smitten with this game and as with most games, poker parallels life. We can, in turn, learn a lot from poker.
Management Recruiting
It is essential for any enterprise to be sufficiently staffed. An organized and methodical approach must be adopted to make certain that the right people are selected.
Recruiting Firms
Recruiting firms help organizations and the candidates to locate suitable employment. They help the candidates by locating the jobs, according to their qualifications, experience, and requirements.