Business Management Information

Make a Difference - Sweat the Small Stuff First


My background is in retail management - yes, running stores, from tiny ones you couldn't swing the proverbial cat around in, to huge three floor jobs. Yet there are some guiding principles which, like Giuliani did for New York, that make a difference on a smaller scale. Guiding principles which make a huge, possibly unseen difference to your customers and no less so to your employees.

Stop Going to Meetings - 10 Questions to Ask Before Attending a Meeting - Get More Productive


We get invited to attend so many "meetings" but do we need to attend them all? Use these 10 questions to assess if you should attend that next meeting invitation.

The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You


Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running the day-to-day aspects of your business is the true challenge you will face as an entrepreneur. Do you find that the business you started to suit your lifestyle somehow taken over your life and home? If this sounds familiar, then your business is running you. Learn how to run your business again with these top five warning signs and helpful tips.

Communication Mix-Up


My friend Delia is the owner of a small private school. This spring her school is experiencing the crunch of reduced enrollment for next September and all staff have been asked to take a six percent salary decrease. One staff member, much to Delia?s horror, outright refused and resigned her teaching position at the school. Delia pleaded with her, telling her how valuable a teacher she was, how parents had come to count on her expertise, and essentially how the school couldn?t operate without her. The next day she had reconsidered resigning her teaching position, saying that it was because of what Delia had said regarding how valuable she was to the school.

Problem Solving


When problem solving, you may recognize that you were working on a symptom instead of the problem. An analysis of the more clearly defined problem may require an alteration to the objectives or the ideal solution. These reviews and changes are costly in terms of time and effort which emphasizes the need for rigid scrutiny during the initial problem definition to avoid wasted time and effort. Once implementation begins, it is even more difficult to learn that the entire action plan and subsequent efforts were based on symptoms in lieu of authentic problems.

Project Management 101


Project management is a very important business concept because it is in place to ensure that projects are completed in a timely fashion as well as to the best of the company?s ability. Project Management is basically the discipline of making goals and reaching those goals. Usually, the entire scope of project management is taken care of by an individual project manager.

The Top 10 Things They Don?t Teach You In Business School


Here are 10 subjects that academia should be teaching their students in business school:

Technology & Communication


A study a couple of years ago found that 63% of executives were making fewer business trips because of technology.

Tales From The Corporate Frontlines: Job Security in Todays Workplace


This article, Job Security in Today's Workplace, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It tells the story of a manager who decides to look for ways to bolster the morale in his company when it crashes after an extensive layoff.

The Significance of the Mundane


This article begins with a tip of the hat to a scholarly publication called the Journal of Mundane Behavior. Unlike other publications, which herald important issues, this one trumpets everyday, but rarely noticed, behaviors. It sees what the rest of us overlook because that stuff is so, well, mundane (my dictionary defines 'mundane' as being ordinary or common).

The Top Six Reasons to Buy Rather Than Build an Inventory Management Solution


Is building your own inventory management solution really your best bet?

Five Days to More Effective Inventory Management


The litany of headaches related to the implementation and on-going care-and-feeding of enterprise-based inventory management applications (upgrading, downtime, maintenance, hardware obsolescence, and so on) is long. These implementation issues are enough make the savviest of companies want to engage in anything but another supply chain or inventory management software implementation.

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Managerial Influence


This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates an employee's feelings regarding their direct manager or supervisor. The manager/supervisor competency covers topics like clarity of goals, manager support, coaching and feedback, and regular reviews of performance. The old adage that "people leave their managers, not organizations" is often true. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad immediate manager is one of the worst and will directly impact the emotional health, productivity, and retention of an employee. This competency can be especially insightful if your organization is losing quality employees while your compensation and benefit packages are equivalent with industry standards.

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Diversity in the Workplace: Ethnic Considerations


This article relates to the Diversity in the Workplace Competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency explores whether your organization provides understanding and supports interaction among diverse population groups while respecting individuals' personal values and ideas. Research shows that by fostering a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic, an organization can create a success-oriented, cooperative and caring work environment that draws intellectual strength and produces innovative solutions from the synergy of its people. All businesses can benefit from a diverse body of talent bringing fresh ideas, perspectives, and views to the workplace. However, a diverse workforce means that the managers within your organization must be capable of capitalizing on the mixture of genders, cultural backgrounds, ages, and lifestyles present in your staff to respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively.

Reflections in the Glass Ceiling


The recent news about one of America's most powerful woman ceo's being removed from office has raised the discussion about gender bias, again. It disappoints me that in 2005, I still hear women clients talking about "the old boys' network". They say "glass ceilings" are holding them back in terms of advancement, pay equity, recognition and career satisfaction. While I have no doubt their assessments are valid; it's important that we don't generalize too much. There are other reasons as well.

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