Rural Telecommunications articles from May 2002

Rural Telecommunications archives from May 2002

From the editor.(human resources department management)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... Unlike the days of Henry Ford, when a car could be any color a customer wanted--as long as it was black--today's rural telcos must constantly be attentive to their customers' communications needs, both to stay ahead of the competition, and...

Small businesses invest big in IT. (Short Takes).(information technologies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Investment in information technologies (IT) remains strong among companies, and this holds as true for small and medium-sized businesses as it does for larger corporations. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Commerce, "Main Street in the...

Ranking the Small-Business vote. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... The Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC) released its annual scorecard rating. the voting records of lawmakers in 2001 on key small-business issues, including reducing taxes and regulations, death tax elimination, capital gains tax relief,...

Weather watch.(Custom Weather's wireless weather forecast service)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... After launching its wireless weather forecast service last year, Custom Weather is ready to go global. The San Francisco-based supplier of syndicated geo-coded weather data will expand its weather service to more than 125,000 global locations...

HR practices differ by company size.(human resources)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A recent study by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business set out to determine if the size of an organization and its stage of development has an impact on how it handles human...

The lower 700 MHz Club. (Perspective).(spectrum auctions for rural telecommunications firms)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... After years of ignoring the pleas of A rural telecommunications cooperatives and companies about spectrum auctions, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finally saw the light at its open meeting last December. Granted, this is not the...

What types of employee training have you found most useful? (First Person).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Gary Gilmer, president and general manager of Southwest Texas Telephone Co. (Rocksprings, Texas), said he finds on-the-job training to be an extremely useful tool for his employees. He added that the nearby Texas A&M, which offers a number of...

Interviewing practices: picking the best candidate.
May 1, 2002... The interview has been scheduled. You've prepared. You've tried to think of answers to all the questions you might be asked. There's a great deal riding on this--you can't help but be a little nervous. For many small telephone companies and...

Building an HR department from the ground up.(human resources)
May 1, 2002... PERSONNEL RECORD KEEPING, POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND SKILLS DEVELopment carried out by someone dedicated to the task can be the how-to and the how-come factors that yield the strongest team possible for today's telco. When employees sense a...

Retaining after training: getting the maximum return.(employee training)
May 1, 2002... Among the concerns often expressed by managers about training is that the employee may leave the company after gaining all this knowledge, and no return is realized on the investment. While this is valid point, it should never be used to...

Formalize the feedback: employee performance evaluations.
May 1, 2002... Wouldn't it be great if the employees in your organization received timely feedback from their supervisors about their work performance? And wouldn't it be even better if everyone in your telco worked to achieve the organization's goals to...

John C. Metts: sending a clear message about rural America.(new board president of the National Telephone Cooperative Association)
May 1, 2002... If you want to engage John Metts in a lively discussion, talk to him about rural telecommunications-his passion. He'll tell you about the fine job that rural carriers are doing in their quest to bring advanced services to rural America, despite...

Documentation 101: mastering the 7C's and other helpful hints. (Business Matters).(good documentation is an essential component of human resources work)
May 1, 2002... For most human resources work, the holy grail is three fold: 1) you want consistent reasonable requirements; 2) you want the employee to understand those requirements without any misunderstanding, intentional or unintentional; and 3) you want...

Tech training: learning to hit the curve balls. (Competitive Strategies).(technology training presents challenges for rural telecommunication companies)
May 1, 2002... Faced with getting some new-fangled piece of technology to work, folks either wing it or try to make sense of an overly thick and complex manual. At the very least, they waste time fumbling through the pages, and the worst-case scenario is...

Now hiring: highly skilled workers seeking the rural life. (Tech Talk).(recruiting tips for rural telecommunications companies)
May 1, 2002... While this want ad may not resemble the wording of a job announcement any NTCA member would use when looking to hire a technical employee, it is what many prospective employees might "see" after inquiring about the job. As such, it behooves...

Defensive driving: a crash course. (Risk Manager).(defensive driving techniques are an important risk management component)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Thousands of people are injured or die in job-related motor vehicle accidents every year. In fact, motor vehicle accidents are the primary cause of employee injuries and deaths. Many, if not most, of these accidents could be avoided by...

Employee training: leading by example. (Executive Viewpoint).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In a perfect world, employees would flock to staff meetings and training sessions, and express a genuine desire to be there. But in today's hectic workplace, tight deadlines and deliverables may serve as stumbling blocks for employees who want...