Management Today articles from July 2005

Management Today archives from July 2005

Editorial: Impressive ascent of woman.
July 1, 2005... Advancing without much grace into the greying years of my mid-forties, I feel a sense of envy looking at the pages of our '35 Women Under 35' feature. Bliss it would be to knock nine years off my tally - although I think, all things considered,...

In my opinion.(rural community development )
July 1, 2005... Chartered Management Institute Companion John Hazelwood argues that business can realise benefits from supporting rural communities. Much of the British population live in urban conurbations that are well supplied with educational, social...

The diary: Howard Davies.(Diary entry)
July 1, 2005... A lift for German spirits; NY's Olympic hurdle; Shanghai'd by Branson; a regulator's lot. The Anglo-German Konigswinter Conference, which promotes good relations across the North Sea, has now been running for 55 years. 'Don't mention the...

Brainfood: Ten ways to ... Hire the right person.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 1, 2005... 1 Be clear about what you're looking for 2 Use your network 3 Exclude your natural prejudices 4 Cover the core skill set 5 Balance the team's across-the-board abilities 6 Stretch candidates in a structured interview 7 Give them some...

Brainfood: It'll never fly - Cosmetic surgery.(Botox injections in cosmetics industry)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... If someone had told you 10 years ago that people would pay hundreds of pounds a year to have a paralysing toxin injected into their faces in the name of beauty, you'd have thought they were mad. But Botox injections have become an everyday...

Brainfood: How does he manage? - De-mining engineer.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... When did you become a manager? In 1965, when I became a senior NCO in the RAF. I first came across landmines doing my military service in Borneo in 1963. In 1995, I took out my first patents on what became Bigfoot, a machine that steps on...

Brainfood: Earning curve - Horticulture.(Illustration)
July 1, 2005... Charlie Dimmock, celebrity gardener ('03) pounds 500k Robert Hewitt, CEO, Wyevale Garden Centres ('04) pounds 274k Peter Crane, director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, p.a. pounds 130k Grounds manager, Southampton FC, p.a. pounds 32k Tree...

Brainfood: Workplace rights - The sands of time.(labour laws)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Spot checks are being carried out on Blackpool beach this summer to make sure that donkeys work only from 10am to 7pm, take an hour for lunch and a day off every week. The local council is threatening to strip offending donkey-ride operators of...

Brainfood: Your route to the top - How to bend the rules.(entrepreneurship)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Befriend the rule enforcers. It's hard for them to be tough on someone they like, especially if they owe you a favour. Spot the soft rules. These are the ones that aren't really rules at all, just traditions that have turned into habits. If...

Brainfood: History lessons - Laying down the law - Moses.(Book of Exodus for business leaders)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... An unlikely management guru, that's true. But business leaders can find inspiration in the most inappropriate places, so, why not the Good Book? As a chief executive, you must be seen to do the right thing. You must lead by example. But...

Brainfood: Speaking Out - Todd Stitzer, CEO, Cadbury Schweppes.(Chief Executive Officer)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... At a recent business summit, US lawyer-turned-CEO Todd Stitzer was quick to launch us into a four-minute video of the life and times of Cadbury Schweppes. Some of the audience found the music cheesy, but it set the scene for Stitzer, who...

Brainfood: Business manners - Leaving voicemail.(business communications)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Be prepared. If you need to leave a complicated message, think it through before you call. That way, you won't sound confused and the recipient will understand what you need from them. From me to you. Identify yourself and the intended...

Brainfood: Slogan Doctor persil: dirt is good.(germs for immune system development)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... The new slogan for Persil is revolutionary. Traditionally, the home-care giants have invoked fear, uncertainty and doubt in the shape of germs, viruses and other invisible horrors. When they weren't doing that, they tapped the neuroses of the...

Brainfood: We'd love that job - Astronaut.(European Space Agency career)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... What do you do? Like most astronauts, I'm not assigned to a space mission at the moment Instead, I'm working on the ground with ESA engineers on a huge resupply spaceship. I have had three space flights. The last one was an eight-day Nasa...

Brainfood: Remember this.
July 1, 2005... 'It's always dangerous to give interviews' Steve Jobs said it 'Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten' Aldo Gucci said it.

Brainfood: Are you suffering from Paranoid Personality Disorder.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... It's not that big a leap from being a bit concerned that people are talking behind your back to Paranoid Personality Disorder. To be diagnosed with it, you have to suspect, without sufficient basis, that others intend to exploit you. You will...

Brainfood: Wordsworth - Natural.(public perception on natural products)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Are you a natural leader? Do you sell natural products? Are you squandering natural resources? Are you irritated by these questions? If you are, it's only natural. 'Natural' derives from a Latin verb meaning 'to be born'. Anything born is...

Brainfood: Sir Rod Eddington - If I had to start again ..(career in aviation industry)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Knowing what I know about aviation and how tough it is, I'd have to doubt my sanity if I said yes to having a career in it again. But I've enjoyed every minute of it, so I wouldn't necessarily do it any differently. I was an academic before I...

Brainfood: How he made his pile - Lord Hollick, Director of US private equity group KKR.(Brief Article)(Biography)
July 1, 2005... Who is he? Former CEO of United Business Media, Hollick is an old hand at market research, film production, advertising and publishing. But more often than not, he's the one in the headlines - most recently over a proposed pounds 250,000...

Brainfood: Stat of the month - New labour, new jobs.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... 11.0 More public-sector employees in 2004 than in 1997 5.7 More private-sector employees in 2004 than in 1997 Look what's grown faster since New Labour came to power. Well over half a million new public-sector jobs have been...

Brainfood: Crash course in ... segmenting your customers.(Customer relationship management)
July 1, 2005... How can you meet the distinct needs of different groups of customers? You can't design everything for them individually, but treating them all exactly the same doesn't seem to work, either. Could segmentation provide the answer? Start with...

Brainfood: Masterclass.(business management through competencies )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Core competencies What are they? A core competency is what you and your organisation are (ideally) uniquely good at. For Wal-Mart, supply-chain management and pricing are two killer core competencies. Managers like competencies because...

Brainfood: Decisions - Sir Clive Woodward, coach to British & Irish Lions.
July 1, 2005... Formerly coach to england's world cup-winning rugby side MY BEST... When I worked at Xerox, I was offered the opportunity to work in Sydney and I decided to go. It was amazing how many people questioned my decision. It was 1985 and...

Brainfood: Behind the spin.(ITV PLC celebrity offerings)
July 1, 2005... The dilemma ITV, created from the merger of Granada/ Carlton in 2004, is led by chief executive Charles Allen. He pleased the City by delivering a 57% rise in profits in the new plc's inaugural results, but the UK's biggest commercial...

Long arm of the US law.(2002 Extradition Act)
July 1, 2005... America's use of the anti-terrorist extradition treaty is creating unlikely martyrs. In the US, crime against the corporation is taken just as seriously as crime against the person. This was the case long before Eliot Spitzer, the New York...

Striking a positive note.(labor relations)
July 1, 2005... Industrial action is on the increase, thanks to a new wave of white-collar unrest. Middle-class militancy is in the air. Strike action turned the BBC news coverage back to the 1970s for one day at the end of May; public-service unions are...

Books: What gives them the edge?(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... This book sees investment banks as sleek conglomerates that override boundaries to win business from awestruck executives. John Kay hopes it will be widely read. The Greed Merchants; Philip Augar Allen Lane; pounds 20.00; MT price;...

Books: No understanding of the new generation.(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... Far from offering career advice to aspiring management stars, this book is just a dull industry textbook, says Moira Benigson. How to be Headhunted John Purkiss and Barbara Edlmair How To Books; pounds 9.99; MT price; pounds 7.99 To...

Books: Three of a kind thanks for the memory.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
July 1, 2005... Learn to Remember Dominic O'Brien Duncan Baird; pounds 9.99 Use Your Memory Tony Buzan BBC Books pounds 7.99 Memory Boosters Jo Iddon & Huw Williams Hamlyn pounds 6.99

Books: China's long journey from Marx to Adam Smith.(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... These three books will help western businessmen build up a picture of their Asian rivals as highly adaptable entrepreneurs. Mike Hewitt reports. China Inc Ted C Fishman Simon & Schuster; pounds 12.99 MT price; pounds 11.50 Made in...

Women in control - 35 women under 35.(businesswomen family and career)
July 1, 2005... MT's latest list of young female high-flyers gives the lie to tales of women turning their back on the workplace in favour of home and family. REBECCA HOAR reports. For this, the third of MT's '35 Under 35' lists of Britain's...

The Interview: Sir Stuart Hampson.(Interview)
July 1, 2005... First among 63,000 equal partners, the chairman of the egalitarian retailer John Lewis is a donnish figure who spent the early part of his career as a civil servant advising cabinet ministers. Yet the business he runs has won the envy of its...

Do the right thing.(work ethics)
July 1, 2005... Leaders anxious to discourage skiving, pilfering and scamming at work should first examine their own behaviour and ethics, says Richard Reeves. Forget politics, religion, Celebrity Love Island or even football. There is a bigger issue...

Cool engineers.(Arup Associates)
July 1, 2005... Arup is world leader in helping architects construct the impossible, says Deyan Sudjic. Negotiating the glass doors of Arup's Fitzroy Street headquarters in London, it is not immediately clear what kind of organisation this is. The address...

How to make mobility work.
July 1, 2005... On-the-hoof communication is everywhere, yet organisations installing remote working systems still face awkward issues, says Mark Vernon. These days, mobile working is old hat - anybody who wants one can have a wireless-capable laptop and...

Business travel: Frequent flyer Jeff Kelisky's Guide to Budapest.
July 1, 2005... How to get there I usually fly with BA from Heathrow to Ferihegy, Budapest's main airport. It takes just under three hours. Airport to town Taxis take about 25 minutes, 45 if the traffic's bad. There are also buses that stop at most of the...

Business travel: On the road.(Toyota Aygo )(Product/Service Evaluation)
July 1, 2005... The Toyota Aygo makes do with three pistons instead of four, but this is no impediment to its zest. They rarely look it, but cheap cars are an industrial art form. They have to do most things cars costing twice as much can do, look...

Room Service where Despina Katsikakis stays ..
July 1, 2005... For business I spend a lot of time travelling for business, and one of the downsides is that you always feel completely disconnected from the city you're in. People are impressed that I travel to glamorous places, yet I never get to see them....

What's your problem?
July 1, 2005... On no account accuse her of being a psychopath, a tyrant or even a bully: let the facts do the work. Q: I'm PA to the principal of a college of higher education. My line manager, the HR director, has been bullying and harassing, not only...

First-class coach.(Chief executive officers skills)
July 1, 2005... A network of contacts in your industry will stand you in good stead in gaining senior roles. Q: I entered business life two years ago from the army, and so far I find it all very easy - I've already been promoted twice. Some of my fellow...