Management Today articles from March 2006

Management Today archives from March 2006

Contributors.
March 1, 2006... ALAN RUDDOCK: A columnist with the Sunday Times in Ireland, Ruddock captures the state of Northern Ireland's economy for MT this month; he finds the figures 'far bleaker than its dreary politics'. A Life in Full Flight, his book on Ryanair -...

What they want is autonomy.
March 1, 2006... Our cover feature this month is not about the heroes from the heights of British business. It's about those unsung toilers who actually run the show from the ranks of middle management. The piece is based on a big MT survey of our readers,...

Chartered Management Institute: In my opinion.
March 1, 2006... Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University Management School challenges leaders to become better role models in tackling stress at work, Change has been the byword of the first part of this millennium, with its attendant job...

The MT diary: Howard Davies.(Diary entry)
March 1, 2006... Davos days... the A-list celebs, the photo-op entrepreneurs, the Bollywood floorshow. Michael Douglas was there, and Mohammed Ali. Gilberto Gil put in an appearance, as did Bono. Brad Pitt looked in, with Angelina Jolie. You've guessed...

Brainfood: Ten ways to get good advice.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
March 1, 2006... Build a team you trust Don't hire yes-men Listen Take your accountant to lunch Ask an expert Take complaints seriously Ask the hard questions Do exit interviews Let advisers grow with you Do your own research

Brainfood: It'll never fly - Primark.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... The fashion chain run by the makers of Ovaltine peddles heaps of own-brand clothes in a badly-lit, bargain-bin smash-and-grab. That it's a hit with budgeting youngsters doesn't raise an eyebrow. More surprising are their opponents in the...

Brainfood: How does he manage? - Airport builder - Andrew Wolstenholme, project director, BAA, Heathrow Terminal 5.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2006... When did you become a manager? I went into the Royal Engineers as a raw school leaver. I was soon in charge of 40 guys, all older than me, building bridges in Canada. I also served in Northern Ireland. It was like taking a degree in people...

Brainfood: Earning curve - Brainpower.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
March 1, 2006... Dr Mike Lynch, CEO, Autonomy ('04) pounds 154m Levon Aronian, winner of the FIDE chess world cup ('05) pounds 57k Lecturer in nuclear physics, Paisley University, p.a. pounds 25.6k-pounds 37k Entry-level rocket scientist, NASA pounds 23k...

Brainfood: Workplace rights - Continental drift.(Societas Europaea)(European Company Statute )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Companies with operations in more than one EU state can now form a Societas Europaea (SE). That's Latin for 'European company'. An SE allows businesses to operate on an EU-wide basis, subject to a single set of Community rules, so avoiding...

Brainfood: History lessons - Bust the glass ceiling - Joan of Arc.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Some glass ceilings are tougher to crack than others. Women trying to break into the top echelons of business might take heart from the example of Joan of Arc. At just 16, her premonitory visions of future military victories won her one of the...

Brainfood: Your route to the top - Make meetings motor.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Get your guest list right. Are the usual suspects the right people, or would some new blood bring a fresh perspective? Pick your location. Surroundings have a big influence on how we think, so why not ditch the boardroom for the Tate Modern...

Brainfood: Speaking out - Jean-Pierre Garnier CEO, GlaxoSmithKline.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... They say the test of fluency in a second language is the ability to crack a joke and get a laugh. Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of GSK, had a go with a weak gag about George Bush. He raised half a laugh from the delegates at the CBI Interactive...

Brainfood: Business manners - Entertaining clients.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Match the event to your client and your aims. Bizet's Carmen may move you to tears but could go down badly with a team of heavy drinkers. Equally, you can't afford to show your company up - so think three times before booking at...

Brainfood: Slogan doctor - Comet - We live electricals.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... Many years ago, the trade association for electrical retailers advised members to use the same language as their customers - for instance, replacing 'The leading electrical and electronics retailer' on their vans with 'The television people'....

Brainfood: Are you suffering from money sickness syndrome.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... With personal debt estimated to be around pounds 1 trillion, it's no wonder that people are suffering from Money Sickness Syndrome (MSS). Coined by a stress expert and GP, MSS affects about 43% of the population, the rich as well as the...

Brainfood: Words-worth - Genius.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... What nicer than to call someone a 'genius'? Regular nominees include Jack Welch, Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, and the man who invented Big Brother. In pagan times, your 'genius' was the spirit that oversaw your whole life. Later, it...

Brainfood: We'd love that job - Special FX designer - Jez Clarke, Hothouse FX.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2006... What do you do? I design effects for commercials, film and TV. This could be anything from bomb blasts and bullet hits for BBC war dramas, to exploding space shuttles and teeth-flossing dogs. The best call I had was from Audi saying: 'We...

Brainfood: Remember this.
March 1, 2006... 'Your best teacher is your last mistake' - Ralph Nader said it 'I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity' - Oprah Winfrey said it.

Brainfood: Stat of the month - Business confidence.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... It's not just Indian and Chinese top executives who are strutting around. Research from PwC shows that, as they step up for their piece of the world economy pie, executives in the Arab world carry a swagger as big as anyone's. Rated on...

Brainfood: How she made her pile - Nina Wang, chair of Hong Kong property developer Chinachem.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... 75 - The level of economic confidence among Arab business leaders. Who is she? Nicknamed 'Little Sweetie' for her often pigtailed, comic-book looks, Wang, 68 runs Chinachem, Hong Kong's largest property developer - with interests in...

Brainfood: If I had to start again ..(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... A romantic part of me thinks it would be bloody good to have had a role building a bridge or a ship, where you could look at what you did and say 'I made that'. I've always been attracted to the manufacturing industries, whereas what we do...

Brainfood: Crash course in project recovery.
March 1, 2006... The project from heaven has turned into the development programme from hell. Nobody has said anything yet, but milestones are about to be missed, you're over-budget and now people aren't turning up for meetings. How to get back on...

Brainfood: MT Masterclass - Coaching.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... What is it? There are almost as many definitions of coaching as there are coaches. Practitioners disagree over whether line managers can also coach their staff, whether mentoring, counselling and 'life coaching' mean the same thing (they...

Brainfood: Decisions - Jennifer Irvine - The pure package - Founder of the Daily Delivery Meal Service.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2006... MY BEST... Was how I structured the business financially. My clients pay me upfront, so I have an incredibly good cashflow. Once they realise how good the food is, a lot will pay for three months of meals in advance. It has meant that I...

Brainfood: Behind the spin.(HMV)
March 1, 2006... THE DILEMMA If music and book retailer HMV thought things could only get better after an off-key 2005, it had a rude surprise in the new year. Battered by price-slashing supermarkets on one side and upstart online retailers on the other,...

Hargreaves' tight grip.(John Hargreaves, chairman of Matalan)
March 1, 2006... New Look and Matalan have oddly similar histories. The former has roared ahead since founder Tom Singh took a back seat. Will Matalan's owner heed the lesson? For a chairman to lose one chief executive may be unfortunate but necessary; to...

Dangerous lexicons.(political correctness)
March 1, 2006... It's all very well having a tilt at the straw man that is political correctness, but in the world of work, language must be used with care for the everyone's sake. The devil gets all the best tunes, but conservatives get all the best...

Books: All is fair in work and war?(The 33 Strategies of War)(Book review)
March 1, 2006... The writer of this tome on military strategy shows a poor grasp of the subject and confuses waging war with life. John Adair finds it lacking in practical wisdom. Given the title The 33 Strategies of War, I half expected a modern version...

Books: Three of a kind - Add value to your conversation.(The Fine Art of Small Talk)(How to be More Interesting)(How to Talk to Anyone)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2006... THE FINE ART OF SMALL TALK A book with a laudable aim - to transform those 'Good weekend?' conversations into something more meaningful. Fine's message is clear: listen, take an interest in people, have something to say. One warning about...

Books: Everyday ways to squeeze more profit.(The Undercover Economist)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2006... The author aims to make consumers more savvy by helping them think like an economist. He succeeds, says Steve Lodge. My local Tesco no longer stocks 'Value' toilet paper and I've been forced to upgrade to 'Luxury Soft' at more than double...

View from the middle.(views of middle managers)
March 1, 2006... What's on the mind of Britain's mid-ranking executives? What motivates and frustrates them? To find out, we polled them. MT's First-Class Coach Miranda Kennett interprets their responses. Research by Emma De Vita. What do Britain's middle...

Northern Ireland Where is the bright new future?
March 1, 2006... Eight years on from the historic Good Friday Agreement, the much-longed-for dividends of peace remain an elusive dream for the province. The bombs and bullets may be no more, but Ulster's politicians are still bickering, its economy is...

The MT interview - Charles Allen.(Interview)
March 1, 2006... In an industry not known for tolerating its CEOs for long, the fact that he is still the boss of ITV is seen as a minor miracle. But doesn't the carping criticism get him down? It seems not - Allen is positively crackling with enthusiasm...

Different ball game.(women's soccer)
March 1, 2006... With the English FA now onside, women's soccer has become Britain's fastest-growing participatory sport, offering an open goal to entrepreneurs. Paul Arnott commentates. It's three in the morning in the Coly valley, just west of Lyme...

WH Smith achieves ever-faster feedback to publishers: Working with the other side.
March 1, 2006... Competing in a multi-stranded market often demands close liaison with your suppliers - and even your rivals. Fortunately, communications technology can now be configured to make such seamless inter-company collaboration efficient and safe. Ron...

MT Business Travel: Frequent flyer Rahmyn Kress' guide to Berlin.
March 1, 2006... HOW TO GET THERE: I fly with British Airways to Tegel, Berlin's main airport. It takes about one and a half hours. Air Berlin flies from Stansted. Flying from Luton with easyJet is too inconvenient, as it only goes to Schoenefeld, which is...

MT business travel: Table talk - Where Caroline Plumb eats.(Edokko in Bloomsbury)(Restaurant Review)
March 1, 2006... I use so many places but there is one restaurant I'm particularly fond of. I'm loath to mention it, because it's such a find and I don't really want anyone to know about it - Edokko in Bloomsbury. That's it, I've ruined it now. It's a...

MT business travel: On the road.(Renault Clio 1.4)
March 1, 2006... The Renault Clio 1.4 really shines at a cruise on the motorway - the unexpected forte of this big city car. Putting on weight doesn't merely afflict those who over-indulge - it burdens cars too. Consider this: the first Renault 5, distant...

What's your problem?: You can't bear the thought of your friend finding out that you've applied for her job.
March 1, 2006... Q: I have been unhappy at work for a while and let a number of recruitment consultants know that I was looking to move on. I got a call from one last night sounding me out about a position 'soon to be available'. It's a great job, and would be...

First-class coach: You can reduce your boss' interference most easily by reducing the pressure on him.
March 1, 2006... Q: I'm a middle manager in a firm that's going through a rough patch. As well as managing my own staff of four, I have to handle my highly critical boss and his unrealistic expectations. The energy and time I should spend on my own team is...

MT business lifeforms: The security guard.
March 1, 2006... Haven't you read the rules? Nothing gets past Bill Pullman, especially post-9/11. Whereas receptionists are generally chosen for their bubbly personalities, warmth and general attractiveness, security guards seem to be selected for broadly...