Management Today articles from March 2008

Management Today archives from March 2008

Editorial: Dishing up the hot potatoes.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... Never let it be said that here at MT we shirk from investigating the major issues of the day. This month, we're probing no fewer than four hot potatoes: first, why women still earn less than men in business; second, should we in the UK go more...

Contributors.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... MARK LASSWELL As the deputy books editor at the Wall Street Journal, Lasswell has seen a few too many dreary polemics about the evils of American imperialism Happily, Cullen Murphy's The New Rome turned out to be an entertaining spin...

Chartered Management Institute: In My Opinion.(business ethics)
March 1, 2008... Chartered Management Institute Companion Rita Clifton discusses the importance of values and ethics in business - and their effect on people. One can occasionally get depressed about people's general attitude to business. Here are a couple...

The MT Diary.(Management Today, World Economic Forum)(Conference news)
March 1, 2008... Davos debates the global economy: ski-jump or slalom, whirling Dervishes or foie gras? In the early years of New Labour, the World Economic Forum in Davos was a no-go zone. Tony Blair was unsure of its relevance: Gordon Brown was entirely...

Ten ways to ... better judgment.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... 1. Know what you want 2. Get good information 3. Separate fact from assumption 4. Don't be unsettled by uncertainty 5. Be led by the outcome, not your tastes 6. Keep an open mind 7. Find the lessons in your mistakes 8. Learn from...

Dave's Eco-nomics: Light-bulb moment.(Dave Waller )(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... GREEN ALERT You can't fault Thomas Edison. His incandescent light bulb has been making our night trips to the loo more palatable for well over a century. But these are carbon-conscious times, and 85% of the energy consumed by the average...

It'll never fly: Voluntourism.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Working holidays are oxymoronic. Surely, the whole point of a break is much-needed R&R. Even more absurd is the notion of actually paying to work on holiday. But this is a booming industry: the international market in gap-year travel will be...

Earning curve: Natural disasters.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Total emergency aid worldwide ('05) pounds 8.6bn Bid for The Edge's guitar at Hurricane Katrina charity auction pounds 1.2m Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winnings ('07) pounds 750k Seismologist, starting salary (p.a.) pounds 22k Storm...

Workplace rights: Works councils boost.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... This year, concerted moves will be made to bolster EU laws on worker involvement in multinational companies, as the European Commission develops proposals to revise the 1994 European Works Council (EWC) directive. This requires most...

History lessons: It's in the name - Sony.( )(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... When the electronics giant was founded in 1946, it hardly had the catchiest name. Outside Japan, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo KK would be near-impossible to pronounce. Impressed by the big American names such as RCA, NBC and CBS, its founders scoured...

Your route to the top: Go from good to great.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Don't try to do everything. Ask yourself: 'Where do my strengths lie?' Focusing on one area will help you pinpoint and hone the necessary skills to move up. Watch and learn. How did those you admire get to where they are now? Ask...

Why business is like ... living together.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... An untidy person can drive their orderly cohabitant to distraction - as my mother knows. She may fold her clothes away neatly but if her feral other half leaves unwashed dishes in the sink and clothes at the foot of the bed each night, the...

Do it right: Diversity.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Know the rules. The law surrounding workplace discrimination is a minefield - take the furore around the 2006 age regulations. Keep up to date: the burden of proof is on employers to show they didn't discriminate. It's not just a badge....

Slogan Doctor: Virgin Trains: 'Love Every Second'.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Train travel gave rise to some notable slogans in British Rail's day. 'Let the train take the strain' encompassed the principal advantage of trains: you don't have to drive them. 'This is the age of the train' invited rude remarks about...

How does she manage?: Ethical Trading Manager - Cristina Talens Bettys & Taylors.(Interview)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... WHEN DID YOU BECOME A MANAGER? I took this job three years ago. I'd studied international business, but decided to work on labour and human rights issues. I volunteered at Anti-Slavery International and built a 10-year career in the NGO...

Remember This.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... 'Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?' - Steve Jobs said it 'It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.' - George W Bush said it

Are you suffering from: Situational intimacy.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Political correctness has just about banned the sexes from talking. Flirting was outlawed along with smoking, and anything as suggestive as a smile could land you in the boss's office these days. So how to explain a long chat (with a member of...

Words-worth: Credit crunch.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The economy is in trouble, and it all started with the 'credit crunch'. The term refers to a sudden reluctance by banks and investors to lend money. It's an American expression; the earliest use was in a New York Times article from 1968....

Stat of the month: Inbox intruders - 96% - The proportion of e-mail traffic made up of spam.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... 'What have you got?' asks a customer in the Monty Python cafe sketch. 'Well, there's egg, bacon and spam; egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam; and spam, sausage, spam, spam, bacon,...

How He made HIS pile: Tony Blair - Statesman at large.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Who is he? The 54-year-old former prime minister is an adviser to the UN, US, Russia and UK on the Middle East peace process, and friend to big business and luxury car brands. A year's earnings can top pounds 10m. How did he make his...

Dame Carol Black: If I had to start again ..(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... I would love to have sung professionally. I had my voice trained when I was a teenager, and now I often go to the opera and wonder what might have been. My family all worked in the factories and warehouses around Leicestershire and had never...

Crash Course in ... protecting personal data.
March 1, 2008... You've received that letter from HM Revenue & Customs warning that your personal data are among the 25 million lost on a disc, and it occurs that perhaps you should take a close look at just how safe is the data held by your own organisation....

Masterclass: Remuneration.(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... WHAT IS IT? Hard pay. Money. Wonga. So vulgar, these terms. How much better to draw a veil over the crude reality of the 'cash nexus' and use the most polysyllabic term we can think of. As usual, Shakespeare was on to the absurdity of this word...

Decisions: Dr Michael Lynch - Autonomy - Founder and CEO of the award-winning software company.(chief executive officer)
March 1, 2008... MY BEST .. One of my best decisions was hiring our CFO, Sushovan Hussain. He is completely on top of the numbers but also understands the business in great detail. Without someone like that it would be very difficult to grow the business. ...

Behind the spin.(Egg credit card cancellation)
March 1, 2008... THE DILEMMA It's Eastertide and your thoughts will surely be turning to the chocolate egg that your loved one will give you. But spare a thought for the plastic kind. In January, internet bank Egg announced that it would be withdrawing its...

Is a degree just the job?
March 1, 2008... The official line is that universities should equip students with work skills. But in a fast-changing world, people need a broader grounding for life. What do you say to a sociology graduate with a job? 'Can I have fries with that,...

Books: Plans of a serious dreamer.(Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs )(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Jeffrey Sachs proposes that special global funds be set up to eradicate rampant poverty, disease and unsustainable production. It's a vital read, says DeAnne Julius. This is a big book by any measure. Common Wealth is full of big ideas and...

Books: Will Americans fall like the Romans?(The New Rome: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Cullen Murphy argues that his compatriots share dangerous traits with their ancient exemplars. Mark Lasswell is sceptical. The New Rome: The fall of an empire and the fate of America Cullen Murphy Icon Books pounds 14.99 The...

Books: Three of a kind - Lessons from those who should know.(Brief article)(Recommended readings)
March 1, 2008... On Leadership Allan Leighton Random House pounds 20 New Ideas from Dead CEOs Todd G Buchhholz Collins pounds 14.99 CEO Kevin Kelly FT Prentice Hall pounds 20

Books: The geek, the academic, the hippie and the peasant ..(We-Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... I am not the obvious reviewer of a book on the power of the web, being a technophobe who until a few years ago had to ask my assistant to print out my e-mails. But although I found the argument difficult at first, I was gripped by Charles...

The MT interview: Michael Grade.(Management Today)(Interview)
March 1, 2008... He's not shy, he's not retiring and he's definitely not agitated. But our home-grown media mogul will need all his heavy-duty management experience in broadcasting to revive an ailing ITV. And with Murdoch to the right and Web 2.0 to the left,...

MT FreshMinds: Work 2.0 Survey - My generation.(Management Today)
March 1, 2008... On the way out: baby boomers. On the way in: Gen Y. And piggy in the middle? That would be Gen X. So how can the age groups rub along happily? Stefan Stern digests our exclusive research looking at the future world of work. One day in...

Blood ties.(family-run enteprises)
March 1, 2008... When an enterprise is run as a family affair, the scope for conflict seems endless. Egotism and jealousy among relatives can ruin both the business and its joint owners. Nigel Nicholson identifies the flashpoints in a string of classic bust-ups...

Why Britain is going nuclear.
March 1, 2008... The Government has given the nod to new atomic power stations in the UK, and the big players are rubbing their hands at the prospect of lucrative contracts up for grabs. But will it be enough to help us meet the climate-change challenge? Andrew...

The trouble with women.
March 1, 2008... There have been many revolutions in the workplace - hierarchies flattened, 360-degree appraisals, remote working, flexitime, the internet... Yet the gender pay gap endures and the statistics still shock. The reasons are complex, subtle and...

MT business travel: Why do business in ... Johannesburg.(Management Today, South Africa)
March 1, 2008... Johannesburg isn't nicknamed 'eGoli' ('Gold') for nothing. Although the mining sector now contributes only about 10% of the city's wealth, it is still very much a mining town: fast, cosmopolitan, edgy and exciting. It's the destination of...

Motor Mouth.(Saab 9-3)(Product/service evaluation)
March 1, 2008... Saab's 9-3 SportWagon estate is a good alternative to its pricier German rivals, but forget the 'sport' tag, says Sathnam Sanghera. When I read, in a sister publication, that Saab was testing an in-car warning system that can detect the...

Table Talk: Where Roland Rudd eats ..(River Cafe)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... I try to avoid business lunches. I'd rather go to the gym. The crowd at my circuit class is getting younger and younger, and I'd struggle to keep up if I had lunches every day. Instead, I do breakfast and dinner. The River Cafe has three...

What's your problem?
March 1, 2008... If his YouTube entry spells problems for others, take your concerns to your CEO. Q: I've found a compromising YouTube entry for a senior manager at my company by accident. He uses another name but it's obviously him. I don't know this man...

What's your problem?(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Q: I'd like to have more courage in the decisions I take. I often think up great ideas but more often than not lack the balls to go through with them, then kick myself afterwards when I see that they could have worked. I want to be more of a...

What's your problem?
March 1, 2008... Q: My first child is due in two months. My wife is taking nine months' maternity leave and I'd then like to take a year's sabbatical once she returns to work. How should I ask my manager for this? I feel as though I'm the odd one out as no...

First-class coach.
March 1, 2008... If the affair were to end acrimoniously, one party might accuse the other of sexual harassment. Q: A valued female colleague is having an affair with a junior female member of her department. As her senior manager, I don't know whether or...

The sharp end: My day of the jackal.
March 1, 2008... A shift as assistant keeper at Colchester Zoo tests Dave Waller's animal charm. The Sharp End has gone to the dogs. Specifically, the canine section at Colchester Zoo. I am to be an assistant zookeeper for the day, dancing with Iberian...