Management Today articles from March 2010

Management Today archives from March 2010

Contributors.
March 1, 2010... JOHN KAY: It's been all go for Kay since he ceased work as an economics forecaster: he is a visiting professor of economics at the LSE, pens a weekly column for the FT - and he knocks books out too. His latest, Obliquity (see pp44-48 for a...

Editorial: Enterprises on a Knife Edge
March 1, 2010... Back in 1993, I wrote an article about the 20th anniversary of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. As well as interviewing the band's members - who were, at the time, split into two factions and communicating only via lawyer-delivered curses...

Chartered Management Institute: In My Opinion
March 1, 2010... Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and a CMI Companion, warns voluntary sector managers that a golden age is ending. The coming years are going to be difficult for both the voluntary...

The MT Diary
March 1, 2010... Why Pigs won't fly; oil boost for Russia; Singapore hung up on Lib Dems; Aussies shift. Unusually, football made an appearance at Davos this year. The last-night party was hosted by South Africa, which 'launched' the World Cup in some not...

Don't You Believe It ... Activity Rates Matter
March 1, 2010... People who run salesforces, call centres or credit control departments often care deeply about activity rates, usually expressed as the number of calls made. This is dangerous - in any work sufficiently complex to need a human being to do it,...

Do it right: Sell your ideas.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... Know the facts - but don't rely solely on them. Make sure you frame your idea within a strong narrative. People make decisions based on their emotions and intuition, as well as on rational thinking. Talk to the right people. Find out who the...

Slogan Doctor: The Conservative Party: 'Year For Change'.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... The Tory party has no-one else to blame for this slogan. According to a woman at the press office, it was devised by the party's internal PR team. It's supposed to be self-explanatory, representing the party's hope that 'this will be a year...

Critical List: English Football
March 1, 2010... Our national sport has enjoyed a decade of plenty. England's top clubs are among the richest in the world, paying vast sums to attract the world's best players and dominating Europe's top competitions - all financed by piles of TV cash. But...

Remember This.(Quotation)(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... 'Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.' Oscar Wilde said it. -------------------- Did you find this article useful? Why not subscribe to the magazine? Please call 08451 55 73 55 for more information or visit...

Decisions: Piers Linney, Outsourcery - Joint-CEO of the Hosted IT and Communications Outsourcer
March 1, 2010... MY BEST... Was leaving the City in 2000 to go into business. Law was fascinating, but it was too far removed from actual business. In banking, I was involved in business processes, but it was at 30,000 feet. I couldn't be very...

Ten ways to ... Entertain thriftily.(Brief article)(List)
March 1, 2010... 1. Keep it intimate 2. Share the cost 3. Tap that little black book 4. Barter with suppliers 5. Shop around 6. Use your own facilities 7. Make breakfast the new afternoon tea 8.... and afternoon tea the new dinner 9. Put on your quizmaster hat...

Suffering from ... Aspergoid syndrome?(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... People suffering from Aspergoid syndrome seem normal at first. They are sticklers for detail, remember every conversation you ever had with them and do better than most in business. But no-one wants to sit next to them in the office or at...

Why business is like ... German humour.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... The 18-minute-long British comedy Dinner for One is the most shown programme in TV history. Never heard of it? Nor have most people in Britain. But as the BBC show QI pointed out last month, if you ask any German or Scandinavian about the...

Earning curve: Social networks.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, estimated worth - pounds 1.2bn. Twitter's projected 2013 turnover, according to leaked reports - pounds 960m Michael and Xochi Birch, joint profit from Bebo sale - pounds 373m Price paid by ITV for...

Words-worth: Cascade.(Definition)(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... Do you 'cascade' information? Or do you just give it to people straight? To 'cascade' announcements is to feed them in at the top level of your organisation and let them trickle to the bottom. It's a metaphor. A real 'cascade', of course, is...

Your Route to the Top: Get Noticed
March 1, 2010... Target the top. Study your organisation's key players. Know their KPIs, hopes and fears, and how past successes and failures have shaped their judgment. Discover their vision for the business, then align your goals and activities with it. Be...

Workplace rights: On the blue horizon.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... What are the implications of a Conservative election victory for employment law? An immediate challenge would be what to do about the overhaul of discrimination law in the Equality Bill, assuming the Government is able to enact it before...

Stat of the month: Take my advice ..(management consultants)(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... Pounds 9bn - Sum spent on consultancy services in the UK, 2008/ Management consulting has never paid so well. In 2008, firms looking for help spent more than pounds 9bn on consultants. A tidy sum, you might think, but according to the...

How he made his pile: Harold Tillman, Fashion entrepreneur.(Brief article)
March 1, 2010... Who is he? Legendary rag trade entrepreneur and ambassador of British fashion. Instead of assuming pipe and slippers and retiring as planned in 2003, Brixton-born Tillman, now 64, snapped up womenswear brand Jaeger. He is thought to be worth...

If I Had to Start Again ... Lord Browne
March 1, 2010... I would do many things exactly the same. The reason I went into business was because my father pushed me with a very simple question: 'Why not try it?' I did. And I loved it - I loved the oil industry and the richness of all the experiences I...

Crash Course in ... Corporate Twitter
March 1, 2010... Dell claims it made dollars 6.5m in sales on Twitter, with 1.5 million fans, and other firms are joining the twitterati in droves Should your organisation be learning to tweet, and if so, what should you be saying? What's the point? 'Don't...

MT Masterclass: High-Level Networking
March 1, 2010... What is it? Successful professionals rarely let their guard drop in public. An ordinary person might look on a top-level conference or networking event as a perk or welcome distraction, light relief from the heap of work that awaits them back...

The Erosion of UK Plc
March 1, 2010... It should be harder for foreign businesses to acquire national institutions - such as Cadbury - that are part of British identity. The shareholders of Cadbury swallowed the Kool-Aid last month and sold out to US food giant Kraft. The loss of...

Books: The managerial pendulum.(Reinventing Management: Smarter Choices for Getting Work Done)(Book review)
March 1, 2010... A strong bureaucratic system versus a free-wheeling ethos? For Julian Birkinshaw, it's a question of competitive advantage. Kai Peters likes his practical approach. There are, fundamentally, two types of management book. In the one camp are...

Books: Demigods with feet of clay.(Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever)(Book review)
March 1, 2010... The dynamic duo from 37signals have an iconoclastic take on business practice, but most of their assertions are arrogant and misleading, says John Vincent. If this book was just bad then maybe that would be OK, but I fear it may also be...

Books: Money, money, money, in the rich man's world.(Pay Check: Are Top Earners Really Worth It?)(Book review)
March 1, 2010... A 'talent ideology' causes CEOs to be over-rewarded, says this author. Katharine Turner finds truths amid his paranoia. When, in the mid-1990s, the CEO of a FTSE-20 firm was told I advised on executive remuneration, he joked: 'Ah, there is...

Books: Three of a kind - Build an effective sales strategy.(Brief article)(Recommended readings)
March 1, 2010... Selling With Confidence Andrew Holmes A&C Black pounds 8.99 Sales Therapy Grant Leboff Capstone pounds 12.99 The Secrets of Success in Selling Nicola Cook Prentice Hall pounds 12.99 -------------------- Did you find this article useful?...

Can GSK Take Its Medicine?
March 1, 2010... As the 'blockbuster' age draws to a close and markets open up in the east, the pharma business faces its biggest shake-up in a generation. UK giant GSK has a radical strategy to keep the billions flowing and tackle the industry's image. It's a...

The MT Interview: Elio Leoni-Sceti
March 1, 2010... The new boss of crisis-ridden EMI Music has swapped Air Wick and Dettol for the likes of Robbie Williams and Lily Allen. This Roman has been working on a plan that could revolutionise the iconic company, but can he convince investors that it's...

*Obliquity: The Roundabout Route to Success
March 1, 2010... In this complex and chaotic world, the nature of a problem is often not revealed until you start tackling it. Rather than be prescriptive, says John Kay, try the indirect approach to achieving your goals - obliquity, in a word... Why is it...

Under Pressure
March 1, 2010... If you're suffering from high stress at work, try switching to a job that's more in tune with your individual needs and expectations Rhymer Rigby has the prescription for a healthier, more satisfying worklife. Put your ear to the ground...

Rise above the Crowd
March 1, 2010... No more 'me too'. Since when was running with the corporate herd good for a company's performance? Contrarian champion Alastair Dryburgh demonstrates the power of being unique. We're number two - we try harder. So went the old slogan from car...

MBA & Business Education Guide: Spring 2010 - the Trouble with MBAs
March 1, 2010... Top business school alumni were in charge at some of the most calamity-stricken organisations as the recession took hold. So are we due for a big rethink on what business courses actually teach? Ian Wylie reports. Finding scapegoats for the...

MBA & Business Education Guide: Spring 2010 - Business Schools Are Okay
March 1, 2010... Ever since the crash, business academics have been accused of turning out a generation of immoral MBAs more interested in making a fast buck than in nurturing their organisations. But such easy finger-pointing is both distracting and wrong, says...

Motor Mouth
March 1, 2010... Driving the Volvo S80 D5 is like donning Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility, but it's a magical experience, says Sathnam Sangera. The modern person seeking to keep a low profile has traditionally had three options: the caves of Afghanistan;...

Table Talk: Where Laura Tenison Eats
March 1, 2010... Our headquarters is in Newport, South Wales, and our design studio is in Battersea, south London, so I spend my life travelling to and from Wales. Compared to the frenetic pace of life in London, everything seems just a little bit slower in...

What's Your Problem?
March 1, 2010... Q: I work in the HR/payroll department of a large organisation. I've just joined and, while processing salaries, have noticed quite large differences between what men and women earn for the same job title. I haven't raised the matter with...

What's Your Problem?
March 1, 2010... Q: I have lived within walking distance of the office for the past two years. My short commute is great, but colleagues often expect me to get in very early or work late because of this. They have also taken to inviting themselves to spend...

What's Your Problem?
March 1, 2010... Q: My manager recently bought a Harley-Davidson. He's desperate to give me a lift home but I'm scared. I've managed to put him off a few times, but I don't want to appear chicken or to sour our relationship Should I take my life into my hands?...

First-Class Coach
March 1, 2010... Q: I joined the Civil Service as a graduate and after 10 years have reached quite a senior position. The news that a large number of jobs are to be axed in the department is having a de-energising effect on me and my staff. I'm worried we're not...

The Sharp End: Don't Call Me a Bouncer
March 1, 2010... It's 'doorman' to you. Dave Waller is a brand-new heavy on Truro's club scene. When I was a lad, bouncers were power-hungry bad boys who put the kibosh on our booze-fuelled Friday night hilarity. Now, at 32, I find myself manning the doors at...