Management Today articles from October 2003

Management Today archives from October 2003

EDITORIAL: Sometimes a CV is too interesting.
October 16, 2003... Before the embarrassment of the Hutton Inquiry, one of the trickier moments of Tony Blair's premiership had been at the hands of Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in May 2002. In one of his most cussed moods, Paxman was picking through and mucking out...

CONTRIBUTORS.
October 16, 2003... NICK JONES MT's Room Service candidate, Nick Jones, is owner of hotel and restaurant group Soho House, which includes country retreat Babington House, where he married TV presenter Kirsty Young in 1999. Jones opened his first restaurant...

IN MY OPINION.
October 16, 2003... Chartered Management Institute fellow John Sharp, CEO of the Business Continuity Institute, on how businesses can prepare for unexpected calamities. Organisations exist in an uncertain world. The range and scale of threats to the...

CUTTING ROOM: Evan Davis at large.
October 16, 2003... Big numbers - the directory inquiries saga; how a Firestone plant lost control; Gilmore airs his rights; the business case for ID cards... The recent changes to the directory inquiries service, first mentioned in my column in May, will...

BRAIN FOOD: Ten ways to ... Be a decent employer.
October 16, 2003... 1 Make your induction a real welcome 2 Have clear individual and company goals 3 Encourage two-way communication 4 Have flexible benefits 5 Promote talent internally 6 Reward performance at all levels 7 Lead by example 8...

BRAIN FOOD: It just might work - Profiting from the periphery.
October 16, 2003... Here's a neat and tax-free trick. You can raise capital and customers if you follow the example of a small Australian retail bank, Bendigo. Just as Sam Walton created the Wal-Mart mammoth out of markets that the big boys shunned, so Bendigo...

BRAIN FOOD: Unlikely managers - Driving instructor, Monk School of Motoring, London.
October 16, 2003... Name: Colin Monk When did you become a manager? In 1968, when I had my first office. What does management mean to you? It's about making sure our 12 instructors maintain a high standard so the customers are looked after...

BRAIN FOOD: Workplace rights - Dying for action.
October 16, 2003... The Government's announcement of plans for legislation on corporate killing in May was followed by news that six executives at Network Rail and Balfour Beatty are to face manslaughter charges over the 2000 Hatfield rail crash. Both developments...

BRAIN FOOD: Earning curve - Recruitment.
October 16, 2003... Jeffrey Joerres, CEO, Manpower ('02) pounds 640k HR director, FTSE-100 Plc, average p.a. pounds 524k Jeff Taylor, founder, Monster.com ('02) pounds 290k Partner, City headhunter firm, p.a. pounds 180k-200k Careers adviser, Edinburgh...

BRAIN FOOD: Route to the top ... How to get promoted.
October 16, 2003... Go the extra mile. By doing more than is asked for, you'll win grateful colleagues and show that you are ready to take on more. Network like crazy. The more people you know within your organisation and outside it, the greater your chances...

BRAIN FOOD: Room Service - Where Nick Jones stays.
October 16, 2003... FOR BUSINESS: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Cap D'Antibes, in the south of France. It doesn't feel as though I'm on a business trip when I stay there because it's so beautiful. I usually stay there for the Cannes film festival, but this year I was...

BRAIN FOOD: Speaking Out - Theresa May MP, Chairman, Conservative Party.
October 16, 2003... I closed my eyes and let my mind wander back 30 years. Could this have been Mrs Thatcher before Gordon Rees turned her from a thoughtful but shrill speaker into one of power and passion? It could! Theresa May has resisted attempts to trivialise...

BRAIN FOOD: Neville Bain - If I had to start again ..
October 16, 2003... With the benefit of hindsight, would I change things? Given that the important decisions in one's life are set in the context of that time, I think little would change. Sometimes there are lessons to be learned, and I have had a fair measure of...

BRAIN FOOD: Are you suffering from ... Passive Aggression?
October 16, 2003... Do you agree to do something then not do it? Compliment someone with an insult? The term Passive-Aggressive came in after the second world war to describe soldiers who weren't openly insubordinate but shirked duty through procrastination and...

BRAIN FOOD: Words-worth - Process.
October 16, 2003... According to a recent FT article, the founder of one of the world's biggest computer companies is a man obsessed: mention of the word 'process' brings a fanatical gleam to Michael Dell's eye. Sadly, the same word will often induce the gentle...

THE HUMAN FACTOR.
October 16, 2003... In inner city areas, providing help with reading to primary school children has been known to turn aggressive managers into patient charmers. As this year's crop of lucky youngsters head off on their gap-year travels they leave behind some...

INSIDE OUT.
October 16, 2003... The highly regulated market resulting from the EU constitution will hit disadvantaged and unskilled workers, immigrants and women especially badly. A curious inconsistency in British government policy was acted out last month. Tony Blair...

REALITY BITES.
October 16, 2003... Accepting that love and sex are part and parcel of office life does not mean, of course, that sexual harassment should be tolerated at any level. Sigmund Freud believed that a well-balanced psyche was built on two pillars: work and love....

TECHKNOW: Things to come ... Clever Carpets.
October 16, 2003... Since 9/11, the ability to track where people are in the workplace in emergencies and to guide them out has edged nearer to becoming a legal requirement of UK firms. And architects and planners have become more concerned about building...

TECHKNOW: Tech talk.
October 16, 2003... Occupational spam (n): Timewasting e-mails from fellow toilers - arse-covering cc's, 'all users' missives and sponsorship pleas from the marathon man in accounts. Jargon gap (n): The difference between the promised benefits of a new...

TECHKNOW: Pushing the Envelope - Shaving.
October 16, 2003... Shaving goes back a long way into human history: 100,000 years ago, even before their language skills were fully developed, our grunting Stone Age ancestors could be found pulling bristles from their chins using a pair of sea shells as...

TECHKNOW: Smart tools - Backup Buddy.
October 16, 2003... What is it? A USB back-up device the size of your thumb. What does it do? If you're on Windows 2000 or XP (sorry, no Mac users), this little gadget backs up all your Microsoft Office documents. Just plug it directly into your PC's...

BOOKS: It's a job to get promoted.
October 16, 2003... The author neglects no question and spares us no detail in showing us the way to the top, but, says John Viney, it's a bit like navigating a corporate helpline. Succession planning is a preoccupation for most corporations. Failure to...

BOOKS: On the bedside table of ... Julie Mellor.
October 16, 2003... 'I'm reading The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif - a story of love between an Egyptian and an American. They are metaphors for their country's cultures and this aspect has more impact than Soueif's characters. An illuminating, pertinent read.' ...

BOOKS: Three of a Kind ... Boost your powers of original thought.
October 16, 2003... Cracking Creativity; Michael Michalko; Ten Speed Press pounds 16.99 This book brings together some of the most popular creativity techniques, from using mind maps to working in groups to boost creative thinking. Strategies are described in...

BOOKS: Wires crossed at Reuters.
October 16, 2003... Two ex-employees think they know who to blame for the catastrophic decline of the company. Roy Greenslade remembers the scoops. The motto of Reuters news agency from its pigeon-post beginnings in the 1860s was 'Follow the cable'. By the...

LARGING IT UP WITH RICHARD DESMOND.
October 16, 2003... For some, the Express proprietor can do no right: he's a rude upstart who made his money publishing low-grade erotica. But newpapers are the roughest of businesses and maybe in their tabloid pages he has found his true home. Alex Benady...

LIFERS VS HOPPERS.
October 16, 2003... The modern portfolio-style jobhopper is touted as the role-model executive for the future. So why is it that most of those at the top of the league are single-company careerists? Matthew Lynn reports. What do the following companies have in...

SEVEN OVER 70.
October 16, 2003... How do they do it? Our selection of veteran leaders all display undiminished energy and drive, at the same time showing that business can exploit the talents of our ageing population. Rebecca Hoar reports. None of us is getting any younger,...

THE MT INTERVIEW: Miles Templeman.
October 16, 2003... He's rebranded products from Ribena to Boddinton's and Stella, rescued Levi Strauss and restructured Thresher. Yet he was passed over for the top job at Whitbread and had his ambitions for Bulmers cut short by a takeover. Why is a man of his...

COMING UP FAST: Define your product as you design it.
October 16, 2003... These days, designers don't just make a product look nice - they decide what it is in the first place. Rhymer Rigby visits PDD, a radical example of how a design firm can spearhead innovation. Every bit of video that comes back is the same,...

COMING UP FAST: Karan Bilimoria, Cobra Beers.
October 16, 2003... DECISIONS MY BEST... The idea of Cobra beer, like many of the best business ideas, was born out of consumer frustration. When I came from India to Britain as a student, I found most lagers to be harsh and gassy. I love all food,...

COMING UP FAST: Building to last - Happy Takeover.
October 16, 2003... DILEMMA: I have just taken over a weaker competitor and scaled up the business. We now have two locations, so I expect I'll have to be less hands-on with the day-to-day management. How am I going to be sure I know what's going on? ISSUES:...

COMING UP FAST: Net result - Big-screen Hits.
October 16, 2003... City Screen is the creation of Lyn Goleby and Tony Jones, two film-lovers who opened their first Picture House cinema in Oxford in 1989. Having since launched another 17 Picture Houses in city centres around the UK, they bill their cinemas as...

COMING UP FAST: Stressbuster - Beat the cynics.
October 16, 2003... Doom and gloom is contagious. Deal with cynics before they stress you out. To ensure you stay positive... DON'T ARGUE BACK. Confront them with an assertive statement: you've made your decision and won't be side-tracked. DEFLECT PERSONAL...

COMING UP FAST: Young Meteors - Sufyan Ismail and Bashir Timol, 1st Ethical.
October 16, 2003... Everyone knows that first-time buyers are struggling to get onto the property ladder in the UK's housing hotspots. But what about those forbidden by Islamic law from taking out British-style mortgages, with their interest payment structure? The...

COMING UP FAST: Crash Course - Introducing flexible working.
October 16, 2003... Personnel has informed you that if an employee with children under six wants to work flexible hours, you have to give their request serious consideration. Someone else has pointed out that your office hours are difficult for most parents,...

MOTOR MOUTH: Twelve-cylinder blues.
October 16, 2003... Now here's a question you don't hear very often. 'Exactly why would I want a Ferrari?' With the exception of the late middle-aged men in Tattersall check shirts and corduroy trousers whom you find at Eurotunnel driving vintage Ferraris to...

WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?
October 16, 2003... MY BRIGHT EMPLOYEE HAS LET ME DOWN BADLY One of my brightest employees has made an enormous cock-up on a client's account. I would normally support my team, but in this case I can see the client's point of view. Unfortunately, my employee...

FIRST CLASS COACH.
October 16, 2003... I've transferred to a new division of my company and I find I really can't respect my new boss, a woman. I had a great relationship with my previous boss. What should I do? I don't want to leave the company. It can be tricky developing a...

WEAK AT THE TOP: John Weak's Diary.
October 16, 2003... MONDAY As our weirdo HR director is just a tired old hippy, we've got in a smooth new HR manager called Michael Gabriel. He's a career HR professional (which means he hasn't had a career) and he's so touchy-feely you feel coached when he...

MT GUIDE TO BUSINESS EDUCATION & TRAINING: Your own call to action.
October 16, 2003... To succeed in the 21st-century world of work, you have to move quickly; there often isn't time to gain all the skills you need through experience. But don't panic - a gamut of intensive courses will help to equip you for a fast-track career....

MT GUIDE TO BUSINESS EDUCATION & TRAINING: At the Leading Edge.
October 16, 2003... It's axiomatic that great companies need great leaders, but where do they come from? How are tomorrow's brightest prospects to be identified, and what principles should govern their training? There was a time, not long ago, when we were all...

MT GUIDE TO BUSINESS EDUCATION & TRAINING: A Positive Result.
October 16, 2003... Competition for the best students means business schools are getting creative. The once-rigid MBA or executive programme can now be tailored to individual requirements, and is focused on delivering the desired outcome. There is an...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003.
October 16, 2003... If there's one thing these awards consistently demonstrate, it's that there is no cookie-cutter route to achieving Service Excellence. For any individual organisation, some of the answers have to be its own, designed to cater for its own...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Overall Winner and winner, small business - Happy Computers.
October 16, 2003... The IT training sector has been through tough times in the past two years, with spending down by 30% and some providers struggling to stay afloat. Happy Computers, though, has bucked the trend, achieving continued growth by successfully...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Financial services - Yorkshire Building Society.
October 16, 2003... A few years ago, when other financial mutuals were seduced by aggressive growth ambitions, Yorkshire Building Society was one of the few larger societies that resisted. Instead, it concentrated on promoting - and developing - the benefits of...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Public services - Twin Valley Homes.
October 16, 2003... In 2001, Blackburn Council transferred its entire stock of 10,000 residential properties to a new housing association, Twin Valley Homes. The outlook wasn't great: the former Lancashire cotton town had been in a long spiral of decline,...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Business to Business - CIBA Vision (UK).
October 16, 2003... At the front desk of Southampton-based CIBA Vision (UK), the receptionist casually asks if you have ever worn contact lenses. If you say yes, she will break open a small packet and pop a lens onto the end of your finger. It is part of a...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Learning Organisation - Rackspace Managed Hosting Europe.
October 16, 2003... At first sight, being a web host is a bit like banking. Most of the time your customers simply want everything to run smoothly behind the scenes, with the minimum disruption and without having to think about it. They only make contact when they...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Manufacturing/engineering - Mace.
October 16, 2003... At the construction site for the new Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters, just outside Edinburgh, workers entering their facilities area pull plastic overshoes onto their boots. To the casual onlooker, it might seem an insignificant point, but...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Winner, Retail and consumer services - Woburn Safari Park.
October 16, 2003... At Woburn Safari Park, if you see big-game hunters stalking their prey, it won't be the lions or tigers they have in their sights, but people. Last year, management at the Bedfordshire leisure attraction introduced a highly innovative...

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2003: Highly Commended, Small business - National Refractory Angina Centre.
October 16, 2003... The National Refractory Angina Centre was founded by cardiologist Mike Chester and pain specialist Austin Leach in 1997. Their aim was to replace the disease-centred approach to this painful condition - in which success is measured in terms of...