Management Today articles from September 2007

Management Today archives from September 2007

Editorial: The State of the union.(United States of America's influence)(Editorial)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... These are not the best of times for the United States. Whether you are a hostile Islamicist who believes Americans are part of an evil empire that needs attacking at all corners of the earth, or from the school that regards the superpower as...

Contributors.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... GARY HAMEL - 'Management is out of date,' writes Hamel in our exclusive excerpt from his new book. A bold statement - if true, it will put MT's hungry hacks out of a job. Fortune magazine called him 'the world's leading expert on business...

Chartered Management Institute: In My Opinion.(civil society or third-sector management)(Viewpoint essay)
September 3, 2007... Charities must still speak truth to power, argues Chartered Management Institute Companion Dr John Low, even when they're delivering major public service contracts. Politics is often seen as a dirty business, but all leaders need to be...

The MT Diary.(column)(Column)
September 3, 2007... My Booker surfeit; Sarko swings into action; French eco-nomics; non to a referendum. A change, we are led to believe, is as good as a rest. So reading the 110 novels entered for this year's Man Booker prize instead of my regular diet of...

Ten ways to... spot the need to move.(job evaluation)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... 1. Nobody asks your opinion 2. You know your ideas are stale 3. Promised perks haven't materialised 4. You can see no way to move up 5. There's a board member exodus 6. You wince when you see your company logo 7. You've run out of...

It'll Never Fly: TXT MSSGS.(Text messaging)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... The success of mobile phone calls was perhaps easy to foresee: who wouldn't want the ability to talk to anybody, from anywhere in the world, whenever they wanted? Yet no-one predicted the dominance of text messaging (SMS). It started as just an...

Dave's eco-nomics: switch it off.(energy use of companies)(Brief article)(Column)
September 3, 2007... GREEN ALERT 'Would you behave like that at home?' was my old headmaster's response to a display of sloppiness. Seems like an apt question here too. Many of us obsessively check the radiators back at the ranch and berate our partners for...

Earning curve: Space exploration.(Table)
September 3, 2007... UK space industry, turnover ('04-05) - pounds 4.8bn Stephen Hawking, earnings from A Brief History of Time - pounds 4m Astronomer, average earnings p.a. - pounds 48k Apollo 11 astronaut, salary ('69) - pounds 8.3k Cosmonaut salary ('07) -...

Workplace rights: Labour law outlook.(Employment Simplification Bill)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Will Gordon Brown's premiership usher in a new era for employment law and labour relations? Trade union barons will be flexing their muscles in preparation for extracting one or two Old Labour concessions as payback for funding his election...

History lessons: Look forward, not back - The maginot line.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... The Maginot line, a 25 km-wide belt of pillboxes, anti-tank traps and observation posts, was built by the French in the 1930s to keep their German neighbours at bay. Unfortunately, the brains behind the scheme were old-school generals whose...

Your Route to the Top: USE mentors to the max.(The Mind Gym: Give Me Time)(Excerpt)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Have a clear aim. Ask yourself: 'What do I want out of this? How can I make it easy for my mentor to help me?' Work out the logistics. Decide between you how you want the relationship to work. Will you set aside an hour a week with pen and...

Why Business is like... crossing the bog.(business management )(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Ramblers, woolly-hatted and bushy-browed, are not obvious role models for the business world. But threaten to fence off their favourite path and watch them paint the placards and chain themselves to railings When they are faced with a collapsed...

Do it Right: Communicating with staff.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Involve your team. Ask people what information they need and how they want to hear about it. Use your intranet for free two-way communication. Let your staff air their gripes without fearing the consequences. Keep it fresh. Don't recycle...

Slogan Doctor: Teacher Training Agency - 'Use your head. Teach'.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... The Teacher Training Agency has to find recruits for the teaching profession. Barely a day passes without a new horror story from the blackboard jungle (not that there are blackboards) or the chalkface (nor chalk). And the disgruntled teachers,...

How does he manage? Waxworks Commissioner - Richard Abbott, Madame Tussauds.(Interview)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... WHEN DID YOU BECOME A MANAGER? I was in sales and marketing for 20 years. I came to Madame Tussauds to develop our commissioning of wax figures for private individuals and companies. The department started at the end of last year, when the...

Are you suffering from: Underload Syndrome.(depression)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... We get to our final destination after 14 hours of travelling, unpack our suitcases, head for the beach and then - wham! - we feel depressed. With nothing but which position we plan to sunbathe in to worry about, our minds begin to implode....

Words-worth: Talent.(slang term and colloquialism)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... If you hear someone say they work in talent management, don't assume their job is to look after singers, dancers, comedians or people who bend balloons. These days, any employee can be 'talent', and talent management can be just another word...

Remember This.(quotes)(Quotation)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... 'There is more to life than increasing its speed' - Mahatma gandhi said it 'Success sometimes can really bite you in the shorts' - Donny Osmond said it

Stat of the month: Retirement can wait.(state pension age )(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... 1 million - The number of people in the UK working beyond state pension age. Although many of us already dream of a retirement devoted to gently pruning roses in our cottage garden, it may come as a shock to hear that 11% of UK people over...

How she made her pile: Jacqueline Gold - Adult wares.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Who is she? The 47-year-old head of the Ann Summers sex-shop chain She overcame a tough childhood and death threats to amass a pounds 150m fortune by selling racy wares to Britain's women (in the main). How did she make her millions? After...

Martin Beaumont: If I had to start again..(Chief executive officer of the Co-operative Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... I've often wondered what it would be like to be a farmer. I have various cousins who have done it, including one who has just retired from managing the John Lewis Partnership farm, and my plan was always to go in that direction too. I studied...

Crash Course in... Managing a virtual team.(business communication)
September 3, 2007... The days when your people worked alongside the same colleagues all week are history: most spend much of their time collaborating with those in other cities or countries. But it's not always a successful arrangement. Is there a better way to...

MT Masterclass.(Neuro-Linguistic Programming )(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) What is it? Through a combination of thought, linguistic 're-coding' and systematic 'modelling techniques', it is argued, we can change the way we see the world. With Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP),...

Decisions: Antonio III - Alvarez & Marsal Europe - MD of the business turnaround specialists.(business relocation)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... MY BEST... From a family standpoint, it was a great decision, but also from a career standpoint, as it allowed me a lot of personal freedom. I'd been very successful in the US and, over time, I'd have had the chance to grow, but Europe was...

Behind the spin: Metronet.(mismanagemnt of MetroNet Internet Services)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... THE DILEMMA The sorry tale of Metronet is one of managerial incompetence and overspend. It began in 2003 when Chancellor Gordon Brown foisted the public-private partnership (PPP) concept for the upgrading of London Underground's...

A Handle on the future.(corporate planning)
September 3, 2007... Long-term planning may have lost credibility in the boardroom, but there's a better alternative than nihilism: an open-minded optimism. Baldrick has a 'cunning plan'. But is it, his master Blackadder asks, cunning enough to have been...

Books: Same old brave new world.(Mobilizing Minds)(Book review)
September 3, 2007... Two McKinsey execs offer us a template for business success in the digital age, but what Andrew Wileman encounters here is woolly thinking and dodgy analytics. Mobilizing Minds Lowell L Bryan and Claudia I Joyce McGraw-Hill pounds...

Books: How to quit and live to fight another day.(The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick))(Book review)
September 3, 2007... Knowing whether a business problem is soluble or terminal is a skill to be learned. Shaa Wasmund finds a kindred spirit. The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick) Piatkus pounds 6.99 Seth Godin...

Books: Three of a kind - MAKE your writing more persuasive.(Can I Change Your Mind?, How to Write Great Copy, How Not to Write)(Brief article)(List)
September 3, 2007... Can I Change Your Mind? Lindsay Camp A&C Black pounds 9.99 Best of its kind How to Write Great Copy Dominic Gettins Kogan Page pounds 12.95 Could be useful How Not to Write Terence Denman Piatkus pounds 6.99...

Books: Self-discipline by numbers or by focusing your efforts?(Recommended readings)
September 3, 2007... A brace of books on time management, but Henry Stewart eschews 100 hard and fast rules in favour of a working week of four hours that proves you really can have it all. We all want to be more efficient, and both these books claim to help...

The MT Interview: Archie Norman.(HSS owner)(Interview)
September 3, 2007... The voters didn't warm to him but he has other claims to fame: helping convert a lame Woolworths into a secure Kingfisher, turning Asda from a loser into a supermarket heavyweight, and launching the career of many high achievers in British...

The time we waste.(time management on work)
September 3, 2007... Constructive procrastination or plain laziness? As generation Y enters the workforce, Helen Kirwan-Taylor examines new models of productivity. As children, we talked about killing time. As adults, we talk about shrinking it into ever...

Management: The next move?(excerpt from The Future Of Management)(Excerpt)
September 3, 2007... You can't expect your business to be a 21st-century success story if you persist in using 19th-century techniques to run it. A fundamental re-think is needed. In the age of Web 2.0 and wikinomics, managers must modernise or die, argues Gary...

WEB 2.0 promise or threat?(network operating system)
September 3, 2007... Along with the chance to get closer to the customer, the user-generated internet carries real risks: from hackers, complainers and even disaffected staff. Mark Vernon reports. You have heard of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia written by...

On the Road: Motor Mouth.(Aston Martin's Vantage Coupe )(Product/service evaluation)
September 3, 2007... The roar of Aston Martin's Vantage Coupe is the most seductive you'll hear this side of a Tornado jet. Sathnam Sanghera reports. What happened? A year ago I took a sabbatical from business journalism and was looking forward to returning to...

Table Talk: Where Jennifer Irvine eats..(Wentworth golf club's Grill)(Brief article)(Column)
September 3, 2007... I found the Wentworth golf club's Grill one Sunday soon after I moved to Surrey. I really needed a good Yorkshire pudding but didn't want to cook it myself, so I cheated with the Grill's Sunday carvery. It was only later I discovered the owners...

What's your problem?(problem on employee promotion)(Column)
September 3, 2007... Q: I've been in the same role for four years, including a year spent covering for a colleague in an overseas office. I've had a great deal of responsibility and autonomy from the outset, and have consistently been the team's top...

What's your problem?(column)(managing the family business)(Brief article)(Column)
September 3, 2007... Q: I have been in the family business for 17 years and became MD four years ago. I feel I cannot take the company any further - I have become lost when the company needed someone much more focused and stronger to guide it along. Some days, I...

What's your problem?(column, work relations)(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Q: I have an especially chatty colleague who is determined to start Monday mornings with a rundown of what she did over the weekend, and she expects the same from me. I would rather just get my head down and tackle my in-box. How do I get out...

First-Class Coach.(column)(Column)
September 3, 2007... Q: I've been given a new role working for the CEO, developing new projects and initiatives. Although I've been told it's a good opportunity to show what I'm capable of, I feel insecure because there are no particular targets or deliverables of...

Fleet car.(Brief article)
September 3, 2007... Not many of us have to wait until we're 40 to get our first company car. For reasons far too complicated to explain here, I did. Having kicked off in 1984 with a pounds 250 Morris Marina (gorgeous in sun-faded red), worked my way through a...

Fleet car: Green sky.(British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC's carbon-nuetral fleets)
September 3, 2007... Broadcaster BSkyB's van and executive car fleets are at the centre of a campaign to achieve carbon neutrality across all its activities But it's a hard road to travel, reports Richard Bremner. It's not easy going green, especially if a...

Fleet car: Three Careful Drivers.(Unilever Group's Sarah Keenan, Harrison Sadler Ltd.'s Alison Reeson Harrison, PAT-Kruger's Neil McGee)
September 3, 2007... If MT's sample of company car users is anything to go by, executives enjoy their perk but weigh up the responsibilities and their needs intelligently. Giles Chapman reports. SARAH KEENAN, UNILEVER On the day Sarah Keenan spoke to us,...

Fleet car: Whatever happened to the fleet manager?
September 3, 2007... Today's fleet bosses may no longer be kings of the car pool, but their remit - and their role - is wider and more business-critical than ever. Steve Fowler profiles a modern breed of multi-tasker whose responsibilities go well beyond the car...

10 Best Fleet Cars.(company cars)(Buyers guide)
September 3, 2007... Our checklist of top company wheels to suit all tastes and purposes, whether it's vroom-vroom you need or just enough room for all the family. Steve Fowler sorts the green from the lean and mean, from pounds 18k to pounds 80k. BMW 320d ES...

The Sharp End: Deliver until you drop.(delivery services)(Column)
September 3, 2007... It's a day of logistical learning for Rhymer Rigby as he co-pilots a UPS parcels van. About a year ago, I tried couriering the hard way for this column - on a bicycle. After seven or eight hours cycling round London, I walked like a...