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| Volume 6, Issue 4 |
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In This Issue:
 Why your employees are loosing motivation
How to adjust your decision-making style
Can you Manage different generations?
Low prices = More customers? Not always
Four strategies for making concessions
 Offer-and-Acceptance etiquette
Scuttling some job-hunt myths
 The Buck stopped here
Making your (Power) Point
 What pay raise can you expect from your employer?
Twelve tips for team building
 Has advertising killed itself?
Five lessons from the Netflix startup story
 Healthy payoffs
 Best places for business & careers
Getting yourself fired
Bipolar disorder in the workplace
Workaholics anonymous
Immigration reform On whose dime?
 Getting your body beach-ready
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Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation
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| Business literature is packed
with advice about worker motivation—but sometimes
managers are the problem, not the inspiration. Here
are seven practices to fire up the troops. From
Harvard Management Update. | |
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To maintain an enthusiastic workforce,
management must meet all three goals.
A command-and-control
style is a sure-fire path to demotivation.
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Most companies have it all wrong. They don't have to motivate their employees.
They have to stop demotivating them.The great majority of employees are
quite enthusiastic when they start a new job. But in about 85 percent of companies,
our research finds, employees' morale sharply declines after their first six
months—and continues to deteriorate for years afterward. That finding is based
on surveys of about 1.2 million employees at 52 primarily Fortune 1000 companies
from 2001 through 2004, conducted by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Purchase,
New York).The fault lies squarely at the feet of management—both the policies
and procedures companies employ in managing their workforces and in the
relationships that individual managers establish with their direct reports.
Our research shows how individual managers' behaviors and styles are contributing
to the problem (see sidebar
"How
Management Demotivates")—and what they can do to turn this
around...
Read the article. Back to top
How to Adjust Your Decision-Making Style
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| To move up the ladder, it's important that your method
of making decisions develops as you do. This excerpt
from Harvard Business Review reports on
research drawn from a comprehensive Korn/Ferry International database. | |
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Somewhere between the manager and director levels, executives find that approaches that used to work are no longer so effective.
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When we began our research, we expected to find that managers' predominant
decision-making styles would change as they progressed through their careers.
But the patterns that jumped right out of the data were even more sharply defined
than we could have imagined. We found that decision-making profiles do a complete
flip over the course of a career: That is, the decision style of a successful CEO
is the opposite of a successful first-line supervisor's. In the leadership (or
public) mode, we see a steady progression as managers move up in the ranks
toward openness, diversity of opinion, and participative decision making, matched
by a step-by-step drop in the more directive, command-oriented styles. In the
thinking (or private) mode, we see a progression toward the maximizing styles—where
an executive prefers to gather a lot of information and think things through—and,
at the highest executive levels, an uptick in the styles favoring one course of
action. There's a logic as well as an interdependence to the way the two aspects
of decision making evolve. As you move up the ladder...
Read the article. Back to top
Can You Manage Different Generations?
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| Managing multigenerational workforces is an art in itself. Young workers want to
make a quick impact, the middle generation needs to
believe in the mission, and older employees don't like ambivalence. Your move. | |
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As the oldest baby boomers draw closer to traditional retirement
age, forward-thinking firms are investing more heavily in leadership
development and succession programs.
They are focusing on building up bench strength: embedding in their top
young talent the skills and wherewithal to take over leadership positions
when the time comes. On the surface, it seems like a sensible approach.
But what if the people you're counting on to lead your company into the
future won't be there when you need them? Or what if they don't even want
the roles for which they are being groomed? According to recent studies, both
such possibilities are increasingly likely—especially for companies that are
not keeping pace with the changing makeup and diverging priorities of the
U.S. workforce. Companies that expect to compete in even the very near future
must recognize new attitudes among their workers. They must acknowledge that
new relationships will exist between employees and organizations. And they must
open themselves up to revisiting assumptions about which workers are appropriate
for which roles and to rethinking the ways in which they hire, motivate, and
retain employees. Where to start this heady effort? Begin by considering the
advice of Tamara Erickson and Bob Morison of The Concours Group, a
Kingwood, Texas-based consulting company, who have done extensive research
on the changing workforce and the age-based cohorts that compose it...
Read the article. Back to top
Low Prices = More Customers? Not Always
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| Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, and Dell Computer are famous for their low prices. But before you follow their lead, consider the downside of cutting prices. An excerpt from the new book Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share. | |
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The burden of proof must rest with the
advocates of the price cut
or loyalty incentive.
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By arguing against price cuts as a form of competitive reaction when you perceive
a competitive threat, we hope to convince you to plan your responses more carefully
and consciously by thinking through the consequences first. In some situations,
your competitor may force you to make this decision, because it has cut prices
itself or entered your market at a much lower price point.
But in other situations, companies decide to cut prices voluntarily, with no
prompting from competitors and—as we show in this section—hardly any prompting
from customers either. They decide to cut their prices out of sheer devotion to
the idea that lower prices will revive their customers' wavering devotion and
ultimately make the company better off. To defend the cuts, they cite changes
in the competitive landscape, the convictions of upper management, a willingness
to share cost savings and productivity improvements with customers, and the passage
in their Economics 101 textbook that said lower prices result in higher volumes.
Because price cuts seem to offer the easiest way to lavish special treatment
on customers, companies find the temptation hard to resist. But resist they
should. Proactive price cuts ...
Read the article. Back to top
Four Strategies for Making Concessions
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| "Concessions are often necessary
in negotiation," says HBS professor Deepak Malhotra.
"But they often go unappreciated and unreciprocated."
Here he explains four strategies for building good will
and reciprocity. From Negotiation. | |
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The strategy of
demanding and defining reciprocity
plays out in a variety of contexts...
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Most people understand that negotiation is a matter of give-and-take: You have to
be willing to make concessions to get concessions in return.
But the process of making concessions is easier said than done. Consider how
events unfolded in the following management-union negotiation, adapted from Richard
E. Walton and Robert B. McKersie's book A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations:
An Analysis of a Social Interaction System (ILR Press, 1991).The head of a
manufacturing firm was preparing to initiate talks with the leadership of the
employees' union. The biggest issue on the table was a wage increase. The union
was asking for a 4 percent increase, while management wanted to raise salaries by
only 1 percent.The executive considered the situation. During past negotiations,
weeks were lost as each side jockeyed for position, feigned willingness to walk
away, and eventually compromised on an unsurprising outcome. In this case, a deal
at 2.5 percent, the midpoint of the two parties' opening positions, seemed likely
to be agreeable to both sides. This time things would be different, he resolved.
He would save everyone hassle and delay by making concessions early. Against the
advice of the mediator, he opened discussions by announcing that the eventual
outcome was obvious and that he was prepared to make a final offer: 3 percent, the
most he could have offered...
Read the article. Back to top
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Offer-and-Acceptance Etiquette
Recruiters and job seekers can reach an agreement more quickly and comfortably
by employing a technique called a "supposal". Job seekers often call me and
say: "How much time can I ask for to evaluate a job offer?" Well, how much time
do you want? I'd say two or three days is standard, unless the weekend is coming,
in which case you can ask for the weekend, too. "Oh, my goodness," said one young
man. "The recruiter balked when I asked for 24 hours. "That sounded so crazy that
I had to probe. Once I got the whole story, I realized that the young man wasn't
asking how much time he could take to review his offer letter. He didn't have one.
The recruiter, in fact, was phoning to collect his acceptance first. This is
really silly. When you're evaluating an offer, you have to look over all of the
parts together. You can't be expected to say yes on the phone when the recruiter
tells you, "We'd like to hire you as a program analyst at X salary, Y bonus, Z
amount of travel, and with our standard benefits package." Whaaat? You need the
offer letter to see the entire picture...
Read the article. Back to top
Scuttling Some Job-Hunt Myths
What some applicants accept as gospel when they're interviewing never ceases to amaze. Here are 10 misconceptions that can really hurt.
When I had my first baby, my husband's grandmother told me to put a penny on the
baby's belly button and tie something around the baby's tummy to keep the penny
in place -- that way the baby wouldn't have a prominent belly button. She also
told me to keep the cat away from the baby because cats, she said, "steal the
baby's breath." I looked at the cat and I looked at the baby, and I couldn't see
how the cat, even if she were so inclined, could manage to get a lip-lock on the
baby. But grandma was certain the cat had it in for the baby. Some old myths die
hard. Job seekers have created their own mythology around the
recruitment-and-selection process, and from time to time these myths bubble
up to people like me, who get to poke holes in them. Here are some myths that
you may have heard, and the corresponding truths of the matter...
Read the article. Back to top
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The Buck Stopped Here
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| The Destination Straddling the Spokane River, Post Falls is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. |
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"Uprooting a company is a tough, tough thing to go through. You're uprooting families." |
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Soaring business costs in California were driving Buck Knives to the brink.
The company regained its edge by dismantling its factory--and putting it back
together 1,453 miles away.
Rising out of the snow-dusted fields like a gargantuan block of Post-it notes,
the Buck Knives factory in the Idaho panhandle looks for all the world like a
Northwest native. From the basalt columns adorning the driveway to the moose
trophy gazing implacably down on the lobby and the spectacular chandelier built
of antlers, the building feels like it belongs here, where the unyielding prairie
of the Columbia Plateau confronts the chill hauteur of the Selkirk Mountains.
Boomtowns 2006
The most promising cities for entrepreneurs?
In our most detailed survey yet, we looked at
393 regional economies to pinpoint where business
is surging. Yuma, Arizona, here we come...
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Appearances can be deceiving, however. Depending on how you look at it, Buck Knives
is a transplant, a refugee, or a pilgrim from southern California. The story of how
Buck moved its knife manufacturing company from the dusty, sun-drenched hills of
El Cajon to this rugged patch of Idaho turf is a case study in business relocation.
If it's true that geography is destiny, then Buck's voyage demonstrates that you
can shape your destiny if you're willing to redraw your geography...
Read the article. Back to top
Making Your (Power) Point
Presentations don't have to be a bore.
Here are six new ways to liven them up. The only thing worse than sitting through
a boring PowerPoint presentation is delivering one. Yet death by PowerPoint may be
one of the biggest risks of doing business. On any given day, some 30 million
PowerPoint presentations are delivered, according to Microsoft. Of course, when
it was released for Windows in 1990, the software was an exciting new way of
presenting information. But that's not always the case today. Among the most
common offenses: Speakers simply read the slides to the audience; the text is
too small; the color and animation are dull; the charts are too complex.
Technology got us into this mess; now, technology is working hard to get us out.
There are scores of new products designed to enhance, or even replace, PowerPoint.
Some cost thousands, others are free. Here are six offerings that can help make
your next presentation less of a snooze and more of a blockbuster. ...
Read the article. Back to top
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Has Advertising Killed Itself?
Video killed the radio star." Maybe that's true, but I'm not really sure. I am
pretty sure, however, that advertising killed itself—or, at the very least, took
the wind out of its own sails.
Advertising used to work, and work well. What do I mean by "work?" I mean that
once upon a time, when products and services of obvious differentiated quality
and value were popping up like weeds in a field, consumers were predisposed to
believe advertising claims, both overt and subtle. Since belief leads to action,
sales of those advertised goods increased as well. Heinz's relish was, in the
mind of the consumer, a perceivable improvement over generic relish. Sensory
evidence—a full jar, no grit to chew, consistent texture and taste—proved it out.
The same was true for many other modern wonders of the American age of mass
production: the radio, telephone, automobile, television, instant cake mix,
washing machine, dishwasher, air conditioner, etc. They were special products
that, in fact, improved people's lives. During those heady marketing times,
consumers were predisposed—based on past experience (AKA memory)—to endorse and
thereby become behaviorally susceptible to advertising's representational content.
Times were indeed very good for advertising, as well they should have been.
Then something happened...
Read the article. Back to top
Five Lessons From the Netflix Startup Story
When we began building Netflix in 1997, most people thought we were nuts.
DVD players had just started selling in the US in March, and by October we
started executing our billion-dollar business plan with only $2 million in seed
funding. Even with the dot-com era in full bloom, the idea of renting movies via
mail struck most as somewhat ludicrous. Despite the odds and the obstacles,
we persevered to create Netflix, which has revolutionized the movie rental
industry. Looking back on Netflix's startup story, five customer-focused lessons
stand out as critical in creating this innovative Internet business...
Read the article. Back to top
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Healthy Payoffs
Few would argue with the premise that healthier employees make for healthier businesses and bottom lines.
Or that employees with fewer medical problems provide employers with better prospects
of containing spiraling health-care costs. At this point in the cost crisis,
such notions might be considered old-school.Newer to the game are the companies
that have figured out concrete ways to promote such health. Only recently, for
instance, have businesses started taking seriously the power of incentives as tools
to promote healthy behavior and employee follow-through with corporate
health initiatives."If used appropriately, incentives can make a big difference,"
says Michael Thompson, principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. "If
no incentives are provided, participation in a personal health-risk assessment may
be less than 10 percent of the population. Employers that have offered
significant incentives have seen participation as high as 90 percent."
Even in organizations which have not yet begun offering incentives, their
potential seems to be gaining currency. In a recent survey reported by PwC...
Read the article. Back to top
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Best Places For Business And Careers
In this year’s ranking of Best Places for Business and Careers, perennial top
10 metros like Atlanta, Austin and Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia fell from
the highest perch, hurt by slowing income growth.
Newcomers that cracked the top tier include Houston, riding high on oil profits,
and Phoenix, lifted by a housing and population boom. Overall, half of the top
ten places are new this year...
Read the article. Back to top
Getting Yourself Fired
Sadly, innate stupidity isn't a firing offense. It's the brilliant things stupid people do that get them canned.
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently fired a city employee for
playing solitaire on his computer at work during business hours. Bloomberg, who
made a fortune by building the premier real-time financial newswire from scratch,
is obviously a futzy traditionalist who believes workers should, you know, work.
"Be in tune with the corporate culture," says Richard Bayer, chief operating officer
of Five O'clock Club, a career placement and coaching organization in New York.
"You also have to be aware that computer technology keeps a record of everything you
do. You don't want to have porn on your hard drive--believe me, that's not as
uncommon as you'd think." How stupid can you be? You've probably never put your
mind to it. We have. Improper use of the company's computer isn't the only big
mistake you can make; there are other ways to get yourself fired that require
less thought and talent. In Michigan, a reporter and a photographer at a small
newspaper got the boot for...
Read the article. Back to top
Bipolar Disorder In The Workplace
Those with bipolar disorder face a basic decision: Tell the boss about the condition or remain silent.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person with a disability is not
required to disclose it unless seeking an accommodation at work.The downside is
that you may be passed over for a promotion or demoted. The ADA makes it
illegal to discriminate against a person with a disability as long as the person
can perform the essential functions of the job. However, defining those functions
and demonstrating your ability to perform them despite your disorder can be a
long and expensive legal wrangle."The stigma is real," says David J. Miklowitz,
a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and author of
The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need To Know. "It
can be as subtle as fellow workers attributing justifiable reactions to situations
to your illness, or as blatant as not getting a job or a promotion." People with
bipolar disorder can experience mood swings from overly happy and excited to
overly irritable and angry. The highs may last from several days to a month or more,
but the lows often last longer and can be harrowingly deep. Some experts say
this psychiatric condition affects about one in every 25 Americans...
Read the article. Back to top
Workaholics Anonymous
Workaholics often see themselves as indispensable to their company.
However, their boss is likely to see them as inefficient and their family, if
they see the office slave at all, lives with a remote, detached person who has
no time for dinner, baseball games or dance recitals. Dr. Bryan E. Robinson
says workaholics suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that he calls
America's "best-dressed addiction." "It's not about long hours," says Robinson,
a psychotherapist in private practice in Asheville, N.C., and author of Chained
To The Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and
The Clinicians Who Treat Them. "It's about the inability to turn it off. It's
a question of balance. Workaholics can be men or women and share common traits:
a desk stacked high with projects, always working, demanding, constantly sweating
the small details and a hard-line perfectionist. In most cases, workaholics aren't
team players, don't delegate authority or tasks well and routinely act as if
everything is all about them...
Read the article. Back to top
Immigration Reform On Whose Dime?
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has announced that the
Bush administration is prepared to use criminal sanctions to "break the back"
of businesses that hire unauthorized workers.
No one seriously disputes the existence of an illegal immigration problem in
this country. But aggressive and costly enforcement initiatives against employers
are fundamentally unfair, since they fail to address the underlying problems, such
as porous borders and the easy availability of counterfeit documents. Our
immigration problems will not be improved by passing the buck to corporate America.
The last round of aggressive enforcement peaked with the Justice
Department's prosecution of Tyson Foods (nyse: TSN), which we represented as
trial counsel. That case--seeking more than $100 million in penalties--remains
the most aggressive and high-profile immigration prosecution of all time. It ended
with the company and its employees acquitted of all counts. Why?...
Read the article. Back to top
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Getting your body beach-ready
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Roy Morsch / Corbis file
For looking buff on the beach, it's essential to strength-train.
Building muscle will give you a toned body and help minimize jiggle.
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Strategies to help you slim down for swimsuit season.
It's May already and swimsuit season is just around the corner. Maybe you meant
to start getting in shape sooner (like back in January) but it didn't happen. So
now you're wondering how to get results — and fast.The good news is that you can
slim down and shape up in as little as four to eight weeks. The question is how much.
"It depends where you're at now," says Jay Blahnik, a personal trainer in Laguna
Beach, Calif., and a spokesperson for the IDEA Health and Fitness Association. If
you're hoping to lose 50 pounds in eight weeks, it's not going to happen. Eight or
10 pounds is more like it. "Have realistic expectations," Blahnik says.
Health experts say you can safely lose up to two pounds a week. So in eight weeks,
you could lose as many as 16 pounds. But that's a fairly aggressive weight-loss goal.
A more modest — and probably doable — approach is to lose a pound a week, experts
say. And even that could significantly alter your beach body. "In eight weeks, 8
pounds could make a big difference in how a swimsuit looks on you," says Cynthia Sass,
a registered dietitian and personal trainer in Tampa, Fla., and a spokesperson for
the American Dietetic Association...
Read the article. Back to top
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