http://www.articlealley.com en-us editorial@articlealley.com With the number of people being laid off at the moment, there's a good chance that you may have a new boss. At the very least you're likely to know someone who has a new boss, or perhaps you have just taken on a new management role yourself. What influ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1190836_15.html 21st October 2009 Competition for resources - internal and external - means power and politics become even greater issues for managers in higher education today. Add to that the closer scrutiny of performance, both academic and administrative, and managers in higher edu... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1094015_22.html 17th September 2009 Who is your customer? To any savvy business manager, that may seem a simple or even silly question. "Of course I know who my customers are, I wouldn't be in business otherwise" might be the natural response. However, one organisation who recently got t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1062939_15.html 03rd September 2009 Actually, it probably started a little earlier than that. In 1974 the US Securities and Exchange Commission introduced deregulation of brokerage commission costs. Prior to this, it would cost a broker or trader approximately $1 commission per traded share... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1039310_15.html 18th August 2009 With all the talk lately about the exorbitant salaries of CEOs, there was a good news story that hit the airwaves recently. CEO of Japan Air Lines, Haruka Nishimatsu was reported to receive $90,000 annual salary. Yes, that's right, not $9 million, not e... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1025574_15.html 10th August 2009 I spoke to a friend the other day who said she was worried about her job security. Her company's performance over the last twelve months had not been too good and now, with the economic downturn, she was worried that there might be lay-offs. What can ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_863934_15.html 17th April 2009 It's been said that your first time customer, even your first time visitor (say to your website) is always the highest cost to you. But it's the repeat customers and visitors that really provide the best returns. I had an email from a colleague recent... http://www.articlealley.com/article_747226_15.html 09th January 2009 When the going gets tough, we can either say "Well, that's life, I can't do much about it". Or, we can say "Things are tough, but I can win through". It all depends on how we view the world. Studies have shown that we are either positive or negativ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_730759_24.html 29th December 2008 With the downturn in the market, good staff are still surprisingly hard to find, particularly at the operator level. A colleague in the hospitality industry, spoke about his challenges: "Good staff have become rare. Everyone's competing for the sam... http://www.articlealley.com/article_722902_15.html 15th December 2008 Almost 100 years ago, Mary Parker Follett described a manager as "One who gets things done through people". This description is still used by management educators and scholars today. However, this could be enhanced to read: "One who gets the things the... http://www.articlealley.com/article_708752_15.html 03rd December 2008 There's a story doing the rounds at the moment about the worker who was dead at his desk for five days before anyone discovered him. The story goes ... "Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_697679_15.html 30th November 2008 Many reading this would have watched Barack Obama address the Chicago crowd on the night he won the US Presidency. I do not live in the US, but listening to this speech certainly moved me. Others I have spoken to had a similar experience. His story of ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_688000_15.html 18th November 2008 I recently travelled on a regional train in Australia. When booking my ticket I asked "What's the difference between first and second class?" The booking clerk's response was "Oh, there's a bit more leg room in first class." This experience reminded... http://www.articlealley.com/article_612588_15.html 01st September 2008 Is the world flat or round? That may seem a silly question. However, up until the 15th century people thought that it was flat - that's a lot of time to exist with a major misconception. Why did people think that way for so long? Did it matter to them... http://www.articlealley.com/article_611477_15.html 28th August 2008 At the top of organisations, which are more important - management skills or business skills? Take the case of hedge fund managers who have been in the news lately. Hedge funds managers are investment experts. They generally represent a small group o... http://www.articlealley.com/article_607510_15.html 22nd August 2008 For as long as I can remember, commentators have suggested that all organisations should consider people their "greatest asset". In the boom years of the late 80s and the 90s, this "asset" thinking literally translated to "pay people more and we will kee... http://www.articlealley.com/article_604787_15.html 21st August 2008 Who is your customer? To any savvy business manager, that may seem a simple or even silly question. "Of course I know who my customers are, I wouldn't be in business otherwise" might be the natural response. However, one organisation who recently got t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_604527_15.html 20th August 2008 When I first started consulting, one of my business partners said to me "Bob, you know so many people in the industry and you are known to so many people, your people resources are so valuable to our business." I hadn't thought of it that way before. I'... http://www.articlealley.com/article_558436_15.html 19th June 2008 So, you've just been told that you've missed out on leading that new, exciting project. Or you find that two of your colleagues are getting a promotion over you. Or the presentation you made to the board last week didn't seem to go over as well as you h... http://www.articlealley.com/article_551781_23.html 05th June 2008 How do most of your customers enter your business? Through the front door? By phone? Via the web? By email? Chances are some of your business comes to you by email. Or If it doesn't initially, you will probably have email contact with many of your c... http://www.articlealley.com/article_546638_15.html 25th May 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, What To Do When You Become The Boss An open letter to young managers Dear (please put your name here .......................), If you are a young manager, perhaps recently graduated, then there's a good cha... http://www.articlealley.com/article_524769_15.html 28th April 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, What To Do When You Become The Boss As a trainer, turning managers into coaches is a real challenge. We'd probably all like to think that all managers can become coaches - but can they? There are perhaps thre... http://www.articlealley.com/article_511234_15.html 07th April 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, What To Do When You Become The Boss John is confused. He prides himself as being a fair and reasonably good manager. This is not his first assignment as a manager, but it is certainly turning out to be his most... http://www.articlealley.com/article_510069_15.html 07th April 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, What To Do When You Become The Boss The difference to the bottom line in monetary terms between a new manager with extremely poor performance and his or her counterpart who performs at an outstanding level, can b... http://www.articlealley.com/article_506289_15.html 03rd April 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, \"What To Do When You Become The Boss\" I once worked for an organisation that seemed to embody the epitome of the ideal. In fact, everything the management gurus suggest should be evident in the "excellent" org... http://www.articlealley.com/article_503471_15.html 02nd April 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 Bob Selden - Author, \"What To Do When You Become The Boss\" Many supervisors, managers and team leaders bemoan the fact that their team is not totally engaged with what he or she is trying to achieve. Is it poor communication on th... http://www.articlealley.com/article_499357_15.html 28th March 2008 Becoming a good manager takes time and patience. It's great when we get some initial training, but that doesn't always happen. To start, check your current status as a manager - how effective are you now? There are many self checklists available on the we... http://www.articlealley.com/article_497818_15.html 27th March 2008 People who know me, say that I am a very positive person. I've worked hard over the years at trying to find the positive in most situations and pass it on to others. I was recently sent an email by a friend who passed on one of the nicest stories I have... http://www.articlealley.com/article_252366_27.html 18th January 2008 Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute I recently read a disturbing report in the daily newspaper about an air crash in Indonesia. The article (in the Sydney Morning Herald, 12/4/07) read in part; "Pilot may have been saving fuel in crash.... http://www.articlealley.com/article_156009_15.html 06th May 2007 Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute Jane had been out of the country for over a year and returned home to start a new job as a physiotherapist in a family run business. She was excited about the new role as the husband and wife team who... http://www.articlealley.com/article_127958_15.html 10th February 2007 Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute This is one of the hardest articles I have had to write. I have written many articles on how to manage � others, but managing oneself is a bit different. To start with, each one of us is a differen... http://www.articlealley.com/article_121544_15.html 19th January 2007 Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute John was a former boss of mine. Before I started working for him, I had heard from others that he had a very good reputation and so I was really looking forward to working with him. The office was a ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_121242_15.html 18th January 2007 Copyright (c) 2007 The National Learning Institute I well remember as a young bank clerk many years ago, sitting at my desk one morning. Around me were the sounds of hustle and bustle of a busy office � people were sipping their coffee (in those day... http://www.articlealley.com/article_120900_15.html 17th January 2007 Copyright (c) 2006 The National Learning Institute Of all the things that have changed over the last few centuries, and particularly the massive amount of change experienced during the last 100 years, the one constant that remains is the need for good ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_113405_15.html 19th December 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute Finding out "How am I doing?" has always been a thorny issue for managers, particularly when the issue is about "How good a leader am I?". It's relatively easy to get feedback on results (e.g. sales, budg... http://www.articlealley.com/article_105954_15.html 17th November 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute I well remember the first time I was "corrected" by a manager. I was a young bank clerk and had received a transaction that was incorrect, from a much more senior person (a manager) in another branch of t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_92674_15.html 05th October 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute Have you ever recruited someone who looked good at interview only to find out when they started that they "Were not up to it" or, "They just didn't seem to fit in". Most of us have made these mistakes (if... http://www.articlealley.com/article_89470_15.html 27th September 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute Rob worked as a qualified, but junior physiotherapist in a busy hospital. He along with three of his colleagues were asked by their manager to discuss amongst themselves how they would like their rosters ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_60306_15.html 06th June 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute A great deal of work has been done by many authors and researchers in trying to identify and define "leadership". The vast body of research has focused on leadership traits, habits, competencies, behaviou... http://www.articlealley.com/article_59915_15.html 04th June 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute I well remember the first time I was "corrected" by a manager. I was a young bank clerk and had received a transaction that was incorrect, from a much more senior person (a manager) in another branch of t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_58031_15.html 28th May 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute The need to write this article came about through the recent experience of two of my friends. Both had been fired. One for supposed poor performance (although she had never been counselled and at the tim... http://www.articlealley.com/article_56025_15.html 22nd May 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute So, you're a manager. So, you know you have to run a training session or a team meeting for your team (for the first time) that needs to be motivational and you're not a professional trainer. So what! W... http://www.articlealley.com/article_51180_15.html 07th May 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute You receive a phone call from the CEO who asks whether you'd be interested in taking on a special assignment. In this assignment you would report directly to the CEO and participate in making some of the ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_48274_15.html 27th April 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute So, economics and statistics are the flavour of the month, or more specifically "Freakonomics" (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Penquin Books 2006). In a quote from Levitt's website, "Through forc... http://www.articlealley.com/article_44989_15.html 20th April 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute As a manager many years ago when faced with my first challenge of selecting an external consultant, I found myself all at sea. Fortunately for me, I intuitively hit two of the three selection targets. Th... http://www.articlealley.com/article_43565_15.html 13th April 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute Training courses! The most recent had been termed "Management for Senior Officers" and had been a minor disaster – all psychology and how to be nice to junior officers. How to involve them, how to motiva... http://www.articlealley.com/article_42924_15.html 09th April 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute During my career as a manager and since I myself became a consultant in 1987, I have had many colleagues and acquaintances move into the consultancy profession. Sometimes this move was by choice as a genu... http://www.articlealley.com/article_39604_15.html 31st March 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute Some years ago, I read a report by Spiro Zavos in the sports columns of my SMH newspaper, which described the behaviour of a football coach during a very tense finals game. The antics of the losing coach ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_38579_24.html 26th March 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute I looked up the web on email ettiquete and found many sites, yet only one of the 10 sites on the first page of Google, dealt with the real issue around email etiquette. However, I did find that there's ev... http://www.articlealley.com/article_37757_15.html 21st March 2006 Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute When you left home for work this morning, did you feel ready to face the day knowing that you were going to have a number of successful negotiations? Chances are, the word "negotiation" never entered your... http://www.articlealley.com/article_34660_15.html 11th March 2006