Managing Your Marketing Problems

How do you manage your marketing problems? What is 4P's? For answers to these and other marketing related questions, visit the following link

Marketing Problem Solving

Cross Cultural Misunderstanding

Misunderstanding across culture is common. In a global economy, one need to be more sensitive to the cultural differences.Be prepared at all time, so that you will not face embarassing moments.

Cross Cultural Miscommunication

Managing Conflict - Business Communication

How do we handle conflicts in our workplace? Watch both the videos. You should be able to learn something.

Conflict

Intercultural Communication

Understanding Marketing

It is crtical to understand the various aspects of marketing. This is useful, even if your studying non-marketing modules. Try the following link to gain a better understanding about the concept


Understanding Consumers

Introduction to Marketing

International Marketing

International Business

Channel Distribution

Disciplining and Terminating Employees

One can't simply fire an employee without following certain procedures. Conducting a Disciplinary Interview is an important aspect of managing people at work. How do you conduct a disciplinary interview?

The number of steps you need to adopt can be grouped under three categories - there are number of steps you should adopt before the disciplinary interview (preparation/planning elements), a number of practices one should follow during the actual face-to-face encounter (conducting/implementation) and practices one should complete at the end of the disciplinary interview (documentation/review).

One may consider the following steps when you need to conduct a disciplinary interview:

- gather all the relevant data relating to the disciplinary interview.
- Review the personnel folder of the employee for past records.
- take note of employee's contribution
- Verify the facts, so that you will be able to defend your facts.
- Conduct the interview in a private room.
- Be prepared to face 'an angry employee'.
- Explainthe purpose of the meeting.
- Be specific about the issue/incident
- Do acknowledge employee's past achievements.
- Present the facts without sounding too harsh or unreasonable.
- Ask questions to bring out the facts
- Listen actively to ensure that employee do understand what is going on.
- Encourage employee to tell his/her side of the story.
- provide ample time to let the employee defend himself/herself.
- Accept valid reasons.
- Agree on the corrective action.
- Ensure common understanding
- Document your discussions

What about firing an employee? Cascio, in his book titled 'Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits', citing reseraches carried out by others recoomend that the supervisor/manager follow the 'five rules for the termination interview'.

1. Present your decision in a clear and concise manner.

2. Don't argue or debate about the issue.

3. Treat the person with respect.

4. Practice empathy.

5. Discuss the next step designed to let the employee cope with the situation.


The following video clip from Businessweek should be useful to understand the topic.

Firing an Employee

Work-Life Programme - Are they worth the money?

The present work-life programmes was originally known as the Work-family programme. Cascio in his book (Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits published by McGraw-Hill) defines the work-life concept that recognizes the reality that employees do face family issues and those issues invariably affect their performance at work. The Work-life programme includes all employer sponsored benefits that assist employees to manage their work and non-work demands in a more meaningful manner.

The 21st century business firms recognise the need to manage the well-being of employees from a broader perspective. They recognise that unless the employees are well taken care of, their engagement in the work will not be a whole-hearted affair. The work-life approach and practices are seen as a win-win situation.

The Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (www.mom.gov.sg) , lists a number of benefits arising out of work-life strategies, including the following:

• Increased productivity;
• Improved recruitment and retention;
• Lower absenteeism rates;
• Improved customer experience; and
• A more motivated, satisfied and equitable workforce

Cascio, citing the researches carried by others list the work-life programs into five broad categories. They are:

• Child benefits
• Flexible working conditions
• Leave options
• HR policies
• Cultural issues

The author lists a number of benefits arising from employer sponsored child care services on site. The benefits of this practice include the following:

• Reduced employee absenteeism
• Increase in the availability of staff to get things done
• Reduced tardiness

A good work-life programme should result in financial savings to the company.

The reduction of the number of days missed by parents following the implementation of onsite child care services is the major reason as to why business firms adopt the practice. When some USA business corporations started providing elder care services, their labour turnover dropped significantly. Less employees were quitting their jobs to provide elder care responsibilities for their parents. Considering the cost of labour turnover, this is a cost saving to these business organisations.

Business corporations that provide supportive policies aimed at allowing employees to manage their stress experienced a far less employee burnout and stress. The HR policies and practices make it a little easier to manage and solve their personal problems. Cascio citing the research evidences (p.61) offers the following as the ‘drivers of retention’:

• Career development opportunities
• Confidence in the future
• Feelings of accomplishment
• Amount of joy at work
• Sense of job security

The MOM website documents the outcome of work-life program adopted by Changi General Hospital. The hospital offers the following services to its employees (source: www.mom.gov.sg) :

• Health and wellness programmes, including annual health screening, weight loss management programmes and health talks. The families of staff members are also encouraged to participate in healthy lifestyle activities such as walkathons and to make use of CGH's in-house facilities to monitor their own health.
• Convenience services such as courier pick-up services, referral services on dependent care and school holiday enrichment programmes for the children of staff members
• Organised peer support programme to provide psychological support to staff who are affected by cumulative stress in the healthcare environment, helping them to cope with emotional problems at wor.
• Workplace childcare center
• Fitness center
• Organised talks and seminars on family issues”

The site lists the following as the benefits of the above measures (source MOM website – www.mom.gov.sg) :

• “An improvement in its employee satisfaction index - its biennial Employee Opinion Survey shows scores significantly better than the Singapore norm
• Its health and wellness programmes have resulted in a drastic drop in the percentage of staff with conditions such as hypertension and high glucose levels, leading to a 25 percent decrease in medical expenses per staff between FY2002 and FY2003
• Lowered attrition rate - fell by half from 26.64% in 1997 to 13.44% in 1998
• Flexi-hour take up rate is 4.1%, higher than the national average of less than 1.5%”

Robbins and Judge in their book ‘Organizational Behavior’ (12th edition) lists a number of work-life initiatives (p.565). As part of time based strategies organizations offer flexitime, job sharing, part-time work, leave for new parents and telecommuting. Business firm, such as Lucent, Marriott, Merck and Xerox offer culture-change strategies focused work-life program with the following initiatives:

• Training for managers to manage their conflicts
• Compensation based on employee satisfaction

Despite the benefits of Work-life initiatives, Cascio do emphasize the need to be cautious in making the business case for work-life programs (p. 62).

• Understand that no one set of facts and figures will make the case for all firms.
• Don’t rely on isolated facts to make the business case.
• Don’t place work-life initiatives under an unreasonable burden of proof.

Managing Diversity in the Workplace

While diversity is a problem to most organizations, successful corporations learn to manage to their full advantage. By adopting new structure and work practices that are radically different from those traditional minded management, these organizations managed to acquire a competitive advantage in the global market place. The whole purpose of managing diversity is to bring out the best of employees Talent, Abilities, Skills and Knowledge for the benefits of individual employees as well as the well-being of the corporations. When workforce diversity is well managed, no employee in the organization feels disadvantaged.

Business firms are beginning to recognize the power of workforce diversity as a competitive tool. Cascio in his book 'Managing Human Resource: Productivity, Quality of Work life, Profits (published by McGraw Hill in 2006) recommends asking the following questions in order to justify that diversity is, in fact a competitive factor:

• How can diversity help business corporations expand their operation into global market?
• How can diversity help to build and sustain brand equity and improve consumer spending?
• How does workforce diversity enhances an organization's HR strategies?
• How does the diversity element build corporate image among the consumers?
• Does diversity improve operational efficiency?How?

Cascio citing studies done by several researchers, answers each of the above question with examples to make a business case for diversity. In the process of discussing the business case for diversity, the author want the readers to ask an important question – 'What steps can you take as a manager to become more effective in a work environment that is more diverse than ever?”.

Workforce diversity should be seen in terms of age, gender. Race, ethnic composition, religion and nationality. Successful 21st century corporations no longer view diversity as a problematic issue. They view diversity as an opportunity that can be utilized to compete more effectively in the local and global markets.

According to Cascio (2006, p.119) managing diversity means aiming for a 'heterogeneous workforce' that is capable of achieving its potential in a non-discriminatory, fair and just work environment.

What are the reasons for diversity being considered as an important activity in managing the human resources? Cascio lists the following 5 reasons as to why diversity has become an important activity:

• Shift from manufacturing to a service economy
• Globalization
• Innovative business strategies that demands teamwork
• Mergers and Alliances
• Changing labor market conditions

Unlike the jobs in the manufacturing industry, service industry (banking, financial services) job holders need to maintain close and constant contact with their customers. Service industry employees are required to understand the needs and expectations of their customers. With increased customer base that is diverse, no business firm has the luxury to ignore the customer groups. To take full advantage of the opportunity corporations need to bring employees who understand and can relate to the diverse customer base. This is to ensure in the words of Cascio “workforce should mirror their customers”. This enables a smooth operations and more cordial interactions between the business firms and their customers.

Recognizing the limited market locally, more and more corporations look at the global market for sustaining and enhancing the market share. With the Globalization of markets, business corporations should learn how to manage the workforce diversity. Successful corporations try to learn from their colleagues around the world. This will enhance corporate performance. That would not be possible without a system to manage diversity.

In their attempt to cope with the problems and challenges facing their corporations, managers realize the limitations of the traditional forms of organizational structure. The strategies that need to be put in place can no longer be managed by the traditional hierarchy based command and control system. For these strategies to work you need team effort. Teams basically means diverse labor force. Successful team management is about successfully managing workforce diversity. To emphasize the usefulness of teams, Cascio (2006, p.123)quotes the words from Ted Childs, vice president, IBM Global Workforce Diversity: “When a company's vision includes the growing mix of the talent pool and the customer base, then the real argument for diversity is the business case”.

Mergers, acquisitions and alliances are becoming more common then ever before. When two business corporations decide to pool their expertise and other resources following mergers, acquisitions and alliances know the difficulties they will face, if they do not have an effective system in place to make them work together. The cultures of merged companies differ. The strategic partner's way of doing things may be different. The values, beliefs and the norms may not be an 100 per cent match. To avoid culture shock and clash of culture, organizations should put a system in place, so that employees at all level understand and accept their differences, while working towards taking full advantage of diversity that came about following mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliance. Here the focus is on seizing the opportunities arising out of diversity and being proactive in managing the diversity related issues. To make this work, managers at the top level must be convinced of the competitive advantages of workforce diversity.

The labor market is changing rapidly. More women are entering the labor market and they continue to remain in the labor market for longer period of time. Business corporations should adopt appropriate measures to meet the unique needs of the women. Balancing work and life appears to be the main focus, when it comes to managing female workforce. Cascio's Managing Human Resources: productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits lists the following six ways that corporations may adopt to take the interests and well being of their women employees:

• Alternative career paths
• Extended leave
• Flexible work scheduling
• Flexi-time
• Job sharing
• Tele-working

Organizations need to train their employees about diversity and its usefulness to the well being of the corporation. Diversity training is a critical part when managing diversity. According to Cascio (p.124) employees need to 'understand and value' the differences among them. The acceptance of differences in a positive manner is critical if the corporation is keen to enable innovation thorough creative thinking in the workplace.

Expanding the Innovation Horizon - IBM's The Global CEO Study 2006 report

According to the IBM Global CEO study 2006 is an document every manager should read. The document based on the study by IBM with Economist Intelligence Unit is based on interviews with 765 Chief Executives from around the world. The report offers a number of suggestions, including the following considerations that can help the business organizations to become more effective when embracing innovation:

• 'Think broadly, act personally and manage the innovation mix'.
• 'Make your business model deeply different'.
• 'Ignite innovation through business and technology integration'
• 'Defy collaboration limits'
• 'Force an outside look ... every time'.

In the past innovation was recognized as a critical strategy for developing products, services & new markets, as well as innovation that enhances operational efficiency. The Report citing the findings highlight the importance of business model innovation. Successful business corporations pay attention to all three areas of innovation . Business model, Operation and products/services & markets.

Anyone who is serious about incorporating innovation as a corporate strategy, must recognize the need to introduce systems in place that will encourage collaboration. The collaboration does not stop with team structure, an element of the new organisation design but extends to other critical stakeholders - customers and busines partners as well. The IBM report cites the customers and business partners as the main source for innovative ideas.

The changes in the organizational structure and establishing new strategic partnership are the two major areas of innovation under the business model of innovation. Why should anyone be interested in adopting business model of innovation? According to the report, the innovators of the business model enjoy a number of benefits, including cost reduction and strategic flexibility.

The operational innovations were generally aimed at making the business operations more responsive to ever customers. Operations that are slow, costly and that are no longer relevant are dumped. Successful operational innovators use IT and technology for optimum performance efficiency. The repost cites a number of successful corporate examples.

The life span of products and services are getting shorter. This would mean, organizations are under pressure to continue to innovative their products and services.

Anyone who want to survive, grow and continue to thrive in the global business environment should read the IBM report.

Expanding the Innovation Horizon

Happy reading.

John

Arul John Peter, co-owner of Centre for Creative Thinking, a training agency based in Singapore (www.creativityasia.com), facilitates training workshops on creativity and related soft skills for clients in Asia and Middle East. As a Trainer, John facilitates management seminars and workshops in the areas of Creative Thinking, Supervisory Skills for new managers, EQ Skills for Team Leaders, Customer Service Excellence, Managing Difficult Customers, Communication Skills, Change Management, Personal Development Workshops, and Public Speaking Skills. He holds an MBA and majored in strategic human resource management. He is a member of the American Creativity Association.

Becoming Successful 21st Century Corporations

The Globalisation and Internet are the two major forces that are responsible for the radical changes that are going on among the business firms in Asia. Successful 21st century corporations responded

well to the threats and opportunities of the business environment. What makes these corporations different? Its the effective management systems in place that is responsible for their success.

Successful organizations, adopt effective management system and policies that are able to generate profit through their employees. Cascio (2006, p.27-29), in his book titled 'Managing Human resource: productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits'(published by McGraw-Hill) lists seven practices/dimensions that form part of the 'management systems that produce profits through people' . They are:


Job Security: Though the life-long employment is no longer possible, successful business organizations continue to offer high degree of employment security for their employees. It is not uncommon to come across situations, where employees are reluctant to go all the way out to improve performance through improved productivity, for fear of making themselves redundant. Unless the organizational and HR policies reflect the organization's commitment to their employees' job security, it will be impossible to get the employees full support and commitment. There are organizations that take extra-ordinary steps to keep their labour force at the optimum number from day one, to avoid any subsequent lay-offs. To these successful organizations, hiring employees is a last option. This is radically different from those firms which hire and fire without any strategic HR planning. Job security to become a reality, HR managers and senior management need to adopt strategic human resource planning.


Selective Hiring: Not every Tom, Dick and harry get a job. A well planned and carefully administered recruitment and selection is the basis for the selective hiring to be managed. According to Cascio, it is only possible to hire selectively when the following requirements are met.

• There is a large number of potential candidates
• Organisation is clear about its human skill requirements: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Attitudes, personality attributes and Talents.
• Selection focuses on attributes of candidates that are difficult to change. If you can select the right candidate with the (Talent, Abilities, Skills and Knowledge) in the first place, you need not spend your time and resources to
  train them.

Decentralisation with Autonomous Teams: The traditional centralized structure depended on command and control approach to get things done. Employees working in teams are able to respond to the unique and demanding business situations much more effectively. Enabling employees to take responsibility and depending on other team members.


Comparatively high Compensation: Successful 21st century corporations pay well,compared to their competitors. These organizations adopt unique and innovative compensation practices for all their employees


Comprehensive Training: Management systems that recognize the power of training invariably do well. Despite the fact that they practice selective hiring, successful organization know the importance of keeping their employees knowledge, Skills and Abilities current to suit to the changing needs of the enterprise. They focus both on technical and people related soft skills training. Training is seen by these firms as a competitive tool in terms of recruitment, retention and employee performance. Training is also a powerful tool that enable the employees meet their self actualization need, a top order need identified by Abraham Maslow as part of Hierarchy of Needs theory.


Active Involvement of Everyone regardless of status: The management systems of successful organization incorporate policies and HR practices that take full advantage of employees' ideas, talents, skills and knowledge. It taps the expertise of everyone in the organization. Recognizing the talents and skills of all employees and enabling and encouraging them to offer solutions and ideas for the well being of the organization, breaks the status barrier that is common among majority of the organizations. Every employee in the firm is made to feel important and their contributions are valued and recognized.


Practice Open Book: In successful organizations, the access to information is not restricted to a small group of elite managers. Information is shared among the employees, so that they are able to use the information to make better decision. In the modern world, it is difficult to argue that knowledge is power, unless that knowledge is put to practice. To apply the existing knowledge to changing business situations, employees need information. Management systems of organization 'that produces profit through people' recognize the power of information sharing.



The qualities of management systems of successful 21st century corporations highlighted by Cascio can be the basis if you are serious to transform your business practices. Be practical. Identify one area from the above seven dimension, and work towards improvement. Start reviewing the current HR practices. To move forward you need to ask questions. The best way to unfold new ideas is to use the 5W + 1H model (What, When, Why, Where, Who and How) extensively.

Once you get started, just remember you are on your way to join the elite club of successful 21st Century Corporations. Welcome to the club of Successful 21st Century Corporations.



John Arul, co-owner of Centre for Creative Thinking, a training agency based in Singapore (www.creativityasia.com), facilitates training workshops on creativity and related soft skills for clients in Asia and Middle East. As a Trainer, John facilitates management seminars and workshops in the areas of Creative Thinking, Supervisory Skills for new managers, EQ Skills for Team Leaders, Customer Service Excellence, Managing Difficult Customers, Communication Skills, Change Management, Personal Development Workshops, and Public Speaking Skills.
He holds an MBA and majored in strategic human resource management. He is a member of the American Creativity Association.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Arul

Work-Life Programme

The 21st century business firms recognise the need to manage the well-being of employees from a broader perspective. They recognise that unless the employees are taken care well, their engagement in the work will not be a whole-heatred affair. The work-life approach and practices are seen as a win-win situation.

The Ministry of Manpower, Singapore, lists a number of benefits arising out of work-life strategies, including the following:

- Increased productivity;

- Improved recruitment and retention;

- Lower absenteeism rates;

- Improved customer experience; and

- A more motivated, satisfied and equitable workforce.


Visit the following link and read the documents on Work-life strategies.

Work-life Strategies

Bring out the Positive: The Power of Employee Recognition

When we talk about feedback, most of us will associate it with an unpleasant experience. Feedback sessions we had as subordinates or the session we conducted as a supervisor is invariably, is to bring out the negative behaviour of an employee into the open. In almost all the cases, the feedback unfold the power of destruction. Effective managers recognise the power of negative feedback. High performance managers direct their energies to bring out the positive elements of an employee’s behaviour, thereby creating opportunities to reinforce the positive behaviour.

Effective managers focus on bringing their subordinates towards the desired state of affairs - the target. What should we do to make this possible? Recognition and staff appreciation are the two best approaches to motivate employees . Unfortunately majority of the managers do not offer adequate recognition and appreciation to their staff. The best way to a get started towards our journey to bring out the best in our employees through recognition and appreciation is to ask the following questions:
How often we provide feedback in the form of appreciation?
How often we recognise good performance?
What is the ratio of our positive and negative feedback?
Are we in a position to say that our positive feedback outweigh the negative
feedback?

The feedback that emphasise the negative behaviour, attempts to tell the person that he/she need to change towards a positive level. Unfortunately most people will not accept negative comments. The worst is the receiving party criticise not only what was said, but also find fault the person who was gave the feedback. This would mean the feedback would no longer bring about any meaningful change at personal level.

Almost all the motivational theories highlight the human craving for attention and recognition. Unfortunately, our normal day-to-day managerial activities do not take note of this important fact. Some argue that the negative feedback is one form of recognition. That may be true. Recognition with punishment element along with creating low esteem is not going to work. Recognition should focus on highlighting the positive aspects of the person, so that the person feel recognized and praised.

Recognition can take the form of ‘Praise’. Praising employees is not an easy task for many of us. Some may ask: Praise an employee for what - for the quality of work they are expected to do, or praise only when the work exceed the set standard. You praise on both occasions.

The next question is how do we praise? Remember the following points:
Praise immediately - the sooner you recognise the better is the effect
Praise sincerely - your words and body language should harmonise the message.
Be specific - refer to the specific situation/action
Highlight the contribution - as far as possible try and quantify the results
Praise in public, whenever possible.


What else can we do to recognise employees contribution, other than praise. Recognition can incorporate rewards. Rewards can be in the form of financial or non-financial. At operational level, the best option is to focus on non-financial rewards. What are our options at this stage? Bob Nelson’s 1001 ways to reward employees (obtainable at www.Amazon.com provides practical and inexpensive ways to reward employees. Adopting spontaneous and informal rewards initiated by line managers and immediate supervisors are some of the best ways to reward employees.

To take full advantage of the power of recognition, we must make sure the reward practices are fair, just and reflect the element of equity. Any employee who meet the standards should be recognized. Employee recognition meet almost all the human needs identified by Abraham Maslow.

Arul John Peter, is a Facilitator with the Centre for Creative Thinking, a training agency based in Singapore (www.creativityasia.com). He conducts training workshops on creativity and related soft skills for clients in Asia and Middle East. He holds an MBA and majored in strategic human resource management. He is a member of the American Creativity Association.

The Employment Act & Employment Policies, Singapore

The Employment Act is Singapore's main labour legislation. It specifies the basic terms and conditions of employment; and The rights and obligations of employers and employees. Visit the following website (Ministry of Manpower) to learn more about your rights:

Employment Act, Singapore


For advice on wages, non-discrimination, flexible wage arrangements and more, please refer to the following:

Guideline on Employment Issues


Here are some case studies of successful businesses that have implemented good employment practices:

Case Studies


John

Environment of Human Resource Management (DHRM)

To make things easier for those who are studying the above module all the relevant background papers are listed in a single posting below:

Human Resource & Business Environment

Cost of Teacher Turnover

Cost of employee turnover

Organising Process

Organizational Evolution in a ‘Boundaryless’ Organization


From Traditional to Virtual Organisation: Implications for Work ...

Organisational Culture: Establishing what makes an Organisation Attractive


Understanding Organisation Culture and Innovation: A Case Study ...

Organisation Culture

Procedural Justice

Resources for Personal Development

The following link provide resources on career, personal development and resume writing

Marketing Book

An interesting ebook on marketing:

Marketing Book

John

Business Ethics

Try visiting the following website for details on Business Ethics


Business Ethics

Understanding Statistics

Regardless of your position in the organisation, you will come across the use of statistics. Unfortunately many of us have no ideas about it. To some of us it is a nightmare.You no longer need to suffer. The Sofia Open Content Initiative, provide an easy to follow lessons and video clips to understand the topic. Try it.

Elementary Statistics


Video on statistics

Regards.

Arul John Peter

Knowledge@Wharton

The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania publishes a very useful emagazine, covering a wholerange of areas. You may visit the following site. You will be asked to register to access. Registration is FREE. You will enjoy it.


Knowledge at Wharton


John

HRM: Training & Development

Resources on Training & Development

Benefits of Training

Training - is it worth?

Training Needs Analysis

Training Evaluation

Evaluating the training

HRM: Recruitment and Selection

YOu will be able to learn almost all aspects of recruitment and selection from the following site (maintained by The Open University):

Recruitment & selection



Arul John
Centre for Creative Thinking