Can we create a High Energy Work Climate?
In this article, TrainingZONE member Wyn Llewellyn describes the concept of flow principles and its use in motivating and encouraging staff. Almost every business conference, workshop, or seminar in recent times has begun with a context setting presentation containing these common themes.1. Business life is getting tougher2. The competition is getting fiercer3. Customers are more […]
IT professionals need to develop Business Skills
Research has shown that many IT Managers and Leaders lack traditional people skills and that this can result in around 80% of IT projects failing owing to their lack of skill in handling project personnel.The British Computer Society (BCS) have joined forces with The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants(CIMA) to deliver a series of CIMA […]
Performance Management lacks consistancy in UK
The Industrial Society reports that financial considerations are the most widely used measures of a company’s performance, but in the results of a new survey also announces that 24% of businesses now use broader measures of gauging performance. The real news from the survey is that there appears little consistancy in the way that British […]
Partnerships in the workplace
The BBC Alert! Business and Finance Choice: ‘Work Essentials: Mind Your Own Business’ is a four-part series examining the role of partnership in the workplace, focusing on managers and staff from six Irish companies who are working in enterprise partnership arrangements. (Tue, BBC2, 0500-0600) The BBC Alert! Business and Finance Choice: ‘Work Essentials: Mind Your […]
Managers take their work on holiday
A new survey by the Institute of Management shows that managers increasingly take their work with them on holiday.Modern technology and communications means that it is even easier for the manager to ‘stay in touch’ even when they are on paid leave with permission to be away from the office.Two years ago, 10% of managers […]
Survey of performance improvement initiatives published
The Institute of Management has recently published a research report called ‘A Question of Quality’ which surveys performance improvement initiatives throughout the UK. The report was sponsored by the British Quality Foundation and the author is Karen Charlesworth.“Over the past two decades, organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors have adopted various approaches to […]
Managing performance virtually: issues with ‘teleworkers’
An article from Human Resource Development Quarterly on the Zigon Performance Group website looks into factors affecting the success or otherwise of undertaking evaluation with teleworkers, and finds that assessing whether the individual is suitable for this type of working first will have a significant influence on their subsequent performance. The study finds that the […]
Guidelines for managing volunteers
Some estimates put the number of people working as volunteers in companies, projects and organisations throughout the UK at almost a million – and they don’t all conform to the stereotype image of a youth or pensioner filling in their time ‘doing good works’.Today’s volunteers include: people looking for more work experience prior to seeking […]
Business schools standards very diverse, says Council for Excellence
A report in today’s Daily Telegraph looks at the role of the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership in improving and maintaining standards in Britain’s business schools.Since the council was set up in April to ‘ensure that the UK is able to develop the managers and leaders of the future to match the best […]
Information and Resource Sheets for ‘Partnerships with People’
The Department for Trade and Industry has been conducting a study entitled ‘Partnerships with People’ with the aim of helping organisations to bring out the best in their staff so as to achieve significantly enhanced business performance. Based on research with a wide range of organisations, “the common theme evident was that the most powerful […]
Training’s mission?
The question of the moment on ASTD’s Website asks “What is your training department’s mission statement?” T&D will compile the list for an upcoming instalment of T&D.comTo submit yours, go to the Society’s main site at The question of the moment on ASTD’s Website asks “What is your training department’s mission statement?” T&D will compile […]
360-degree review: best friend or nightmare?
DON’T LET 360-DEGREE REVIEWS RUN CIRCLES AROUND YOUSuccessful 360-degree programmes can be an employee’s best friend or, when designed poorly, a company nightmare. HRWire takes a look at why these performance reviews are gaining popularity and how HR can implement a program employees and management will value. DON’T LET 360-DEGREE REVIEWS RUN CIRCLES AROUND YOUSuccessful […]
Is teleworking the way forward?
Around a quarter of a million British people joined the teleworking workforce last year, an increase of 19%. This is one of the key findings of an Institute for Employment Studies (IES) analysis of the recently-released results of the Spring 2000 Labour Force Survey by the Government’s Office of National Statistics. In Spring 1999, approximately […]
Worth a look: Association for Management Education and Development journal
The May edition of The Association for Management Education and Development Organisations and People journal has a number of interesting, accessible and readable articles. Among them, Richard Seel suggests a different approach to organisational change. As organisations are ever changing, Seel says it is a mistake to think of them moving from one type of […]
‘Management makes the difference’
A survey of the leading graduate schools of business was recently reported in brief to HRD-L. The objective of the survey was to identify the most important ideas in management. One conclusion:Management Makes the DifferenceFaced with similar external environments and armed with comparable tools and resources, different managers will take different paths with largely contrasting […]
Work-Life Forum and Industrial Society join forces
The National Work-Life Forum, which campaigns for work-life balance, is to come under the banner of the Industrial Society as the Industrial Society Work Life Forum. The aim of the merger is to use the support of the Industrial Society’s influence and existing work in this area. Joanna Foster, who is founder and chair of […]
Is there any point in building teams?
On the back of the recent poor team performances from England’s football and cricket teams, Simon Caulkin, writing in the Guardian this week says that the importance of teamwork often prevents rational discussion about it.Caulkin argues that team working has yet to establish itself properly as a ‘management concept’. David Butcher of the Cranfield School […]
IOD networking programme launched
The Institute of Directors (IOD) has launched a networking programme for managing directors, chief executives and senior partners to help them to keep abreast of the latest theory and solutions in business.The IoD’s Director Development Networks (DDN), which are focussed on the business growth model involve groups of between ten and twelve delegates meeting together […]
Launch of online 360 degree appraisal tool
A TrainingZONE member writes:We would like to announce the launch of the360.co.uk website. Fast, easy reliable 360 degree feedback now available via the web. We can use standard or bespoke questionnaires, flexible scoring schemes and reporting methods.Please visit us for more details. Sharon Atchley…….. and we think it looks interesting too! A TrainingZONE member writes:We […]
HR must ‘become a strategic partner’
To become a true strategic business partner, human resources must enhance its integration with the entire organization. That’s the argument in an article by Rick Maurer, author of the “Building Capacity for Change Sourcebook”.“It’s critical that HR leaders think like business leaders”, he concludes. “They need to create innovative HR solutions that anticipate trends. Or […]