THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Religion

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion. ” - Abraham Lincoln

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Effects of Change On The Manager

Change and managing change are common topics among managers, management experts, and consultants, but rarely do people pay any attention to the effects of high rates of change, or difficult to manage change (like layoffs) on managers and executives. In this article Bacal broaches this neglected topic.

One of the least mentioned effects of change relates to how it affects the manager leading that change, and his or her ability to undertake the leadership role. We have already talked about the effects of change on the individual employee, and of course managers are subject to the same reactions, resistances and strains. Some types of change, such as restructuring, or downsizing can put considerable strain on the leaders of an organization.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Trust

“Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.” - Natalie Goldberg


TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Teach Yourself to Trust Yourself

Last week I went to an evening to honor and advance the vision of the late Dr. Allan Rosenfield, Dean of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health for twenty two years. Allan was a giant in global health, dedicated in particular to womens reproductive health and rights.

There was a long slate of estimable speakers but as the evening wore on I began to lose attention. Then Jerry Hoosen Coovadia, a Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, stepped up to the lectern.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Macroeconomic Policy Environment: An Analytical Guide For Managers (TMH - CFM Series)by Shyamal Roy

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Quality

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” - Henry Ford

TOPIC OF THE DAY

TQM-What Is It?

If you are reading this book, it is likely that you already know what we mean when we use the term Total Quality Management. Still, it's a good idea to define the term, and provide a brief overview.

Certainly TQM can be defined in a number of ways, and the details of different approaches can vary somewhat. However, a good starting definition, drawn from Capezio & Morehouse is:

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Attitude

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” - Winston Churchill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Turning around Negative Attitudes

At one time or another, organizations develop an over-abundance of "negative energy" or attitudes. Sometimes they can be linked to organizational trauma, like down-sizing, budget restraints or workload increases, but sometimes they evolve over time with no apparent triggering event. The negative organization is characterized by increased complaining, a focus on reasons why things can't be done, and what seems to be a lack of hope that things will get better. It feels like the organization in stuck in treacle. And, it's contagious. Negativism can affect even the most positive employees.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Growth

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” - Napoleon Hill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Economic Growth via Debt Management

By the financial definition of it debt management is the way that involves a third party designated in assisting repayment of his or her debt. Often such management programs are offered by credit counseling companies which provide their clients guidelines through which they can control their initially damaged credit position. On a very simpler note debt management is process by which an individual spends less than he or she earns. However since this system has been into operation for such a long time it is bound to be a stable one so for all purposes debt management is a structured repayment plan designated to a third party either by a court order or by personal initiation.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

REACH FOR THE SKIES: BALLOONING, BIRDMEN AND BLASTING INTO SPACE by Richard Branson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

“Every man's ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.” - John Abbott

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Best Practices for Improving the Cross-Cultural Competency of Offshore Teams

When I present seminars on Indian business culture to American managers and technical professionals involved in offshoring or offshore outsourcing to India, someone inevitably asks, "So what are our offshore teams and counterparts in India being taught about American business culture?"

The answer is, "More than they used to, but seldom at a level deep enough to inculcate the attitudes, thought patterns and behavior norms that would ensure optimal effectiveness in working with Americans."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

REACH FOR THE SKIES: BALLOONING, BIRDMEN AND BLASTING INTO SPACE by Richard Branson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Win and Lose

“Win without boasting.Lose without excuse.” - Albert Payson Terhune

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Data Dictionary

A data dictionary is an integral part of a database, which holds information about the database and the data that it stores, i.e., the meta-data. Any well-designed database will surely include a data dictionary – it provides database administrators and other users, easy access to the type of data that they should expect to see in every table, row and column of the database, without actually accessing the database.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System. by Henry M. Paulson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Reality

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” - John Lennon

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Getting the Most: Strategic Organization Improvement

If you avoid confusing means and ends, you will steer clear of the rocky improvement roads you are now bouncing along.

After surviving more than a decade of management theories and fads, many managers are change and improvement weary. For the past 20 years, the consulting and publishing industries encouraged the search for management's holy grail: a silver-bullet solution. But this program and process du jour craze left a trail of disappointment and lackluster results in its wake. This is not news. Correcting this problem, however, remains a significant challenge.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System. by Henry M. Paulson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Teamwork

“Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. ” - Mattie Stepanek

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Do Your Teams Produce Reports or Results?

From product development to strategy to technology management, much of the work done in organizations is assigned to teams. Yet often when the output from these teams is examined, few actually generate measurable results. Instead they produce reports, recommendations, and presentations — for a higher level decision and possible implementation. As a middle manager at a large pharmaceutical company once told me, "I've been on dozens of teams over the years, but can't recall ever being responsible for a result."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Action

“Action is the foundational key to all success. ” -Pablo Picasso


TOPIC OF THE DAY

Management and the Entrepreneur

The small business owner/operators and entrepreneurs in general, have contributed much to our economy. We need their innovation and risk-taking to create wealth, generate employment and fuel the economy.

Despite their valuable contributions, it is also fair to say that they could be more successful if they recognized the point where good management should take over the lead role in directing the activities of their organization. By their very nature, entrepreneurs sometimes are not good managers. The skills they possess, so critical to launch an enterprise, are not the same skills required for its long term success. All new businesses reach a stage where experienced managers need to take over responsibility for the continued growth of a company.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Belief

“Belief is the death of intelligence. ” -Robert Anton Wilson

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Don't Be Stupid, Google!

When Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) moves, it makes ripples. Usually, its technical announcements are geared toward a more open Internet that encourages more and better browsing, which in turn feeds Big G's coffers in an indirect way. But today, Google is moving backwards.

The leading search provider and all-around technologist announced that upcoming versions of its Chrome browser won't support the H.264 video format. Instead, the open-source Theora and Google's own WebM formats will be the high-definition video codecs of choice for Chrome users -- at least when it comes to supporting the HTML5 "video" tag.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System. by Henry M. Paulson

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Strength

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. ” - Eleanor Roosevelt

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The bite of the Black Swan

John Milton and many others have propagated, through their poetry, that God has a mysterious way of working that should not be questioned. God created an uncertain world and left its interpretation on His so called greatest creation, Mankind. Since then man has been kind enough to have destroyed the very essence of this uncertain world.

Man is an animal who over the course of its existence has invented a lot of tools, all with the intention of making life smoother and easier to live. Man has managed to tame the free flowing river and produce energy out of it, to interpret the meaning of dreams, to write poems on dew drops resting on blades of grass and justified the title of being God's greatest creation by ultimately changing nature's balance. But man has repeatedly, as history teaches us, failed to deal with uncertainty. It has either brought peace in man's heart or anxiety in his mind. It has repeatedly exposed the fragility of our knowledge and beliefs. Knowledge is to man what energy is to molecules. It makes us desperate and with more knowledge and information the world witnesses more innovation making it uncertain.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Never Stop Learning by Lessons Learned

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

“Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation. ” - Mason Cooley

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Importance Of Innovation

Just outside the downtown area of Rochester NY is a stately tree lined thoroughfare known as East Avenue. On it, there is a mansion which was the former estate of George Eastman. The company George Eastman founded named "Kodak" was the pioneer of silver halide technology which became the cornerstone of photography. Today, 900 East Avenue is the site of the George Eastman Museum of Photography. Despite changing times and conditions, the company Eastman founded in the late 1890s is still a dominant factor in imaging technology.

Across town, there sits a major university called Rochester Institute of Technology. It is the academic focal point for another industry that grew up in Rochester. Under the pioneering efforts of Joseph C. Wilson, this company is now known all over the world as "Xerox."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Book Review: LinchPin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Diversity

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together. ” - Malcolm Forbes

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Dealing With The Dimensions Of Diversity

When employed in the corporate world I recall vividly going through some of the first diversity training workshops put on by the company. These were all focused around the women versus men working together topic and the relevant issues which arose from that.

As things progressed the voices of individuals from the other many dimensions of diversity started to be heard and; now it is clearly acknowledged that we need to pay attention to employees from all of the dimensions Of diversity in order to craft out effective diversity strategies which lead organizations developing and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Changing profile of Indian agriculture / Surinder Sud.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Achievement

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation. ” - Charles Kettering

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma (born January 13, 1949) is a former Indian Air Force test pilot who flew in space aboard Soyuz T-11 as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. Sharma was the first Indian and 138th person to travel in space

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Your Successful Project Management Career by Ronald B. Cagle

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Inspiration

“Give light and people will find the way. ” - Ella Baker

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Effectiveness of TV Advertisements with Reference to Consumer Products

The research is about the study on the effectiveness of TV ADs on consumer Commodities. The research is being conducted to find various views of consumers on various television ads. The main purpose of this research will help the ad agencies to correct themselves and come out with ads which attracts the customer more and this study will also give views of consumers regarding the awareness, satisfaction level and their expectations. This research will help to the Ad agencies as well as the consumers. The research will give an idea to the various brands about the reach of their products to the consumers. The survey is conducted only in Trichy and Thanjavur Town. In this research, 50 respondents are taken as a sample.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Your Successful Project Management Career by Ronald B. Cagle

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listen

“Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours. ” - Benjamin Disraeli

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Listen To What They Are Not Saying

Many times what your employees do not say is as important as what they do say. A manager has to develop the ability to listen to what employees are not saying and dig through that to get to the truth. Otherwise you will not be an effective leader. You will have the false perception that you are doing fine - right up to the minute you are fired and replaced by someone who can be effective. Let's look at two examples.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Makers of Modern India by Ramachandra Guha

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Personality

“Style is a reflection of your attitude and your personality” - Shawn Ashmore

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Be A Useful Person In The Society

Protection is one of the most important terms you might have been hearing in the near future. In fact this is very important in the present life due to the increasing criminal activities that are taking place all around the globe. Security guards are the main people who are responsible for securing each and everything around them from any hazards that can be caused by the robbers. In fact security guards are of great demand in this fast growing world and many people are taking up the option of becoming a certified security guard due to the wide openings around the globe. Do you know the qualifications to become a security guard in order to stand as a guard in front of any reputed institution or organization? You must be holding a valid sia license in order to become approved security guards. In fact most of the organizations are looking for people with this certification mainly due to the training they have undergone while preparing to get the certification from the sia organizations.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Makers of Modern India by Ramachandra Guha

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Empire

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” - Winston Churchill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Financing Trends for 2011

1. Crowdfunding
2. Microlending
3. Credit Unions
4. Bootstrapping
5. The Slow Money Movement

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Talent Management:Cases and Commentary by Eddie Blass

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Performance

“Proper preparation prevents poor performance.” - Charlie Batch

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Show People Your Good Work

When it comes to job performance, your reputation often precedes you. That is, if you are known as a high performer, chances are people will perceive your work positively. It behooves you to build a strong reputation early on in a new job. The best way to do this is to be sure people — your boss, your peers, and your subordinates — know about your good work. Don't assume they notice; they are often consumed with their own jobs. Bring attention to your successes by sharing the results with others. You don't need to be self-promotional to do this. Start by genuinely praising one of your colleagues for her good work and she will likely return the favor.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Shape Perceptions of Your Work, Early and Often" by Jeffrey Pfeffer as published in HBR Blog

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

presentation

“Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking. ” - Mason Cooley

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Presentation Skills for Emergent Managers

Management is the art of getting things done. A Presentation is a fast and potentially effective method of getting things done through other people. In managing any project, presentations are used as a formal method for bringing people together to plan, monitor and review its progress.

But let us look at this another way: what can a presentation do for you?

Firstly; it puts you on display. Your staff need to see evidence of decisive planning and leadership so that they are confident in your position as their manager. They need to be motivated and inspired to undertaking the tasks which you are presenting. Project leaders from other sections need to be persuaded of the merits of your project and to provide any necessary support. Senior management should be impressed by your skill and ability so that they provide the resources so that you and your team can get the job done.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Talent Management:Cases and Commentary by Eddie Blass

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Time

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. ” - Abraham Lincoln

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Changing the World, One MBA at a Time

During the peak of the financial meltdown in November 2008, Tim Elliott did what many MBA graduates would have deemed unthinkable at the time, quitting his job as vice-president of finance and technology for Calidora Skin Clinic, a skin-care company headquartered in Seattle. Elliott, a 2004 graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management (Anderson Full-Time MBA Profile), had spent nearly 15 years working with startups and private equity firms and was itching for "a sabbatical from the corporate ladder," he says. He found just that when he stumbled on the Web page for MBAs Without Borders, a nonprofit that sends MBA graduates on assignments to developing nations for anywhere from two to six months. He soon found himself on a plane heading to Cambodia's Phnom Penh, where he would work for six months as a volunteer on a project to help deliver safe water to poor people in villages across Vietnam and Cambodia.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Talent Management:Cases and Commentary by Eddie Blass

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Money

“Business is the art of extracting money from another man's pocket without resorting to violence.” - Max Amsterdam

Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed

http://management.about.com/od/money/a/DepressionCosts.htm

Everybody gets sad once in a while. Ten to twenty percent of the US workforce gets clinically depressed each year. That depression costs you money in terms of absenteeism, lost productivity, reduced quality, employee turnover and on-the-job accidents. A 2003 study put the cost at over $44 billion per year.
What can you do about it?

Train your managers to recognize the symptoms and deal with them in a compassionate, but direct manner.

* The article "The Effects Of Depression In The Workplace", from Mental Health InfoSource provides a list of symptoms to look for.
* Here are some of the common sources of depression in the workplace (see upper right list).

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Principles of Macroeconomics by Robin Stonecash and others

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Plan

“We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it. ” - Lauryn Hill

TOPIC OF THE DAY

A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed

In general, September is often a difficult month: I'm catching up from summer vacation as are many of my clients, projects tend to regain momentum, the Jewish holidays reduce my work days, and our kids need more of my time as they readjust themselves to new grades in school.

But this year feels worse. On top of my regular client work, I have three strategy offsites to design and facilitate, my publisher's edits of my next book to review, and a TEDx talk to prepare and deliver — all in a month. And then, of course, there's my weekly blog.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bank Management by Timothy W. Koch, S. Scott Macdonald

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Delegation

“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” - Andrew Carnegie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Art of Delegation

The objective of delegation is to get the job done by someone else. Not just the simple tasks of reading instructions and turning a lever, but also the decision making and changes which depend upon new information. With delegation, your staff have the authority to react to situations without referring back to you.

If you tell the janitor to empty the bins on Tuesdays and Fridays, the bins will be emptied on Tuesdays and Fridays. If the bins overflow on Wednesday, they will be emptied on Friday. If instead you said to empty the bins as often as necessary, the janitor would decide how often and adapt to special circumstances. You might suggest a regular schedule (teach the janitor a little personal time management), but by leaving the decision up to the janitor you will apply his/her local knowledge to the problem. Consider this frankly: do you want to be an expert on bin emptying, can you construct an instruction to cover all possible contingencies? If not, delegate to someone who gets paid for it.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bank Management by Timothy W. Koch, S. Scott Macdonald

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

New Year

“In the New Year,may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship,never in want.” - Irish Toast

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India is the central banking system of India and controls the monetary policy of the rupee as well as US$300.21 billion (2010) of currency reserves. The institution was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and plays an important part in the development strategy of the government. It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Understanding Credit Derivatives And Related Instruments by Bomfim Antulion N.