Thursday, January 7, 2010

MY EIGHTH .........

KM Blog June 2007



Thursday, June 28, 2007
Trust and Web 2.0 Technologies I was running a KM executive briefing this week, in the UK, and I was again reminded in our discussions of the huge dilema facing large organisations, especially Public Services organisations. Most large organisations have developed silo's and, therefore, the knowledge doesn't flow very freely across them, if at all. This leads to knowledge fragmentation. The larger and more dispersed the organisation is, the less knowledge flow and the less people feel adequately 'in the know'. This eventually breeds a fear based culture, and of course, we all know that a natural knowledge sharing culture can only be based on a trust based culture.
Making matters worse, many people in the UK spend much of their working hours based at home, even more dispersed, fragmented and even less in the know.
But then I thought, if you look at the Web 2.0 technologies and the phenomena of social networking tools, not least the wiki's and blogs, they are totally dependant on open, collaborative, learning, sharing and trust based environment, and they are very successful indeed.
The same people who might not share knowledge freely from within their organisations, seem to be willing to share with the world! Also, they are not being paid anything for it either!
So is there, perhaps, a learning here? I have some views on this but I would like to invite and encourage your feedback and comment first, and then publish the overall conclusions later.
Ron Young
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Open Source KM Wiki We have embedded a KM Wiki into our website and invite you to browse, learn, discuss, question, share and contribute your topics and articles.
Be patient, we have just launched and we all have to start somewhere, but we are expecting a continuous flow of topics and articles over the coming months from the Open Source KM Community.
Ron Young
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Knowledge as a Global Public Good
I enjoyed this article on knowledge from the World Bank.
I received it from Dr. Donat Agosti Science Consultant Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History and Naturmuseum der Burgergemeinde Bern
So thanks, Dr Agosti
You can read the article here by Joseph E. Stiglitz
http://www.worldbank.org/knowledge/chiefecon/articles/undpk2/index.htm
KNOWLEDGE AS A GLOBAL PUBLIC GOOD Joseph E. Stiglitz
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist The World Bank
Ron Young
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Knowledge Management and the pasta machine I was reminded today of the story of the pasta machine and its relevance to tools to support KM.
A couple were given a pasta machine for a xmas present. Because it was given to them, and not in a situation of real need, at that time, they were very thankful and put it into a kitchen cupboard. There it remained for three years, unused.
But if the couple had a real need or desire to make pasta, they would have bought a pasta machine and immediately started to use it properly.
It's the same with technology tools that are thrust upon us. If there isn't a proper need, and proper understanding for how the technology can really help us work better, it will not be used correctly.
I hear people who say, 'Oh yes I tried blogging and wikis when they first appeared, but I don't use them now'. And I think to myself, do they really understand what these new tools can do for us,as knowledge workers, or are they like the couple with the xmas pasta machine present?
Ron Young
Monday, June 11, 2007
KM and a WebOS as the ultimate personal mashup I have highly recommended before, the work of Nova Spivak and his article on Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web.
He also talks about a Web Operating System replacing much of the PC OS and/or acting as a hybrid OS . Makes great sense to me.
In a personal knowledge management context, I am interested in, to quote Nova "the WebOS as the ultimate personal mashup!" RDF, SPARQL, OWL and the Semantic web will become more prominent to support such a personal platform. I am interested in how personal information management tools could develop into personal knowledge management tools through such Web 3.0 developments.
Ron Young
You can read more from Nova Spivak at:
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Most popular KM website searches
In an analysis of our website visitors over the past 18 months, the two most popular searches, by far were, and continue to be:
Q1 What's the difference between information and knowledge?
Q2 Who, What, Why, Where, When, How?
Interestingly, they are not confined at all to a particular area, but come from all parts of the world. Furthermore, they not only come from schools and universities and education sector, as you would expect,but from a wide cross section of industry, public and private.
So, clearly, there is a healthy appetite for understanding and applying better knowledge!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Open Source KM Consulting Methodology and Tools Version 1 is now available Open Source KM Consulting Methodology and Tools
Version 1 is now available to members for downloading.
So become a member today.
Immediately download Open Source KM Consulting Methodology and Tools Version 1.
Start reading, learning, applying and helping us all to further develop and improve towards Version 2.
Let's harness the global knowledge and experiences of members around the world, and demonstrate rapid new knowledge creation, for the good of the whole KM community.
Ron Young


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KM Blog May 2007



Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Exponential Knowledge for Web 2.0
Web 2.0 has certainly helped us move even faster from incremental and episodic knowledge creation to continuous knowledge creation and sharing, at an exponential rate!
People, all around the world, are creating inspirational videos, commenting and sharing knowledge in video and blogs, creating new knowledge in radically new ways with wiki-editing tools and hybrids, and tagging, organising and distributing information and knowledge in all sorts of clever ways.
It feels like this process of creating, sharing and learning is now happening so fast around the world, that it has become 'beyond human' comprehension.
The richer and increasingly varied inter-connections, and increased collaboration, with people we don't even know but who we increasingly depend on, to make it all happen, is quite extraordinary.
As a KM consultant, I am particularly interested in rich and complex informational associations and connections that, even when made explicit on the web, are increasingly resembling knowledge forms and representations of the brain.
I believe that progress in this area, for Web 3.0 will be staggering and exponential over the next 5 years.
Ron Young
Monday, May 14, 2007
Encyclopedia of Life - The world's knowledge about plants and animals
It was so exciting to read in the Daily Telegraph, Thursday 10th May, 2007, about the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life - The whole story of life on Earth to go online at:
http://www.eol.org
The aim is to list 1.8m known species and animals and other forms of life, and the project could take another 10 years to complete. So far, £30 million has been pledged in grants from charitable foundations and academic institutions to complete it. The design looks very good.
From a knowledge management perspective, I am very interested in the collaborative effort to achieve this. No doubt, some inspiration has come from the wikipedia initiative to demonstrate radically new ways to collectively create new knowledge.
The Encyclopedia of Life website says:
"Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. "
I do particularly like the reference to an 'ecosystem of websites'. I think that there is much we can do to further develop more natural knowledge ecologies. It's also interesting to see that the information and knowledge will be with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. So I imagine an academic 'peer review' process acting together with 'wikipedia like' capturing of new learnings, ideas and insights?
Dr Richard Lane, the Natural History Museum's director of science said:
" It is a monumental project that will open up the world's knowledge about plants and animals we share the planet with".
I am sure that the Encyclopedia of Life is the start of an exciting trend in global knowledge management initiatives for the good of all on Planet Earth.
Ron Young
Thursday, May 03, 2007
India and/or China lead Knowledge Management Once again, Europe and USA have become complacent.
Last time it was Quality management. This time it is Knowledge Management.
I remember Duran saying that although he developed his ideas around Quality management in the USA, he could never get people to truly see what he was trying to do. They were too busy, couldn't easily see the ROI and were generally cynical of anything new.
They were not hungry enough for new innovative ideas and methods.
Eventually, the Japanese embraced Quality Management the way he envisaged, and the rest is history. We learned how to do QM properly from the Japanese.
I see the same with Knowledge Management.
The West has still not got it entirely.
We are still playing around the edges of the field. Also, we are too busy, cannot immediately see the ROI and are, also, generally cynical about change.
I predict that India will get it fully. I predict China will get it fully. Why? Because they have deep and rich cultures that have always highly valued knowledge. Because they are incredibly intelligent, talented and innovative in this area. Because they know this change has to happen, and they want it. The Far East will continue to provide innovative technologies to support innovative knowledge creation and sharing.
Then, I expect that Europe and USA, at least, will all learn from India and China how to do KM properly.
One example: Take a look at the Vedas and Upanishads, the great spiritual heritage of India.
The first books of knowledge of several thousand years ago.
Then you will see that they will undoubtedly understand what 21st Century knowledge management should be, if they don't already!
Ron Young

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KM Blog April 2007



Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Knowledge Asset Management on Wikipedia
I have started a new topic on wikipedia to define and expand the management discipline of Knowledge Asset Management, that I have been actively engaged in since 1996.
I would welcome like-minded km practitioners to contribute to this topic.
Knowledge Asset Management is a management discipline that takes its roots from both Asset Management and Knowledge Management.
Knowledge Asset Management strives to enable the application of an inclusive, yet standard method of measuring, reporting and auditing critical and common knowledge assets within Industry sectors, and across Industry sectors, as a whole.
It goes beyond the Process-centred and Product-centred approaches of recent years. It focuses on the identification, development, application, measurement and reporting of critical and strategic knowledge assets in an organization or community, that make a significant difference to organizational performance and decision making.
I am increasingly working with organizations that seek to measure and report (and even start auditing) their key knowledge assets.
Maybe knowledge asset auditing is not as far away as we first thought?
Ron Young
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Knowledge Management and the 8 United Nations Millennium Development goals
I have two sets of websites and blogs that I normally keep seperate. My professional knowledge management development and practices and my spiritual development and practices.
Sometimes I find it difficult to know which blogs to choose. Maybe I should just combine them.
This is one, today.
Like an increasing number of people in this world, especially those working with global technologies, I can understand and experience, in my daily work, a strong sense of Oneness, interconnectedness and interdependence with all.
I fully respect all religions, spiritual traditions, beliefs and non-beliefs, and I think Oneness is common to them all.
In fact, if you work with global connectivity, communications, collaborative workgroups, learning, creating, sharing and applying knowledge globally, you cannot help but think this way, naturally.
Recently, in working with UN agencies and their need for better global knowledge management, I became much more aware of the 8 United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
From both a global knowledge management perspective, and from a spiritual perspective, I realised that if we all had a better perspective and understanding of Oneness on this planet, it would have a major, and immediate, effect on achieving these MDGs.
In this new way of thinking there would be an immediate impact on global ethics.
This would immediately impact world terrorism, general violence and all forms of crime.
I believe that there would be an immediate impact on extreme poverty and hunger, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases, environmental sustainability and global development partnerships.
So I decided I would express these feelings to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Knowledge management has greatly accelerated my sense and experience of Oneness over the years, so I blog it here.
I have met a few km bloggers that have shared this view with me also. I would greatly appreciate hearing from anybody else who shares these views.
If you are interested in my letter to the UN on Oneness, you can read it on the home page of:
www.in-love-with-wisdom.com
Ron Young
Monday, April 23, 2007
Discover What You Know
Well, being a Lotus Notes/ IBM fan since the early 90's, I just had to include this one.
Ron Young
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Knowledge Ecologies
In preparation for a meeting on conserving global ecosystems, from a knowledge management perspective, it occurred to me that
a key component of a thriving and sustainable ecosystem, or any type of global ecology, has to be the underpinning of a global knowledge ecology to support and ensure wiser global policies and decisions are made
To my mind, if an ecology is made up from a biodiversity of inter-connected species, of minerals, water, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals, humans etc, all naturally inter-dependant, then a knowledge ecology might be a diversity of inter-connected technologies, processes, strategies, tools, methods and practices, individuals, teams, organisations and communities?
Ron Young
Monday, April 16, 2007
Global Knowledge Management and its contribution to global biodiversity and conservation
I shall be attending a workshop in Switzerland this week that will be examining the state of the art and the developments with open source and knowledge management standards for global biodiversity conservation.
If anybody has any experience or useful links in this area, I would be most grateful to hear from you.
Ron Young

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KM Blog March 2007



Thursday, March 29, 2007
Knowledge values and Wise principles I am doing quite a bit of work around effective decision making and its link to knowledge management.
So I am back talking about wisdom again, as I had the following insight to share:
We act, and make choices and decisions, based on our underlying values and beliefs. If they are good and right values and/or beliefs, we should be making good decisions. If they are wrong values and/or beliefs, then we may be making bad decisions. So, we might also say that the decision is based on the quality of the knowledge that supports the values and beliefs.
No rocket science here!
If we are able to act, and make choices and decisions, based on underlying principles, that have stood the test of time, and are globally acceptable (Wisdom), then we should be making the most effective decisions - wise decisions. I think?
As the most relevant and contextual knowledge and wisdom, required to make a decision, is best found in communities and teams, as opposed to codified knowledgebases, (apart from very specific domain knowledge), we need to find better ways to embed the decision making process into the community and team work practices.
This may sound obvious, and easily understood intellectually, but, in my experience, it is not that well developed, if at all, in practice?
I am looking for anything that can improve the decision making process, to making 'wiser decisions', more often, within the organisation?
Ron Young
Monday, March 26, 2007
KM, as a discipline, has been disrupted by distruptive technologies It was Professor Charles Handy who first introduced me to the idea of disruptive technologies, and the impact they have, in his best selling book 'The Age of Unreason' in 1989.
It was Intel that reinforced the disruptive power of rapidly emerging technologies in Business, in the mid 1990's, when they talked about significantly disruptive inflexion points.
Today, I put to you, the new technologies that we happily refer to as Web 2.0, have totally disrupted Knowledge Management, as a discipline for practitioners.
We started, in the 1990's, by developing methodologies and processes that would enable us to better capture, store, share, amplify, create and apply, new knowledge, for individuals, teams, organisations and communities. Very good work at the time.
But today wiki's enable a radically new way to collectively create new knowledge, and blogs enable a radically new way to capture, store and share new learnings and insights, and YouTube, Flickr, Myspace etc are all enabling richer and more collaborative communities, although somewhat disparate at the moment .
I realise, as written in an earlier blog of mine, that Web 2.0 technologies do not address the higher stages of the KM process, but I am confident that the promised Web 3.0 tools, the Semantic Web developments, automated meaning and metadata technologies will address this stage soon.
So, I put it to you that Knowledge Management, as a practitioner discipline, has been significantly disrupted by disruptive technologies.
Having said that, I believe, therefore, that the need for a good Knowledge management strategy, of which technology is a key part, is even more important.
Ron Young
Friday, March 23, 2007
KM and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Today, whilst researching UN initiatives to highlight the importance of biodiversity for the well being of the planet, I came across several organisations who are striving to improve open acces to data, information and knowledge, relating to biodiversity conservation, globally.
That's simply great!
Conservation Commons seems to be leading in this area, and within their 'Principles of knowledge sharing' they remind us of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"that every individual has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers"
Keep blogging!
Ron Young
Monday, March 19, 2007
Open Source Knowledge Management - beta membership I am glad to say that we are now starting to get interest from around the world to registering for the free beta programme. We hope to be able to start soon.
If you are interested in the beta open source programme for KM education, methodologies, processes, tools and techniques, read the home page and register at
www.knowledge-management-online.com
The rationale for 'Open Source Knowledge Management' is very simple: When KM practitioners around the world can read, edit and add, redistribute, and modify the source KM education and KM methodologies, processes, tools and techniques, based on their experiences, the education and methodology will rapidly evolve.
People around the world will improve it at an extraordinary speed compared to the speed of development of proprietary methodologies.
We fundamentally believe and endorse the open source community who have learned that this rapid and collaborative 'community created' evolutionary process produces better knowledge creation and knowledge transfer than the traditional closed model.
Open Source is the only way to create, transfer and apply the best knowledge.
Its an idea who's time has arrived!
We believe that Open Source KM requires both an open and free collaboration and sharing, and a core group of competent KM practitioners to challenge and review through discussion and dialogue.
But first of all, please register your interest by enrolling in our free 'beta' programme. There is no obligation but you are invited to participate as much as you wish.
Joining our free 'beta' programme will entitle you to download free documents from our password protected site.
Ron Young
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Knowledge Management and Wisdom I seem to be going on quite a bit about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, in my recent blogs.
I think this is because I see, much better now, how important wisdom is, and always will be, to business and to life.
Whereas we now have robust processes and knowledge networks for capturing new learnings, ideas and insights, sharing them, amplifying them and creating new knowledge, we don't seem to have developed anything like the same attention to how wisdom is created and applied.
We talk about the wisdom of children, in their natural, creative and blissful ignorance.
We talk about the wisdom of elders, through learning and experiences and time.
We talk about the wisdom of teams.
So I see wisdom displayed as both naturally spontaneous and creative, and as a result of some processes.
I think we need to talk a lot more about business wisdom, how to identify it, how we might better develop and apply it.
A good friend and work colleague of mine is doing a PhD in Knowledge Management. Naturally, for any higher degree, he has to do a critical review of the literature first, before identifying new knowledge areas with his Professor.
Imagine, within our education systems, students having to do a critical review of the timeless wisdom that has been handed down over thousands of years before embarking on new knowledge creation. Imagine 'sharing timeless wisdom'as a more common procedure than it is in organizations today.
But maybe I am again too naive and totally wrong here? Still its a nice thought on a sunny saturday morning :-)
Ron Young
Friday, March 02, 2007
What's the difference between knowledge and wisdom? Increasingly today, students in my KM seminars are very interested in wanting to understand and discuss the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
There are lots of views on this, but here is mine:
Knowledge changes over time. Wisdom is unchangeable and is timeless.
Knowledge may be a partial truth, at a particular point in time. Wisdom is complete truth.
We can develop complex knowledge. We can know simple wisdom.
What's your take on this?
Ron Young
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Knowledge at the centre of decision making Recently, I discussed the importance of applying knowledge, and not just creating and sharing knowledge. Taking this further:
Nothing can be more important than deploying the best knowledge available, to support decision making.
Whether it's a simple medical diagnosis, or a major decision on world ecosystem conservation, or a critical policy to help eradicate global poverty or a strategy to reduce global terrorism.
Knowledge is at the centre of decision making!
Therefore, surely effective knowledge management is more important to the world today than it has ever been.
Ron Young

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KM Blog Feb2007



KM-Blog-2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Knowing is just half the story I am constantly reminded how important it is to go beyond just knowing in my daily life.
I have the best knowledge on how to gain ideal health, but am I there yet?
I have the best knowledge on financial success, but am I there yet?
I have the best knowledge on how to create the best knowledge, but am I there yet?
The best knowledge is not much better than no knowledge, unless we APPLY knowledge.
So many KM initiatives have an end objective to create, store and share knowledge, but very few put enough emphasis on how to then best APPLY that knowledge.
I think this is the other side of the coin - 'competence'.
We need both the best knowledge and the competence to know when and how to apply it successfully!
For me, that's wisdom!
Ron Young
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Planetary Knowledge Why, today, do we still try to compete with just the 'content' of our own proprietary knowledge?
Web 2.0 tools, and the promise of Web 3.0 tools, must surely teach us that the 'process' of continually profiling, alerting, accessing, creating, sharing, amplifying and applying knowledge, is now far far more powerful to sustain competitive and collaborative advantage.
After all, if the knowledge process is the best - the knowledge content will also be the best!
We can now design and set up a personal 'knowledge value chain' process, using these tools, and harvest what the world is thinking and creating.
Cool !
Ron Young
Sunday, February 18, 2007
KM and strategic planning Are managers improving?
During the 1980's, the findings of a survey amongst managers and executives suggested that only 10% thought strategically, and valued time and resource to be allocated to strategic planning.
KM can be transformative and can be highly strategic to an organisation. It can even help organisations make quantum leaps in performance.
But it can also help improve business operations in many worthy ways, although not normally as innovative and transformative.
I often wonder how many managers think about knowledge and knowledge assets strategically today?
I suspect not more than 20% at the most.
One of my work colleagues doubts that it is still not more than 10%, even after 25 years. Another colleague argues that the worst thing for KM is strategic planning?
I still believe in the power of strategic planning of knowledge assets to help organisations better achieve or exceed their objectives; supported by robust knowledge processes, together with naturally flourishing networks and communities, underpinned by developing knowledge competencies and technologies?
What's your view on KM and strategic planning?
Ron Young
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
KM and One cause for everything I remember a wise old management consultant telling me 30 years ago, 'Ron if you want to be a good consultant you need to know that all the organisational problems that you will encounter all have the same one cause!'
This sounded too good to be true, so, foolishly, I ignored it for many years.
He said that the primary cause of any problem is 'communications'. If, for example, you can improve the quality and quantity of communication of information in an organisation by just 10%, then many surface problems will simply fall away!
Now, in my later years as a management consultant, specialising in KM since 1993, I realise the profundity of the advice.
There is a virtuous circle :
...improved communication of information (two way) naturally leads to improved collaboration, which naturally leads to faster learning, which naturally leads to faster competence and confidence development, which naturally leads to better knowledge sharing.. and .....
Consider the example of KM blogging. So much more is communicated, much faster, more spontaneously, and far more openly than ever before. I certainly learn from KM bloggers much much faster than I did just 10 years ago.
So, I guess that management consultant (who told me this before the days of email and internet and, even, personal computers), would be quite happy with developments of global web 2.0 and beyond :-)
Web 2.0 needs IM & KM Consulting more than ever! Once again, the pendulum swings. From structured to unstructured. From planning to instant gratification. Yet it has always been both/and and not either/or.
Apparently, now, we do not need KM and KM Consultants because blogging, wiki's, RSS feeds, iPod, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube ..you name it..will do it all for us!
Google, Semantic Web and Autonomy still march on, developing and improving multimedia search and better meaning.
So now we have lots more of our valuable tacit knowledge captured all over the place, everywhere, easily, and found by others, everywhere, easily, within hours globally. Fantastic but ....
I remember, at a KM conference in the mid 1990's, the story of a legal firm who were so please to give everybody in the firm a laptop PC. Such a powerful tool for mobile email at the time.
The only problem was that nobody filed their correspondence in the traditional 'paper based' client file anymore, only on their own PC, so nobody could get at a central repository to see the complete picture. The valuable information was scattered around all the personal PC's instead. This is not a reason to go back to snail mail, but a reason to teach people how to use these new tools to maximise personal, team, organisational, and inter-organisational knowledge.
I cannot help but see the same thing happening with these wonderful new tools. Even more valuable, rich information and knowledge is captured and scatterd throughout the Web.
This is simply fantastic, but, what organisations need, even more than ever before, is:
1. help to develop effective information and knowledge strategies, that maximise the best processes, methods, tools and technologies, to better achieve objectives, at the top level
2. help to develop more naturally flourishing knowledge communities and networks, using these new tools and technologies
3. help to produce more innovative business processes, embedding these new tools and technologies
4. help to teach knowledge workers how to use these new methods, tools and technologies, to better communicate, collaborate, learn, share and apply knowledge
Web 3.0 tool developers, like Radar Networks, promise even more meaning and automation!
So I put it to you that Web 2.0, and future methods, tools and technologies that emerge, will give us all simply unbelievable and extraordinary potential to work in totally new ways.
But to optimise them, will require even more information management and knowledge management consulting - strategic, people centric, process centric and effective knowledge working centric - than ever before?
Ron Young

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
From knowledge couch potato to knowledge creator I enjoyed participating in a Webinar this week on Web 2.0 Metrics.
One of the speakers presented an interesting 'Participation Pyramid' for web browsing.
The pyramid has four levels:
Level 1 - Couch potatoes
The bottom wide layer he called 'couch potatoes' who don't 'participate' but simply browse.
Level 2 - Collectors
The next layer up in the pyramid, fewer in numbers, participate as the 'Collectors' who find something useful and save it. I remember a friend of mine once referred to extreme types of collectors as 'magpies'.
Level 3 - Critics
The next layer up in the pyramid, even fewer in number, are the 'Critics' who actively participate in thinking, reviewing and commenting and providing feedback.
Level 4 - Creators
The top layer in the apex of the pyramid, even fewer in number (maybe as little as 1% only of the total pyramid) are the most participative - they are the creators of the content.
I think this is simple and cool !
The challenge, apparently, is to gradually develop couch potatoes into creators ?
I like the notion of thinking about knowledge couch potatoes, knowledge collectors, knowledge critics and knowledge creators !
It reminds me of another statistic I came across in my earlier change management consulting years.
In any organisation:
20% Ludites - they will never change 50% Pragmatists - I'll believe it when I see it ! 20% Enthusiasts - boy do we need these supporters 10% Creators and Innovators
Monday, January 22, 2007
Free 30 minute video presentation 'Introduction to Knowledge Management' We have now embedded a free 3o minute video presentation 'Introduction to Knowledge Management ' on our website, courtesy of Knowledge Associates.
It is presented by Ron Young, CEO Knowledge Associates, and it is well rated, so take a look.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Accelerating the knowledge creation process !
I never cease to be amazed by the speed of web working, and the acceleration of the knowledge creation and knowledge transfer processes.
Let me give a simple example of what happens to me daily in my knowledge creation work, and, indeed, what happens to any knowledge worker using the blogsphere.
Example: A knowledge worker in Europe blogs his/her critique and insights on, say, the emergence of some exciting new knowledge technology enablers at 13.15pm on a monday. At 3am tuesday morning, a knowledge worker in Canada reads the blog and makes valuable comments and further insights. A knowledge worker in Australia immediately builds and comments on the comments from Canada further. And so it passes on, building new insights and comments as it passes through India and SE Asia.
The original blogger in Europe wakes up the next day to an amplification of his/her insights, gets inspired and stimulated by the feedback, and, as a result, develops the new insights even further. And so the process continues.
What I find to be extraordinary, in this ever flattening world, is that this new knowledge develops equally, as it is created and shared throughout the world!
The knowledge creation and knowledge transfer process has accelerated beyond individual comprehension - to a truly collaborative virtual team effort. The primary knowledge creating entity is, without doubt, the collaborative virtual team.
The difference is - I never know from one day to the next who the virtual knowledge team will be, or where they are !
Also, I never need to tell anybody to do anything at all - they just want to do it!
Ron Young
writing 'Planetary Knowledge - enlightened knowledge working'
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Web 3.0 tools for both structured and unstructured information I very much enjoyed reading the article from Nova Spivak on 'Minding the Planet' and responding on his site. There is much that he writes that I simply and strongly resonate with. His article is a 'must read' for futurists
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2006/11/minding_the_pla.html
I have also included my response to his article here, as I would welcome further comment and feedback on the direction Web 3.0 tools need to take.
Response
I certainly agree with your views on collective intelligence and helping to enable a better world. I agree with your distinction between information and knowledge and how we can look forward to technologies helping us to develop explicit knowledge on the web through multiple connections in context.
When I founded my km consulting firm, Knowledge Associates in 1993, in Cambridge UK, we thought we had the tools and answers to help individuals, teams and organizations better manage their knowledge.
We had no problem at all with tools to help people better capture, store, share, better collaborate, and amplify their knowledge. That works well.
The problem started higher up the km process, with getting organizations to invest in, and getting people to want to create, more meaning through effective ontologies metadata, etc. The problem centred around the ‘harvesting of new learnings and ideas’, and then turning this into better knowledge.
I welcome and support your view that people will now, to a degree, create their own metadata and tagging e.g. flickr and del.icio.us examples. I also welcome new developments in semantic metadata creation tools and techniques.
The other development I observed, whilst chairing many km conferences in Europe, was the debate on the development of content meaning, between ‘structured’ information tools based on logic and metadata on the one hand, and ‘unstructured’ information tools based on pattern recognition, statistical probability theory, and automatic metadata creation, on the other hand.
This reminded me of the analogy with the two hemispheres of the brain. For the brain to function well, in sensing, interpreting and creating meaning, it needs both the logical, digital, interpretation, and it needs the illogical, analog interpretation. I came to the conclusion that the next wave of tools needed both/and and not either/or.
It seems that your thinking has come a long way towards this, since then.
Once these tools are available, I believe that we will then move to the next level of, both people and machines, being able to harvest new learnings and ideas and truly create new knowledge faster and better than ever before.
That’s the quantum leap for me!
Good luck with your developments and tools for 2007.
Ron Young
Monday, January 15, 2007
Explicit knowledge on the Web? We have always said that 'my knowledge made explicit on the web, becomes information to you, until you choose to internalise any of that information, and add it to your knowledge internally'.
The argument being that only humans can make the connections and associations internally.
Now, we are constantly reminded that we can tag and connect pictures, videos, blogs, wiki's, websites, aggregators and all. A website can now be a huge and increasing set of connections and associations externally.
It is argued, by some, that these external clusters of links and associations, becoming increasingly complex, are not just information, but can now be considered as emerging primitive explicit knowledge representations!
Do you agree?
Saturday, January 13, 2007
KM why bother - it's already known! The greatest lesson for me continues to repeat itself - it's already known!
Every time I think I have discovered something quite new, even leading edge, I get pointed to an article or a book that describes it. Often much much better than I had known it!
The question 'What do I/we know?' bears no comparison with 'What is known'
I have had some extraordinary ideas, over the past 20 years, about the development of the global brain and how humanity is just prototyping the evolution of our next brain, using the web, only to find another tremendous article that says it all! So much better than I ever will.
I learned that 'sem' is Tibetan for Mind; that 'semantikos' is Greek for having meaning; and that 'semantic' is English for pertaining to or arising from meaning. Wrap that meaning around the 'semantic web' !!!
Forget my KM consulting hat for a moment, but terms like 'facilitating the world's knowledge' and , at last, considering how the semantic web will contribute to true 'explicit knowledge on the web' (highly interconnected contextual connections) as opposed to turning 'my knowledge into your information' on the web, really resonate deeply!
So I am not sure whether to keep on learning, to give me personal knowledge, or just enjoy the beauty of life - knowing that it is already known anyway :-)
I recommend you read Nova Spivack 'Minding the Planet - the Meaning and Future of the Sematic Web' at:
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2006/11/minding_the_pla.html
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Web 3.0 debut and KM - here we go ! My blog of January 2006 talked about 'KM and Web 2.0'
Coincidentally, January 2007, I start this year by reading some extraordinary developments forecast for Web 3.0 by Nova Spivak over at the Kurzweilai.net set entitled:
" The Third-Generation Web is Coming
Web 3.0, expected to debut in 2007, will be more connected, open, and intelligent, with semantic Web technologies, distributed databases, natural language processing, machine learning, machine reasoning, and autonomous agents. "
It's a great 'must' read for Web 3.0 followers and global KM visionaries :
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=memelist.html?m=3%23689
Do you buy in to Web 3.0?


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Thursday, December 21, 2006
Planetary Knowledge The knowledge entity has changed. It has moved from individual knowledge to planetary knowledge.
Along the way, we have learned more about team knowledge, organisational knowledge, and community knowledge entities. These are great developments, but it is now possible, and certainly more effective, to make the quantum leap directly from individual to planetary knowledge.
What is planetary knowledge? It is a term that I propose to you to mean the ‘globalization of individual knowledge’. Planetary knowledge is a reality today.
New personal knowledge management strategies, processes, methods, tools and technologies enable the individual to create, capture, store, share, amplify and apply knowledge globally.
Since 1993, I have been working with individuals, teams, organisations and communities around the world, helping them to better manage knowledge.
Today I am ready to move to the next evolutionary stage
– to planetary knowledge
- to the globalization of individual knowledge.
If you would like to read my book ‘Planetary Knowledge,’ as it is being written during early 2007, and, hopefully, comment, feedback and contribute, please send me an email with brief details to:
ronyoung@knowledgeassociatesint.com

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
KM, videotechnologies and YouTube As a KM consultant, I remember Gartner Research Group in the mid 90's predicting that video technology will have one of the greatest impacts on KM in the future.
This was because they understood the 'richness' of information the technology would provide for faster potential knowledge transfer.
When I look at www.youtube.com and its staggering popularity for communicating, collaborating and sharing knowledge through video, I can see that Gartner may have got this ver right!
Even recently designed KM processes can be turned upside down by such effective and disruptive technologies as web video, wiki's, blogs, pods, RSS and lots more to come ....
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
KM and KAM! The more I practice as a KM consultant, the more I realise that organisations relate much more easily to the notion of 'knowledge asset management' than knowledge management.
They are not that interested in theories about what knowledge is and how it is created and shared, but they are very interested indeed in how to create profit, or value, or better service from tangible knowledge assets.
You can't manage and measure knowledge, but you can certainly manage and measure knowledge assets.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
KM and accreditation Tomorrow, I start to teach and facilitate another 5 day KM accreditation programme for a new team of consultants. This time it is in Edinburgh.
I always enjoy these intensive programmes because we all learn so much from each other. It's new knowledge creation at its best for me!
Although I have done this afar in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Paris, Cambridge and Birmingham, Budapest, people ask, 'Can this be done through the internet?'. Absolutely, yes.
Let me know if you are interested in the topic of KM certification and accreditation. Email me at
- ronyoung@knowledge-management-online.com


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Thursday, September 21, 2006
KM - The Open Source KM Consulting Methodology debate?
The concept of 'Open Source' was originally conceived for 'knowledge' 'OSK' but quickly found its exponential value in open source software 'OSS'.
I would like to help create a global community of KM Practitioners and Consultants who wish to share and develop an Open Source KM Consulting Methodology. The first version is available now and I look forward to exponential growth in its future development. It has to be the way for 21stC Consulting.
If you are interested in such a community please email me: ronyoung@knowledgeassociates.com
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
KM and co-creation Whilst sharing some frustration about a client's apparent lack of knowing what they realy wanted, with a fellow KM consultant and team member, he said,
"Many organizations simply don't know what they want. But once you give them something, then they can start to agree and disagree, and then the process of co-creation starts!
Wisdom!


KM-Blog-Jul2006



Wednesday, July 12, 2006
KM - You cannot fit an organism into an organization A human being is an organism. People working together are organisms collectively communicating, collaborating, learning and sharing knowledge.
Many clients, when they are starting to learn about KM, try to fit what they are learning into their existing 'organizational' structure and paradigm. It's an old paradigm. It's wrong thinking. It will fail to reach its full potential. Organisations and organising are sub-sets of the fuller functioning of a living organism.
The problem is that the word 'organization' is not suited to knowledge management. Information based organisations are fine because we are talking about 'organised bodies which give orderly structure to components'.
But organisms are 'entities that take the organised body further by connecting parts that are interdependent and share a common life'. So using the term 'management', which is more effective for information but not knowledge, doesn't help either.
We need to create a new and easily understandable and acceptable term for 'knowledge based organisms' to bring this new knowledge creating/sharing/applying paradigm more easily to life.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Writing a KM Strategy Having written several KM strategies for organisations in different industry sectors, I am now even more convinced, after 12 years, that the best way to write a KM strategy is to enable the client to write it themselves, with our KM coaching and facilitation.
The client understands his/her business much better than we ever will. When we write strategies we often hear the client say, - thats good but its too generic, we want to express it in our business terms and context much more!
Of course, the KM consultant is very well positioned to know the principles, different knowledge strategies (transformative and operational), processes, methods and tools to apply, and gradually becomes better positioned to understand and advise in the particular industry sector concerned, but the client will always know best (even if he/she does not realise that).
So I rather like providing a first draft and then letting the client own it and develop it for their business. I then offer new possibilities, constructive challenges, understanding and support. The end result is a client who has better bought in to the KM strategy as there own, understand it and is prepared to implement it.

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Sunday, March 26, 2006
KM and Open Source Methods? We are all very familiar with open source software, and there are several offerings available for KM, but I do not see much open source consulting methodology for KM available.
As the original idea for open source was conceived around 'open knowledge', for which we are starting to see significant develops, eg wikipedia, I was wondering if anybody knew of any open source methodologies for KM. At www.knowledge-management-online.com we are starting to do this and, naturally, we are interested in working together with other groups.
Would you be interested in a wiki on knowledge management consulting?
Thursday, March 23, 2006
KM, resurgence and new technologies I hear an increasing number of people saying 'KM is having a resurgence due to the new web 2.0 technologies, especially, wiki's, blogs, rss feeds and syndication, podcasts etc.
I agree, strategically designed and/or volunteer powered, there are, 'potentially', even better new ways of working, based on these new technologies, that will provide an extraordinary ability to produce extraordinary knowledge working (by today's standards) .
Like most good innovation, it is fueled by disruptive technologies which then leads on to improved strategies, processes, methods tools and techniques.
Lets hope, as KM practitioners, that this resurgence is properly perceived and it does not just become a dominant technology issue again.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Knowledge and Wisdom As a KM practitioner, consultant and lecturer, I am always asked by new students
What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom?
As at today's date, Wikipedia defines knowledge and wisdom as:
'Knowledge' is information of which someone is aware. Knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject, potentially with the ability to use it for a specific purpose.
'Wisdom' is the ability to make correct judgments and decisions. It is an intangible quality gained through experience some think. Yet others think it is a quality that even a child, otherwise immature, may possess independent of experience or complete knowledge.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge
Let me also throw in a few personal definitions :
1. we communicate information to one another (one person's knowledge is another person's information)
2. learning is the process of turning information into knowledge
3. we build and apply knowledge (wisely or unwisely, specialised and generalised)
4. knowledge can be relative to other knowledge, within a specific and specialised domain, with a time limit on the value of the content (which can change)
4. wisdom is valuable knowledge that is timeless and changeless and can be applied across different domains
This is an interesting debate that KM practitioners continually face. Do you have any further comments, challenges or opinions about these definitions in the specific context of Knowledge Management in Organisations?
Monday, March 06, 2006
KM and the real value of disruptive and enabling technologies In the late 1980's early 1990's we experienced a radically new way of working in groups as a result of some new emerging technologies that we called 'groupware'. Lotus Notes was, and still is to my mind, a leader in this area.
As a result, collaborative technologies such as these were better able to support more effective virtual team working. Leading KM technology infrastructures were based on these new emerging technologies.
Then, for a period of 10 years, the debate ran, something like 'KM is not a technology, its about people processes and supporting technologies, its an holistic discipline. True enough! Even the technologists themselves put technology down.
But, in my opinion, it was the emerging technologies that gave us new and better knowledge working potential, and where there has been failure, its been in our inability to develop effective strategies, processes and competencies that fully exploit these technologies.
Today, I see the same phenomena again!
The radically new emerging technologies that some like to call Web 2.0, the wiki's the blogs, the RSS feeds etc are once again providing enormous potential to create and harness global knowledge. Our challenge is to develop appropriate strategies, processes and new competencies to fully exploit this.
On the other hand, I feel that the emerging technologies need to be so simple and so powerful to use, with such obvious benefit that people will simply not want to go back to the old way of working. Maybe WEb 2.0 is getting there? Maybe the examples of Wikipedia, and the like, are showing that the toools are both radically new and radically simple to use.
I just hope that the emerging conferences in 2006 will move us all forward faster, and not get us stuck in the old debate about people and technology again. To my mind, technology is an extension and enabler for humanity and should be positively embraced.
Collective knowledge creation through wiki's, at least, seriously challenge the academic institutional processes of knowledge creation, at least for the time being, I think?
I look forward to even more disruptive technologies and innovations over the next few years.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
A Corporate KM system in action based on wiki technologies and blogs It was refereshing to read in the UK Financial Times Special Report on a 'Focus on the Use of Knowledge Management', 0f 25th January 2006, that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), one of the biggest UK organisations, has been using wiki technologies and have recently added blogging to their knowledge management suite.
Reading the article, by Kate Mackenzie, it seems to me that Euan Semple, head of knowledge management solutions, for the BBC has got one thing very right. He has provided technologies that encourage more 'natural and spontaneous' communication and information sharing.
This can only lead to increased trust and more natural knowledge creation and sharing.
I was interested to read that blogging made an executive "real in a way that most other executives aren't". That sounds more promising for the future!

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Monday, February 20, 2006
Knowledge creation - both systemic and systematic Last week I worked on two KM strategies - one which was leading with a systemic approach to knowledge creation, and the other was leading with a systematic approach.
I realised that wherever possible we should incorporate both approaches if we wish to optimise knowledge creation, but one approach should 'lead' according to the nature and type of the knowledge being created.
In an organisation that is concerned with compliance, security, safety (especially human safety), unique positioning and reputation, a continuous and systematic approach and robust processes, with critical peer and professional expert review at key stages, may well be required. They will also probably seek proprietary software development and support. Knowledge creation is internalised.
In an organisation that does not have these considerations or constraints, it can also take full advantage of the radically new ways of creating and organising human knowledge through open, democratic, global, self directing and self regulating knowledge leveraging, using internet enabled wikis etc, probably using open source software technologies. Knowledge creation is externalised.
There will be situations where both approaches can be applied together.
So I am reminded that KM is far more dependant on the nature, type and application of desired knowledge in an organisation, than the methods and tools to support it?
That's back to strategy!

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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
KM and the next step forward I am so glad to be working with Hull University Business School on the development of their MSc in KM to be launched at Easter 2006.
What excites me is that this higher degree has two modules on KM, a module on Organisational Development and Learning, a module on Systems Thinking and a module on Corporate Strategy.
Such a powerful combination. Combining the systemic and the systematic, combining the strategy, people, processes and technologies - a well balanced and holistic approach.
But, surely, this needs a new term beyond the Knowledge Management?
Monday, January 30, 2006
KM and Web 2.0 One of my favourite thinkers of today is Peter Russell (www.peterussell.com).
His work on 'The Global Brain', as a living and self regulating organism made me think hard about the evolution of increasingly complex global information and communication technology structures.
Since the early 1990's we have seen an evolution from the 'broadcasting' of information (the push/send model) to the 'shared workspace' with collaborative working, learning and sharing models (the share/pull model). Increasingly, we refer to these more highly interactive and collaborative models as major characteristics that define web 2.0 capability and functionality.
In my work with organisations that seek enterprise wide knowledge management I have tried to bring about more learning and knowledge sharing across and between collaborative teams that share a common interest or 'key knowledge area(s)'. In turn, these key knowledge areas are derived from the organisations objectives i.e. what key areas of knowledge do we need to create, transfer and apply to help us better achieve our objectives?
Maybe this will be a characteristic of web 2.1?
I think that knowledge management, as a discipline, is moving faster in the world of increasingly complex systems of communication, learning and knowledge sharing than the evolution of the web - in terms of theory and process - but, of course, without the support of the appropriate web technologies and tools to support and enable the process - it will not go to far beyond theory only? posted by Ron Young at 8:51 AM 0 comments links to this post
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Wiki and Global KM I am simply fascinated, and somewhat in awe of the tremendous developments of wiki's and blogs in the context of knowledge management.
Recently, after years of KM consulting to help organisations better capture, store, share, create and apply new knowledge, I came to the conclusion that self-organising global wiki' s will simply transform the creation and distribution, at least, of knowledge bases.
The argument today centres around the more traditional KM practice of harvesting new learnings and ideas and 'critically' reviewing them with a view to improving the knowledgebase under the supervision of a knowledge base owner, versus, community added and edited, democratically created open source information content.
My initial conclusion is that the wiki world, and all that it represents, will grow exponentially as a key component to creating and sharing our global knowledge. However, I don't think its an 'either/or' situation at all, but inevitably it will become a 'both/and' situation - knowing when to use wiki tools to collaborate and when to use critical expert reviews to create new knowledge.
I am more excited by these so called web 2.0 tools than I have ever been in the KM development arena.

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Knowledge management supportive human resource environment
Journal of the Academy of Business and Economics, Jan, 2004 by Yong S. Choi
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ABSTRACT
The successful implementation of knowledge management (KM) can provide the capability to understand the market, accurately assess the customers' needs, and turn them into products and services by integrating organizational resources. Since organization's knowledge is personal, building of organizational knowledge is unthinkable without employees. This study has two objectives. One is to identify differences between the perceived importance (organizations without KM) and the actual importance (organizations with KM) attributes for successful KM implementation. The other is to develop and empirically examine the knowledge supportive human resource (HR) factors affecting the success of KM From the results of statistical analysis, important generalizations are suggested Attributes with lower degree of perceived importance were implemented less frequently and Top Management Support is a critical factor for KM success.
1. INTRODUCTION
Knowledge Management (KM) includes the process of discovery, creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. For successful implementation of KM program, executives and managers need to understand the various organizational aspects including organizational structure, culture, human resource, and technology. Especially, human resource became one of the critical factors for effective KM. Organizational knowledge must be created based on each employee's knowledge. That is, organizational knowledge is personal and building of organizational knowledge is unthinkable without employees (Lesser, et. al.,. 2001). As numerous organizational studies have recommended, KM supportive human resource (HR) environment has been a key to success factor for KM program. However, little empirical research has been conducted on this issue. Moreover, there has been no investigation as to how organizations that have not been engaged in KM perceive success factors of KM differently than organizations that have implemented KM. Thus, there are two objectives of this study. First is to identify differences between the perceived importance (organizations without KM) and the actual importance (organizations with KM) attributes for successful KM implementation. The second objective is to develop and empirically examine the HR factors affecting the success of KM.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies from various disciplines have identified several key HR variables for the success of KM The findings by leading KM researchers are major sources that can be used to identify the critical success factors of KM. Numerous studies point out the importance of training in KM. Training should provide employees and managers the skills and information to fulfill their responsibilities. One of the reasons for the failure in effective work behaviors would be insufficient training to support KM principles. Well-engineered training initiatives help to retain knowledge within the organization. (Acton and Golden, 2003; Cohen and Backer, 1999).
Employee involvement describes how all employees can contribute effectively to meeting the organization's objectives. Employee involvement is one of key factors in successful KM implementation because the nature of knowledge creation and sharing is unthinkable without employee involvement. (Bartlett, et. al., 2002).
The transformation to a knowledge-based organization requires peer-to-peer collaboration. That is, teamwork is an essential source of the knowledge generation process. Creating teams allows organizations to apply diverse skills and experiences towards its processes and problem-solving An organization's members must work together and build on each other's ideas and strengths. Anyone who has knowledge and interest in a problem should be included on the team (Greengard, 1998).
Employee empowerment is also a key factor for KM success because true empowerment can give the employees a sense of ownership in the overall aim of the organizational KM system. Employers can value their employees' expertise through empowerment (Martinez, 1998). Further, employers can tape into employees' knowledge and help them communicate their knowledge by creating ways to capture, organize, and share knowledge.
For successful KM project, the visible leadership and commitment of top management must be sustained throughout a KM effort because effective knowledge creation is not possible unless leaders empower employees and show a strong commitment to the organization. That is, top management must be willing to communicate with employees to make knowledge realistic and coordinate KM implementation process (Dess and Picken, 2000). To exert their leadership and commitment in implementing a KM project: (1) they must have sufficient knowledge; (2) they must have realistic expectation of KM results; (3) they must communicate with employees; and (4) they must have the ability to coordinate the different interests of functional units involved in the KM implementation process.
3. RESEARCH DESIGN
The sampling frame for this research consisted of the U.S. firms listed in the Gallup Organization's client database. A total of 1000 questionnaires were distributed. The number of returned questionnaires was 220. Among the returned questionnaires, three responses were unusable because too many values were missing. Thus 217 responses were used for the data analysis.
Is knowledge management the future of HR?
Posted Apr 1, 1999
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Creating a sharing culture becomes primary task
During the past 18 months, I’ ve spoken with a number of HR managers who are astounded by the amount of executive interest in the emerging discipline of knowledge management. Most of the reaction I’ ve received within the HR community involves senior management interest in developing ways to implement knowledge sharing programs that provide sustainable competitive advantage.
Listening to those senior executives, it becomes apparent that two issues are driving the need to implement KM programs: In this emerging knowledge economy, KM is a necessity for any organization that wishes to remain competitive, and/or the competition has allocated budgets and personnel to develop an internal KM program.
In many cases, KM has emerged as a key lever in strategic planning. In other organizations, IT executives have found that leading the effort to develop an infrastructure that allows the free exchange of employee experience and expertise has expanded their role outside traditional limits. Because KM results in the creation of an information infrastructure providing solid, measurable benefits to the organization, many senior IT managers have experienced an increase in their ability to influence strategic decisions. KM has provided a quantifiable method of measuring the contribution of IT to the entire organization.
The emergence of the HR executive
A similar trend is now emerging within human resource management. While the involvement of IT is critical to any successful KM program, it is becoming increasingly apparent that HR plays an equal, if not more important, role in designing a system to share employee knowledge. The establishment of a sophisticated infrastructure that allows knowledge to be collected and disseminated across an organization can only benefit those who understand the advantages it provides. HR managers who realize the value of KM can provide the cultural direction needed to ensure success.
Barnett’ s (www.barnettinternational .com) Knowledge Management Group has conducted a number of employee focus groups across a variety of industries. That research makes it clear that employees will not share knowledge and expertise until they believe they will be rewarded for it. To maximize the value of knowledge sharing, employees must understand the following:
• the benefits that sharing knowledge and experience provide to them as individuals,
• the advantages that will be gained to the organization as a whole,
• senior management recognizes the sharing of knowledge,
• knowledge sharing has become an integral part of every employee’ s daily function,
• a compensation/reward system is in place to recognize and promote employees who adopt that new behavior.
Many companies expend resources developing a corporate culture of sharing knowledge and experience. Leveraging that investment, successful HR managers recognize that unlike fixed assets, the intellectual assets contained in the minds of employees are the only assets that gain value every time they’ re used. The most creative and innovative employees have always been the highest in demand and cause the greatest loss in value when lured to a competitor, and companies that fail to capture their employees’ collective knowledge suffer the loss of that wisdom every time an employee walks out the door.
HR’ s new job
A critical factor in developing the type of knowledge transfer that will put an organization ahead of the competition is the ability to convince employees to share their expertise. That is emerging as HR’ s most important function.
The HR executive who can create and implement a process to maximize the intellectual assets of an organization will become as important to the organization as the CFO. As the knowledge economy continues to emerge, organizations, which for years have been satisfied with the status quo, will quickly realize that maximizing the value of intellectual assets is more important than maximizing fixed assets. Once that becomes apparent, what CEOs want to tell their board of directors that they’ ve done a great job managing the company’ s cash and a lousy job managing human capital?
The experience that Barnett’ s Knowledge Management Group has gained in the creation and implementation of KM initiatives has led to the development of a training program that HR can use during the implementation of a KM system. It has also been used in new hire training, training of newly promoted managers and as annual training for sales, marketing and research personnel.
Knowledge management training modules include: What is Knowledge Management, The Market for Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Roles, Knowledge Management Technology, Intellectual vs. Fixed Capital, Knowledge Management Within the Industry (customized for each), Interactive Case Study, Sharing of Best Practices, Implementation and Glossary.
Those types of formulized training programs are only one step in helping human resources create a knowledge sharing culture within an organization. Another activity that is useful in ensuring maximum value is a review of compensation systems to identify the existence of barriers that might stifle the sharing of knowledge. A number of firms have changed their interviewing process to more accurately identify prospective employees who will easily adapt and flourish in an organization that seeks to maximize collaboration.

Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
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THE FOURTH PERSPECTIVE - KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN HUMAN
RESOURCES CONTEXT
Mika Hannula, mika.hannula@tut.fi
Marianne Kukko, marianne.kukko@tut.fi
Jussi Okkonen *,jussi.okkonen@tut.fi
Institute of Business Information Management, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
Keywords: knowledge management, competencies, organisational development
Abstract
The aim of this study is to enlighten the use of
knowledge management in Finnish companies
in HR context. The study is based on a survey
conducted in autumn 2002. The target group
was the TOP 50 Finnish companies. It was
assumed that every Finnish TOP 50 company
uses knowledge management in some extent.
Earlier there has been only case studies, thus
there is need for this study.
Contributions of this study are firstly to
describe the history and the current state of
knowledge management in Finnish TOP 50
companies. Secondly, to see what are the
rationales of using knowledge management.
By surveying only the HR personnel the
actual state-of-the-practice in KM is hardly
revealed, as there are also other perspectives
such as IT and handling documents. The
delineation of this study is challenging in
some extend, as it considers the largest and
therefore the most well-resourced companies.
Though, one might suggest those are the most
interesting ones. As a conclusion this study
discusses the use of knowledge management
as part of balanced performance measurement
by setting frame for the use of the “fourth
perspective”.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of assets has changed along
the economic revolutions. In feudal age most
important asset was land, thus nations based
their competitive advantage on ruling it.
Modernisation changed the picture as
financial capital become most important. With
financial assets it was possible to acquire
physical assets for production. Labour was
considered replaceable. As the nature of
organisations has become more knowledgeintensive,
the importance of competencies, i.e.
knowledge and skills, is emphasised. In postindustrial
society capital is available from
global markets. Because it is difficult to get
right knowledge in right time, knowledge
based assets are the essence of contemporary
business.
The importance of intangible assets has
increased rapidly in knowledge society. In
order to survive, companies, and other
organisations too, are in need of the
competitive advantage of more efficient
exploitation of human resources and
intellectual capital. Intellectual capital
management is one of rising functions in
Finnish companies. An important part of it is
knowledge management.
This study is based on the notion of new
managerial practices in contemporary
organisations. There are several new
disciplines, say managerial fad’s, promoted by
business consultants. To make sense of the
conceptual jargon this empirical study was
conducted. This study aims to enlighten the
ways how intangible assets are managed in
companies. The study is based on an survey of
Finnish companies. The target group was
Finnish TOP 50 companies, hence those are
the ones with potential resources for extended
knowledge management function.
Performance measurement is a well-explored
topic. There are numerous extended studies on
designing measures, implementing
performance measurement, and also on the
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
2/8
rationales for using it. In many studies one
point of measurement is seen problematic, i.e.
how to measure immeasurable or how to
manage intangible. Yet performance
measurement deals partly with the same issues
as knowledge management does, however
latter is designated for operative use but it can
also contribute to more strategic scope of
performance measurement.
Intellectual capital management is one of the
rising functions in companies. An important
part of it is knowledge management, which is
closely connected to performance
measurement. Firstly, in order to improve
performance, there should be a plan for
competency improvement. Secondly, in order
to know its current position, an organisation
should conduct a competence survey to
identify core competencies and major
competency gaps. Thirdly, the plan should be
implemented by defining target levels for
subsequent competency surveys in the desired
areas and making action plans to achieve
them. Measurement is used for continuous
improvement as an organisation sets and
resets target levels as it advances. Fourthly, as
innovations are source of renewal, the creation
of new knowledge should be enabled by
sharing the existing one. The use of
performance measurement and knowledge
management is an internal process; both
components are supportive to each other. Both
functions consider external and internal
environment of organisations, yet the process
itself is an internal matter.
Knowledge management is a managerial
philosophy, which is perceivable in the
practices of different organisations.
Knowledge management is not an ultimate
tool that solves all information and knowledge
creation and transfer problems. However,
utilising knowledge management, better
performance can be achieved by interaction
between individuals or groups. Moreover, to
be efficient, knowledge management requires
storage for information and knowledge, which
is open to organisation members for searching
critical information, knowledge, or the best
practices. Thus knowledge management is the
learned methods for knowledge sharing and
interaction and, furthermore, knowledge
management clarifies which way to operate.
Knowledge management should be considered
an organisational process, which is used to
achieve better performance due to effective
knowledge sharing and organisational
learning, recognizing and developing
competencies, and gaining from individually
different skills and knowledge. The greatest
benefit gained through knowledge
management is that it aims to save the most
important asset in contemporary
organisations, the time people have, by
emitting knowledge within organisation and
fostering new knowledge.
USES OF THE TOOLS
Performance measurement simply considers
the act of measuring various factors affecting
and resulting from business, e.g. financial and
non-finacial factors, and then using the
measurements in the managerial processes.
Knowledge management is about various
activities and tools, e.g. knowledge surveys,
document databases, reporting policies, etc.),
which are used in order to improve employee
competencies and to make the use of
information more efficient also in the
organisational context (see e.g. [1], [2]).
Okkonen, Pirttimäki, Lönnqvist and Hannula
[3] examine the connection of knowledge
management and performance measurement
as follows.
Performance measurement can be used as a
tool to analyse the effectiveness of knowledge
management activities. Sometimes
performance measures provide the
information needed in knowledge
management activities. Actually, measuring
employees’ competencies can be called either
knowledge management or performance
measurement.
The strategy process of an organisation
effectuates yet another way of examining the
tools. The strategy process lays down the
formulation, implementation and control over
the realisation of the strategy. Performance
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
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measurement deals with all of the phases of
the strategy process. Firstly, by assigning
measures for strategically important success
factors, employees are guided to implement
the planned strategy. Secondly, the monitoring
of measurement results provides information
regarding the success of the implementation of
the strategy. Thirdly, double-loop learning
may be used to analyse and question the
validity of the strategy. This analysis may be
used in formulating new strategies. As
measurement somewhat emphasises control, it
should not be the main point of the using it.
Moreover, it is suitable way to evaluate
organisational processes and results gained.
Thus control should be comprehended as
leading organisation on the right path.
Also, knowledge management can be used to
support the strategy process. For example, an
organisation’s core competencies can be
identified by analysing employees’
competencies. Sometimes the strategy is
formulated around the core competencies. On
the other hand, knowledge management
activities can be used to implement strategic
objectives, such as the decrease in costs by
more effective knowledge sharing, or the gain
in new know-how among the employees of
the organisation.
The primary reason for using performance
measurement or knowledge management is to
manage and improve the performance of an
organisation. Effective knowledge
management needs performance
measurement. Firstly, in order to know its
current position, an organisation should
conduct a competence survey to identify core
competencies and major competency gaps.
Secondly, in order to improve performance,
there should be a plan for competency
improvement. The plan should be
implemented by defining target levels for
subsequent competency surveys in the desired
areas.
Measurement is used for continuous
improvement as an organisation sets and
resets target levels as it advances. The use of
the performance measurement tool makes
knowledge management more efficient. The
use of performance measurement and
knowledge management is an internal process,
which is iterative, and both components are
dependent on each other. The overlapping in
measurement and target setting is avoided as
performance measurement and knowledge
management are in simultaneous use.
Knowledge management is used to manage
the present competencies in an organisation.
Definitions for critical competencies are
derived from strategy. Knowledge
management communicates with strategy;
however, competencies are very important
when performance is evaluated, thus
knowledge management is also connected to
strategy via performance measurement.
Table 1 The rationales of performance measurement
and knowledge management at the operative and
strategic level [4].
The main rationale for
using the tools
Operative
level, PM
Motivation, control and
guidance of employees,
quality management, etc.
i.e. short
period KM
Effective knowledge
sharing between
employees. Management
knows the organisation’s
knowledge level.
Strategic
level, PM
Implementing strategy
and receiving feedback
for strategy formulation.
i.e. long
period KM
Developing employees’
competencies according
to strategy.
THE SURVEY
The survey [5] was conducted by telephone
and questionnaire was e-mailed to respondents
beforehand. The respondents represented
human resources management (HRM), usually
they were human resources managers or
equivalent. The target group was selected by
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
4/8
year 2001 ranking of Finnish companies by
Finnish business magazine Talouselämä, and
it still represents the rankings on the list.
Collecting answers by telephone inquiry, the
hit rate increased to 88 %, which is relatively
high. The data collected should therefore be
considered extensive. Furthermore 81 % of
respondents use knowledge management,
hence data is sufficient to analyse the use of
knowledge management. The companies that
did not answer, replied that the reason was
lack of time or the extent of the survey and
obscureness of the topic.
The explanation model is somewhat
straightforward, i.e. most of the data is
approached as it is. In some cases it is possible
to cross-tabulate, test, and do more deep
analysis of data. However, as an exploratory
study the aim was to examine the content of
knowledge management. Moreover, in this
phase the background data collected is not
comprehensive as there was need to abridge
the questionnaire and there are other sources
for such data.
The survey was in Finnish, yet there was an
additional difficulty on the name of KM
function. Most common names for such
function were competence management and
competence development. Also knowledge
management and information management
were mentioned. The reasons for
discrepancies are due the nature of function
and because knowledge management is in
evolving stage. Moreover, as the questionnaire
was addressed to HRM, it is obvious, that
competence perspective was emphasised.
History
The use of KM is relatively young
phenomenon in Finland. In Finland discussion
on KM started after Nonaka and Takeuchi
1995 [6] and most companies have started
their KM activities after year 1995. However,
in there are seven companies, which have
pioneered over ten years. As most companies
have been dealing with these issues less than
five year, the field KM is also segmented
among the respondents. There is no pioneer
industry, yet in service sector KM is younger
phenomena than in traditional manufacturing.
It could be assumed that in manufacturing e.g.
R&D has used KM efficiently, as in services
the nature of work has evolved and
competencies have been emphasised in last
decade.
The most important reasons for beginning
knowledge management were: need for
operative knowledge on personnel
competencies (67 %), need for knowledge on
core competencies (47 %) and support for
strategic planning (53 %). Also need for more
efficient knowledge sharing (39 %) was one
important reason, however is assumed that
this aspect is rather emphasized on operational
level than corporate level. Only 28 % of
respondents mentioned that reason for
beginning was interest of a certain person on
such issues. So it could be interpreted that
there are several company bound motives for
KM and not one general one.
The use of knowledge management
The range of KM is wide thus the number of
different elements in it is large. Most
important elements from HR perspective were
personnel education (92 %), personnel
competencies (89 %), personnel experience
(86 %), and plans for competency
development (81 %) or educational plans (81
%). Other elements covered by KM were
different financial etc. reports (58 %), strategy
(67 %), and customer data (61 %). From the
perspective of HR the elements of KM are
distinct, yet taking other perspective the
elements might be different.
Most important aspects of knowledge
management are related to managing
intangible assets. 100 % of respondents
emphasised the importance of the role of KM
in gaining knowledge on personnel
competencies. Moreover 72 % mentioned that
KM has very significant role in personnel
development. There is also significant
interconnection on saving time (69 %) and
saving money (78 %) as the role of KM is
evaluated, thus the notion of using KM in
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
5/8
preventing re-innovations is supported. Also
one important reason for using KM was
increasing availability, sharing and mediating
of knowledge in organisation (78 %). The role
of KM was considered also important to new
ideas (78 %). The role of KM was not so
important in increasing the motivation and
personnel engagement; maintaining personnel
strategy, gaining information to support
decision-making, improve internal and
external recruiting. However, all issues
included the survey were considered to have
some significance at least by 78 % of the
companies.
In the survey the role of KM was to develop
personnel competencies and knowledge (89
%), but also for collecting and disseminating
explicit knowledge (39 %) and disseminating
tacit knowledge (47 %). Only 30 % of the
companies using KM to personnel
development have noticed both explicit and
tacit dimensions of knowledge, and there were
over 50 % of companies ignoring both.
As the survey considered large companies
with thousands of employees most of
companies were using different databases in
KM, e.g. personnel databases (97 %),
education databases (86 %), skills databases
(72 %), and experience databases (58 %).
Intranet was also a common tool in KM (89
%). There were also different company bound
tools.
It could be stated, that as knowledge
management have been recognized in Finnish
companies there will be significant
development in the area. As the survey
considered HR-function some aspects of KM
have been left unexplored. At least those
aspects concerning handling documents, vast
amounts of internal and external data and
information, should be examined from
different perspectives. However, as companies
are more dependant on competencies and right
decisions by employees, the personnel
perspective should not be underrated.
There are several problems in KM. Even in
large companies there is lack of personnel
resources (58 %). Even in those companies,
which had knowledge manager and budget for
KM, considered lack of personnel resources a
problem. Also most of those companies
without KM budget mentioned that budget
was a problem. Other than resources based
problems were defining competencies (58 %),
recognising critical knowledge (50 %),
measuring usefulness of KM (44 %). None of
respondents were seeing outsourcing of KM
as a problem or were planning to do so. There
were also several minor problems. For
example in some cases the engagement of top
management was problematic or there were
difficulties to define experience, utilising
internal information and knowledge or
utilising external information and knowledge.
THE FOURTH PERSPECTIVE
Performance measurement framework is
supposed to help managers to construct a
system that reflects best the situation in
organisation. Kennerly and Neely [7] define
six characteristics of performance
measurement framework. Firstly,
measurement provides balanced picture of
organisations state. Secondly, measurement
points out the most important facts by
simplicity and easy logic. Thirdly,
frameworks are aimed to result a multidimensional
measurement system. Fourthly,
measurement should be comprehensive in
focusing the critical issues. Fifthly, measures
should be integrated across functions and
through hierarchy. And sixthly, as there is
logic in measures and they are connected to
each other, measurement points out cause and
effect
The most common performance measurement
framework is the Balanced Scorecard
introduced by Kaplan and Norton [8]. In such
frameworks there are several perspectives for
success on achieving strategic goals. For
example in the Balanced Scorecard
perspectives are Financial, Customer, Internal
Business Process and Learning and Growthperspectives
[9]. Financial perspective is the
perspective of results, Customer and Internal
Business Process -perspectives are
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
6/8
perspectives for enablers of good results.
Learning and Growth-perspective is the
perspective of competencies and accumulating
intellectual capital. Taking these rough
distinctions between perspectives, it could be
stated that perspective of learning and growth
is the perspective of managing knowledge and
competencies.
As discussed above central elements of
knowledge management were personnel
education, personnel competencies, personnel
experience, and plans for competency
development or educational plans. Taking the
perspective of human resources management
the perspective of development is emphasised,
as most important aspects of knowledge
management were related to managing
intangible assets, gaining knowledge on
personnel competencies or developing
competencies. This is very similar the
perspective in Balanced Scorecard.
The fourth perspective should consider the
definition of critical competencies, the
measurement of critical competencies and the
controlling of competency accumulation. If
organisation has clear definition and
understanding of strategically critical
competencies, the implementation of strategy
would be easier. However, nowadays many
organisations are based on certain core
competency (cf.[10]), so the strategy is
actually based on recognition and definition of
core competencies.
Measurement of competencies is closely
related to definition of them, as measurement
requires operationalisation. Operationalisation
is the process of developing measures, i.e. the
definition of a certain measure. Taking the
fourth perspective, measurement provides
information on existence and levels of defined
competencies. In this sense, measurement is
the bridge between strategic and operational
levels.
As the fourth perspective contains the drivers
of success it is important to turn strategy into
concrete actions. That consists of recognition
of existing gaps in knowledge and skills,
active planning of development, implementing
development schemes, and controlling
achievement of development goals. Actually
the use of measurement is twofold, as it
consists of meta-level (planning the
development) and action-level (controlling the
development). Both levels are important as
meta-level decreases arbitrary elements in
implementing and realisation of the schemes.
DISCUSSION
Companies have recognized the significance
of personnel competencies as an asset in
contemporary business. As competencies of
personnel are differentiated also knowledge
sharing and competency development have
becoming important issues. The discussion on
KM is fragmented, thus there is need for
common language. Especially in other
languages than English, there are several
names for knowledge related issues.
There are still several central aspects of
knowledge and competency to be developed
and evolved in order to become as common as
e.g. performance measurement. The future of
it seems promising as companies are investing
on it also in HR function. There are several
concrete targets of development, but also
several abstract ones. Thus there will be lot to
do in the field of knowledge management. For
example companies have noticed the need for
measuring the utility of knowledge
management. As measuring intangible assets
is a topic on research agenda, researchers
should also pay attention to measuring
knowledge management processes and utility
of it.
Further research should concentrate on a
deeper analysis on the suggested approach to
Learning and Growth –perspective. To some
extent it seems trivial to name it only
performance measurement or knowledge
management. The connection between those
two is tight, therefore the fourth perspective
should be considered as a perspective of
competency development that contains
recognition, evaluation and development.
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
7/8
References
[1] Cortada, J. W. and Woods, J. A. (2000) The
Knowledge management Yearbook 2000-2001.
Butterworth-Heineman, Boston.
[2] Ståhle, P., Gröönroos, M. (2000), Knowledge
Management, Ekonomia. Juva.
[3] Okkonen, J., Pirttimäki, V., Lönnqvist, A., Hannula
M. (2002) Triangle of Performance Measurement,
Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence.
Euram 2002 8.-11.5.2002, Stockholm
[4] ibid.
[5] Hannula, M., Kukko, M., Okkonen, J. (2003)
Osaamisen ja tietämyksen hallinta suomalaisissa
suuryrityksissä. eBRC Research Reports 6,
Tampere.
[6] Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995) Knowledge
Crating Company. How Japanese Companies
Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford
University Press, Oxford
[7] Kennerly, M. and Neely, A. (2002) Performance
measurement frameworks: a review. pp. 145-156 in
Neely, A. (ed.) (2002) Business Performance
Measurement. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge
[8] Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P.(1996) The Balanced
Scorecard: translating strategy into action. Harvard
Business School Press, Boston.
[9] ibid., 9
[10] Prahalad, C.K., Hamel, G. (1990), The Core
Competence of the Corporation, Harward Business
Review, May- June, 79-91.
Business Excellence ’03
The Fourth Perspective Hannula, Kukko, Okkonen
8/8

ISSUES HRM
Dress Code Issue
Hi,
We are a org of 40 odd individuals and we started operation in India in the year 2007. I have joined in recently and had observed that employees were coming in chappals / floaters / jeans inspite of a dress code policy in place. Before me no HR individual adhered to the policy and i am the first (probably) HR who is going by what the policy states. My intentions were to ensure that the policy be followed and my emplyees project a professional image. However inspite of email and having 1 on 1 chat with employees, they fail to abide by the policy. Secondly they have called in for a meeting with me regarding dress code (allowing jeans in office / workdays). Since i have stuck to the policy right from start, i know that i will have to stick to it, wether i like it or not. If i put a relaxation on the policy, it is possible that in future employees might not stick to whatever i implement. I dont want to risk future implication but at the same time i dont want to unnerve the employees. I am in a fix and would like to knwo what could be done to ensure that employees dont forma a group and work against HR, when all the HR is trying to do is support the org and emplpyees in projecting a better picture of teh company. I do have rights where i can issue a warning letters, but for me its to early as i have joined a month back only.

Suggestions are invited on really a urgent basis.

Regards
Trinity-Morpheus

Hi,

I am sure the policy you are referring to will have actions to be taken for those who do not comply with the said policy start penalizing the defaulters by issuing them verbal warning or anything that your policy say.

Since yours is a small organisation i am sure the owner of the business is easily accessible, discuss your concern with him and inform him about the action you are going to take.I am sure if the employer has a policy in place he would definitely like to see its implementation.

Regards

Here are some Office Etiquette and from my point of view it should be followed by every employee......

Office Etiquette or Office Manners is about conducting yourself respectfully and courteously in the office or workplace........

Wear appropriate office attire, for example correct footwear, not things (flip flops) - they are strictly casual or beachwear

The essence of good manners and etiquette is to be respectful and courteous at all times and with everybody
Therefore, treat your co-workers, cleaners, maintenance people and others with respect and courtesy
Good office etiquette is easily achieved by using common courtesy as a matter of course
Keep your interruptions of others to a minimum and always apologize if your intrusion is an interruption of a discussion, someone’s concentration or other activity
Show respect for each others workspace. Knock before entering
Show appreciation for the slightest courtesies extended to you
Be helpful and co-operative with each other.........


With these etiquette we can make entire environment very beautiful.


Thanks
Suman
I feel that any organisation must follow a dress code which shows uniformity.usually mon-fri day it would be formals and saturdays casuals.It is true that before implementing any policy the opinion of the employees has to be considered.As a HR manager your task lies in implementing it tactfully

Regards
Krishna.S
Here are some Office Etiquette and from my point of view it should be followed by every employee......

Office Etiquette or Office Manners is about conducting yourself respectfully and courteously in the office or workplace........

Wear appropriate office attire, for example correct footwear, not things (flip flops) - they are strictly casual or beachwear

The essence of good manners and etiquette is to be respectful and courteous at all times and with everybody
Therefore, treat your co-workers, cleaners, maintenance people and others with respect and courtesy
Good office etiquette is easily achieved by using common courtesy as a matter of course
Keep your interruptions of others to a minimum and always apologize if your intrusion is an interruption of a discussion, someone’s concentration or other activity
Show respect for each others workspace. Knock before entering
Show appreciation for the slightest courtesies extended to you
Be helpful and co-operative with each other.........


With these etiquette we can make entire environment very beautiful.


Thanks
Suman

Dear Trinity-Morpheus,

From your query, it is clear that the problem is not about "which is better - casual or formal", but about how your employees must follow a policy given by you -the HR.

If you start being strict so soon, the reaction will be negative. But if you adapt a middle way and take it easy, you will be seen as a friendly and flexible HR, so the employees would like to follow what you say.

Coming to the point, if your employees have been following a casual dressing for all these years, obviously they will not like sudden restriction on their comfort. It will be taken negatively.

So try to find a middle way, if you want people to comply. For example, instead of implementing a formal dress policy implement stuff like:

- Compulsory formal dress when interacting with clients. Define formal.
- No wearing chappals or floaters. In the rainy season, you can wear decent floaters but not chappals at any cost.
- Casuals must always be smart casuals. So you can make rule for jeans such as - no torn jeans, heavily shaded jeans, patterned jeans etc. Plain jeans would be the best.
- Avoid T-Shirts at all costs. Collared Tshirts can be allowed for men.
-Make the marketing team wear formals.
etc etc...
D/code
1. Pls. convey the message among employees that it is required for audit checklist of dress code..
2.Not following the process of D/code shall be destroying their picture of good employee.
3.Shall be rated in Appraisial.
4.Thier supervisor should follow the above D/code..

Regards,

Deepak
Empower your employees, let them know you’re willing to listen to their ideas and suggestions so long as they remember this is a business and professionalism is primary.

Their less likely to resist if their made a part of the new dress code policy.

“If your not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem”.
MY INTERVIEW EXPERIENCES

What are some of your most funny experiences that you have had going on an interview?
I was straight out of college. I finished the interview and it went really well. I went to leave and picked the wrong door. I went out the back entrance and opened the door to face a huge snow bank. I was not sure what to do so I looked around and did not see anyone. I just climbed over the snowbank in my nice shoes and suit. I was hired and am still working for the same company today almost 10 years later. The story still provides a good laugh!

Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (20)... see more
Did anyone see you walk over the snowbank?
posted 15 days ago

Jan T
Owner, White Lotus Living, a one-stop shop providng chemical-free products for healthy living.
see all my answers
My boss-to-be took me to lunch during our interview. I selected a nice, large green salad from the menu. The waitress delivered it and I had hardly taken two bites when one of the largest flies I had ever seen took a nose dive right into my salad.

What does one do when trying to make the best impression? I just looked down and stared at it for a moment, blinking. I was very relieved when he quickly took the initiative and ordered me a replacement.
posted 15 days ago

Kenya H
Accounting Support Specialist/Owner & Designer @ LKG Designs Inc , a jewelry design firm (in startup stage)
see all my answers
The interviewer (manager) was chewing gum and putting on chapstick while interviewing me! She was a hoot.
posted 15 days ago

Susan S
Executive and Leadership Coach, PCC
see all my answers
While in college, I interviewed with all the big accounting firms and strategy consulting firms. One recruiter must have just learned a trick to make candidates nervous. He kept staring at my feet (we were seated in chairs across from each other, no table.) I kept my cool and as soon as the interview was over, checked to see if something was wrong with my shoes. Of course they were fine, and then I realized I had passed the test of someone trying to psych me out, and staying cool and relaxed because I made it to the next interview
posted 15 days ago

k K
Management Consultant, writer, past TV show producer,
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Ethics (1)
the joke was on me; [and 60 minutes tv show corroborated it]:

in 73, when I went to a temp agency, I was hungry
and thought I could be hooked up with a job
temporarily by the end of the day.
I passed 5 tests and then took the WONDERLIC
test. I scored 85. I sat on the world for 4 hours.

then i discovered, after taking it the 2nd time,
that I scored TOO HIGH for the purpose of
the test. Won.........or, dumb ass lic, is desinged
to Identify mediocre people who will happily
punch machine buttons or take blind orders.

I knew something made no sense when I
aced both times and never got a referral.

the following Saturday, after my disgust, I entered
a Montgomery Wards store in Sacramento and
chatted for the 3rd time with the "store pre-opening
manager." I asked for anything he would give me.
HE said 'mr. --no one has ever returned 3 times
to a store to work part time--especially when
we have a rule to hire NO PT people for
preparation to store openings. But I am going to violate the store rules because you look sharp,
sound energetic, are smart and you have
moxxy. YOU may start now, moving this material
and carrying this stuff,etc.
----------I worked for this crew manager for
1 mo.
---when the HR dept manager was transferred to this store, he was told about me and hired me on the spot
to work PT in the camera dept [where I wanted to be.]
I was offered an opportunity to become a manager
trainee if I could follow their rules and master
their HR book. I was told to take 1 mo to ingest
the book. The following day, I had it memorized.
They were dumbfounded. I was tested and aced the
test.
The morning of the store opening, I was the
only member of my department that knew to
step out from behind the counter and
meet people at the edge of the walk-way in the
store. I was the only one in the store doing that.
About 5 minutes later, the district manager walked
by with his entourage. He vocalized out loud,
"look at this sharp employee, he is out on the
edge of the walkway inviting customers to come
to his department. We should all be doing that!"
--the next day, I was asked to come to the
HR dept and was told I was not to be invited to
become a mgr trainee; that I wore a close cropped
beard but that the store rule was no chin hair, period.
--I told them they were making a great mistake.
--2 yrs later, they began accepting bearded
management trainees.
--2 yrs later, with still too many of their
rules being archaic they filed for ch 7.
---they decided that their rules were more important
to them then earning profits.
wowowoow
posted 15 days ago

Bernie S
Executive Development/Business and Career Transition Coach and Strategist
see all my answers
It was 1999 and I was interviewing with a small start-up which, New Yorker's would know, was upstairs from the Strand bookstore in the Village. The building was disgusting, the elevator took forever and when I got there the air conditioing was out! Two guys came running into the room I was going to be interviewed for with 3 fans, set them up blowing in my face... Well, I had just come from TD Waterhouse where I had a 20 foot office overlooking the Statue of Liberty and this was such a dump. But, when they told me what percentage I would get of the company as a founder if I joined I figured, what the heck, who needs a view and cherrywood furniture. The rest is history, we went public worth almost 3 billion dollars!
posted 15 days ago

Darrell Z
A High Performance Resume Writer at RighteousResumes.com
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Resume Writing (10)... see more
Hi Vanessa,

Now this is a cherry question! Thanks for lightening the mood a bit. When I was hiring for new mortgage consultants and a processor, I pretty much had a very business like lot of candidates with one exception. An attractive larger and taller gal was coming into my office to interview with me, when she announced: "If I can't put my feet up, I'll just die!" Her swollen feet were so swollen around the ankles they split her panty hose. So I agreed she put them right up on my desk for the interview. This was a little awkard since she was wearing a skirt. It was more awkard since she had long legs and due to the size of my office (hey I had a nice view) her feet were, well too close for comfort. I thought seriously about calling 911 but fortunately the swelling went down. I got a few urgent visits from the underwriter and processors who gave me all sorts of strange looks. The look on there face was priceless each time. One of them said: "Oh, did you two want to be left alone?" (Complete with the one eyebrow raised look) We all cracked up laughing several times, then the secretary came in with the coffee and coke we requested. Another zinger and laughter ensued. We all laughed so hard the poor gal peed her pants and the chair was light blue fabric so it showed. Fortunately all ended well.

The moral of the story is: A) Always wear clean underwear B) Don't leave home without it... the medication that is! C) Offices are not the place for selling problems or swelling problems D) All men are pigs is so unfair. These women keep throwing themselves at me. E) Get your mind out of the gutter please F) "You never know when you will meet your next husband" Right Elizabeth?
posted 15 days ago

Sahar A
SR VP Project Management at IGS
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (4)... see more
Vanessa:
Ages ago on an interview I was asked if we park our camels next to our living quarters (I guess he didnt know if we lived in tents: I am Egyptian). I knew that the question had no malioce at all, he just didn't know and was a mummy's movie fan =)
I had fun with this one my reponse was yes and because the camel hump is high I get into the 2nd floor of my tent right away
Neverthless to say I didn't take the job though I qualified, it was in the travel industry so just imagine
True story
Cheers,
Sahar Andrade
posted 15 days ago

Erik K
Business Development Associate at Direct Marketing Group
see all my answers
Ahh great question Vanessa!

Although I have quite a few stories (I interned as a recruiter for a staffing firm), I'll stick with one where I was on the hot seat.

I was interviewing at a very small start-up marketing agency in search of summer employment during my last year in college. I arrived about 10 minutes early, was greeted professionally, and then seated on a couch which served as the waiting area although it was positioned next to the desks of the only three on staff (and let me tell you, in the time I waited, their jobs looked incredibly boring).

I quickly realized that the owner(interviewer) was not there yet so I began to wait patiently. About 10 minutes past my scheduled time, and still now sign of him. And then...the security alarm goes off. I tell you, this was the loudest damn thing you'd ever heard! The staff was frantically trying to turn it off, however it rang for the beter part of 20 minutes until finally the poilice showed up to turn it off (still no interviewer).

Anyways, this story is getting long...interviewer finally shows (35 minutes late) and we begin discussing the position. Halfway through, his phone rings and it's someone from Europe so he insists he takes this (and as the interviewer he does, and wastes another 10 minutes of my time). Finally when the interview is complete we agree to touch base to discuss the opportunity the following week. On my way out, he sketches a $/hr figure on a napkin and casually (very akward) shoved it near my chest and said "this is what we typically pay our interns".

Bottom line: worst, most unprofessional, akward, experience of my life!
posted 14 days ago

Josh C
General Manager at Web Industries; Itinerant Writer; and Decent Little League Coach
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (39)... see more
The time I was interviewed by a very large consumer products company...at the end of the interview I was asked I'd like to work in a tampon factory. I was so taken aback that the only thing I could think to say was "are there any strings attached?"

End of interview, but worth the laugh.

Josh.
posted 14 days ago

Chris S
Interfacing People and Technology: Training, Support, Documentation
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Job Search (1)... see more
I was contacted by a recruiter for a technical writing position. Mind you, I had no technical writing experience, although I did have technical experience, and could write well. I went through the phone interview with the recruiter with no problem, and she said she wanted to set up an in person interview with the hiring manager. Great!

So in the July heat, I donned my suit, tie, and all accessories and headed to the interview. I got a few looks when I walked in the door, but only in hindsight did I notice this. I gave my name at the desk, and sat down to wait. A few minutes later a guy in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt came up and asked if I was here for the interview, and I said yes. He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm Joe, the manager. I guess they didn't tell you about the dress code, huh?" That's a really great way to start, I thought.

So then began the search for a conference room to conduct the interview. He must have stuck his head in 5 different occupied conference rooms with no luck. Eventually, I was led to the small cafeteria/break room for the interview.

So with microwaves going off, people coming in and out, and all kinds of other conversations going on, he proceeded to ask about three questions and I could clearly see that he was already on to whatever else he had to do that day. He then turned over the interview to his co-worker who had exactly zero interviewing experience, and as rattled as I was at this point, was even more nervous than I was.

Fortunately, I did not get, nor want that job! However, I think it is a good experience to have one of those interviews where everything goes wrong. It makes all the other ones easier.
posted 14 days ago

J R S
at Burlington County
see all my answers
What happens to a person who is offered Cuban Coffee on an interview: I just recited this story from memory on the bus on my way to work – This gentleman had an interview in downtown Manhattan, and the hiring manager asked (after the first hour of questions) if it was a good time for a coffee break. They proceed out of the building to a lunch cart, and the manager purchases (1) 16oz cup of Cuban coffee, and returns to his office. The manager then takes out (2) demitasse cups, and proceeds to fill each from the 16oz cup. Perplexed by this action, the interviewee tries the small coffee “sample”, likes it, and the manager asks if he wants more, and hands him the 16oz cup. The interviewee takes the cup, and proceeds to drink the whole 16oz cup. Needless to say, minutes later, his entire body develops a hot flash; sweat is accumulating under his suit, and pouring down the back of his neck. A few more minutes into the interview, his body has the full effect and has to excuse himself to use the restroom as quickly as possible. He has to stop every half hour on drive home on the turnpike. Yes, he got the job for being a good sport.
Links:
• http://convention.americancashflow.com/2007/index.aspx
posted 13 days ago

Heidi T
Independent Computer Networking Professional
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (12)... see more
I had an interview which concluded with a written test. I was taking the test when the fire alarm went off. I evacuated, finished the test in my car, and gave it back to the receptionist. I got the job. I scored perfectly on the test.
posted 12 days ago
REGARDING –HR CASE

Re: HR Case Study
Hi Freinds,

Let me take you through a case study.

This is about 4 employees Radha (26 yrs/Engaged to Avinash/working/ Ambitious) John (bachelor, 20 yrs old ) Avinash( 30 yrs old/ Engaged to Radha, Dominating character) Aslam (45 yr old/ married and settled in life/ superior in the org)

Avinash doesnt want Radha to be working at his level. John is a buddy to Radha but still is jealous of her acheivements. Aslam feels women should not be working, kind of a ancient bugger.

The management makes a decision to move the supervisor out of the org and make one of the 4 as the new supervisor. Radha is chosen as the new supervisor.

The rest of the guys are not happy with her promotion.

Scenario - The business make a profit of 10 crores every year. And the last year it was 12 crores. Suddenly management says to her that she should make 10 crores in the next 2 quaters (6months). Radha doesnt have any choice since if she doesnt make it Avinash will be promoted in her place. And avinash is so upset with Radha that he will ditch her if she fails then. Also he is not happy to work under her as he is engaged to her.
Aslam is a senoir guy and feels very bad to report to radha, john is ok to report to Radha but has evil intentions in his mind about Radha.

What would you suggest Radha should she reach out to you for help ??

Please suggest !

Gud post, If radha is a career oriented girl she can try her level best to try and achieve the turnover of 10 crores else try for the managerial position in other company and settle in life this way she can make avinash love her more. If not ask avinash what to do and then she can decide if she is not that career oriented. And if am radha i would surely prefer my profile and my target because that is what i wanted to become in my life and once i have succeeded then will think to spend time with avinash and make him understand why i did and will convince him that i have done for our future.

Regards,
AJITHAA HASAN

Dear Chetan,

you can refer the following books:

a) Management & Behavioural Processes by Prof K Shridhara Bhat
Published by Himalaya Publishing House (price Rs 325.00)

b) Action Tools for Effective Managers by Margaret Mary Gootnick & David Gootnick
Published by Amacom (price Rs 395.00)

c) For the benefit of upcoming trainers, I had uploaded two case studies. Click the following link to refer these:

Case Studies: "Communication Gaps Galore"


Regards,

Dinesh V Divekar
Freelance Soft Skill & Behavioural Trainer
Bangalore - 560 094
+ 91 9900155394
Hi,

As far as Radha is concerned, I would say that both business and personal life are two different Extremes and one should not mix up the business with the personal life. If Avinash is so much worried about the happenings, It clearly shows that he doesnt have any work - Life balance. He need to be made understood about the situation clearly and Radha is promoted only for the reason that she is performing. Avinash should be happy instead of being worried to share that radha is a performer.

As far as john is concerned, Organizational politics would surely evolve in any organizational setup. It is the responsibility of each individual in the organization, to direct the organizational politics to a productive way.

Aslam, as mentioned, is a superior guy who would really would have worries in reporting to a person who is younger then him. This is where the issue of experience/ performance based appraisal system takes place. Aslam and every other person in the organization should be clearly explained about the metrics through which radha is promoted. There should be a transparent appraisal system. This would make aslam to actually realize the gap between his and radha's performance. He should also be motivated in a manner that he would also perform in order to get his promotion.

If Radha could carry out all these suggestions, I hope the situtation would turn out into a productive environment.


Looking forward for the others to comment and make corrections in the solution....
CREDIT CARD CASE
Strange Experience at the RussianTea Room: Chowhounders Opinions Needed
Had lunch at the Russian Tea Room Today with GF. Review to follow. Alot has been said of the unevenness of service.However, we had a nice, pleasant waiter was a bit nervous and andward, but otherwise efficient a and affable. Here is where something quite unexpected and strange happened. When presented with the check I paid with my CC and as is my custom left the gratuity in cash. The waiter took the bill and thanked me profusely. He returned 5 minutes later and told me the manager is not accepting the gratuity as this was his first day and he is in training. Somewhat stunned, I insisted he take it to no avail. Upon leaving however, the manager asked me if everything was ok as i am not tipping. Being totally confused by now,I said fine, and explained to him I was told previously the tip was being declined as my waiter was in training. At this point I felt angry feeling I was maybe being manipulated at such a high level restaurant [was the maitre de expecting i should be offering it to him ?].. I told the him THEIR initial decision was now final and in the future come to an agreement before presenting a customer with this issue. I felt this was tacky and low class and ruined a very enjoyable dining exprience. My question is: 1-Did i do the right thing by not tipping ?
2- What are your opinions of what happened.
I would appreciate any feedback.

1. I had a hard time undertstanding the circumstances after reading a few times, but as people posted I may have something that is obvious to others already.
1 - I would assume that few people pay the bill with charge and cash for tip (this may be incorrect but hear me out).
2 - The trainee give patron check presenter and receives card.
3 - Trainee runs card and present slip to patron.
4 - Patron signs and leaves cash in presenter.
5 - Trainee is now excited that he runs to manager and asks if he can keep it.
6 - Manager says no but DOES NOT ask trainee if patron placed tip on charge slip
7 - Trainee returns money
8 - Patron leaves and manager now realized his mistake (see 1 above) and confronts patron in hopes of correcting the manager's mistake in 6 above.
Major confusion because trainee and manager did not communicate properly
Permalink

The waiter stood by the table as i tried several times to hand the folder with the cash tip to him. I was not at this point going to leave it on the table for the maitre de to nail it.
I leave cash tips as they are taxed in NYC.
I find the wait staff is appreciative of this

I don't think LOTS of people pay the bill with a card and leave cash for tip, maybe 1-5% depending on the restaurant. I think the trainee misunderstood what he was told and refused the cash tip when he should have just left the cash in the folder with the signed credit card slip and not said anything
1.
I think that this is all incorrect: first, lots of people pay the bill with a card and leave cash for tip, so I don't understand why the cash vs. paying tip on a credit card would be cause for confusion for the manager.
2. The new owner is a real estate developer in NYC with deep pockets...Lots of wealthy people like to have restaurants to entertain their cronies and never expect to make money...Dont forget he is really buying it for the real estate which is probably some of the most valuable in the world. Wikipedia has an interesting entry regarding the history of the RTR. As you read it, you will see it is no stranger to controversey
I mailed my letter to Mr. Lieblich yesterday regarding the incident. Will keep everyone here posted.
According to wacky-peidia, the previous owner paid $6.5 million for it, closed it for four years, and did $34 million in renovations. All this ruined the place! However, it sits on what must be some serious real estate. It sounds like Carnegie Hall Tower was built around the RTR building. “The 20-foot-wide building goes all the way from 57th St. (restaurant main entrance) to 56th St.“ Only $16 million? SAD!!
3. Thx everybody for your input...When the waiter returned my tip he was quite explicit that he was told not to accept it by the management for the aforementioned reasons...My take was that management had instructed him so...I also thought that maybe they were giving him a "trial by fire" and wanted to see if he could be persuaded by me and maybe he would be fired. It was the waiter I really feel bad for. He was a young, pleasant fellow. Today i mailed the new owner of the RTR [who ,btw, paid a cool 19 million for it] explaining this incident. I will post if and when i get a reply.
4. that is just the weirdest thing ever! I think you did fine not tipping - you shouldn't have to work that hard to give someone money. And as a customer you shouldn't ever have needed to think about the issue of tipping/not tipping/new staff etc.
I am completely bewildered on why the waiter couldn't/didn't take the tip, regardless of how many days he had been there or why mgmt would have said . . . anyhow, too strange.
I would be really surprised that he did not know he would not be tipped. Unless...this was his first table ever at the restaurant and he didn't realize he wouldn't be tipped until then. Doubtful...
I agree with jfood below: the manager probably looked at the cc slip, saw no tip written in, and wanted to know if something was wrong. Trainee probably said something about "a" tip and the manager told him he wouldn't be receiving tips today. The manager probably took it as a general question, not a specific one, and therefore did not make the connection to this specific patron.
As a manager with a new employee on my hands, if I saw that no tip was left, I would want to know why. I would infer that the trainee did something wrong to the diner to make the diner feel compelled to not leave a tip. With that said, I would ask if the service had been good but I would NEVER have added "...because you didn't leave a tip." NEVER question a guest's tipping, only if everything had been satisfactory.
I understand the no tips while training bit, but I find it hard to believe the trainee wasn't made aware of the rules up front. It makes me wonder if he wasn't protesting in some way. Like maybe he wasn't getting the help he needed from his trainer, and didn't want the trainer to get any tip?
It certainly sounds weird all around.
I agree that it is garbled communication. Usually during training, you are under someone else's guidance and thereby in THEIR section, training on their tables. The waiter that has been designated as the trainer would loose money because they now have fewer tables since some are going to the trainee. That would be unfair: not only are you saddled with an additional task (training the new guy) but you are going to loose money in the process? That's why restaurants (who are too cheap to compensate the trainer some other way) make it so the trainee receives no tips. What is SUPPOSED to happen is that the diner leaves the tip and it goes to the trainer (and everyone he/she is supposed to tip out). I think New Guy knew he wasn't supposed to be tipped and told the diner without realizing the rest of the scenario
“accepting" and "receiving" are different. if this waiter was training, he was under the hand of another senior waiter to whom the tip would have gone.
it sounds like garbled communication all around. however, i would have left the tip anyway. high-end places like that have lots of support staff (bussers, runners, etc.) who get a percentage of the day's tips.
for the maitre d' to discuss your tipping was very tacky, and a letter is assuredly in order.
Don't know if this applies, but when I "trained" as a waiter in the past, I received minimum wage ($4.75 at the time) during my training period because I wasn't accepting tips
Why should I assist waiters to evade taxes by tipping in cash?
I pay taxes, as everything I make is on the books.
Furthermore, often I (legitimately) deduct it off my taxes, and I want a complete easy printout that shows all business entertainment expenses, including tip.
Absolutely. The percentage we claimed was small (3% of total?). With credit cards, if the IRS ever decided to audit a restaurant, the tips on the cards would show up as income to the servers on top of whatever their small hourly rate is. Even though cc tips are usually given to the server in cash at the end of their shift, it's still on the books.

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13 July 2009
Debating noncompetes
Whether a noncompete is enforceable depends on what state you're in. In California, as most of you know, employment noncompetes are completely illegal. At the other end of the spectrum is Florida, where noncompetes are presumptively enforceable — the employee has to prove that the restriction is unreasonable, instead of the usual requirement that the employer prove its reasonableness. The other 48 states fall in between to different degrees. My state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (we call our state a "commonwealth" because we're, you know, special; can you name the other three?) will enforce noncompetes, but only when they're necessary to protect a company's secrets or customer relationships.
But now some people want to change that.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives (you know, the august body whose previous three speakers were indicted) is currently entertaining two bills to radically cut back the power of employers to use noncompetes. One bill, House No. 1799, places huge restrictions on noncompetes: they can only be enforced on employees earning $100,000 a year, they can only last two years, and the employer has to pay a ransom of half the employee's salary (up to $100,000) during the enforcement period. The other, House No. 1794, stands Massachusetts with California in completely banning noncompetes.
It's as yet unclear how much support these bills have or will get. In a recent column in The Boston Globe ("Start-ups stifled by noncompetes"), Scott Kirsner suggests that startups and their backers (unsurprisingly) are against noncompetes, while established companies (unsurprisingly) favor them. (Full disclosure: Scott's piece mentions two of my noncompete clients, although I didn't hear from him.) In the same piece, Governor Deval Patrick gives his principled take on noncompetes. Scott writes:
Governor Deval Patrick hasn’t taken a position on noncompetes. When I spoke with him earlier this month, he said, “I don’t have a stake in the status quo’’ but added that he hadn’t heard a consensus view from people in the innovation economy as to whether they’re a positive or a negative for businesses: “If there’s consensus in the industry, I’m happy to support that.’’
But the governor could end up with his finger in the wind for a while looking for that consensus. You see, in every noncompete lawsuit, there are two companies: the old, or enforcing, company; and the new, or hiring, company. (Usually, the new company is an interested third party rather than an actual defendant in the lawsuit.) And over time, companies may find themselves on both sides of the issue. Lawyers, too. Most noncompete cases are litigated by management-side lawyers (like me) rather than employee-side lawyers.
The Globe ran a nice editorial framing the issue in yesterday's paper: "Clause for concern." When I spoke with deputy editorial-page editor Dante Ramos last week, I was a bit apprehensive about criticizing these legislative bids to gut or kill noncompetes. I didn't want to be seen as self-interested; companies around the country pay us a lot of money to litigate noncompete cases. To be sure, the death of noncompetes in Massachusetts will mean a long-term loss of that type of business. (It will also mean a short-term jump.)
But the bills are bad policy. Massachusetts has a 300-year-old tradition of protecting the freedom to contract; California doesn't have a 300-year-old tradition of anything. While many companies try to enforce noncompetes for the wrong reasons (spite, vindictiveness, anger, desire to stifle competition), Massachusetts judges usually see through this and deny enforcement. And in some circumstances, enforcing a noncompete is the only way to prevent unfair competition. Throwing noncompetes out like H. 1794 would do is the whole baby-and-bathwater thing. And H. 1799's mishmash of arbitrary restrictions on noncompetes lacks principle — it's neither for noncompetes nor against them. (That said, the drafter is a fine lawyer and experienced noncompete litgator.) At least the outright ban of 1794 stands for something, which I can respect if not agree with.
Companies shouldn't use noncompetes to try to make employees stay. That's what management is for. But used sparingly and wisely, noncompetes can be an important tool for protecting companies' secrets and customer relationships.
• • •
The other three "commonwealths" are Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, too, but not in the same way. Go figure.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 13 July 2009 at 11:49 AM in Human resources, Managing employees, Noncompetes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: gruntled, noncompetes, scott kirsner, unfair competition
29 June 2009
Sugarcoated terminations
This might sound obvious, but when you’re firing an employee, you need to tell the truth.
Actually, that’s only half right. Well, closer to two thirds.
Anyone who’s ever watched Law and Order or been in a courtroom knows by heart the oath that witnesses take before testifying:
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do.
Makes sense. It really breaks down this way:
1. You’ll tell the truth
2. You won’t leave anything out, and
3. You won’t add any lies.
For a witness in a court proceeding where the goal is to get justice, this three-part standard for testimony is the best way to do it.
But the workplace is not a court of law. (Yeah, I heard you say “duh.”) The goal isn’t necessarily justice. Instead, the goal is to run a workplace the right way and to avoid unnecessary and costly litigation.
Firing an employee is a high-risk situation. When you do it, you should follow only the first and third prongs of the testimonial oath:
• You’ll tell the truth
• You won’t add any lies.
What you say could come back to haunt you and the company in a lawsuit, so make sure that everything you say is the truth. Otherwise, if it can be shown that you lied at this point, it’s not hard for a judge or jury to think that you or the company lied at other points. Cases are won and lost on credibility, more than they are on laws and lawyering.
But forget about the “whole truth” part (the “you won’t leave anything out” part). You have no obligation to tell the fired employee absolutely everything, and you almost certainly shouldn’t. For example, you might fire somebody because their performance is bad and because, frankly, you just don’t like them. In the termination meeting, you should leave out the “frankly, I just don’t like you” part.
Managers and HR professionals understandably want to take the edge off these high-stress meetings. There is a desire to sugarcoat the termination a bit, to relieve the tension and perhaps allow the employee to save some face on the way out. That’s fine.
But resist the temptation to say anything that’s not true. It’s not worth it. Instead, sugarcoat the termination by leaving out the part of the truth that might be incendiary and hurtful. A terminated employee is entitled to know why he or she is being fired, but not every single reason.
Keep the whole truth to yourself.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 29 June 2009 at 03:03 PM in Firing, Human resources | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: firing, gruntled, hr
27 June 2009
The wrong question
Too often, when managers and HR professionals get employee requests for special treatment, accommodations, or departures from policy, they ask themselves the wrong question:
• What if another employee finds out, and then asks for the same special treatment, or accuses us of not treating everyone equally?
This question is common, understandable, and well meaning. HR pros and good managers know that different treatment (or as the lawyers say, disparate treatment, which means "Look at me: I went to law school and learned how to talk different. I mean, disparate. D'oh!") can potentially lead to discrimination lawsuits. The problem is that when you treat people uniformly, you end up treating them uniformly badly.
So this is the wrong question to ask.
The right question to ask is this:
• If I was requesting this special treatment in the same situation, would I think I deserved it?
If your being-honest-with-yourself answer is yes, then you should try to find a way to grant the request. Of course, don't discriminate (there are, like, laws against doing that). But don't disgruntle one employee just because other employees might not get the same treatment.
You'll end up with the wrong answer.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 27 June 2009 at 02:29 AM in Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: disparate, gruntled, hr, policies
25 June 2009
Does your company need a smartphone policy?
Are your employees twittering during meetings? Texting during conference calls? Checking Facebook on their iPhones during training?
As more employees carry and use iPhones and BlackBerrys, some employers are fretting about an increase in impolite smartphone usage. A few days ago, The New York Times had a fine article by Alex Williams called "Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners." In it, Alex cites questionable smartphone behavior in different workplace settings. Some companies have taken to policies banning BlackBerrys during work meetings. But more companies are facing up to the reality of the omnipresent smartphone: "Despite resistance, the etiquette debate seems to be tilting in the favor of smartphone use, many executives said."
What do you think? In this space, we've usually advocated a policy-lite approach that involves treating employees as grown-ups who have judgment. See, for example:
• “A two-word corporate blogging policy”
• “The world’s shortest employee handbook,” and
• "A twitterable Twitter policy."
Is it time for an iPhone policy? (At my firm, the only BlackBerry policy is "No BlackBerrys." It's very similar to our Windows policy.)
I want to hear from you, managers, HR pros, in-house lawyers: Does your company need a smartphone policy? Leave your thoughts in the comments, or send me an @message or direct message on Twitter: @jayshep.
And while you're at it, take this quick, single-question poll.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 25 June 2009 at 12:56 AM in Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: blackberry, hr, iphone, texting, twitter, work
24 June 2009
Nickel-and-diming your employees
Lucy works as a salesperson for a machine-parts company in the Pacific Northwest. She has to travel a lot to make sales calls; often out of state. Because she's on the road so much, she has to eat out all the time. She's not crazy about this, because she finds it difficult to eat healthily at fast-food and quick-service restaurants.
Her company appears to understand that she and her fellow salespeople have no choice but to eat out frequently. So it allows them to expense their meals on the road. But like too many companies, this one doesn't trust Lucy or her coworkers. It's apparently concerned that they will run up obscene meal expenses at luxury restaurants (at airports and rest areas — right!). So it came up with a policy.
Under this company's meal policy, Lucy and her colleagues can expense meals under the following restrictions:
1. they have to be traveling for work
2. they have to be 75 miles from home, and
3. they can't spend more than $17.50 per meal.
OK, now the first restriction makes sense: this is supposed to ameliorate the hassles of eating while traveling on company business.
The second restriction also seems to make sense; the company's not interested in feeding its people while they're at home. But there's an unforeseen consequence here. Much of Lucy's travel is by airplane, and she often has to leave her home early in the morning to catch her flight, making it difficult to make breakfast at home before she leaves. Ideally, she would check in at the terminal and go through airport security, and then grab some breakfast before her flight takes off. But the airport is just 22 miles from her house, so the meal policy doesn't cover her breakfast. If she wants coffee and a muffin at the airport, it's on her nickel.
The last restriction also seems to make sense, setting a spending limit to avoid excessive meal expenses. And $17.50 is probably enough to get breakfast or lunch at most quick-service places, and dinner at a fast-food joint. But the problems arise with how the policy is enforced.
To get her lunch paid for, Lucy has to charge the meal on her company-issued credit card, and then fax or scan her itemized receipt to an accounting gnome at the home office. More than once, she has received admonishing emails or phone calls from these gnomes about nonconforming meals expenses. These, not surprisingly, displease her.
Another unintended consequence: Lucy and her fellow salespeople are self-interested, like most human beings, and they are smart. They quickly learn how to game the system, and find ways to charge meals under "The Price is Right" rules: they come as close as possible to $17.50 without going over. So the company often ends up paying more for meals than it would have if it hadn't set the $17.50 limit.
But the biggest and most damaging unintended consequence is that Lucy and her colleagues resent the meal restrictions. It is an irritant to them, especially when they are waking up at five in the morning to board a crowded commuter flight to go and sell the company's machine parts. While it's impossible to measure, I'd bet you breakfast at an airport terminal that the amount they lose in forgone sales stemming from employee malaise dramatically outweighs any money the company saves on meal expenses.
Employers: resist the urge to have policies like these. Treat your employees like adults. If they spend unreasonable amounts on meals or other expenses, talk to them about it. If it's a persistent problem with a particular employee who's taking advantage of the company, fire that employee. But don't assume that all your employees are trying to bilk the company for an extra airport donut.
Notes: As you might imagine, I don't want Lucy to get fired, so I have changed some of the identifying information. But the story is true … Also, I'm no fan of nickel-and-diming, whether it's employers doing it to their employees, or lawyers doing it to their clients.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 24 June 2009 at 01:16 AM in Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees, Stupid employer tricks | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: employee policies, gruntled, hr, meal expenses
17 June 2009
Thanks
Gruntled Employees started 33 months ago with a post criticizing Radio Shack for firing employees by email ("Radio Shack Deletes 400 Workers, Common Sense"). A couple of days ago, our 122nd post castigated a law firm who fired people by voicemail ("Please leave your layoff message after the beep"). How far we've come.
During those 33 months, many people have visited the blog. Today, we enjoyed our 100,000th visit. To be sure, there are blogs out there who get 100,000 visits a day. Nevertheless, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for reading and for contributing to the discussion, both here and at our sister blog on client value and service, The Client Revolution.
Thank you.
— Jay
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 17 June 2009 at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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14 June 2009
"Please leave your layoff message after the beep"
The always-excellent Carolyn Elefant has this post, "U.K. Lawyers Get the Message: 1-800-U-R-Fired," over at one of my favorite blawgs, Legal Blog Watch. Carolyn reports (citing a Daily Mail story) on how 14 trainee solicitors (which is British for "baby lawyers") were laid off by Freshfields in London. Freshfields sounds like an organic supermarket chain, but is actually the fourth-largest law firm in the world and a member of Britain's "Magic Circle" (which sounds like a Harry Potter sequel, but isn't).
Like most major law firms, Freshfields has had to trim its staff in response to the worldwide economic crisis. What makes them different is the way they did it: by leaving the unlucky 14 a voicemail. Not only that, but instead of partners doing the deed, they staffed it out to HR.
What's British for power tool?
Apparently, Magic Circle firms respond to bad press the same way their American cousins do: by defending the indefensible. The Mail story quoted a firm flack:
It was not ideal from our perspective but we were trying to get the information out as soon as possible. We did not want to take the chance of them hearing first from someone else.
To be fair, Freshfields gave the laid-off lawyers a severance to soften the blow. How much? you might ask. Well, the firm spokesperson wanted to be discreet:
Those people that we have not retained received an ex-gratia payment. We feel it would not be appropriate to confirm the exact amount.
Of course, of course. And it's not like that word would get out. A secret's a secret, old chap. Oh, wait. What's this? The Internet? Bloody hell!
Turns out the firm gave severance payments of a whopping £700.
Apparently, "ex-gratia" is British for cheap.
This cowardly method for firing people is in danger of becoming a trend. Last year, the Chicago Sun-Times fired people over the phone. Recently, the Boston Globe reported on a local social-media-software company revealing layoffs via Twitter and blogs. And Gruntled Employees' very first post, nearly three years ago, was on firing by email: "Radio Shack Deletes 400 Workers, Common Sense."
File this under "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Employers: don't fire people by phone, email, voicemail, Twitter, or blogs.
Be a person. And fire in person.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 14 June 2009 at 12:50 AM in Firing, Human resources, Managing employees, Stupid employer tricks | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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11 June 2009
Employers' Rx for swine flu? Eliminate sick days
You may have noticed that you can't spell pandemic without P-A-N-I-C.
Today, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic flu alert to DEFCON 3. Or something. Actually, it's called "Phase 6," WHO's highest pandemic alert and the first called since 1968. (Reuters story here.) Obviously, this is a serious illness worldwide. But to put it in perspective, regular seasonal flu kills about 500,000 people a year worldwide, and 36,000 in the US. By contrast, swine flu has killed 175 worldwide, and 57 in the US.
This isn't the first time that a novel-sounding disease has gotten undue press attention: recall the coverage of SARS in 2003 and avian flu in 2004–06. Both had deaths numbering in the hundreds worldwide, and no American deaths.
But the current swine-flu pandemic has employers concerned. Many employment lawyers have added to the hysteria by flacking doom-filled seminars on emergency preparedness and other pandemic responses.
My response? Get rid of sick days.
Now before you go all "What you talkin' about, Willis?" on me, let me explain.
Having a set number of paid sick days is a nice idea in principle, but it often has the unintended consequence of encouraging sick employees to come into work. Employees who have used up their paid sick days feel pressure to return to the office. Other employees who are hoarding their paid sick days to use up during Spring Training or something also turn into host monkeys when they should have stayed home.
(A few months ago, I talked about a similar syndrome involving so-called "Iron Man" or perfect-attendance awards. See "The Iron Man Award Integrity Act of 2009.")
My solution involves treating employees like adults, a recurring theme on this blog. If employees are sick, send them home. Tell them to stay home until they get better. You'd rather have them play the role of Absent Employees instead of Patients Zero. That's how our firm handles sick time.
Some employers and HR folks (the ones who don't Get It) will whinge: "But what if they take advantage of us and abuse the privilege?"
What if indeed. If you have an employee who would sink so low as to feign illness to steal pay from you, then that person should quickly become an ex-employee. Malingerers tend to be easy to find, and they'll quickly give you reason to axe them. (Natch, do it carefully to avoid the classic bogus disability-discrimination claim.)
As for your grown-up employees, tell them to wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs and sneezes, and stay the hell away from work when they're ill. And pay them.
• • •
A few weeks ago, Legal Talk Network interviewed me on a program with the all-too-sexy title, "Compliance in Pandemic Planning." (I pushed for something with "hamthrax," but was overruled. Too soon?) Paul Boynton, LTN's excellent In-House Legal host, did a great job framing the issues around how in-house counsel should approach pandemics. You can check it out here.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 11 June 2009 at 11:53 PM in Employee leaves, Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: gruntled, h1n1, hr, sick days, swine flu
01 June 2009
How Twitter will kill annual performance reviews
My daughters go to elementary school in Newton, Massachusetts. The principal — who is, sad to say, retiring this year — is a brilliant, caring, dynamic educator named Christine Moynihan. One of our favorite things about her — and there are many — is that from time to time, she makes schoolwide announcements over the loudspeakers in which she awards chidren “Wows.”
What is a "Wow"?
A “Wow” is a short description (maybe three or four sentences) of something a pupil did to earn the Wow (yes, it's self-referential; get over it). Examples include working extra hard on a particular project, helping a classmate during a difficult situation, or showing unusual courtesy or friendliness or determination. Dr. Moynihan says the Wow winner’s name and describes what he or she did to earn the Wow. That's it. It’s short, it’s public, it’s concrete, it’s earned — and it makes the kids feel great.
Compare this to the workplace. In the workplace, we don't have Wows. We have annual performance reviews.
I hate annual performance reviews. As an employer, I hate writing them. They take a lot of work, and they often feel artificial. As an employee (back in the day), I used to hate getting them. They never seemed like they appreciated the employee that I was, and instead focused on fitting me into little boxes. And as an employment lawyer (defending employers), I hate reading them. Too often, I read the annual performance evaluations of employees who were fired for poor performance, only to find no written record of the employee’s suckiness. And you can imagine how that looks to a judge or hearing officer — an unbroken string of “Satisfactory” marks. Swell.
Why do performance reviews bite? For a number of reasons: They’re hard to write. We want to be fair and accurate, but we don’t want to sound like a machine. And for some reason, criticisms seem worse in writing than when spoken, mainly because the written word has no facial expressions or nonverbal cues to soften the blows. Plus we know that written criticisms can fester and grow inside a personnel file, and we know that employees generally have a right to read their personnel files. So we tend to pull our punches, and leave out details of poor performance — details we may regret not having in some future litigation defense.
All in all, I think many managers miss the point of performance reviews. If the goal is to get the employee to continue to perform well or to start to perform better, then why are waiting a year to do that? Why are we using a hyperformalized, bureaucratic form to convey these feelings? And if the point of the review is to correct behavior, doesn't this seem like a funny way to do it?
We need a better way.
I propose that we replace formal annual performance evaluations with a workplace equivalent of the Wow.
Enter Twitter.
One of the great beauties of Twitter — and I believe one of the reasons it has been so transformatively successful — is its 140-character limitation on messages ("tweets"). In fact, I don’t see it as a limitation (in a negative sense) at all. In many ways, knowing that you have only 140 characters to get your meaning across is very liberating. It forces you to eliminate everything unnecessary. It forces you to choose your words very carefully. It forces you to edit. It may take a little more time to write something that short than it would take to write something a little longer, but that’s OK.
So tweets are limited in length, just like the three- or four-sentence Wows at my daughters’ school, only shorter. Come to think of it, this isn’t really a novel idea. It was in fact the central premise of Ken Blanchard’s 1981 classic management guide, The One Minute Manager.
Tweets are also public. Like the Wows being broadcast over the school PA system, a Twitter message is broadcast over the internet to anyone who happens to be following you, plus anyone who happens to be searching for something you’ve written about. Once you’ve pressed the “update” button, your tweet is out there for the world to see.
And finally, it’s unique and free form. There are no boxes or multiple-choice answers or “satisfactory/unsatisfactory/NA” responses to contend with. It’s difficult to cut and paste from previous forms. The writer actually has to put thought into the tweet.
So I propose replacing the annual performance review with a twitterable evaluation — a “twevaluation,” since the Twitterverse loves neologisms. Some guidelines:
• First and foremost, if you haven't already, sign up on Twitter.
• Identify the employee and give the Wow. If the employee’s already on Twitter, use their Twitter name with the @ symbol.
• Use the hashtag #twevaluation at the end of the tweet. That makes it easier for people to find them. Don’t know what a hashtag is? Look here.
• Keep it to 140 characters, including the name and the hashtag. But remember, Twitter isn't text messaging. Most Twitterers use actual English words, not SMS abbreviations like "c u l8er." Very simple space savers (like "&") are OK.
• Don’t use a twevaluation to say something bad about an employee. Trust me as someone who defends companies in employee lawsuits: you don’t gain anything by publicly dissing an employee. Save it for a direct message. Better yet (much better yet), be a person and do it in person.
• And remember: follow your company’s Twitter policy. Don’t have one? Here’s our Twitterable (exactly 140 characters long) policy.
• I'll start. Follow me at @jayshep and read my #twevaluations as they come in. Or search Twitter for #twevaluations.
• Then contribute your own. You don't have to give every employee one. Start with a couple, and add them when your employees earn them. It's not about keeping score; it's about recognizing good performance and encouraging more of it.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 01 June 2009 at 01:24 PM in Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees, Stupid employer tricks | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: annual review, gruntled, hr, performance appraisal, performance review, personnel evaluation, twevaluation, twitter
28 May 2009
I hate people, but I love this blog
I don't really hate people. I'd really be in the wrong business as an employment lawyer if I did.
But "I hate people" is the name of a terrific blog I recently learned about. Its full name is I hate people ... but it's nothing personal: Office jujitsu for outsmarting the corporate oafs. (Why isn't it oaves? We don't buy loafs of bread, do we?) Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershorn cleverly cover the workplace, standing up for common sense and trying to prevent office people from turning into what they call sheeple.
Read their recent take on corporate reviewing of employees' social-media traffic in "Face(book) Off." And in "Brand Hate: Domino's Pizza YouTube video scandal," Jonathan digs deeper to get at the root of an embarrassing corporate exposure. Their analysis of workplace issues is rooted in a philosophy that's similar to ours: disgruntled employees cause problems, so try to keep them gruntled.
Jonathan and Marc have a book coming out in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to reading it. In the meantime, head on over to I hate people and start sharing the hate.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 28 May 2009 at 12:24 AM in Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: hr, human resources, managing people
16 March 2009
One employer's alternative to layoffs
We’ve written a lot about layoffs lately: "Of layoffs and leaks," "Layoffs: Do you want the good news first?" "The pink-slip blues," and "Monday, Bloody Monday." But here’s one company that took a daring and innovative approach: instead of laying people off at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, CEO Paul Levy gathered employees in an auditorium and asked for their help. The extraordinary meeting was chronicled in Kevin Cullen’s Boston Globe column, “A head with a heart”:
"I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners — the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.

"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.
Cullen goes on to report that the workers began flooding Levy’s inbox with suggestions on how to avoid mass layoffs:
The consensus was that the workers don't want anyone to get laid off and are willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one does. A nurse said her floor voted unanimously to forgo a 3 percent raise. A guy in finance who got laid off from his last job at a hospital in Rhode Island suggested working one less day a week. Another nurse said she was willing to give up some vacation and sick time. A respiratory therapist suggested eliminating bonuses.
Maybe it will work, and maybe it won’t. But Levy and Beth Israel deserve credit for considering alternatives before dropping the layoff hammer.
By the way, Paul — who's no stranger to innovation — was recently listed as a CEO who twitters (@paulflevy), and he writes an excellent blog called “Running a hospital.” He (reluctantly) posts about some of the feedback he’s received since Kevin’s column appeared ("Pay it forward").
Good work, Paul.
[Full disclosure: My firm has done a small amount of work for Beth Israel, but I have never met Paul.]
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 16 March 2009 at 12:54 AM in Firing, Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
11 March 2009
A twitterable Twitter policy
You know that something new has gone mainstream when the employment lawyers get involved. So it is now with Twitter, the microblogging service that is currently taking over the universe.
Twitter has grown rapidly and enormously. There are approximately six million users right now. This is much smaller than Facebook or MySpace, the older members of the social-media set. But the pace of growth has been incredible; one source pegged it at 1,000 percent in 2008 alone. By most accounts, the demographics of Twitter users skew older and more professional than Facebook. For example, 52% of Twitter users are 35 or older, compared to just 19% of Facebook users. That makes sense, since Facebook began as a college-oriented site. Also, it is said that "Facebook is about people you used to know; Twitter is about people you'd like to know better." (The widely repeated quote is from a Globe and Mail article by Ivan Tossel, but you have to pay to read it.)
Some of you may still be asking, “What is this Twitter thing, anyway?” (“And don’t say microblogging again, because that doesn’t help.”) Twitter is a free service that allows users to send very short messages (called tweets) over the web to people who (in theory) care. How short is very short? No more than 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation. In fact, they even have a name for a tweet that is exactly 140 characters long: it’s called a “twoosh.”
According to the site itself, the messages are supposed to answer the question, “What are you doing?” To be sure, most people don’t care to learn about the humdrum of your daily life: “I’m still in line for my venti nonfat extra-hot latte.” Or “Mr. Biddles rolled over again. Silly cat. LOL.” That sort of tweet is of value to exactly no one. (Even Mr. Biddles would cough up that hairball.)
Where it does become valuable to businesspeople is where people answer the question, “What are you thinking about?” Or: “What is interesting to you?” Then you try to find other people who might share your interests, and you “follow” them to learn what they’re thinking about. Often, they will reciprocate by following you. Done right, people can use Twitter as a powerful networking service to get in front of potential clients or colleagues within their industry.
As often happens when employees start doing something new, companies soon want their lawyers or HR people to create policies to restrict it. This happened in the Nineties, when employers got nervous about email and internet usage. More recently, companies have instituted blogging policies, and guidelines for the use of MySpace or Facebook. So it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see requests for Twitter policies.
Longtime readers of Gruntled Employees know how I feel about the hyperlegislation of the workplace by zealous policymakers. Well-meaning HR professionals and employment lawyers tend to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to policing employee behavior, whether online or not. I generally advocate a simpler approach that involves treating employees as grown-ups who have judgment. See, for example, “A two-word corporate blogging policy” and “The world’s shortest employee handbook.”
With that said, here is my take at a corporate Twitter policy that has the extra added benefit of being itself twitterable:
Our Twitter policy: Be professional, kind, discreet, authentic. Represent us well. Remember that you can’t control it once you hit “update.”
And yes — that's a twoosh: exactly 140 characters of pure employment-law goodness.
By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at @jayshep — as long as you follow the policy, too.
[By the way, without realizing it, I totally boosted the cat-rolling-over bit from Guy Kawasaki's excellent post, "Looking for Mr. Goodtweet: How to Pick Up Followers on Twitter."]
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 11 March 2009 at 01:16 AM in Employee policies, Human resources, Managing employees, Plain English | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: employee policy, gruntled, twitter
06 March 2009
"I'm running late because of the recession ..."
Understandably, it can be hard to drag yourself into work when all you hear is bad news about the economy. Many workplaces are having morale problems in the wake of — or in anticipation of — layoffs. And it's starting to show in increased employee tardiness.
According to a recent poll, 20 percent of American workers are showing up late for work at least once a week. Last year (in the pre-Recession glory days), that figure was 15 percent. This according to an online survey of 8,000 US workers commissioned by CareerBuilder.com and conducted by Harris Interactive. (Shout out to the Society for Human Resource Management's Talent Management site for the news.)
A simultaneous survey of 3,200 managers and HR professionals revealed some of the craziest excuses for the late arrivals. My personal favorites were:
• My heat was shut off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm, and
• A groundhog bit my bike tire and made it flat.
[Note: Animal excuses are always the best. Must have been a fast groundhog.]
This reminded me of an amazing list of excuses for tardiness and absences that we wrote about a couple of years ago, an incredible-but-true collection of dog-ate-my-homework excuses. They're worth revisiting:
• • •

This is a list of excuses given by one office worker for her absences, tardiness, and early departures. They were collected by her coworkers and sent to me via a trusted source. The numbers in parentheticals represent the times she has used that excuse. A few references have been edited to avoid compromising the identity of the accidental employee or her sometime workplace:
• I have pinkeye (3)
• my child has whooping cough (2)
• I need to register my car with the DMV
• my childcare provider has norovirus (the cruise-ship disease), and can't care for the children
• my childcare provider is adopting a baby, and can't care for the children (4 total days off)
• I have migraines (3)
• my child has an ear infection (3)
• I have a sinus infection (6)
• I had food poisoning, or a family member did (4)
• I need to be present for mold remediation in my apartment [actually, this one's pretty clever — JS]
• my car was stolen (resulted in 3 days off)
• my neighbor moved out, so I have to be home for the cable guy to come and reconnect my cable (3) [unclear whether the neighbor moved out multiple times — JS]
• the airline canceled my return flight and failed to notify passengers
• I have to be home for a plumber to fix a leaky pipe
• I found an injured wild bird in my backyard and needed to bring it to a vet
• I have an last-minute doctor's appointment (4)
• my cat is in traction following an unknown injury [trying to picture this — JS]
• I have an ovarian cyst (incorrectly self-diagnosed; turned out to be menstrual cramps)
• my cat requires oral medication (had to leave early for 3 days)
• my kids had a total meltdown and I just could not get them into the car (resulting in 14 late arrivals)
• my other cat is suffering from liver failure [probably looking for attention after the other cat's traction deal — JS]
• it snowed: kids refused to get into car until they were allowed to play in the snow for a while
• unexpected visit from in-laws (husband forgot to tell her)
• I have to be home for the electrician to come and fix an electrical problem [well, that is what they do — JS]
• my daycare provider is just not feeling well (3)
• my daycare provider is on holiday (2)
• I am suffering from a virus (can't remember name of it, but did recall that it was a third-world malnutrition virus that was wiped out sometime back in the 1960s)
• the starter in my car is broken (which my husband diagnosed over the phone)
• I just need a day to clean my house (5)
• I need to prepare for my child's birthday party (5)
• I need to prepare for our vacation (5)
• I need to accompany my husband to his eye-tumor medical appointment (turned out to be a stye)
• I need to get my car reconditioned so that we can sell it (update: still has the same car 4 months later) [maybe a "For Sale" sign would help — JS]
• my coworker made me laugh so hard that my asthma is acting up (2) [turnabout is fair play; wait to see how much the coworker laughs after reading this — JS]
It probably takes more energy to come up with these stories than it would to simply quit. If you have an employee like this, help him or her come to that conclusion. And if you've come across other dog-ate-my-homework excuses like these, post a comment.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 06 March 2009 at 02:41 PM in Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: attendance, excuses, gruntled, tardiness
25 February 2009
Help wanted. Apply in July.
The economic recovery is not going to be led by the President or by Congress. The recovery will be led by employers. By entrepreneurs who take the risks needed to innovate and grow and prosper. Right now, too many people are complaining about the banks and the tight credit market and the roller-coaster stock market. Too many employers have thrown in the towel, and have laid off half a million workers since Election Day in a desperate attempt to cut costs.
Employers, like almost everyone else, have focused too much on how to weather the recession and not enough on how to manage the recovery. Because the recovery will come. How are you going to get back to being an employer of choice when you laid off thousands of workers just months before?
It's time for employers to take a stand. Here's how to start:
Run a help-wanted ad. Not just a small classified ad in minuscule agate type. Instead, take out a display ad in your local paper — but not in the help-wanted section. Instead, choose Metro. Or Sports. Or even the weather page. (You should be able to negotiate a good price. The economy, you know.)
Put your company logo in it, large and in color. And write this:
HELP WANTED
We need motivated, professional workers to help our company grow in the upcoming economic recovery. Please apply in July, sending your résumé and cover letter to the address below. You can spend part of the next three months researching our company and making your submission perfect and unique. We can't wait to meet you!
Then watch as your company becomes one of the leaders of the recovery. People will talk. You might even find a need to hire sooner.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 25 February 2009 at 11:50 AM in Hiring | Permalink | Comments (5)
Technorati Tags: gruntled, hiring, recession, recovery
24 February 2009
Economic crisis? Meet the cure: COBRA premiums
If your company was one of those that laid off a combined half million employees in the past six months, you’ve already sent out a bunch of COBRA notices. Thanks to the Obama Administration and Congress, now you have to do it again.
Last week, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly called the Stimulus Act. The new law weighed in at 407 pages and roughly $800 billion. Hidden in the thicket of “shovel-ready” projects is a provision that dramatically changes employers’ COBRA responsibilities.
COBRA continuation coverage applies to workers at companies employing 20 or more employees. When an eligible worker loses health-insurance benefits after leaving a job, COBRA provides the employee the opportunity to receive the same benefits for up to 18 months. Until now, the employee was solely responsible for the premiums.
But under the Stimulus Act, employers now have to pay 65% of the worker’s premiums for nine months. The federal government will then reimburse the employer by allowing it to take a credit on payroll taxes. In effect, though, the employers are lending this money to the federal government to help finance the economic recovery. Because in the lull between the recent Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the upcoming, ironically named Employee Free Choice Act, it must have seemed like a good idea to pile on employers some more.
(The stock market seems to disagree, with the S&P 500 down 13% since the Inauguration and more than 20% since New Year's Day.)
The new COBRA subsidy does not cover every employee equally. The law phases out the subsidy for so-called “high-income individuals” — people making more than $125,000 a year (or $250,000 a year for married joint filers) — in a complicated scheme involving taxable premium reductions. And while the subsidy applies to workers who are “involuntarily terminated,” the Act does not define that term. The Conference Committee report suggested that people fired for gross misconduct would not be eligible.
What’s particularly tricky is that the Act reaches back in time to cover employees laid off since September 1, 2008 (and goes forward through December 31, 2009). That means that employers who sent out COBRA notices to laid-off employees over the past six months now have to contact them to give the workers another chance to elect COBRA coverage. A new and improved COBRA notice form is expected from the Department of Labor by March 17. What’s not clear is how to treat employees who got their COBRA coverage paid for as part of a severance agreement. Like the recovery process itself, this issue is a work in progress.
What you can do
• Read the text of the Stimulus Act of 2009 (but not while driving or operating heavy machinery)
• Immediately reexamine COBRA eligibility over past six months
• Talk to your employment counsel about how to handle employees already laid off
• Contemplate the seeming prescience in this quote from the end of the 1986 Stallone classic, Cobra:

DETECTIVE MONTE
I personally would have looked for a more subtle solution, but that's not your style.
(offers his hand)
No hard feelings.
COBRETTI (after punching Monte)
No hard feelings.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 24 February 2009 at 12:29 AM in Firing, Human resources, In-house counsel | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: cobra, gruntled, health insurance, layoffs, stimulus
13 February 2009
How to lose a wage-and-hour case
In our last post, we talked about eight ways for an employer to lose a noncompete case. Today, we cover something much simpler: how to lose a wage-and-hour lawsuit. It's really quite easy to do:
Just screw up an employee's pay.
That's all! No fussing, no mussing. You see, unlike in most any other kind of employee lawsuit, your employment counsel has no lawyer tricks to pull to defeat a wage claim. Either you paid the correct wages or you didn't.
In a disability-discrimination case, I can make technical, legalistic arguments about whether the employee is really disabled, whether he was otherwise qualified to do the job, whether a particular accomodation was reasonable, and so on. In a sexual-harassment case, I can argue that the sexual conduct wasn't egregious enough to alter the employee's working conditions, or that the conduct wasn't unwelcome (typical lawyer double negative), or that it wasn't even sexual conduct at all. Even in an overtime case, I have a shot. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act has so many exemptions and exceptions to exemptions and so forth that you can sometimes dodge that bullet.
But in a straight wage case, if the right wages weren't paid, it's "Goodnight, Irene." You're on the hook for the lost wages, and probably the employee's attorney's fees. In Massachusetts, you're looking at automatic triple damages. (See "Massachusetts: Closed for business.")
States take the payment of wages so seriously that they've created criminal penalties in addition to civil remedies (again, raise your hand, Massachusetts). The message is clear: don't mess with wages. Pay what you owe, pay it on time — especially around termination — and keep careful track of it. Otherwise, you're likely to pay a lot more.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 13 February 2009 at 05:56 AM in Human resources, Lawsuits, Managing employees, Wage and hour | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: employee lawsuits, flsa, gruntled, wages
06 February 2009
Eight ways to lose a noncompete case
You might think that with the economy in the tank, employers would be less worried about enforcing noncompete agreements and more worried about merely staying afloat. Not so. In fact, as the active workforce shrinks — unemployment jumped up to 7.6% today, and 600,000 jobs vaporized since New Year's Day (Reuters story here) — the battle for talent has actually become fiercer. To be sure, the number of reported decisions dropped off a bit in the latter half of 2008 (see chart). But anecdotal evidence suggests that employers' appetites for protecting their stuff and their peeps are still strong.
Over the past 11 years at Shepherd Law Group, we've worked on hundreds of these matters for employers on both sides — the former (enforcing) employers and the new (hiring) employers. We've seen a lot of different ways to lose noncompete cases, if you're the former (enforcing) employer. Here are eight:
1. Put your faith in the language of the noncompete agreement. I can't tell you how many times I've had lawyers for former employers tell me that they were going to win "because he signed the agreement." The court doesn't care what the agreement says if it's not absolutely necessary to protect the company's interests.
2. Try to enforce against any old employee. If the employee is not in a position to give the new employer an unfair advantage by taking confidential information or customer relationships, you can forget about enforcing it.
3. Make sure the noncompete is broadly drafted. Too many lawyers think that drafting an agreement is about trying to think up every metaphysical possibility and then drafting around it. They also think that it's OK to draft broadly if you include a provision that "allows" the court to scale back the scope of the agreement. That's mighty kind of you, but the court doesn't care about those provisions (often mistakenly called "blue pencil" clauses). More often than not, a court will toss the whole agreement if it decides it's too broad. And in some states, the court will automatically 86 the noncompete if it's even a little too broad.
4. Focus on geography, duration, and scope. Most lawyers remember from law school that you need this particular trifecta to enforce a noncompete, and they think the analysis ends there. While it is true that noncompetes that are overbroad in these categories will fail, that's only a table stake. What's more important is the necessity of enforcing the agreement to protect secrets or relationships.
5. Wait a while to file. The key to winning a preliminary injunction (which is the usual goal in a noncompete lawsuit) is to convince the judge that without it, your company will suffer immediate, irreparable harm. Waiting around to file makes that argument less persuasive. On the other hand ...
6. Ask for the injunction before you've developed enough evidence. Sometimes you can win based solely on the affidavits you supply, which you got from your internal investigation. But if your evidence isn't strong enough, it's better to take some expedited discovery (depositions, documents, computer and email records) before you ask for the injunction. You usually only get one shot at the prize.
7. Don't worry about which state to file in. I don't mean state of mind; I mean jurisdiction. Sometimes which state you file in can make a crucial difference in whether the agreement will be enforced. In California, as most lawyers know, you haven't got a prayer, while in Florida, noncompetes are presumptively enforceable.
8. Focus on the law instead of on the story. This is the most important lesson. Lawyers often fall in love with their legal arguments. But noncompete cases are equity cases, not law cases. To be sure, that distinction means less than it did a hundred years ago. But if you have a brilliant, clever, technical legal argument and an unsympathetic story, you are way more likely to lose.
Bottom line: If your client's wearing the white hat, and your agreement is narrowly drafted, and your secrets or customer relationships are in imminent peril, then you've got a fighting chance of winning. Otherwise, wave goodbye to the former employee and get back to work.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 06 February 2009 at 11:28 PM in Noncompetes | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: gruntled, litigation, non-compete, noncompetes, noncompetition
01 February 2009
The pink-slip blues
Great piece in today's New York Times discussing the pain of layoffs from the other side of the table. In "Handing Out the Pink Slips Can Hurt, Too," Matt Cooper, an executive at a recruitment-outsourcing firm called Accolo, describes his experience in letting people go. The article is well written and sincere. Matt writes:
It was gut-wrenching knowing that a bomb was about to go off. I had hired and trained many of these people. We wanted to be as humane as we could in letting them go.
I don't think anyone expects people to feel sorry for an employer who has to do the laying off; obviously, it's much harder on the laid-off employees. But it's worth remembering that most of the time, the people doing the terminations have taken it personally, too, and are doing it as a last resort.
Managers and employers: the more you can convey this to the people you are firing, the less likely they will be to sue you.
Another important lesson from the piece:
We offered as much severance as we could, and the other executives and I told the remaining employees that we didn’t want to close the door on those who lost their jobs. We encouraged them to reach out to their ex-colleagues and keep in touch. Then we all got on LinkedIn and wrote endorsements for those who were laid off.
It cost nothing to write those LinkedIn references, except a little bit of time and thought. But I'll bet that those employees appreciated it.
Well done, Matt.

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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 01 February 2009 at 11:13 PM in Firing, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: gruntled, layoffs
27 January 2009
Monday, Bloody Monday
I was going to write something about the Supreme Court's decision Monday in Crawford, further expanding the ability of employees to win retaliation lawsuits, but that's going to have to wait. (For those who can't wait, a PDF of the decision is here.)
Instead, the biggest news on the workplace front was Monday's 70,000-plus employees' getting laid off by major US employers. Twenty thousand at Caterpillar. Another 26,000 at Pfizer. Eight thousand at Sprint, and 7,000 at Home Depot. CNN has an especially cheerful chart here breaking down the 207,000 workers laid off in 2009. (They also came up with the "Bloody Monday" reference, near as I can tell.)
We've already posted on the media's propensity to play up bad economic news (see "Fear sells"). And we still need to point out that the S&P 500 is up more than 12 percent in the ten weeks since November 20. (Granted, it had been up as high as 24 percent just a few weeks ago.) But these layoff numbers are too huge to ignore.
What can you say?
Over at KnowHR, Frank Roche's post "How in the Hell Do You Lose 71,400 Jobs in One Day?" sums it up well. And I particularly like his advice:
I wish I had some really great HR advice today. I’m a little shell shocked, but here’s what I’d say: For those of you who are still there ... kick ass. Do your best work. Stop going to meetings. Start doing things. Make money.

Now’s the time to do our best work.
I completely agree. I would add that HR professionals, managers, and executives need to get in the trenches and rally the troops (feel free to add any other militaristic metaphors you like). Fear is driving the economy, and fearful employees are not gruntled employees. Thus, fear diminishes profits.
Talk to your employees. Tell them that it's going to be all right, that we'll make it through this OK. Live together, die alone. (No, wait ... that's something else.)
Tell them to do one extra thing today that will help make the company more profitable. Make one extra call to get a sales appointment. Perform one extra quality check of a component. Think of one extra idea for innovation.
And then do it again tomorrow. And the next day.
Pretty soon, there'll be no more recession. And no more Bloody Mondays.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 27 January 2009 at 11:31 PM in Firing, Human resources | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: economy, gruntled, layoffs
25 January 2009
Layoffs: Do you want the good news first?
Is it me, or are we seeing a trend in press releases and internal memos about layoffs? In announcing the layoffs, whether publicly or "internally and confidentially" (which these days just means publicly with a slight delay — who really, in this day and age, thinks these memos and emails are going to remain confidential?), the companies explain the layoffs, cite the recession, but then talk about how good their company is doing.
Do they ask the workers they're laying off, "Do you want the good news first or the bad news?"
Examples abound. A CNET article entitled "IBM quietly lays off North American staff" comes right after Big Blue announced a 12 percent increase in earnings. Cellphone maker Ericsson issued a release entitled "Ericsson Reports Strong Fourth Quarter," but laid off 5,000 workers worldwide. Internet News had this headline: "EMC Trims Staff Levels Despite Record Revenues." According to Above the Law, a sizable regional law firm issued an internal email talking about its "strong 2008" while announcing that it was laying off 6 percent of its lawyers.
Perhaps some of this is Churchillian stiff-upper-lip talk to rally the remaining troops (and investors). But it's a safe bet that many of the laid-off workers (as well as a lot of those still left on board) will be left wondering if the layoffs were truly necessary.
To be sure, the job cuts may help prop up profit margins right now. But companies need to remember that the recession will end. And on the other side, these companies might wonder why they're no longer employers of choice in the eyes of the talent they will then need to hire. People remember how they're treated on the way out, and they tend to tell other people.
Bottom line: make sure your messages are consistent. If you're laying people off, don't brag about how well things are going.
• • •
A language note: The verb — to lay off someone — is two words. The noun — layoff — is one, without a hyphen. The adjective — a laid-off worker — is hyphenated because it's a phrasal (or compound) adjective that precedes the noun. But the worker was laid off — no hyphen.
It's hard enough to do a layoff. It shouldn't be so hard to write about it.
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Posted by Jay Shepherd on 25 January 2009 at 11:25 PM in Firing, Human resources, Managing employees | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: economy, gruntled, layoffs
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An Employee Complaint Is a Gift
Tuesday October 21, 2008
Are you interested in discovering your employees’ most serious complaints? Knowing what makes employees unhappy is half the battle when you think about employee work satisfaction, morale, positive motivation, and retention.
Listen to employees and provide opportunities for them to communicate with company managers. If employees feel safe, they will tell you what’s on their minds. Your work culture must foster trust for successful two-way communication.
You need to provide ways for employees to communicate and, air their concerns, and see that their voiced opinions had an impact on your work systems. You need to, not just listen, but be prepared to tell employees what their shared concerns changed about your business. If nothing, tell them that, too. But especially, tell them why their concern changed nothing.
Recently, I wrote a blog about top employee complaints. The blog was so popular with readers that I developed an article on the same topic. See tips about addressing and understanding employee complaints.
Image © Lisa Gagne
More Related to Employee Complaints
• Keep Your Best: Retention Tips.
• More Tips to Reduce Employee Turnover.
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October 23, 2008 at 4:51 pm
(1) Wisconsin (Former Media Employee) says:
I find your article hilarious. I finally complained about sexual harassment in my workplace (after three years) and followed my company’s procedures (including telling corporate HR) and got forced out. Apparently, the corporate HR department’s job was to figure out how to prevent legitimate lawsuits the employees could have against them and deflect them before they started. Oh, and by the way, another female co-worker just found out that they were paying her less (after 4 years there) than a male hired for the same job (no experience). The parent company has also lost a previous sexual harassment case and found guilty of OSHA violations, which is exactly like my old workplace. No one else dares to complain for fear of ending up like me.
PS: After four months I’m still waiting for the state to “get around” to addressing my complaint.
October 29, 2008 at 7:02 am
(2) Ian Pratt says:
Great article, the key message – welcome employee complaints, otherwise you cannot take action. I have recently worked with a business who’s employees were reluctant to make complaints out of fear, however I know the managers and this just did not fit.
On further investigation the managers were not doing anything negative to provoke this feeling of fear. However, they also were not giving enough positive feedback.
Since this experience I have started to notice people who don’t receive enough positive feedback are less likely to speak up and make a complaint.
I will not read your full article on this topic, thanks again
October 29, 2008 at 7:12 am
(3) Jonathan says:
I think it is a fine line to manage.
At the one end, unfortunately, is Wisconsin where management seems to have put their head in the sand hoping it will go away. Leaving a (presumably) talented employee looking at getting out.
At the other end, there is a risk of encouraging moaning and groaning for its own sake and managing triviality. Without any action, this will create a “feel bad” factor about the place.
(and in the current economic climate who really cares that the vending machine doesn’t have such-and-such flavour crisps..)
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A COMPLAINT ABOUT AN EMPLOYEE JOINED BY SUBMITTING ILLIGAL DOCUMENTS TO YOUR ACCENTURE COMPANY HR.


A Complaint About An Employee Joined By Submitting Illigal Documents To Your Accentur



Dear Sir,

Am going to say the RANJITH has joined to your company(accenture dairy circle branch) in date 15 may 2005 by submitting the illigally created documents. He has not done any puc in commerce and diploma. He qualifeid only SSLC, during selection of appointment he shown only illigally created xerox copies of certificates and he joined to your company by cheating.

I kindly requesting yourcompany to check his documents and to take action on him.
below are the details of ranjith.

Name- RANJITH
Employee ID- 10159229(ACC)
Current CTC - 20,000
Work timings- 2.30pm-11.30pm
Company branch- Accenture RMC building, dairy circle, bannergatta road, bangalore.




thanking you
regards
well wisher.






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We recently had our entire hotel become a smoke free workplace. We did, however, have a small designated spot outside our warehouse arranged to accommodate our smoking staff. Recently, management has decided to declare a complete smoking ban on its outside property too thus eliminating staff smoking completely. What is my right as the employer to do this? We are a New York State employer.
Any workplace in New York and most other states can become smoke free. There is no inalienable right to smoke (or use) tobacco at work under the constitution.

The employers premises includes the entire property owned, rented or controlled by the employer, inside and outside – even a remote warehouse or cars in the employee parking lot. The employer has the right to prohibit smoking on this entire property.

The New York employer also has the right to prohibit employees from leaving company property while on meal or rest breaks.

The New York smoking ban prohibits smoking in the workplace, which by law forces smokers outside. Many employers find that regular smoke breaks reduce productivity – so they eliminate them. The law requires that the workplace be smoke free. It does not require that employers provide an alternate time or place for employees to smoke.

In most cases, an employer cannot force an employee to quit smoking. But they can make it impossible to smoke during the work day. The thought process is that if the employee stops smoking for 8 or more hours each day, that will encourage the employee to quit permanently. Hospitals have been doing this for decades, as a way to encourage employees to quit smoking.

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If the employee is not covered under FMLA because they have not worked at our agency long enough, can we terminate their employment for excessive abscences? We are in the state of Oklahoma. The employee left due to an illness, has not provided doctors notes, or called to update us. Everytime we communicated it was after multiple attempts on our end to reach her. Thanks for your help!
As long as the employees condition is not a disability under ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, you can terminate her due to excessive absenteeism. (We are assuming that the employee is not covered by a state family leave law.)
If the employees absence is due to a condition that is a disability under the 2009 EEOC guidelines, unpaid time off may very well be a reasonable accommodation. The employee does not have to use the words *reasonable accommodation* when making this request. She can simply let you know she needs time off due to her chronic depression, OCD, arthritis, migraines, etc.
If no disability is involved, the best practice would be to contact the employee (sending a certified letter if necessary) letting her know that she must return to work on a certain date (perhaps next Monday) or face termination. In addition, you could require that the employee provide both a doctors note for the absence, and a doctors release that she is now fit to resume her full duties. If the employee did not comply with all 3 of these conditions, you would be justified in terminating her.
However, it sounds like this has already gone on too long, and you are not willing to have the employee return under any circumstances. In that case, as long as ADA is not involved, you can simply inform her by phone, email or letter that she has been terminated. Some employers would wait until the employee returns to work, to let her know that she is terminated. However, there is a risk of confrontation and violence if you choose to do so.
July 15th, 2009, 10:59 AM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Termination |
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Jul15
Individual Employee Files for Payroll Records
We are in the process of re-doing employees files. Currently all information (new hire, performance, training, ee change notices, signed agreements, verification requests, vacation/sick absence notifications) are kept in one manilla folder. It’s all there, but a bit messy. We are separating our payroll and HR functions in prep for Sarbanes-Oxley standards. The majority of our filing is the vacation/sick absence notifications - a document used in the processing of payroll. We have id’ed this as a payroll document and would like to keep it and other payroll processing documents separate. My question is: Do payroll documents such as this need to be kept in individual employee files, or can the “batch of paperwork” generated during a specific pay period simply be filed in a file marked “period ending”. It seems to me that our automated payroll system is capable of generating any reports we need, and if an employee had a specific question regarding a paycheck, the “batch file” for that pay period could be pulled (Note: all documents for a pay period are already in alpha order from payroll processing). It also seems that purging of files would be easier, since ONE “pay period” file could be purged instead of 100’s of EE files. Are there any ramifications to filing in this manner? Specifically, legal, audit, best practice?
The best practice would be to keep this information in the employees personnel file, and to retain it for at least 3 to 7 years.
The question of how much vacation or sick time an employee has used often arises. If that happens, you will need the documents to verify that a) the employee took the time off and b) it was at the employees request. Payroll records will not accomplish the same thing. They will show that you paid the employee for a day of vacation, but that could have been an administrative error.
If you need to discipline or terminate an employee for excessive absenteeism, you will also need to provide documentation that shows how many sick days the employee has used. Again, payroll records alone do not do that, because it could have been a payroll error.
If you keep all the payroll records for a payperiod filed together, you may have to sort through dozens of records to find every one of an employees absences.
Also consider that with the introduction of the Ledbetter Act, employees have decades to file a charge of discrimination in pay. So you want to retain those records a minimum of 7 years, and perhaps much longer.
Our recommendation is that you continue to keep the vacation and sick absence notifications in the personnel file, and simply improve the filing system so it is more organized. Using files with a metal clasp and a two-hole punch is a time-honored way of keeping large files tidy. Another option would be to scan all the documents and keep an electronic file on each employee. But we do not advise eliminating these important records.
July 15th, 2009, 8:03 AM | Posted in: Human Resources Management |
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Jul13
Elimination of Smoking even outside employer premisis
We recently had our entire hotel become a smoke free workplace. We did, however, have a small designated spot outside our warehouse arranged to accommodate our smoking staff. Recently, management has decided to declare a complete smoking ban on its outside property too thus eliminating staff smoking completely. What is my right as the employer to do this? We are a New York State employer.
Any workplace in New York and most other states can become smoke free. There is no inalienable right to smoke (or use) tobacco at work under the constitution.

The employers premises includes the entire property owned, rented or controlled by the employer, inside and outside – even a remote warehouse or cars in the employee parking lot. The employer has the right to prohibit smoking on this entire property.

The New York employer also has the right to prohibit employees from leaving company property while on meal or rest breaks.

The New York smoking ban prohibits smoking in the workplace, which by law forces smokers outside. Many employers find that regular smoke breaks reduce productivity – so they eliminate them. The law requires that the workplace be smoke free. It does not require that employers provide an alternate time or place for employees to smoke.

In most cases, an employer cannot force an employee to quit smoking. But they can make it impossible to smoke during the work day. The thought process is that if the employee stops smoking for 8 or more hours each day, that will encourage the employee to quit permanently. Hospitals have been doing this for decades, as a way to encourage employees to quit smoking.

July 13th, 2009, 9:05 AM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Workplace Health & Safety |
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Jul12
Firing an employee after start of FMLA - Part 4
Hi,
I initially wrote to you back in April about an unusual case where we put an employee on FMLA leave after letting them know they would be terminated at the end of that leave. I hope you remember the scenario. At that time, you noted, in part, that “If this employee filed a complaint about disability discrimination with the EEOC and a complaint about FMLA with the U.S. Department of Labor, it is probable that both of those agencies would sue you. She would almost certainly win a wrongful termination case in California.” Now we have unfortunately found out that you are indeed right on at least two counts. We have learned that this employee is pursuing action through the DFEH and the DOL and that they will likely pursue investigations very soon. This will of course cost us a lot in terms of time and money. My question now is, can she retain an attorney and start a wrongful termination lawsuit at the same time as these two departments are conducting their investigations or does she now have to wait until DFEH and DOL have concluded their investigations in order to have the right to sue using an attorney. In other words, are these three actions independent of each other or does she now need a right to sue letter in order to pursue wrongful termination with a private attorney? We’re afraid that defending these three actions at the same time will put us in a very precarious positon financially.
Thank you.
As gratifying as it is to know that our advice was right, we are sorry to hear about your legal difficulties. You sorely need legal advice — which we cannot provide on this (or any) internet forum. Please contact an attorney specializing in employment law ASAP.
The sad news is, these three issues are independent of each other, even though they result from the same series of actions on your part. The employee can indeed pursue a wrongful termination suit without a right to sue letter on her disability discrimination or FMLA case.
As a lesson to other employers, it is often easier and more cost-effective to return an employee on FMLA to his or her job, rather than face expensive lawsuits.
July 12th, 2009, 9:31 PM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Termination |
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Jul12
Lunch break
As an employer in Virginia (dentist), our employees work from 8am-4:30 with a required 30 minute unpaid lunch break (stated in our employee handbook). Our employees relieve each other for lunch, and sometimes I find out (after the fact) that a couple of them declined when lunch break is offered. Am I now required to pay them the 30min/day overtime? (BTW, I have been paying the overtime.) Just looking for a solution….
Yes, you are required to pay employees for all the time they work — even if they work through lunch without authorization and in violation of company policy. You are required to pay overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week, even if it is unauthorized.
However, there is an easy solution to this problem. Although you must pay the employees, you can and should discipline or even terminate them for violating company policy. You should send out a memo reminding employees that company policy requires them to take a 30-minute unpaid lunch each day. Then if someone violates that policy, you should issue a written warning to her (or have your office/practice manager do so.) If the employee accumulates 3 written warnings for the same offense, she should be terminated.
Our best guess is that if you issue one or two written warnings, that will eliminate the problem entirely. Every employee will start taking their break.
July 12th, 2009, 9:30 PM | Posted in: Compensation, Human Resources Management |
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Elimination of Smoking even outside employer premisis



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We recently had our entire hotel become a smoke free workplace. We did, however, have a small designated spot outside our warehouse arranged to accommodate our smoking staff. Recently, management has decided to declare a complete smoking ban on its outside property too thus eliminating staff smoking completely. What is my right as the employer to do this? We are a New York State employer.
Any workplace in New York and most other states can become smoke free. There is no inalienable right to smoke (or use) tobacco at work under the constitution.

The employers premises includes the entire property owned, rented or controlled by the employer, inside and outside – even a remote warehouse or cars in the employee parking lot. The employer has the right to prohibit smoking on this entire property.

The New York employer also has the right to prohibit employees from leaving company property while on meal or rest breaks.

The New York smoking ban prohibits smoking in the workplace, which by law forces smokers outside. Many employers find that regular smoke breaks reduce productivity – so they eliminate them. The law requires that the workplace be smoke free. It does not require that employers provide an alternate time or place for employees to smoke.

In most cases, an employer cannot force an employee to quit smoking. But they can make it impossible to smoke during the work day. The thought process is that if the employee stops smoking for 8 or more hours each day, that will encourage the employee to quit permanently. Hospitals have been doing this for decades, as a way to encourage employees to quit smoking.

Tags: non-smoking, smoke free, smoking, smoking ban, workplace
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Jun15
Security parameters for personnel files in HR offices



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In order to make sure our company is in compliance, are there any regualtions regarding the security requirements for personnel records in the Human Resources office?
Is a locked file cabinet okay?
What room security is prudent?
Thanks,
Barry
There are no federal regulations (and few if any state regulations) regarding how HR files are stored. However, there are some best practices in the industry.
Different states have laws regarding the security of personnel records. For example, in Texas the employer cannot disclose the employees social security number to anyone outside the company — not even a third party payroll processor. However, these laws seldom go into detail about how to achieve that security.
Personnel files should be kept in a file cabinet that is locked, preferably all the time. The cabinet should be in an office that is locked when not in use. Employees should be careful not to leave files unsecured. For example, a personnel file should be locked inside a desk or cabinet, rather than left on the desk, when a supervisor or HR pro goes to lunch.
The primary federal law regarding privacy of files is the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that employers maintain a confidential file separate from the personnel file. The confidential file contains any and all medical information on the employee including doctors notes, FMLA forms, etc. Many employers also keep other sensitive information, such as the employees credit report or background check, in this file. The confidential file must be kept in a locked location where even the employees supervisor does not have access to it regularly, to prevent discrimination based on disability or medical information. So the best practice is to keep this information in a separate file cabinet, with a different key, from the personnel files. Some employers even keep them in a different location.
June 15th, 2009, 1:53 PM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Workplace Management |
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Jun01
Employee personnel files
Can anyone in a executive position (president, CEO) have access to the files of an employee, without permission?
Yes. Personnel files are not personal, to coin a phrase. Personnel files are business records, and it is just as appropriate for the CEO or another executive to look at them as it would be for them to read the company profit and loss statement or accounting records.
Whose permission would the CEO or president need to read personnel files? The employees? The HR Directors? Sorry, but the CEO or president outranks both of those people, and can grant himself or herself the required permission. A good chief executive stays in touch with what is going on in the business and that includes being familiar with employees and their performance. Reviewing personnel files is an important part of that process. It also keeps the HR department and supervisors honest, if they are accountable to someone for personnel decisions.
If the CEO is reviewing the employees confidential medical file, that might be a different scenario. It would be lawful, but it is not a best practice in HR, especialy if the CEO is making an employment decision, such as promoting or terminating that employee, based on medical information.
June 1st, 2009, 9:43 AM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Workplace Management |
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May28
Grooming Issues with Plumbers
We have one young man who has had 3 distinct haircuts in the last 6 months. First it was hippie long & shaggy, then shaved GI style and now a mohawk. He is the brunt of jokes on the jobsite (which he does not mind) and his fellow employees are tired of hearing them from the other contractors. He is a plumber so dress code is really lax, but the hair thing is causing problems and projecting a company image we do not like. Can we make adress code to limit hairstyles? We thought this might be too discriminatory.
Yes, you can implement a dress code and as long as you enforce it fairly and consistently, it is not discriminatory.
If you feel that this young man is not projecting the company image that you like, that is a valid concern. Requiring him to change his hairstyle because other contractors make fun of it is probably not a valid concern. (Our guess is that they will continue to make fun of him for some other reason.) And, we have to wonder…was his haircut *normal* when you hired him? Or were you hoping it would get better?
Traditionally, one of the perks of working construction has been the very lax dress and grooming code. People with hair like Willie Nelson and tatoos like Mike Tyson could work in construction, when they were excluded from other jobs. However, there is no law that this must be so. And perhaps you are not in a traditional construction setting.
You can establish a comprehensive dress and grooming code for all employees. Our suggestion is that you draft a dress code that covers all the bases while you are at it, including piercings, tatoos, jewelry, clothes, etc. etc. Many, perhaps most employers prohibit *extreme hairstyles.* In this case, an extreme hairstyle is whatever you say it is (as long as you are fair and consistent.) Mohawks would definitely qualify. Issue a written memo a week or two in advance to inform everyone of the new dress and grooming code.
You may have to follow up by taking this young man — or anyone else who violates the dress code — aside for a private conversation. Be tactful, but explain that his hair is a violation of the dress code. If he is very young, it may never have occurred to him that this is a valid job performance issue.
It is legal to have different dress and grooming codes for men and women in the workplace. The reality is that men and women dress differently in our culture, and the courts realize this. So you can prohibit men from having shoulder-length hair, but permit it for a female plumber, should you have one on the payroll.
If you issued a dress code and only required workers of one race, color, religion, or ethnic group to follow it, that would be illegal discrimination. But it is perfectly legal to discriminate between employees with mohawks, and employees without them.

May 28th, 2009, 8:24 AM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Workplace Management |
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May15
ADA accomodation after FMLA has expired
Here is our scenario. We granted an employee FMLA approved leave for 12 weeks after a very serious car accident on his own time off. His 12 weeks have just expired. The employee has a follow up appointment with his Doctor in one month, to determine whether he will be allowed to return to full un-restricted duty. Would it be in the best interest of the employee and us as the employer, to grant him an extension of FMLA as a reasonable accomodation under ADA? This would allow him to continue as an active employee, instead of being terminated. As we understand it, he would no longer have job protection after the 12 weeks.
You are correct that normally an employee no longer has job protection after exhausting his or her 12 weeks of FMLA. Usually, an employee who does not return to work at that time, can be terminated.
We are not convinced that ADA applies in this case. The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to employees with a permanent condition that limits their activities. For example, arthritis or asthma would be considered disabilities — they are never going to completely go away. However, a broken leg would not be a disability. At some point in time, the employee is expected to make a full recovery from the broken leg.
It sounds like you expect this employee to make a full recovery. In that case, a reasonable accommodation under ADA does not really apply.
If he were able to return to work now, but could not perform some duties, then he might be covered under ADA — especially if the impairment were permanent.
Some companies offer employees extended unpaid leave, in addition to FMLA. However, be aware that you are setting a precedent. If you offer this employee extended leave, you must offer other employees the same benefit. Suppose next year you have a pregnant employee who is on bed rest for 12 weeks before the birth of her daughter. She is also unable to work for 4 weeks after the birth. You would be legally obligated to offer that employee the same benefits — including being returned to her job — that you are offering this employee.
If you have terminated employees who exceeded their FMLA leave in the past, they might very well have a case for illegal discrimination, if you offer this employee an extended leave of absence.
Many employers would terminate this employee, and rehire him when/if he is able to work in a month, rather than establish a company-wide policy that employees are entitled to 16 weeks of unpaid leave — 12 weeks of FMLA, plus another 4 weeks or so.
May 15th, 2009, 1:46 PM | Posted in: Workplace Management |
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Apr13
Records Management
How long does an employer need to keep personnel records (including medical)after an employee leaves the company? We are located in Wisconsin.
Payroll records must be kept for three years. I-9 forms must be kept for 3 years or for one year after the employee is terminated, whichever is shorter. Many other payroll records, including ADA documents regarding reasonable accommodation, must be kept for 7 to 9 years.
And the answer may be even longer, under the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was passed earlier this year. That law gives employees the right to sue based on wage discrimination, even many years after the fact. Some employers are now keeping information on how hire, fire, payment and promotion decisions are made for up to 20 years. This would include the employees personnel file.
All of these documents can be stored electronically to save space.
April 13th, 2009, 8:45 AM | Posted in: Workplace Management |
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A female employee who is Muslim wants to wear a headscarf at work in Indiana. I say it’s not appropriate and doesn’t fit our dress code. Who is right?
The employee is correct. She has the legal right to wear a headscarf on religious grounds. Court cases have supported Islamic women’s right to wear headscarves.
Federal law makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee based on religion, among other things. That covers discrimination in firing and hiring as well as working conditions and other terms of employment.
Title VII requires that employers make what are called “reasonable accommodations” to a worker’s religious practices, unless those accommodations would create an “undue hardship.”
There have been a number of court cases supporting the concept that making exceptions to the dress code are “reasonable accommodations.”
The question then arises, what would constitute an “undue hardship.”
If an accommodation were significantly costly, that might constitute an undue hardship. As an example, suppose a religious accommodation would require an employer to hire an extra worker. That would likely be an undue hardship. However, standards will vary depending on the size of the firm. For example, an accommodation of $2,000 yearly might be a hardship for a small company. But an annual outlay of $7,000 a year, for a large firm, might be reasonable.
It is unlikely that simply allowing an employee to wear a headscarf would result in an undue hardship.
In one case, an Islamic woman who would not remove her headscarf during Ramadan was fired by the Phoenix car rental agency she worked for. After she filed a claim of religious discrimination with the EEOC, she was awarded $287,000, including lost wages and back pay as well as a $250,000 penalty.
Two Muslim men working for a New Jersey town sued over the town’s dress code requiring all men be clean-shaven. The argued that their religion required them to wear beards. The court supported their claim, saying an accommodation was reasonable.
However, courts have also supported company dress codes when safety is at stake. If the two men had worked in an area of open sparks, for example, their beards might have been a fire hazard. In such a case the employer’s dress code would likely have been upheld. JH
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 10:02 pm and is filed under
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Hello! I am new to HR at my company, and came with a few things sitting on my desk. There are two *copies* of I-9’s with misc. details that are incorrect (wrong issuing authority, wrong ID).
We generally have originals of all I-9’s but in this case we do not. Should I have the employees fill out a new I-9 and backdate the information? There is now a newer version of the I-9 form than when they were hired, should we use the new one or old one?
Thanks! Jax in Missouri
Well, this is a mess!
This is a judgement call and frankly, we believe you should get someone else in the company like the owner or upper management to make the decision.
The problem is that it is unlawful to backdate an I-9 form. And, it was just as unlawful for the employer to allow these employees to work for more than 3 days without a complete, accurate I-9 on file. The dilemma is that if you complete them today, using the current form and todays date, and ICE does an inspection anytime in the next 3 years, the company will be in violation. (Just to make this more interesting, ICE is conducting more employer I-9 audits.)
Many companies would be tempted to use the old form and backdate the I-9. In other words, they would recreate the document as it should have been when the employee was hired. Let upper management make this decision. The problem is that if you sign this document, you are falsifying company records, and federal documents. Our suggestion is that you decline to sign them (after all, it will be pretty easy for ICE to determine you were not even employed when the employee was hired.) If your boss insists that you sign the backdated I-9, you need to decide if this job is more important than your integrity. (And, we would make him put the request in writing, so you are not the scapegoat if the company is caught.)
This may be a moot point anyway. Frankly, there is a 95% chance that the employees are not legally able to work in the US, and that is why the I-9s are bogus. When you ask for proper documentation, you may very well find that the employees suddenly disappear. (Maybe this is why the former HR person is no longer there?) We suggest that you tell upper management that a complete audit of all I-9s is in order, just to make sure everything is ship-shape. If they decline, again, that goes back to the question of whether your integrity is more important than your paycheck. If you decide to stay, we suggest you save a copy of your suggestion and their refusal. (Email is great for this.)
July 15th, 2009, 11:31 PM | Posted in: Hiring and Staffing |
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Jul10
Working & Pay Sundays
I am run a liquor store that is open seven days a week. I read that i can not make an employee work sunday but if it’s part of their job description, do they have to? They are not working more than 3 days a week and its only one sunday a month.
Second Question: I am genearl manger who is on salary, i employ 7 employees that are hourly. Must i pay time and half for an employee that sunday? Law says if i employee seven or less i dont have too but am unsure if i include myself since i am on salary.
Any help you can give me would be greatly appricated.
Please post another question that mentions which state you are in. Very, very few states have laws that actually require that employees be off on Sundays. And to our knowledge, none has a law that employees must be paid time-and-one-half for working on Sunday.
It is possible that the laws you refer to are municipal, county or city laws. Sorry, but we cannot address those — there are just too many counties in the US for us to research every one.
July 10th, 2009, 10:42 AM | Posted in: Hiring and Staffing |
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Jul08
Is employee entitled to Severance
Payment during non compete period
Question: We made employment offer to an employee of a competitor not knowing the a non compete had been signed. After the offer the current employer found out and sent us letter of notice. The employee was called in and immediately terminated by the current employer without severace or compensation of any kind or any offer of future compensation. The employee was also told that employee could not work for a competitor for a period of twelve month. Agreement reads as follows: Payments During Non-Competition Period. XYZ Company will continue to pay Employee’s full base salary excludiing bonuses and all benefits except medical, dental and prescription insurance coverage, during the period Employee is required not to work for a competitor, as confirmed by Employee’s providing XYZ Company with a bona fide employment offer to Employee from a competitor. XYZ Company will not pay Employee’s salary or provide any benefits for any portion of the 12 month period that Enployee is employed or works elsewhere than with a competitor. If XYZ Company provides Employee with severance or comparable postemployment payments for all or any part of the 12 month period specified in this agreement, the for the period of time that Employee is receiving those payments, payments under this agreement shall be deemed to be included within them, and shall not be paid in addition to them. Given the above statement, isn’t the terminated employee entitled to severance if offer letter is presented to the XYZ Company? Please advise
A non-compete agreement is a contract. Only an attorney who has carefully studied the contract can offer a legal opinion on it. (And, we do not offer legal advice, anyway.)
It appears to us that the employee may be entitled to compensation, but there are just too many unknown factors here. We have not read the contract, and apparently you have not either. There may be additional clauses that the employee is in violation of, that would limit compensation. To be honest, this is really between the employee and his or her previous employer — it is not really any of your business. (And frankly, it would have been more honest for the employee to tell you there was a non-compete contract in place before you made the job offer.)
Our suggestion would be that the employee consult an attorney about this issue. If you really, really want to hire this person (perhaps he or she is the hottest news anchor for your TV station) then you may fund legal representation for the potential employee. But only a fool would try to make a determination on a contract that they have not even read.
July 8th, 2009, 2:15 PM | Posted in: Hiring and Staffing |
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Jul06
Writing a letter for employees to return back to work, what would you write or suggest?
Writing a letter for employees to return back to work, what would you write or suggest? Employees are currently on unemployment due to a lack of work for the summer. Hours will be available for them to return to work next month. Just to need to send a letter to be sure that they know hours and work will be available for them and will they be returning to work. Please help.
It may be too early to send that letter — or you may just want to send a very general query. That is because from a legal standpoint, if you send a letter stating that work will be available on, say, August 1, that may constitute a contract with the employee. Meanwhile, if business needs change, you could find yourself obligated to put these employees back to work.
If you had work today, there would be no problem with sending a letter to the employees recalling them from layoff, with a specific date to report to work — such as Monday 7/13. But since this is still vague, it might be better to hold off until you are sure.
However, It sounds like you need an idea of how many of the employees would be available when you have work again. In that case, the best course of action might be to send a very general letter along the lines of:
Dear X; (or Dear Valued Worker)
As a valued previous employee of our company, we wanted to keep you informed of current events.
While business is still slow, we anticipate an increase in hours available next month. We cannot guarantee employment at this time, but want to see if you would be available in August, if or when we are in a position to recall workers who have been laid off. Please take a moment to phone us at 000-0000 or to return the enclosed postcard with info on your availability.
Thank you for your patience during these trying times. We look forward to having you join the team again.
Sincerely,

It might also be a good idea to enclose a stamped, addressed postcard so that employees can simply check *Yes, I am available/interested in full-time work*, *Yes, I am available/interested in part-time work* or *No, I am not available/interested.* Some employees may be reluctant to make this awkward phone call, but most will return a prepaid postcard.
Also, just for your own info, usually an employee who has declined recall no longer qualifies for unemployment benefits.

July 6th, 2009, 6:29 PM | Posted in: Hiring and Staffing |
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Jul06
FMLA Laws in Ohio
Hello. We have an employee in Ohio who has been out of the office for the past couple of months getting treatment for cancer. Unfortunately since our employee has been out on leave the economy has caused for lay offs and salary cuts at work. Now that this employee has been cleared to return to work the company cannot bring the employee back since business is so slow. Is this against the law? When things pick up we will welcome the employee back with open arms, unfortunately we cannot at this time? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Extra notes: Small company of 15 employees currently
There is a loophole here because you are such a small employer. Even though you reference FMLA, that law applies only to employers with 50 or more workers within 75 miles. It appears that you are too small to be covered under the federal law, and Ohio has no family leave law at the state level.
Frankly, you should have handled this problem weeks or months ago. An employee on FMLA is entitled to return to his or her job, after the leave is ended. However, an employer can take any action against an employee on FMLA that the employer would have taken anyway, if the employee had not been on FMLA.
When you went through your previous round of layoffs and salary cuts, you should have eliminated this employees position, as well. You should have informed the employee of the decision at that time. Doing so would have avoided the appearance that you are illegally discriminating against this employee for using FMLA, or for having cancer (a disability under ADA.)
Our best advice is to allow the employee to return to work for 2 weeks, and then eliminate the employees position. Because you did not lay this employee off when you made other changes, it creates the appearance of discrimination if you do so now.
July 6th, 2009, 2:14 PM | Posted in: Hiring and Staffing |
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Jun12
When is it discrimination?



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In Tennessee, we are a headstart center and some of our teachers are going back to school to get a higher level degree in education. We also have teachers who are going to school to get higher level degrees in fields other than education. Here’s the scenario: We have a teacher who will be running late or unable to attend a mandatory meeting at the center due a test at the university she’a attending. This particular teacher is a teacher who’s not earning a degree in education. Second scenario is a different teacher same incident but this teacher is earning a degree in education. The question is the teacher who is earning a education degree is excused for not attending the meeting but the teacher who is not earning an education degree gets reprimanded for not attending the same meeting. Either teacher has past history for not attending meetings, it’s only about which takes more importance if you will. May I also add both teachers are paying for their own education. So it’s not a matter of the center is paying for the one who’s earning a education degree and they get special treatment. Could this be a case of discrimation due to one is favored more than the other or not recieving fair treatment because she’s not earning an educational degree? How does the company protect it’s self from prejudice cases suchh as this?
This is discrimination, but it is not illegal discrimination.
It is important to keep in mind the difference between legal and illegal discrimination. Federal laws, including Title VII of the civil rights act, prohibit discrimination against employees based on race, color, religion, national ancestry, disability, age (between 40 and 70) and pregnancy. However, they do not prohibit discrimination against employees for other reasons. For example, it is perfectly lawful and reasonable for an employer to discriminate between an employee who comes to work on time, and one who does not. It is perfectly lawful and reasonable to discriminate between employees who do a good job, and those who do not.
It is also reasonable for an employer to discriminate between an employee who is obtaining a work-related degree, and one who is not. So treating these employees differently is a form of discrimination — but it is lawful discrimination. Very few employers would excuse an employee from a mandatory meeting due to a conflict with the employees unrelated schooling.
There is no law or even common HR practice of employers granting concessions to employees who happen to also be students in an unrelated field. For better or worse, this *excuse* for missing a meeting is no better than *I have a date*. Virtually every university has a system in place to give adult students who have a scheduling conflict exams at a different time.
Suppose both employees were pursuing degrees in education, and the Caucasian employee was excused from mandatory meetings, while the African American employee was not. That would be illegal discrimination based on race. But as long as the employer treats all employees pursuing a degree in education the same, and employees of all races who are pursuing a degree in an unrelated field the same, that is legal discrimination.
June 12th, 2009, 11:02 AM | Posted in: Employment Training, Human Resources Management |
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May08
Unpaid Training for New Hire
My call center is located in the state of Virginia, I would like to know if instead of paying non-exempt new hires an hourly rate during their initial training , the company could pay them a bonus after a sucessful completion of training. Training could range from 2-4 weeks in length and the bonus could range from $400-$600. Can this be done legally?
No, this is not lawful. Both the federal and Virginia minimum wage laws require that employers pay workers for all hours worked. Time spent in mandatory training is hours worked. Especially if the training is on the employers premises, and job-related, it is always paid work time. Because you are a call center, you probably receive and make calls to other states, which means you are subject to the federal employment laws, including the FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act as well as Virginia employment laws.

There are additional issues with this situation. The wages you are offering are too low, and they are not paid soon enough. The federal minimum wage is currently $6.55 per hour. Assuming that these employees are training 40 hours per week, you must pay them at least $6.55 x 40 hours = $260 per week. Under the FLSA, wages are due on the employees regular payday. Under Virginia law, hourly employees must be paid at least twice per month. So waiting 4 weeks to pay the employees is not legal.

Presumably, you are proposing that any individual who does not successfully complete the training would not be paid at all, even if he or she worked 3 or 4 weeks. This is completely illegal under both Virginia and federal law. To quote our favorite U.S. Department of Labor Advisor, *Not paying employees means they are working for free. Working for free is slavery. It was outlawed in the U.S. in the 1800s.*

To put it another way, you are asking employees to work for nothing for 2 to 4 weeks. This is illegal under both federal and Virginia law, even if the employee agrees. If the law did permit this, you could ask/require that employees work for nothing all the time.

The danger, of course, is that an employee would file a wage claim with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, or the U.S. Department of Labor. This would result in an expensive lawsuit, and the company paying back wages, interest, fines and penalties.

A better option would be to pay employees the minimum wage while they are training, and offer a bonus of $100 or more for completion of the training program. If you are having a high percentage of new hires who do not successfully complete training, there are 3 solutions: 1) Improve the selection process 2) Improve the working conditions 3) Improve the training process, or make it easier.

Another option would be just accepting that many new hires are not sufficiently motivated to complete the training, and that this is a normal cost of doing business in your industry.

Read more about this at: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf
May 8th, 2009, 10:44 AM | Posted in: Employment Training |
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Apr29
Educational Financial Assistance
What normally does a company size of 100 employees include in their policy for Education financial assistance for employees?
Can employers offer a loan payment to an employee to complete their education. What are the risks involved?
What payment options should be mentioned incase the employee resigns with the employer?
Appreciate your help
Thanks
About 80% of U.S. companies do not offer educational benefits to workers. In almost all cases where the employer does offer such a benefit, the employee must pay tuition and take the class first. Afterwards, if the employee achieves a certain grade, the employer will reimburse the employee for part of the tuition. Most employers limit the classes that an employee can take to those directly affecting the employees job performance. An employee who cannot afford tuition is expected to secure a private loan (from a bank) for it, on their own.
There are a number of pitfalls in the employer loaning money to the worker for education, which is why most companies do not do this. First, the employee could take the money and run — meaning accept a $5,000 education loan from the employer today and quit tomorrow. The worst possible scenario is that the employee would take the classes and never pay the employer back. Due to various state and federal laws regarding deductions, it may be difficult for the employer to recover the loaned money.
There is also no guarantee that the employee will use the money for education. He or she could simply take the money to the nearest casino.
Many employers would be understandably reluctant to terminate an employee who owes them $5,000, which could result in the company keeping poor employees out of fear.
If the employer chooses to ignore our advice and lend money to employees, the employer should create exactly the same type of loan document that they would for a car loan to a stranger. In some circumstances, the employer may be required to pay the worker his or her full salary or wages, and go to court to try to collect on the loan. In generaly, we never recommend that an employer loan workers money.
April 29th, 2009, 9:33 AM | Posted in: Employment Training, Human Resources Management |
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Apr24
Have you ever sent your employees to a seminar for training?
I was considering sending my employees to a Skill Path seminar and I wanted to know if anyone has used them or another training company for training?
While we do not endorse any particular products, Skill Path and seminars like them are an excellent way to develop employee skills. Sending two or more employees to the seminar at the same time can be an excellent team-building exercise. Time away from the work environment gives employees the time to refocus so they can redirect their energies when they return.
Skill Path is a widely respected company that has been around for decades. Their content is accurate, and it is well presented. In fact, some of our HR advisors remember attending Skill Path seminars early in their careers, years ago.
April 24th, 2009, 7:16 AM | Posted in: Employment Training |
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Apr17
Discrimination
We have employees within our organization that seem to scream “discrimination” when they are merely being corrected for a policy violation within our company. My question is: Is there any recourse for an employer with this type of employee, if after investigation, it is determined that discrimination was not the issue? I have managers who are getting very frustrated that this always seems to be coming up and the amount of time that it takes to work on the issue, i.e., investigate, resolve, etc. Any help or reference to law would be appreciated.
This might be a good opportunity to do some education company-wide, on exactly what discrimination is. Many, many hourly employees seem to think that *discrimination* is a code word for *my supervisor is being mean to me.* For example, we recently fielded a comment from a white male who felt that he was the target of discrimination because he was being treated exactly the same as other employees, including white males. Go figure.
The best way to handle this might be to implement a half-hour or one-hour training class for employees at all levels on the companys anti-discrimination policy. Point out that there has been no discrimination at the company, but you want to make sure that everyone understands the companys policy. This will give you an excellent opportunity to tell both employees and their supervisors that when a manager uniformly enforces company policy, that is not discrimination.
Ideally, both the supervisors and employees would be in the same room for these training sessions.
It is also good to point out that many forms of *discrimination* are legal. For example, it is perfectly legal for an employer to discriminate between employees who do a good job, and those who do not. It is perfectly legal for supervisors to discriminate between employees who come to work on time, and employees who do not come to work on time.
Of course, you will point out that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, color, religion, country of origin, or sex. Similar laws make it illegal to discriminate against employees who are over 40, have disabilities, or are pregnant. GINA makes it illegal to discriminate against employees based on genetic testing.
Giving employees and their supervisors the opportunity to ask questions may clear the air. It will also reinforce the fact that the company is committed to eliminating discrimination, but that not every workplace disagreement is illegal discrimination.
Read more about these laws at: eeoc.gov. Any HR textbook should also have a general overview on discrimination — you can probably borrow one from the local library.
April 17th, 2009, 4:56 PM | Posted in: Employment Training, Human Resources Management |
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Jun10
Weekly hours worked for salaried employee



Management/Leadership






Complete Harassment Forms





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In California, how many hours is a salaried employee expected to work? I have heard anywhere from 45 to 60. What is the norm?
It is up to each employer to establish the standard work week for exempt employees at their place of business. The expected work week can vary from 35 to 75 hours per week — and even more for some employers. An exempt employee who does not meet the employers standards for the number of hours worked can be disciplined or terminated.
There is not a lot of data on this, but the average work week for exempt employees appears to be 45 to 55 hours per week.
June 10th, 2009, 8:37 AM | Posted in: Management / Leadership Development |
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Apr21
Hostile Work Environment
How does HR handle a complaint against a supevisor? What are the steps to take to start the investagation?
First of all, we are going to say that a *hostile work environment* is one of the least understood of all employment law concepts. Part of this confusion is fueled by TV shows like The Office, which use the term inaccurately. Unfortunately, these types of shows suggest that a hostile work environment is code for *my boss is being mean to me.* It is not.
It is much more likely that the supervisor is committing discrimination (or has poor management skills) rather than creating a hostile work environment. Usually, coworkers create a hostile work environment and the employer does nothing to stop it.
A hostile work environment exists when a) an employee is repeatedly the target of abuse or negative behavior due to his or her protected status and b) the employer knows about it, or should have known about it, and does nothing to stop it. Examples: When a female firefighter found pictures of naked women in her inbox at work every day for a year, and the employer did nothing to stop it, the courts found that this was a hostile work environment. When an African American male employee found a noose in his locker, White Supremist literature in the break room and insulting graffiti including the n-word throughout a factory, the courts found that was a hostile work environment. When a deaf store manager was repeatedly belittled by the HR rep (!) and her District Manger with remarks like *CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!!* — you guessed it, the courts decided that was a hostile work environment.
The employee must be targeted because of his or her race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age (over 40), disability, or pregnancy for a hostile work environment to apply, according to the EEOC. If the employee is targeted for any other reason (such as the supervisor just does not like her) that may be poor management or a violation of company policy, but it is not a hostile work environment.
The basic steps for an HR pro to investigate any workplace complaint are the same.
1) Behind closed doors, get the employees side of the story fully. (Have another manager — not the accused supervisor – present as a witness if possible. Ask open-ended questions to get all the facts, and listen. Find out if any of the incidents were witnessed. Do not try to defend the supervisor or make statements like *I am sure Fred was just kidding* or *Fred is just like that.*) There is no requirement that the employee make these accusations to the supervisors face.
2) Ask the employee to hand write a complete statement of the facts, including as much detail as possible and the names of any witnesses. The employee should also note the dates and times of specific incidents, if possible.
3) Depending upon company policy, tell the employee the information will be kept as confidential as possible. Do not promise absolute confidentiality — if the case goes to court, that will probably be impossible. In some cases with (alleged) sexual harassment, it is impossible to keep the employees identity secret, by the nature of the claim.
4) Sit down with the supervisor behind closed doors, without the employee, and get his or her side of the story. (Again, it is helpful to have another manager present as a witness. Ask open-ended questions, listen, do not argue or rebutt. If necessary, ask about the specific incidents the employee mention. Again, ask if any witnesses were present. Ask the supervisor to hand write a statement listing all the details and as many of the times and places as possible. ) The supervisor is not entitled to confront his or her accuser. Caution the supervisor against taking any retaliatory action.
5) Interview any witnesses to the incidents, individually, behind closed doors (with another manager present if possible.) Same rules as above, also get a hand-written statement.
6) Once you have interviewed everyone and have all the statements, sit down and review the case. Make a determination of what actually happened. You may want several people involved in this decision-making process. Determine if the law was broken, and if company policy was broken.
7) Determine what, if any, disciplinary actions should be taken. Remember that two wrongs do not make a right. If Tina comes to work 4 hours late, that does not give Fred the right to call her a bimbo. In this case, it is possible that Tina should be disciplined for tardiness and Fred should be disciplined for violating the company policy on sex discrimination.
8. Inform the employee and supervisor seperately of your decision. Some companies will give the complaining employee full details of any disciplinary action. Others will keep that information confidential, and will only tell the employee *we determined that the company policy against discrimination was violated, and have taken appropriate disciplinary action.* Have each employee promise to work with the other respectfully in the future. Emphasize to each that discrimination will not be tolerated in the workplace.
9) If you determine that this is basically a personality conflict, and not a violation of company policy, you may want to sit both employees down in the same room and allow them to each listen to the others point of view. However, this is not a good tactic if discrimination did in fact occur.
10) Determine if any change in company policy or retraining is necessary. Reiterate to both employees the companys commitment to providing a workplace free of discrimination.


April 21st, 2009, 11:02 PM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Management / Leadership Development |
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Apr15
body odor
As a manager, how do you tell one of your employees about his/her body odor in a very tactful and caring manner?
This is one of the most difficult conversations to have with an employee. It is bound to produce some hard feelings, no matter how tactfully it is handled.
Opinions are divided on the best way to handle this. Some HR pros actually suggest leaving the employee a tactful note along the lines of *Bob, I am sure you do not realize it, but occasionally you have a body odor. If you could pay a little more attention to hygiene (i.e., showering daily, clean clothes and using deoderant) it would be appreciated by your coworkers. Thanks!* The note can be anonymous (*Signed, a friend* or *Signed, management*) or it can be signed by the supervisor or HR person. Some HR pros would consider this the cowards way out, but it results in less embarassment for the employee, which is usually the goal.
The other option is to bite the bullet and have a face-to-face conversation with the employee. The best tactic is that you are sharing comments from unnamed coworkers: *Bob, some of your coworkers have mentioned that at times you have a body odor. I need to ask you to pay more attention to personal hygiene, including a daily shower (etc.)…Can you help me with this problem?*
It is probably necessary to mention daily showering, using deoderant and wearing clean clothes daily. Not every employee will automatically be aware of these strategies.
April 15th, 2009, 7:58 AM | Posted in: Management / Leadership Development |
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Apr11
Exempt Employees
Our CEO has classified some exempt employees as “Leadership” and given different benefits from the “standard” exempt employees; i.e., more vacation, no accrued or docked sick time, etc.
Do you think we face any problems because of this? We’re in Washington state.
Yes, this policy could easily backfire.
Establishing a policy where employees in certain positions (such as the company president and vice presidents) have additional vacation time is not really an issue. Many companies negotiate perks like vacation time individually with executives, so there may not be conformity among those in different positions.
However, creating two classes of exempt employees with different working conditions and benefits may well result in discrimination if, for example, most or all of the *leadership* employees are male, or Caucasian. By the same token, this practice is defacto discrimination if none of the Hispanic or African American employees in the company fall into the *leadership* category. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is illegal to discriminate in employment based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age. Similar laws outlaw discrimination based on pregnancy or disability. Employment discrimination includes pay, working conditions, benefits, hiring, firing, promotion, etc.
Under Title VII, when a policy has a disparate effect on members of a protected group, that policy is discriminatory — even if it was not the employers intention to discriminate. In this example, if all the Asian or female managers fall into the *exempt* category, but not the *leadership* category, this would be de facto discrimination against Asian or female employees.
While it is very common for employees to have different job discriptions and duties, having different benefits can easily be deiscrimination. For example, in 2007 the EEOC filed and won a case against the Niketown store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago because the store (like others in the chain) gave employee discounts to full-time workers, and not to part-time employees. About 80% of the stores African American employees were part-time. The EEOC ruled that giving this benefit only to full-time workers meant most Caucasian workers enjoyed the benefit, and most African American workers did not. The EEOC found that this was de facto discrimination, even though that was Nike’s intention. Nike paid more than $6 million in damages and penalties for this and other discrimination at the store.
Of course, it is possible if this additional benefit results in a lawsuit or EEOC complaint, that the company might win. It is also likely to cost more than $100,000 in attorneys fees to defend the suit. Your CEO needs to determine if the possible cost is worth it to him.
This policy also sends a message to employees that certain executives are above the law, and that the company does not treat all employees fairly. It suggests that the company does not value hourly and exempt (non-leadership) employees. We recently saw the type of outrage this sense of entitlement generates, when AIG executives were awarded $165 million in bonuses. This type of elitism is not good business management in the 21st century. It is almost guaranteed to reduce employee morale.
A better tactic would be for the company to reward executives with additional weeks of paid vacation, higher salaries, or performance-based promotions.
April 11th, 2009, 4:23 PM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Management / Leadership Development |
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Apr10
Piercings, Tattoos, Jewelry
The general manager wants to add to the “personal appearance” policy:
No visible tattoos
No visible body piercing (other than ears)
No excessive jewelry
There are current employees who would be in violation of this “policy.”
I know legally we can set our own dress codes, but I am concerned that this may cause a problem because these employees were hired irrespective of visible tattoos and visible piercings.
What do you think?
No, this is really not an issue. As an employer, you have the right to change policies — including the dress code or personal appearance policy — at any time. There is no law that the employer must object to the employees appearance during the interview, or keep silent forever afterward. The employer can decide at any point that tattoos or excessive piercings are a problem, and take action at that time. As long as this policy is enforced uniformly against all employees, it is not discrimination and is not problematic.
Put very simply, any companys policies are subject to change, and the employees must adapt to the changes.
You should issue the new policy in writing, preferably giving employees advance notice of a week or two. You should also counsel existing employees with visible tattoos on covering them while at work. For example, an employee with a tattoo on her neck might be advised to wear a turtleneck under her uniform top. An employee with a tattoo on his hand might be encouraged to wear gloves, if practical. Small tatoos can be covered with a band-aid while at work. Although tattoos are becoming more accepted, individuals with visible tattoos should already be aware that those adornments limit their employment opportunities.
Employees with pierced body parts have the option of not wearing the jewelry at work. For example, an employee with a pierced tounge or nose could simply leave out the stud while at work. If an employee has a pierced navel, wearing clothing that covers the stomach should conceal it. As an employer, it is really not your concern what ink or hardware the employee is hiding under his or her clothes — what is visible, is your concern.
April 10th, 2009, 3:15 PM | Posted in: Human Resources Management, Management / Leadership Development |
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This is the html version of the file http://uamp.wits.ac.za/sebs/downloads/2007/05__reading_4_hr_planning.doc.
Google automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
Reading 4: HR PLANNING (HRP)

Gregory John Lee
1. Introduction

Recall the definition of human resource strategy:
Human resource strategy…
…is the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable the organisation to achieve its goals.

Human resource planning (or HRP for short) is all about the first (underlined) function in the definition above. It is the absolutely vital function that look firstly at strategy, and then deploys the necessary human capital (people) where it is called for in the organisation by the strategy.

HRP therefore falls into the wider area of employee resourcing (planning for, acquiring and allocating the desired human resources for the organisation). We saw in the Armstrong diagram (Figure 1 of Reading 1) that employee resourcing is an arm of the HR function. See the diagrammatic version on the next page, which serves just to highlight the topics included in this arm of HRM.

HRP entails knowing in advance what the staffing needs of the organisation will be, assessing the supply of the relevant workers in the organisation and labour market, and finding ways to fulfil the staffing needs of the organisation.

Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “If it’s all the same to you, I won’t be coming in to work. The voices told me to clean all the guns today”.
Organisations are greatly affected by their demand for labour, and therefore by the supply of labour. Firstly, formulating a strategy can only happen after you have knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce, which will include these issues. Imagine, for example, if you are going to attempt a growth strategy into more rural areas. You may need a marketing workforce that has far more experience and contact with the black African customer base. If your SWOT analysis shows that your marketing team is too Western, then your HRP will have shown a demand weakness that needs to be overcome. Your strategy formulation has been greatly affected by HRP.

Secondly, strategic plans can only be implemented successfully if the organisation is staffed with the right number and type of human resources to provide the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities etc. Remember that staffing falls into one of the six implementation “musts” of strategy (Reading 2). Imagine, for instance, that your strategy includes divestment of some unprofitable factories. HRP will be involved in the implementation, because the major task will be either re-allocating the employees of those factories or retrenching them.

Successfully planning for and handling labour needs can thus be a competitive advantage or disadvantage. Companies who make and implement better HRP strategies than others will adjust better to environmental changes and have the most suitable workforces.

It is important to note that increasingly, human resource planning, as with many HR practises, will not necessarily be done by a central HR department. Often it is the ‘line’ managers (i.e. managers of operational departments) who will do a large part of the planning for their workforce requirements. A central HR department may be involved in the process in varying degrees (or, indeed, may do all the planning). This is why we see this course as being more of a management course than a specialised HR course - many of our students become general or operations managers in companies because what we teach you are organisational skills.

Read pp 177-178 of the attached textbook chapter
Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid that someone will clean them? - George Carlin
2. The HRP Process

The three broad keys to HRP are, roughly, to:

1. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your current workforce, both with regard to number & skills etc.
2. Have a clear strategic plan for the future, and an idea of how the current staff fit in (i.e. fulfill) that plan
3. If the current staff do not fit it in any way, a plan to alter it to do so.

These keys are achieved through the HRP process, which has four steps:

The HRP Process:

1. Deciding on strategic plans and resultant design of the organisation.
2. Out of these strategic plans, determining the organisation’s labour demand needs for both the short & longer terms.
3. Assessing the labour supply situation (both internal and external supply), and in light of it to draw up plans for effectively & continuously filling staffing needs.
4. Implementing the staffing plans.

A simple analogy for HRP is the building of a sports team (let us imagine a group of people wishing to enter a rugby team in a league). Firstly the organisers must decide what the strategy behind the team is going to be. For example:

• Is their aim going to be winning the local league, or alternatively to just play fun, social rugby with emphasis on enjoyment not winning?
• Which version of the game will they play? Are they going to play rugby sevens, league or union? (don’t worry about the terms)
If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry?
Another consideration is the design of the team:

• Firstly, the version of the game will determine the number and deployment of players needed on the field: rugby sevens needs seven roughly similar players, league needs thirteen players (mostly similar too), while union requires fifteen very different players (many of whom are specialists in their position).
• A second design question could involve whether they going to have a large squad so that each player only plays one half of the game, or are they going to play with just a few reserves, so that roughly the same team plays though the match?

Other questions might be asked, but you can hopefully see how strategy and design are the initial considerations.

Having determined their approach with regard to the above, the organisers now need to assess their demand for the number and type of players, based on the strategy and design. Perhaps they wish to play:

• social
• sevens rugby, with
• few reserves.

For this strategy and design, they will need about ten players at any one time (seven players and three reserves). These ten players need to be of a certain type (i.e. sociable rather than too serious; and all fast, given the nature of sevens rugby). They also need one or more coaches and/or trainers. This then is your demand for this strategic scenario. Alternatively, however, they may wish to play with an alternative strategy and design:

• league-winning
• fifteen-a-side rugby (union rules), with
• plenty of reserves for replacements
Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “When I got up this morning, I took two Ex-Lax in addition to my Prozac. I can’t get off the toilet, but I feel good about it”.
You’ll need a large squad of probably thirty or more at any one time (enough to replace most players once). The culture will require players who are serious and focussed on winning. In addition, you need to seek out specific types of players for each set, as the design of union rugby requires far more specialist players than sevens (where all players do roughly the same thing). Can you see how the demand is altered considerably depending on strategy and design?

However this does not end the demand step. Perhaps the more experienced organisers know that more and more players get injured as the season progresses. If you only recruit ten players for sevens, you’ll be short before long. Thus more that ten need to be acquired either at the beginning or later to adjust for this forecasted shortage. Likewise for union: you’ll need to adjust for forecasted injuries. This process of forecasting changes is also part of the demand step.

The next step, having looked at demand, is supply considerations. You need to look at three things:

• The first is to assess what players you currently have remaining from last season. You may only have a handful of players left over, filling only a few of the positions.
• Secondly, you need to assess how well these current players fill their positions. Some may fill the position perfectly, meaning that supply is just right there. However you may compare yourself with the other teams in the league, and realise that even though you have three ‘wings’, they are all too slow compared to the opposition. Also, you may have too many ‘centers’ (another particular position). Thus your current supply may not be good enough.
• The third thing therefore is to take this information and assess for each position whether (1) there is an adequate supply in that position, or (2) whether there are too many or too few players currently in those positions, or (3) whether some players must shift to new positions in the team.
If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
The final thing to do is find plans to implement the assessment (i.e. shortage, surplus or shift) made at the end of the supply stage. To play union you need a back line with two ‘wings’, two ‘centers’, two ‘halfbacks’ and a ‘fullback’ (don’t worry about the technical terms). Perhaps you are completely deficient in ‘halfbacks’ and ‘fullbacks’ this season, and need to find some. You also have too many ‘centers’. You have wings, but they are all too slow. Perhaps your plan might include relocating two wings to other positions (one to fullback the other to halfback), but maybe the third needs to be asked to leave the team and offered the job of peeling oranges. Then you need to find new wings. You may find that some of your overflow of centers are actually too old to be competing at this level, and need to be retired. Others may be relocated or just asked to leave. For the other deficient positions you may need to find new players and train them up. Thus the final step in HRP is to find ways to fill gaps, reduce surpluses or relocate people.

Each of these four steps will now be looked at individually in the business context:
3. Strategy, Design & HRP

In order to serve as a competitive advantage, the acquisition of staff must first and foremost be strategic, i.e. based on strategy (proactive) & not reactive (i.e. solving problems in staffing as they arise). One cannot hire, fire or relocate staff without there being a strong link to the core business needs.

Remember from Readings 3 and 4 that strategic plans translate into:

• specific, quantifiable objectives for every level
• a specific, desired organisational design.

Can vegetarians eat animal crackers? - George Carlin
The objectives and design will allow those doing human resource planning to know the number and type of employees needed at each horizontal and vertical level. For example, a strategy to increase product range, with growth objectives, may require further hiring. The design of the company will determine where the employees need to be increased (e.g. production if objectives are production oriented, marketing if necessary, etc.) An organisational design based on autonomous work teams may require the hiring of far more multi-skilled staff than in the case of a more traditional hierarchical organisation.

No more need be said about the strategy and organisational structure, as the literature has already been covered in previous readings. The next logical step is to look at the labour demand issues that may arise. Note that the demand for less labour is also a possibility under any given strategy or design.
4. Forecasting Labour Demand Arising From Strategic Objectives

To fulfil strategic objectives you need to ask several questions:

• How many employees are needed to enable the strategy & design?
• Of what types and quality?
• Where (in what departments / jobs / positions)?

The demand step is done both for the short and longer -term strategic horizons. Thus this step in the HRP framework potentially requires one to do a bit of forecasting, as demand is a future orientated concept (even if its for the immediate future). We therefore look at several methods of forecasting demand.

Practical Management Philosophy 101: “I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day, Tomorrow is not looking good either”.
One of the interesting things about demand for labour is that it is a derived demand. In other words, the demand for labour is dependent on more primary demands. We have already seen how strategy creates demand for a certain level of labour. More specifically, business strategy leads to consumers demanding the organisation’s products, and a greater internal demand for capacity. It is from this and other ‘primary’ demands that the demand for labour is derived. Thus the demand for labour is a secondary, dependant (derived) demand.
1. Methods of Forecasting Demand

There are two major ways to forecast demand:
1. Judgemental Forecasting Methods:

Judgemental methods reply primarily on the subjective but informed ‘guesses’ of experts. These people, often in managerial or other positions of knowledge, use that knowledge to make forecasts about labour demand when the future is not necessarily expected to follow the past. In other words, if you think environmental or internal changes are going alter the trends of the past (regarding staffing), then you need to make estimates that are based on human judgement. Two examples may be a change in legislation (e.g. the implementation of the Employment Equity Act on affirmative action) or a change in corporate strategy (maybe from product growth to vertical acquisition of other companies). Both these scenarios potentially render any staffing trends in past years all but meaningless as specifications have changed.

There are two major forms of judgemental methods, viz:

• Delphi: A panel of ‘experts’ each make their own judgements of what staffing demand will be in the applicable areas, along with the reasons for their judgements. Then each member of the panel is shown (usually in a presentation) what the other experts guessed, and why. They are then allowed to revise their own judgements based on the others. This continues until most experts roughly agree on the estimates.

Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “I can’t come to work because I’ll be stalking my previous boss, who fired me for not showing up to work. OK?”.
Managerial estimates: These are more ‘line management’ forecasts, i.e. they are made more by the managers on the front line (either top or bottom managers, or both). The key thing here is that the decisions are made by those with the direct experience of dealing with staffing. They may just meet together, or it may be left to individual managers.

However quite often the managerial and external environments are stable enough with regard to a particular job type within a company to justify using mathematical or statistical techniques to forecast demand for that job type based on past trends. These types of method are discussed next.
2. Mathematical Methods:

As stated above, these methods tend to focus upon past trends, and are almost wholly reliant on things remaining the same. Byars and Rue give the following methods:

• Time series on staffing levels: the past trends of staffing are extrapolated to the future. Time series takes into account past cycles, seasonal ups and downs, long term trends etc.
• Personnel ratios: Sometimes there is a consistent proportion between the numbers of staff in one job and the numbers in another (e.g. between sales and inventory staff). Thus, although this method does not estimate total staffing, it can be used to allocate staff between jobs or estimate for one job based upon another.
• Productivity ratios: Productivity ratios look at the number of people required to deal with different levels of workload. Thus, as workload alters, the ratio is maintained by altering staffing levels. The equation is Productivity Ratio (P) = Workload / Number of staff. Thus if the historical productivity ratio is .5 (2 staff members for every unit of work), then if workload drops by .2 (20%) then staffing must drop by .4 (40%). Workload can be measured in any unit, it is the ratio that matters.

A four year old went to see a litter of kittens. On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother that there were two boy and two girl kittens. “How did you know?” his mother asked. “Daddy picked them up an looked underneath”, he replied, “I think it’s printed on the bottom”.
Regression on leading indicators: The attached textbook chapter p147 talks about leading indicators as being an important business criterion that actually causes labour demand (remember labour is a derived demand). For instance, increased sales may be a leading indicator because they potentially lead to increased demand for production and inventory staff among others. Other leading indicators may be production levels, value added, financial indicators etc. Regression analysis looks at past statistical relationships between these indicators and staffing levels in different jobs. If a strong enough relationship is found (close to 1 or -1) then a relationship is assumed. Forecasts on these leading indicators are then entered into the regression equation to derive a forecasts for labour. For instance, a regression relationship of .65 might be found between past levels of accounting staff and sales figures. In other words, there is a fairly strong direct relationship between sales and accounts staffing. Either this information can be used on its own, or a multiple regression model can be set up incorporating other leading indicators, and forecasted sales figures used as one piece of information in forecasting accounts staff figures.

It must again be emphasised that the difficulty with these methods is that they are only strategic if strategy is stable (which, as you know, it often is not)! It is probably wise to use both methods therefore, depending upon any knowledge of future changes (again, the SWOT analysis is vital as an information source).

Now read pp 179-180 in your texts (till the end of “Determining Labour Demand”)

Now that you have demand for employees, you need to assess the ability of the organisation and the labour market to supply the right number and type of staff.
5. Plans to Fulfil (Supply) Staffing Demand

There are three steps in assessing supply capability, viz:

1. Assess what HR capabilities currently exist in the organisation to fulfil needs

Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines? - George Carlin
In light of this, assess how adequately the current workforce supplies needs (is there a shortage or surplus of the right kind of staff based on forecasted demand?)
3. Therefore, assess what changes need to be made to perfect the HR supply (strategic staffing goals and plans - do we hire / downsize / relocate / etc.)
1. Organisational Supply Capabilities

The step looks at current people & skills. There are several (hopefully) readily available information sources within the organisation that make it possible to do this. These include:

• Skills inventory: (a register of current HR capabilities, incorporating information on each employees’ skills, demographics, test scores etc.)
• Management inventory: (similar to skills inventory, but tailored to management, often including subjective assessments of ability etc.)

There are also various ways to forecast the supply of future people or skills:

• Markov analysis: A Markov analysis uses historical flow rates of workforce to predict future rates. Remember that we are looking at the current internal supply, not external labour market supply. Thus the organisation uses its own internal workforce movements as a proxy for future movements.
• Transitional matrices: See attached textbook chapter pp 148-149.
• Replacement planning: Replacement plans are short term replacement schedules that plot who can replace whom within the organisational hierarchy (mostly if replacement is needed quickly). They can be useful in predicting internal supply, especially as regards managerial positions.
• Succession planning: Succession plans take a longer term career development approach. They effectively ‘earmark’ employees for development through the hierarchy. Thus they show something of the more long-term internal supply situation.

Practical Management Philosophy 101: “I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound as they go by” (From Douglas Adams).
Vacancy analysis: Vacancy analysis is essentially Markov analysis based on judgement instead of history.
• Benchmarking: Benchmarking is a very different approach. it involves proactively comparing HR in your organisation to those of your competition. In this way, one can ascertain especially the quality of your internal supply (as opposed to the quantity).
• Best practises benchmarking: Similar to the plain benchmarking, but in this case the comparison is with successful HR practises in any organisation. In other words, the organisation seeks out excellence in the staffing of other organisations, and thus assesses its own internal supply. For example, you may assess an organisation known for its extreme efficiency in production lines. You note that they have combined man and machinery to require half the workers that you need for the same job. You may then make plans to follow suit.

This first step in assessing supply thus gives us only an indication on internal capabilities. These then need to be compared to need, which is discussed next.
2. Assessing Adequacy of Current Staff

Once one has assessed the current or future workforce capabilities, one needs to assess those capabilities against demand. There are three possibilities in each case:

• Too few people / skills (shortage - we need to add)
• Too many people / skills (surplus - need to remove employees from this sector)
• Need to reduce some staff & hire others (it is even possible that the number of people will remain the same in this case, but the type / quality will have changed).

The third option normally involves skills (not numerical) deficiencies, where current staff lack necessary skills and cannot be trained, necessitating replacing them with adequately skilled staff for the situation. There are however potential legal problems in this regard, which should be understood and managed (see second block work).

Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “My stigmata’s acting up”.
Now read p 181-182 in your attached textbook chapter

HR Quotes: Hiring Good People

“Here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better men than himself” (Tombstone of Andrew Carnegie).

“When you hire people who a smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are” (R. H. Grant).

“Eagles don’t flock - you have to find them one at a time” (H. Ross Perot).

HR Quote: Personnel Surpluses

“It isn’t the people you fire who make your life miserable, it’s the people you don’t” (Harvey Mackay).

“The thing that really worries businesses today is the great number of people still on their payrolls who are unemployed” (Dale Carnegie, 1895-1955).
3. Strategic Staffing Goals & Plans

The comparison of demand and internal supply data will lead to quantifiable objectives for strategic staffing (i.e. ‘we need to add XYZ number of so-and-so quality to our TYU division / job level’ or ‘we need to remove ABC number of staff from FGH department’). Whoever is fulfilling the HRP process will need to fulfil these objectives through choice of methods.

Your attached textbook chapter covers the method section quite well, so:

Now read pp 183-193 in your attached textbook chapter
Note especially the tables on p184.

Only a few points need to be made:


Practical Management Philosophy 101: “Am I getting smart with you? How would you know?”
Overtime is one of the methods given for filling a labour shortage in the short run. As indicated in the attached textbook chapter, it is more expensive for the company. Specifically, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) regulates pay for overtime - you will learn more about it later in the year. For now it is useful to know that in terms of the Act and its amendments, employers must either pay 1.5 times the normal rate for every hour of overtime or give extra leave. Also, no more than 12 hours total (normal & overtime hours) can be worked in any day, and no more than 10 hours a week overtime can be worked (unless a trade union and the employer have agreed for more in a collective agreement, in which case it can be extended to 15 hours a week).
• The Labour Relations Act contains quite stringent laws for the retrenchment of workers (i.e. downsizing) in South Africa. This topic will be dealt with in detail in the second block. It is not as easy to retrench in South Africa as in the U.S.!
• Also important are the SA laws for discrimination contained in the Employment Equity Act. These laws will be fully explicated in the reading on selection - for now, realise that in all staffing decisions you must ensure that no particular group is being discriminated against without good reason (see Reading 6). Of particular application here is ensuring that the criteria for who will be downsized in particular are fair and non-discriminatory. Also, retirement must not be done in a way that discriminates against elder people (i.e., you cannot ‘force’ premature retirement).

HR Quotes: The Usefulness Of Older Workers - Both Sides Of The Stick (See textbook chapter 187-189)

“Old age and the wear of time teach many things” (Sophocles).

“Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own” (Sydney J. Harris).

“When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world” (Benjamin Disraeli). (Anecdotage = telling ‘war’ stories).

“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom” (H. L. Mencken).

“It isn’t the incompetent who destroys an organization. The incompetent never gets in a position to destroy it. It is those who have achieved something and want to rest upon their achievements who are forever clogging things up” (F.M. Young).


How do they get deer to cross at that yellow road sign anyway? - George Carlin
6. Implementing & Evaluating HR Staffing Plans

Now read pp 193-194 in your attached textbook chapter
7. Affirmative Action Planning

Now read p 194-195 in the attached textbook chapter on Affirmative Action

This topic is very important in South Africa! As you no doubt are aware, the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 legislates for a certain measure of affirmative action (AA). The Act has two main sections:

• Chapter II, which deals with anti-discrimination measures. This is not really what we mean by ‘affirmative action’ (Chapter II will get more attention in the next reading on recruitment).
• Chapter III, which deals with real affirmative action. It is this chapter that we focus on here, as it directly impacts on HRP

Although AA is a vital topic, I do not cover all aspects of it in this reading. Later on in your study of HRM you do get to go into it in more detail, including the philosophical arguments and backgrounds, different socio-political and economic implications and other aspects. In this reading you will only be given enough of an introduction to enable you to see AA as an aspect of HRP. At this point we need to look at a definition of affirmative action:

“…Affirmative Action is a pro-active, conscious effort to redress disadvantages of the past and to increase the representation of marginalised groups of the population in leadership position in society” (Wingrove, 1993: 7).
Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “I have a rare case of 24-hour projectile leprosy, but I know that we have that deadline to meet. You decide.”.
Thus we see that AA is designed to ensure not only legal equity in organisations (where everyone has an equal chance for opportunity), but it also includes the concept of active preference towards certain groups in order to aid their advancement.

In terms of the Act, only ‘designated’ employers are required to implement AA. Section 1 (you need to know the sections!) states that a designated employer is:

• Any employer who employs more than 50 employees; or
• Any employer who earns annual revenue above that designated by the Act1; or
• Any municipality or State body; or
• Any employer that is bound to implement affirmative action by a collective agreement (i.e. an agreement with employee bodies); or
• An employer who, because of a discrimination indictment in the Labour Court, has been ordered by the court to undertake AA; or
• An employer who voluntarily agrees to undertake AA by a notice to the Director General.

Non-designated employers (those who fall into none of the above) do NOT have to implement AA (although they do fall into the non-discrimination clauses of Chapter II).

Who is the focus of AA? As stated in the definition, AA is targeted at advancing ‘marginalised’ groups (which, in South Africa, are more commonly referred to as ‘historically disadvantaged’ groups). Section 1 states that three groups of employees or people applying for jobs in the organisation who are not yet employees are accepted as ‘historically disadvantaged’, and it is these three groups that are given preference by an AA program. These three groups are:

• ‘Black people’ (defined in the Act as ‘Africans, Indians or Coloureds’),
• Women (of all races) &
• People with disabilities (of all races)

What exactly are the AA requirements for designated employers? Section 13 of the Employment Equity Act gives the general AA requirements:

1. Every designated employer must, in order to achieve employment equity, implement affirmative action measures for people from designated groups in terms of this Act.
2. A designated employer must:
a. consult with its employees as required by Section 16;
b. conduct an analysis as required by Section 19;
c. prepare an employment equity plan as required by Section 20; and
d. report to the Director-General on progress made in implementing its employment equity plan, as required by Section 21.

The first subsection is quite general. The term ‘affirmative action measures’ used in Section 13 (1) is defined further in Section 15 (2), and includes:

• doing away with employment barriers against designated groups,
• furthering workplace diversity,
• making reasonable accommodation2 for people from designated groups in order to ensure that they enjoy equal opportunities and are equitably represented in the workforce,
• AA measures (including preferential treatment) to appoint and promote designated groups to ensure equity, and
• measures to retrain, train and develop people from designated groups.

Section 15 (4) does, however, stipulate that non-designated groups do not have to be completely prejudiced. Thus employers should not take AA in terms of this Act to mean that they must retrench white, male or abled workers to replace them with designated groups (or similar measures).

Section 13 (2) above is most connected to HRP. It includes the following provisions:

1. Designated employers must consult with employees or their representatives about the employment equity process, audit, plan and reports (Section 16 & 17). This means, in practise, that some form of consultative team or committee should be set up, to which the employer is obliged to disclose all information. Note that consultation does not mean that the employer finally the agreement of the employees in conducting AA, only that their opinions must first be heard and taken into consideration, and that agreement should be sought.

2. Secondly, designated employers must conduct an analysis of their company, which is essentially (1) a count of the different race, gender and ability/disability proportions in all horizontal and vertical levels of the organisation, and (2) an audit of all potentially discriminatory policies and procedures that may hinder designated group advancement (Section 19). The attached textbook chapter mentions that this internal audit can then be compared with the applicable national and industry labour market figures (a work-force utilisation review) - this is a logical step, as it gives a benchmark against which you can compare your proportions and practises at every level.

3. Thirdly, designated employers must, using the audit as a reference, draw up a formal plan (Section 20) to redress any past inequalities in staffing or procedures at all levels (i.e. you can’t avoid AA at one or more horizontal or vertical levels). This entails the organisation assessing where in its hierarchy there are not enough blacks, women or disabled, and begin making plans to hire or train up ‘historically disadvantaged’ people into those positions over time. Where discriminatory procedures are to be found, they should be changed. The plans should include:

o organisationally-set objectives for each year, and what AA measures are to be adopted,
o numerical targets (e.g. as to demographic representation in various levels and timeframes) for filling positions,
o strategies and structures to be used for AA implementation (including senior management names who are responsible for AA),
o a total duration for the plan (longer than 1 year but no longer than 5 years),
o methods of enforcement, monitoring and resolving disputes.

4. Fourthly (section 22), designated employers must submit progress reports to the Director General of Labour (once every two years if the employer has less than 150 workers, once a year if 150 or more workers). These plans must be drawn up in consultation with employee representatives.

5. Finally (section 27), designated employers must submit an report on the income (i.e. pay and benefit) differentials between levels and occupations to the Employment Conditions Commission (not the Director General as with the AA report). Any ‘disproportionate’ proportions are to be rectified.

Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “I am stuck in the blood pressure machine down at Hyperama”.
Although these requirements may seem to be quite strict, AA is actually not legislated as stringently as it could be (or as you may think it is). There is one noteworthy omission from these laws. Although it is law to introduce a certain measure of affirmative action into your Human Resource Planning, there are no ‘quotas’. A quota is a government-induced percentage of staff at certain levels that have to be of historically disadvantaged background. Thus, if there were quotas (which again there are not) one example might read: “Top-level managers must comprise at least 50% black, 20% women and 3% disabled. However the government has not done this! There are no quotas at present, and currently companies can set their own targets (as long as they do so, and register the reports). Of course, if in the future companies fail to do adequate AA, then the government is quite likely to force its hand with quotas.

As regards the actual HRP process for the affirmative action situation, roughly the same steps as are used for normal HRP (in fact the AA plan and audit cover most of the needs). Thus one does:

• a strategy and design analysis specifically for AA (most of which is probably in the plan),
• a demand analysis (again, most of which is in the plan),
• an internal supply analysis (the audit), and
• specific plans are made to rectify any needs (also in the plan).

The final topic to be discussed here is the enforcement of the Act and sanctions against non-complying companies. There are various ways that the Act is policed: the employees or their representatives can bring a complaint, labour inspectors can inspect the employer, the Director General can instigate investigation, and of course the reports serve as an enforcement. If employers are found to have contravened any requirements, they can be required to take remedial steps, and can incur fines of no less than R500 000 for the first offence and more thereafter. Also, no tenders for government / State work will be given to employers unless a certificate of AA compliance is presented (thus this is an incentive to comply).

Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny? - George Carlin
Again, it must be stressed that this section is only a small (albeit important) cross section of the exciting and internationally relevant study that can be done on AA. We are only looking at it from a purely technical HRP viewpoint here, but later you may look at it from many other aspects.
Humour In HR: Affirmative Action (True Story)

“An Affirmative Action official of the State of Pennsylvania wrote to a business officer of a company whose policies were being investigated: `Please send to this office a list of all your employees broken down by sex”. Some time later, this reply was received: “As far as we can tell, none of our employees is broken down by sex - and while none of us is broken down by sex, we are sometimes worn down by filling in all those forms....”.

HR Quotes: For And Against Affirmative Action

“It is less important to redistribute wealth than it is to redistribute opportunity” (Arthur H. Vandenberg).

“I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights” (Clarence Thomas).

















Innovative excuses to miss a day of work: “I set half the clocks in the house ahead an hour and the other half back an hour Saturday, and spent 18 hours in some kind of space-time continuum loop, relieving Sunday (right up until the explosion). I was able to exit the loop only by reversing the polarity of the power source of exactly e*log(pi) clocks in the house while simultaneously rapping the dog on the nose with a rolled up Times. Accordingly, I will be in late, or early..
Tut for reading 5: HR Planning
-
AbelTech Games (ATG) is a leading global software company currently specialising in the design and programming of high-tech computer games for personal computers. They have had great market success and popularity due to the distinctive nature and style of their games.

They are divided up into the following divisions:

• The research and scriptwriting division, who are responsible for the actual stories and themes in the games themselves. After researching and assessing market trends in games, they write scripts similar to those of a stage play. The scripts are then passed onto the programmers to be turned into a game. These employees tend to move only within jobs involving creativity and writing, and frequently spurn offers to move into management positions due to the perceived lack of creativity.
• The core group of programmers, who write the software code for the games. The programmers are the ‘heart’ of the company. They are generally highly trained, and voluntarily work extremely hard (often up to 16 hours a day). The programmers tend to interact socially mainly in their own group. To become an ATG programmer is not easy. It is boasted that you only become a real programmer 6 months after starting work. This is because it is considered vital for new recruits to learn the distinctive style and mindset of ATG games before they be allowed to work on new code. There are also certain skills specific to ATG programming that can only be learned inside. Newcomers are therefore put through an extensive orientation that involves analysing in depth the code for older games, and learning the ATG history. They are also socially integrated, and exposed to the broader cultural influences that have helped to form the ATG style (such as certain ‘cult’ movies etc.) It is therefore part of the ATG culture and structure that only people who are ‘sold into’ the organisation can work on programming in ATG. Few programmers leave.
• The management divisions. The biggest management divisions are the accounting and HR groups. The accounting group are largely composed of bookkeeping staff, who often have no special qualification but are trained on the job.
• The sales division, who sell the games to games distributing companies all over the world, and to various levels of market. The sales staff take broad direction from management, but their major contact in the organisation is with the accounting division (whose work is linked largely to the amount of turnover generated by sales). Each salesperson works closely with a group of employees in the accounting division, handing in reports of operations and frequently co-operating on the accounts. In fact, salespeople often do some of the accounting work if their contacts in the accounting department are away sick or for some other reason. Accounts people may also sometimes field calls for the salespeople with whom they work if needs be. The two groups therefore associate frequently outside of work and identify with each other at work.
The following are the staffing numbers, also broken down by age:


Age
0-20 Age
21-30 Age
31-40 Age
41-50 Age
51-60 Age
61 + TOTAL
Scriptwriting 3 20 23 10 7 3 66
Programmers 11 61 36 21 2 0 131
Sales 2 16 18 12 8 8 64
Accounting 0 7 13 10 9 1 40
Other Management 0 2 9 13 4 1 29

At the beginning of this year (2000), top management outlined the future directions for the company. The focus for the immediate future is going to be breaking into new technology mediums such as cell-phone and palmtop games etc. This expansion will require cutting back somewhat on new game development, and a consolidation of older games into new technologies. It will also require a review and overhaul of the accounting systems of ATG.

Having announced the strategic shift in their quarterly reports, some companies have approached ATG with contract proposals:

• PHD, who are programming specialists in the type of new mediums that ATG are looking at, have proposed that ATG outsource all of their programming in the new technologies to them. They are willing to do this for less than it will probably cost ATG.
• A software company has proposed that ATG buy an invoicing program that should reduce accounting work by 10%.

Another problem to be faced is the fact that ATG has decided to cease sales in China (due to copyright problem there) and in other regions (such as Eastern Europe and South America), due to the cost ineffectiveness of ATG doing their own sales there, as well as political problems. However it is expected that sales will be resumed in these regions in a few years time, perhaps as soon as two-three years for some.

Based on this strategy, the HR division has identified the following planning discrepancies for next year (2001):

• There will be an expected shortage of approximately 23 software programmers.
• There will also be an expected shortage of accounting staff. Numbers are somewhat uncertain, but it seems as if sales turnover will increase approximately 50%.
• On the other hand, there are expected surpluses in sales staff of approximately 25%,
• There are also projected surpluses of approximately 14 market and script researchers.

You have been hired as an HR consultant to analyse the situation and suggest HR planning tools to reconcile staff shortages and surpluses. The company have always had a rather good relationship with employees, and therefore wish a minimum of suffering to occur (however they are willing to see a minimal level of suffering if necessary). Therefore they are also willing to take it fairly slowly.

Question A:

Outline the strategic types that ATG are moving into

Question B:

For each ATG division with an HR planning discrepancy:

1. Describe all the possible techniques that would be appropriate and feasible in each division’s situation to reconcile its shortage or surplus. Where appropriate, include the numerical effect of each technique on staffing levels.
2. Also mention which techniques are not appropriate, and why.

In all cases, justify your answers, referring to the case study.
(30 marks)

Question 2

You are the HR director for a large advertising agency. Due to the impact of growth strategies from the mid-1990’s into the international arena, you are constantly having to take on new staff. Below is a transitional matrix for certain of the main jobs in the firm:

2000
1997 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
(1) Admin staff .5 .15 .2 .15
(2) Account assistant .1 .45 .1 .35
(3) Account manager .4 .1 .5
(4) General manager .6 .4
(5) Creative assistant .05 .25 .5 .2
(6) Creative manager .1 .85 .05 .05
(7) Creative director .90 .1
(8) Not in firm .45 .75 .15 .00 .65 .1 .05

Answer the following questions, including calculations and numbers where required:

1. You have a projected demand for 14 new general managers in 2001. Where are they likely to come from? (include numbers)
2. What would stop you from using the matrix for calculating the supply of general managers?
3. Which positions have the greatest turnover? Why do you think these jobs have so many people leaving them?
4. What does row (not column!) 8 tell you about the agency’s recruitment policies?
(15 marks)
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• From: HRJohn (HRJohn)
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• Posted: Jul 22 09 01:04 PM • Message:
• 4195.1 (1 of 4)


Recently, there was a court case where an employer got in trouble for disclosing (via e-mail) the details of an employee termination (name, reason, etc.) . The employee later sued for libel.
Originally, a court dismissed the case because the e-mail was truthful and sent without malice. Essentially, it was a "full disclosure" type of thing on the company's part to eliminate rumors, grapevine talk, etc. When the case was reviewed in a panel rehearing, the court reversed their position and ruled that the employer may have acted with malice... the court stated that they singeled out this employee in an effort to humiliate (as terminated employees had never been named in mass communications before) and because it was sent to all 1500 employees - many of whom had no reason to know, nothing to do with the policy that was violated, and had no reason to otherwise be notified...
What do you think?

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• Posted: Jul 22 09 02:17 PM • Message:
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I think it's often important to disclose circumstances surrounding a dismissal, mainly so that people do not fear losing their jobs. If I heard someone in my office was fired I would want to know what they did so I didn't make the same mistake. Also I want to know that people are dismissed for justifiable cause.
However in this case if it was sent to 1500 employees, that seems excessive. There's no way 1500 people heard about the dismissal unless it was executive management. I agree with informing the persons department though.

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I agree with the courts. If, during an employment reference you are not allowed to disclose why the employee is no longer with the company, then a "disclosure" to alleviate rumors or any thing else should also be taboo. I believe it constitutes a breach of confidence.
I worked at a company that when someone was getting let go, everyone seemed to know except for the poor hapless employee that it was going to happen to. I thought it was a distasteful situation in which everyone knew and gave sideway glances to this person and they were completely oblivious. It also smacked of unprofessional behavior on the part of management to let this information become public. It never came from HR but from the manager in charge of that employee who confided in someone in that department and they confided in someone else and so on. It really only happened in one department but they would spread it to others so when HR finally approached the person, they really couldn't retreat with dignity and in comfort knowing no one else knew.
HR John, Where can I find the information on that case? I would like to send a copy of it to someone.
Sasha

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• Posted: Jul 22 09 04:29 PM • Message:
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I believe it is the Noonan vs Staples, Inc. Case #07-2159 1st Circuit Court
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• From: tesslib (tesslib)
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• Posted: Jul 17 09 11:14 PM • Message:
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I have been employed with a company for the past 2 years. and 9months as an admin assistant. During this time, my boss continues to talk down to me. It seems like everything that go wrong in the office I am blamed for. Recently my boss misplaced some documents and blamed me for them. She swore she gave me the documents which she did not. After searching through all my papers without success, she decided to search the Asst. Director's office. She found the documents in the asst. director's office and to date she has not even offered as much as an apology. I am very close to resigning based on the fact that I have been harrassed and accused for the past two years. What advice can you give me

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• Posted: Jul 19 09 10:52 PM • Message:
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To: Tesslib
Do not quit because this person is an idiot and they cannot appreciate you and your skill. Granted that you may decide to leave but I admonish you to make RELLY sure that you have somewhere else to go. Secure another job first, them when you do leave - make sure that you are on good terms. When you can do this please tell me how - since I am even taking acting classes to try and appear proper with the idiot that I report to...No kidding - dorks only come dumber then this guy if they are at the morgue...
Please ensure that you document the activities that you complete and where things go. I have had to start doing this because this person that I report to seems to always check on my stuff but not on others and I have found on occasion that Fridays at 4:00 PM he will drop off something that needs to be completed by the end of the day all the while I continue to press on with the daily assignment from Tuesday that has requried "his" changes every day since he does not / will not / knows not how to do this right.
Last month and at Easter this last mnute thing happened and I completed soonest and placed it on his desk before going home on the weekend. Of course on return to the office, "Where is this ... it is vitla to send to Director... if you have not done this or lost it....." The first time it was lost by the staff who came in on the weekend to replace the carpet. The next time it was in his IN-basket and I walked into his office and pulled it out and showed it to him. (I have used a red cover page to demonstrate visibility from a distance should it go missing.
Then he sentit and E-mailed to me about all of the errors on the report...that's when I began documentation of all my activities. I E-mail to myself every day upon entry to the workplace and exit to go home. Everything is in point form and the most I ever had was 27 entries in one day for phone calls. messages, document control, project managemetn for progress and updates and of course the interaction with his favourite assistant who lost the first bunch of documents in the first place.
Next time the E-mail will tell the story about what happened in poiunt for, who/what/where the thing did what it did. It was hard to create this and customise it for me but it works. Now I do not worry about anything because it has a date stamp from the E-mail system.
so I laid the trap for him now. I would have left but that is what he wants so he can hire his younger cousin and both of them canget the good pay and benefits. Also I am taking my own course so I can be prepared for a better job next time insteaad of some stupid position since he will always give a bad reference. He has done this to other people too.
Good luck I know that you will do well. Read something about mental toughness and verbal judo to control your impulses. Then train up for something better (your boss should pay for it under your company trianing program). Then when he needs you most and you are ready the after shock pain will be well worth it.

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• Posted: Jul 20 09 08:00 AM • Message:
• 4184.3 (3 of 5)
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You resigning would not "punish" the company one bit and would only result in you being unemployed (in very desperate times) and ineligible for unemployment.
The behavior you describe is not really harassment (by legal definition), unless you feel their is some reason for the harassment that is based on some protected factor. You, unfortunately, just have one of those tough work environments that - if you have lasted two years in - then you must be doing more right than wrong. I agree - document the incidents you feel are harassing, but know that sometimes being able to survive and "take it" in these environments can end up with you being a favored employee in that harassing boss's eyes... it is unlikely that such a personality will ever apologize for being wrong, but they often know that they were and will lay off you a bit until they are sure next time something occurs like that...


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• Posted: Jul 22 09 10:26 AM • Message:
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I think you are doing the right thing by documenting behaviour, but make sure you're not being over-sensitive at this point. Sometimes when someone has "picked on" us at some point we tend to be hypersensitive to interactions in the future with them. Make sure you're approaching each new day with a fresh outlook, otherwise it's going to be a LONG career. Working with difficult people is all a part of life, you will see it to some extent everywhere you go.
One thing I've often done myself is outright ask the person if they have a problem with me. Sometimes people need to hear that their actions/words are affecting another person before they even consider changing. The next time that person is mean to you, ask them, "Have I done something to upset you at some point?" This may trigger the question "Why would you ask that?" and then you get to state your case. You feel as if they are unnecessarily rude or mean to you and you aren't sure what's gone on to cause things to be that way. Who knows, maybe there is something this person wants to say to you that they haven't previously had a chance to.
Either way, don't give up! Deal head-on with what's happening so you don't get walked all over.

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• Posted: Jul 01 09 03:47 PM • Message:
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Recently, I visited my HR director to say hello. The poor individual was so frazzled I could not help notice she was in total disbelieve of what she was experiencing. It only took me asking: what's wrong? For her to unload all her frustrations. I felt so bad and then came the realization that HR has no 'HR' to go to! What can I do for her without probing while providing her a channel out of her difficult situations. Everyone, including me goes there every day to unload about something. Knowing her, I know she takes all of that and then some and goes home. She is a one-man show and is truly over worked and under appreciated!!!

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Give her the link to this forum - that is EXACTLY what we're here for.

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:-)

Good promotion.

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I think part of being in HR is knowing how to handle stress and frustrations. I had to teach myself to let small things roll off my back, otherwise I would explode. I think HR networks are a great place for us to unload our frustrations. It's often not the best when HR talks to others in the company about their problems.

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• From: ISRmanager (ISRmanager)
• Last Visit: Jul-22
• Posts: 5

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• Posted: Jul 20 09 05:38 PM • Message:
• 4186.1 (1 of 12)


I hired a woman a little less than a year ago to join my team. She didn't quite fit in with the type of people I'd previously hired because she was a bit brazen in her interviews, but she convinced me that she was really a go-getter. So I hired her and to my surprise, on her very first day working for me, she said "you know, I'm old enough to be your mother..." and ever since then, I've felt that age is an issue for her. It seems to be from this that her lack of respect is drawn.

The problem is that since day one, she has been a very negative person here in the workplace. She constantly complains about things- it seems arbitrarily- because when questioned on her complaints they basically go nowhere and have no substance. She has a very abrasive and confrontational demeanor and two of her coworkers have come to me already, frustrated with the way she's treated them and her general negativity. She'll even call her children from her desk and absolutely berate them on the phone, oblivious it seems to the fact that she's making everyone uncomfortable.

A couple of weeks ago she was completely rude to me in front of my team - becoming confrontational to me and even blatantly ignoring me at one point. I wrote her up for Insubordination after the previous verbal warning. When we met to discuss the write-up, she was very hostile and rude about it and ultimately refused to sign it, even though at one point during our conversation she admitted that she'd acted inappropriately and needed to work on it. When she challenged the process of writing someone up, I suggested she contact HR with any questions. She did, and now a whole can of worms has been opened. She's now pleading her case to HR, telling them that she is simply a "direct" person, and that my description of what happened (it was 100% accurate, I do not exaggerate) was inaccurate and that she has "witnesses" to back that up. My contact at HR doesn't believe she actually has any witnesses and believes she is simply lashing out defensively, but this signifies an even bigger problem to me, as any "witnesses" could only be people who work directly for me. So now she is approaching others, bringing them into this?

This is just getting worse and worse - it seems to be toxic. I know as a manager you're not supposed to take these situations personally, but when you hear what an employee is saying about you when they are a total problem employee, it can be pretty hard on you. What should I do?

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• From: DanFeest (DanFeest)
• Last Visit: Jul-20
• Posts: 1

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• To: ISRmanager
• Posted: Jul 21 09 12:05 AM • Message:
• 4186.2 (2 of 12)
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________________________________________
After reading your post, it is clear to me that this employee may have a personality disorder, but in any case her behaviors are deeply engrained and maladaptive, and you will not be effective in "coaching" or coaxing her into any meaningful or lasting change. Her narcissism rules. Question, #1. Do you have an employee assistance program, and are they a real program (not one of those managed care 800 programs which are worthless for this type of situation (the real meat of EAP work) because you will need to make a supervisor referral, and have the employee assistance professional do close follow-up with you to reinforce change. You will be successful with the EAP because you will be making a decision to use job security and the threat of dismissal as a motivator to boost her sense of urgency to examine her behavior and make personal changes that last. The suggestions is to be effective and dramatic now because down the road it won't be as effective. If you threaten her and don't follow through, you will buy your next level of problems and crises with her. Meet with the EA professional first and plan with the consultant your strategy for getting her to the EAP, and then to accept help, sign a release at the EAP, and change her behavior through cooperation with the professional. Anything less, fire her. Decide that you are sick and tired of being sick and tired with her, and then you will be tranformed into an assertive machine to get this problem with her finished. Do not be afraid to terminate her. I have attached a form worth using. Daniel Feerst, LISW, Manager WorkExcel.com
Daniel Feerst, LISW, Manager WorkExcel.com
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• From: HRJohn (HRJohn)
• Last Visit: Jul-23
• Posts: 1842

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• To: ISRmanager
• Posted: Jul 21 09 07:01 AM • Message:
• 4186.3 (3 of 12)
• Reply to 4186.1


I empathize with your tough situation... but you are falling into the defensive mode now and that will weaken your case. Even in situations with these "toxic" employees, there are some employees that will stand behind them (to a point) because they hope to benefit from the fallout in the end. In this situation, it sounds like there are some people that may feel that they cannot speak up about anything and, while this employee is an extremist, they may support her to some degree is they have ever felt stifled about anything. They will not "take her back" totally as they will likely acknowledge that she is an extreme example, but they might use it to try and take you out or down hoping to create opportunity for themselves.
Not saying this is happening for sure, but it would seem that she would have no support from the start of your posting and closer to the end it sounds as if your starting to worry that someone else might stand with her... maybe it is just the way it reads, but if you're making her an example because you want people to just blindly follow what you say, there may be some trouble in the ranks. It certainly sounds as if she is a problem child, but be aware of possible issues with your own sensitivity to her "type" and make sure that you have the support you think you do from those others who have supposedly complained about her... HR will have to take all the statements into consideration and if you have any doubts about another employee's support of your position, make sure their previous complaints about her are documented.
The fact that you have a "contact" at HR that is leaking information to you about what may be an ongoing investigation doesn't give me a alot of confidence in your HR department's handling of this, but this employee sounds like she might just be the type to take it outside the organization too. If there is a chance that you are just sensitive to her directness, then consider this in your quest to terminate (especially if there are no other performance issues except attitude) and maybe stop at the written warning level and hope that you can remedy the issue through further supervisory work in the future. If she "wins" at HR, however, you may have more of a problem than you had before.
Just a few early thoughts, please feel free to clarify the situation further for me...
Thanks,


HRJohn (Your Co-Host)

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• From: ISRmanager (ISRmanager)
• Last Visit: Jul-22
• Posts: 5

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• To: HRJohn
• Posted: Jul 21 09 11:18 AM • Message:
• 4186.4 (4 of 12)
• Reply to 4186.3


Hi John, thanks for taking the time to respond. I hadn't thought about other employees being involved, and I'm certain that no one else on my team could be involved except for one person - a woman who sits right next to her and they are close. Everyone else on my team is wonderful and we've all always had great relationships - I just can't imagine any of them would entertain any sort of conversation like that with her. The woman who is her close friend, though, is someone I'm sure she confides in; and this woman is very sensitive and empathetic in general. She is also very timid when it comes to approaching me with anything, she's said so before - but she's also told me that she's always been timid when approaching any boss, and that I'm the best boss she's ever had. The problem woman is well known to exaggerate the truth or outright lie, so there is a possibility that she's just made this up to HR. But then again, maybe not. Should I schedule an informal meeting with the other woman, her friend, just to catch up and see how she's doing, to remind her I'm here and open to her?

She is direct, and I don't mind that - but that's not the problem, because there is a difference between being a direct person and being rude and offensive. How can blatantly ignoring a manager be thought of as anything but rude? I'm trying to be objective about this to ensure I'm able to see all angles, but I just don't see how her behavior could be described as anything but disrespectful and rude. How do you know for sure when the line has been crossed?

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• From: HRJohn (HRJohn)
• Last Visit: Jul-23
• Posts: 1842

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• To: ISRmanager
• Posted: Jul 21 09 11:33 AM • Message:
• 4186.5 (5 of 12)
• Reply to 4186.4


I have to cover all the angles my experience has exposed me to... now that you have clarified things a bit more I am reasonably confident that this person is aware of her behavior and is now working hard to "cover her tracks" - she probably thinks that raising some concerns with HR will give her credibility, but if you have documentation (and the prior warning) and witnesses to support your position, you should have no concerns moving forward. I would advise NOT to contact this other person (especially if you think that she is supporting the problem child) because that could be seen as uncharacteristic of you and make it look like you're bringing people in one by one to build a case. Let HR do the clarification work (if they even opt to do that...) It is not atypical for a person that knows they've pushed the envelop to get desperate... HR is plugged into that usually.

HRJohn (Your Co-Host)

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o Insubordinate Emp... cont and URGENT


• From: ISRmanager (ISRmanager)
• Last Visit: Jul-22
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• To: All
• Posted: Jul 22 09 06:27 PM • Message:
• 4198.1 (1 of 2)


....and here I thought all was resolved yesterday after she apologized and admitted fault for her behavior....I told her that we would move on from this positively and leave it in the past. All seemed well...

Today she emailed me and asked me for a copy of the write-up, which I emailed to her and asked her to drop it off at my desk when she had a moment.

To this, she replied indicating she would not sign the document, and attached a Word doc of her version of what happened the day of the incident. I have never in my life seen such an unbelievable twist of a story. Actually, "twist" is an understatement. She flat out lied over and over in her recount of what happened, and quoted me more than 10 times (in quotations) completely and totally inaccurately. She took things that I said and turned them into completely different sentences that served only to perpetuate her defensiveness in a situation that I recounted 100% accurately.

This is, without doubt, the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I think that given the issue at hand - Insubordination - this is grounds for immediate termination. I can understand her need to defend herself, but recounting a complete lie and quoting me falsely is going way too far.

I live in a state that allows termination much more easily than a state such as California. I need to know if in your experience, this is grounds for immediate termination.

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• From: HRJohn (HRJohn)
• Last Visit: Jul-23
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• To: ISRmanager
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• Posted: Jul 23 09 06:10 AM • Message:
• 4198.2 (2 of 2)
• Reply to 4198.1


BEFORE you terminate, write a formal rebuttal to her version of the events and have HR co-sign (since this all happened in the presence of HR, they should readily support you.)
This person may actually WANT to be terminated at this point and is simply preparing a case for wrongful termination or so that she can collect UE.
There cannot be so distorted a version of the truth - HR is going to have to step in and write a summary of what happened from an unbiased perspective.

HRJohn (Your Co-Host)

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Posted by nabil medawar in Experience, Famous Quotes and Sayings, Inspirational and Motivatetional, Words of wisdom, tags: Experience













• A little experience often upsets a lot of theory.~ Samuel Parkes Cadman
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• Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing.~ Oscar Wilde
• Experience is the best teacher.~ Traditional Proverb
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• Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.~ Terry McCormick
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• Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you’re too damned old to do anything about it.~ Jimmy Connors
• Experience is a private, and a very largely speechless affair.~ James Baldwin
• Experience is the worst teacher; it gives the test before presenting the lesson.~ Vernon S. Law
• Experience is largely non-transferable.~ Experience Quotes
• If we could sell our experience for what they cost us, we’d all be millionaires.~ Abigail Van Buren
• In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.~ J. Paul Getty
• In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.~ Harold S. Geneen
• Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.~ George Bernard Shaw
• No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.~ John Locke
• Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.~ Auguste Rodin
• Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost.~ William Ellery Channing
• Not the fruit of experience but experience itself, is the end.~ Walter Pater
• One bad experience is worth more than a thousand threats.~ Turkish Proverb
• Our wisdom comes usually from our experience, and our experience comes largely from our experience.~ Experience Quotes
• Proverbs are the children of experience.~ Sierra Leonean Proverb
• Spirit is the sword and experience the sharpening stone.~ Arabian Proverb
• The basic experience of everyone is the experience of human limitation.~ Flannery O’Connor
• The dying cannot leave their wisdom or experience to their heirs.~ Italian Proverb
• To deceive a diplomat speak the truth, he has no experience with it.~
Greek Proverb
• Two things control men’s nature; instinct and experience.~ Blaise Pascal
• We start as fools and become wise through experience.~ Tanzanian Proverb
• When a woman laughs an experienced man will know how much it will cost him.~ Indian Proverb
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Casey O
Account Executive at Siemens Medical Solutions
see all my questions
What was your worst selling experience? How did you come out of it?
I have noticed *many* people waxing philosophical here and it would be nice to hear some funny stories about sales experiences that fall under the category "funny now, not funny then".
posted 7 days ago in Sales Techniques | Closed
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Answers (7)

Jay H
Pressure Sensitive Tape Expert, www.tapetalk-today.blogspot.com
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Packaging and Labeling (1)... see more
Hi Casey,
I can't call this the worst selling experience but it was certainly interesting. I was given a project to develop business in Mexico.

One of my meetings was with a supplier to Volkswagon in Puebla. I traveled there with the a guide and had a productive first meeting. Then the Manager suggested we go to lunch. Of course I wanted to be a nice guy and said sure. The Manager invited three other guys and we headed off to lunch.

We went to a small but nice place in Puebla. We started eating tortias with chili and some other toppings. All the guys were eating this particular topping so I decided to try it also. Then they all just looked at me.

So, I said what is it? One of the guests asked me if I knew what I was eating? Of course I didn't but I looked at the topping closely and took a guess. Is it crickets, I asked? Well it was pretty close, I was eating fried grasshoppers.

They actually tasted like potato chips so I kept eating them but that little action to eat the same food as the locals gained me a lot of respect with the guys at this prospect. In my subsequent trips meeting were friendlier and they were very forthcoming with information.

Needless to say, the guys would always want to back to the same restaurant and they would always order the fried grasshoppers.
posted 7 days ago

Scott B
Author, Artist, Director of Business Development
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (7)... see more
We followed a banking prospect for years. The lady was a total BALKER. She just BAAAAAALKED and then BAAAAALKED some more. Anything you threw out that was obviously better than what she had (lower price, less paper work, streamlined efficiency, etc) she would open her mouth like a Pez dispenser and just BAAAAAAAAAAAALK.

Her bank recently got shut down by the FDIC. I think of all the wasted time we spent trying to get through to this perceived high value prospect. I guess it was poetic justice.
posted 7 days ago

Jordan Y
Locations Scout, and Music Acquisitions for Marie & Mary Film
see all my answers
I worked at T-mobile for a little bit and I thought it would be obvious that stock on specific products vary from location to location but apparently not.

There was one customer who was about to buy a phone from me, but then his credit check came out with a deposit and he didn't have the money for it. I would only be there on that specific day, but he said he would come back the following day and make the purchase.

Considering it was a commission job, I wanted to make sure I got the sale so I gave the guy my phone number and said to call if he had any questions. The guy decided to go to a different store where they didn't have the exact model he wanted, and threatened to sue me and the company for the "Old bait and switch" as he called it. He then threated to sue me and my family. I was terrified then, but I did everything right, so I was in the clear.

If you are in a sales situation, be sure to MAKE NOTE of everything you say to the person, so you can't be held liable for some mistake that they make. Also, don't be dumb like me and NEVER give out your personal number.

The company had me hold a training session with my co-workers on how to deal with difficult customers, but now I can see difficult situations, and regardless of the company i'm working for, get through them. Just stay calm, make sure your story is straight, and do your best to avoid difficult situations like that.

In retrospect that story isn't that funny... oh well, hope that helps.
posted 6 days ago

John M
Senior Advertising Consultant at J.S. Paluch Co.
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (1)... see more
HAPPY NOT TO MAKE A BIG SALE

I sell ads into weekly church publications. My business requires lots of travel and face to face prospecting. It was late, I felt tired had a bad day, nothing was clicking. Walked into a shop that had a terrific sweet smell. As I was speaking to the owner, bonding, building a relationship, looking at his business card, I noticed he had many other locations. I gave the store a cursory glance, thinking it was a unique gift store

He saw the value of being in these publications, really liked the concept that they are handed out and taken home. He seemed very interested in placing an ad for each of his shops with a nearby church. (I was already calculating my profit in my head and images of puffing on fat cigars). Then I took out the agreement, started to fill it out for his ok. He asked me "are you sure the churches won't mind my shop being in these publications?" I wondered why he asked, I took a better look at the merchandise, saw the various tee shirts promoting grasss (not the kind you walk your dog on) pipes, such as hookahs, and other water pipes.....turned out to be a head shop. I politely apologized, we laughed, and I left happy that THIS sale was NOT made.
Clarification added 6 days ago:
just a spelling error, grass not grasss....(hate it when that happens)
posted 6 days ago

Flyn P
LI Netwowking Expert ► SEO & Social Marketing Expert ► Inside Sales Guru ►Author ►Please connect on LI, Twitter
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (30)... see more
One of the first sales jobs I had, I was still in collage, was selling encyclopedias. After the training we went on a road trip. The first door I called on was the chief of police for the city who promptly reamed me for soliciting and told me I better make sure we had a license etc.

How did I come out -- I quit and found something I enjoyed selling.
posted 5 days ago

Shawn G
Sales performance expert. Author of, "I'd Rather Have a Root Canal Than do Cold Calling!"
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Sales Techniques (8)... see more
This wasn't my worst sales experience, but it was a drag to feel sooo old...

A couple years ago, I was trying to make a point to a group of people in a sales workshop. I described my first commission-only sales job, which was selling alternate long distance services.

These services had first come out. I described how I had to meet in person with people because they wouldn't trust me otherwise. Had to walk them through an extremely complicated rate sheet. Had to persuade them to go through a drawn-out process to turn off their big phone company. Had to handle objection after objection because the whole idea was so weird to people. Had to educate as I sold.

The whole group of them had expressions of disbelief on their faces. One of them finally asked, "How old ARE you?"
posted 3 days ago

Martin V
Creating Customer Value - Generating Business - Shortening Sales Time - vonwolfersdorff@gmail.com - 2.2k+ connections
see all my answers
Best Answers in: Organizational Development (2)... see more
The running joke in the cyclic pigments business is "you either have the product or the orders, but never both together".

I just started with a new customer, after some months of convincing, lab trials and plant trials. The big day came, the first order for a full truck load of pigment, some 24 metric tonnes. On the next order, my internal sales support informed me that my country was over allocation and no product was available. Nada. Niente. Rien. What to do? How to avoid my new customer to run dry on product? After some long pondering, I called a couple of close customers and I found one who could resell product to me, enough to cover for some weeks at least. I personnally arranged express transport with DHL and could keep the customer running until more supplies were available.

Best wishes & please feel free to connect!

Martin
posted 1 day ago
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Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | J | Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

How does workplace fun impact employee perceptions of customer service quality?
Publication: Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies
Publication Date: 22-DEC-06 Format: Online

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Full Article
This study examined the link between workplace fun, employee satisfaction, and perceptions of customer service quality. Our results showed that employees who experienced fun in the workplace had greater satisfaction with their job and that the relationship between workplace fun and job satisfaction was greater for those who placed a high value on workplace fun. Additionally, we found that satisfied employees believed that their organization provided customer service that was reliable, responsive, and empathetic, and that employees were knowledgeable and able to instill confidence in customers. Implications of our findings for service organizations and suggestions f or future research are also discussed

**********

With the service sector now accounting for two-thirds of current gross domestic product (Smith & Lum, 2005), management scholars are recognizing the need to more closely examine the link between various management practices and customer satisfaction. This research demonstrates that the use of teamwork and effective human resource management processes in staffing, training, and reward systems can have a positive impact on service quality (Pugh, Dietz, Wiley & Brooks, 2002; Schneider & Bowen; 1993). Others have emphasized the importance of creating a positive service climate or customer-focused culture (Basch, 2002; Ford & Heaton, 2001; Schneider, White & Paul, 1998; Whiteley, 1991). In generating such a culture, some service organizations have introduced the concept of workplace fun to further niche themselves competitively.

Recent analyses of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," suggest that a 'fun work environment' is one of the factors distinguishing superior performers from others (Chan, Gee & Steiner, 2000; Joyce, 2003).

These organizations seem to believe that workplace fun will enhance both employee and customer satisfaction. Matt Weinstein (1996), author of the popular press book Managing to Have Fun, supports this idea by stating "If you want your company to provide excellent customer service, you first have to provide that same kind of attention and appreciation to your internal customers--your own employees. You can't expect your employees to provide "service with a smile" if you don't give them something to smile about!" (p. 21).

Southwest Airlines was one of the first service organizations to incorporate fun into their corporate culture, resulting in positive consequences for both employee and customer satisfaction (Freiberg & Freiberg, 1996; Lancaster, 1999). The release of the best-selling Fish! books (Fish!, Fish! Tales, and Fish! Sticks), touting the success of organizations such as Pike Street Fish Market in introducing the "fun philosophy" into their workplace (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2002, 2003; Lundin, Christensen, Paul, & Strand, 2002), has inspired other firms. Sprint, for example, won the 2002 "Call Center of the Year" award from Call Center Magazine after promoting fun in their workplace and transforming the organizational culture at its regional operations centers in Lenexa, Kansas and Phoenix, Arizona (Watson, 2002). More recently, Cold Stone Creamery has received widespread acclaim for its ability to provide a quality product in a fun-filled environment. The company offers not only a premium ice cream product but a unique customer experience of singing and entertainment by employees (Guiguis, 2005).

Other than the anecdotal evidence described above, there is limited empirical research examining the link between workplace fun, employee satisfaction, and perceptions of customer service quality. The purpose of this paper is to examine this issue and provide directions for future research.

Workplace Fun

What is workplace fun? With titles like "Fun and Gains," "Get Weird!," "301 More Ways to Have Fun at Work," "How to Make Work Fun!" and "Funny Works!," popular press writers have proposed a wide range of possible activities to make the workplace fun (Berger, 2002; Firth, 1995; Greenwich, 2000; Hemsath, 2001; Putzier 2001). These suggestions include relatively commonplace things such as bringing in food, giving awards, playing games, and forming committees to plan fun activities, to the wild and wacky such as hula hoop marathons, paper mummy fashion shows, and "one minute parades."

While recommendations and anecdotal evidence for creating fun work environments abound, there has been very little empirical work examining what makes a work environment fun. One exception is a study by Ford, McLaughlin, and Newstrom (2003) who surveyed 572 human resource professionals. These authors identified 23 different activities from the popular literature and asked their respondents to indicate whether their organization used these activities to create a fun work environment. The top three most frequently used activities were casual dress days, employee recognition and rewards, and company-provided food and refreshments (these activities were used by 84%, 83%, and 82%, respectively). Some less frequently used activities included costume days (used by 39% of respondents), fun committees (21%), and creative skits and songs for company events (20%). Their respondents also indicated that a fun work setting is created through activities that are often funny, humorous, or playful. Based on these results, the authors came up with the following definition: "A fun work environment intentionally encourages, initiates, and supports a variety of enjoyable and pleasurable activities that positively impact the attitude and productivity of individuals and groups" or more succinctly "a work environment that makes people smile" (p. 22).

Two more recent studies examined employee perceptions of what makes a fun work environment (Karl, Peluchette, Hall & Harland, 2005; Peluchette & Karl, 2005). The type of activities perceived as most fun by the employees in these two studies were outings (company-wide trip to an amusement park), food (everyone goes out to lunch, cake and ice cream for birthdays, potluck), and contests (baby picture, guess who?). Those rated the lowest were gifts (traveling flower bouquet), wild and wacky (pretending you are riding a roller coaster), let's laugh at ourselves (teams create anthems or skits), communications, kits, and committees (meetings are started with everyone completing "wouldn't it be fun if ..."), and games (play trivia, board, or card games during lunch).

Workplace Fun and Job Satisfaction

Considerable research has demonstrated that positive moods tend to generalize or spill over from whatever caused them to other stimuli in the temporal and social context (e.g., Forgas, Bower, & Krantz, 1984; Isen, Clark & Schwartz, 1976). It has been found that beliefs about the job, as well as experiencing a pleasant mood while at work, both make independent contributions to the prediction of job satisfaction (Fisher, 2000; Ilies & Judge, 2002; 2004; Weiss, Nicholas, & Daus, 1999). There is also some support for the positive impact of workplace humor and fun on employee job satisfaction. For example, after introducing the fun philosophy at Missouri Baptist Hospital, results of an in-house survey showed that the number of employees expressing "strong" satisfaction changed from 25% to 75% within a year (Lundin, Christensen, Paul, & Strand, 2002). Likewise, Banner Thunderbird Medical Center recently received an 80 percent approval rating (considered "world class") from its employees after introducing a more lighthearted shift in its workplace culture over the past several years ("Patient Care Performed with Flair").

On the other hand, individuals are likely to differ in their attitudes toward workplace fun. Some employees may welcome the introduction of fun activities into the workplace seeing them as a welcome release from a stressful job, while others may resent a fun atmosphere responding with cynicism and resistance (Whitelely & Hessan, 1996). Whether having fun at work is important or valued by employees may depend on one's early socialization experiences, work history, peer influences, and personality characteristics (Aldag & Sherony, 2001). For those with high social needs, fun may play an important role in their job satisfaction (Clouse & Spurgeon). For others, this may be less important. According to Locke (1976), "job satisfaction results from the perception that one's job fulfills or allows the fulfillment of one's important job values." Thus, one might argue that workplace fun will only result in job satisfaction for those who value fun at work.

Based on the findings presented above, it is predicted:

H1: There will be a positive relationship between experienced fun and job satisfaction such that higher levels of fun in the workplace will be associated with greater job satisfaction.

H2: There will be a significant interaction such that individual differences in the value of workplace fun will moderate the relationship between experienced fun and job satisfaction. That is, the relationship will be stronger for those who place a higher value on workplace fun compared to those who place a lower value on workplace fun.

Employee Satisfaction and Customer Service Quality

Since service is not only a consumptive act but a psychological experience for customers, employees play a key role in the delivery process and in influencing customer satisfaction (Schneider & Bowen, 1993; Schneider, Ehrhart, Mayer, Saltz, & Niles-Jolly, 2005). In fact, employee satisfaction appears to be critical for those organizations wishing to increase or maintain satisfied customers. A growing body of literature shows a positive correlation between these two factors in a wide range of industries including financial-services (Brown & Mitchell, 1993; Schneider, Parkington & Buxton, 1980), insurance (Schlesinger & Zornitsky, 1991), hotel (Bernhardt, Donthu, & Kennett, 2000), retail (Wiley, 1991) and health care (Mallak, Lyth, Olson, Ulshafer, & Sardone, 2003; Kaldenberg & Regrut, 1999).

It has been suggested in the popular press and academic literature that satisfied employees create satisfied customers (e.g., Hallowell, 1996; Hoffman and Ingram, 1992; Lancaster, 1999; Mallak et al, 2003). For example, Herb Kelleher, former Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Airlines, is well known for his philosophy of putting employees first and customers second. He argues that if organizations treat their employees well, they in turn will treat customers well (Lancaster, 1999). In support, Motowidlo (1984) found that feelings of satisfaction at work were associated with the following work behaviors: listening to others, showing awareness and concern for the needs and feelings of others, tact, and emotional control. All of these are important for providing good customer service.

Others have suggested that there is a reciprocal relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction (e.g., Pugh et al., 2002). That is, employee satisfaction can contribute to customer satisfaction because satisfied employees are more motivated than dissatisfied employees to perform above and beyond the call of duty. In addition, satisfied customers are more pleasant to deal with. Thus, as customer satisfaction increases, so will employee satisfaction because employees much prefer serving happy customers with fewer frustrations.

Based on this literature, we predict:

H3: There will be a positive relationship between employee satisfaction and employee perceptions of customer service quality.

Workplace Fun and Customer Service Quality

Why would having fun at work affect customer service? Several studies in the social psychology literature have found that when something happens to put people in a good mood, they are more altruistic and more likely to help and be considerate to others (Aderman, 1972; Cunningham, Steinberg, & Grev, 1980; Isen, Clark, & Schwartz, 1976; Isen & Levin, 1972; Rosenhan, Salovey, & Hargis, 1981). These results have also been found in work settings (George, 1990, 1991; George & Bettenhausen, 1990). For example, George (1991) found that salespersons' self-reported positive moods predicted supervisor ratings of altruism on the job and customer service, even after controlling for beliefs about justice and fairness in the workplace and more dispositional measures of affect. In addition, it has been suggested that people in good moods are more helpful because such behavior is self-reinforcing or enables them to maintain or prolong their positive mood (Clark & Isen, 1982; Isen, Shalker, Clark, & Karp, 1978).

Although a positive mood may be caused by other factors than having fun, people who experience fun should generally be in more positive moods than people who do not. There is evidence that workplace fun does have a positive impact on customer service. For example, Ford, et al., (2003) found that in a sample of 572 human resource professionals, 87 percent felt that a fun work environment had a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Watson (2003) reported similar results. After management implemented a fun work philosophy, Sprint call center agents were handling 30 percent more calls per month and 86 percent of their customers indicated that they were extremely satisfied or satisfied.

Therefore, it is predicted:

H4: There will be a positive relationship between experienced fun and employee perceptions of customer service quality such that higher levels of fun in the workplace will be associated with better customer service.

Method

Sample

This study utilized a sample of undergraduate students enrolled in management courses at two medium-sized universities, one located in the Midwest and the other located in the southeastern part of the United States. Participation was voluntary although participants were given some minimal course credit for doing so. All students in each class agreed to participate. Because the focus of our study was on employees in the service sector, we intentionally recruited undergraduate students to complete our survey as most undergraduates are employed in service organizations. Of the 393 surveys collected, 70% indicated that they worked in the service sector. Those who did not hold service positions were eliminated from further analysis. Of the remaining 275 respondents, 150 were males (54.5%) and 125 were females (45.5%). The average age of participants was 22 years (SD = 4). The average hours worked per week was 26.7 (SD = 10.9).

Survey Instrument

The survey instrument consisted of two sections: (1) work-related beliefs and (2) demographic items including gender, age, type of organization, and hours worked per week.

Work-Related Beliefs and Attitudes

The work-related beliefs and attitudes section consisted of four measures: (1) value of workplace fun, (2) level of fun experienced at work, (3) job satisfaction, and (4) employee perceptions of service quality. All items in this section were rated on a 5-point scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree).

The measure for value of workplace fun was adapted from an attitude toward workplace fun scale developed by Karl, et al., (2005). Specifically, we selected five items from the "salience" subscale which measure individual differences in the importance or value placed on workplace fun. Sample items include: "Having fun at work is very important to me", and "If my job stopped being fun, I would look for another job." All items in this section were rated on a five-point scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree).

The level of fun experienced at work was measured using the following five items developed by Karl, Peluchette, and Harland (in press): "This is a fun place to work," "At my workplace, we try to have fun whenever we can," "Managers encourage employees to have fun at work," "We laugh at lot at my workplace," and "Sometimes I feel more like I'm playing than I'm working."

Job satisfaction was measured using five items from Brayfield and Rothe's (1951) job satisfaction index. When used by Judge, Locke, Durham, and Kluger (1998), a coefficient alpha of .88 was reported for this reduced five-item measure. Sample items include: "I feel fairly satisfied with my present job," and "Each day at work seems like it will never end."

Employee perceptions of service quality was measured using a modified version of the thirteen item scale developed by Kettinger and Lee (1997). This measure includes subscales for four of the service dimensions identified by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988). According to Parasuraman et al., (1988), reliability involves performing the promised service dependably and accurately. Responsiveness is defined as willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Assurance refers to employee knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. Finally, empathy is the caring and individualized attention provided to customers. Sample items include: "When my company promises to do something by a certain time, it does so" (reliability), "Employees in my company give customers prompt service" (responsiveness), "The behavior of employees in my company instills confidence in customers" (assurance) and "My company gives customers individual attention" (empathy).

Results

Table 1 contains the mean scores, standard deviations, correlations, and reliability coefficients for the variables measuring value of workplace fun, experienced fun, job satisfaction, and employee ratings of customer service quality. The mean scores indicate that respondents, in general, placed a somewhat high value on workplace fun (M=3.91, SD = .64) and experienced moderate levels of workplace fun and job satisfaction (M=3.57, SD = .93 and M = 3.53, SD = .91, respectively). In general, respondents agreed that their organizations provided customer service that was reliable (M=3.63, SD = .87), responsive (M=3.93, SD = .86), empathetic (M=4.06, SD=.76), and that employees were knowledgeable and instilled confidence in customers (i.e., assurance; M = 3.93, SD = .76).

In hypothesis one, we predicted that higher levels of fun in the workplace would be associated with greater job satisfaction. The correlation was significant (r = .74, p < .001), thus supporting this hypothesis. Hypothesis two predicted a significant interaction such that the value of workplace fun would moderate the relationship between experienced fun and job satisfaction. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a hierarchical moderated regression analysis (see Table 2.). In step 1, we entered experienced fun (Beta = .74, p<.001) and value of workplace fun (Beta = .05, n.s.). In step 2, we entered the interaction between value of workplace fun and experienced fun. The interaction term was significant (Beta = 1.20, p<.001) and explained an additional 42% of the variance in job satisfaction, thereby supporting hypothesis two. These results show that those who experience greater fun at work have greater job satisfaction and this effect is stronger for those who value workplace fun than those who do not (see Figure 1). More specifically, job satisfaction is highest for those who value fun and are experiencing fun, and it is lowest for those who value fun but are not having fun.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Employee job satisfaction was significantly related to employee ratings of customer service quality on all four dimensions, including reliability (r = .40, p < .001), responsiveness (r = .47, p < .001), assurance (r = .51, p < .001) and empathy (r = .41, p < .001), thereby supporting hypothesis three. In addition, hypothesis four was supported in that higher levels of fun in the workplace were significantly related to employee ratings of all four customer service dimensions (reliability, r = .40, p < .001; responsiveness, r = .44, p < .001; assurance, r = .48, p < .001; and empathy, r = .42, p < .001). A post hoc analysis was performed to determine whether experiencing fun in the workplace was significantly related to employee ratings of customer service quality after controlling for job satisfaction. These results show that experienced fun and job satisfaction made independent contributions to the explanation of the variance in responsiveness and empathy but not reliability or assurance (see Table 3). The partial correlations between experienced fun and the customer service quality variables controlling for job satisfaction were as follows: reliability (pr = .05, ns), responsiveness (pr = .20, p < .05), assurance (pr = . 13, ns) and empathy (pr = .19, p < 05).

Discussion

One of the most significant contributions of this study is a better understanding of service sector employees' value of workplace fun, the extent to which they experience fun in the workplace, and their level of job satisfaction. Not surprisingly, those who experienced fun in the workplace had greater satisfaction with their job. This finding supports previous research suggesting that the positive feelings associated with workplace fun influence feelings about one's job. Service-sector organizations that might be considering the implementation of fun into their workplace, or have done so already, should be encouraged by these findings. Given its link to employee commitment, citizenship behavior, and turnover (Bolon, 1997; Mitchell, Holtom, & Lee, 2001), employee job satisfaction is of paramount concern to labor-intensive service sector organizations.

Additionally, we found that the relationship between workplace fun and job satisfaction was greater for those who place a high value on workplace fun. Specifically, we found that job satisfaction was highest for those who value fun and are experiencing fun, and lowest for those who value fun but are not having fun. From this finding, it is clear that there are individual differences in the value placed on workplace fun and while implementing workplace fun would likely result in higher levels of employee job satisfaction, a key factor would be determining the extent to which employees value fun. This, however, is consistent with a recent shift in the service sector to "hire attitude and teach skills" (Kuchta & Berg, 2004). Employees are selected based on the attitudes they demonstrate and whether such attitudes are consistent with the firm's culture.

Another significant contribution of this study is the link between employee job satisfaction and perceptions of customer service quality. It appears that if employees are satisfied with their job, they perceive that a higher level of service quality is provided to customers. Specifically, we found that satisfied employees believed that their organization provided customer service that was reliable, responsive, and empathetic, and that employees were knowledgeable and able to instill confidence in customers. This result adds support to past research showing a positive correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The level of fun experienced by employees also positively influenced their perceptions of customer service quality. It is interesting to note that, after controlling for the effect of job satisfaction, experienced fun still explained a significant amount of variance in the responsiveness and empathy dimensions of service quality but not the reliability or assurance dimensions. It appears that fun work environments not only enhance employee attitudes, but also promote employees' willingness to help customers and provide individualized attention or, in other words, the more emotional aspects of service. Workplace fun may be less effective when it comes to providing dependable and accurate service (reliability) or conveying trust and confidence (assurance). It is possible that the positive relationship we found between experienced fun and these other two dimensions of service quality may be spurious. That is, workplace fun may only relate to reliability and assurance because of the common variance shared with job satisfaction. Future research is needed to examine this possibility.

While our study provided some valuable insight into the relationship between workplace fun, employee satisfaction, and perceptions of customer service quality, we recognize that there are also some limitations that provide opportunities for further research. One limitation is that this study utilized a convenience sample of college students in which the average age was 22 and the average hours worked per week was 27. Thus, our results may not represent the perceptions of the general population of those who work in the service sector. Future research should include broader representation of full-time and part-time workers of all ages. Another limitation of this study is that it focused on employee perceptions of customer service quality but did not measure customer perceptions. Future research should examine whether observing employees participating in fun workplace activities affects customer perceptions of service quality.

One of the challenges in measuring customer perceptions would be the ability of researchers to control for the quality of service received while, at the same time, manipulating the level of employee participation in fun activities. A scenario methodology might allow for this. In other words, given identical service experience conditions (with the only difference being that employees are having fun versus not having fun), would there be a difference in customer perceptions of service quality? By using scenarios, researchers would also be able to manipulate the service experience so that it is perceived as a success or failure. It is possible that the level of service experienced (i.e., success versus failure) may moderate the impact of workplace fun on customer reactions such that observing employees having fun has no impact on customer perceptions of service quality unless the experience is perceived as a failure (i.e., poor service). Future research should also examine the impact of workplace fun on other outcome variables such as customer intentions to complain, make referrals, or return for repeat business.

In examining customer reactions to service, it is important to consider the kinds of attributions being made. According to attribution theory, people make judgments about cause and effect relationships that influence their subsequent emotions, attitudes, and behaviors. More specifically, customers make causal inferences or attributions with regard to locus, control, and stability (Weiner, 1985). Locus of causality is the customer's perception of where the responsibility for the incident rests. Is it due to the customer (internal locus), the environment (external locus) or a service employee (external locus)? Stability refers to the perception that circumstances will either remain the same in the future (stable) or are likely to change (unstable). Control refers to customer perceptions regarding choice. Was the service failure something the service organization had control over or was it uncontrollable? Several researchers have investigated the types of attributions that lead to complaining and negative word-of-mouth behavior in service failure situations (e.g. Folkes, 1984; Folkes, Koletsky & Graham, 1987; Richins, 1983). In general, the more that customers believe a service failure is due to the seller (external locus), is likely to happen again (stable), and could have been avoided (controllability), the more likely they are to complain (Folkes, 1984; Krishnan & Valle, 1979). Thus, a better understanding of the types of attributions being made by customers for service quality success or failure when observing employees having fun in the workplace is important.

Type of organization may also make a difference in customer perceptions. Fun in the workplace may be welcomed by customers in a restaurant (Cold Stone Creamery) or retail environment (Pike Street Fish Market), but not in a financial (e.g., bank) or health care (hospital) environment where customers may expect a serious no-nonsense atmosphere. It is also possible that the age or gender of the customer may make a difference. Past research has shown that women, on the average, perceived fun at work to be more important than men (Karl & Harland, 2005). This research also found that women and younger workers, rated a list of 40 different fun workplace activities (e.g., celebrations, games, contests), as being more fun than men or older workers. Thus, it is possible that age or gender may moderate the impact of workplace fun on customer perceptions of service quality and their intent to complain, make referrals, or return. Future research is needed to examine these possibilities.

To conclude, we found that workplace fun has positive implications for employee job satisfaction and perceptions of customer service quality. Although service sector organizations would clearly benefit from the implementation of such environments, additional research is needed to ensure that customer perceptions are equally as favorable with regard to the use of fun activities.

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Katherine Karl--Marshall University

Joy Peluchette--University of Southern Indiana
Table 1: Means, Standard Deviations, Reliability Estimates, and
Correlations between Experienced Fun, Job Satisfaction, and Customer
Service Quality

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3

1. Value of Workplace Fun 3.91 .64 (.69)
2. Job Satisfaction 3.53 .91 .16 (.87)
3. Experienced Fun 3.57 .93 .11 .74 *** (.88)

Employee Ratings of
Customer Service Quality

4. Reliability 3.63 .87 .17 ** .40 *** .40 ***
5. Responsiveness 3.93 .86 .19 ** .47 *** .44 ***
6. Assurance 3.93 .76 .21 *** .51 *** .48 ***
7. Empathy 4.06 .76 .19 ** .41 *** .42 ***

Variable 4 5 6 7

1. Value of Workplace Fun
2. Job Satisfaction
3. Experienced Fun

Employee Ratings of
Customer Service Quality

4. Reliability (.84)
5. Responsiveness .47 *** (.85)
6. Assurance .51 *** .73 *** (.77)
7. Empathy .49 *** .68 *** .77 *** (.84)

Note: Due to missing data, the N for Job Satisfaction was 136, and the
N for all other variables was 271.

Table 2: Hierarchical Moderated Regression Results for the Interaction
between Value of Workplace Fun and Experienced Fun on Job Satisfaction

Dependent Variable: Adj. [DELTA]
Job Satisfaction Beta [R.sup.2] [R.sup.2] [R.sup.2]

Step 1
Experienced Fun .736
Value of Workplace Fun .051 .556 .549 .556

Step 2
Experienced Fun x Value 1.203 .975 .974 .419
of Workplace Fun

Dependent Variable:
Job Satisfaction F Change (df)

Step 1
Experienced Fun
Value of Workplace Fun 82.56 (2, 132) ***

Step 2
Experienced Fun x Value 2158.89 (1,131) ***
of Workplace Fun

Note: The Betas presented are those derived at the first step for
experienced fun and value of workplace fun and the second step for the
interaction term.

*** p <.001

Table 3:
Regression Results for the Impact of Experienced Fun on Employee
Ratings of Customer Service Quality Controlling for Job Satisfaction.

Adj. [DELTA]
Dependent Variable Beta [R.sup.2] [R.sup.2] [R.sup.2]

Reliability
Step 1: Job Satisfaction .356 .168 .162 .168
Step 2: Experienced Fun .070 .171 .158 .002

Responsiveness
Step 1: Job Satisfaction .266 .214 .209 .214
Step 2: Experienced Fun .265 .246 .234 .246

Assurance
Step 1: Job Satisfaction .383 .263 .258 .263
Step 2: Experienced Fun .175 .277 .266 .014

Empathy
Step 1: Job Satisfaction .215 .170 .163 .17
Step 2: Experienced Fun .265 .201 .189 .03

Dependent Variable F Change (df)

Reliability
Step 1: Job Satisfaction 26.95 (1,134) ***
Step 2: Experienced Fun .39 (1,132) ns

Responsiveness
Step 1: Job Satisfaction 36.30 (1,133) ***
Step 2: Experienced Fun 5.51 (1,132) *

Assurance
Step 1: Job Satisfaction 47.57 (1,133) ***
Step 2: Experienced Fun 2.49 (1,132) ns

Empathy
Step 1: Job Satisfaction 26.98 (1,133) ***
Step 2: Experienced Fun 5.13 (1,132) *

Note: The Betas presented are those derived at the second step.

* p <.05. *** p <.001

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HR RESPONSIBLY
HR’s Moment of Truth
by hr bartender on April 2, 2009

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Recently, one of the most prominent CEO’s in our lifetime, Mr. Jack Welch – formerly of GE, penned an article about layoffs being a defining moment in human resources. I read the article and, frankly, it’s been bothering me. While I understand that orchestrating layoffs often falls within the domain of human resources, I don’t view them as a “moment of truth”.
God forbid. When a company is faced with a layoff decision, how employees are treated shouldn’t come as a surprise. Employees should know that they’ve been treated with dignity and respect their entire time at a company and, if faced with a layoff or termination, the circumstances should be no different.
I certainly agree with Jack that, during a layoff, employees should not be let go by an outplacement consultant. They should be treated with the utmost respect. They deserve it. These are employees who have worked long and hard for the company.
But I don’t agree that layoffs are a “moment of truth” for human resources. That’s not when HR should demonstrate whether or not a company really cares about its people. HR (and the rest of the company for that matter) should be demonstrating their caring respect each and every day.
Jack goes on to talk about the role of HR today. I totally concur with his comments that HR should do more than just plan the company picnic and file benefits paperwork. But I also think that it’s time HR Pro’s shed the role of “arbiter of equity.” Isn’t that just a euphemism for ’striped shirt’? He makes it sound like operational managers have no obligation to provide equity . . . only HR.
And, I’m not sure that I agree it’s the role of HR to absorb pain. It’s the role of HR to help the organization handle pain. But our role is to teach managers how to identify it, process it, help their employees through it, and move forward.
If HR wants to really be a business partner, they have to remove the moniker of “layoff and pain” department. If you think about it, aren’t handling layoffs, being an arbiter, and absorbing pain all reactionary activities? Shouldn’t the role of HR be proactive and more than a little strategic? HR needs to train people how to deal with emotional fallout of business decisions. That’s the real moment of truth for human resources…teaching and educating.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
1
Lisa Rosendahl 04.02.09 at 8:43 am
Reminds me of a time when my small HR Dept of 4 sought feedback from our customers and it came back to us that we were seen as the “No no girls.” A number of things contributed to that and could be a post of it’s own but let’s just say that this very perception was the one thing we committed to changing.
2
Michael VanDervort 04.02.09 at 9:10 am
Why should HR be the referee and the layoff department? Why isn’t every manager accountable for that kind of minimal management obligation to people?
HR departments should be focusing on keeping people employed and contributiing and hiring “A” level talent.
Businesses should be focusing less on long term market sound bytes and more on the strategy of long term competitiveness.
Grrr
3
Ann Bares 04.02.09 at 9:40 am
It is unfortunate that someone as prominent as Mr. Welch is pushing a misinformed (and ultimately unproductive) image of HR – the “layoff and pain” department, as you coined it. Your response and counterpoints are great!
4
Laurie Ruettimann 04.02.09 at 10:26 am
This
is
brilliant.
If you’re doing HR right — educating your clients, making a difference during the strategic planning process, teaching, leading — you will see the impact at all levels of the company and at all times.
If HR is only relevant during layoffs, you’re doing HR wrong.
5
Kerry 04.02.09 at 2:57 pm
Holy cow–that WAS brilliant.
I have no interest in wearing a striped shirt, and I avoid organizations that see HR that way. Jack Welch is living in the past. We need to move forward.
6
lisalotzer 04.03.09 at 8:55 am
As previously stated, this is brilliant! It is funny how some expect HR to be the medics to run triage on all the stuff that happens (implies no planning).
Outstanding comments…
7
Cathy Martin 04.16.09 at 8:54 am
This is such a timley post as a colleaugue of mine sent me a Jack and Suzi Welch article from BusinessWeek in 06 talking about how HR needs to be involved in training and relationships….So in the earlier article he is agreeing with the Bartender! (he still slpas us around, but he talks about those 2 ways to add value to our organizations!)
Great post!
8
Hayli @ Transition Concierge 04.16.09 at 6:17 pm
Welch mentions that they’ve written before about the game-changing role HR can play in the hiring, appraisal and development processes. This article just happens to deal with HR’s role in layoffs, a timely topic and responsive to the reader’s question. My impression was that he doesn’t necessarily contradict himself or imply that layoffs are all HR is good for.
When it comes to arbiter of equity, it could be the simple matter of making sure everyone is laid-off by their own manager – not a stranger. And why not take it a step further and equip each person for their next opportunity? What about custom resumes and job leads for all? Not as expensive as one might think…
Bottom line, whether it’s HR or direct managers dealing the blows and arbiting the equity, this is the employee’s last impression of the company. It means so much to get a helping hand when you’re down, being treated with dignity as opposed to being suddenly treated like a diseased mutant who morphed overnight. Rest assured word will get around either way so doing laid-off employees a solid is essentially an investment in the company’s future reputation, right?
9
David 04.17.09 at 9:59 am
I really am struggling to see the concern that many are voicing here.
Sure I’m not in love with the comment: “moment of truth”…that’s being a bit ridiculous…I would hope that HR could bring more to the party than just “layoff executers” but other than that…what’s not true?
I’ve worked in GE-HR (and for Jack) and I can assure you that he thinks that HR can and is a lot more than paper pushers, but when he talks about “arbiter of equity” and “absorb pain” why shouldn’t those be HR’s job?
As HR professionals you and I both know that their are People Leaders who are not going to be able to handle RIFs in the way that they should be handled…and who better in an organization to do it the “correct and humane” way than HR?
Look…I’m not in HR anymore…and quite frankly this type of “outrage” is a big reason why.
You are in HR. It’s called HUMAN resources…and this act needs HUMANE treatment…it doesn’t mean you can’t be a Business Partner once the RIF is done, it doesn’t mean you’ve been relegated to a ’striped shirt’, it just means that you are supposed to be the best equiped people in the organization to do this in the manner that it should be done…so do it and do it right.
10
Margaret 04.17.09 at 10:56 am
OK – this topic could be of encyclopedia proportions. JW is so off course on HR’s role vs. the role of the manager who is laying the person off. It’s almost funny. If tragedy has any humor in it.
But Mr. Welch is also is the personification of an executive who did not receive effective HR strategic advice ongoing. In other words, where was Jack’s HR guy all those years when Jack was forming his HR philosphy? Cranking people through cultural leadership training?
HR execs too often tell me that sr mgt won’t let them be strategic – a true statement, but changing that means HR taking big risks and the first risks you take may not work – may even backfire. It takes a determined person with a vision and highly focused energy to push their way out of a box that management have put them in, again and again. BTW – this can be true for other functions in an organization, not just HR.
It’s uncomfortable for sr management to be pushed, taught, cajoled, led, to a different point of view but the process is more uncomfortable for HR. In my experience, HR professionals are among the most strategic people in an organization. But, they continue to be defined by others because the process of changing that requires a different kind of energy. And, they are keenly aware that their best energy is needed very badly in other areas. It is a daunting task.
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Out with the Old Education?
June 4, 2009
One thing I’ve noticed about the resumes of people who are further in their careers is that they don’t list their Bachelors degrees when they have Master’s degrees or higher. It makes sense, once you complete your Bachelors you’re expected to remove your high school degree from your resume.
I have a Masters degree and yet there on my resume is my irrelevant Bachelors degree. The more I thought about it the more I realized I didn’t have a reason for keeping it on my resume.
My American Studies degree was certainly an accomplishment. However, now that I have a degree in Human Resources and I’m pursuing a career in HR, I doubt anyone cares that I wrote a research paper on The Farm or that I read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl three times. I could try and argue that my knowledge of American History means I have more knowledge of organized labor but that’s a lie.
Perhaps it was because I acheived the degrees so close together. Or maybe I never thought about it because I had just finished my Masters when I was offered my current job. Or maybe I’m hesistant to remove the last remainant of a life outside of HR.
Is it time to ditch the old?
6 Comments | HR Profession, Recruitment | Tagged: bachelors, degree, higher education, masters, Resumes | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
________________________________________
Welcome New Readers
June 2, 2009
I am officially out in the workplace as a blogger. Hi, ya’ll!
If you have questions or concerns feel free to speak with me in person. I will give you both my comments and the HR viewpoint.
1 Comment | Blogging | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
________________________________________
Rewards and Recognition Done Right
June 2, 2009
Any good HR pracitioner knows that rewards and recognition should be personalized. Since I focus on so much negative in this blog, I’d like to give a shout out to good behavior.
Today, I walked into work to find that everyone involved in a particular project had been given gifts. Most of the people received hanging flower baskets, but my gift was different. I received reusable shopping bag full of dog treats and toys.
While I rarely have social conversations with this individual she realized how important my dogs are to me. Not only did she give me a gift catered to my “lifestyle” but she also gave me two of everything – remembering that I have two babies. This is even more remarkable because she is not a pet person. She revealed to me that she had brought her daughter (a dog lover) to the store to help her.
That is good rewarding.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: recognition, rewards | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Grade “F” for HR Cover Letters and Resumes
June 1, 2009
One thing that excited me about hiring for a high level HR position was the opportunity to see the candidates’ cover letters and resumes. I, like you all should be, am constantly looking for ways to improve my own materials. You would expect that HR professionals have some of the best cover letters. I thought that I could learn something from these seasoned veterans.
I was wrong.
It was a disappointment to find that the cover letters and resumes were mediocre. One of the candidates had bragged to me in the past about his/her cover letter. This was the first time I was able to view it and I thought “this is it?!.” There was nothing to brag about.
And then there was the downright ridiculous. One of the cover letters started with:
Congratulations! You have found a qualified, dependable candidate…
This is not a bad way to start your cover letter, it’s a horrible way to start your cover letter. After rolling my eyes I quickly checked to see if the candidate even met the qualifications. Sure enough she/he didn’t. I admit to glancing at the resume – it’s hard to look away from a train wreck.
The first line of the resume was:
Awesome hands-on Training and Teaching experience.
Yep, awesome. Too bad TechRepublic’s article “More Words to Leave Off Your Resume” which features “awesome” as their first word listed didn’t come out until after this person submitted their resume.
I guess it’s just another example of where HR professionals are failing. Why is it so easy to criticize our clueless employees but so difficult to look back at our own careers and see where we’re failing.
8 Comments | HR Profession, Recruitment | Tagged: cover letters, human resources, Resumes | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Half-Assed Work
May 26, 2009
My parents are in the middle of moving for the first time in 30 years. Since I love anything that involves planning, organizing, and decorating I’ve been there every weekend to help. One of the major tasks I took on was scrapping and repainting the cellar doors. According to the real estate agent peeling paint is the kiss of death when trying to sell a house.
There I was in the middle of day two, hour 3 when my mother looks at the half scrapped doors and says “yeah that’s fine start painting.” Well the paint wasn’t all scrapped off. And the doors were still dirty. Every time I put another coat of paint on more dirt got onto the brush and mixed in with the paint. It was a mess. I was horrified at the prospect of doing something half-assed.
Then I had an even worse thought if the new owners wanted to do it right I was making it much harder for them. My half-assed job was only going to create more work down the road just to give something an improved appearance so no one would notice the nitty gritty. I immediately thought of the workplace and how often we do patch jobs which result in more work in the end. And how it’s not always someone else who ends up with the shoddy work because it often comes right back to hurt the one who did it in the first place. Do it right the first time.
2 Comments | Work Life | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Recruiting for HR
May 21, 2009
They’ve finally decided to start recruiting for a new HR director at my company (and hopefully keep my position as well). The fun of this is that I get to deal with the recruitment of HR professionals. While I’m just starting this fun journey I already had an interesting phone call.
A woman calls from HR from another organization. She mentions that we usually send her our job postings. I say okay expecting her to change who to send them to or tell us she needs to be readded to the list. She asks why my name is on the HR job posting and what happened to my supervisor. I explain that she is no longer with the company. Then the woman proceeds to essentially ask me who I am.
That was the whole purpose of her phone call to find out who the hell I am because her friend wants to apply for the job. She didn’t even bother to do it with class although I’m not sure there is a classy way to approach this. Let’s just say she didn’t do her friend any favors.
4 Comments | Recruitment | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Welcome to the Real World, Part 1
May 19, 2009
Let’s face it. You can get an Associates degree or a Bachelors degree or a Masters from a college but none of these institutions are really going to prepare you for the “real world.” The reason people find office humor funny is because it can really be that bad sometimes. It’s a grim world that no one prepares you for. Thus, I’m starting the Welcome to the Real World series to expose some of the dirty truths.
Part 1: Not everyone will like you. And you won’t like everyone.
In our society we have a need to be liked. That’s why we dress the way we do, get plastic surgery, exercise, etc. When you’re young and idealistic coming out of college you want to be your best. You expect that others will like you when you’re at your best. This is not true.
We’re all individuals which means that we have individual tastes and styles. You may think you’re a great communicator but if your communication style is different than the person you’re communicating with they make think you’re an idiot. You’ll never be able to please everyone. It’s nice to do your best and not try and make enemies but you also need to recognize that not everyone will like you. What do you do: Don’t take it personally.
Just like some people won’t like you, you won’t like some people (and they’re not always the same people). One day a month into my first real job I was alone in the HR office when a supervisor came in and acted rudely. Later I told my coworkers what happened because I so shocked at her behavior. My coworkers burst out laughing and made me repeat my story to the other HR staff. This supervisor was just one those people. You’ll find those people everywhere. What can you do: Identify people you might have conflict with early on and be vigilant in your interactions to avoid negative interactions.
6 Comments | Work Life | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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HR Cop
May 11, 2009
My brother once told me that people who knew me when I was a child laughed upon learning I was in HR. I didn’t get it. I’m assuming they thought I was too rational and not emotional enough to be in HR. What a pleasant view they must have of HR if they think it’s a flowery job.
Being the only HR professional at my company as of late has brought about many firsts in my HR career. It’s the first time that I’ve had to step outside of the shadows and perform some heavy lifting. I know some of my readers are squeamish about the heavy lifting HR does but it’s a fact of life for us.
I recently fired my first employee. Well, I assisted others in firing an employee. It was an out of body experience. I was aware that to the employee I was no longer a person, I was a symbol of bad things. The minute the employee walked into the room and saw me he/she stopped in his/her tracks and was barely able to stand. The supervisor later told me “If I ever walk into a room with my supervisor and HR there I would immediately vomit.” It’s hard to think about the fact that your presence can me others feel ill.
And then there’s taking a hard line with employees knowing that you’re greatly affecting their lives. I don’t doubt that you’re disabled but if you don’t have your doctor fill out the paperwork that I give you then you put me in a difficult situation. I want to help resolve things in a positive manner.
Help me, help you. The better you do then the less heavy lifting I have to do. Of course, this doesn’t account for things like layoffs but luckily I haven’t had to experience that yet.
14 Comments | HR Profession | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies.
May 4, 2009
I finally finished Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies: Combat Abuse of Rank at Work and at Home by Julie Ann Wambach. My delay had nothing to do with the quality of the book but rather the subject. Wambach accurately describes people you have interacted with and will bring back unpleasant memories. Not exactly what you want to think about on the weekends when you’re trying to forget about work.
Wambach explains that hierarchies exist everywhere in our society and that social ranks are not necessarily bad. It’s people that abuse ranks. Wambach lists each type of rankist (broken into two groups of somebody ranksist and nobody rankists). We can all find examples in our own lives of these individuals. Wambach writes about them so that through education we can combat their rankist behavior.
The book raises more questions than answers, but as Wambach notes there are already many books out there with solutions to rankist. What it boils down to is your own ethics and values. We’re taught to treat others the way we wish to be treated. Then we are conversely taught that to get to the top you have to step on others. In this book, Wambach makes you examine your behavior and reevaluate who you want to be.
We may not all be ready to combat rankism and be like Gandhi, as Wambach suggests we should look to as an example, but we can make small changes in our lives. That may be changing our own rankist behavior or teaching our own children how to act towards others.
1 Comment | Work Life | Tagged: book review | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
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Standing on the Fence
April 27, 2009
My recent work situation has given me insight into the life of an individual without job security. To sum it up (besides that it sucks) is that having employees who know they have no job security are bad news for companies. Employees who do not feel they have an immediate future with the company are not going to be dedicated to the job no matter how good of employese they are.
Employees who think they have no immediate future go through the motions. They do their day to day work but have no motivation to go above and beyond. I like to think of myself as a good employee but I’m struggling to motivate myself to work at 110%. I’ve noticed that on days my job looks secure I’m more likely to think about coming into work early to get ahead on some things. On days that my job does not look secure I laugh at the thought of even thinking about work outside of my normal work hours. It’s like being in a relationship when your partner isn’t putting forth any effort. Eventually, you just wonder why you should bother putting in the effort.
Organizations live on employees who go above and beyond (someone has to makeup for those at lower performance levels) but by creating job insecurity companies are shooting themselves in the foot. Job insecurity makes good employees become average employees which doesn’t help anyone.
7 Comments | Work Life | Permalink
Posted by Rachel
________________________________________
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Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in hrmanager's LiveJournal:
Monday, March 21st, 2005
7:33 pm Complaints into requests
Turning complaints into requests...
(6 Comments |Comment on this)

12:57 am On Difficult People (and a few other musings)
We sign up to enter into the business world, and playing in that world is a game where there are proscribed rules for how to play. And the longer you're in it the more you regulate yourself. So the rules no longer matter that much (for most) in the sense of telling us what to do and what not do. We just end up doing it. We learn from what works and what doesn't what those rules are.

I was sitting in on a meeting with a manager and an employee several months ago. The employee had done a series of rather unprofessional things, such as: sending emails sniping at her manager, copying everyone in the department; being extremely vocal on the floor amongst her co-workers (resulting in complaints to management from other employees) about each and every one of her grievances; complaining that she was being treated unfairly because her manager had spoken to her about being late (her argument was predicated upon the fact that the people who worked on the first floor had it easier than she did, since she had to get to the fourth floor -I told her it was part of her commute that she needed to account for); etc.

Anyhow, the woman made a statement during the meeting that the company was "stifling (her) individuality" by writing her up. It just didn't click for her that this was not about her being punished for being who she was, but that this was about her being advised that her behavior was unprofessional. I stated during the session, as I've stated during many such disciplinary meetings for behavioral issues, that honesty is not necessarily the best policy at work, that we simply cannot say everything that comes to mind in any context while in the workplace. Those are the rules. I point out, for instance, that there are things that happen every day at work that I don't like, but that I either accept them or, in my capacity, I find ways to work within the constraints of the workplace to address them. Those are the rules, and that's what anyone who is employed and paid by a company signs up for.

There's a way to shine the light on this in a different way, though. If you know the rules quite well, you know how to break them (and when and in what situations) so you can see the light shining through the cracks in the facade. I often do this when speaking with an employee about a workplace issue. I will stop and say, "Can we have a human moment here?" and there will be this combined shock and excitement on the face of the employee when they realize that I'm not only serious, but that I recognize the facade and am willing to let it go.

In that respect, the game's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness.
(1 Comment |Comment on this)


Free Brainbench Certifications!
Brainbench is doing an international promotion for the next two weeks providing FREE certifications on all of their evaluations. (These usually run $50 a pop!)

These cover all sorts of ground, but here are the management ones. There are also some good management-related evaluations covered in the Human Resources section here .
(Comment on this)

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005
College
It's the degree that matters, not necessarily what it's in. This is becoming increasingly true even for Master's degrees when job candidates are not in a specialized field.

(Notable exceptions are students pursuing employment in the medical and legal fields, who will likely want a focused Bachelor's degree.)
(Comment on this)

Twenty Rules for Job Seekers
Rule number one: Know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, you can’t expect to find it, (and you probably won’t be happy with what you find).

Rule number two: Spend the time to closely review job postings for the types of positions you want. Almost all of the clues you need to target your search to the opportunity are right there.

Rule number three: Recognize your limitations. If you have no experience in a field, accept that you are unlikely to get your dream job right off the bat without paying dues. If every job you want requires a college degree and you don't have a college degree, it's probably a good idea to invest your energy in getting a college degree.

Rule number four: Don’t forget your network. People love to hear from other people, especially if they aren’t desperate for something right now. Make sure you’re maintaining relationships now that may benefit you in the future. Most jobseekers find jobs through people they know.

Rule number five: On your resume and any other correspondence with a prospective employer, please, please, please spell correctly.

Rule number six: Let your resume speak for your skills, knowledge and abilities. You do not need to explicitly state that you are detail-oriented or organized. Your resume should demonstrate those things without you having to state them.

Rule number seven: Your resume is about what you bring to the table, not what you want in a job.

Rule number eight: A resume is not a fixed document. The best job seekers have three pages of material for every one page of their resume and mix and match this material depending on the job opportunity they are considering.

Rule number nine: In your resume, be consistent about the use of periods and punctuation. If you use periods for bullet points, use them for all.

Rule number ten: Eliminate filler and extraneous information on your resume. Hobbies and interests are almost never worth including on a resume. Your future employer doesn't care how much you like going to garage sales. Talk to them about it after they hire you.

Rule number eleven: Consider how each bullet point you list on your resume stands on its own in the eyes of someone considering you for a job. What does it tell them about you? Let every piece of the puzzle be in alignment with your goal.

Rule number twelve: Make sure you modify your resume to match the opportunity. Don't send a resume highlighting your retail department store sales experience to apply for an administrative assistant position. Send a resume highlighting the administrative skills you acquired in that retail position.

Rule number thirteen: Send a cover letter. It demonstrates your professionalism. What does your resume not say that you have to say about how your experience prepares you for this specific opportunity? That is what the cover letter is for. Shorter is best. I go for three paragraphs. 3/4 page double-spaced max. You want it to be something that might be forwarded to the hiring manager that he or she can read in 60 seconds or less and say, "Yes. Yes. Yes!"

Rule number fourteen: Never lie. If you have to, tell the truth creatively. Understand the difference.

Rule number fifteen: Every job interview has value. Even if you have no interest in an opportunity, if you’ve got an interview, go for it. You’re building your network.

Rule number sixteen: Keep your options open. Things change. Be prepared to move when they do.

Rule number seventeen: Stay focused on the move after this one. What do you want your next career move to prepare you to do next? Make sure you’re moving in the right direction.

Rule number eighteen: Don't quit your current job until you've got something else locked down. And leave gracefully, no matter how much you'd like to do otherwise. You never know when you might run into people in the future and what role they may play in that future.

Rule number nineteen: Stay focused. Keep meticulous records of conversations you have with contacts and jobs you have applied for. This will be helpful now and in the future when you're ready to make another move.

Rule number twenty: Follow up and thank everyone who helps you during your search.
(2 Comments |Comment on this)




Delegation - For Managers
Ever feel like you're doing all the work?

Guess who's responsible for that? You are.

Almost all of us get promoted into management roles because we are subject matter or technical experts in our respective lines of work, not because we are effective at managing people. And therein is the key paradox of new management. We are most comfortable doing the work, and so we will continue to do the work, unless we accept, in our new roles, a different relationship with the work of the team/ department/business.

There are a number of rationalizations for not delegating. One that I hear all of the time is that "delegating takes more time than doing it myself". This may be true in the short run, but obviously not over an extended period of time. Eventually, the manager who doesn't delegate accumulates more and more tasks and decisions and becomes trapped in day-to-day details. This ultimately results in some tasks being delayed and others never being completed. The tasks continue to "pile up" until the manager ends up dealing only with the daily emergencies, and the larger picture of management and supervision is never addressed.

Another reason given for not delegating is that "staff lack experience". Of course, there is no way to get experience unless tasks are delegated. Without delegation, "learning by doing" cannot take place. This leads to under-utilization of skills and abilities. It is the manager's job to continually coach and train staff to develop this knowledge. The manager must broaden their perspective, insight and overall understanding. Managers who delegate effectively have usually found that this "overall knowledge" is something that can clearly be broken down into manageable parts and taught.

Many tasks can be effectively delegated. The following is a list of major types of such tasks:

*Routine, repetitive tasks
*Tasks related to fact-finding prior to decisions being made
*Tasks related to the implementation of programs after the decisions have been made
*The preparation of first drafts
*Tasks that others can do better, sooner, or at less cost to the organization
*Representation at some meetings
*Tasks that will help staff develop through exposure to new responsibilities and problems

There are some tasks that shouldn't be delegated. These may include the following:

*Critical decisions that commit substantial resources
*Critical decisions that affect major goals
*Personal representation at meetings where the supervisor's presence is important for public relations or staff morale
*Tasks involving matters of confidentiality
*The evaluating and disciplining of staff you directly supervise
*Short-term tasks where there is inadequate time to explain or train

Delegation is difficult because it generally involves a mindful focus on the what and how of what we do. We're good at what we do, but we don't necessarily want to get into the tedious details of how we actually accomplish what we accomplish. Effective delegation requires a conscious effort to drop into this level of analysis.

A helpful exercise is to consciously track the work you are doing each day, stopping every hour on the hour to inventory the tasks you have performed during those 60 minutes, for about a week. Once you have this inventory, identify for each task, which of your staff members may have been able to complete the task, thereby freeing up your time. Identify for each "assigned" task the degree of support (from none at all to extensive hand-holding) your staff member would have needed from you to complete the task.

Then over the following two weeks, begin to delegate to your staff some of the tasks that require less support from you to accomplish. Gauge your staff members' comfort level in these new responsibilities and slowly begin to move into the more complex tasks with them, making sure you are available for support.

See what you can do to mmake sure you're following these guidelines when delgating:

*Clearly define the task.
*Set a deadline.
*Breakdown the task into manageable steps. You may want to involve the staff person in this process.
*Decide what training is necessary.
*Decide upon a time frame for feedback; determine how often you will check (or how often the staff will come to you) to go over progress and address any questions or problems.

REMEMBER: By delegating to your direct reports, you are investing in them. Your staff respect you because you've given them a newfound trust. And your time is available to focus on developing and coaching them, and performing more strategic management activities. Everybody wins. Once you get the ball rolling, this becomes a lot easier.
(Comment on this)

Tuesday, March 15th, 2005
Resignation Letters
Keep them short. Do not burn bridges.

You never know who you might run into later in your career, and what role they may be asked to play in
your future. If you must leave a job, leave quietly and simply.

(Also, it is almost never advisable to leave one employer without another viable job option available.)
(Comment on this)

Saturday, March 5th, 2005
Quick Tips For Avoiding New Manager Mistakes
Don't show everyone who's in charge.

You don't have to make a big show about being "the boss". You do, however, have to demonstrate that you are making a positive difference through your leadership. Your staff will appreciate when you share your non-management experience with them. Establish camaraderie with them through your shared experiences, but be sure to gain their respect through your actions in your new role.

Don't change everything.

Just because the way something is done isn't the way you would do it, it isn't necessarily wrong. Learn the difference between "different" and "wrong". Focus on doing the right thing, right now. For longer-term concerns, focus on changing processes or programs that will get you the quickest, most visible wins. Manage your energy wisely.

Don't be afraid to do anything.

Upper management wouldn't have put you into the job if they didn't have confidence that you could handle it. Mistakes are a benefit to you in learning how to be a better manager. You'll make them.

Don't waste time with your boss.

Your job, just like it was before you became a manager, is to help your boss. Make sure to budget time to meet with her/him to give information and receive guidance. Act independently whenever possible, but learn how to know when to engage upper management before acting.

Do tackle problems and problem employees.

You can no longer avoid problems or hope they will work out. You are the person who has to see it gets taken care of. The best thing you can do to improve the morale of the team and to quickly build your credibility is to make sure that you have the right people working for you. Your good performers will become great performers if they are on a team without poor performers.

Do protect your staff.

It's your job to stand up for employees and make sure they are treated fairly. They will return the loyalty. Remember that protecting your staff may also mean from each other, and that it is your job to establish standards of behavior and conduct within the team. While being supportive of your team, be certain that you are not cultivating an us v. them mentality within your department. Remind everyone that you are all in this together.

Do take the time to know your staff.

Your team is what will make or break you in your quest to be a good manager. Make sure that you are meeting with each of your employees individually for an hour at least once every two weeks to discuss their needs. Take appropriate interest in your employees' lives outside of work. Make personal connections with them. They will develop a personal appreciation for you if you do the same with them.
(1 Comment |Comment on this)



About My Job
What is your job title?

Human Resources Manager

How long have you been doing this job?

Since August, 2003, in this position.

What does your job title generally mean?

It actually varies from organization to organization. Some organizations have no Human Resources Department, so the traditional Office Manager becomes the HR Manager by default.

Human Resources departments in smaller organizations may consist of only one employee, generally a Human Resources Manager. Organizations may generally grow to about 50 employees prior to requiring a dedicated Human Resources Manager whose primary functions will likely be recruiting, new hire orientations, payroll and benefits. Industry standard would add an additional member to the department when the employee population reaches the benchmark of about 100, with additional department members for each 100 employees, thereafter.

Larger, more mature organizations will generally have staff dedicated to specific human resources functions, including (but not necessarily limited to) Recruiting, Compensation, Payroll and Benefits, Employee Relations and Training.

Skilled Human Resources professionals will generally have an esoteric comprehension of any federal and/or state employment laws applicable to employees and managers in their organizations. In the United States, these laws include the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Though Human Resources departments (known until the 1980's as "Personnel" departments, whereupon the corporate world adopted the newer moniker) continually speak of their role as strategic business partners with their clients, they inevitably are seen by said corporate leadership as a transactional, service-oriented necessary evil.

Human Resources is known as "HR" to people in the biz. HR is known, alternately, as "the Gestapo," "Payroll," or simply "Them" by employees. (There are a number of other less flattering names we are also called.)

Generalist knowledge of the field consists of the following components: Strategic Management, Workforce Planning and Employment (to consist of the Recruiting or Staffing function of the organization), Training and Development, Compensation and Benefits (to consist of the Payroll function of the organization), Employee Relations and Labor Relations, and Occupational Health, Safety and Security.

What are your everyday activities like?

This is a high customer contact position. A lot of employee and manager contact, either on the phone or in person. Meetings with large groups of managers and employees are also par for the course.

I can be involved in any of the the following on any given day: one-on-one meetings with my employees, career counseling meetings with employees, facilitating disciplinary action notices meetings, meeting with the union representatives or union president regarding employee grievances, searching online for job candidates, speaking with my recruiter about the status of our open job searches, and managing any of a number of HR projects (including incentive and bonus programs for employees, automating payroll and timekeeping, creating a management training program, refining processes such as leave of absence management and internal transfers, revising company HR policies on any of a number of topics, etc.), new hire orientations, providing advice to managers on sensitive workplace situations, conducting investigations into claims of discrimination, harassment or hostile work environment.

What challenges does your job bring you?

Where to begin? The to-do list never stops growing. As soon as one issue is resolved, another is there to take its place.

Do you have any responsibility?

Extraordinary responsibility. Some days I feel like I'm running the place. Seriously. It's like this. My job is to be an advisor to senior management and other managers. I provide recommendations on how to run the business (re: HR issues, which often bleed into other things) on a daily basis, and generally, those recommendations are acted upon.

Do you manage other people?

I have three people reporting to me: a Recruiter, a Human Resources Representative (mid-level), and a Human Resources Coordinator (entry-level)

What do you like about your job?

The variety. The creativity I am able to bring to the work. The impact that I can see as the result of decisions I make and actions I take. The ability to improve the business and the working conditions for employees.

What don't you like about your job?

The pressure. With all of the responsibility comes a lot of attention.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer. I write a lot in my job (policies, staff announcements, counseling and advice in e-mails, job descriptions. etc.), but it certainly isn't the writing I expected to do.

What past jobs have you had that lead to your current one?

I think every job I've had has prepared me for this role. I can think back to my days in food service and retail and can recognize how those experiences have shaped my ideas about how a Human Resources department should be run.

I read tarot cards in a metaphysical bookstore, once upon a time. Strange comparison, but often I'll compare that to the counseling sessions I have with managers and employees.

My HR jobs have been: a personnel assistant with a federal government agency, a staffing specialist with a staffing agency, a recruiter with a public relations firm, and a human resources generalist with my current employer before I was promoted into my current role.

What advice can you give people that want to do what you do?

Good HR professionals are businesspeople first and HR people next. I'd suggest against going into HR if your only reason for doing so is because you like people.

Human Resources is a career path that tends to attract people who like people. People who are attracted to HR for that reason alone are not always happy with the way their careers turn out. While humans are generally good, they are strange, unpredictable animals.
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New Journal
I'll use this journal to provide general human resources advice, as time allows, as well as to post forms, resources, templates, etc. for the use of managers and employees.
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Mauritius hiring only women from Indian subcontinent

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Fri, Jul 17 09:56 AM
Dhaka, July 17 (IANS) Mauritius is phasing out male workers and hiring only women from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, a newspaper report here said Friday, quoting a local labour recruiting agent.
The recruiting agent, who was not named, said the southern African island nation would not send back workers before their job contracts expire but it now has a policy of not hiring male workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.
Bangladesh has been concerned at reports from Mauritius that the latter will send back 6,000 workers, employed mainly in its garment industry.
'On Wednesday alone, 86 female workers flew to Mauritius,' the recruiting agent told The Daily Star newspaper.
This was confirmed by an official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment who said a recruiting agent sought permission to send several hundred women workers.
'Mauritius has not been issuing work visas to male workers for several months now as part of its policy. But it is hiring female workers as per demand,' said the agent.
Recently, Mauritius approved companies there to hire 5,000 female workers from Bangladesh for garment and Tuna packaging factories, said the recruiting agent, requesting anonymity. Of them, 4,000 will work in garment factories.
Manpower export is a major foreign exchange earner for Bangladesh that sends out millions of workers. But many have been sent back home in the wake of global recession.
Malaysia, which last year had over 130,000 Bangladeshi workers, cancelled 55,000 workers visas this year.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met her Malaysian counterpart Najib Tun Razak on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt Thursday. She requested him to recruit more manpower from Bangladesh and ensure all facilities for professional betterment of the Bangladeshi expatriates.
In reply, Najib assured Hasina of ensuring necessary facilities for the Bangladeshi people there, the New Age newspaper said.











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How to Be Like Russians - Customs, Business Etiquette and Laws
Contents: Traditions & Customs - Business Etiquette - Laws & Regulations


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• Read Interviews with Russian People

Russian Character and Customs
Most Russians are not very different from most westerners in the way they perceive things or in their desired lifestyle. However, there are certain peculiarities, which may emerge when you get to know your Russian friends closer. Mainly they emerge from the old times, as well as the communist upbringing. Below we tried to list the most common traits of the Russian character. It doesn't mean that everybody is like this, but you have quite a good chance of noticing at least one thing in your average Russian's behaviour. If you are lucky enough to meet a person whose character incorporates all of the items from the list below, we can assure you that this person possesses the pure Russian character and should be treated with high respect. If you decide to become a Russian, you can use the list below as guidelines.

• We are a free nation. Here we despise all the rules. It’s an honor for our drivers to move on the red light or to bother other drivers and scorn pedestrians.

• It’s cool to do nothing and to just lie on the sofa thinking about how great you are. Really, Russia is such an amazing country and we have given the world so much, that we can rest a bit.

• If you're invited for a meal, expect that the hosts will feed you until you feel completely full and not capable of moving. If you think that's dangerous for your health,




or you're on a diet, we advise you to emulate satiety, otherwise you will end up badly.

• We value generousity. We can give you the last piece of bread we have if we believe you really need it. And we expect the same in return.

• Some of us are naturally indifferent; we don’t care too much about dirt on the streets, saving money, the war in Tchechnya, breaking the rules, risking without particular reason, drinking too much...

• ... and most of us are very proud. Don't talk to us about our vices, we won't listen anyway. And don't dare to critisize the way our country is -- Russia is the best place and we will prove it to the whole world very soon.

• Some of us are quite emotional, but somehow it’s all kept inside most of the time. We may seem a bit cold and too much to ourselves at first, but when you get to know us better, we're like a volcanoe.

• We are not politically correct, we take pleasure in talking our opinions out loud and we will not use fancy words to conceal our real feelings.

• We don't feel easy about talking to strangers on the street, but if you start conversation saying that you're from another country or ask for some help, there's a good chance we will be very open, because we are naturally curious about foreigners.

• Some of us think that foreigners are bloody rich; so if we spot a foreigner, we try to make some money on him, because we still have this communist idea that everybody should be equal.

• Women and old women are very respected here. It’s considered polite if while being in the metro and seeing a woman or an old woman coming in and there’re no free seats, man offers her his seat.

• Beware of the babushkas (old women). They are active, pushy and very proud of themselves, so if you do something not the way they think you should’ve done, better disappear.

• When you are invited to the party bring something with you - beer is usually accepted with pleasure.





• If you invited a girl or a woman somewhere be prepared to pay for her everywhere. If you invited a man, he’ll pay for himself, and there's a good chance he'll pay for you as well without telling you about it.

• Men should be strong and assertive and women should be smart and beautiful. That's just one of our stereotypes.

• No, Russians are not racists. We were grown up in the world, where everybody is equal and where the friendship of nations is an important part of our agenda. If you notice one of us staring occasionally at a black person, it's just because we are curious -- there's not many black people in Russia... The only word of warning is about older people, who are sometimes too much patriotic, so be careful: don't offend their feelings.

• Yes, we love vodka, but we're not alcoholics. Despite what some people think, Russians are not drunkards, they just have a special resistance to alchohol, that's why they can drink so much. And we actually get our strength from it and it warms us during the cold winters. By the way, if you drink with us, you'll have to drink as much as we do, or we will be offended.

• Russians are weird. We think that a sudden change from communism to capitalism has something to do with it, but this topic deserves a more thorough exploration. The only smart explanation that can be proposed here is that some of us jumped too deep into capitalist world, while some stayed too far behind.

• Russians are hooligans. It's not because we're bad - we just like everything extraordinary. But too often we don't express this feeling enough, so when it comes out, it's like a volcanoe. That's why you hear our tourists singing folk songs at 3am and that's why we make a revolution every 80 years.

• We believe in magnetism. The thing is, that every so often the sun sends some electro-magnetic signals and this affects the whole course of events on the earth, including our mood and feelings. So, if you see two housewives discussing how bad their day went because of the electro-magnetic storm that happened in the afternoon - don't think they are adepts of some sort of new age philosophy, it's completely normal here.

• Yes, we are superstitious. And if you want to shake our




hand, you can never ever do it through the door: you have to come in, otherwise we will quarrel. If you come back to your house just after you left - look at the mirror, it's for your own good. If you're sitting at the corner of the table, you won't be married for 7 years. If a fork falls, a woman is going to come, if a knife falls, a man will certainly appear.

• Most of us know a few words in English, but we are too shy to speak - no practice, you see... However, you will be surprised at how many things are written in English on the streets: it is used to show a shop or a cafe, to advertise a new product, and there's a lot of foreign goods. Also, almost more than a half of Russian products have their ingredients listed in English.
Russians learn English at school, and many people can understand the basics, but are shy to speak to a stranger. We estimate about every one out of five Moscovitans can speak English well enough, and there's a higher chance among younger people.

• We like all things fancy. But our understanding of it is very original. You will often see men in suits or tucked-in shirts and office trousers (even in clubs on Friday night), while women prefer noticeable and sexy outfits. The colors for men are usually dark or grey, while women like light and white colors. This is a generalization and of course you'll see a lot of different people and outfits.

• A club is not a place to party - it's the place for the chosen ones.
If you want to visit clubs, they have this thing called "dress code" where you might not be allowed because you wear Nike sneakers, old khakis or a fleece coat. However, the rules are more lax for foreigners, so if unsure about your appearance just speak English while you're passing the club's entrance, and you're guaranteed to get in.

• We express what we feel, but we're not extrovert. We shout in public and we kiss in public. It's acceptable to show affection in public (look at how many kissing couples there are on the long escalators in Moscow metro!) but extrovert behaviour may be resisted. You won't see a lot of people sitting in public places with their legs stretched or crossed




(in an American way) and Russians do not gesticulate much when they are talking.

• Most Russians feel a bit strange about gays and lesbians, but prefer not to talk or express their feelings about it. There is however, quite a large gay & lesbian community in Moscow and St. Petersburg and specialized websites have thousands and thousands of profiles featuring gorgeous queer men and women.

• Smoking is a national sport, but many people understand it's not good for health and will always agree to turn off their cigarette if it bothers you.
Many people have a positive attitude towards healthy lifestyle and have a daily morning exercise routine or run in the park.

• We believe that if you are a vegeterian, chances are you are one of those Hare Krishna guys or you have problems with digestion. (However, we should say that the creators of this site were vegetarian for two years... until we traveled to Siberia and were presented with the choice of either making a good travel guide or not eating the meat that was offered)

Business Etiquette
Business is conducted in quite a professional manner. Gone are the times when you could be screwed up at any corner, nowadays businesses strive for long-term reputation and loyal customers. Avoid unregistered companies, salesmen from the streets, those who only provide a cell phone for contacts, and don't choose whom to deal with through shady Russian classifieds newspapers. A reputable company will usually have an office or two in the center and give the landline (city) number (not only a mobile) and an e-mail or web address as contacts.
If you're coming for a business meeting or a conference, it is usually




considered polite for the inviting company to "attach" a special person to you, who will show you the city, take you to the most important sights, help you with your Russian, and get you the best room in the hotel. You might also be offered traditional Russian adventures, such as a visit to a public steam-bath (Russian sauna - banya) and a few shots of vodka in a local bar or at somebody's place.
The attitude towards time is normal: it's polite to be on time, 5 minutes are tolerated, while nobody will wait for longer than 15 minutes.

Russian Laws & Regulations
Here's some information about what might happen if you make a small infringement in Russia and how to deal with it:
Not having a visa registration: the fine is usually around $5-30 US and one has to spend time in police station (not more than 3 hours). The chances you get checked are not high. What you can do in case a policeman stopped you, is to pretend naive, not to speak Russian, not to show you have money. Another strategy is to propose to go to your hotel or to the police station to make an official fine, and contact your embassy afterwards (thanks to Ben Parke for the tip!). In any case, there's a law that a policeman can only look at your passport from your own hands. If you show you know the law, the policeman will know you know the rules, and will not make problems.
After a cop realizes he won't get much from you (money is what they want), he'll let you go and try to find someone else, who'll agree to help them towards their living.
Recently the rules have became stricter in Moscow (because of the terrorist attacks), but the checks are targeted more towards people from CIS and Caucasus (so, if you look like you might be from there, you will be stopped more often, unfortunately). Don't worry, it's just a check-up.
Stealing can get you from $600 fine up to two years in prison. So if you feel some kind of strange excitement about stealing, it's still not a good idea to try to steal something in shops or somewhere else, even if you think nobody's watching you.
Drug posession (including marijuana).All drugs are illegal in Russia, but still are widely in use. The law has changed in May 2004 and now if you carry maximum 2 grams of marijuana or 0.5 grams of hash and can prove it's for your personal use, nobody can fine you, but you may be put in as a patient in a drug clinic and also asked where you got it. If you carry less than 10 times this amount, the maximum fine is $35 US (in addition to various unpleasanties). Same for growing up to 20 plants of marijuana.
If you carry more than that, you will most surely get into prison for at least 2 years up to 7 years. Having read about all these rules, keep in mind that not all policemen in Moscow may yet know about these new regulation (#115), so it's better to avoid troubles, if you can.
The laws on drugs are strict, and it's better not to take chances and surely you're not allowed to bring them over the border. This also concerns strong medicines and you should seek advice from the Russian customs before bringing them in.
Pissing on the street. Once, when I was a student, I felt a great urge to piss, and there wasn't a single toilet around. So, I had to do it on the street. After I finished, two cops came up to me saying that what I did wasn't right, because there are women walking around. Hmmm... So they checked my passport and wanted to fine me for $3 (an official punishment for pissing on the streets), but I was polite and the situation settled down.

Comments, Questions...
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July 13, 2009
And the Livin' is Easy...
It's time for the annual round of teachers-in-summer blogs. These come in several flavors: Ambitious (with a side helping of enrichment). Justification (a.k.a. "I work harder than you know"). The traditional, obligatory Reading List for Teachers. (This one blew me away--three books involving Nazis, Charles Murray of Bell Curve fame, and...Daniel Pink? ) A Snarky Saga of the Last Days of '08-'09 (where someone almost gets punched out, speaking of tense and irritable...). Plus two new cable TV shows for your summer viewing pleasure, featuring garden-variety, nice-guy teachers. One manufactures and sells high-test meth to build a nest egg for his family (since he's dying of cancer), and the other sells his own substantially endowed body since he doesn't make enough money teaching to keep his children happy and a roof over his head.
Moral of all the stories: Teaching is an undesirable low-prestige, low-salary, high-stress job--and teachers can no longer publicly say the three best things about teaching are June, July and August.

The answer to all these trials seems clear to me. The traditional school calendar is way past its expiration date, and should be abandoned. Its flaws are well-known: too much time off in the summer, too much review needed in the fall--not enough well-used time, crammed into too few days. The agrarian calendar represents a wildly inefficient use of resources, and the folks who support it do so for reasons that have nothing to do with education. All of the barriers to changing the calendar--busing, sports, vacations, staffing, summer camps, cheap labor for summer businesses-- can be effectively addressed.

My personal preference would be a modular calendar, with four- to six-week curricular units, offered flexibly, year-round--through both in-building residencies and on-line. Students would be required to be "in school" a minimal number of days (say, 180) but could select additional modules to attend school 200 or 220 days a year. Short vacations would be scheduled between modules. Students could enter the system at multiple points in the year (September, January, June) and finish when all the modules were successfully completed. Nobody would "fail a grade," because a module could be re-taken if material wasn't mastered. There are dozens of ways to improve the school calendar.
I find it amazing--and get huffy and defensive--when I am reminded that a significant chunk of the general public still thinks that teachers are working only when there are students in front of them. The first step in changing that perception is not going to be strongly worded blogs, however. It will be banishing the lazy, crazy 10-week summer vacation.
A few years ago, a local reporter interviewed me for a story on what teachers do in summer. I ran through the usual agenda: planning, reading, looking at new music, cleaning the percussion cabinet, taking a class, directing the community band. They sent out a photographer for a photo. We had coffee on my deck--and he persuaded me to stretch out in our backyard hammock with my own summer professional reading. The photo (below) made the front page of the paper.

And---I got a call from a School Board member, that evening. He was dismayed that I would agree to a photo suggesting that I was "laying around" [sic] all summer, doing nothing. The Board wished another shot had been chosen. Perhaps a glamorous pose of me cleaning out the spit-valves on the school-owned euphoniums? I declined to give him the brief lecture on Urgent vs. Important that came to mind. But we have a long way to go before teaching is a real profession in the public's mind.

Images: Livingston County Press-Argus; k.l.macke

Posted at 04:48 PM in Education in America, School Daze, Teacher Professionals, The Teaching Life | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
July 03, 2009
Merit Badge

Happy Fourth.
What truths seem self-evident to educators in the year 2009? Are all teachers created equal? Which of their rights are still unalienable? Life, certainly--but who gets to pursue happiness or feel liberated, these days? It's hard to follow your bliss when unemployed, and studying the indicators that currently constitute effective teaching is the antithesis of liberty.
There were fireworks over Jonathon Alter's June 15 Newsweek column in which he declares that the key to fixing education is figuring out who can teach and who can't (and asserts that teachers are born, not made). This good teacher/bad teacher schism should be glaringly obvious and embedded in policy creation, he says, but is currently obscured by educrats who "remain fiercely committed to the status quo."
OK. Raise your hand if you know anyone, anywhere in the land of free, who's fiercely committed to bad public schools. Right. There are educators fiercely committed to improving dreadful schools, of course. Some parents are appropriately loyal to the public schools where their children thrive--and some are determined to preserve a status quo that lets them send their children to exclusive schools with individual attention and rich curriculum, while other people's children get 5 hours of reading and math, plus test prep. I don't think that's the status quo Jonathon Alter is referring to, however.
There will never be equality in outcomes, but we can pursue--relentlessly--equity of opportunity for all American students. Part of that pursuit will be a continuous improvement strategy for the coalition of willing, effective teachers (who are made, and refined in experience, not born).
I'm not writing to shake another finger at Alter, however. I'm here to praise an earlier column, on a "misplaced faith in the meritocracy"--an interesting (and kind of schizophrenic) contrast to his natural-teacher argument. In the June 1 Newsweek, Alter writes warmly of his father, a member of the Greatest Generation--the men and women whose social, economic and workplace values were also refined in experience, often during wartime and while they were very young. He contrasts these solid citizens with the whiz kids who represent the meritocracy in the 21st century, who are:
...shaped not by war, but by college. To win the battle for admissions, fellowships and the other totems of success, they needed not bravery or proven leadership, but test-taking skills and a specific kind of cunning that's come to be confused with "merit." Obamaworld is loaded with these exact types...policy wonks who have experienced little in life but sound unfailingly articulate and confident about their elegant economic models.

Obama's faith in data and in his ability to reach the "right" policy answer will not be enough for success. That's because every expert opinion is the product of the biases and backgrounds of the experts. He needs some people around him who, in LBJ's words, have "run for sheriff."

Absolutely. Perhaps someone who's been successful on genuine battlefields in education ought to step in, and point out that a true meritocracy in teaching is earned in trial by fire in real schools. And that putting whiz kids, armed with test-taking skills and academic cunning, into classrooms, assuming that their high SAT scores and elegant policy solutions will save the day, is not a viable long-term strategy for cutting out the rotten spots in the status quo. Perhaps we should be pairing whiz-kids newbie teachers with the teacher equivalent of the local sheriff. Maybe we should pair them with educators whose biases and backgrounds resemble the those of the students in non-meritorious communities.

Malcolm Gladwell, who seems to be developing a new peripheral career as an education spokesperson, in his keynote to the National Educational Computing Conference, reiterated his "effort trumps talent" idea. Ten thousand of hours of practice makes perfect. You can't short-cut the development of a teaching career. Made, not born.
Image: Drexer Shift-Drifter, Flickr Creative Commons

Posted at 02:42 PM in Current Affairs, Education in America, Effective Teaching, Teacher Professionals | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
June 28, 2009
Talk is Cheap. But Meaningful.
I was sitting in a meeting last week, planning a major teacher leadership initiative with some smart colleagues, when I had one of those moments in which the correct word--the word I needed--got stuck in the murky recesses of my (admittedly aging) brain. I wanted to describe the process of distributing work...dispersing work...a starts-with- "d" word... in which tasks are dispensed, doled out, delivered, or disseminated to others. Duh. *&^@#! What was the word?
Kathy, sitting next to me: "Delegate?" Bingo! And then she suggested that the reason I couldn't retrieve the word immediately is because it's not part of my habitual thinking process, not a word I value or use constantly. "Language is truth, you know" she said, shooting me a Meaningful Glance.
Well. I've been brooding about this for a couple of days now, trying to recall other tip-of-tongue words that have eluded me lately. The only example I could remember was talking with my husband about burnished language used to obscure less-positive meanings-- pre-owned vehicles, red-shirted kindergartners, not-yet-proficient, that sort of thing. The word refused to pop into my mind...it starts with an "e"... Right. Euphemism.
There are actually terms used to delineate this impaired word-retrieval phenomenon. Dysnomia--or dysnomia's more serious cousin, anomia--or (my personal favorite) lethologica. Psychologists refer to it as "Tip of the Tongue Syndrome" (TOT). And Kathy was right--it does have something to do with one's shovel-ready vocabulary versus words and ideas used infrequently. Perhaps I am not particularly good at delegating--or willing to put a good verbal face on an objectionable concept.
In education, it's hard to draw a bright line between the specific language of professional practice, sloganeering, genuine words of inspiration, and loose, habituated-in-lazy-thinking speech. I was reminded of this in a recent conversation with an amazing young teacher, working in one of the poorest schools in Alabama. While she was pursuing an undergraduate degree in education, several of her friends whose majors were in other fields were applying for highly selective "teaching fellows" programs. Some of them are teaching in at-risk schools now, and feeling underprepared and overwhelmed (a condition mitigated by the appealing prospect of a full ride in grad school). "What makes me different?" she asked. "Aren't I 'teaching for America,' too--even though I don't get scholarship money or prestige?" A poignant question.
Language matters--especially the things we say without thinking, the concepts that embed themselves in our brains via the readily accessible words, idioms and metaphors that shape our collective judgments and beliefs.
Race to the Top.
Relentless Pursuit.
In the Trenches.
Widgets. Outliers. Core Knowledge. Bolder and Broader.
And now we're being asked to rethink the branding and glossary of No Child Left Behind, a kind of corporate flush to rid us of the unpleasant whiff of whole cities full of left-behind children, scientifically-based curriculum kickbacks, and yearly progress that isn't even close to adequate. Most teachers I know think this is the ultimate pig-in-lipstick PR blah-blah. (Although it will be a relief when they take down the insulting, red plastic NCLB Schoolhouse thingie--which looks like someone grafted a Bob Evans on the great, gray Department of Education building.) Still, language matters. And so does change.
Retrieving the right words for the new name may be tricky. We are out of practice in using the vocabulary of empowerment and developing human capital. Building Capacity. The Audacity of Thinking We Can Do Ed Policy Better. I'm still working on my suggestion, but the word that keeps popping into my head is: Investment. Nations whose systemic education results are uniformly impressive invest continuously in people. And we should, too. No euphemisms, but lots of hard work.
I need some time to think about a new name. I'll be hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Images: NCinDC and OhioNewsHound
Posted at 07:45 PM in Current Affairs, Education in America, School Daze, The Teaching Life | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
June 20, 2009
Warped Soul of an Old Machine: The Technology of Tracking

Tracking is a technology. You can't plug it in, but--like 3-ring binders, twelve grade levels, and the agrarian calendar--tracking is an educational technology. A device dreamed up for the purpose of making schooling more "efficient." A tool.
And just as a man with a hammer sees every problem as a nail, school technologies are often considered the "obvious" solution to every dilemma we face in schools. Many of these durable cogs in the vast education machine date back to the era when poor immigrants were flooding city schools at the same time the industrial age promoted a technical approach to everyday tasks. Everything from traffic management to measuring the intelligence of army recruits could be done better through science--and many of these efficiencies were translated into educational practice as the system expanded.
We seem to have a national compulsion to sort, identify, select, test, standardize, compare and compete in our schools. Intellectual growth, unfortunately, does not automatically thrive via classification or homogeny. Human learning is neither predictable nor controllable, and doesn't happen at a consistent rate. Students respond in different ways to varying content, disciplines and instructional models--not to mention different teachers and emotional states. Lots of bad education policy has been created by people who assume that uniformity is a great virtue. And even more bad policy has been instituted by folks who believe that the way they learn best is the way all people learn, or should learn.
And so it is with tracking, the technological solution to the non-problem of having a roomful of learners who don't know precisely the same things.

Here's my worst experience with tracking, from the early 80s, when I was teaching one section of 7th grade math. The 7th graders were divided, using reliable assessment data from 6th grade state tests, into five tracks: Honors (which was Pre-Algebra), Advanced, High/Low Basic, and Special Education. I taught Low Basic. Every 10 weeks, we gave a common assessment (from the math text) and moved kids from track to track, based on their scores-- in theory, a system that would allow us to continuously fine-tune our stratified instruction, and use the "motivation" of quarterly opportunities to move up to higher tracks. Even though students were not studying the same topics at exactly the same time, the assumption was that since we were all following a sequenced curriculum, but differentiating the pace and amount of practice, kids who mastered something in September (or 6th grade) would still know it in January. That turned out to be not true.
After the first 10 weeks, 16 of my 30 students qualified to move up--two went all the up to Honors--and I got 16 new kids who'd struck out in the higher tracks. With every 10-week shuffle, I got dispirited kids whose math egos had taken a beating, and had to convince them that they could indeed re-master ratios, probability, negative integers or whatever had stopped them in their tracks. Approximately a third of the kids got moved around every quarter. By the final quarter, I had only 6 of my original kids (one of whom confessed that he deliberately blew his quarterly move-up tests so he could stay with me).
It was hard on my Basic kids, who felt that they'd been written off, early in the game. But it was hardest on the kids who started out in Honors, then drifted downward all year, ending up in Basic. Tracking did much more than impact egos and the social system--it made a muddle of instruction. My Basic kids were constantly saying "I already learned this"--even when their tests indicated that they were clueless. In each of the four quarters, my group--scientifically selected for uniformity-- had superstars and laggards. And students continued to need different ways of learning critical content and skills.
There are a number of education critics who believe that differentiating learning in mixed-ability groups is not truly workable. I know that it is, because I've done it, for decades. You start building equity by demanding excellence from everyone, rather than trying to figure out who might not be "capable" of excellence, or how to stretch achievement data over a curve rather than pushing everyone as far and fast as possible. Everyone should get the good stuff--the most rigorous content, their teachers' confidence that high levels of learning are within reach for all. There are more insidious beliefs hidden by the practice of tracking. But let's not go there--because that would be giving the creaky obsolete technology of tracking more power and attention than it deserves.
Posted at 03:39 AM in Education in America, Effective Teaching, The Kids Are All Right, The Teaching Life | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
June 16, 2009
It's an ADD, ADD, ADD, ADD World
Just got home from a mini-vacation visiting Beautiful Daughter in Scottsdale (Arizona in the summer! It's a really dry heat!)--and a respite from All Things Internet, which is good for the soul. And the very first blog I read upon returning was the irresistible guilty pleasure of It's Not All Flowers and Sausages starring Mrs. Mimi. I adore Mrs. Mimi, because she represents truth and the American way in education--and because no other blogger makes me laugh out loud with every post, like she does. Or at least, no other bloggers make me belly-laugh intentionally, as opposed to the sarcastic snorting engendered by many Serious Policy World reads.
Mrs. Mimi's posts are generally full of cute kids, au naturale, and screwed-up power-hungry adults--just like the real world. This one was about a field trip where the big yellow bus drove past a Calvin Klein billboard--let your imagination create any smoldering male zipper-down image--and got stuck in traffic in front of a semi-naked Lady GaGa covering the side of a building. Mrs. Mimi points out that all the interesting facts and images planted in her kiddos' minds during the field trip are now eclipsed by this sleaziness at the lowest pandering denominator. Sleaziness that's a constant in their lives, by the way, unlike trips to the museum which occur rarely. Her kids laugh and hoot at Lady GaGa, because they think that's what they're supposed to do.
Sometimes, the carefully planned lessons, carefully chosen books, and carefully spoken words at school are just not even close to enough, to counterbalance the powerful attraction of our vulgar, ADD world.
And that's a shame--because forays into the real world are often the juiciest opportunities for real learning. In spite of the possibility (OK, the certainty) that things will go wrong, getting out of Dodge has always been my favorite learning strategy. I have taken 135 8th graders into a smoky dive of a jazz club on Rush Street in Chicago (at noon, with the bartender slinging frozen pizza and pitchers of coke), to watch the house band play a blues set then offer my best drummer the opportunity to sit in on "Summertime." We played a concert for old men in wheelchairs at a Veteran's Home in St. Louis, and another on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as jets flew overhead. We've seen symphony orchestras in seven different cities, and at least as many musicals. Preparing the kids for a field trip is much more than raising money and laying down rules for the bus--it's curriculum.

Here's an exciting field trip destination: Cleveland. Cleveland actually does rock--and it was far less expensive than New York or Washington D.C.. The centerpiece of our visit to Cleveland was a day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of my favorite places on earth. It was a hard sell to get the kids to agree to Cleveland (their first choice was New Orleans), but the opportunity for unlimited time wallowing in Rock and Roll finally clinched the deal. I went on a visit, solo, a few weeks before taking the 8th graders, to scope out new exhibits and give them a recommended day plan of activities. There was a list of must-sees--Mystery Train, a short film on the roots of rhythm and blues, and the exhibit on Motown. And there was also a traveling exhibit on sex and drugs in the rock culture, featuring lots of nasty language, bare skin and the occasional corpse.
While I may have let my personal children see the exhibit, with some prior information and lecturing from Mom, I knew it was not my prerogative to let other parents' 8th graders see the presentation. So I told the students that it was there, it was inappropriate, and they could see everything else. Then I posted rotating parent sentries at the theatre door. A few kids approached and were checked by the chaperons, but most didn't even try. There were plenty of other things to see and do. It was a fabulous day.
Before leaving Cleveland the next day, we visited the zoo, an activity we added at the last minute to give kids a chance to release some energy before the long bus ride home. Cleveland has a world-class zoo, with an amazing Rain Forest. It was in the Rain Forest, at the orangutan exhibit, that I came around the corner and found half my students watching two orangutans very publicly expressing their desire to make more orangutans. One of the chaperoning dads--a minister--turned to me and said, "And here we were worried about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."
And so it goes.
Posted at 12:43 AM in School Daze, Teaching Music, The Kids Are All Right | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
June 06, 2009
My Small (Minded) Town
I'm not ashamed to tell you that I was a dyed-in-the-wool band geek. My geekdom lasted far beyond high school (where our uniforms had little red satin capes), into college and through my entire teaching career, a panorama of tall fuzzy hats, pants with stripes down the sides, and white bucks that required the kind of polish they make for baby shoes. I have marched in at least 200 parades. I also know what it feels like to have a piccolo adhere to your lower lip, via frozen saliva.
And--I have a certain animosity toward people who ridicule student musicians, or underestimate the efforts of school bands to provide music for community occasions. Kids who join the band and stay with it over several years just love to play. They like the rush of making music with their friends--and as they grow older, they become part of a time-honored cycle of performances and commitments that student musicians fulfill for school and community: football games, pep assemblies, the nursing home at Christmas, Honors Night, commencement. There are special band traditions--the hot cadence a talented drummer wrote back in '88, or gathering outside the band room to play a tearful Alma Mater before graduation. These are meaningful and healthy activities for kids, a way to share their talents with the wider world, to be responsible, to be part of something good.
So I was surprised to see a nasty letter to editor in the local daily, criticizing the high school band in the small town next to mine for wearing their summer uniforms (shorts and band T-shirts) on Memorial Day (which was warm and sunny this year).
Several hundred people were in attendance to watch our show of respect for the fallen men and women of our armed forces. This was also a time to give respect to those who have served and are currently serving our nation. My discernment [sic] is the fact that our high school band did not show the respect deserved of these men and women. Marching down the center of Main Street in tennis shoes, little orange shorts and white T-shirts just doesn't do it.
Naturally, this was followed by the usual range of low-information comments on the slug-like nature of kids today, and why bands don't swing their instruments and high-step any more. (Answer: marching styles go in and out of fashion. The question is the equivalent of asking why cars no longer sport those attractive fins.) Some people defended the band, and thanked them for showing up-- for 60 years in a row--and playing in the Memorial Day parade. All in all, however--it was discouraging.
My bands played the local Fantasy of Lights parade when the temperature was in the single digits, and Homecoming in a freezing sideways rain, but summer parades are often the toughest. I was always happy, waking up on Memorial Day, to see cloudy, 50-degree weather, because I knew heat stroke was not going to be a problem. Wool uniforms are hot and heavy, and plastic hats trap heat. Students are reluctant to drink sufficient water, because they can't drop out of a mile-long parade to use the porta-john. Wearing lightweight clothing was an eminently practical choice--a decision that had nothing to do with respect.
On Memorial Day, high school trumpeters across this county got up at dawn to meet members of the VFW and play Taps in dozens of little country cemeteries . Band parents transported trailer loads of marching gear, flags, chairs and stands to parks and parking lots, and teachers conducted the Navy Hymn and America the Beautiful once again. And in the midst of their final exams, graduation, prom and regional sports events, high school band geeks showed up--once again, on a day when their classmates were sleeping in--to march down Main Street in honor of those who sacrificed to make such a small town parade possible. Showing up, rain or shine, year after year. That's respect.
Image: Flickr/Creative Commons/dbking

Posted at 10:52 PM in Education in America, School Daze, Teaching Music, The Kids Are All Right | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
June 02, 2009
Baby, One More Time
Read the recent statistics on the uptick in births to unmarried women? Nearly 40% of all births in America last year were to women without husbands, mostly women in their 20s and 30s. Women who don't see getting married as a necessary first step to starting a family. This article in the Washington Post takes a cautiously balanced tone, suggesting that while reducing crippling repression and shame is positive, children consistently do best with two parents. American attitudes now look increasingly like European standpoints and behaviors: half of all French babies are born to unwed mothers. It's 55% in Sweden, and 66% in Iceland.

So--do I think children should have two parents who are formally committed to each other? Yes, as a general rule, although the gender of those parents makes no difference. Two parents are more efficient because parenting is time- and labor- intensive and emotionally exhausting. You can fly a plane with a single pilot, but nobody reading this would choose to fly cross-country without a co-pilot. Because anything can happen, and two is better than one.

I have taught many extraordinary, well-adjusted children raised with loving care by a single parent. And I have seen children with two stable, married parents crash and burn--and any number of "had-to" marriages disintegrate, leaving bitterness and debt. Numbers and social rectitude matter less than other things. Still, the idea that marriage has become optional is troubling. I don't care what happens between consenting adults, but I do worry about building sturdy families and giving kids a secure foundation, both economically and intellectually. The trend will likely have a major impact on school policies and student success.

And I wonder: What has happened in America during the last five years to make the numbers of births to single women rise an astonishing 26%? My first guess would be that this is driven by fading economic opportunity and hopes (a big percentage of those babies are born to working-class women and those in poverty)--and the still-growing gap between the haves and have-nots here in the United States. These are not reckless teenagers having babies so someone will love them; they're old enough to know what a tough road they've chosen.
Over a Joanne Jacobs' blog, there was a whole lotta blaming goin' on. A quick, edited summary:
• This all started in the irresponsible, feel-good, low-morals sixties.
• Birth control failures are really subconscious decisions to have a baby.
• Charles Murray has this analyzed: it's all about race and class.
• Teachers don't refer to students' "parents" any more, so kids think it's OK.
• Feminism has made women think they should act like men: promiscuous.
• Girls believe they need the $40,000 weddings they see on TV.
• The white underclass can't control their impulsiveness or delay gratification.
• Bring back shame! That's what we need.
• This is the visible outcome of no-fault divorce--men now feel zero responsibility.
• Why buy the milk when the cow is free? (I think that's about living together vs. marriage, but perhaps someone has a dairy issue--or transposed words to amusing effect?)
• Bring back stigma--both the stigma of unwed motherhood, and the stigma of divorce.
• Tax codes and legislation should encourage shotgun marriage.
• This is the end result of welfare. Cut 'em off!
• It's different when the mother is an employed professional who can support a baby.
• Schools that offer programming for unwed mothers encourage girls to get pregnant.
• If we could genetically re-engineer marijuana to provide birth control, we'd be all set.
• These people have no discipline. None.
• Women can't detach their emotions from the sex act, even if their lesbian professors tell them they can.
• In the late 60s, guys were lucky to get a kiss at the end of a date. Sex was saved until the couple was engaged and had met the parents.
I'm curious about that last one. In 1969, I was a freshman at a college set, literally, in the middle of a cornfield in a conservative Midwestern town. Guys at my school must have been, umm, exceptionally lucky.

Perhaps this is one of those things that will seem archaic in time, like women in the workforce--a major societal shift. It's worth asking questions and tracking the data, however. Something's going on. And I don't think it will be halted by cranky rhetoric.
Posted at 11:00 PM in Current Affairs, Education in America, The Kids Are All Right | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
May 30, 2009
Paradigm Drift
For the past six months, looking at the big picture in education policy has felt a bit like this photograph, shared by Stories from School blogger Travis Wittwer. Wittwer and his family are avid bikers (socially-conscious bikers, not Hells-Angels bikers), and his son Soren is a frequent passenger in a Bakfiets (a Dutch-made bike adapted for kids and cargo). Soren's handmade version of his Bakfiets is beyond charming. I stuck the shot on my desktop, and every time I looked at it, I thought--this is what we do with schools. Every time things look shaky in education policy, we just add more masking tape (and rhetoric) and keep smiling.
But...
Is it just me--or is there a subtle shift in the education policy wind? Nothing like a sea change, yet--more like ripples on the surface, a tiny drift in course.
Item: Jay Mathews opens a column with the following: If the No Child Left Behind law, focused on raising test scores, proves to be a dead end, what do we do next? Why do those of us who care about schools keep bickering over the current system, rather than expand the debate to realistic alternatives?
Item: Linda Darling-Hammond writes: Why don't people demand an excellent teacher in every classroom? We have behaved for a very long time as if that is not something to be expected, in contrast to high-achieving nations that have put in place an infrastructure for producing high-quality teaching. She then goes on to outline precisely how America could, in fact, create that infrastructure. Here's the best part--the article appeared in the very heartlandish Des Moines Register.
Item: Alexander Russo asks: What current beliefs about schools and education do you think will no longer dominate, say, a generation from now? Education mandatory for 12 years? Student learning organized by chronological age? Government grants only for higher education? Schools organized and funded by obscure geographic entities (districts)? (It's well worth following this link back to Reddit to see which current beliefs web-riders think will be embarrassingly outdated in a generation.)
Item: Today, in the Washington Post, Marc Tucker, Ray Marshall and William Brock propose a National World Class Schools Act, ten interdependent and aligned proposals that, taken together, form a coherent, systemic school reform package that might actually do what NCLB was supposed to: seriously address the achievement gap, and use economic incentives in smart, non-punitive ways to cultivate educational improvement for every child in America.
I. Set higher standards for licensing teachers. Recruit purposefully from only the top tier of college graduates. Raise teachers' pay significantly, and use financial bonuses to build teacher capacity in hard-to-staff schools.
II. Get the brightest students to pursue teaching. Treat teachers like professionals, not blue-collar workers. Put teachers in charge of their schools.
III. Reward schools that exceed expectations, with a bonus representing 10% of their budget. The faculty decides how to spend the money. Forget paying individual teachers for increased test scores, as the measurements are suspect, and team spirit is more important in building a good school.
IV. Take over every school or district that cannot meet the following standard: three-quarters of the schools in the district are able to get 90 % of their students college-ready. Void all employee contracts in these schools.
V. Fix the way we measure student performance. Dump current statewide assessments, and replace them with examinations based on rigorous course content. Using cheap, multiple-choice, computer-scored tests does not lead to applied knowledge, imagination or innovation.
VI. Let parents choose which public schools their children attend. Information on student and school performance should be easily accessible to parents, students and teachers.
VII. Help every school whose students are not successful. Most struggling schools don't know what to do to improve. The federal government can provide proven training and assistance.
VIII. Limit differences in state-provided per-pupil funding to 5 percent, between schools (with the exception of expenditures for students with disabilities).
IX. Offer a selection of social and health services to low-income children, coordinated with school facilities and programs.
X. Begin dropout prevention early, with high-quality early-childhood education for all 4-year-olds and all low-income 3-year-olds.
I opened the "World Class Schools" piece this morning prepared for more of the same blah-blah dominating the edusphere lately: the seduction of data analysis, the appeal of paternalism, the necessity of accountability and sanctions, the laziness of teachers--and let's standardize everything in sight.
But no. I recognized--again--the stirring of hope (an audacious feeling). Maybe we can solve these problems in a generation. Maybe the paradigm is shifting--or lifting.
The last word really should go to Brock, Marshall & Tucker:
We have the most unequal distribution of income of any industrialized nation. If the problems posed by students' poverty are not dealt with, it may be nearly impossible for schools to educate the students to world-class standards.
Amen. And thanks, Soren, for the wonderful pictures!
Posted at 08:56 PM in Ed Policy & Research, Education in America, The Kids Are All Right | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
May 25, 2009
Remembering: A Seniority Moment
It's natural for me to think of my dad on Memorial Day. He was a proud veteran of World War II, a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, serving in the Pacific theatre for the duration of the war. He enlisted early in 1942, at age 20, inspiring his younger brother, my Uncle Don, to lie about his age so he could get into combat, too. My dad made it home but Don did not--he was killed in action, in the first Marine landing on Iwo Jima, February 1945. He was nineteen years old.
I don't think my dad ever got over the terrible loss of his brother; the war was a powerful influence on his character and thinking. Most of the life lessons I learned from my dad sprang from perceptions born of his wartime experience: Have confidence--you're as good as anyone else. We live in the best country in the world. Tattoos are OK only if they're memorial crosses. Freedom is worth any cost. Buy American. And--the Palmer House (where he and his unit did their radio training) is the best hotel in Chicago.
When my dad came home, in 1945, he was diagnosed with "battle fatigue." The discharging physician recommended a job that involved physical labor, independent work without constant supervision, and friendly colleagues. My dad got a job delivering bread. He became a Teamster, and was a loyal union member until he died, in 1980, of brain cancer. Another lesson from my father: The union keeps us strong, and watches out for the little guy. When I joined the teachers' union, in 1975, nobody was more pleased than my dad.

According to my father, there are people with money and control, and there are people whose assets are loyalty and community. He did not go into battle, or survive having his plane shot down, for the benefit of the rich and powerful. He fought for the rights of ordinary Joes to make a good living for their families, to live in a country where their contributions were honored. The union was there to protect justice for the working man.

I thought about my dad when I read "Is Seniority Best Practice?" in the Stories from School blog. The blogger, Kim, shares her dismay over losing so many fine new teachers with budget cuts in WA, and asks "...with all of the pressure being put on teachers to meet professional standards through reflection and best practices, shouldn’t the teachers who are doing that have some advantage?"
I know what my dad would have said: Seniority protects loyal workers, when their bosses can replace them with someone cheaper. And in a brutal economy, it's often difficult to determine whether employers are valuing quality practice or merely seeking the lowest price.
Still--in a profession critical to building human capacity, shouldn't exemplary practice be rewarded above all else? In teaching, there must be a balance between excellence and mere longevity. We owe that to our children, as much as we owe fair employment practices to workers.
John Adams said: I was a warrior so my son could be a farmer--so his son could be a poet. I would hate to think that my dad got up every morning at 4:00 a.m., lugging heavy bread racks when he was 58 years old, so that I could turn my back on fairness. But don't the blessings of liberty include the right to an affordable, high-quality education for everyone--the 21st century ticket to opportunity? Isn't that also a right worthy of sacrifice?
My father was also right about the Palmer House: it's magnificent.
Posted at 12:22 PM in Current Affairs, Education in America, Effective Teaching, Teacher Professionals | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
May 22, 2009
Imagine There's No...Imagination
Two weeks ago, I spent a Saturday traveling to the century-old District Library in Jackson, Michigan, one of more than 2500 beautiful public libraries--on three continents--funded by industrial magnate and innovative philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The draw was a workshop on using research in writing, plus a luncheon keynote featuring one of my favorite authors, Diana Gabaldon. Gabaldon took questions after the workshop and the keynote--and both times, someone in the audience asked her who Jamie (a character running through most of her novels) looks like. As in--which living person, preferably a star, served as model for your hero?
Both times, Gabaldon gently demurred, saying that while she had an image of Jamie, readers should create their own vision. This was not an answer that pleased the audience; there was the sense that they wanted a name--or better yet, a color photo. And at my table, a Gabaldon reader confessed that she starts all books by turning to the last pages--to see (her words) "who died and who got together." Only with that concrete information could she start reading.

There's plenty of evidence that students in this media-saturated world are losing their capacity for rich imagination. One of my favorite instructional strategies in teaching middle school music is structured role play. Assigning students a character to inhabit-- rock star, entertainment lawyer, singing monk-- is a powerful way to force them to "think different." There's always a subgroup of students who resist, claiming they don't know what to do or say-- "Can't you just write it down, so I can read it?" Explaining divergent thinking--or the endless possibilities for changing one's narrative-- isn't always helpful. They're looking for the right answer.
Turning kids on to different kinds of music--every music teacher's #1 goal--is an exercise in developing the imagination, particularly for band and orchestra teachers who can't use lyrics as a means of illumination. I remember one stunning moment back in the 80s, rehearsing a sensitive passage with my 8th grade band. A young man raised his hand and said it might be easier to play the piece if we knew what it was about. I replied that people didn't ask Beethoven what his fifth symphony was about, but he persisted, saying "You know, like on MTV, where you can see what songs are about?"

That comment sent me on an enduring quest to embed the ideas of imagination and inspiration (literally, "drawing breath") into my classroom pedagogy. Musicians use a range of non-visual and non-literary tools to represent emotion, story, purpose and occasion. Part of musical imagination is craftsmanship--having the knowledge and skills to create. But another part is the willingness to be playful, to recombine familiar elements into something new, to take a risk or wait on inspiration. My students had some rudimentary knowledge and skills. What they didn't have was permission to honor or evaluate their own interpretations and images.

As much as I would like to pin my worries about diminished imagination in children on MTV and a thousand other always-on media sources, I can't. Media, whether brilliant or boring, is only the product. Imagination is a process. A process fed and honed by comprehension and competence--but also the ability to delay gratification, to fool around with ideas. The women at the library who wanted to see the definitive picture of their fictional hero, or know how the story turns out before reading, were lacking the capacity to suspend fulfillment and tinker with possibility. They wanted the answer.
Einstein is famous for declaring that imagination is more important than knowledge. Here's the rest of that quote: "For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Imagination is a real thing. It belongs in every vision or proposal for what our children should learn, preparing for their 21st century lives.
Posted at 04:36 PM in Music, Teaching Music, The Teaching Life | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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Nancy Flanagan is a 30-year teaching veteran of Hartland, MI, in K-12 music education.
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‹ Newbury Street • I haven’t deleted or turned off comments ›
Keep working until it’s done
10 April 2009 in art technique, painting, personal by David | Comments (5)
Keep working on a painting until you’re sure it’s finished. Then come back again a few days later and work on it some more if you realize it’s not as good as you thought it was.
That seems like a “duh” kind of statement, but it’s inconsistent with lots of art book advice. We are told that it takes two to make a painting: an artist to do the work, and someone else to hit him (or her) on the head before it gets ruined. Freshness and spontaneity above all, we are told. Never overwork the paint.
That advice was a problem for me until I realized what a crock it is. My problem isn’t a lack of freshness—it’s that I am so often tempted to stop too soon. I get parts of the painting to look really good and the rest basically not too bad, so I want to stop rather than put in the extra hours needed to get the hard parts exactly right. That whole “freshness” canard is an excuse for laziness—something seen in the work of many a marginal painter of approximate smears.
If you really want the painting to look like you got every part of it right the first time (i.e., “fresh”), then do what Sargent did and continually scrape off anything that didn’t come out exactly right and paint it again. And again. And again, until it is correct in it’s calculated appearance of perfect spontaneity. Even if you have to paint it 100 times.
If a look of freshness is not what you’re after (it’s not something I’m all that interested in, myself) then just keep painting until there isn’t anything you know how to do that will make it better.* If you’re not willing to keep at it until the difficult parts look right, then you’re not serious about painting.
——————————————
*Or you realize that this painting is just a dog and trash it. You should allow yourself to do that only very rarely, however.
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Gregory Becker • 14 weeks ago
Amen
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Daryl Urig • 13 weeks ago
I agree that you need to keep working on a painting until nothing sticks out to you. I have also overworked paintings and lost the freshness to the paint that I enjoy by overworking a painting. It is very hard to know when to stop.
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David Rourke • 13 weeks ago
Daryl,

I do a agree that you need to watch out for overworking a painting, depending on the kind of effects you are looking for. Over-blending, for example, can dull down color (reduce chroma) lower than you want. My point here is that, for me, there is a greater danger of stopping too soon than stopping too late.

Your mileage will vary, of course.
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bart johnson • 13 weeks ago
David,

That's a key insight. I think the whole concept of overworking is probably the single most damaging piece of bad advice given to young painters. It's a recipe for both laziness and self-infatuated delusion. As you point out, Sargent himself wasn't always able to pull off that kind of precision without scraping and repainting. What chance does a young painter have in bringing it off? None whatsoever. The art magazines are filled to the brim with clearly underworked and slapdash paintings all playing at the idea that they're being fresh and masterful, when all they are is superficial and imitative of a certain kind of fashionable style.

The real problem is that most painting is underworked. A painting that is so-called "overworked" can always be resuscitated through scraping and/or sanding down. And pushing a painting past the point of one's comfort zone is necessary, rather than trying to baby it and preserving things that one has done well. Real progress only comes from pushing the painting further--and learning from the struggle.

I applaud your honesty here on your website and have long enjoyed visiting it. I'm very happy to see the clear progress that you keep making in your work.
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David Rourke 25p • 11 weeks ago
Thanks, Bart.

Once again, I apologize that comments disappeared for awhile just after you posted this comment.

I have seen lots of underworked painting, although of course it depends on what the artist's goal is. It would generally be better if fewer painters worried about applying too many strokes to their paintings.
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Trackback link: http://rourkevisualart.com/wordpress/2009/04/10/keep-working-until-its-done/trackback/
1.
Gregory Becker on 11 April 2009 at 3:34 AM
Amen
Reply
2.
Daryl Urig on 12 April 2009 at 6:35 AM
I agree that you need to keep working on a painting until nothing sticks out to you. I have also overworked paintings and lost the freshness to the paint that I enjoy by overworking a painting. It is very hard to know when to stop.
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1.
David Rourke on 13 April 2009 at 10:20 PM
Daryl,
I do a agree that you need to watch out for overworking a painting, depending on the kind of effects you are looking for. Over-blending, for example, can dull down color (reduce chroma) lower than you want. My point here is that, for me, there is a greater danger of stopping too soon than stopping too late.
Your mileage will vary, of course.
Reply
3.
bart johnson on 14 April 2009 at 2:41 AM
David,
That's a key insight. I think the whole concept of overworking is probably the single most damaging piece of bad advice given to young painters. It's a recipe for both laziness and self-infatuated delusion. As you point out, Sargent himself wasn't always able to pull off that kind of precision without scraping and repainting. What chance does a young painter have in bringing it off? None whatsoever. The art magazines are filled to the brim with clearly underworked and slapdash paintings all playing at the idea that they're being fresh and masterful, when all they are is superficial and imitative of a certain kind of fashionable style.
The real problem is that most painting is underworked. A painting that is so-called "overworked" can always be resuscitated through scraping and/or sanding down. And pushing a painting past the point of one's comfort zone is necessary, rather than trying to baby it and preserving things that one has done well. Real progress only comes from pushing the painting further—and learning from the struggle.
I applaud your honesty here on your website and have long enjoyed visiting it. I'm very happy to see the clear progress that you keep making in your work.
Reply
1.
David Rourke on 26 April 2009 at 12:59 AM
Thanks, Bart.
Once again, I apologize that comments disappeared for awhile just after you posted this comment.
I have seen lots of underworked painting, although of course it depends on what the artist's goal is. It would generally be better if fewer painters worried about applying too many strokes to their paintings.
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Suw Charman-Anderson is a social software consultant and writer who specialises in the use of blogs and wikis behind the firewall. With a background in journalism, publishing and web design, Suw is now one of the UK’s best known bloggers, frequently speaking at conferences and seminars.
She recently launched Kits and Mortar, a blog about planning a green, cat-friendly self-built home. Her personal blog is Chocolate and Vodka, and yes, she’s married to Kevin.
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Kevin Anderson is the blogs editor for Guardian.co.uk, where he focuses on journalism innovation. He uses blogs, social networks, Web 2.0 tools and mobile technology to break news, to engage with audiences and tell the story behind the headlines in multiple media and on multiple platforms.
Kevin has been a digital journalist since 1996, writing for both web and print, and broadcasing on the web, television and radio. Before joining the Guardian, he worked at the BBC for eight years. He joined the BBC in 1998, as their first online journalist based outside of the UK. From their flagship Washington bureau, he covered the US for the BBC’s award winning news website, while also providing politics and technology coverage for BBC radio and television.
Kevin came to the UK in 2005 to develop a blogging strategy for BBC news. He also worked on the launch of Pods and Blogs, a Radio 5Live programme covering weblogs and podcasts. He then moved to the BBC World Service and was a key member of the team that launched World Have Your Say, an interactive radio programme with a strong online participation component.
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Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Government support for journalism is no panacea
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Today, I had a Twitter discussion with Kevin Garber, an “African entrepreneur in Australia and founder and CEO of spellr.us” an online spellcheck service. As with Twitter conversations, this is actually from two threads that take some joining. It began based on one my response to journalism professor and blogger Jay Rosen who said:
My testimony would have been: No government funding for news; culture war yahoos in Congress will just Mapplethorpe it http://tr.im/kDIb
Jay was linking to a US Senate committee meeting about The Future of Journalism. Jay is referring to the battle over funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the US over support of exhibitions of homoerotic photos by Robert Mapplethorpe. The NEA became a key front in the US Culture Wars.
Journalists in the US who look to the BBC model for funding journalism or want their own government bailout would be wise to remember the Culture Wars. They’ve loved covering it, but if they took state funding, they wouldn’t be just be covering it, they would become embroiled in it, even more than they already are. As I said to Jay on Twitter, “People in US arguing for gov’t support for newspapers forget what a political football arts or public broadcast funding is.”
Kevin said:
the key question is are newspapers a public good that can’t be addressed via normal supply/demand mechanisms …
To which I replied: “No, the question is about about journalism not about newspapers. Public funding for journalism is not a panacea. (says as ex-BBC)”.
I’ll agree with Kevin who said in a follow up comment that “smart capitalism doesn’t rely on mkt for everything”, but I’m not sure that the market is failing in terms of support for professional journalism. Rather, I think we’re in the midst of changing business models and that the dominant print model has given way to a multi-platform model with much greater diversity of revenue streams than the recession sensitive over-reliance on advertising. Newspaper and broadcast journalism are capital-intensive, industrial businesses that rely on advertising rates that were under threat before the recession and are unsustainable during the recession. The market has been sending clear signals to newspapers for 30 years that their business model was under threat, and those trends have only accelerated in the last five years. However, the Great Recession is a rupture in business as usual. Assumptions, business projections and companies are now being swept away as this credit bubble bursts.
Now, like the banking and auto industry, the newspaper industry is looking for a solution, and many journalists share Kevin Garber’s view that newspaper journalism is such an important public good that it merits public funds. You hear it when journalists argue that they play a role essential to democracy.
Even non-journalists make this argument. Suw was at Social Web Foo Camp recently at O’Reilly HQ in California, and she said that many people during a “design the future newspaper” pointed to the BBC as the model that could save journalism. Public service broadcasting is a funding model for journalism, but even in the UK, it hasn’t been extended to newspapers. And I doubt it will be. I think journalists also need to realise that such a model probably couldn’t roll back the job cuts that are hitting US newspapers. This shouldn’t be seen as some full employment act for journalists. Also, let’s get real. As an American, I think it’s safe to say that we would have to be living in some Star Trek-variety parallel universe to even contemplate significant public support in the US for a $200-plus annual licence fee payment to watch live broadcast television (either other-the-air or down a cable of some description). It ain’t gonna happen. Seriously. Also, while many other state broadcasters benefit from a licence fee, the UK is unique in the level of funding, and I think a poll of senior executives at the BBC would find most of them preparing for a dramatically reduced level of public funding in the future.
But apart from the political feasibility of a publicly funded journalism institution at the level of the BBC, let’s take a look at some of the cons stemming from public funding. And I say this coming from the point of view of having worked for Auntie for eight years. I love the BBC, and I was very proud to work there. However, public funding doesn’t come without its downsides (and strings attached, just ask the banks or Chrysler for that matter).
1. What one administration giveth, another can taketh away. And the cuts might even come from an administration that you think will like you. Bill Clinton didn’t really like the press when he left, and Labour, while it might seem would have much more kinship with the BBC and public broadcasting, has not exactly been a supporter of the BBC. Just ask Director General Mark Thompson who thought he was going to get a much more generous licence fee settlement than he got.
2. Your commercial competitors will spill tankers of ink, pay lobbyists and rant endlessly on air (cough, Fox News) to make sure that your funding will be as low as possible. Just ask the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the US. (Maybe you should take a page out of NPR’s books and start subscription drives.)
3. You’ll have to subject new ideas to a ‘public value test‘ and make sure that it doesn’t distort the commercial market. In other words, you can be successful, but not too successful.
4. Public funding won’t insulate you from job cuts. As I said, I worked for the BBC for eight years. There were cuts four out of the eight years I worked there. One year, the cuts were 18%, which was a blessing because the Head of New Media at the time, Ashley Highfield, had asked for 25%. And the cuts continue. This year, they are looking to find £400m of savings.
There are pros, of course, and the BBC is a great journalistic institution. But it’s not in the ruddy health that most American journalists assume it is. Like much of the media, it reached a high water mark in the early part of this decade, and it’s now swimming against the tide. This is not to say that public funding shouldn’t play a role in journalism, but it already does in the US in the form of NPR and public television. Also, based on the experience of Sweden, state support might help for while, but it’s not a long-term solution.
I’ll be interested to see what if anything comes out of the US Senate hearings today, but if it’s government support you want, be careful what you wish for.
UPDATE: A timely example of what I’m getting at. If journalists are anxious over a sense of powerlessness from market forces, it’s no different when the government can change your budget by fiat. See: (Conservative Party leader) Cameron to force vote to halt increase in BBC licence fee. He might not get his way now, but he might when he’s prime minister.
Tags: BBC, business models, economy, public broadcasting
No Comments | Category: Business | Journalism | Media 2.0 | Uncategorized |
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
What’s missing from the Google/newspapers discussion
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
It seems to have become fashionable recently for members of the media to rail against Google, claiming that the search giant is significantly to blame for the demise of newspapers. The arguments appear to include:
• Google is a parasite that makes money off newspapers content through aggregating it
• Google, by acting as a middleman, deprives newspapers of control and therefore income
• Visitors from Google are of low value because they do not stay to explore a site and therefore are not exposed to enough ads to make their visit worthwhile to the news outlet
In my opinion, these arguments are all wrong, but rather than debate them here (other people are already doing it), I’m curious to ask why two key parts of the problem are being utterly ignored.
Google enables existing behaviours
Before newspapers started publishing on the web, newspaper readers had a limited number of choices if they wanted to read what the paper had printed: read someone else’s copy, or buy and read their own. Once someone has bought a paper, the tendency is to read substantial portions of it, or even read it cover-to-cover including the bits one doesn’t really care about.
I am sure that there are psychological forces at work here, perhaps cognitive biases such as ownership bias. After all, who hasn’t felt the desire to get the most value for money out of a newspaper or magazine purchase by reading as much as one can manage, even when one has run out of any real interest?
That behaviour, and the forces that encourage it, is absent online. Instead of feeling obliged to oneself to make the most of a newspaper purchase, people are now searching for only the information that they need or want. They become promiscuous browsers, instead of dedicated readers.
Google facilitates that behaviour, a behaviour which was present before Google existed, and which will continue after Google is gone. The news outlets, however, are fixated on the idea of a dedicated reader and I’ve heard some journalists get positively indignant at the suggestion that promiscuous browsing is not just a normal behaviour, but rapidly becoming the default. They think that dedicated reading is the one true way to absorb news, and look down upon anything else.
This prejudice is damaging the news industry badly, because if your whole revenue generating mechanism, not to mention your metrics for success, is built upon the idea of people spending lots of time on your site, reading lots of articles, then your business is built on sand. Instead of working from a set of assumptions that are no longer valid, how about the news industry learns how their readers’ lives, attitudes and behaviours have changed, and uses that as a basis for developing a more robust business model. After all, people aren’t going to go back to their old habits. Ever.
Advertising innovation can be done by companies other than Google
Whilst Google News runs no adverts, news content does make its way into the general search results where advertising does very well for Google. This, for reasons unclear to me, is seen by some in the news industry as a grave assault, to be fought and destroyed.
Yet Google, alongside Craigslist, Gumtree and their brethren, are ripe for advertising disruption. The sites that were the disrupters can themselves be sideswiped, by the very sort of clever innovation that appears to be almost entirely lacking in the news industry. Why have news outlets not put together their own versions of TextAds and AdSense, allowing advertisers to buy text ads on certain topics, categories, or keywords? Can I go to a major news website and buy a keyword directly from them? Why are news organisations, who have been in the advertising game forever, relying on third party tools to spread excess ad inventory across their extended blog network? Why give away that slice of the pie to someone else?
Where is the advertising innovation? And no, annoying pop-ups, rich-media ads and irritatingly loud audio ads do not count. They are about as innovative as a slap round the face with a wet haddock - they are old school, scattershot, relying on interruption instead of relevance, and worst of all, they infuriate the visitor so much that even if the ads had been of interest, their childishness is terminally off-putting.
It feels like the news outlets have abdicated responsibility for finding new and better ways for their advertisers to buy space, time and keywords, to manage their own accounts, make their own decisions on where they want their ads to appear and manage their own budget.
It’s time for the news outlets to reclaim advertising, to learn from Google, Craigslist and Gumtree and beat them at their own game. Railing away at Google or any other site that’s eating their lunch is, however, a waste of time and a distraction that the industry can ill afford at the moment.
Tags: business models, Google, newspapers
Comments (3) | Category: Business | Journalism |
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Complexity and news: The Financial Crisis
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
One of my biggest criticisms of my profession, journalism, is that we don’t do complexity or nuance very well. My friend and colleague Bobbie Johnson once referred to this as ‘binary journalism’. I always found it odd that many media commentators criticised George Bush’s Manichean world view (a view that is in itself simplistic) when the media delights in over-simplified stories of good versus evil that seem have more of a place in comic strips than journalism. However, whether it’s climate change or the global financial crisis, journalism needs to deal with complexity. We need to explain it to our audience in ways that engages and adds to their understanding.
Unfortunately, I fear that journalists are leaving this job to GAB - the Global Association of Bloviators, well-paid commentators who make a helluva lot of money not explaining a complex world but rather engaging in polarised shouting matches on talk radio, cable television and comment sites. It can be greatly entertaining and distracting, but it’s the information equivalent of professional wrestling while Rome burns. We can’t have binary journalism in an analogue world where often things exist not only on a continuum but in complex, multi-dimensional inter-relationships.
But therein lies the challenge. How do you Jedi mind trick people who might prefer the theatre of cable news or the simple morality tales of tabloid newspapers into caring about something that in the end is really complex but have a real impact on their lives as the global financial crisis has? I think that engaging readers using social media and creatively telling stories is the way forward, and we’re starting to see some great examples of this.
During the financial crisis, the collaboration between US National Public Radio’s Planet Money and This American Life have produced some of the most enlightening and entertaining programs on the subject. One of the programs, The Giant Pool of Money, has rightly won a Peabody Award. Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab has interviewed one of the creators, Adam Davidson, about a model for complex news.
NPR’s Adam Davidson on “The Giant Pool of Money” from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.
Adam says that journalists need to acknowledge their own ignorance in covering complex stories, and he talks about other lessons he learned in creating what has become a series of some of the best journalism on the financial crisis in any medium. The full transcript is on Nieman’s site if you’d prefer to scan it.
More than this, I think that Adam hits on why I prefer to blogging, in particular, and digital news in general to traditional print or broadcast media, which is that news can be a process of learning that the journalist shares with the audience. Also, as Rob Paterson points out, digital media can be much better than traditional linear media in dealing with complexity, although Adam has done a wonderful job dealing with complexity during a long-form radio program. I appreciate this in Rob’s explanation:
The POV was always going to be - EXPLAIN! The presenters of the show would be representing us. They would start from a position of NOT KNOWING and not understanding the jargon. The irony is that even the so called experts have told Adam that they too have learned from the show.
They got rid of the voice of authority and took their listeners on their own journey of discovery.
I understand all too well the illusion of the ‘VOICE’ that Rob is talking about. The deep bass voices of presenters are meant to represent authority, but the presentation cannot overcome the fundamental superficiality of sound bites, the same interview aired in heavy rotation and minute-thirty packages. Why not just dispense with the theatrics and focus on finding out what we all wanted to know? How the hell did this mess happen? What led us to here?
The global financial crisis is now being packaged into media theatre complete with two-dimensional villains and victims that do a disservice to the real story: The West has maxed out our personal and collective credit cards. Politicians and commentators on the right point to irresponsible borrowers while those on the left point to irrresponsible greedy lenders and financiers. The crisis is here, and while the media retreats into a comfortable narrative that places responsibility on some other segment of society, it will only put off a little longer the hard choices that all segments of society will have to make. This is a moment when journalism can shine, even during this time of industry and individual anxiety. The global financial crisis cries out for great intelligent story-telling. Let’s do the story justice, and hopefully in doing so, we’ll find solutions to the crisis sooner rather than simply putting off the hard choices.

recession, financial crisis, business, NPR
No Comments | Category: Business | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Saving Newspapers: The Musical
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
A tip of the hat to Harvard University’s Neiman Journalism Lab (a must follow for journalists on Twitter) for this gem.
Let’s all sing along: “In the name of name of digital ubiquity, where you can get the news anytime for free, is there any room for dinosaurs like us, journalists who are already extinct.” New business models: Offer businesses good reviews on Yelp? Sell Marijuana when it’s legalised?
Well, it looks like their solution is a little behind the British tabloids in their plan to save newspapers. But I’ll leave you to watch it. I may have already ahem…revealed too much.
Technorati Tags: newspapers, business models, future, revenue, musical

No Comments | Category: Business | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Street View in the UK
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
There’s been a bit of a furore recently about Google’s Street View, which has now come to selected cities in the UK. When it was launched a number of images had to be removed because they showed people in situations that could be potentially embarrassing or which people said invaded their privacy. There was the ambulance crew; the man coming out of a sex shop; the rock star enjoying a pint at his local. Complaints ensued and Google took down the images.
I am slightly perplexed as to why this kerfuffle happened at all. Google had a similar reaction when it launched in the US in May last year, and its face-blurring policy is a result of that pushback. Surely it was ready for a fuss to be made here? Especially as Privacy International pre-emptively threatened them with legal action last July. (PI kept its word and complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office.)
I think Google could have prevented a lot of this bad press by removing suspect images prior to launching the tool. Computers are really bad at figuring out what’s in an image, and even though face recognition software improves every year, a computer cannot make a judgement on whether that face is in a compromising position or not. But humans can, and there are millions of humans online who are not only capable of spotting an obviously unsuitable photo at a glance, but also willing to do so if it’s made easy enough for them.
Google could have put together a Galaxy Zoo-like tool to allow volunteers to assess each photo, after the face-blurring, but before it was accepted into their database. If Galaxy Zoo can find a few tens of thousands of people to check pictures of galaxies, Google can find a couple of million to check Street View photos.
I suppose some people would complain that even if you showed a compromising photo to just three people - which is all it takes to pass reliable judgement on an image - that’s three people too many. But I don’t believe that’s a reasonable stance to take. If you are in a public place then why should you have an expectation of privacy? My dad was once filmed getting off a train at Reading station, and for years afterwards his face showed up on every news story about trains. We have to accept that when we are in public places our image may be captured and may sometimes turn up online, or even on TV.
In my opinion, Google should have assessed the photos prior to publication because it’s good customer care. Google isn’t perfect, but if it has a fault, it’s that it often seems to lack a human dimension, using computer engineering to try and solve what are often human problems. The question of Street View isn’t, to my mind, a privacy question as much as it is a simple issue of empathy. Even the PR angle, really, is secondary, a side-effect to caring/not caring about the people around you. Would there have been as much bad press about Street View if Google had cleaned out any potentially embarrassing photos prior to launch?
Comments (3) | Category: Business |
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Community Conference 2009: Jake McKee, How to build a community that’s crazy about your product
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Jake McKee begins by talking about ’success by a thousand paper cuts’, which is thinking about the smallest thing possible you can do without approval to get you closer to your goals. He also said that we’ve talked a lot about community, but what we’re really talking about is ’social engagement’. Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s difficult.
Rather than talking about building a community that’s crazy about you or your product, he talks about how to throw a great party. We already build relationships with people in our lives. Parties connect, excite and engage. He lists ingredients to create a great party:
1. Your party needs a reason to be. What is this thing? Is your party a 12-year-old’s birthday party or a cocktail party with friends.
2. What’s the higher calling? What are we here to connect about? What is the need we are addressing? What problem are we trying to solve?
3. Your party needs good planning. Every good social effort starts with good strategy. Prep for scale. Make it simple and flexible so you can constantly evolve. Keep in mind the 1-9-90 principle.
4. Your party needs a host. We need leaders in social groups. It gives direction to where we’re going in this social group. It gives accountability and direction, and it builds the culture.
5. Your party needs a few introductions. It doesn’t happen often enough. In the early days of Flickr, every new user was introduced by one of the staff. Every single person who signed up and posted a picture was introduced to others with similar interests. That might not be possible when you’ve got 200 sign-ups an hour, but Flickr had established the culture.
Not enough communities have mentors, volunteers who welcome people and help them find their way around.
6. Your party needs an invitation. The site needs functionality and tools that make it easy for members to invite other people. Make it portable such as the share this buttons for Facebook or Twitter. Be explicit with the invitation.
7. You need social norms. Guidelines and rule are important. Guidelines are guiding principles. How do we translate guidelines into something that people will pay attention to? He points to Flickr’s community guidelines: “Don’t be creepy. You know the guy. Don’t be that guy.”
It is about building culture, not blocking content.
It creates collaborative ownership. It’s clear and fun. In online environments
8. Your party needs a bouncer. “Be nice until it’s time to not be nice.”
9. Power in n00bs and nerds. It’s so easy in a social group to get caught up in the history and the legacy.
10. You need your attendees to pitch in. People want to be heard, but they also need a something to do.
11. Your party needs you. These things don’t get outsourced.
12. Everybody goes home happy. This is what it all boils down to.
He was asked what it takes to be a good community manager. He says it’s all down communication skills.
Comments (1) | Category: Business | Community | Conferences |
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Community Conference 2009: Tommy Sollen, social media manager Visit Sweden
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
As I said, the Community Conference 2009 in Copenhagen is a mix of business, media,
Tommy Sollen talked about how he set up a community for Visit Sweden. While he did this, he set up a WordPress blog to talk about the development of the community and the site. He was working in the open. Tourism organisations across Europe and in Canada, which helped in the development. They developed Community of Sweden.com. It focuses photos and stories. The main goal is to help the members of community to inspire each other. It’s built on the EPiServer content management system.
They have tags on all the content including geo-tags and activities. One of the things I liked is that they also have a tag for the seasons. He talked about how they encourage people to tag photos because the titles provided too little information to properly index. Photo sharing has surpassed their expectations, and they now have more than 12,000 photos (the site was launched in late 2007). He highlighted some of the photos and said that they could easily create an online magazine just with user-generated photos. If they use a photo in their print magazine, they give full photo credits to who uploaded the photos and offer to buy the photo.
One of the users, from Italy, had taken a photo that their print magazine editor thought was perfect for an article. They contacted him and offered to pay him for the photo, but he refused to accept payment.
They do no marketing for the site, but they now have 6,300 registered members, 12,000 photos and more than a thousand travel stories. They have a community and the development blog, but they wanted to know what came next so they integrated Community of Sweden.com more tightly with the Visit Sweden website.
They have also created Sweden pages on Facebook and a Sweden channel on YouTube. “It’s about placing ourselves in the social media sphere,” he said. They also have created widgets that allow people to add these to their blogs, sites or social networks.
He was asked about the issue of people on Facebook saying that they would come to an event but didn’t. The person asking the question asked if they had tried to offer a coupon to encourage them to turn out. Tommy said that he wanted events but hadn’t got the budget yet for it, but he believes that events would help support the community.
He was asked about how 6000 users was seen as a success. He said that people have spent not just minutes, not just hours but days on the site and had ‘created ambassadors for Sweden’.
Tags: Sweden, tourism
No Comments | Category: Business | Community | Conferences |
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Community Conference 2009: Lois Kelly, Communities and business
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
I’m at the Community Conference 2009 in Copenhagen. The audience is a mix of media, government, NGOs and business folks.
Lois Kelly of Beeline Labs talks about how she got into the field. In 1992, she became involved in the AOL miscarriage community. “This is what the internet is about. It is about creating ways to connect people.”
In 1998, she launched her own consultancy. She found Alan’s Forums, a community for consultants to help each other with tip on how to market each other and build your business. People were all over the world. People helping people.
In 2001, she and her neighbours joined together to save a local landmark, an old bridge. People wouldn’t show up for meetings or sign petitions. People would go online at night and voice what they wanted.
In 2005, Ning makes communities free. It’s so inexpensive and easy to use that almost anyone could start playing comunities, 900,000 communities in February 2009. There are 4000 new communities a day with almost 40% outside of the US.
Tribal behaviour has been here forever. We want to connect with each other. The biggest challenges are how to attract people and get them engaged. Only 40% of the communities set up on Ning are active.
What makes communities successful:
• Communities need a purpose. They need a clear purpose
• The community needs deeply felt or widely felt issue
• Help and get help. Trust.
People do not trust businesses or governments. They do not want to be marketed to. A Nielsen study found Denmark had low levels of trust in advertising, only 28%.
What drives people’s use of communities
• Ability to help people
• Ability to connect with like-minded issue
• Community focused on hot topic issue
The value of communities to businesses and non-profits is for market insights or research. She gave the example of an ‘employee community’ that saved $5m a year through insights gained in the community. They were little ideas not huge complicated ones.
The unexpected value of communities from a case study:
• Insights and Ideas. The case study company said the community had become ‘an unlimited source of R&D’.
• Sales. They had higher average sales per community member ($1200) compared to a typical customer ($500)
• Customers are creating their own marketing in the community.
• They could cut down their PR or even get rid of their PR.
She suggested the people ask 5 simple questions that businesses need to ask before creating a community:
1. Why are we doing this?
2. How will people (not the company) benefit?
3. Do people care enough?
4. What do we expect to get? (There needs to be business value, which is tied to the first question.)
5. How do we measure?
She suggested the businesses creating communities need to be customer-centric versus product-centric. Focus on ‘behavioural tribes versus demographic segments’. She pointed to how a scissors company had created a community not based on scissors but rather based on how people used scissors, in this case scrapbooking. She also said that companies need to foucs on ‘networks versus channels’. IBM created an internal community called beehive. Employees were able to connect with each other. Employees with really good ideas started promoting their projects. Instead of going through usual channels, employees were going through this network to promote their ideas. People also thought they could get ahead faster - ‘climbing’. She had interviewed a 27-year-old employee who said she was able to advance more quickly because she used the intranet to show off her skills. “Before this, she would have been anonymous,” Lois said.
It allows great talent to network and share.
She found that many companies do not have internal networks but will create their own through Facebook (or LinkedIn, I would say).
She said that businesses with communities need to measure against business goals. New product ideas? Earn customer confidence? Reduce customer service costs? Awareness in category? Reduce training, education costs? Change perceptions? Get votes, get sales? That will help drive design.
Communities are a lot of work. If you want a successful community, you have to put the resources in.
She also said that some companies need to be more ’social’ but don’t necessarily need a community. She showed how Panasonic.com had created customer reviews and recommendations. She compared a number of social strategies - badges, tagging, Twitter and communities. Communities take investment and resources to be successful, but there might be simpler social strategies to achieve your goals rather than creating a community.
There was an interesting question about Facebook. They need to pay for the service but communities are resistant to advertising or marketing messages.
Lois: In the US, a lot of us think that Facebook is over and we’ve all moved to Twitter. We’re nomadic tribes. Last year, it was Facebook. This year is Twitter. I don’t know what it will be next year. Value needs to be there for a payment value. (She talked about some of the features that Twitter is considering as a business model including adding a service for business ala Yammer.) Advertising model still has value.
No Comments | Category: Business | Community | Conferences | Media 2.0 |
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Yo Vodafone! 15MB per day is not an ‘unlimited data’ plan
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
I don’t usually write about commercial products or services here on Strange Attractor, unless they are really, really good or really, really bad. This would be a case of the latter, at least in terms of honesty regarding terms and conditions.
I’ve been a Vodafone pay-as-you-go customer since I moved to the UK four years ago, mostly because when I came here, Voda was the only company I could find with international roaming on PAYG. I also didn’t know how long I would be in the UK and so I didn’t want to get locked into an 18- to 24-month contract. Besides, I don’t really use my phone to make calls much. In the UK, unlike in the US, you only pay for calls you make so if people called me, I don’t have to pay for those minutes. Instead, I text people, and I could get 70 texts a month for about £5 plus all the calls I ever made for £10 a month all in. Up until recently (although their website says different things on the tarriffs), Vodafone also would sell PAYG customers 15MB of data a day for a £1, which was generally reasonable for the amount of data I was using. It made economic sense, and it fit with the way I used my phone.
However, since I’m relatively settled here in the UK and have an Nokia N82 with a lot of data services, I decided to look into their new SIM-only plans. I don’t need a new phone. I also noticed that my PAYG credit was disappearing surprisingly quickly, even though I wasn’t making more calls. I spent a goodly amount of time clicking around on my account on the Vodafone site trying to determine where my credit was going, but Voda doesn’t actually seem to let me in on the secret of how I’m spending my PAYG credit. It might be buried in the website somewhere, but there isn’t anything in My Account that says, ‘See your latest bill’ or latest usage. I was none the wiser. I can only guess that I must have been going over the 15MB limit so a £2 per megabyte charge kicks in. Ouch.
Still, I was paying about £15 a month for text, calls and data, and with a new £7.50 monthly data plan for pay pay monthly customers, it looked like I could get ‘unlimited data’. Of course with any of these things, there is the fine print. ‘Unlimited data’ actually doesn’t mean unlimited in any traditional definition of the term, which isn’t surprising. In the UK, most of the broadband plans are capped at 5 to 8 GB a month. Like many others, the Voda ‘unlimited’ data plan has a ‘fair use limit’. But what exactly is this ‘fair use’ limit?
For £1 a day you get unlimited data access in the UK only, subject to a fair use limit of 15MB per day (100s of emails and web pages). If you use over 15MB a day then we may ask you to moderate your usage. If after we have asked you to moderate your usage, you fail to do so, we reserve the right to charge you for the excessive element of your usage at your price plan’s standard rate or to suspend or terminate your service in accordance with your airtime and/or price plan terms and conditions.
‘Unlimited’, to Voda, equals 450MB in a 30-day month. The chap in the Vodafone shop up the road assured me that “no one ever goes over the limit” and besides, “all of the data is compressed [using their Novarra internet service] anyway”.
What a lovely bit of thinking from 2006. Memo to Voda: People use the data plans on their phones for so much more than surfing the mobile web though your portal. My phone has a Flickr uploader. If I want to upload 15 pics from the N82’s very capable 5-megapixel camera on the road using the phones built-in uploader, I’m getting pretty close to 15 MB right there. I use Google Maps all of the time, and the N82’s GPS uses network servers to speed location-locking. Using Vodafone’s own data calculator, they reckon I’d use 1GB of data a month if I only spent 1 hour browsing the internet a day, sent and received 10 emails each day, (what planet do they live on?), download or upload 5 documents a day, downloaded 10 music tracks a month, uploaded 55 pics a month and downloaded 1 software program or system update a month.
Also, chaps, why do you call it ‘unlimited’ subject to a ‘fair use limit’ when you tell 3G data dongle users exactly how much data they get with your laptop plans: £20 for 1GB and £25 for 3GB. Why not just do that with your so-called ‘unlimited’ plan for phones? It’s not unlimited even with the ‘fair-use’ fig leaf.
This is much more than taking liberties with the English language. For the annual award for Greatest Abuse Done to the English Language in Pursuit of Profits, Voda’s lawyers seem intent on challenging the marketing departments in the landline ‘fraud-band’ industry that routinely quote speeds you would never get unless the switch was in your bathroom. Deceptive marketing practices really piss me off, and this is deceptive, which is why right after this post, I’m headed to the Advertising Standards Authority website (or the Trading Standards folks). Let’s file this one under lies, damn lies and terms & conditions.
Tags: marketing, Orwell, Vodafone
No Comments | Category: Business | Fuckwittery |
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Businesses will live to regret their social media ignorance
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
There’s been a lot of discussion recently about how social media sites are now the more popular than, and even replacing, email. Earlier in March, a Nielsen survey found that 67% of people going online spent time on social networks and blogs. Now a presentation at South by SouthWest has posited how social tools such as Facebook, Yammer, Twitter and Friendfeed are replacing email.
I have no doubt that both reports are true and the wide media coverage of both should be a warning shot across the bows of business and, in particular, their IT departments. If CxOs don’t start to get a grip on the use of social media internally for communication and collaboration they are going to regret it.
Just think about what is actually going on here: Fed up with rubbish corporate email software and wanting to communicate quickly and effectively with their colleagues, people are turning to the tools that suit them the most. Or to put it another way,
People see email as damage and route around it.
This means that corporate communications are being had all over the place. And that means that your communications archives, which you might have to one day rely on in court, are scattered who knows where across the internet. This is something you really do not want to happen.
What’s the answer? Well, you can put your kneejerks away. The answer is not to summarily shut off access to Twitter and Facebook and the like. Remember that bit about routing round damage? People find ways to circumvent stupid IT policies, and you won’t find out until it’s too late. Using Ubuntu on a USB stick to circumvent idiotic IT decisions that prevent people from doing their job effectively and efficiently may be a minority sport at the moment, but it’s going to become a lot more common as it becomes easier and information on how to do it starts to circulate beyond the geek community.
If you want to stop your staff using Twitter to discuss hiring decisions and ensure that your corporate communications information is safe on your own server, where it can be archived and searched, you need to install Web 2.0 services yourself. Now. This is not a time for the Great Race to be Second, this is a time to look very seriously at the ramifications of not enabling your staff to work the way that they want to.
At the very minimum, you need to give your staff these tools:
• Wiki
• Instant messanger
• Twitter-esque microconversation
• RSS readers
And you need to make sure you know how communications using these tools are going to be logged, archived, and made searchable. Mostly, archiving (or logging) is built in, so it shouldn’t be that difficult. Cross-archive search might be a little bit more interesting, but it’s worth your while because more time is wasted in re-finding information than in finding it in the first place.
You also need to understand how these tools can be used to best effect, what their strengths and weaknesses are, how to communicate about them to your staff, and how to encourage adoption. How do they fit together as a suite? How can you encourage people to use them instead of the publicly available tools? What are the benefits? What do you do if someone, despite everything, does something silly publicly? Don’t guess at this stuff - do it properly. You’ve probably got expertise internally, somewhere. If not, hire it in. Carefully.
This discussion is no longer about things like return on investment, improving efficiency and productivity or encouraging corporate culture change. Whilst those are still important, I think we’ve crossed a threshold where installing social tools is actually the risk averse action to take, the safer route, the thing that helps prevent monumentally stupid communications fuck-ups.
Many IT departments, taking their network security responsibilities seriously, have secured their networks so tightly that they are no longer functional for the very people who need to use them. And those people now have options - they can go elsewhere, and they are going elsewhere. Let me put it another way:
People see IT restrictions as damage and route around them.
Routing around damage is getting easier and easier, so easy it will soon be mainstream. You cannot ignore this anymore. You can’t bury your head in the sand and say that Web 2.0 is for other people. You can’t blindly carry on using bloated corporate tools that drive your users to madness. Your users are smarter than that now, and they have been enabled. You either get to grips with the tools that people actually want to use to communicate, you provide them with what they need to do their jobs, you transform your IT department into an enabling force for good, or…
Can you actually afford to risk finding out what “or” might mean? Peter Horrocks accidentally Tweeted BBC promotions. What if it had been firings? What if his entire direct message archive was accidentally made public by a third party tool? What if one of the external tools your staff are using suddenly changes the way that it works, thus revealing things that were assumed to be hidden?
Trust me on this, if nothing else. You aren’t going to like “or” very much at all, and you’ll be much better off if you take social software seriously.
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Home > Weblog Columns > Strange Attractor

Ada Lovelace Day
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I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.
— Suw Charman-Anderson
1,980 people signed up (980 over target) — success!
Closed on 24th March 2009
About The Authors
Suw Charman-Anderson

Suw Charman-Anderson is a social software consultant and writer who specialises in the use of blogs and wikis behind the firewall. With a background in journalism, publishing and web design, Suw is now one of the UK’s best known bloggers, frequently speaking at conferences and seminars.
She recently launched Kits and Mortar, a blog about planning a green, cat-friendly self-built home. Her personal blog is Chocolate and Vodka, and yes, she’s married to Kevin.
Email Suw
Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson is the blogs editor for Guardian.co.uk, where he focuses on journalism innovation. He uses blogs, social networks, Web 2.0 tools and mobile technology to break news, to engage with audiences and tell the story behind the headlines in multiple media and on multiple platforms.
Kevin has been a digital journalist since 1996, writing for both web and print, and broadcasing on the web, television and radio. Before joining the Guardian, he worked at the BBC for eight years. He joined the BBC in 1998, as their first online journalist based outside of the UK. From their flagship Washington bureau, he covered the US for the BBC’s award winning news website, while also providing politics and technology coverage for BBC radio and television.
Kevin came to the UK in 2005 to develop a blogging strategy for BBC news. He also worked on the launch of Pods and Blogs, a Radio 5Live programme covering weblogs and podcasts. He then moved to the BBC World Service and was a key member of the team that launched World Have Your Say, an interactive radio programme with a strong online participation component.
E-mail Kevin.

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Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
A failure of leadership?
Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
Another draft section done and ready for comment!
What stops civil society associations using social media? It is easy to point the finger at a lack of technical understanding, or a paucity of time and budget. But whilst these are all genuine concerns, they are all relatively simple to address if organisations decide to do so.
Resistance to new technology by upper management is a pernicious problem. Talking to civil society associations and reading comments left on the survey shows that for many organisations, conservative attitudes amongst management and trustees stifles the use of social technologies. A web developer for one large organisation, when discussing possible uses of social media, responded, “The trustees would never go for that.”
Michael Collins, in his presentation Social Networking — Threat or opportunity for membership organisations? given to Memcom 09 [1] , identified these “internal threats” when examining the reasons why associations aren’t engaging with social media:
* “Complacency, apathy, indecision, fear of change and losing control”
* “Myopia re ROI”
* “Inadequate consultation with community members”
From the comments left on the survey, lack of knowledge and understanding, is a key problem:
“Lack of knowledge in the upper levels of the organisation tends to hold us back sometimes.”
“We have an ‘older’ age range of staff, who are focused on service provision. Many don’t understand, or have time to learn about the net.”
“[There’s] not much understanding that social media is not the same as mass publicity that the ‘comms’ team can just do by themselves.”
“We are just beginning to expand on usage, and I am doing my best to educate my management team.”
And out-dated attitudes seemed to be behind another comment from the survey:
“Current policies seem to have been made years ago.”
A further problem identified by the manager of one medium-sized association’s website was resistance to change:
“The culture of [our organisation] leads its communications efforts in many ways and it’s not based on evidence, or knowledge of the marketplace or the audience. It’s ‘This is the way we’ve always done things’. When push comes to shove we tend to revert back to instinct, revert back to assumptions.”
But although getting managers and trustees to recognise the value of social media might be hard, it doesn’t necessarily mean that using social media is impossible in those environments, just difficult:
“I have struggled to get buy-in from management, but have had success with what I have been able to do.”
The importance of an internal culture which is open to new ways of doing things must not, however, be underestimated. In their report Discover, Argument and Action: How civil society responds to changing needs, Julie Caulier-Rice, Geoff Mulgan and Dan Vale discuss how civil society associations “can sometimes become frozen around past needs rather than current ones.” [2] Although Caulier-Rice et al were not directly discussing civil society association’s attitudes towards technology, their words are just as applicable in this context.
Those who oversee civil society associations must ensure that the culture they create within their organisation is one that is open to new ideas, new technologies and experimentation. Failure to do so will not only hobble staff in their efforts to communicate, collaborate and engage their community, it will also hold the organisation as a whole back. Organisations unable to use the internet to its fullest capability risk being sidelined by others who understand how to use social technologies to spread their message, and unite and organise their supporters.
[1] get citation
[2] http://www.youngfoundation.org.uk/publications/reports/discovery-argument-action-how-civil-society-responds-changing-needs-march-2008
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Home > Weblog Columns > Strange Attractor

Ada Lovelace Day
PledgeBank
I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.
— Suw Charman-Anderson
1,980 people signed up (980 over target) — success!
Closed on 24th March 2009
About The Authors
Suw Charman-Anderson

Suw Charman-Anderson is a social software consultant and writer who specialises in the use of blogs and wikis behind the firewall. With a background in journalism, publishing and web design, Suw is now one of the UK’s best known bloggers, frequently speaking at conferences and seminars.
She recently launched Kits and Mortar, a blog about planning a green, cat-friendly self-built home. Her personal blog is Chocolate and Vodka, and yes, she’s married to Kevin.
Email Suw
Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson is the blogs editor for Guardian.co.uk, where he focuses on journalism innovation. He uses blogs, social networks, Web 2.0 tools and mobile technology to break news, to engage with audiences and tell the story behind the headlines in multiple media and on multiple platforms.
Kevin has been a digital journalist since 1996, writing for both web and print, and broadcasing on the web, television and radio. Before joining the Guardian, he worked at the BBC for eight years. He joined the BBC in 1998, as their first online journalist based outside of the UK. From their flagship Washington bureau, he covered the US for the BBC’s award winning news website, while also providing politics and technology coverage for BBC radio and television.
Kevin came to the UK in 2005 to develop a blogging strategy for BBC news. He also worked on the launch of Pods and Blogs, a Radio 5Live programme covering weblogs and podcasts. He then moved to the BBC World Service and was a key member of the team that launched World Have Your Say, an interactive radio programme with a strong online participation component.
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Saturday, June 6th, 2009
@DW Global Media Forum: Blogging, citizen journalism and politics
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Posted by Kevin Anderson

Deutsche Welle Best of the Blogs 2008 winners
Bloggers were well represented at Deutsche Welle’s Global Media Forum, in part because it was the first time that they awarded their BOBs - Best of the Blogs - to the winning bloggers in person. The forum was a stark reminder of internet theorist Clay Shirky’s observation that technology that is often used to pass time in the West can be an essential tool for expression and democracy in repressive countries. Blogging has become a powerful means of expression, reporting and organisation in countries around the world.
Blogging and citizen journalism
During a panel on blogging and citizen journalism, Israel Yoroba Guebo from the Ivory Coast said that in his country, “We hope that our journalists don’t end up in prison.” There is only one television channel and opposition political parties have no way to communicate their positions. He used to work for a newspaper, but he wanted an outlet to tell about the everyday life of people in his country.
Ivory Coast was divided by conflict in 2002 as rebels held part of the country. The political conflict didn’t just divide the country but also its people. He wrote on his blog Le Blog de Yoro about life in all parts of the country and tried to show that people shared the same way of life in an effort to bring about reconciliation.
He was asked whether blogging could have prevented the conflict. He said:
“In Ivory Coast, we didn’t see a way to prevent crisis, but if we had the blog, maybe we could have prevented some of the massacres.”
Another person asked him who was the target audience of the blog. Was it Africans, many of whom don’t have access to the internet, or was it audiences in Europe and the US?
He said that it was important to let people in other countries know what was happening in the Ivory Coast, but maybe his blog would also encourage others to take up bloggin. “The more bloggers that we have, the greater opportunity we have to talk freely,” he said.
The problem is that blogging there is difficult and expensive. They don’t have broadband and have to go to internet cafes to post. However, he said:
“You can at least give the world the possibility to express themselves. Something that would never be accepted on the television.”
Iranians do not have to be encouraged to blog. It is often said that Persian is the fourth most common language for blogs. Four years ago, women in Iran gathered outside of parliament to protest a law that prevented women from becoming president, but it was one of many laws unfair to women. The women decided to protest every day of the year against one of these laws, said Nazli Farokhi.
“We realised that 365 days was not enough,” she said, so they started the blog 4equality. It gives a chance for women who support the campaign to write about their experiences. She was asked about the security of the bloggers. Police have arrested 50 of their members, and four remain in prison.
During the BOBs award ceremony, she played the group’s anthem which describes the discrimination that women in Iran face and the hope that one day women and men can be equal there.
Threats to bloggers
A climate of fear due to threats of violence, intimidation or arrest face bloggers in repressive countries. Bloggers from China and Cuba were not allowed to travel to accept their awards, but instead had to record video messages for the BOBs ceremony.
Cuban Yoani Sanchez’s Generación Y won the award for best blog 2008. Appearing via video message, she said that having a blog in Cuba “can drive one to madness”: There are no internet connections in people’s homes, and bloggers are forced to go internet cafes or hotels that cater to tourists. The cost of using the internet for one hour is equal to a third of the average Cuban’s salary.
Zeng Jinyan won the Reporters without Borders best blog award. She’s the wife of imprisoned Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia, and she began blogging after being put under house arrest. She writes about life under constant surveillance by the Chinese authorities. She couldn’t travel to accept the reward, but was able to get a video to the BOB organisers. In the video message, she said:
“Blogging has brought new hope to my life.”
Ahmad Abdalla won the award for best blog in Arabic. When he started writing the blog, he said that he was only writing “about small things” and didn’t think that anyone would care about it. But, he added:
“But these small things are affecting my generation, these small things that we’re missing.”
Blogging in Russia
Eugene Gorny said that two or three years ago, he wouldn’t have predicted that he would be interested in the link between politics and blogs in Russia, but now people who were not previously interested are getting involved in the political discussion.
Most popular media channels or national newspapers in Russia are controlled by the government. They have no chance to report about opposition political leaders, protests or anything that the government doesn’t want known or discussed.
Andrei Illarionov, the former chief economic advisor to Vladimir Putin, says of Russia, “People enjoy a tangible level of personal freedoms, but political rights are almost absent, civil liberties are severely restricted and there are significant limits on personal security.”
The regime is afraid of any political activity of the citizens, and brutally oppresses them, Gorny said.
Russians first started blogging seven or eight years ago, but it was mostly for fun and for the self-expression of the internet elite. As the Russian government has seized control of the media, blogs have become an important alternative to the state media for people to discuss issues that are important to them.
A 2009 report by Russian search engine Yandex found 7.4m blogs in Russian, of which about 1m are active. There are 1m posts in the Russian language every day. Russian bloggers are journalists, opposition politicians or “anyone who has a story or an opinion to share”, he said. Journalists blogging are able to write about issues more freely than in the traditional media. But it doesn’t matter whether a blogger is a journalist or not, Gorny said. Rather, bloggers were judged by their peers about their ability to write about significant topics.
Many blogs have a huge readership and reach in Russia. Free magazine F5 reviews the hottest topics in the Russian blogosphere, coming mostly from popular blogging service LiveJournal. The magazine boasts a circulation of 100,000.
Bloggers write reports on what they see, publish documents such as Amnesty International reports, commentary on current events, coverage of protests and quotes and links to other posts.
Their favourite topics are writing about:
1. The “iIllegitimate, corrupted, aggressive and unjust regime”.
2. The constant search for internal and external enemies.
3. Human rights violation in Russia, Chechyna, Ingushetia,
4. Police mayhem, extreme violence and the “outrageous breach of all limits”.
5. Strategies of resistance.
The last has become important as the authorities criminalise new forms of resistance. Russian authorities have clamped down on flash mobs and, earlier this year, they even arrested members of a silent protest for using foul language. The protestors had tape over their mouths. As more protesters are jailed, blogs from prison are part of a growing trend in Russia.
Blogs are a significant and growing part of the media in Russian, and Gorny predicted that if the political situation gets worse, then that the role of blogs will only increase.
Blogs and democracy in the West
Of course, even in the West, blogs can still be used for democratic purposes. US transparency through technology group, the Sunlight Foundation, won the 2008 Best Blog in English for their Party Time blog. The blog aims to collect information on the lobbyists, corporations and other donors who pay for parties for US politicians.
Nancy Watzman said that anonymous sources, some even in the lobbying groups themselves, offer the group tickets to the parties. The tickets come from sources they trust. They post the information on the Party Time blog, helping to shed light on one of the poorly reported aspects of the game of money, access and influence in US politics. During the political conventions in 2008 ahead of the presidential elections, they went to many of the parties, taking videos and posting them to the blog.
They would like to take the project further and are looking for partners, including the Huffington Post.
Markus Beckedahl started blogging at Netzpolitik to discuss issues of digital rights, copyright and censorship on the internet, pulling together stories in German and from around the world on the subject. He does a lot of thinking about how to change politics. He said:
“Politicians do bills about internet and they don’t really know what they are talking about.”
About 70,000 people in Germany use Twitter, and Markus has found that it’s a good way to quickly oganise and mobilise people. Netzpolitik has its own YouTube channel and video podcasting channel, and this has led to reports in traditional media about their efforts and issues.
He discussed some of their political campaigns. In 2005, the German government began discussing whether to switch from Microsoft’s Windows XP to Linux. The software giant threw a party to lobby the government to stick with Windows, Beckedahl said. Netzpolitik crashed the party in penguin costumes, the penguin being the mascot of Linux. Some of the penguins even managed to send pictures from the party via MMS.
In recent months, Deutsche Bahn, the German rail giant, has been in a “spy scandal with their workers”, Beckedahl said. Someone sent him internal DB documents, which he posted on the internet. Their lawyers sent him a cease-and-desist letter. He posted the letter on the site, asking for advice. Soon, the letter and documents were spread across the internet, making it difficult for DB to get them removed.
Their most recent campaign is against a proposed law aimed at child pornography. Instead of seeking to shut down the sites, the German government is looking to use filtering software, but internet activists fear that government filtering efforts could be used by other industries such as the music industry against file-sharing sites or by the Hessen government to filter gambling sites. Activists would rather the government seek limited action to shut down sites operating outside of the law.
The German government has an online petition system. A successful petition has to get 50,000 signatures. Using Twitter and hundreds of blogs, Netzpolitik managed to get the necessary signatures in record time, getting 110,000 in all.
Final Thoughts on the Global Media Forum
I thought one of the best quotes of the forum came from Laura Pintos, who writes at the blog 233grados.com. (233 degrees being the temperature at which paper ignites.) She was asked during the BOBs awards ceremony what she saw as the future of journalism. She answered:
“It is the wrong question. it is the present. We are living in a digital moment. It is our present.”
It was nice to see that point of view represented at the conference, even if it probably represented a minority view amongst the speakers and attendees. While a lot of people are wringing their hands over what the future of journalism is, there are people Pintos and many of the bloggers and podcasters at the conference who aren’t worrying about the future of journalism and rather simply creating it.
Tags: blogs, dwgmf, human rights, politics
Comments (1) | Category: Conferences | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Mobile social media can unchain journalists from their desks
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
I’ve spent most of my career as a field journalist and, like most journalists, I’d rather not be stuck in the office all day sitting in front of a computer. I live for being as close to the story as possible.
When technologies are first introduced, they often have limitations that impose restrictions on what is possible. Initially, internet journalism was desk-based journalism for all but a lucky few. It was mostly production and re-purposing of content from print, radio or television news. For most of us who saw the journalistic possibilities of the internet, using it simply as a repository for content from other media was akin to using a Porsche to haul manure because, like a cart, a Porsche also has wheels. Yes, the internet can be a simple distribution platform for content, but that entirely misses the point, which is one of the reasons journalism is in the predicament it is today. The internet is a highly networked platform to tell stories using text, audio and video that can connect not only content from almost anywhere but, more importantly, connect people.
I was lucky enough to be one of those early few who could use the internet for original, multimedia journalism, and I remember the limits of what we could do in the late 1990s before wifi and mobile data outside of cities. In 1999, I remember running smack into the limitations of the technology of the time when I was covering Hurricane Floyd for the BBC. As the storm rolled through North Carolina, it knocked out power and communications. My mobile phone worked, but there was no way that I could file the pictures I had because I couldn’t get a data connection. Two months later, I got my first mobile data kit: A cable that connected to my phone. I could at least file pictures and copy back to base. It was slow, but it worked.
Many journalists have a very odd relationship with technology and those who use it. It is similar to executives who have their secretaries print out emails for them to read: Not using technology is seen by some journalists as a sign of their position and importance. They have worn (and many still wear) their ignorance as a tribal badge setting them apart for those who must toil in front of a glowing screen.
For me, technology sometimes frustrates, but more often liberates me in the work that I do. I remember a jaw-dropping moment at the US Democratic Party conventions in 2000. I watched as an Indy media journalist streamed live video of the LA police bearing down on protesters. He was peddling backwards, holding a black PowerBook, a webcam and an early high-speed mobile modem from a company called Richochet. He was closer to the action than the TV camera crews.
Our production technology lagged behind as it required a faster data connection than many of the early data modems, which topped out at 9600 baud, could provide. But I could email my copy in from anywhere. I didn’t have to hunt for a phone socket. By 2001, I was totally mobile. Laptop. Wireless modem. Portable printer. The speeds went up to 128kbps, and I could just about use production tools in the field.
Fast forward to today, and not only do we have 500kbps+ wireless data connections in many areas in the US, western Europe and Asia, but we also have a suite of applications that can instantly upload photos, video and text. As I said last week at media140, the technology to produce the content is there, but the production systems and the presentation still need work. But Twitter is a liberating technology, not a technology that “will keep reporters off the streets and in front of their screens”, as journalism professor Edward Wasserman writes.
And if he thinks that mobile phone technology is just for “the young, the hip, the technically sophisticated, the well-off”, he obviously hasn’t travelled to South Asia or Africa or even to most neighbourhoods in the US. He obviously doesn’t understand the prevalence of pay-as-you-go phones, not only for communications, but also for micropayments and information services in the developing world. This isn’t just about kilobits and data, it’s also about SMS and the inventiveness of the human mind that takes a simple tool and carves out a revolution. When I worked on the World Have Your Say programme at the BBC World Service, we were overwhelmed with text messages from people in who Africa wanted to take part in the discussion.
Wasserman’s implication that technology is to blame for the skewing of news to cover demographics attractive to advertisers is a red herring. The idea that Twitter will chain journalists to their desks shows rank ignorance of Twitter’s mobile functions in the US.
There are no links in Wasserman’s commentary to support his views. Professor Wasserman, links are the footnotes of the internet age. They give you authority by showing that you’ve done your research. The internet isn’t killing newspapers. The internet might be killing the US newspaper model of local monopolies, but that’s the death of an accidental business model not the death of journalism.
Twitter can liberate journalists to stay in the field and cover important stories, as we did here at the Guardian during the G20 protests. Technology isn’t the enemy of journalism, but I’m increasingly of the opinion that uninformed commentary is.

Tags: mobile phones, SMS, technology, Twitter
Comments (1) | Category: Economics | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Monday, May 25th, 2009
Media140: Twitter and covering the US elections
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Suw and I both spoke at the Media140 last Wednesday. Suw spoke about how Twitter helped build support for Ada Lovelace Day, the international day of blogging to raise awareness about women in science and technology. I talked about how I used Twitter as a reporting and community-building tool during my trip across the US covering the historic 2008 elections.
As I’ve written before, this was my third trip across the US covering the election and every trip included some experimental element. : In 2000, we focused on webcasting; in 2004, I wrote a blog; and in 2008, I built on blogging with an experiment in highly distributed networked journalism and geo-tagging. I experimented with several different services even after I landed in the US: Video services like Viddler and YouTube, geo-location services such as Fire Eagle and location-based social network BrightKite. In the end, I settled on four which became the cornerstones of my coverage: Flickr, Facebook, Delicious and Twitter.
Building contacts
Twitter often helped me develop better contacts who I initially met using other services. For instance, I posted my images to Flickr under a Creative Commons attribution-non-commercial use licence, which I felt was important because I was using Creative Common licenced photos from Flickr to help illustrate my posts. I contacted fellow Flickr users to let them know I had used their pictures, something I try to do as a matter of courtesy and also as a light-weight way to promote our journalism. Sometimes those contacts developed into stories and contacts beyond the original posts. For example, I used this excellent photo of a foreclosed home in California by Jeff Turner, who organises property shows there. He followed me on Twitter and helped me find local contacts for my reporting on the housing crisis.

Sign Of The Times - Foreclosure, by Jeff Turner, Some Rights Reserved
After writing a post about the crisis, I received an e-mail from Ralph Torres whose father had been in the property business for 30 years. Ralph wanted to give me a tour of his neighbourhood, Riverside, one of the hardest hit not only in California, but in the nation. He told me about the history of his neighbourhood and showed me the foreclosed homes on his street. He told me:
Our family went through a few recessions over the years, but it was always real estate sales slowing down. You didn’t have block after block with three or four houses vacant due to foreclosures.
That story made both an excellent article, and I recorded the tour for one of our election podcasts.
Virtual contacts and face-to-face connection
Twitter helped me organise my first of four blogger meet-ups on the trip. A Twitter contact helped not only arrange the guests but also a venue in LA. Having someone local who knew which venue to use was invaluable - it’s on-the-ground knowledge that is hard for a visitor to find.
Connecting and collaborating with fellow journalists
Twitter also connected me to other journalists. One of the stories I read was how the recession was increasing homelessness and creating tent cities, reminiscent of Hoovervilles during the Great Depression. Blogging and Twittering journalist Monica Guzman of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer told me about a tent city in Seattle. I doubt I would have learnt of that without her help, and she pointed me to details on the Seattle P-I site, saving me valuable time.
Real-time reporting and aggregation
Twitter proved invaluable throughout the trip, allowing me to stay in touch with friends, other journalists and those following the elections. It acted as a real-time reporting tool and, by using Twitpic, it allowed me to tell the story not just in words but also in pictures. It also was a real-time news feed with news organisations and people flagging up must-read stories and must-watch vidoes in the lead up to the election. One of my friends and followers, Adam Tinworth, said during the trip that he hoped I would get up soon because he needed his election news fix. He told me at media140 that my Twitter feed was the most efficient way to follow the elections.
The night of the election, I had planned to go back to my hotel and finish some writing, but I was caught up in the street celebrations in the city I had called home for seven years. On Twitter, I read reports of how 16th Street, the historic black district of the city, was clogged with revelers. I was downtown near McPherson Square and, early in the morning, people of all races were celebrating Barack Obama’s historic victory. Washington can be a very racially divided city, and I had never seen anything like this.

Celebrations in Washington DC after Barack Obama’s election to the US presidency, by Kevin Anderson, Some Rights Reserved.
But everyone told me that the real party was at the White House. I didn’t have to wait until I got back to my hotel to report. I could report live from the streets, providing pictures (albeit grainy) and quoting the crowds as they chanted outside of the White House: “Whose house? Whose house? Obama’s house! Obama’s house!”
At the end the trip on election night, I heard from Ralph in California. He said on Twitter:
Big thanks to @GuardianUS08 for last month’s visit and chat and for pulling me further into the conversation.
That was the goal and a measure of the success of what I had hoped to achieve with my experiment in highly distributed, networked journalism. Despite the pressures of almost constant reporting over two months and the difficulties of driving across the US, more than 4000 miles in three weeks, Twitter proved incredibly useful as a reporting tool, an aggregation tool and as a tool to take part in a real-time conversation about the election.
The trip also proved the effectiveness of networked journalism. I really don’t think I could have achieved a fraction of what I did without Twitter. It is actually part of a larger trend of how mobile phone technology will open up new opportunities for professional journalists just as it has spawned the citizen journalism movement. Camera phones were just he beginning.
As I said at media140, there are still some work to be done to fully realise the promise of these technologies. In working on Twitter and other platforms, tying together all of the content and providing context was only possible through manual, editorial methods: writing posts on the Guardian and weaving a narrative through the tweets, Facebook questions and Flickr messages. That was an imperfect solution. I had to try to reconstruct Twitter conversations and Facebook threads and tie them together. It was easier with Twitter, seeing as most of the updates were public, but Facebook proved more complicated and less satisfying. But we have done a lot of work at the Guardian this spring to help integrate Twitter into the site, such as we did during the G20 protests when we used ScribbleLive to pull together the updates of several of our journalists.
As I have said in the past, I have been frustrated as a field journalist with having to leave the story to report, but Twitter allowed me to stay in the middle of the story while I was reporting. It also provided me with a real-time conversation with people while I was covering the story, something that seemed a dream four years earlier when I covered the elections in 2004. We’re still only scratching the surface of what is possible, and while it’s a challenging time to be a journalist, I still can’t help think we’re living through a revolutionary time for journalism.
Tags: GuardianUS08, Twitter, USElections
Comments (1) | Category: Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Raising journalists’ expectations only to crush them
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
My colleague and compadre Jemima Kiss flagged up story making the rounds on journalism blogs that the University of Missouri School of Journalism is requiring new students to have an iPhone or an iPod touch.
Like Jemima, I speak to quite a few journalism classes as well. While everyone assumes that young people almost without exception embrace technology, it couldn’t be further from the truth. As Jemima writes:
Chatting to journalism students is always an eye-opener, because, despite the enthusiasm and the clear commitment to their career, there’s very often a rather romantic view of an industry that doesn’t really exist any more. It’s a world of smokey bars and clattering Fleet Street typewriters battling against a daily deadline, or, very often, a rather glamorous late night gig review by a wannabe music journo.
Sadly journalism students’ romantic notion of journalism is often 30 years out of step, and they are often even more resistant of new technology and new methods than those working in the industry.
I stopped off at the University of Missouri to visit my friend Clyde Bentley when I was traveling across the US last year for the elections, and it was great to see them thinking not just about the internet but also actively exploring mobile technology. The University of Missouri is a great institution, and it’s great to see them keeping ahead of the times. But the move to require an iPod Touch or an iPhone has not been welcomed by all.
Levi Sumagaysay at the San Jose Mercury News asked if the requirement was a conflict of interest. He questioned “what appears to be the school’s bias or endorsement of the aforementioned Apple products”.
However, I noticed something else that Levi wrote about, building up journalism students expectations. He writes:
An ironic side note: In most newsrooms I’ve worked, we’ve had to claw our way to “preferred equipment,” and we considered ourselves lucky if, in 1999, our work computers got upgraded to, say, Windows 95. If newspapers survive, future journalists being trained to work on the latest and greatest equipment are in for a huge letdown when they realize that that stuff is largely non-existent in the newsroom — we just write about them.
It’s actually more than moving journalism students from a world of shiny Apple engineering to a world of outdated, coffee-encrusted computers. It’s moving them from a world where they can install and run what they want to a world of locked-down, corporate machines.
I was talking to a friend this week who told me that she had to get a permission slip signed to get a piece of software installed on her work computer and another permission slip signed to actually use the piece of software. You would think she was a seven-year-old going on a field trip to an active volcano. When I was with the BBC, I traveled with two computers. My work computer, which I had to have to access certain work systems, and the computer that I actually got work done on.
I know that there are security issues. I know that IT administrators can tell stories of the senior manager’s kid downloading a virus via some Flash game and taking down the network. But a one-size fits all corporate IT policy is not only a soul-destroying experience for a technically proficient journalist, it’s also a productivity killer. There has to be a better way than this. Train staff in the basics of computer security. Allow them to try new things on a virtual machine that can be wiped if it gets infected with a virus. But we can’t expect journalists to explore and learn about digital tools if we lock all the doors ahead of them.

IT, internet, computers, education
Tags: computers, education, internet, IT
Comments (4) | Category: Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Overcoming journalists’ sense of entitlement to an audience
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Like many blogging journalists, I now find myself spending more time with Twitter and seeing the conversation take place there instead of on blogs. I suspect it is down to time constraints. As Stowe Boyd said last week at the Thinking Digital conference in Newcastle, blog rhymes with slog because blogging is a lot of work and has produced a natural barrier to entry. Yes, anyone can blog but few people have the time to devote to maintaining a vibrant blog. I find myself now often wanting to capture some of those Twitter conversations.
Today, Adam Tinworth said on Twitter:
I think that journalists’ sense of entitlement to an audience may be the most difficult challenge to overcome in jobs like mine.
Andy Dickinson, who teaches Digital and Online Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, asked:
do you think it’s entitlement or just institutional blinkers?
To which Adam replied:
Entitlement. “I’ve made it as a journalist. Hence, I have an audience.”
I think the problem is actually deeper than that. I think the institutional belief is that if we work for a major publication or broadcaster that not only do we have a de facto audience but that we deserve an audience. It’s the height of institutional arrogance and self-importance, and it’s obvious to anyone who even has one foot outside of the bubble of institutional journalism that this is the case. But therein lies the rub. For many journalists, we never get outside of this bubble. I think it’s one of the reasons that journalists are bewildered by the fact that viewership and readership numbers are declining. Journalism matters, we say, and it does. But we are too often the authors of our own increasing irrelevance. We trivialise the important and amplify the trivial. In this noisy age, we don’t help our audiences find the signal but instead make a vain attempt to drown out the noise, often with self-serving arguments about our own importance.
Our audiences understand this more than we’d like to admit. I still remember as a cub reporter having a member of the public tell me I was full of shit because I was a journalist and that he wasn’t going to talk to me. I said fair enough and talked to him about the weather until he opened up and answered my questions. Put another way, if journalists’ relationship with our audiences was a marriage, the audience is filing for divorce.
This isn’t a bout of professional self-loathing. I am still very proud to be a journalist and, if anything, I am someone clinging to my journalistic ideals as I too often see my industry making a joke of them. I believe strongly in the public service that journalism can provide, but too often recognise that instead of a public service, our audience sees us a public nuisance, nothing more than professional gossips and self-appointed scolds. We don’t hold power to account. We don’t seek out facts and cut through opinion. Too often, we are playing a bit part in a what can only be called a high-stakes but low budget soap opera. We are nothing more than supporting and enabling characters to the drama queens of political and entertainment celebrity. Yes, in the UK, we have uncovered MPs abuse of the expenses system, but the journalism is all the more exceptional because it has become the exception.
This is also not about being liked but about being relevant and earning respect rather than assuming it. We don’t deserve an audience. We aren’t owed a living. We might think that we provide a valuable public service, one essential to democracy, but the public doesn’t buy it. We have squandered the public’s trust.
The issues as I see them:
• There is no clear division in the industry between fact-based analysis and commentary. I find well researched analysis valuable. I rarely take the time to read commentary, no matter how inflamatory.
• There is over-reliance on a few sources throughout the industry with very little original reporting.
• We live in an age of information abundance. We need to seek information that is rare and valuable for our audiences, or we have no reason for being.
• Finely crafted prose is no substitute for reporting. Our audience sees through our attempt to write around what we haven’t found out.
We live in an era of information abundance. As Andy says in a follow up to Adam, “the expectation is more that the audience comes as a given not earned or nutured.” We’ve taken our audiences for granted, and now we have to do a lot of hard work to earn them back.
Tags: Journalism, trust
Comments (18) | Category: Innovation | Journalism |
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Peering into the future of newspapers at the NYTimes R&D lab
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Posted by Kevin Anderson

New York Times R&D Group: Newspaper 2.0 from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.
Suw and I visited the New York Times R&D lab last August when we were in New York. It was an impromptu visit. A friend, Jason Brush, at Schematic put us in touch with Nick Bilton after seeing that we were in New York from our Twitter status updates. (Yet another example of how useful Twitter is.) Nick was kind enough to work around our hectic schedule, and Suw and I were both happy to be able to fit the visit in before we had to dash for the airport. Nick showed us his table of devices including the One Laptop per Child, various e-book readers and the odd netbook.

photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University is running an excellent series of interviews with Nick. It’s definitely worth watching the videos or reading the transcripts.
Nick not only showed us their collection of devices to show people at the Times how their audience might view their site, listen to their podcasts and view their video, he also showed us some of their projects. One that really impressed us was a print-on-demand customised version of the newspaper. However, this isn’t your father’s PDF to print. No, this was much more advanced and showed elements of effortless personalisation married to a future-looking mobile strategy. The system works by users having a card, similar to the Oyster cards used on the London Underground, that is linked to their account at the NYTimes. Based on the stories that you read on the site, it knows what your interests are, adding personalisation without the cumbersome box-ticking that has led most first generation customisation services to fail. Research shows that people say that want customised services, but they will rarely go through the hoops of ticking boxes to tell news sites what they want to read. This is not only customisation, but it also changes with users’ habits instead of being a static set of preferences. After the user swipes the card, they are presented with the top three sections of the site based on their reading habits. They can choose a version with the top story in full from each of those sections or a digest of those sections, similar to an RSS feed view. However, after each story, there is also a QR code or semacode. Using your mobile phone camera, these QR codes are translated to URLs and take you to the full story using the web browser on your phone.
Nick also showed us something that the R&D Team first came up with at a Hack Day in London, which is the idea of content following a reader throughout the day. They created a system with some of the ideas called shifd.com, which is actually a working site if you want to have a play.

The thinking behind shifd.com is actually realising that as we go through our days we actually shift from device to device, from form factor to form factor. Content that might be relevant or accessible on one platform might not be appropriate on another platform. The reader might begin reading a story on their computer before going to work and then want to continue reading that story on their mobile phone on their train ride to work. They might not want to watch a video associated with that story until they can come home. They can mark the video for viewing at home on their flat screen TV at home. This is the kind of user-centered thinking necessary to adapt to news consumption as it is instead of asking readers to modify their behaviour to our platforms and business models.
Nick and the rest of the team at the New York Times R&D lab are doing some great work that I hope drives thinking in the rest of the industry. I think it’s also an opportunity for cross-disciplinary academic research. How do we surround our audience with our content, delivering relevant information to the relevant devices as they move through their day? That’s a service I’d pay for.
Tags: business models, New York Times, Research, revenue, technology
No Comments | Category: Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
The long view in building news businesses
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Posted by Kevin Anderson

When Google Labs released their News Timeline feature, it prompted Mathew Ingram at Harvard University Nieman Journalism Lab to call for more creativity from news organisations. Mathew wrote:
One question kept nagging at me as I was looking at this latest Google effort at delivering the news, and that was: Why couldn’t a news organization have done this? … Isn’t delivering the news in creative and interesting ways that appeal to readers what we are supposed to be doing?
In the comments, people pointed out projects that news organisations had done such as the a graphic visualisation of recent news at NineMSN in Australia. I pointed out time-based navigation at El Comercio in Peru. Mark S. Luckie who writes the excellent blog about journalism and technology, 10,000 Words wrote:
It’s kind of sad showing off innovative technologies over at 10,000 Words, knowing it will be years before most newsrooms adopt them, if at all.
Another commenter, Dan Conover, said, “I wish it wasn’t this simple, but the truth is that the newsroom culture is, and has been for years, overtly hostile to the geek culture.”
Getting past the frustration, how do we bring more innovation to news organisations? It’s something that Suw and I write about frequently here at Strange Attractor.
1. Journalists, editors and senior managers need to learn about the software development process.
I often say that journalists think that technology is like Harry Potter. Many believe that developers need only to wave a magic wand and voila, faster than an editor can drain a cup of coffee, we have a new interactive feature. Web and software development is more like the Matrix. It’s a rules-bound world. Some rules can be bent, but others cannot be broken. Also, just like in life, some choices preclude others. Web technology is not a blank canvas. A good, dedicated developer can do amazing things, but no developer can do magic. They can’t rewrite the rules, rewrite a programming language or rebuild your CMS in a day.
Most editors don’t need to learn how to code, but editors do need to learn the art of the possible. Some things can be done quickly, in a few hours. Other projects take more work. A basic understanding of what is possible on a daily deadline is essential.
2. Develop a palatte of reusable digital elements
When I first started doing online journalism, we often built one-off projects that took a lot of time and had a mixed response from our readers. We were still learning, not only how to execute digital journalism projects, but also we were learning what type of projects people found engaging. We soon learned that ‘evergreen’ projects often were best, things that had a life-span much longer than most news events. Besides, there are very few editorial projects that merit huge one-off investments, and most news orgs can’t afford this in 2009.
At the BBC, when I started, we had a limited palette of things that we could add quickly to primarily text-based news stories. The News website was still very young. But over time, we built on that limited palette. Our Specials team built things, and they tried to determine what worked and what didn’t. The things that worked were added to the ongoing list of elements that journalists could add to their stories.
Modular interactive elements are easier in the Web 2.0 era. For instance, we often build maps, not just locator graphics but actual maps that draw on data (for instance one could create a map using data of the H1N1, swine flu outbreak). More news organisations are using Twitter and other third party services that call external APIs and cache the results.
If you’ve got limited resources (and who doesn’t), you must think in a joined up way. Think of elements that will add value to your entire site not just to a certain section. Think of elements that will work in many areas of coverage.
3. Interactivity is a state a mind and doesn’t always require technical development
Much of this isn’t even about software development. It’s about a state of mind. Interactivity isn’t just about the web. It’s still about letters and phone calls. It can be about text messages. When I worked for World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service, Americans called or sent emails. Listeners in the UK mostly called, and Africans sent text messages by the hundreds. The first and most important step isn’t about developing a technology strategy but about developing a philosophy of collaboration with your audience.
Everything will flow from that philosophy because there are many non-technical ways to get your audience involved. One of the most powerful things on World Have Your Say was getting people around a microphone in Africa to talk to Americans who had called in. The marriage of mass media and social media can be an extremely powerful combination.
Add to all of this no-cost of low-cost web services, and you can do many things on a daily deadline.
4. Strategic projects require long-term vision
When I was writing the post for the Guardian about Google News Timeline, I found out that Google had begun creating a historical archive of news content in 2006. News is ephemeral, but as news is the first draft of history, news stories put in context can be a fascinating look at history. Google decided that archiving this content might have some value.
There are a lot of things that take a strategic decision and not only long-term development but also a long-term commitment from a news organisation. I think that geo-tagging is one example. It’s a choice that takes a bit of development but actually more commitment from editorial teams, but the addition of a small bit of structured data generated by journalists creates a lot of opportunities, some which might have revenue.
Taking a long view is difficult as news organisations face very serious short-term challenges, but the lack of long-term thinking is one of the things that got a lot of news orgs into this mess. Developing a long-term, multi-platform strategy might have goals five years out, but that doesn’t mean developing the perfect five-year plan. It means setting some strategic goals and getting there one day at a time.
Tags: management, multi-platform, social media, technology
Comments (2) | Category: Community | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
What content will people pay for?
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Four years ago, I went to the Web+10 conference at the Poynter Institute in Florida. It was an honour to meet some of the pioneers in digital journalism, many of whom I had corresponded with online for years but never had the opportunity to meet. It was 2005, long before the depth of the crisis in newspapers was obvious to all, but everyone was asking the same question: How do we pay for professional journalism? Contrary to popular belief in the industry, newspaper websites were profitable, some quite profitable, but those profits could not sustain the size of newsroom that big-city metros in the US had at the time, newsrooms that dwarfed the size of the British national newspapers.
The crisis has been coming for years as newspapers have seen circulation declines for decades, but the Great Recession is amplifying pressures on newspapers. You read blog posts and articles from journalists and editors who say that the public should pay, must pay for ‘quality journalism’. We hear arguments that they will pay as content becomes scarce with the decline in the number of journalists and the number of newspapers. Leonard Witt, the Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State University in the US, says in this post:
So will people pay for high quality journalism and information? I do think so because I know one person intimately who already has. And trust me that person is very tight with his money.
Keep in mind, I am saying high quality news and information. Run of the mill junk is a worthless commodity. High quality journalism is scarce and will be more so in the future, and that’s when everyone who loves great journalism will begin to pay.
But I tend to agree with David Kohn, of spot.us, who says this in the comments:
I think this is right on Lenn - as you know, I tend to agree with you. But more and more I’m realizing that certain types of news and information that journalists think is priceless have less value than others.
David elaborates on his point back on his blog citing lessons he’s learned from various citizen journalism and crowd-sourced projects.
Increasingly I’m of the belief that the newspaper industry is relying far too much on its values in its estimates of what readers value enough to pay for. We need some solid facts and figures on what people will pay for. I might be hoping for concrete data that just doesn’t exist right now, but I think we as journalists have to move from asserting what people should pay for and do a little reporting and research to find out what people will pay for and the types of services that might be able to subsidise professional journalism.
Technorati Tags: newspapers, revenue, business models

Tags: business models, newspapers, revenue
No Comments | Category: Economics | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Saving Newspapers: The Musical
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
A tip of the hat to Harvard University’s Neiman Journalism Lab (a must follow for journalists on Twitter) for this gem.
Let’s all sing along: “In the name of name of digital ubiquity, where you can get the news anytime for free, is there any room for dinosaurs like us, journalists who are already extinct.” New business models: Offer businesses good reviews on Yelp? Sell Marijuana when it’s legalised?
Well, it looks like their solution is a little behind the British tabloids in their plan to save newspapers. But I’ll leave you to watch it. I may have already ahem…revealed too much.
Technorati Tags: newspapers, business models, future, revenue, musical

No Comments | Category: Business | Innovation | Journalism | Media 2.0 |
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Ada Lovelace Day: Tribute to Suw Charman-Anderson
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
Suw Charman, London Copyfighters’ Drunken Brunch and Talking Shop speeches at Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London by Cory Doctorow
For Ada Lovelace Day, it will probably come as no surprise that I’m choosing to blog about Suw, my wife and mad ninja geek soulmate. Suw came up with the idea for Ada Lovelace Day because she often went to conferences where no women were on the panels, even though she knew plenty of incredibly talented, intelligent women who would contribute to the discussion about technology and social media.
As she said when she launched Ada Lovelace Day:
Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised.
It’s not necessarily a lack of women in technology that Suw was mourning, but a lack of visibility.
Suw also wanted to highlight the contributions of women in technology and science so they can serve as role models for girls. I’m from the US, and it’s long been known that girls start school with strong math skills but lose interest in their tweens, mostly due to social pressure. Suw said that the situation is similar here in the UK.
One of the reasons I chose Suw is because I think she’s a great role model for girls who want to study technology and science. When Suw and I first started dating, I remarked to a friend that she was probably the first woman I dated who out-geeked me, and while that might sound like typical male insecurities, I love her for it. Being a geek is not just about skills and knowledge but also about passion, and she has a passion for knowledge, not just in terms of computers and the internet but for all kinds of knowledge, whether it was the geology she studied at university, physics or psychology. Her curiosity is limitless, and if we share a common failing it is that we’re so curious about nearly everything that we sometimes find it difficult to focus on just one thing. She is a keen observer, and she quickly turns from noting a trend or a pattern to asking deeper questions about the underlying causes and motivations driving that trend. She wants to understand the world around her.
She also is a pioneer. I felt like a blogging charlatan when I met her. I started blogging in 2004 at the request of my editor at the BBC. I quickly fell in love with it, but Suw had been exploring blogs and other forms of social media long before. She set herself up as a ‘blogging consultant’, and many people told her that she couldn’t make a living with it. But she has, largely because she was years ahead of the curve of blogging and social media consultants that have sprung up in the past few years, and she remains ahead.
One of the things that keeps her ahead of the curve is not just her knowledge of the technology but also a deep understanding of people’s relationship to the technology and how social motivations influence our use of technolgy. I think the psychology of social media is fascinating, and I think Suw’s understanding that the fundamental human need to not only express ourselves but to communicate drives so much of the current trends online and on mobile.
She’s also a doer, and I think that Ada Lovelace Day proves it. She realised that highlighting women’s contributions in technology is important, and instead of getting frustrated, she did something, something that she hopes to build on. For all these reasons and more, that’s why I have chosen to blog about Suw Charman-Anderson, my wife and someone who I think is not only inspirational to girls looking to become tomorrow’s technology leaders but someone who inspires me.
Tags: Ada Lovelace, ALD09, ALD09post, Suw Charman, technology, women
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Home > Weblog Columns > Strange Attractor

Ada Lovelace Day
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I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.
— Suw Charman-Anderson
1,980 people signed up (980 over target) — success!
Closed on 24th March 2009
About The Authors
Suw Charman-Anderson

Suw Charman-Anderson is a social software consultant and writer who specialises in the use of blogs and wikis behind the firewall. With a background in journalism, publishing and web design, Suw is now one of the UK’s best known bloggers, frequently speaking at conferences and seminars.
She recently launched Kits and Mortar, a blog about planning a green, cat-friendly self-built home. Her personal blog is Chocolate and Vodka, and yes, she’s married to Kevin.
Email Suw
Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson is the blogs editor for Guardian.co.uk, where he focuses on journalism innovation. He uses blogs, social networks, Web 2.0 tools and mobile technology to break news, to engage with audiences and tell the story behind the headlines in multiple media and on multiple platforms.
Kevin has been a digital journalist since 1996, writing for both web and print, and broadcasing on the web, television and radio. Before joining the Guardian, he worked at the BBC for eight years. He joined the BBC in 1998, as their first online journalist based outside of the UK. From their flagship Washington bureau, he covered the US for the BBC’s award winning news website, while also providing politics and technology coverage for BBC radio and television.
Kevin came to the UK in 2005 to develop a blogging strategy for BBC news. He also worked on the launch of Pods and Blogs, a Radio 5Live programme covering weblogs and podcasts. He then moved to the BBC World Service and was a key member of the team that launched World Have Your Say, an interactive radio programme with a strong online participation component.
E-mail Kevin.

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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Coming to San Francisco
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
I’m going to be in San Francisco between 15th and 23rd April, although up in Sebastopol for the weekend. I have two projects running at the moment that I’d like to explore with anyone who’s interested.
The future of the social web
What might the future of the social web look like? What trends and developments in technology, demographics, etc. might influence how things could change? If you had to ask “What if…?”, which “if” would you ask?
Books and publishing
How do you write? What are the challenges to finishing a long-form piece? If you’re an agent or a publisher, what are the missing pieces in your publishing puzzle? What tasks or processes are clunky and awkward?
If you want to meet up with me to talk about either the social web or books, let me know.
And if you just want to meet up for a chinwag, then I’m holding a bit of a do on the evening of Tuesday 21st. I’ve tried to do an event thingy on Facebook, but again, ping me by email or @suw me on Twitter if you fancy coming. The location is to be decided - please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for somewhere nice and relatively quiet (big noisy venues aren’t my style; I like to be able to hold a conversation without shouting).
No Comments | Category: Research |
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Journalism and Fact Checking: Follow the links
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Posted by Kevin Anderson

Stephen Colbert introducing the word 'truthiness'
I was writing a post for the Guardian US Politics blog today using the excellent FactCheck site to cut through the spin, mis-representations and some might argue lies emanating from the Republican Convention speakers. Before someone accuses me of bias, both parties spin, and it’s the job of journalists to counter the spin regardless of the party. FactCheck is a brilliant non-partisan service from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and I will stress non-partisan. They examined Democrats’ claims last week during their convention, and took the Obama campaign to task for airing an ad airing in Michigan that misrepresents John McCain’s current stance on low-cost loans to beleaguered American automakers. Politics is played by representing the facts in such a way as to support one’s world view, but there is truth and then there is ‘truthiness‘.
FactCheck does an excellent job of documenting its sources that allow people to evaluate the source material in total and also see the source immediately. It’s a bit of old school footnotes and new school linking, but it’s an excellent exercise in transparency. Even before clicking through the link, a reader can clearly see that some of FactCheck’s quotes come directly from press releases from Office of Senator John McCain.
I compare this to an AP story on the Huffington Post, on Google and Yahoo News that does the same fact checking job as FactCheck.org but doesn’t have any links. I know that this is syndicated content. But why not include links in the syndicated content? Come on, it’s not that technically difficult. I think that the Associated Press is leaving itself open to charges of bias by not providing links to the source material, and the AP has had to circulate talking points combating charges of bias from MoveOn.org and others against its Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier because he considered taking a position with John McCain in 2006. And now that McCain strategist Steve Schmidt has all but declared war against the media, it would be wise to increase the transparency.
As an internet reader, I’m increasingly suspicious of journalists who don’t link. Yes, if they quote an official that gives me a sense of the source. But why not link to original source material? It also allows me to dig more deeply into the story if I want without having to turn to Google.
Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 says that it is a waste of resources to throw away all of the research that journalists do, and linking is not important simply in terms of transparency:
…understanding the value of links, and how they connect content, ideas, and people, is fundamental to understanding the value of the web. And understanding the value of the web is the key to unlocking the new business models that journalism needs to survive and thrive in the digital age.
link journalism, networked economy, transparency
Comments (3) | Category: Journalism | Media 2.0 | Research |
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
Confessing a dirty little secret
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
In January’s Fast Company was an article by Clive Thompson, Is The Tipping Point Toast? I read it with interest and made a mental note to at least add it to our Del.icio.us feed. But over the last two months it has just been gnawing away at the back of my head and I find myself compelled to think about it in a bit more detail.
In the article, Clive discusses the work of Yahoo!’s principal research scientist, Duncan Watts, who is challenging the idea that a small number of highly influential people are the ones who start new trends. The concept is central to books such as Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, and is repeated over and over again in all sorts of contexts. In fact, it is so embedded in the way that we view how ideas are transferred and propagated between people that it feels almost like heresy to question it.
But Duncan Watts has questioned it, and his research seems to show that new trends can start anywhere, and that not only do you not have to be influential to start a trend, being influential doesn’t guarantee that you are also a trendsetter.
In the past few years, Watts–a network-theory scientist who recently took a sabbatical from Columbia University and is now working for Yahoo –has performed a series of controversial, barn-burning experiments challenging the whole Influentials thesis. He has analyzed email patterns and found that highly connected people are not, in fact, crucial social hubs. He has written computer models of rumor spreading and found that your average slob is just as likely as a well-connected person to start a huge new trend. And last year, Watts demonstrated that even the breakout success of a hot new pop band might be nearly random. Any attempt to engineer success through Influentials, he argues, is almost certainly doomed to failure.
“It just doesn’t work,” Watts says, when I meet him at his gray cubicle at Yahoo Research in midtown Manhattan, which is unadorned except for a whiteboard crammed with equations. “A rare bunch of cool people just don’t have that power. And when you test the way marketers say the world works, it falls apart. There’s no there there.”
This is a conclusion that’s going to get up the nose of many a marketeer, but how does it affect social media consultants?
My work is focused mainly on how to persuade people in business to change their behaviour: how to replace bad working habits with good ones, and how to change unhealthy business cultures into positive, constructive ones. How do I help people wean themselves off their dependence on email, and learn how to collaborate and communicate in healthier, more effective ways?
The opportunities that social tools present to business are frequently missed because no one thought hard enough about how to introduce them to people. Most businesses fail to to understand why these tools are useful and why the old tools are so seductive. My job is to counter that, and is much more about psychology than technology (although the tech clearly does play a part).
Piloting social tools in business is relatively easy. You’re working with a small group who have probably been picked because someone within that group is already enthusiastic. I can sit down and work face-to-face with these people, finding out how they work and then explaining how the new tools will help them. We can figure out specific tasks to shift onto the new tools, I can advise on how that shift should happen and I can support them through the change.
But rolling social media out to the rest of a large company takes a different way of working. I can probably work directly with tens, or maybe even over a hundred people - if the project has the time and budget - but no one person can sit down with thousands or tens of thousands of people in one company to make sure that they understand how the new tools could improve their working life. It would be a Sisyphean task.
Instead, we have to treat tool adoption as a meme, and rely on people propagating it through the company, person to person. In this sense, we are doing what marketeers are doing: Trying to create a self-sustaining trend. We want the social tool to go viral.
As anyone with real world experience of viral marketing will tell you, that’s far easier said than done. The concept of an influential elite, a minority who have the majority of the power to influence, is a deeply attractive prospect. If it were true, it would mean that I could sit down with the 50 most influential people in any one company and bring them up to speed, and they would go on to do my work for me. I could change the culture of a business from closed to open, from distrustful to trusting, from competitive to collaborative, in merely a few weeks.
That is a seductive idea. And I must confess to you all now, I have been seduced by it. I have talked with clients about the concept of networks and nodes and bridges, and I have propagated the tipping point meme. I’ve never read Gladwell’s book. I haven’t had to - I’ve absorbed the concepts over time without really questioning them, without examining them in the cold light of day.
But deep down, I never really believed the idea of an elite group of influencers, and that disbelief has grown over the last couple of years as I’ve had more and more hands-on experience in business, introducing new tools to a suspicious workforce. I have asked businesses if they know who their influencers are, and they all claimed that they did, but I didn’t really see any evidence either that I was actually talking to influencers, or that the people they thought were influencers made any real difference to the widespread adoption of a tool.
That is my dirty little secret. I propagated a meme that I hadn’t critically examined and didn’t believe in. For that, I apologise.
Yet, for me at least, the idea that ‘influencers’ aren’t as influential as we’ve been lead to believe is good news. And for my clients too. I’ve always been worried that trying to tap into a network of influential staff was a pointless waste of time, because it’s very hard to know who actually has influence and who’s just got a big mouth. Identifying the influencers is a task inextricably bound up in status and position in the org chart, yet these three things do not correlate simply. A bad manager who’s high up in the food chain may believe himself to have status, but is actually widely ignored by his subordinates because they can recognise a bad manager when they see one.
If you’ve read my social software adoption strategy, you’ll see there’s nothing in it about ‘reaching the influencers’. I’m way too pragmatic, and the problem of influencer identification has always put me off recommending it as a tactic. Instead, I focus on how you identify ‘low hanging fruit’ - people who are already chomping at the bit to work differently, or people who are doing tasks that are just perfect for a transition onto a social platform. Those are doable tasks. They don’t require any special magic, they just require the ability to ask the right questions and listen to the answers.
I also talk about converting users into trainers by giving them the materials and confidence to introduce their own colleagues to new tools. Centralised training can only fail when you’re trying to introduce optional software to a huge workforce. The only way to reach large numbers of people is for a ripple effect to take over: users become trainers and train their colleagues who become users and then trainers who spread the virus throughout the company.
This doesn’t require influence, it requires utility. If the tool is useful, it can succeed, given the right support. It’s not, “Oh, look at this! It’s so cool!”; it’s, “Oh, look at this! It’s going to make my life so much easier!”
I’m far happier with the idea that anyone can start a trend, and that the concept of influencers is at least less important than previously stated, or possibly even a complete red herring. It leaves the door open for much more sensible, reliable and workable strategies. Admittedly, they may take more time and effort, but at least the outcome will be more predictable. Focusing on what people need, instead of their status, can only be a good thing.
Comments (5) | Category: Community | Research | Social networking |
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody at RSA
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Posted by Kevin Anderson
This is a paraphrase of Clay’s talk at the Royal Society of Arts.
Clay Shirky, here comes everybody: the power of organising without organisations.
It was chaired by Nico Macdonald, a principal of Spy.
You can find a biography of Clay a shirky.com and wikipedia, Clay interjects. “Wikipedia has done a better job,” he said.
We have reached an age when this stuff is technologically boring enough to be socially interesting.
It’s not about gee-whiz adoption that we can do x. The book in one bullet point:
Group action just got a lot easier.
HSBC last year decided a great way to recruit new students is with interest-free overdrafts. Accountants called them back said it wasn’t such a good idea. HSBC counted on switching is hard, and however mad the individuals are, there will not be any kind of serious response.
They hadn’t counted on Facebook. To HSBC’s horror, thousands of people joined. Out of no financial information, the students began sharing information. They wrote up incredibly detailed instructions. If you want to switch to Barclay, here is how to do it.
This got the attention of the newspapers. The organisaitonal advantage that HSBC had is now ended. The students co-ordinated a real world protest.
HSBC: We didn’t know you would be upset. Obvioiusly, we’re a customer service agency.
This didn’t happen because the customers were upset. This happened that customers were upset and they were co-ordinated. They could talk to each other. They recruited the students when they were at school and changed the terms in July when they are dispersed. They knew exactly what they were doing. This would have worked in 2005.
Increasingly, publishing is for acting. Once you put people in touch with each other, you create social value on top of that media value. Now customers have ability to leverage high organisation.
Everyone remembers flashmobs. It was the pole sitting of 2003. Toronto pillow fight. New York, go to Central Park, and join together and all make pigeon noises. Bill, the creator of flashmobs, was making a critique of hipster culture.
In 2006, a developer created a page on Live Journal in Belarus. Let’s all go to central square and eat ice cream. But black clad security appeared and grabbed them. It was illegal to carry out group action in October Square. They hit on flash mob as way to co-ordinate despite the govenment-stated goal of preventing this from happening. This is media leading to collective action. They didn’t just bring ice cream. They also brought their cameras. They documented.
Nothing says dictatorship like arresting people for eating ice cream
In high-freedom environments, these things are deployed for frivollous reasons. Time-wasting. Twitter, this is mainly banal. Egyptian activisits experimented with Twitter to pass along information on who was in custody. Tools, (such as) flash-mobs as a hipster thing have a very differet flavour in Belarus.
One of most frustrating things about publishing, you deliver manuscript and it takes the company six months to hit print. There are s many stories he wanted to include. His last example was such a story. In Palermo in 2004, stuck up stickers that said (rough paraphrase) ‘an entire people who pay money to the mafia (pizzo) is a people without dignity’. People say what else can we do. The problem here isn’t just the mafia is pulling money out of the Palermo economy. Everyone knew that. The problem was the difficulty and danger in opposing the mafia.
They allowed business to stand up together. If you were a single business people standing up, it would be dangerous. When entire group stands up, then harder to target. Much better chance to stand up if they do it as a group. The people are really suffered. If you only want to patronise businesses, customers can anonymously check on businesses not doing business with mafia via a website. They took businesses and average people leverage against the mafia.
Small well organised core versus a large dispered population. The batttle before this has been very unequal. We’re at the beginning of experimenting with the imbalance of power. The ability to share with others is remaking the world. We know this. Collective action where the fate of the group affects the individuals as a whole.
This effort forms the experimental wing of political philosophy.
Is large action best taken on by the state? Communism is the extreme answer to that question. Is it best taken by individual action? Libertarianism is the extreme answer to that question. What is the best instituion? The answer is not instituion but platform. If people can co-ordinate themselves, then people can organise themselves.
Media is moving from a source of information to a site of action. In US Constitution, freedom of speech and freedom of gathering are separate freedoms.
All of these developments are not entirely good. This is not a revolution that will lead us entirely well off.
I used to be a cyber-utopian. I remember the moment I stopped thinking about that. A student of his came and talked to me. She was the community manger of YM, and she was managing the online bulletin boards. Shut down health and beauty boards. We couldn’t get pro-anorexic girls to shut up. If you find yourself feeling hungry, clean up. They shut down their boards, and the girls moved elsewhere.
This isn’t a side effect. This is the internet. This is a case where it’s not an improvement to society, it’s also a challenge. We will have new negatives as well as new positives. The internet lowers the cost of failure. We can fail more and learn more. How can we pull out the good stuff and learn to react to the bad stuff?
Nico: What are the historical parallels?
Clay: All of these examples, it is being used by people who want to stop happening as opposed to people who want new things to happen. The places where real social scale things happening are often short-term, ad hoc and single issue. Anyone who has been in a consumer society can feel this anger bubbling up when we’re given a chance to respond. This is a light-weight structure for people to decide that they want to be identified as a group.
Creative Commons dismantle the goals of copyright by using the tools of copyright. We need to do this with respect to corporations. If we allow people to come together in socially more stable ways that don’t require institutional models, then we’ll see longer term social engagement. We can get past the protest phase.
Nico: Are we trying to re-define political problems in terms of this social and IT tools?
Clay: I do agree with premise. When you find anything that works well, you want to apply it to everything. That is what our way of trying out things.
Sourceforge. 75% of these projects are failures. Zero downloads. Success for most of the rest modest. Then far end, millions of downloads. This is the open source model.
You sprinkle failure on everything and see what works.
Wikitorial and LATimes. Editorial product of individual voice. You need to make sure that failure is public. Open source is very easy to see what doesn’t work. The paper doesn’t cover failure well.
Failure can be a benefit as long as we can all learn from them.
Anytime you lower the cost of doing something, you lower the cost of trying something and lowers the cost of the number of meetings you need to have. In a world where you don’t have to get permission of anyone to try new stuff.
Nico: Campaign is now Zucker-mail where in my day stood on a corner with CND badge and argued with people.
Question from audience: Facebook and HSBC, there are a lot of different tools. What are the next big tools?
Clay: Email. Boring-est answer. The thing to bet on. It’s not a revolution not when behaviour adopts new tools but new behaviors. It’s not about novelty but ubiquity. If you are looking for social scale change, it’s adoption.
What is going on in Flickr is crazy because now your mom is using it.
Dan McQuillan : Wael Abbas shut down account. Commercial inerest of current platforms. (Notes from me: The human rights activism community responded to this quite strongly, and YouTube restored his account. But he had to re-upload the videos.)
Clay: Certainly, worst collision, Yahoo betraying Chinese dissidents. French sued for selling Nazi memorabilia. Yahoo said it was a US company, but when Chinese gov’t came, they said we’re a Chinese company.
Berkman (Center for Internet and Society at Harvard) has done work on how to go to non-commercial platforms.
Roland from NESTA: Is pain in change and opportunity greatest in public or private space?
Clay: That’s such an interesting quesiton. You can see advantages of each. Public is already operating on subsidy model. Gov’ts and NGOs have historically defended themselves from public and constituents.
One of advantages of customer. Inaction. If stop going to store, the store cares. But if you stop voting, then the state doesn’t mind so much.
Native advantage is how public sector has taken to defend itself from the public.
Pat Kane: How is different from socialist philosophy? Leisure time facilitate this??
Clay: It’s about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Lots of these things are at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The social goal is to increase the amount of time people have to give over to things they care about.
Digital divide has focused on wires. But biggest part of digital divide is permission for participation. Give people a sense of permission to participate (actually a reason to participate).
Another question from a person at RSA: As users become more sophisticated, what does it take for critical mass on virtual platform?
Clay: Back when I was a cyber-utopian and thought we’d all be float-y video heads in a video world in the 1990s, all friends were virtual friends because there were so few people on internet. Now, I realise the big reward of online relationships is real world meet ups.
Travel and communication are complements. If you want to support a virtual institution, have a real world meetup. IT guys asked what social tools they could deploy to get people talking: Plane tickets and beer. Start by catalysing groups. It will fertilise virtual collaboration.
Another question from a guy working on reputation mgmt system (Clay says growth industry). He set up a blog to complain about his botched kitchen install and got thousands of pounds in a refund, he says to the cheers in the audience. Are we in a world where everyone is single issue driven?
Clay: Single issue leverage. People are fantastically good at committing identity to groups. At high school, it became a group when you gave a name. It’s like with a girlfriend when you talk about relationship as if third person. Some structural need to support that kind of density and social leverage. Don’t think get out of special interest an single-issue motivation. Bring as many groups into conversation as possible and you will see larger and longer lived groups. interesting to see if see consumer group rising out of the HSBC student Facebook group.
Some of this is time and new institutional frameworks that reward long-term commitment.
Question from audience: Social exclusion. To the few much has been given. (Basically, it was a question on whether and how these tools can be used to counter social exclusion.)
JP who works for BT and writes the blog Confused of Calcutta : I was thinking about a mash up between what you are saying and what Kevin Kelly said in his answer to the Edge question: What have you changed your mind about? If you kept cost of repair as low as cost of dev then you avoid tragedy of commons. Wikipedia. Cost of repair to damage low. Before cost to repair high, Cost to damage low.
Clay: Tragedy of commons, sheep on commons. Everyone motivated to feed their sheep as much grass as possible and it destroyed the commons.
Openness creates value. Value creates incentive. Incentive has nothing to do with value. That encourages spammers.
Social software is the stuff that get spammed.
Bottom up is never enough in the long haul. Eventually, you run into the governance problem. You immediately run into the problem, who gets to guard the guardians. The tools are good enough that we’re not running into problems of technology but age old problems. Such as: Who guards the guardians?
You have to deal with constitutional crises. Almost no one is good at designing for groups.
Social exclusion question. That is the most depressing thread of social research. Duncan Watts and Robert Putnam are finding that social density gives access to social capital. It has so much to do with like-to-like cluster. Only a handful of individuals who bridge those gaps. If I address social exclusion, I wouldn’t address the bulk of groups. I would find people who are bridging. I would find people who know people who ive in council housing but also know someone who lives in Belgravia.
Every social system has imbalance in use of tools. Find natural bridges and strengthen them rather than building new bridges.
Clay Shirky, open-source, social capital, social media
Comments (3) | Category: Community | Innovation | Media 2.0 | Research |
Monday, September 26th, 2005
New business blogging survey
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
BlogOn and iUpload are doing a survey of business bloggers to find out more about how companies are using blogs. Preliminary results will be announced at BlogOn2005 Social Media Summit, 17-18 October at the Copacabana in New York.
As producer of BlogOn, and a chronic stats obsessive, I can only urge you to fill in the questionnaire - it’s fairly short, shouldn’t take you more than about three minutes - so that I have lots of data to play with. Word is we’ve already had a good number of respondents, which makes me deeply excited because I am just dying to find out what people really do with their business blogs.
Comments (2) | Category: Research |
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Blogging survey
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Posted by Suw Charman-Anderson
Mark Brady, a PhD student at the University of Essex and a friend of mine, is doing some research into blogging. He’s put together an online questionnaire to gather some basic data, so if you have 20 minutes to spare, please do pop over and fill it out for him.
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Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in hrmanager's LiveJournal:
Monday, March 21st, 2005
7:33 pm Complaints into requests
Turning complaints into requests...
(6 Comments |Comment on this)

12:57 am On Difficult People (and a few other musings)
We sign up to enter into the business world, and playing in that world is a game where there are proscribed rules for how to play. And the longer you're in it the more you regulate yourself. So the rules no longer matter that much (for most) in the sense of telling us what to do and what not do. We just end up doing it. We learn from what works and what doesn't what those rules are.

I was sitting in on a meeting with a manager and an employee several months ago. The employee had done a series of rather unprofessional things, such as: sending emails sniping at her manager, copying everyone in the department; being extremely vocal on the floor amongst her co-workers (resulting in complaints to management from other employees) about each and every one of her grievances; complaining that she was being treated unfairly because her manager had spoken to her about being late (her argument was predicated upon the fact that the people who worked on the first floor had it easier than she did, since she had to get to the fourth floor -I told her it was part of her commute that she needed to account for); etc.

Anyhow, the woman made a statement during the meeting that the company was "stifling (her) individuality" by writing her up. It just didn't click for her that this was not about her being punished for being who she was, but that this was about her being advised that her behavior was unprofessional. I stated during the session, as I've stated during many such disciplinary meetings for behavioral issues, that honesty is not necessarily the best policy at work, that we simply cannot say everything that comes to mind in any context while in the workplace. Those are the rules. I point out, for instance, that there are things that happen every day at work that I don't like, but that I either accept them or, in my capacity, I find ways to work within the constraints of the workplace to address them. Those are the rules, and that's what anyone who is employed and paid by a company signs up for.

There's a way to shine the light on this in a different way, though. If you know the rules quite well, you know how to break them (and when and in what situations) so you can see the light shining through the cracks in the facade. I often do this when speaking with an employee about a workplace issue. I will stop and say, "Can we have a human moment here?" and there will be this combined shock and excitement on the face of the employee when they realize that I'm not only serious, but that I recognize the facade and am willing to let it go.

In that respect, the game's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness.
(1 Comment |Comment on this)

12:26 am Free Brainbench Certifications!
Brainbench is doing an international promotion for the next two weeks providing FREE certifications on all of their evaluations. (These usually run $50 a pop!)

These cover all sorts of ground, but here are the management ones. There are also some good management-related evaluations covered in the Human Resources section here .
(Comment on this)

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005
11:48 am College
It's the degree that matters, not necessarily what it's in. This is becoming increasingly true even for Master's degrees when job candidates are not in a specialized field.

(Notable exceptions are students pursuing employment in the medical and legal fields, who will likely want a focused Bachelor's degree.)
(Comment on this)

11:38 am Twenty Rules for Job Seekers
Rule number one: Know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, you can’t expect to find it, (and you probably won’t be happy with what you find).

Rule number two: Spend the time to closely review job postings for the types of positions you want. Almost all of the clues you need to target your search to the opportunity are right there.

Rule number three: Recognize your limitations. If you have no experience in a field, accept that you are unlikely to get your dream job right off the bat without paying dues. If every job you want requires a college degree and you don't have a college degree, it's probably a good idea to invest your energy in getting a college degree.

Rule number four: Don’t forget your network. People love to hear from other people, especially if they aren’t desperate for something right now. Make sure you’re maintaining relationships now that may benefit you in the future. Most jobseekers find jobs through people they know.

Rule number five: On your resume and any other correspondence with a prospective employer, please, please, please spell correctly.

Rule number six: Let your resume speak for your skills, knowledge and abilities. You do not need to explicitly state that you are detail-oriented or organized. Your resume should demonstrate those things without you having to state them.

Rule number seven: Your resume is about what you bring to the table, not what you want in a job.

Rule number eight: A resume is not a fixed document. The best job seekers have three pages of material for every one page of their resume and mix and match this material depending on the job opportunity they are considering.

Rule number nine: In your resume, be consistent about the use of periods and punctuation. If you use periods for bullet points, use them for all.

Rule number ten: Eliminate filler and extraneous information on your resume. Hobbies and interests are almost never worth including on a resume. Your future employer doesn't care how much you like going to garage sales. Talk to them about it after they hire you.

Rule number eleven: Consider how each bullet point you list on your resume stands on its own in the eyes of someone considering you for a job. What does it tell them about you? Let every piece of the puzzle be in alignment with your goal.

Rule number twelve: Make sure you modify your resume to match the opportunity. Don't send a resume highlighting your retail department store sales experience to apply for an administrative assistant position. Send a resume highlighting the administrative skills you acquired in that retail position.

Rule number thirteen: Send a cover letter. It demonstrates your professionalism. What does your resume not say that you have to say about how your experience prepares you for this specific opportunity? That is what the cover letter is for. Shorter is best. I go for three paragraphs. 3/4 page double-spaced max. You want it to be something that might be forwarded to the hiring manager that he or she can read in 60 seconds or less and say, "Yes. Yes. Yes!"

Rule number fourteen: Never lie. If you have to, tell the truth creatively. Understand the difference.

Rule number fifteen: Every job interview has value. Even if you have no interest in an opportunity, if you’ve got an interview, go for it. You’re building your network.

Rule number sixteen: Keep your options open. Things change. Be prepared to move when they do.

Rule number seventeen: Stay focused on the move after this one. What do you want your next career move to prepare you to do next? Make sure you’re moving in the right direction.

Rule number eighteen: Don't quit your current job until you've got something else locked down. And leave gracefully, no matter how much you'd like to do otherwise. You never know when you might run into people in the future and what role they may play in that future.

Rule number nineteen: Stay focused. Keep meticulous records of conversations you have with contacts and jobs you have applied for. This will be helpful now and in the future when you're ready to make another move.

Rule number twenty: Follow up and thank everyone who helps you during your search.
(2 Comments |Comment on this)

8:13 am Delegation - For Managers
Ever feel like you're doing all the work?

Guess who's responsible for that? You are.

Almost all of us get promoted into management roles because we are subject matter or technical experts in our respective lines of work, not because we are effective at managing people. And therein is the key paradox of new management. We are most comfortable doing the work, and so we will continue to do the work, unless we accept, in our new roles, a different relationship with the work of the team/ department/business.

There are a number of rationalizations for not delegating. One that I hear all of the time is that "delegating takes more time than doing it myself". This may be true in the short run, but obviously not over an extended period of time. Eventually, the manager who doesn't delegate accumulates more and more tasks and decisions and becomes trapped in day-to-day details. This ultimately results in some tasks being delayed and others never being completed. The tasks continue to "pile up" until the manager ends up dealing only with the daily emergencies, and the larger picture of management and supervision is never addressed.

Another reason given for not delegating is that "staff lack experience". Of course, there is no way to get experience unless tasks are delegated. Without delegation, "learning by doing" cannot take place. This leads to under-utilization of skills and abilities. It is the manager's job to continually coach and train staff to develop this knowledge. The manager must broaden their perspective, insight and overall understanding. Managers who delegate effectively have usually found that this "overall knowledge" is something that can clearly be broken down into manageable parts and taught.

Many tasks can be effectively delegated. The following is a list of major types of such tasks:

*Routine, repetitive tasks
*Tasks related to fact-finding prior to decisions being made
*Tasks related to the implementation of programs after the decisions have been made
*The preparation of first drafts
*Tasks that others can do better, sooner, or at less cost to the organization
*Representation at some meetings
*Tasks that will help staff develop through exposure to new responsibilities and problems

There are some tasks that shouldn't be delegated. These may include the following:

*Critical decisions that commit substantial resources
*Critical decisions that affect major goals
*Personal representation at meetings where the supervisor's presence is important for public relations or staff morale
*Tasks involving matters of confidentiality
*The evaluating and disciplining of staff you directly supervise
*Short-term tasks where there is inadequate time to explain or train

Delegation is difficult because it generally involves a mindful focus on the what and how of what we do. We're good at what we do, but we don't necessarily want to get into the tedious details of how we actually accomplish what we accomplish. Effective delegation requires a conscious effort to drop into this level of analysis.

A helpful exercise is to consciously track the work you are doing each day, stopping every hour on the hour to inventory the tasks you have performed during those 60 minutes, for about a week. Once you have this inventory, identify for each task, which of your staff members may have been able to complete the task, thereby freeing up your time. Identify for each "assigned" task the degree of support (from none at all to extensive hand-holding) your staff member would have needed from you to complete the task.

Then over the following two weeks, begin to delegate to your staff some of the tasks that require less support from you to accomplish. Gauge your staff members' comfort level in these new responsibilities and slowly begin to move into the more complex tasks with them, making sure you are available for support.

See what you can do to mmake sure you're following these guidelines when delgating:

*Clearly define the task.
*Set a deadline.
*Breakdown the task into manageable steps. You may want to involve the staff person in this process.
*Decide what training is necessary.
*Decide upon a time frame for feedback; determine how often you will check (or how often the staff will come to you) to go over progress and address any questions or problems.

REMEMBER: By delegating to your direct reports, you are investing in them. Your staff respect you because you've given them a newfound trust. And your time is available to focus on developing and coaching them, and performing more strategic management activities. Everybody wins. Once you get the ball rolling, this becomes a lot easier.
(Comment on this)

Tuesday, March 15th, 2005
5:14 am Resignation Letters
Keep them short. Do not burn bridges.

You never know who you might run into later in your career, and what role they may be asked to play in
your future. If you must leave a job, leave quietly and simply.

(Also, it is almost never advisable to leave one employer without another viable job option available.)
(Comment on this)

Saturday, March 5th, 2005
10:42 am Quick Tips For Avoiding New Manager Mistakes
Don't show everyone who's in charge.

You don't have to make a big show about being "the boss". You do, however, have to demonstrate that you are making a positive difference through your leadership. Your staff will appreciate when you share your non-management experience with them. Establish camaraderie with them through your shared experiences, but be sure to gain their respect through your actions in your new role.

Don't change everything.

Just because the way something is done isn't the way you would do it, it isn't necessarily wrong. Learn the difference between "different" and "wrong". Focus on doing the right thing, right now. For longer-term concerns, focus on changing processes or programs that will get you the quickest, most visible wins. Manage your energy wisely.

Don't be afraid to do anything.

Upper management wouldn't have put you into the job if they didn't have confidence that you could handle it. Mistakes are a benefit to you in learning how to be a better manager. You'll make them.

Don't waste time with your boss.

Your job, just like it was before you became a manager, is to help your boss. Make sure to budget time to meet with her/him to give information and receive guidance. Act independently whenever possible, but learn how to know when to engage upper management before acting.

Do tackle problems and problem employees.

You can no longer avoid problems or hope they will work out. You are the person who has to see it gets taken care of. The best thing you can do to improve the morale of the team and to quickly build your credibility is to make sure that you have the right people working for you. Your good performers will become great performers if they are on a team without poor performers.

Do protect your staff.

It's your job to stand up for employees and make sure they are treated fairly. They will return the loyalty. Remember that protecting your staff may also mean from each other, and that it is your job to establish standards of behavior and conduct within the team. While being supportive of your team, be certain that you are not cultivating an us v. them mentality within your department. Remind everyone that you are all in this together.

Do take the time to know your staff.

Your team is what will make or break you in your quest to be a good manager. Make sure that you are meeting with each of your employees individually for an hour at least once every two weeks to discuss their needs. Take appropriate interest in your employees' lives outside of work. Make personal connections with them. They will develop a personal appreciation for you if you do the same with them.
(1 Comment |Comment on this)

Sunday, June 6th, 2004
2:41 pm Should I take this promotion?
Q & A
(Comment on this)

9:59 am W-4
Change your tax withholding here.
(1 Comment |Comment on this)

9:57 am About My Job
What is your job title?

Human Resources Manager

How long have you been doing this job?

Since August, 2003, in this position.

What does your job title generally mean?

It actually varies from organization to organization. Some organizations have no Human Resources Department, so the traditional Office Manager becomes the HR Manager by default.

Human Resources departments in smaller organizations may consist of only one employee, generally a Human Resources Manager. Organizations may generally grow to about 50 employees prior to requiring a dedicated Human Resources Manager whose primary functions will likely be recruiting, new hire orientations, payroll and benefits. Industry standard would add an additional member to the department when the employee population reaches the benchmark of about 100, with additional department members for each 100 employees, thereafter.

Larger, more mature organizations will generally have staff dedicated to specific human resources functions, including (but not necessarily limited to) Recruiting, Compensation, Payroll and Benefits, Employee Relations and Training.

Skilled Human Resources professionals will generally have an esoteric comprehension of any federal and/or state employment laws applicable to employees and managers in their organizations. In the United States, these laws include the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Though Human Resources departments (known until the 1980's as "Personnel" departments, whereupon the corporate world adopted the newer moniker) continually speak of their role as strategic business partners with their clients, they inevitably are seen by said corporate leadership as a transactional, service-oriented necessary evil.

Human Resources is known as "HR" to people in the biz. HR is known, alternately, as "the Gestapo," "Payroll," or simply "Them" by employees. (There are a number of other less flattering names we are also called.)

Generalist knowledge of the field consists of the following components: Strategic Management, Workforce Planning and Employment (to consist of the Recruiting or Staffing function of the organization), Training and Development, Compensation and Benefits (to consist of the Payroll function of the organization), Employee Relations and Labor Relations, and Occupational Health, Safety and Security.

What are your everyday activities like?

This is a high customer contact position. A lot of employee and manager contact, either on the phone or in person. Meetings with large groups of managers and employees are also par for the course.

I can be involved in any of the the following on any given day: one-on-one meetings with my employees, career counseling meetings with employees, facilitating disciplinary action notices meetings, meeting with the union representatives or union president regarding employee grievances, searching online for job candidates, speaking with my recruiter about the status of our open job searches, and managing any of a number of HR projects (including incentive and bonus programs for employees, automating payroll and timekeeping, creating a management training program, refining processes such as leave of absence management and internal transfers, revising company HR policies on any of a number of topics, etc.), new hire orientations, providing advice to managers on sensitive workplace situations, conducting investigations into claims of discrimination, harassment or hostile work environment.

What challenges does your job bring you?

Where to begin? The to-do list never stops growing. As soon as one issue is resolved, another is there to take its place.

Do you have any responsibility?

Extraordinary responsibility. Some days I feel like I'm running the place. Seriously. It's like this. My job is to be an advisor to senior management and other managers. I provide recommendations on how to run the business (re: HR issues, which often bleed into other things) on a daily basis, and generally, those recommendations are acted upon.

Do you manage other people?

I have three people reporting to me: a Recruiter, a Human Resources Representative (mid-level), and a Human Resources Coordinator (entry-level)

What do you like about your job?

The variety. The creativity I am able to bring to the work. The impact that I can see as the result of decisions I make and actions I take. The ability to improve the business and the working conditions for employees.

What don't you like about your job?

The pressure. With all of the responsibility comes a lot of attention.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer. I write a lot in my job (policies, staff announcements, counseling and advice in e-mails, job descriptions. etc.), but it certainly isn't the writing I expected to do.

What past jobs have you had that lead to your current one?

I think every job I've had has prepared me for this role. I can think back to my days in food service and retail and can recognize how those experiences have shaped my ideas about how a Human Resources department should be run.

I read tarot cards in a metaphysical bookstore, once upon a time. Strange comparison, but often I'll compare that to the counseling sessions I have with managers and employees.

My HR jobs have been: a personnel assistant with a federal government agency, a staffing specialist with a staffing agency, a recruiter with a public relations firm, and a human resources generalist with my current employer before I was promoted into my current role.

What advice can you give people that want to do what you do?

Good HR professionals are businesspeople first and HR people next. I'd suggest against going into HR if your only reason for doing so is because you like people.

Human Resources is a career path that tends to attract people who like people. People who are attracted to HR for that reason alone are not always happy with the way their careers turn out. While humans are generally good, they are strange, unpredictable animals.
(4 Comments |Comment on this)

9:55 am New Journal
I'll use this journal to provide general human resources advice, as time allows, as well as to post forms, resources, templates, etc. for the use of managers and employees.
(Comment on this)


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