Developing a sense of team spirit and loyalty in employees is the same challenge whether they are all located in the same facility, or are dispersed around the world – failure to do it properly can result in unfocused organizations with dispirited, high-turnover workforces even when they are collocated. Team spirit doesn’t come simply from rubbing shoulders, car-pooling, or taking turns bringing in the morning pastries or coffee. It comes from making employees meaningful members of an important, worthwhile collaborative enterprise. Presuming that your corporation’s purpose is important and worthwhile, then developing team spirit around it involves communication and feedback.
We all, individually or corporately, have good intentions, try hard, and mean to do a good job. However, we are all also humans (including, really, our corporations). We will sometimes fail to meet our own standards, suffer a lapse in judgment, or just plain make a mistake. Even those among us who are especially focused [...]
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The key point I think for managers to note, when they are attempting to repair a business unit damaged by a bad experience with a previous manager, is that people join businesses or other organizations not just for the paycheck, and not even just for the social gratification that the workplace provides, but also to [...]
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Both in my consulting and in my own working life I have seen this issue from all sides. I have taken over units that had just gone through bad management, and one where the unit’s productivity and morale was so gutted by its previous experience that it was effectively off-line. I have seen mistakes made [...]
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
What is the best degree for the aspiring manager? Who is the best graduate for the hiring business? The MBA isn’t it. . .
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
All businesses are becoming virtual to one degree or another – entirely or partially – as communications technology becomes more sophisticated, pervasive, and user-friendly. . .
Monday, November 20, 2006
Of all the mounds of stuff written on the subject of change and organizations, in my view none has exceeded – and few have even approached – the ideas of the first, and very probably the greatest, management consultant of all, Mary Parker Follett. Her primary contribution in this particular area was her concept of “the law of the situation.”
