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How do I motivate someone I am making redundant?
Written by John Berry on 10th May 2017. Revised 10th November 2020.
2 min read
When you make someone redundant, you are breaching the psychological contract that exists between the firm and the employee. One of the key assumptions that an employee has (particularly when on a permanent contract) is that the employment will continue. And that assumption’s just been smashed.
About leadership
Written by John Berry on 26th March 2020. Revised 10th November 2020.
3 min read
Leadership is where one person, the leader, persuades another person, the follower, to accept the leader’s point of view. There are three elements. Leaders must have a point of view that they’d like their followers to accept. For leadership, that point of view should tap intrinsic or extrinsic employee needs. There must be an existing relationship between leader and follower that also has future meaning. And the leader must focus on practical action that he or she can take that will do that persuading.
Are there really only four personality types?
Written by John Berry & Sue Berry on 27th September 2018. Revised 10th November 2020.
8 min read
The business of predicting how, from their personality profile, humans will behave has both fascinated and annoyed managers. Northwestern University published results of research suggesting four personality types. Data from145,000 respondents was analysed using ‘big-data’ computer analysis methods using clustering algorithms. This research is easily misinterpreted and does not offer a robust or useful simplification.
Managing to avoid insolvency
Written by John Berry on 26th September 2019. Revised 10th November 2020.
7 min read
The Web is full of articles about what went wrong with Thomas Cook. It had debt and no cash. Ignoring the fact that Thomas Cook experienced changing markets, just how should managers work to avoid becoming an insolvency casualty? Many firms run with low reserves and high debt. This is a dangerous operating point. Here we discuss options and give examples of business strategy for safer operation.
On remuneration: a practical pay model
Written by John Berry on 3rd May 2017. Revised 10th November 2020.
7 min read
Pay is a complex business. Pay is not the only reason why folk leave one firm and move to another but often it is high in prominence in the overall decision. This blog sets out the primary criteria in deciding how much to pay an employee for doing a job and then describes a pay model that allows these criteria to be met.
When business goes screwy
Written by John Berry on 27th March 2020. Revised 10th November 2020.
6 min read
When business goes screwy, as is happening now during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s time for managers to think. To manage the recovery, managers need to develop one or more likely scenarios describing both the future market environment and the firm’s future required capability. Each scenario describes a possible state for which to plan. Here we discuss two methods of strategy-building, Delphi forecasting and rich picture/thematic analysis.
