We're experts on all things Management & HR
Stress in the Workplace
Written by John Berry on 3rd May 2017. Revised 28th February 2025.
6 min read
Stress seems to be the one word that reduces otherwise competent managers to gibbering wrecks. It's every manager's nightmare. There is a direct link between stress and long term sickness absence. And often stress issues become long term sickness absence. Act now. Here's how.
Achieving competitive advantage through people
Written by John Berry on 1st May 2017. Revised 23rd February 2025.
4 min read
Competitive advantage is where a firm enjoys lower costs or greater sales than competitors. This paper builds an argument for a set of HR practices that form the basis of the psychological contract, the set of expectations that both employee and employer hold.
What Are OD and HR?
Written by John Berry on 9th May 2017. Revised 22nd February 2025.
3 min read
Organisational development (OD) is different from human resource management (HRM). Organisational development involves exploring options that will permit strategies to be achieved. OD techniques such as modelling permit outcomes to be predicted and the right plan to be selected. People are of course the lifeblood of any firm. They join, they leave, and in between they have to be managed. Everyone who manages or supervises people has to double as an HR generalist. Here's the scope of HR and OD.
TEPID OIL makes desired capability a reality
Written by John Berry on 25th March 2022. Revised 20th February 2025.
6 min read
Management is not about the manager – it’s about the people working for the manager and the technology they use. It’s about creating a capability that meets the required goal. The mnemonic TEPID-OIL helps managers consider necessary lines of development. In organisations where capability is released for use when ready, any omission in the TEPIDOIL elements must necessarily stop release while corrective action is taken. The manager’s job is therefore to develop, test and attempt release - and then maintain.
Assessment centres as methods of personnel selection
Written by John Berry on 28th February 2019. Revised 19th February 2025.
6 min read
An assessment centre is where a number of candidates participate together, undertaking exercises as selection tests while being observed and rated by multiple assessors. The candidates are effectively in competition but must also cooperate. Assessment centres can replace interviews and a host of other tools as methods of employee selection but they are misunderstood and controversial. Here's why.
Staff career development: what approach for managers?
Written by John Berry on 22nd September 2017. Revised 17th February 2025.
7 min read
The nature of work and careers have changed. Despite myth, the average employee tenure is still over eight years. And in that time staff must grow. When it comes to employee career development, you, as manager, have a clear decision to make and that decision depends on the relationship your firm has with the worker. You'd best take a contingency approach: develop your knowledge workers, give opportunity to your foot-soldiers, make alliances with your specialists and hire your contractors when needed.
