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Culture Matters: Maximising People Contribution Through Collective Behaviour
Written by John Berry on 5th May 2017. Revised 24th April 2018.
25 min read
The culture that exists within a firm will in the long run make or break it. This paper analyses culture. It first discusses culture as a concept. It looks at what part culture plays in our working life and how it affects the firm. It researches current thinking on culture. And finally it looks at how one might measure and where necessary change culture in a firm. The aim is to provide practicing managers with a tool: something theoretically sound and something practical.
Deterministic Recruitment: getting recruitment right first time
Written by John Berry on 31st May 2017. Revised 22nd April 2018.
3 min read
If a manager can express the traits and abilities of candidates such that search turns up truly viable candidates; if the search itself targets just the right people; and if selection tests for exactly what's needed, then the hiring manager avoids wasting everyone’s time and avoids reducing the firm's turnover and profits. It's deterministic recruitment: getting it right first time. Here's how.
Social managers enjoy greater success
Written by John Berry on 8th June 2017. Revised 22nd April 2018.
5 min read
Power is important. Persuading staff to do your bidding means that you must have power over them – to order them, to make them do, particularly since they might otherwise do something else. But how that ‘ordering’ is done is all-important because social managers enjoy greater success. For some, being a social manager comes naturally. For others it can be learned. Here's how.
Emotions obey laws
Written by John Berry on 8th June 2017. Revised 22nd April 2018.
6 min read
What should a manager to do when someone in a meeting is getting emotional – they become so angry that they disrupt the meeting? Frijda’s Laws of Emotion tell us much that will help us first understand this situation and then suggest a course of action that the meeting chair might take to recover good order. Managers can successfully deal with anger because emotions obey laws. Here are the details.
Engagement Follows Commitment
Written by John Berry on 9th June 2017. Revised 22nd April 2018.
4 min read
If there were ever two words that are almost interchangeable, it’s commitment and engagement. The Collins English Dictionary (CED) describes both as accepting an obligation or pledging allegiance. But when you look, it’s not hard to drive a wedge between them. And driving a wedge is essential to understand how, as a manager, you motivate your people for optimum performance. First there’s commitment. Then there’s engagement. Engagement follows commitment. Here's how it works.
Growth Without Employees
Written by John Berry on 9th June 2017. Revised 22nd April 2018.
6 min read
In the UK today there are around five million people who work for themselves. They run either sole-trader or limited liability firms in which they are the only employee. Those workers seek to sell their labour to entrepreneurs. This labour market gives the entrepreneur rich picking of very skilled and motivated individuals without having to employ them. So how does the entrepreneur tap into this resource?
