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  Guest Post by Patrick Del Rosario It can be tempting to turn a blind eye to pesky employee squabbles and hope they simply work themselves out. Unfortunately, though, workplace disputes rarely work themselves out on their own, and even the smallest disagreements can escalate into more serious problems if left to fester for too long. According to recent research, between 24 and 60% of management time is spent on dealing with conflicts and anger in the work place. While it may seem like all this time would be better spent on some other aspect of running a business, it is important to keep in mind that employees are the very thing that keep a company going, and in order to keep your workforce productive, happy and stress-free, interventions are often necessary. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when settling conflicts in the workplace. 1. Stay neutral and listen to both sides of the story When dealing with conflicts amongst your employees, it is important that you stay neutral an...

Adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. Interesting research work showing how higher rewards not always leads to higher or better performance for knowledge workers.  Makes you wonder if we need to review and redesign performance management philosophy and Organizations reward approach. Higher performance need not always be driven by higher rewards, economic behavior is also a function of purpose of work and inherent satisfaction which a job provides. I am reminded of Herbert Simon's Satisficing approach where he pointed out that human beings lack the cognitive resources to maximize: we usually do not know the relevant probabilities of outcomes, we can rarely evaluate all outcomes with sufficient precision, and our memories are weak and unreliable. A more realistic approach to rationality takes into account these limitations: This is called bounded rationality .  These observations ...

An insight into what recruiters look for in a candidate, why candidates fail to clear the interview, the importance of soft skills and more. Part 2 of my interview published by Shine.com What mistakes do candidates generally make during interviews? One must try and put his/ her best foot forward for the interview. Very often, candidates fail to clear the interviews due to inaccurate or incorrect information given in their resumes. Interview panel focuses on key traits and behaviour, which a candidate must demonstrate to succeed in the position being interviewed for. Sometimes, candidates end up discussing about areas in which they have little knowledge and experience. Too much of self-talk can also be seen as a negative attribute if the role needs a good team player. This shows them in bad light. It’s always better to start with areas of your strength, show a positive approach and accept wherever you are unsure of the right answer. Interviewers do not expect candidates to answer eve...

Guest Post by Sean Conrad To weather an economic downturn, companies need to focus on their core business and strengths, reduce unnecessary costs and be more efficient. Here are 7 talent management practices every company should implement to get the most out of their workforce. 1. Align Goals and Track Everyone's Progress You need to make sure that every employee's goals are aligned with organizational goals. You also need to regularly monitor progress on goals so you can take corrective action as required. Finally, you need to be able to quickly and effectively communicate any change in focus, priorities or tactics. Your talent management system should allow you to quickly communicate changes that impact organizational goals to everyone who has a linked individual goal. 2. Conduct Regular Employee Reviews to Keep Employee Performance On Track Employee performance reviews give employees an opportunity to talk with their manager about what they are doing well, areas for improvem...

Its difficult being a good Boss in bad times when layoffs, pay cuts, and restructing have hit organisations everywhere .In this video interview, management professor and author Robert Sutton offers his advice on how to be a good boss in today’s difficult climate.

Managing a team with members from different cultural background and nationality has its own unique dimensions and challenges. Typically organizations have different training modules which train people on cross cultural aspects before they get exposed to the people of various nationality and culture. Research shows that most of the organizations have few common issues which inhibit the advancement of diverse groups in the workplace : (1) negative attitudes and discomfort toward people who are different, (2) discrimination, (3) prejudice, (4) stereotyping, (5) racism, and (6) bias. In one of the HBR series discussions , Navi Radjou, VP at Forrester Research shares his insight on why Indians score over their western counterparts. He asked senior execs at both Western and Indian multinationals with R&D operations across US, Europe, and India what challenges they face in managing their firms’ transnational innovation networks. They pointed out that the biggest hurdle is socio-cultural, ...

Interesting thoughts by Sullivan in his recent article on employee retention.Folks who are focusing on the monetary aspect of the new job are more likely to quit in near future even if you have hired them at a higher than market levels salaries. Incidentally, individuals hired from executive search firms can fall into this "money first" category. If they left the last job because an executive search professional presented a "better money" offer, don't be surprised when they leave again when the next executive search professional calls with slightly more money to offer. This makes me wonder, what is the validity of employee current salary as an indicator of his actual competency level? Sometimes recruiters and head hunters even create a “ Talent vacuum ” in the market for certain niche skills. This talent vacuum is especially seen in the Senior and middle managers levels as employees are not always on move and tend to be little reluctant to switch jobs easily. Ho...

Employee communication through informal means works fastest and rumor mills always reach faster than any formal channel of communication. Grapevines has been always considered as a powerful communication network and as per wiki a study quoted in Forbes magazine concludes that 75 percent of employees hear about matters first through rumors on the grapevine. Robbins states that rumors flourish in an organization because of three elements. They are a response to situations that are important to employees, where there is some ambiguity, and under conditions that arouse anxiety. From a management perspective, the grapevine acts as a filter and a feedback mechanism to identify issues that employess consider important and relevant. The Political Calculation blog has come up with an interesting tool which can help you decide if, and also how, you should join in the guilty pleasure that is office gossip at your company.

When do you decide to quit?? Happiness officer shares his interesting experience- When is it time to quit? It’s a question I keep getting - and no wonder. Leaving a job has become one of life’s biggest decisions. It’s something that may affect every aspect of your life including your finances, your work life, your identity, your family and possibly even your social status and friendships. It seems most of us tend to stay in bad jobs waaaaay too long. I have talked to any number of people who have told me some variation of “I quit my job last year and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.” However, not a single person has ever told me that “I quit my job last year and it was a huge mistake. I should definitely have stayed on.”this does not mean that it’s always the right decision to quit, but it does show that when in doubt, most of us stay on in bad jobs. Perhaps longer than is good for us. He gives his top six tips for finding your quitting point: 1. Give up the idea that you ...

These individuals form part of a wider trend in executive heroics – long work hours and an exaggerated executive focus on achievement. It is a trend from which business has benefited with productivity and innovation on the rise. It would be wrong to assume that these individuals are slaves to the corporate world, stressed, burnt out, missing their neglected lives, families, sleep. They see themselves as “winners,” “achievers” bent on building businesses, empires and economies even. Sounds familiar? Do you feel you have such members in your team as well. Hay group studies identifies them the Alpha leaders who are often bold, self confident, occupying leadership positions. For them achievement or “results” is a prime motivation, but so is being in charge – these people will willingly shoulder levels of responsibility, that are daunting to most. It is for these reasons that they are often called “alpha leaders.” These alpha leaders are not necessarily to be found at top leadership positio...