Travel Inn has continued investing in staff training and development even during difficult economic times when other hotel chains have cut back. They believe this commitment to people development helps motivate and retain employees. Travel Inn provides many learning opportunities including an online library, sponsored MBAs, coaching, shadowing, and recognition programs. Their flexible budgets allow managers to reward high performance. This people-focused approach is seen as a key asset and influences their recruiting strategy to find individuals who fit their supportive culture.
The document discusses trends in human resources and the future of work from the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report. It identifies 7 key trends: 1) The rise of network-based organizations, 2) On-demand learning and shifting career models, 3) The use of cognitive technologies in talent acquisition, 4) A holistic focus on the employee experience, 5) Continuous performance management replacing annual reviews, 6) Emerging models of collaborative leadership, and 7) The need for new strategies to address skills gaps and changing worker needs. The document compares traditional "old rules" approaches to these trends to new, more flexible approaches companies are adopting.
This document summarizes an event recognizing HR innovation in India. It provides details of the Mint Media Marketing Initiative HR 4.0 conference, which awarded several Indian companies and HR leaders for innovations in HR. Key highlights include discussions on building intelligent organizations through digital transformation and talent management, and how HR must innovate and adapt to remain relevant in a changing business environment. The document lists award categories, winners, and quotes from speakers on the challenges and opportunities for HR innovation.
Workplace Diversity, Advancing The World Of WorkLakesia Wright
The document discusses how organizations can develop their human capital to better execute strategic plans. It argues that human capital should be at the core of strategy, rather than an afterthought. An effective approach integrates three elements: talent optimization to align workforce with strategy, promoting learning agility through collaboration, and developing innovation capabilities. By focusing on these areas and making human capital central, organizations can build an agile workforce that drives strategic change through creativity and new ideas.
Driving Operation Innovation Using Lean Six SigmaLakesia Wright
IBM Global Business Services provides strategic insights to business executives through the IBM Institute for Business Value. This document discusses how leading companies like Caterpillar, POSCO, and ScottishPower have used Lean Six Sigma to drive broad operational innovation and financial performance beyond just process improvement. These companies established innovation-focused cultures and capabilities by using Lean Six Sigma to surface customer insights, analyze data, align business units, and establish enduring innovation processes.
The document discusses the concepts of Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0. It provides definitions of Enterprise 2.0 from various experts that focus on adopting social media and participative technologies in organizations. The document then reviews principles and lessons from prior management philosophies like Scientific Management, the work of Deming, Drucker, Senge and Toyota. It proposes a new perspective on Enterprise 2.0 as a learning organization focused on knowledge work and workers.
Best Practice in Human Resource Operations for Multinationals Assignment SampleInstant Assignment Help
The document discusses best practices in human resource operations for multinational companies. It states that HR operations like recruitment, training, performance management, and compensation play an important role in supporting business operations and goals for multinationals. Some key best practices identified include talent acquisition, training employees, providing healthcare and other benefits, developing internal HR skills, using new technologies, and maintaining good employee relations. Implementing the right HR strategies can help create an effective work environment and motivate employees to contribute to business success.
Sprint's corporate responsibility program, called Sprint Good Works, focuses on three themes: People, Product, and Planet. For People, Sprint supports employees, customers, and communities through diversity initiatives, wellness programs, and philanthropic activities. For Product, Sprint focuses on innovation, accessibility, and product safety. For Planet, Sprint works to reduce its environmental impact through efforts like decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and resource use. Sprint tracks its progress annually and strives to meet ambitious 10-year sustainability goals.
Updated brochure on Cultivate Talents AMP methodology designed to link strategy and setting direction with implementing the right change method and using business focused applied learning for leaders around business activities and improving performance
The document discusses trends in human resources and the future of work from the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report. It identifies 7 key trends: 1) The rise of network-based organizations, 2) On-demand learning and shifting career models, 3) The use of cognitive technologies in talent acquisition, 4) A holistic focus on the employee experience, 5) Continuous performance management replacing annual reviews, 6) Emerging models of collaborative leadership, and 7) The need for new strategies to address skills gaps and changing worker needs. The document compares traditional "old rules" approaches to these trends to new, more flexible approaches companies are adopting.
This document summarizes an event recognizing HR innovation in India. It provides details of the Mint Media Marketing Initiative HR 4.0 conference, which awarded several Indian companies and HR leaders for innovations in HR. Key highlights include discussions on building intelligent organizations through digital transformation and talent management, and how HR must innovate and adapt to remain relevant in a changing business environment. The document lists award categories, winners, and quotes from speakers on the challenges and opportunities for HR innovation.
Workplace Diversity, Advancing The World Of WorkLakesia Wright
The document discusses how organizations can develop their human capital to better execute strategic plans. It argues that human capital should be at the core of strategy, rather than an afterthought. An effective approach integrates three elements: talent optimization to align workforce with strategy, promoting learning agility through collaboration, and developing innovation capabilities. By focusing on these areas and making human capital central, organizations can build an agile workforce that drives strategic change through creativity and new ideas.
Driving Operation Innovation Using Lean Six SigmaLakesia Wright
IBM Global Business Services provides strategic insights to business executives through the IBM Institute for Business Value. This document discusses how leading companies like Caterpillar, POSCO, and ScottishPower have used Lean Six Sigma to drive broad operational innovation and financial performance beyond just process improvement. These companies established innovation-focused cultures and capabilities by using Lean Six Sigma to surface customer insights, analyze data, align business units, and establish enduring innovation processes.
The document discusses the concepts of Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0. It provides definitions of Enterprise 2.0 from various experts that focus on adopting social media and participative technologies in organizations. The document then reviews principles and lessons from prior management philosophies like Scientific Management, the work of Deming, Drucker, Senge and Toyota. It proposes a new perspective on Enterprise 2.0 as a learning organization focused on knowledge work and workers.
Best Practice in Human Resource Operations for Multinationals Assignment SampleInstant Assignment Help
The document discusses best practices in human resource operations for multinational companies. It states that HR operations like recruitment, training, performance management, and compensation play an important role in supporting business operations and goals for multinationals. Some key best practices identified include talent acquisition, training employees, providing healthcare and other benefits, developing internal HR skills, using new technologies, and maintaining good employee relations. Implementing the right HR strategies can help create an effective work environment and motivate employees to contribute to business success.
Sprint's corporate responsibility program, called Sprint Good Works, focuses on three themes: People, Product, and Planet. For People, Sprint supports employees, customers, and communities through diversity initiatives, wellness programs, and philanthropic activities. For Product, Sprint focuses on innovation, accessibility, and product safety. For Planet, Sprint works to reduce its environmental impact through efforts like decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and resource use. Sprint tracks its progress annually and strives to meet ambitious 10-year sustainability goals.
Updated brochure on Cultivate Talents AMP methodology designed to link strategy and setting direction with implementing the right change method and using business focused applied learning for leaders around business activities and improving performance
The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "A Culture of Empowerment".
Strategic purpose company mission 6 june 11ritik_vermani
The document discusses strategic purpose and outlines the key components of vision, mission, and value statements for an organization. It states that vision and mission act as guidelines for strategy formulation and involve articulating a vision, translating that into a mission statement that defines the organization's purpose, and formulating goals, strategies, and tactics to accomplish those goals. It provides examples of vision and mission statements from various companies.
This document discusses innovation at various levels and provides strategies for overcoming barriers to innovation. It defines innovation as the search, development, adoption, and commercialization of new processes, products, and organizational structures. Innovation can occur at the national, enterprise, and individual levels. Key strategies for fostering innovation include having a shared vision and leadership commitment, promoting a culture that encourages creativity and learning, utilizing effective teamwork, and creating a climate that supports experimentation and allows for mistakes. The document emphasizes the need for flexible systems along with respect for individual initiative and growth.
The document summarizes recent trends in human resource management post-pandemic, as presented by a study group from Imperial School of Agri Business. It discusses how the pandemic accelerated changes like remote working, reskilling and upskilling employees, increased use of data and technology like artificial intelligence. It also covers trends like the rise of gig work, outsourcing, and the important role of Generation Z in the evolving workplace. The document concludes by discussing how companies like Jai Kisan adapted their HR practices during the pandemic to prioritize employee well-being while continuing to serve customers through digital transformation and a hybrid work model.
The document summarizes a study on the best companies for leadership in 2011. It found that these companies followed four practices to support meaningful innovation: 1) creating a culture of innovation that invites new ideas, 2) enabling organizational agility, 3) setting the stage for innovation by discussing customer needs, and 4) focusing on collaboration. Effective leadership is also key to driving innovation by clarifying strategies and eliciting ideas from diverse teams.
New & diverse perspectives breed creativity. That’s why the need of the hour is to have a diverse workforce to trigger INNOVATION at the workplace. And in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) times such as these, we need to constantly remind ourselves to recognise those organisations that value diversity and celebrate those braveheart individuals that bring in the much needed diverse-thinking & innovation to the workplace.
While the Human Resources function in SINGAPORE celebrates a large female demographic, the microcosm segment of HRTech in the country still has a long way to go. We felt it our obligation to celebrate the success of these women professionals and entrepreneurs' leading the pack in HR Technology.
We put together a list of these women in the Singapore HRTech space to bring them the recognition they deserve. This compilation is not exhaustive, but it is only our effort to encourage more diversity in the HRTech space.
The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Empowered People".
The document discusses how Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India's largest IT companies, incorporated Henri Fayol's management principles in its organization from 1990-2010. It summarizes how TCS pioneered a factory model for software development and outsourcing. It also describes how TCS implemented Fayol's principles of unity of command, scalar chain, and subordination of individual interests through centralization of management functions and emphasis on employee retention and equitable treatment.
Deloitte Canada is a leading professional services firm that provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services. It has over 8,000 total people across Canada, including 538 partners and 5,513 professional staff. Deloitte Canada has been recognized as the largest professional services firm in Canada from 2010-2012, and it has received several best employer awards. The document provides an overview of Deloitte Canada's consulting services, which includes human capital, strategy and operations, and technology consulting across various industries.
The staffing function learning objectivesafter completiariysn
The document discusses the staffing function and strategic human resource management. It provides an overview of Zappos.com's highly effective staffing model which emphasizes employee and customer satisfaction. Zappos.com carefully selects employees who demonstrate positive, customer-oriented attitudes and provides extensive training. This contributes to Zappos.com capturing 20% of the overall shoe market and 75% of their business coming from repeat customers. The document also outlines several key laws that form the legal environment for staffing, including those prohibiting discrimination and requiring reasonable accommodations.
PSJ 38.3_Perspectives Commentary by Eric Severson July 2015Eric Severson
This document summarizes an article about the future of work and the role of human resources (HR). It discusses 5 major trends that will impact companies in the coming decade: 1) trend forecasting and change leadership, 2) talent sourcing and community building, 3) organization and performance architecture, 4) culture and community activism, and 5) operational excellence. The article argues that HR must proactively evolve to lead these changes, rather than just follow trends. Commentaries provide examples of how some companies are already addressing these trends and the future of work by thinking differently about talent, networking, and running their business.
White Paper: Great Culture. Great Workplace. Lessons from America’s Best Comp...barbarajahncke
Organizational culture is an untapped, powerful strategic tool in building a successful business today. A company\'s story, its successes, its history and its people influence its culture and can be leveraged to attract employees, intrigue customers and build a tangible connection to a company.
As a seven-time national Best Company to Work for in America and designers of workplace experiences, Kahler Slater knows how important culture is to overall business success. To build upon our knowledge base of working with outstanding companies, we decided to benchmark our peer Best Companies to explore how they intentionally design work experiences and spaces that manifest their great cultures.
We are passionate about sharing this knowledge and applying it to all of the work we do as experience designers.
The triple bottom line measuring your organizations wider impactariysn
The document discusses the triple bottom line approach to business, which measures a company's impact on people, planet, and profits. It describes the three Ps of the triple bottom line: People, which considers how a business impacts all stakeholders; Planet, which focuses on reducing the ecological footprint; and Profit, which aims for profits to benefit the community as a whole. The triple bottom line can be used as a reporting system to drive improvements in how a business treats people and the environment. While it adds costs to monitor, it can justify the costs by creating greater positive impact.
David Ducheyne, Chief People Officer of Securex, discusses the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resources (HR). He argues that helping people develop sustainable employability through customized jobs, learning, careers, and rewards is an important part of any CSR strategy. Ducheyne outlines five tenets for adapting HR practices to create a context that facilitates employee choice and success. This includes developing a people vision, designing flexible work arrangements, establishing an "architecture of choice," and creating individual employability plans.
CSR for HR - why partnership is necessaryelaine cohen
The document discusses the business case for HR to embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR). It provides examples of how HR can take a CSR mindset in key areas like recruitment, employee wellness, and environmental sustainability. Adopting CSR brings strategic benefits like reduced costs, engaged employees, improved innovation and business results. For HR to fully partner with CSR and realize these benefits, it needs to apply CSR principles to its objectives, metrics, and role as a strategic business partner.
The 10 most innovative business leaders revamping the future 2021Merry D'souza
CIO LOOK has come up with its latest edition of The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Revamping the Future, 2021. Featuring on the Cover is Nigel Green. Read more: https://ciolook.com/the-10-most-innovative-business-leaders-revamping-the-future-2021-march2021/
In this edition of The 10 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch, we have enlisted CEOs who are setting an inspirational standard for other aspiring entrepreneurs with their unique leadership.
This document discusses the positives and pitfalls of telecommuting or flexible work arrangements. It provides examples of companies that have implemented telecommuting successfully, such as Norsk Hydro and Procter & Gamble, which saw benefits like improved productivity, cost savings, and a more satisfied workforce. However, the document also notes challenges of telecommuting cited by critics, such as the potential negative impact on collaboration and creativity. It concludes that while telecommuting can be beneficial if implemented properly, companies need to consider their individual needs and get employee input to determine if and how flexible work arrangements could work for their organization.
The document discusses the benefits of exercise for mental health. Regular physical activity can help reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood and cognitive function. Exercise causes chemical changes in the brain that may help protect against mental illness and improve symptoms for those who already suffer from conditions like anxiety and depression.
The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "A Culture of Empowerment".
Strategic purpose company mission 6 june 11ritik_vermani
The document discusses strategic purpose and outlines the key components of vision, mission, and value statements for an organization. It states that vision and mission act as guidelines for strategy formulation and involve articulating a vision, translating that into a mission statement that defines the organization's purpose, and formulating goals, strategies, and tactics to accomplish those goals. It provides examples of vision and mission statements from various companies.
This document discusses innovation at various levels and provides strategies for overcoming barriers to innovation. It defines innovation as the search, development, adoption, and commercialization of new processes, products, and organizational structures. Innovation can occur at the national, enterprise, and individual levels. Key strategies for fostering innovation include having a shared vision and leadership commitment, promoting a culture that encourages creativity and learning, utilizing effective teamwork, and creating a climate that supports experimentation and allows for mistakes. The document emphasizes the need for flexible systems along with respect for individual initiative and growth.
The document summarizes recent trends in human resource management post-pandemic, as presented by a study group from Imperial School of Agri Business. It discusses how the pandemic accelerated changes like remote working, reskilling and upskilling employees, increased use of data and technology like artificial intelligence. It also covers trends like the rise of gig work, outsourcing, and the important role of Generation Z in the evolving workplace. The document concludes by discussing how companies like Jai Kisan adapted their HR practices during the pandemic to prioritize employee well-being while continuing to serve customers through digital transformation and a hybrid work model.
The document summarizes a study on the best companies for leadership in 2011. It found that these companies followed four practices to support meaningful innovation: 1) creating a culture of innovation that invites new ideas, 2) enabling organizational agility, 3) setting the stage for innovation by discussing customer needs, and 4) focusing on collaboration. Effective leadership is also key to driving innovation by clarifying strategies and eliciting ideas from diverse teams.
New & diverse perspectives breed creativity. That’s why the need of the hour is to have a diverse workforce to trigger INNOVATION at the workplace. And in VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) times such as these, we need to constantly remind ourselves to recognise those organisations that value diversity and celebrate those braveheart individuals that bring in the much needed diverse-thinking & innovation to the workplace.
While the Human Resources function in SINGAPORE celebrates a large female demographic, the microcosm segment of HRTech in the country still has a long way to go. We felt it our obligation to celebrate the success of these women professionals and entrepreneurs' leading the pack in HR Technology.
We put together a list of these women in the Singapore HRTech space to bring them the recognition they deserve. This compilation is not exhaustive, but it is only our effort to encourage more diversity in the HRTech space.
The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Empowered People".
The document discusses how Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India's largest IT companies, incorporated Henri Fayol's management principles in its organization from 1990-2010. It summarizes how TCS pioneered a factory model for software development and outsourcing. It also describes how TCS implemented Fayol's principles of unity of command, scalar chain, and subordination of individual interests through centralization of management functions and emphasis on employee retention and equitable treatment.
Deloitte Canada is a leading professional services firm that provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services. It has over 8,000 total people across Canada, including 538 partners and 5,513 professional staff. Deloitte Canada has been recognized as the largest professional services firm in Canada from 2010-2012, and it has received several best employer awards. The document provides an overview of Deloitte Canada's consulting services, which includes human capital, strategy and operations, and technology consulting across various industries.
The staffing function learning objectivesafter completiariysn
The document discusses the staffing function and strategic human resource management. It provides an overview of Zappos.com's highly effective staffing model which emphasizes employee and customer satisfaction. Zappos.com carefully selects employees who demonstrate positive, customer-oriented attitudes and provides extensive training. This contributes to Zappos.com capturing 20% of the overall shoe market and 75% of their business coming from repeat customers. The document also outlines several key laws that form the legal environment for staffing, including those prohibiting discrimination and requiring reasonable accommodations.
PSJ 38.3_Perspectives Commentary by Eric Severson July 2015Eric Severson
This document summarizes an article about the future of work and the role of human resources (HR). It discusses 5 major trends that will impact companies in the coming decade: 1) trend forecasting and change leadership, 2) talent sourcing and community building, 3) organization and performance architecture, 4) culture and community activism, and 5) operational excellence. The article argues that HR must proactively evolve to lead these changes, rather than just follow trends. Commentaries provide examples of how some companies are already addressing these trends and the future of work by thinking differently about talent, networking, and running their business.
White Paper: Great Culture. Great Workplace. Lessons from America’s Best Comp...barbarajahncke
Organizational culture is an untapped, powerful strategic tool in building a successful business today. A company\'s story, its successes, its history and its people influence its culture and can be leveraged to attract employees, intrigue customers and build a tangible connection to a company.
As a seven-time national Best Company to Work for in America and designers of workplace experiences, Kahler Slater knows how important culture is to overall business success. To build upon our knowledge base of working with outstanding companies, we decided to benchmark our peer Best Companies to explore how they intentionally design work experiences and spaces that manifest their great cultures.
We are passionate about sharing this knowledge and applying it to all of the work we do as experience designers.
The triple bottom line measuring your organizations wider impactariysn
The document discusses the triple bottom line approach to business, which measures a company's impact on people, planet, and profits. It describes the three Ps of the triple bottom line: People, which considers how a business impacts all stakeholders; Planet, which focuses on reducing the ecological footprint; and Profit, which aims for profits to benefit the community as a whole. The triple bottom line can be used as a reporting system to drive improvements in how a business treats people and the environment. While it adds costs to monitor, it can justify the costs by creating greater positive impact.
David Ducheyne, Chief People Officer of Securex, discusses the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resources (HR). He argues that helping people develop sustainable employability through customized jobs, learning, careers, and rewards is an important part of any CSR strategy. Ducheyne outlines five tenets for adapting HR practices to create a context that facilitates employee choice and success. This includes developing a people vision, designing flexible work arrangements, establishing an "architecture of choice," and creating individual employability plans.
CSR for HR - why partnership is necessaryelaine cohen
The document discusses the business case for HR to embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR). It provides examples of how HR can take a CSR mindset in key areas like recruitment, employee wellness, and environmental sustainability. Adopting CSR brings strategic benefits like reduced costs, engaged employees, improved innovation and business results. For HR to fully partner with CSR and realize these benefits, it needs to apply CSR principles to its objectives, metrics, and role as a strategic business partner.
The 10 most innovative business leaders revamping the future 2021Merry D'souza
CIO LOOK has come up with its latest edition of The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Revamping the Future, 2021. Featuring on the Cover is Nigel Green. Read more: https://ciolook.com/the-10-most-innovative-business-leaders-revamping-the-future-2021-march2021/
In this edition of The 10 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch, we have enlisted CEOs who are setting an inspirational standard for other aspiring entrepreneurs with their unique leadership.
This document discusses the positives and pitfalls of telecommuting or flexible work arrangements. It provides examples of companies that have implemented telecommuting successfully, such as Norsk Hydro and Procter & Gamble, which saw benefits like improved productivity, cost savings, and a more satisfied workforce. However, the document also notes challenges of telecommuting cited by critics, such as the potential negative impact on collaboration and creativity. It concludes that while telecommuting can be beneficial if implemented properly, companies need to consider their individual needs and get employee input to determine if and how flexible work arrangements could work for their organization.
The document discusses the benefits of exercise for mental health. Regular physical activity can help reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood and cognitive function. Exercise causes chemical changes in the brain that may help protect against mental illness and improve symptoms for those who already suffer from conditions like anxiety and depression.
The document discusses the need for business process reengineering (BPR). Traditional management concepts no longer apply due to changes in how business is conducted. BPR involves fundamentally rethinking and radically redesigning business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance. It views the business as a set of processes rather than functional departments and requires critical rethinking of the entire organization from a customer-focused perspective.
First Thursdays is a community-conscious collaboration of artisans and art lovers whose ultimate goal is to showcase new and exciting talent in the fields of visual arts, music and performance.
On the first Thursday of every month, First Thursdays at St Kevin’s Arcade will bring together visual artists, performance artists, photographers, musicians, DJs, and hopefully... you! If you live in Auckland or just visiting for the summer, come be a part of the collaboration!
*Info & Photos by Patric Seng, NZ
This document discusses how companies can successfully reengineer using information technology. It states that companies cannot reengineer if they only see technology as automation or look for problems first before considering technology solutions. To reengineer, a company must think inductively and use technology to simplify processes and do new things. The document provides examples of "old rules" disrupted by new technologies that created new opportunities, such as shared databases allowing information to be available in many places simultaneously. It emphasizes that leveraging new technologies to dramatically change business processes through reengineering must be an ongoing effort for companies.
Business process reengineering (BPR) was conceptualized because there was a need to redefine outdated management concepts. The concepts of unity of command, specialization of labor, and hierarchical structures no longer fit with today's dynamic global markets and information society. BPR proposes that organizations must retire old principles and re-engineer their business processes to improve efficiency and be able to meet modern customer expectations and compete effectively in a fast-changing environment. However, determining what new management concepts should replace the old ones remains a key unanswered question.
A practical guide to the key global trends and practices that are transforming HR, talent acquisition and management.
Building on the success of The Employer Brand, a conceptual introduction to what has now become a well-established concept; this is a practical guide to implementation, drawing on a much wider range of cases and examples.
Richard Mosley draws on the significant advances in employer brand practice among leading companies to give managers hands-on advice. He will demonstrate how employer brand thinking can strengthen organisational HR strategy and reinforce HR’s value to the business.
The document discusses the role of HR in organizational transformation. It argues that HR often ends up defending the status quo instead of driving real change. It suggests HR should focus on promoting workplace ethics, corporate social responsibility, developing the talent ecosystem, managing diversity for value, and challenging wrong decisions. The presentation provides examples of how HR can build skills through apprenticeship programs, implement true diversity management, and advocate for fairness and justice. It concludes that for HR to be valued, it needs to help employees find meaning, difference, honesty, value and simple rules in their work.
This document summarizes how John Laing Integrated Services implemented a solutions-focused coaching program to change their organizational culture. The program began by training senior managers in solutions-focused coaching techniques. They then coached direct reports and each other. This cascaded coaching throughout the organization as more managers were trained. Over time, solutions-focused conversations became the norm, shifting meetings and discussions from problems to solutions. The organization saw benefits like increased productivity, successful projects, and cost savings. The program was designed to be sustainable by having early participants become internal coaches themselves.
HCL Technologies has adopted an "Employees First" philosophy that places the needs of employees above customers. They believe empowering and engaging employees is critical for success. The philosophy focuses on treating employees like partners and empowering them to deliver value for customers. HCL has implemented programs like open feedback for managers, employee-led councils, and leadership training to create a culture of transparency, accountability and employee empowerment. This approach has resulted in significant growth for HCL and improved customer satisfaction, with revenue tripling and market share growing 20% annually over five years.
It is widely accepted among business leaders that innovation is vital to both competitive advantage and long-term success. In fact this year, business leaders cited innovation as one of the top three global challenges they faced.
And for most companies, the ability to innovate is the single most important predictor of future growth.2 It is hardly surprising that investment decisions now tend to be tied closely to how focused companies are on transformational innovation.
So, when it comes to innovation, what do successful corporate innovators have in common?
Contrary to popular perception, success does not appear to be determined by a company’s R&D budget. Research has consistently shown that there is no statistically significant relationship between financial performance and innovation.
Nor does technology appear to play the most important role.
Instead, studies strongly show that the most successful corporate innovation strategies are the ones that predominantly focus on people and human capital.These include finding, engaging and incentivizing key talent for innovation, creating a culture of innovation by promoting and rewarding entrepreneurship and risk taking and developing innovation skills for all employees.
The document discusses implementing a print management service program to reduce costs through document management. It defines print management as systematically increasing productivity and minimizing errors in information capture, transmission and recovery. This involves work flow analysis, graphic design techniques, administration control, standardization, and ensuring adequacy of records and printed material. A true print management program covers many business process aspects and helps maximize return. The document emphasizes analyzing documents/forms to determine how they are used, and designing them based on the analysis to increase productivity and reduce errors. Effective document management and control is presented as a way to impact a company's bottom line.
Building a Growth Engine: How to Drive Sustainable Innovation and Grow.Rob Munro
Driving sustainable growth comes from embracing a systems perspective to our innovation activities.
Because studies show that how you organize can make the difference between average performance from stand out performance.
I’ve found that innovation is not an event and that businesses who create an innovation habit get better results.
You will discover that How you innovate is as important as What you innovate.
The Lean Consortium is a UK-based management consultancy that specializes in helping companies implement Lean Manufacturing techniques to improve efficiency and cut costs. It takes a unique, employee-focused approach to change management by engaging workers at all levels and transferring skills to allow companies to continuously improve after the program. The Lean Consortium guarantees its clients will save over £50,000 per year by working with groups of 3-6 companies at once to share best practices. It provides tailored on-site training and project support to ensure sustainable improvements through developing both technical and soft change management skills.
Innovate Finance’s booklet ‘Celebrating Diversity in FinTech’ shines a spotlight on leading FinTech firms and institutions closing the diversity gap in FinTech and promoting inclusion within the workplace.
The booklet features 10 member companies including some of the world’s most successful and exciting FinTech businesses such as Bankable, Neyber, remittance companies Azimo and World Remit, leading banks Lloyds Banking Group and RBS.
This document provides information about top employers in Africa for 2017. A record number of 86 organizations across 32 African countries and 23 industry sectors achieved certification as Top Employers for demonstrating excellence in employee conditions and human resources best practices. Transparency and effective communication were highlighted as important factors contributing to organizations achieving certification. Examples are provided of how some certified companies, such as Nestle and Microsoft, use various communication channels and cultural practices to ensure transparency and engagement with employees.
The document outlines a new High-Impact HR Operating Model that aims to position HR to play a more strategic role in driving business performance. The model moves HR away from just service delivery and toward advising business leaders, driving culture and talent strategies. It emphasizes coordination within HR and between HR and the business. Key components of the model include business HR resources embedded in business units, communities of expertise providing guidance, and operational services handling transactions. The roles and interactions between these components are designed to make HR more nimble and connected to business priorities and the external environment. Implementing this new model requires changes to HR roles, competencies, technology, and mindsets within both HR and the business.
Running Head MCKINSEY AND COMPANY1MCKINSEY AND .docxcowinhelen
McKinsey & Company grew substantially over 75 years through implementing a "one firm culture" and emphasizing knowledge management. To address challenges, Ron Daniel initiated changes like restructuring work groups and prioritizing client needs. Further, Rajat Gupta pursued a four-pronged knowledge development approach including practice competitions and research expansion. While initiatives helped growth, the firm had to balance knowledge sharing with client focus.
The document discusses how peoplehub helps companies build "peopleware" by putting people at the center of business strategies and focusing on developing employees' skills, motivation, and versatility. Peoplehub uses a three-platform approach including conducting research to understand employees, developing talent through training programs, and providing experts to help implement people strategies. The goal is to transform companies and future-proof them by building a culture where employees can reach their potential and support business growth. Peoplehub has worked with companies in various industries to develop customized peopleware solutions.
Reliance Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group that is spearheading the group's foray into the media and entertainment sector. It aims to build a significant presence across content creation and distribution platforms like movies, music, sports, gaming, internet and mobile. Reliance Entertainment has made acquisitions in film processing, production and exhibition companies and has launched India's largest private FM radio network. Its goal is to provide complete entertainment solutions to people across all ages and platforms.
Cutting Edge Consulting Marketing Media Plan Book (Senior Capstone Project)Mckenzie Imhoff
This document provides a marketing plan book for InclusionINC created by Cutting Edge Consulting. It includes an executive summary, situation analysis looking at the company, products/services, consumers, market/industry, and competition. The goals are for InclusionINC to become well-known locally and on social media, create national buzz, increase clients, stand out from competitors, and increase website traffic. The target markets are senior leaders and mid-level managers who are influential decision-makers seeking to improve teamwork. The creative executions include direct mail, LinkedIn ads, Twitter posts, SEO, expositions, and conferences. An evaluation will assess clients, social media interactions, and client interviews after 4-6 months.
In April 2020, Upwork published our first ever Annual Impact Report—articulating Upwork’s approach to assessing and managing critical environment, societal, and corporate governance focus areas while demonstrating our commitment to creating economic opportunities so people have better lives.
Strata Consulting & Associates Group helps small businesses transform their work culture into higher performance through assessment, consultation, enablement, and coaching. They serve entrepreneurs across industries, achieving optimal results for over 20 years. Their services include change management, access to capital, business development, strategy, and information technology. Their mission is to convert work culture into profits by nourishing clients' businesses to achieve their highest potential.
Gandhi radically changed the Indian independence movement in three ways:
1) He made it a people's movement that represented all classes, not just the educated elite.
2) He universalized the scope to represent oppressed people worldwide, not just Indian independence.
3) He spiritualized politics by basing it on principles of truth and nonviolence, aiming to replace power politics with "goodness politics."
This document provides an overview of linear programming problems and methods for solving them. It defines a linear programming problem and describes how to write it in standard form with decision variables and constraints. It then explains the simplex method, including how to form an initial tableau and iterate to reach an optimal solution. Finally, it introduces the Big-M method for handling problems with inequality constraints by adding artificial variables with large penalty coefficients. An example demonstrates both simplex and Big-M methods.
This document discusses key concepts related to product strategy and branding. It defines a product as anything offered in a market to satisfy a want or need, whether tangible or intangible. Products go through a life cycle of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. A company's marketing strategy should evolve through these stages. Branding adds value by differentiating a product, building loyalty, and extending the life cycle. The 4Ps of marketing, especially product, packaging, and branding, are core elements of a product strategy.
This document summarizes market research conducted for Doy Kid's Soap. It analyzed the activities and media consumption of children aged 4-10 and their mothers. It identified effective media windows for brand communication based on routines like school, sports, shopping, television viewing. For children, these included painting school buses and canteens, sporting goods, kids' programming. For mothers, effective windows were products for housework, supermarket advertising, mothers' television shows. The research provided insights to help Doy Kid's Soap effectively reach their target audiences.
BMW wants to segment the luxury car market further based on customer usage experience rather than just product attributes. It identified two key customer segments - "The Better Driver" who values driving experience over other luxury features and is willing to pay a premium. BMW aims to differentiate its product, pricing, promotion and place strategies from competitors like Mercedes, Lexus and Infiniti for these targeted segments.
RJ Reynolds analyzed cigarette brand usage patterns in Chicago and found they varied by neighborhood demographics. It segmented the market into high education, blue-collar and African American consumer groups concentrated in different city areas. RJR then allocated its promotion spending accordingly across its brands which each segment preferred like low tar cigarettes in high education areas.
This document discusses various sales promotion strategies used by companies like Samsung, LG Electronics, Pepsodent, Kwality Walls, Parle-G, and Britannia. It provides details of specific promotions run by these companies, including promotion titles, time durations, schemes offered, prizes given, objectives of the promotions, and results achieved. Some of the promotions discussed are Samsung's "Phod Ke Dekho" and "Phir se Phod Ke Dekho" offers, LG's "5000 Crore Achievement Bash", Pepsodent's "Insurance for Dental Care", Kwality Wall's "Ek Din Ka Raja", Parle-G's "My Dream Come True"
This document provides an overview and agenda for a chapter on mergers and acquisitions. It begins with learning objectives that cover the different types of acquisitions, how friendly and hostile acquisitions proceed, and where acquisition gains may be found. It then defines important terms and covers types of takeovers such as mergers, acquisitions, and amalgamations. It also discusses securities legislation pertaining to takeovers, the processes for friendly and hostile acquisitions, defensive tactics, and motivations for mergers and acquisitions focusing on creating synergy.
The document discusses operations management and value chain management. It describes operations management as the process of transforming inputs like labor and materials into goods and services. Value chain management aims to create the highest value for customers by managing activities along the entire transformation process. The key requirements for successful value chain management include coordination and collaboration between partners, investments in technology, organizational processes that add value, and a culture of sharing and flexibility.
The document discusses 7 quality techniques: histograms, Pareto charts, run charts, scatter diagrams, control charts, flow charts, and cause-and-effect diagrams. It provides a definition and overview of how each technique works and its intended use. Histograms evaluate data distribution, Pareto charts identify the most common problems using the 80/20 rule, and run charts detect cyclic events. Scatter diagrams show trends in value changes, while control charts determine if a process is in or out of control. Flow charts map out processes and relationships, and cause-and-effect diagrams examine the causes behind an effect or problem.
The document discusses the need for business process reengineering (BPR) due to changes in the business environment and customer expectations. It defines BPR as the fundamental redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance. Some key points made include:
- Traditional management concepts no longer apply due to changes in how business is conducted.
- BPR views the business in terms of processes rather than functional departments and focuses on customer needs.
- It aims to achieve radical improvements through disregarding existing structures and redesigning processes from scratch.
Business process reengineering (BPR) was conceptualized to redefine outdated management concepts that no longer applied to modern business environments. Traditional concepts of specialization and division of labor are replaced by multi-skilled employees and generalized job roles. Additionally, rigid hierarchical structures cannot accommodate today's dynamic global markets. BPR aims to radically redesign business processes and organizations by focusing on end-to-end processes rather than individual functions. The goal is to achieve dramatic improvements in performance metrics like cost, quality, service and speed.
Business process reengineering (BPR) was conceptualized to redefine outdated management concepts that no longer applied to modern business environments. Traditional concepts of specialization and division of labor are replaced by multi-skilled employees and generalized job roles. Additionally, rigid hierarchical structures cannot accommodate today's dynamic global markets. BPR aims to radically redesign business processes and organizations by focusing on end-to-end processes rather than individual functions. The goal is to achieve dramatic improvements in performance metrics like cost, quality, service and speed.
Business process reengineering (BPR) was conceptualized because there was a need to redefine outdated management concepts. The concepts of unity of command, specialization of labor, and hierarchical structures no longer fit with today's dynamic global markets and information society. BPR proposes that organizations must retire old principles and re-engineer their business processes to improve efficiency and be able to meet modern customer expectations and compete effectively in a fast-changing environment. However, determining what new management concepts should replace the old ones remains a key unanswered question.
This document discusses the role of science and technology in the Industrial Revolution in England. It covers several key points:
1. It outlines Rostow's model of stages of economic growth and identifies take-off dates for England's Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
2. It discusses how agricultural innovations like crop rotation led to population growth and a surplus of labor that could be used industrially. Innovations were influenced by scientific practices.
3. Technological innovations in transportation like canals and railroads helped spur industrialization. Many innovators like Brindley, Boulton, and Watt were scientifically trained.
4. Mechanizations of textile production through inventions like the
The company plans to extend its manufacturing capacity and invest in research and development. It will focus on growing its personal care segment by expanding its rural distribution network. The strategy is to expand its product portfolio and increase market share in the domestic market by introducing new packaging, variants, and products in different segments. The company will also focus on customer relationship management, technology, renewable energy, rural network expansion, and upgrading its branch network.
Production planning involves determining facility requirements, layout, and production rates to meet desired output. It considers routing and spatial relationships. Production control monitors plan execution by tracking progress and correcting deviations to minimize impacts. Production systems transform inputs like materials into saleable outputs. Systems are classified by product type, line configuration, output rate, and equipment. The main types are job shop, batch, and mass production.
The document discusses various aspects of new product development including market research, product design, testing, and launch. It describes tools like quality function deployment (QFD) for mapping customer needs to engineering characteristics. It also discusses pre-launch forecasting methods using data from test markets and models like the Bass diffusion model for durable goods. Cross-functional integration and measuring brand equity are also summarized.
The document provides an overview of the Indian telecom industry. It notes that as of September 2008 there were 315 million mobile subscribers and 39 million fixed line subscribers in India. It is expected that mobile subscriptions will grow to 496 million by 2010. The top 4 operators, Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone and BSNL, hold 74% of the market share. New entrants face threats including customer switching costs being low and infrastructure setup costs being extremely high. There is also cutthroat price competition and a lack of differentiation among service providers.
More from School of Management Sciences Lucknow (18)
1. Best Companies: Best Practice
Each year in The Sunday Times 100 Best
Companies to Work For survey, the best
employers in the UK have the chance to
The DTI drives our ambition of showcase their best practice credentials,
‘prosperity for all’ by working to offering the secrets of their success to a
create the best environment for wider public. Best Companies: Best
business success in the UK. Practice explores in further detail some of
We help people and companies the forward-thinking practices which have
become more productive by given employees reason to comment so
promoting enterprise, innovation favourably about their places of work.
and creativity.
This brochure is for: any business that
We champion UK business at home wants to become a great place to work.
and abroad. We invest heavily in
world-class science and technology. It covers: three characteristics of best
We protect the rights of working practice in depth: People development,
people and consumers. And we Leadership and Corporate responsibility.
stand up for fair and open markets
in the UK, Europe and the world.
Contents
01 Introduction
02 People development
03 Developing a High Performance Culture
06 Learning unlimited
09 Teamwork makes the difference
12 Development for all
15 Leadership
16 Staff suggestions bring Kwik wins
19 Leadership and the art of communication
Achieving best practice in your business is a key 22 Corporate responsibility
theme within DTI’s approach to business support
solutions, providing ideas and insights into how 23 Ethical excellence
you can improve performance across your
business. By showing what works in other
26 Building bridges in the community
businesses, we can help you see what can help 29 Key characteristics of best practice
you, and then support you in implementation.
This brochure focuses on these solutions. 32 Further help and advice
2. Introduction
BEST COMPANIES: BEST PRACTICE
is all about the transfer of best practice, and illustrates the value of
innovations such as:
• an on-line learning centre
• a leadership roadshow where the CEO meets every member of staff
• a programme to challenge management style and behaviour
• environmentally sustainable solutions on construction projects
• bonuses to staff who recommend friends or relatives for jobs with
the company
• a scheme to keep in touch and re-recruit people who have left the
business
• paid leave for staff to be involved in community projects
• an on-site concierge for staff.
The 100 Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list is created from
thorough evaluations of the values and working practices of participating
organisations. The position of an organisation on the list is determined
from the results from comprehensive questionnaires, completed in
confidence by significant numbers of employees selected at random.
80 per cent of the final scores are determined by this analysis, which is
backed up by site visits.
This publication focuses on three key characteristics of best practice –
People development, Leadership and Corporate responsibility – that have
the greatest overlap with the 100 Best Companies to Work For survey. (A
comprehensive set of best business practices can be found on pages 29-30).
What follows is a series of articles and case studies based on interviews
with some of the companies from the 2003 list.
All the companies featured within this publication encourage and enable
the uptake and development of innovative practices to meet self-imposed
targets in areas such as employee satisfaction, staff retention and overall
business performance. Significantly, these practices are often developed
and delivered within the context of a programme that is specifically
designed to address a particular issue or to deliver a major
transformation within the business.
Both the 100 Best Companies survey and this publication offer ample
evidence of improved performance in those companies whose
commitment to their people is supported by innovative best practice.
Best Companies: Best Practice features a company whose profits doubled
in 12 months, and another whose staff turnover has dropped to almost
half the industry average.
Read this brochure for ideas on what’s worked for other businesses. To
access more free information and publications on best practice, visit our
website www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice.
01
3. People Development
people development
Best practice organisations enable employees
to develop and fulfil their potential
Best practice organisations:
• make sure employees’ contributions are recognised and
adequately rewarded
• encourage equal opportunities regardless of age, gender, race or
religion
• promote the learning and updating of new skills and knowledge
at every level
• have effective internal communication systems to encourage the
transfer of knowledge and information vertically and horizontally
• have effective employee consultation arrangements
• empower all employees by encouraging individual ownership and
focus on customers
• maintain constructive relationships with trade unions where
recognised (a ‘partnership’ approach)
• provide as much employment security as possible.
02
4. people development
Developing a High Performance Culture
For leading real estate and investment
management firm Jones Lang LaSalle,
people development is an essential feature
of being a high performance company.
AS HUMAN resources (HR) director, Ruth Mundy is responsible for 900
staff in England. She explains: “There’s a big emphasis on being
successful and becoming more profitable. And if you’re going to do that,
then first of all you need the best people, and secondly, you need to
develop them in the right way.”
The company embarked on a transformation programme following a
merger in 1999 and becoming listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“The term we used was Total Performance Management,” says Ruth,
“but the idea was that after about two years the new approach would
organically become part of the way we do things, just day to day business
practice. And that is effectively what’s happened.”
03
5. people development
Total Performance Management afforded Jones Lang LaSalle the
opportunity to pull together a number of threads from across the two
newly merged businesses. As Ruth puts it: “It allowed us to take best
practice from around the group of companies and to refocus.”
The transformation programme included the development of ten
performance standards. Many are explicitly about the company’s people,
for example:
• Our people will receive career development, guidance, counselling and
feedback on their performance.
• We will be rewarded through a fair and clearly communicated
compensation scheme.
• We will expect our achievements to be fairly recognised and our ideas
to be encouraged throughout the company.
• We are committed to achieving a healthy balance between business
and private life.
The leadership of the company settled on the ‘balanced scorecard’
system to manage the transformation and identified six areas that were
critical to success. By making sure that people have personal objectives
in each of those areas, the company has been able to encourage what
Ruth describes as a “much more rounded performance” that directly
links the individual to the overall performance of the business.
And in focusing on the relationship between individual performances and
business success, the leadership also discovered that staff wanted more
clarity and transparency in the operation of the bonus scheme. “We want
everybody to share in the success of the company, so we have quite a
significant bonus scheme,” says Ruth. “We’ve done a lot of work over the
last two years to design a more transparent model that allows people to
see how the bonus pool is generated from the success of the company.”
That exercise has been conducted alongside the performance
management process, which means that people are now much clearer
about what their objectives are, why they have them, how performance is
measured and how bonuses are generated. “The whole thing now slots
together,” says Ruth.
Results are already starting to show. “The penny has dropped,”says
Ruth.“So for example, because bonus allocations are very much driven
by how much profit is made in each business area, and people
understand that there’s a finite amount of money that can be spent on
compensation, we’re now seeing business leaders having to make some
difficult decisions: ‘Do I spread the jam thinly or do I target people much
more effectively?’ With the new performance management system, they
are beginning to realise they have to be much more targeted. They have
to pay their best people the highest amounts and really differentiate
performance. So it has had an impact on the way we manage.”
And in the course of the transformation programme some basic
assumptions about development have been challenged. “Historically,
people tended to see training as something they did extraneously,” says
Ruth.“It was nice to do, but it wasn’t seen as being core to your job.
04
6. people development
“We’re now trying to get people to see their career development in a
more holistic way, as something more than just going on a training
course. It’s not simply something the company does to you.”
One particular development programme has been designed specifically
to challenge cultural and behavioural norms within the organisation. An
external provider has been commissioned to deliver a specially tailored
programme, which aims to make senior directors more self-aware and to
get them listening more effectively.
The programme challenges senior directors about their personal style and
behaviour, and has produced some genuine converts, says Ruth. She says
people have recognised that simply behaving differently has brought about
an improvement in their own performance. The company has now
extended coaching skills programmes to other staff, in order to combat
what Ruth says is a common ailment. “Some of our people are in ‘tell
mode’ a lot of the time,” she says. “They tell people things, rather than
listening to and helping the other person come to their own conclusion.”
There’s a big emphasis on being successful and
becoming more profitable. And if you’re going to do
that, then first of all you need the best people, and
secondly, you need to develop them in the right way.
RUTH MUNDY, HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR JONES LANG LASALLE
Another programme under consideration is called High Leverage
Management, which is designed to challenge widely held perceptions
about working practices. Ruth believes one of the biggest problems
people have is how they manage their day. “This is all about personal
organisation and the individual’s thinking style,” she says. “People get
into very set ways of behaving. They settle into their favourite way of
working, which is not necessarily the most effective way.”
Jones Lang LaSalle is also working hard to ensure that adequate support
is available to people facing fresh challenges. The 20 or so graduates
who are recruited each year are now paired with mentors and sponsors
as part of their training programme. There is also an informal mentoring
scheme for people who are newly promoted. The scheme is
‘unmanaged’, which means that people are put in touch, but it is up to
them how they take the relationship forward and what they try to get out
of it. “We try not to over engineer it, because we feel the onus should be
on the individuals to establish their own way of working with their
mentor,” says Ruth.
The company’s commitment to people development is paying off. “We
regularly survey our staff,” says Ruth, “and we have increased the
satisfaction scores in areas like career development and coaching.”
Asked to offer a word of advice to others considering similar steps, Ruth
says the first thing that springs to mind is to keep it simple. “I think
sometimes people can overcomplicate what’s needed. Best practice is not
rocket science. It’s about doing things that really work for your
organisation. The other critical thing is that it has got to be embraced and
driven by leadership of the business.”
05
7. people development
Learning unlimited
As the hotel industry has been forced to
tighten its belt in the face of an increased
nervousness about travel over recent years,
one thing that distinguishes Travel Inn, the
300-strong hotel chain, from so many of its
competitors has been its refusal to cut back
on training and development.
KEVIN RHODES, Travel Inn’s North of England HR manager, explains:
“A lot of hotel companies have put the brakes on and stopped all
development. They’ve stopped all recruitment and made redundancies.
At Travel Inn, we made no redundancies and we didn’t stop training
people. We made sure the people we had in the business would still get
the development they needed.”
Kevin sees people development not only as an investment, but also as one
of the factors critical to motivating and retaining staff. “I think people do
feel valued that we are prepared to put their development first. Otherwise
we’d be taking a very short term outlook because people would just leave
and go elsewhere.”
At Travel Inn, considerable effort goes into making it as easy as possible
for the company’s 8,000 staff to access development opportunities. For
Kevin, the issue is straightforward. “A fundamental part of our business is
about empowering people to be able to do the jobs that they want to do,”
he says. “If we really value our people, then let’s not put any barriers
in place.”
Although Travel Inn has a weighty annual training spend – £3 million last
year – the resources available for staff development can be further
enhanced as a result of budgetary flexibility at branch level. Managers are
encouraged to use their discretion to recognise, reward and develop
members of their team. This means managers have the freedom to offer
staff gift vouchers, red-letter days or even weekend breaks in recognition
of high performance. This flexibility not only recognises the efforts of
employees, it also empowers managers.
The company’s no limits approach to learning has given rise to a training
calendar that staff can access using the company’s intranet; and with the
approval of their manager, all staff can book themselves directly onto a
course. There is also a special on-line library – a product of the company’s
relationships with Oxford Brookes University and Ashridge Management
College – that gives employees the chance to access learning materials, or
even borrow books and CD-ROMs.
06
8. people development
Another product of the company’s relationship with Oxford Brookes
University is its sponsored MBA scheme. “We have people at various
levels in the organisation at the moment who are studying for their MBA,
fully funded by Travel Inn,” says Kevin.
But Kevin is clear that development is not simply about attending
training courses or extracurricular learning. “I would say 90 per cent of
the training we provide is on the job, through coaching, shadowing and
letting people have a go.”
Shadowing is not a formalised scheme, however, but something that
relies more on an employee’s recognition of their own needs and their
own initiative in taking it forward. “We encourage less experienced
managers to spend time with more experienced managers,” says Kevin.
“Or if someone aspires to a field or support role, it is down to them to
organise to spend some time with an individual to see what the job is
really like.”
There are a number of high profile recognition schemes within the
organisation. For example, the Travel Inn Champions League recognises
the ten highest performing sites in terms of occupancy rates (the industry
standard measure) and brand quality (an audited look at how well each
hotel complies with certain core service values). Every quarter, the top
ten hotels in each category win £1,000 to spend on a staff activity or
event of their own choosing.
Further evidence of Travel Inn’s commitment to its people is that a
proportion of the 45 per cent bonus scheme for senior managers hinges
on the manager’s own commitment to people development. The scheme
is based mainly on financial performance, but also on a number of key
measures regarding people, including labour turnover and employee
view surveys, as well as customer measures.
Considerable emphasis is also placed on the non-restrictive nature of
working relationships at Travel Inn. Kevin believes the fact that the
company has only been around for 17 years has a major impact on its
culture and working environment.
“Most of the hotels that we have are brand new builds, and most of the
management teams within our organisation are fairly young and therefore
young in their outlook,” he says.
“Because of that, they bring modern management styles which are all
about being on the same level as your team. They don’t rely on a huge
hierarchy to manage effectively.”
Kevin and other leaders have also been trying to cultivate another
dimension to the company culture. “Over the last three years, we’ve
been trying to develop a sales culture within our business,” he says.
“In effect, it means every single person in the hotel should be sales
focused.” As well as having obvious implications for the financial
performance of the business, Kevin believes there is another positive
07
9. people development
effect on the company’s people. “They feel very motivated that they can
influence performance themselves,” he says.
Kevin sees the company culture as a key business asset and says the
health and vitality of its corporate culture is an influence on its HR
function.“Our recruitment strategy is all about recruiting people who will
fit into our culture, rather than just looking for someone who’s got
technical skills,” he says. “It’s about recruiting likeminded people who
may well have different ideas about things, but who truly believe in the
value of people.”
The company’s commitment to its people is based on the understanding
that high performing teams make for a high performing business. “To
grow the brand means we’ve got to grow our teams to be able to meet
the demands of any future acquisitions, new hotels or growth in the
business,” says Kevin.
Results from recent biannual staff surveys suggest Travel Inn is going in
the right direction. In consecutive surveys, overall staff satisfaction grew
from 82 per cent to 85 per cent to 87 per cent, at the last count. Similarly
high levels of customer satisfaction indicate that the foundations for
improved business performance have been well laid.
And if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then the company’s
financial performance in 2002–03 showed a total annual turnover up from
£160 million to £200 million, with profits up by £7 million. Kevin is in no
doubt about the value of people development. “The only thing that we
can put this success down to is our high performing team members at all
levels within the company” he says. “They’re the ones who’ve produced
all of this.”
If we really value our people, then let’s not put any
barriers in place.
KEVIN RHODES, NORTH OF ENGLAND HR MANAGER, TRAVEL INN
08
10. people development
Teamwork makes the difference
Paul Kingston is a man with a mission: as
head of organisation development at Ceridian
Centrefile, he believes it is essential for a
company offering human resources solutions
to practise what it preaches.
RANKED SIXTIETH in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work
For survey in 2003, and commended by Investors in People for
outstanding practice, Ceridian pioneers an open, friendly culture with a
clear statement of values that includes honesty and integrity.
The company’s 900 staff are offered personal development plans,
access to a ‘Centrefile university’ and an annual training budget of £750
each. The company also runs the PayBack Foundation, which is funded
by staff charitable activities and raises around £30,000 a year to buy
equipment for children with special needs.
Ceridian is the UK market leader in employer services such as
outsourced HR solutions, work-life balance initiatives, payroll and
managed expense services. Founded in 1965, it now has over 9,000 UK
customers, processing 21 million payslips a year for seven per cent of
the country’s workers.
09
11. people development
Passionate about what he does, Paul has an evident zeal for the
importance of good people management. He believes Ceridian’s
relatively compact size and clear values have helped to create the
positive workplace culture which staff rate so highly.
Paul explains: “I would describe the culture as a mosaic – the
combination of a strong sense of identity and clarity of purpose that our
people have. They can identify with the whole organisation, and we try to
communicate the purpose and successes of our development schemes.
This in turn is due to the commitment of the Chief Executive, who is
absolutely focused on delivering capability to clients. That leadership and
communication enables people to understand both business direction
and what is available to them in terms of personal progression.”
Ceridian’s turnover in the UK has grown from £26.9 million in 1997 to
around £50 million, with 14 offices in the UK and overseas servicing
clients ranging from Woolworths and Lloyds TSB to small and medium
sized enterprises. A third of the workforce is home based, which poses a
major challenge for people development. But Paul insists such challenges
are part and parcel of motivating and developing staff in today’s evolving
business environment.
He also insists that organisations should not lose sight of the fact that
people development is about more than developing individuals. “An
individual can make a difference, but it’s usually groups that help change
organisations,” says Paul.“So we have a massive focus on linking the
individual, the team and organisational development. I would describe it
as a form of domino effect. If you want to improve efficiency, then you
have to help individuals understand the need to improve; give them the
skills and knowledge, but be aware it’s the team that’s going to make the
most measurable difference.”
Paul emphasises that a pre-condition for effective team learning within
any organisation is transforming the role of the HR function from a
stand-apart operation into that of an integral partner helping to deliver
the business strategy. This usually involves devolving even more
responsibility for people development to line managers, and empowering
teams by encouraging ownership and “looking outwards”.
Employee reward and recognition at Ceridian include staff appraisal and
twice-yearly discussions to agree individual objectives, as well as any
personal development needs. A performance bonus scheme is open to
most staff, and every month high achievers are nominated by each
business stream and rewarded with cash vouchers and overseas trips.
And there is a share option plan, which four out of ten employees have
taken up.
“We also celebrate individuals in their life activities, which are often related
to their work on behalf of others,” says Paul. “That sense of community is
stronger at Ceridian than in other companies I have worked for.”
10
12. people development
As a best practice organisation, Ceridian is keen to encourage equal
opportunities, and explicitly links this to its core values of honesty and
integrity. Gender, ethnic and age profiles of staff are regularly monitored
to ensure an even spread and a match with the client environment.
Learning is another key element of people development. However, Paul
says the important thing is not just that employees acquire knowledge,
but that they actually apply that learning to their jobs. The company also
supports those who want to develop a life skill, such as interpersonal
communication, that will benefit them both as workers and individuals.
Effective internal communication and consultation is a key component of
successful people development, and Ceridian encourages staff to learn
from each other and with each other by meeting in person or through
video conferencing and on-line forums. The Chief Executive takes part in
an annual roadshow that visits each location and allows him to meet
every staff member. And as well as holding monthly on-line question and
answer sessions, board members are actively involved in ‘pulsing’
sessions during which they listen to feedback from staff returning from
management development programmes.
Ceridian’s emphasis on its people has brought a variety of positive
results, including one team who reduced process faults by 50 per cent
through a team development exercise. Another team of IT
implementation consultants worked together to improve their
understanding of client business needs; within two months, they had
sold an extra 40 consultancy days. And two groups working on
improving communication were able to increase the number of software
checks they could make by 50 per cent.
“All these successes are about people taking stock of where they are,
what their issues are, working out what actions to take to resolve them,
and agreeing what measures will be applied to achieve success,” says
Paul.“This cycle has to become continuous.” Paul believes that the secret
of empowerment lies in creating a sense of group ownership of issues,
while recognising dependencies between teams in an organisation in
which each group develops a real dialogue with other groups.
Paul attributes the company’s success to a Weltanschauung or whole
world vision of where client organisations are heading, a reading of what
is happening in the business environment and, most importantly, good
teamwork. “If you want to change the direction of a ship, then the captain
just saying ‘Change direction!’ is not going to make it happen,” says Paul.
“The guy who is turning the wheel isn’t going to make it happen on his
own. It all depends on previous teamwork and effective processes
happening below decks in making the systems effective and ensuring
people know where they are heading.”
11
13. people development
Development for all
At TGI Friday’s, they take recognition very
seriously. As one of the organisation’s five
core values, it is symbolised by the oversized
pair of spectacles that you can find adorning
the walls of every one of the international
chain’s bars or restaurants.
ACCORDING EMPLOYEES the recognition they deserve is indicative of the
positive approach the company takes to developing its people. And at
Friday’s, recognition comes in many forms – from the award of eye-
catching pin badges that adorn the braces of team members, to trips
abroad for high performing management teams. Learning and
Development Manager Suzie Welch explains that an open commitment to
people development is central to the company’s thinking. She says: “It’s
the reason I joined Friday’s six years ago. It’s not something new. I think
it’s something that’s been enhanced over the 18 years we’ve been
around. We are inclusive and involve people. That’s our big thing.”
The company’s development for all approach means development
opportunities are not only available to those who want to progress into
management. For example, a development programme called The Journey
encourages team members (bartenders and waiting staff) to cross train in
various roles.
12
14. people development
A recent innovation is N.able (a play on the word ‘enable’), a coaching
path for team members that works on three levels. At the bronze level,
people are trained in one to one coaching and equipped with the skills to
help or train other team members. Coaches are taught how to listen to
their colleagues and how to give feedback. The aim is to develop team
members so that they can go on to become in-store trainers themselves.
At the silver level, team members are taken offsite for two days to learn
about presentation skills and different learning styles. And at gold level,
team members are trained in selection and recruitment skills, as well as
the skills to review the performance of other team members. In effect,
this means that some of the HR function is delegated to team level,
ensuring that the right people are being brought in and developed at the
grass roots of the business.
Suzie believes that having bronze, silver and gold coaches within each
of the company’s ‘store’ teams brings a number of business benefits.
First, there is the sense of ownership felt by team members because they
have a degree of responsibility for the development of their own teams.
Teams in new or refurbished stores can also receive training from
coaches based in other stores, which offers the coach the chance to
broaden their own horizons and contributes to their development.
Secondly, cascading training and coaching opportunities throughout the
organisation means there is reduced pressure on the HR function at the
centre of the company, as teams become more self-sustaining and find
their own relevant and timely solutions.
Eighteen months on from the start of the programme, there are now 450
coaches across the organisation, a high proportion
of whom are using it as a stepping-stone into management.
In fact, the programme has been designed specifically to enable a
smooth transition into management, with management training building
on the skills developed on the coaching path. “The language is the
same,” says Suzie. “They are seeing the same kind of models. The whole
thing fits together.”
The company has also introduced improvements to its management
training. In the past, newly appointed managers may well have had only
one injection of management training when they started. Now they
benefit from ongoing development. The new management path
introduced in 2004 entails a mixture of skills training and behavioural
development. The company’s generic term for this development path is
NRG – a play on the word ‘energy’, suggesting interventions to invigorate
and provide the stimulus to enhance personal performance.
The first stage on the management path is a programme called Release
NRG. Stage two – Apply NRG – is quite heavily skills based, with
managers learning about time management and examining finance case
studies and licensing laws.
Channel NRG is more behaviour focused. It gives managers insight into
the differences between leaders and managers, as well as guidance on
13
15. people development
how to be visionary and the power of talking. The path culminates in
Drive NRG, which is reserved for more experienced managers; this
entails further business skills training, including strategic planning and
commercial acumen.
The benefits of the company’s commitment to people development can
be seen throughout the organisation. For example, 80 per cent of
operations managers within TGI Friday’s have risen through the ranks.
Suzie says it is “fantastic” that so many employees voted TGI Friday’s
one of the best companies to work for. She says a high percentage of
employees stay much longer than they had originally planned. And the
statistics back her up; in an industry with an average rate of staff
turnover in excess of 95 per cent, staff turnover at TGI Friday’s has fallen
below 50 per cent in the last two years.
Not only does this ability to retain staff suggest a high degree of
employee satisfaction, it also represents a good return on investment.
It may be difficult to prove direct links between people development and
improved business performance, but work carried out in September 2003
found that after staff attended a development course, the stores in which
they worked showed increased sales and profitability.
Suzie admits that it can be hard to pin the improved performance of a
management team of six on the training of just one person, but says it is
easier to see a positive effect in those stores which have been
refurbished. There, the whole management team is ‘extracted’ and
trained in communication skills and team working. They are given time
together and are returned into a refurbished store as a re-invigorated
team that is performing better.
For Suzie, it helps enormously that TGI Friday’s people have such a
positive attitude to development. “I think one thing you could say about
people at Friday’s,” she says, “is that if you give them a challenge at
management, team member or head office level, they’ll rise to it, smash
it and seek another one. I think we can say that whatever development
we put in place, they’ll take it and run.
“Our commitment to people is a foundation for all our business
strategies, because without hiring and retaining great people, Friday’s
would cease to exist.”
Their roles are a lot more varied. They’ve got so much
more opportunity to think about now. Two or three
years ago we had none of that.
MO YASSIN, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER,
COVENT GARDEN BRANCH TGI FRIDAY’S
14
16. Leadership
leadership
Best practice organisations have
enthusiastic leaders
Best practice organisations:
• ensure the organisation has a vision, mission and strategy that are known
and understood
• oversee the setting of demanding but realistic targets
• set an example in generating an open, communicative management style
• champion a culture conducive to learning and continuous improvement
• distribute leadership responsibilities with necessary authority, training
and resources.
15
17. Leadership
Staff suggestions bring Kwik wins
Staff suggestions bring ‘Kwik wins’ to a
INSUR ANCE company that is something of a treasure
trove of innovative best practice – much of
which has been generated by its employees.
THE BUSINESS was set up in 1995 and now has over a quarter of a
million motor insurance customers. Other products include home
insurance and breakdown cover as well as recently launched products
such as term life insurance and pet insurance.
The call centre business is based in Uddingston near Glasgow and
employs 850 staff. Most are sales consultants organised in teams that
have names such as Wolves, Tigers, Lions and Dolphins; other team
names include Mercedes, BMWs, Bentleys and Porsches.
The business has undergone something of a transformation in the last
two and a half years. A tidal wave of innovative ideas and practices has
given rise to extraordinary profits, improved staff morale and has won
the company a string of awards and recognition.
When the HR director Keren Edwards joined KFI two and a half years ago,
she says it was clear that change was required. Upon her arrival, Keren
says she found a style of leadership that was “very motivational and very
enthusiastic”, but one that she would also describe as “macho”.
16
18. Leadership
Keren explains: “It was quite ‘tell and do’. Although there had been staff
surveys nothing much was done with them. As a consequence, people
thought their opinions meant nothing.” One of the first things Keren did
was to transform the staff survey into an aid to business improvement by
changing questions, scrutinising the data it produced and disseminating
results on a regular basis.
It was from this revamped staff survey system that a project named
Making KFI A Fantastic Place to Work was born. In December 2002, 650
employees spent one day away from the call centre considering the
question, ‘What would make KFI a fantastic place to work?’ This simple
exercise generated an astonishing 6,550 ideas from staff. Keren readily
admits she was not prepared for the sheer volume of creativity that was
unleashed.“ I thought to myself, ‘What are we going to do now?’”
In fact, what the company did was establish seven project groups to
oversee the transformation of many of those ideas into reality. Each group
was made up of a mixture of people from across the organisation, led by
someone who had already been recognised as a potential high performer.
Since then, a huge number of ideas have been implemented, ranging
from the very simple to the highly ambitious. They include:
• An on-site concierge who takes care of things such as collecting dry
cleaning, going to the chemist to pick up a prescription or getting
photographs developed; in the first three months since he has been
on site, the concierge has completed 400 tasks for staff members.
• Providing coffee cups with lids means employees can now have drinks
at their desks – something unheard of in most call centres.
• Leave can now be taken by the hour rather than by the half day,
meaning precious leave need not be taken to accomplish something
that only requires an hour or two.
• £1,000 cash is awarded to staff whose referral of a friend leads to
successful recruitment; so far, more than 120 employees have been
recruited this way.
• A programme called Grassroots – a back to the floor type exercise –
sees directors spending one half day each month working in a
different department to gain a better understanding of the business.
• A £100,000 facelift for the call centre, including the creation of a chill
out area, changes to the interior colour scheme,
a new reception area, natural daylight lighting, and a 500 square
metre landscaped garden.
• An employee suggestion scheme called Mail Martin, which gives staff
a direct route to managing director Martin Oliver.
• A free food day in the canteen at the end of each month. (“Our people
are young and don’t always budget well, so by the end of the month
they can be struggling to buy themselves food,” says Keren.)
• A full-time occupational health nurse on site.
• And a chill out club offers salsa dancing, massage and wing chun
martial arts for a monthly fee of just £5.
17
19. Leadership
Keren believes there is a direct correlation between Making KFI Fantastic
and staggering recent improvements in business performance that have
seen profits more than double in just 12 months.
Over the same period, staff turnover has fallen by five per cent; for Keren,
this achievement is particularly important. “Five per cent doesn’t sound like
much,” she says, “but it’s an enormous amount when you are recruiting
this number of people.” With over 50 call centre competitors in the region,
the ability to keep hold of well-trained staff is a priority.
The average length of service for a sales consultant has gone up from 18
months to 24 months.“It doesn’t sound much,” says Keren, “but after
we’ve recouped the cost of recruitment, those six months are completely
revenue generating for us. It also creates a stability in the organisation
which we didn’t have before.”
And staff morale, as measured by the number of people who say they are
extremely satisfied to work at KFI, is steadily rising; the number of staff
who say they would recommend KFI as a great place to work has risen
from 65 per cent in 2002 to 80 per cent. Crucially, the leadership style that
Keren encountered when she first arrived has disappeared. Making KFI
Fantastic enjoyed immediate support from the company’s leaders.
“That’s when it all started happening,” she says.
“The MD’s commitment to telling people what is happening in the
business has made a big difference to how people feel they are
communicated with about the strategy, the leadership and the goals
of the organisation.”
Keren acknowledges that it has been a bold step for the organisation,
particularly its leaders. “It was a leap of faith,” she says. “They
understood that this was going to cause us some pain because it would
affect productivity at the beginning. But they also understood that in the
end we would have better labour turnover, better productivity and that
morale would go up. And that we would have happier people who think
this is a great place to work.
“Things have changed beyond recognition. I think we’re a demanding
organisation but we’re not a ‘banging on the table’ organisation. The
great thing about it is that we’ve done all this and we’ve made huge
strides forward in our profits and in our revenue.
“But really the big difference has been the way we treat our people and
the fact that fewer of them are leaving then ever before. People come in
and they stay and they like working here. I think if your leadership team
is prepared to make a leap of faith, you can make this stuff happen.”
18
20. Leadership
Leadership and the art of communication
If you walk into any TGI Friday’s restaurant
anywhere in the world your attention will be
drawn to a clutter of different objects
decorating its ceilings and walls.
AT FIRST sight, you could be forgiven for thinking the decorations had
been chosen and placed at random. But for TGI Friday’s, the international
bar and restaurant chain, they are visual reminders to all its staff that the
company’s values lie at the very heart of its day to day business.
Five items are of special importance: they represent the company’s
core values and are to be found in each and every one of its bars and
restaurants.
So at every TGI Friday’s you are guaranteed to come across a giant Mars
Bar symbolising ‘enjoyment’; an Abraham Lincoln plaque representing
‘integrity’; a circus elephant suggesting ‘balance’; a pair of giant spectacles
to symbolise ‘recognition’; and a silver trophy indicating ‘excellence’.
This drive to communicate company values may come from the very top –
these same five items of what the company likes to refer to as its ‘elegant
clutter’ are also be found on the walls of the managing director’s office –
but the process that shapes the company’s values, vision and mission is
very much an inclusive one. And when those guiding principles were
revisited recently, it was a process that spanned the entire organisation.
The company recognises there is little point in carefully crafting a set of
values if no one has any faith in them. As Suzie Welch, Learning and
Development Manager, says: “If we’re going to live by them, everyone
has to buy into them. So we need to consult all the way through.”
19
21. Leadership
The project to review the values, vision and mission may have been led by
a small team, but once that team had completed its initial work, its findings
were filtered throughout the organisation, first to management teams and
then on to team members (bar and waiting staff).“So by the time we’ve
decided where we want to take them [the vision and the mission], they
have gone through every level of the organisation,” says Suzie.
Pride in its ‘elegant clutter’ is not the only evidence you will find at TGI
Friday’s of the company’s imaginative use of imagery and symbolism to
communicate important messages to its customers and 3,500 staff.
No one could fail to notice, for example, the amount of pin badges that
brighten up the braces (affectionately known as ‘dub-dubs’) of Friday’s
staff. Some are given to all staff to remind them of their obligation to
uphold the organisational ethos; others are awarded in recognition of
particular achievements. There is a pin for ‘consistently living our values’,
and another for ‘service excellence’, as well as bronze, silver and gold
stars for guest commendations; in all, there are 23 different pins.
Kerry Haslett, Shift Manager and In-store Trainer in TGI Friday’s Covent
Garden branch says the pins show that employee’s efforts don’t go
unrecognised. “It’s like saying ‘we have noticed, you’re doing a fantastic
job,’” she says. “When you’ve got your braces on with all the pins it does
make you look like a fantastic worker.”
Past campaigns to communicate the organisation’s vision have also been
developed around visual imagery, such as the use of hand-drawn posters.
When the vision was to grow profitable sales each general manager was
asked to draw a picture portraying how that vision would be realised.
The drawings were printed as A1 size posters and placed in each
restaurant so that everyone could see a visual representation of the
challenge they faced. The posters were complemented by a number of
targets, so that the company’s values, vision, mission and some key
business measures were all visible to staff in every restaurant.
As the vision and mission have developed, so has the internal
communication strategy. A more recent exercise has seen the
development of TGI Friday’s Key Messages 2003–2004. Again, the
company decided to use strong visual imagery to communicate essential
messages about its new direction across the whole organisation: in this
case, a sunflower to represent the aim of nurturing a ‘guest facing’
environment.
As well as more conventional methods of communicating the new vision
– such as all-staff meetings, leaflets and a video – the company
developed an imaginative programme of internal marketing. This
included issuing watering cans and packets of sunflower seeds to
restaurant teams as a reminder of the new ‘guest facing’ ethos. And of
20
22. Leadership
course, the exercise also included the creation of a new pin – a sunflower
awarded to those who generate innovative ideas.
All these measures have been introduced as part of an overarching
strategic programme named Step Change, initiated four years ago. Suzie
believes strong leadership has been vital to the success of the programme.
Leadership from the managing director must be inspirational to engage and
mobilise the whole team, she says. “When the Step Change programme was
introduced, this was explained in a highly visionary way and with such
excitement that it made you want to grasp it and say, ‘This is what we need
to do!’”
Suzie says the energy and leadership of managing director Guy Parsons,
and his predecessor Neil Riding, have been matched by those around
them, particularly the board. “I wouldn’t still be here, nearly six years
later, if we hadn’t had the leaders that we have,” she says.
Even with its workforce spread over more than 40 sites throughout the
UK, TGI Friday’s shows how an innovative approach to communicating
key principles and ideas can offer a competitive advantage.
Every year at head office they come up with a new
dynamic for it [the vision], just to keep it interesting.
The leadership makes a real effort to keep things fresh.
MO YASSIN, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER,
COVENT GARDEN BRANCH TGI FRIDAY’S
21
23. corporate
responsibility
Best practice organisations
perform as responsible members
of the community and society
Best practice organisations:
• promote health and safety and reduce
nuisance or harm from the organisation’s
activities
• are involved in local communities, eg in
education & training, the voluntary sector,
sport & leisure
• contribute to the sustainable use of
resources, eg in transport, utilities,
packaging, recycling.
22
24. corporate responsibility
Ethical excellence
Commitment to corporate social responsibility
runs deeper than simply supporting charities
and community projects at international
engineering, management and development
consultancy Mott MacDonald.
AS A wholly independent global company providing creative solutions in
transport, energy, building, water and the environment, as well as
communications, social development, health and education – touching
many of those areas which affect everyday life, as the company puts it –
commitment to increasing sustainability and reducing environmental
damage informs the very way the company carries out its business.
Project management systems ensure that sustainability monitoring is
carried out on assignments, while post project reviews and knowledge-
sharing initiatives promote the sharing of sustainability best practice
across the Group.
And the company’s creative approach to incorporating environmentally
sustainable solutions on projects has produced a number of innovations,
including the use of solar heating, natural ventilation, a natural cooling
system and the reuse of rainwater in internationally renowned buildings.
Working on projects in more than 100 countries, the Group employs
8,000 staff and has a turnover of £470 million. “As a large company, it is
important for us to have a clear ethical basis to measure the impact of
our activities on society, taking into account economic, social and
environmental impacts.
“The principles of CSR help us balance the requirements of our business
with these impacts, making responsible behaviour part of our culture,”
says Ron Williams, Head of Mott MacDonald’s Transport Division and
Group CSR champion.
Underpinning all Mott MacDonald activities, including its approach to
corporate responsibility, are five core values, summed up in the acronym
PRIDE: progress, respect, integrity, drive and excellence. These values
govern the company’s behaviour and functioning across the globe.
23
25. corporate responsibility
Mott MacDonald’s core values also inform its relationships with suppliers
and partners. The company’s approach to choosing and working with
suppliers is to select those who have similar values and corporate and
environmental policies to its own. By closely managing relationships with
key suppliers and contractors, the company’s values are cascaded
through the supply chain. It is not only contractors but also clients who are
encouraged to incorporate more sustainable design, operation and
construction solutions into their projects and day to day operations.
Mott MacDonald does this by providing high quality advice on
sustainability issues and solutions, and by helping clients to follow
recognised codes of conduct and to adopt sustainability best practice.
And to capitalise on the personal interest that many employees have in
sustainability issues, the company runs in-house seminars and
workshops on sustainable development and supports staff seeking
additional training in environmental management. Mott MacDonald is
also supporting a project in Ecuador helping a local community cut down
on wood used for cooking by developing a renewable energy source,
with the hope that its use will spread to other communities.
Ron explains: “To put our values into action across the Group we
designed a ten year strategic plan, and corporate social responsibility is
very much part of that plan.” Williams says the plan began to take shape
two years ago, “when we set out to develop a clear statement of our
ethics, vision and values, a code of business practice,which is part of our
corporate governance.”
Corporate social responsibility and community involvement have always
been part of Mott MacDonald’s culture, but the various initiatives,
approaches and policies occurring across the Group will now be
formalised and co-ordinated as part of a cohesive plan. By doing this it is
anticipated that the sum will be greater than the parts and a broader and
deeper difference can be made. As champion of CSR, Ron will be driving
this process.
A distinctive CSR policy began to emerge last autumn and to ensure that
the momentum was maintained, the company decided to create the role
of Champion. Since being appointed Champion, Ron has been amazed
by how many people in different parts of the world want to be involved.
“My job now is to channel this interest and enthusiasm,” he says.
Essential to the success of the CSR policy is the support and energy of the
Group’s workforce. To maintain and encourage energy, there are already
regular staff meetings, discussion groups and communications via the
internet, as well as monthly newsletters; regular committee meetings are
due to begin very soon. “We are at an early stage,” says Ron, “but I’ve
been bowled over by the enthusiasm of our people and amazed by the
support we are getting.”
24
26. corporate responsibility
Mott MacDonald supports charitable and community programmes and is a
patron of RedR, an international charity that works to relieve suffering in
disaster situations by selecting, training and providing effective relief
personnel to humanitarian aid agencies worldwide.
But support for charities is not undertaken only at a corporate level. “As
part of our commitment to charitable programmes we undertake
fundraising and encourage the direct involvement of staff,” says Ron.
“Julie Dakin volunteered to spend 17 months as deputy programme
director for Tearfund’s Disaster Response Team in Southern Sudan. Julie
says she considered it a privilege to work in Africa to help give others a
share of the fortune that we take so much for granted in the West.”
Ron says that volunteering to lead or participate in such projects in more
underprivileged parts of the world will be more actively encouraged as
the CSR policy is developed. The CSR group also aims to join Business in
the Community to become more involved in community activities, social
enterprise and educational and environmental work.
Mott MacDonald has recognised that to make a real difference, an
effective approach to CSR needs to drive business decisions, staff, client
and supplier relations as well as relationships with the community. As a
result, a holistic approach that cuts across divisions and functions within
the Group has seen improved quality of life, implementation of
environmentally sustainable solutions and more effective client, customer
and staff relationships.
25
27. corporate responsibility
Building bridges in the community
A holistic approach to life, work and
community is the cornerstone of Yorkshire
Building Society’s business success.
IN THE SUNDAY TIMES 100 Best Companies to Work For survey in 2003,
almost three-quarters of the mutual’s 2,000 staff said the Society was run
on sound moral principles, and commented on the strong family spirit
that it generates. Corporate social responsibility is seen as a key value at
the Society, which last year increased its pre-tax profit by 13 per cent to
£71.6 million.
The Yorkshire’s General Counsel, John Faulkner, stresses that contributing
to society and environmental sustainability is an important part of being a
responsible business. He explains: “We want to be involved with the
community, which is why so many staff participate in fundraising
schemes or voluntary activities. I get the greatest personal satisfaction
when we work with others. Their needs may be measured in tens or
hundreds of pounds, but it is clear that our being able to give that help
makes a substantial difference.
26
28. corporate responsibility
“We are very much a part of the community, so we also have a duty to
minimise any adverse impact on the environment. For that reason, we
are willing to incur the extra costs of recycling or adapting our car fleet.”
In 1998, John was involved in the creation of the Yorkshire’s Charitable
Foundation. A registered charity, the Foundation provides a focus for
charitable giving; so far, it has donated more than £1.3 million to 1,900
causes.
The Foundation aims to support good causes in those areas where the
Society’s members or staff live and work. Its priorities are charities
supporting the elderly, vulnerable groups (especially children and those
with special needs), or people suffering hardship. The Foundation prefers
to assist with specific items rather than donating to a general fund, and
the maximum gift is £2,000.
The 2003 Christmas Appeal in aid of the Association of Children’s
Hospices raised £82,000 – part of the £325,000 donated to 543 applicants
over the year as a whole. Staff at all the Society’s branches helped to
support the community with fundraising events. In Lancaster, fundraising
covered the cost of a special bed for St John’s Hospice; in Halesowen,
heart monitoring equipment was bought for the Children’s Heart
Federation; while in Bolton, charity efforts purchased keyboards for a
special needs school. John is one of five trustees running the Foundation.
He says the Foundation helps to create a feel-good factor among staff.
“People like to help others. One of my greatest delights is giving away
money, and our staff say that when they are involved in local causes they
enjoy seeing their efforts make a difference.” In a recent internal staff
survey, 81 per cent said they were proud of the Yorkshire’s charitable and
environmental contribution.
Another aspect of the Society’s charity work is its Small Change Big
Difference scheme, which collects the pennies from annual net interest
on customers’ savings and mortgage accounts, and transfers them into
the Charitable Foundation.
Over 325,000 accounts are now participating. Although no individual
customer’s annual donation exceeds 99 pence, the scheme brought in
over £100,000 last year, of which £43,000 was given back to local areas
through a Foundation Day when members were invited to nominate
good causes.
A new initiative is the Community Investment Fund. Launched in 2003, it
aims to help smaller local causes which may not be charities in their own
right, but which still need small sums of money to develop a community
project. “The Foundation deals with hardship and special needs, but we
realised that neglected sports groups and community organisations could
benefit from support,” says John. “So we created this new scheme to fill
27
29. corporate responsibility
the gap without increasing the funding, by using money raised from the
Small Change Big Difference scheme. It is linked to our branches, which
can choose to spend the money as they wish in their own community.” All
staff are encouraged to take part in community schemes. A formal policy
allows every employee seven hours of paid leave each year to join in
voluntary work during their normal working hours.
Helen Richardson, campaign manager for local marketing, has been a
keen participant in voluntary work since she joined the Society three
years ago. “I think it’s great that the Yorkshire supports its staff in
activities to help their local communities,” she says. “I’ve volunteered
several times since I joined the organisation. After all, it’s a good way to
help others while having fun and meeting new people.
“This year, my first activity was as a telephone volunteer for Comic
Relief. The Yorkshire gave up its call centre for the evening and staff
manned the phones, taking donations. It was a totally new experience for
me, but everyone who called was really enthusiastic about the cause and
I got to speak to people from all over Europe.”
Helen has also spent a day as a marshal at the British Heart Foundation’s
Pulse Race, and helped to organise a free opera event starring soprano
Lesley Garrett, which was staged by Leeds City Council and attended by
50,000 people. “I’ve particularly enjoyed being involved with Bradford
Cares, an organisation supporting good causes across the Bradford
area,” Helen says. “I’ve helped with a number of activities, from painting
to gardening. My favourite, was creating an outdoor environmental
classroom for a primary school close to where I grew up. It really made
me feel like I was giving something back.”
John acknowledges that it can be difficult to prove a correlation between
corporate responsibility and return on capital, but says common sense
suggests that organisations contributing to the community will be trusted
more. He points out that the Yorkshire’s charitable work accounts for up
to a quarter of its local press coverage – boosting brand awareness,
while helping with staff recruitment and retention.
John is keen to encourage other organisations to adopt socially
responsible business practices. He says the best way to involve staff is by
enabling them to identify the good causes they want to support through
talking to customers. “This in turn helps to develop better links between
staff and customers, but it isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s a
long term strategy and you need patience and a genuine commitment to
make it work.”
28
30. key characteristics
Best practice organisations
LEADERSHIP
Best practice organisations have enthusiastic leaders:
• ensure the organisation has a vision, mission and strategy that are
known and understood
• oversee the setting of demanding but realistic targets
• set an example in generating an open, communicative management
style
• champion a culture conducive to learning and continuous
improvement
• distribute leadership responsibilities with necessary authority, training
and resources.
29
31. key characteristics
PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
Best practice organisations enable employees to develop and
fulfil their potential:
• make sure employees’ contributions are recognised and adequately
rewarded
• encourage equal opportunities regardless of age, gender, race or
religion
• promote the acquisition and updating of new skills and knowledge at
every level
• have effective internal communication systems to encourage the
transfer of knowledge and information vertically and horizontally
• have effective employee consultation arrangements
• empower all employees by encouraging individual ownership and
focus on customers
• maintain constructive relationships with trade unions where
recognised (a ‘partnership’ approach)
• provide as much employment security as possible.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Best practice organisations manage their relationships with suppliers
effectively and efficiently:
• adopt appropriate supply chain management strategies across the
total range of purchased products and/ or services
• recognise the key role of suppliers in meeting strategic goals
• develop and manage suppliers to maximise capabilities and
minimise risk
• manage relationships, including ‘partnerships’, with suppliers
• assist suppliers in developing their skills and competencies.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Best practice organisations listen to their customers and exceed
their expectations:
• know the drivers in their markets and understand the competition
• know and anticipate the needs of their customers
• maintain information systems to provide rapid provision of
customer-relevant data
• cultivate active relationships with total customer satisfaction in mind.
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Best practice organisations maintain a systematic approach to assessing
and improving performance:
• develop systems to measure performance in each of the key areas of
the organisation’s activities
• benchmark performance internally and externally, within and outside
their sector
• learn from the practices adopted by others
• take appropriate and timely action on results.
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32. key characteristics
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
Best practice organisations perform as responsible members of the
community and society:
• promote health and safety and reduce nuisance or harm from the
organisation’s activities
• are involved in local communities, eg in education & training, the
voluntary sector, sport & leisure
• contribute to the sustainable use of resources, eg in transport, utilities,
packaging, recycling.
INNOVATION
Best practice organisations exploit new ways of doing things:
• maximise use of technology to drive innovation
• continuously seek to improve management of resources
• encourage input from employees, customers and suppliers
• simplify internal systems and processes wherever possible.
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Best practice organisations constantly introduce new/improved products
and services:
• deliver continuous improvement in all customer-facing aspects
• customise products and services to increase added value for the
customer
• constantly seek to improve time to market
• continuously seek to reduce customer costs
• encourage input from employees, customers and suppliers.
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