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The (real) art of brainstorming
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10 Dec 2008 |
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The most innovative and successful ideas rarely come from only one mind. By pooling the collective talent of your colleagues, you can generate amazing and revolutionary concepts. |
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Promote a positive culture in the workplace
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22 Oct 2008 |
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So, perhaps you’ve noticed that something is not quite right at the office? The employees don’t seem happy to be there, or productivity has been slipping of late? |
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Know your team members
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17 Sep 2008 |
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So, you’ve put together what may be perceived as a winning project team, only to find that the individual members don’t really get along and are straining to move in ten different directions. |
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The art of building brilliant teams
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17 Sep 2008 |
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“As organisations struggle to cope with the speed of change, the ever-increasing demands from customers, increasing technology and the challenges that come with globalisation, teams who pull together cope with these demands far more effectively than groups of individuals.” – Simon Hollington, People Management magazine. |
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An ounce of prevention can keep your bottom-line healthy
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04 Apr 2008 |
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“Health-care costs rose 8% last year . . . In hopes of containing costs, a growing number of businesses are offering services and incentives to keep employees healthy: Nearly three-quarters of firms now provide their employees with health-risk appraisals, while 42% offer programs to reduce obesity . . . “ - Sarah E. Needleman, The Wall Street Journal. |
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How to make your meetings matter
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11 Sep 2007 |
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“The best way to describe Mr Windling would be like this: you are at a meeting. You’d like to be away early. So would everyone else. There really isn't much to discuss, anyway. And just as everyone can see “Any Other Business” coming over the horizon and is already putting their papers neatly together, a voice says ‘If I can raise a minor matter, Mr Chairman. . .’ And you just know . . .” Terry Pratchett, The Truth. |
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Heads up! Burnout coming your way
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04 Sep 2007 |
Frustration, irritation, depression. Feeling angry, drained, detached, isolated, demotivated. Having trouble sleeping, getting up in the morning, getting the job done and staying positive. Not being able to relax or socialise.
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The good side of office politics – the art of campaigning
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28 May 2007 |
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“When people talk about office politics, they usually mean something dirty or underhanded. But nobody exists in an atmosphere where everybody agrees. Politics is the art of trying to accomplish things within organisations.” |
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The Games people play
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23 Apr 2007 |
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In a perfect world, the workplace should at all times be a professional environment, with employees doing their jobs as best they can, working together towards a shared goal. |
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Flexi-hours: why employees want it and why employers need to consider it
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27 Mar 2007 |
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“There’s a changing attitude to work and people are thinking very carefully how they can fit their work around their lifestyle. People are thinking about reward in a much more holistic way. Choice and flexibility are the key tools.”
Stan Fraser, vice-president international at PepsiCo. |
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Conflict in the workplace
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22 Jan 2007 |
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Every organisation or business needs to deal with a conflict situation at some point or another. Conflict can result from differences of opinion, opposing interests, misunderstandings, differences in values, conflicting goals and expectations, or personality clashes, to name a few. But are all conflicts necessarily destructive? And how does a manager deal with them should they arise? |
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Workplace friction must be resolved
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09 Jan 2007 |
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Conflict is a normal and natural part of our workplace and natural lives.
It can be helpful in making necessary changes at home or in the work environment. Unresolved conflict can, however, result in dissatisfaction, unhappiness, depression, hopelessness, emotional withdrawal, resignations from jobs, aggression and even violence. It can also lead to lost productivity and a poor morale. |
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Focus on training the workforce
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17 Nov 2006 |
Managing People
Although the basic aids of a company are material and static machines, people are the dynamic co-ordinators. Only people can increase the percentage on higher productivity and this can be achieved by letting the needs of the organization be met by the people’s productivity and employer’s satisfaction. |
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The status quo of transformation
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23 Oct 2006 |
Transformation through broad-based black economic empowerment is essential for sustained economic growth in South Africa.
But unfortunately, we are not quite where we should be, if one takes a recent report by the F.W. de Klerk Foundation into consideration. |
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Managing conflict in the workplace
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23 Oct 2006 |
In most work teams, conflict is more or less inevitable. Poor outcomes, however, are not.
Conflict situations could arise when, within a work team, personalities clash or there is disagreement about certain core values. |
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Consistency in Disciplinary Matters
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21 Aug 2006 |
A term that is often heard in the context of the application of discipline in the workplace is the word "consistency" or its opposite, “inconsistency.”
It is not always easily understood exactly what this means, and so we are going to examine this requirement - because that really is what it is - a requirement of the employer that he be “consistent” in the application of disciplinary action, and that he avoid “inconsistency.” |
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How to deal with drug abuse in the workplace
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15 Aug 2006 |
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It has been a long time that Sam, a business owner, has suspected that one of his employees abused drugs at home and sometimes at work. The employee's inconsistent work performance, late arrival at work, absenteeism, failing memory and physical signs all pointed to a possible substance abuse problem. |
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Aids in the Workplace
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05 Jul 2006 |
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An estimated 6.6 million South Africans are HIV-positive and the numbers continue to increase. The business owner can no longer ignore the issue of HIV/Aids in the workplace as it is the economically active age group who is most infected and affected by the illness. |
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Lie detector tests - Use polygraph with other evidence
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09 May 2006 |
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In this article we look at the use of polygraph tests in disciplinary hearings as a method of proving whether an employee is innocent or guilty of an alleged workplace offence. Employers who are faced with the problems of workplace misconduct have the right and the ability to investigate the facts surrounding the transgression but they must balance that with the employees' constitutional rights. |
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Measuring Team Performance
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05 Apr 2006 |
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Perhaps the most important thing that a manager can do is to find what can be done to help one’s team to achieve even more than the team itself believes is possible. |
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