Sometimes when a mistake has been made, an apology isn’t enough. This article outlines the principle steps required to win back confidence and get the working relationship back to where it should be.
Category Archives: Management
Stop trying to control people or make them happy – Harvard Business Review Blog
An outline of the dominant management strategies governing ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ styles, proposed by Frederick Taylor and Elton Mayo respectively. This explains a third style called ‘smart simplicity’ which works along the following rules:
- Understand what your people do: Start with a true understanding of what your people do and why they do it.
- Reinforce integrators: Foster cooperation by giving people the power and interest to do so.
- Increase the total quantity of power: Create new power, don’t just shift existing power.
- Increase reciprocity: Ensure people use their autonomy.
- Extend the shadow of the future: Create direct feedback loops.
- Reward those who cooperate: Make transparency, innovation, and aspiration the best choices for individuals and teams.
This style creates greater employee autonomy and supports improved co-operation.
Are you a holistic or a specific thinker? – Harvard Business Review Blog
An interesting comparison between Chinese and American ways of thinking. The Chinese will adopt a holistic view looking at how someone interacts with their environment, whilst the Americans will focus more on the specific aspects of the person. It compares the work of psychologists Richard E. Nisbett and Takahiko Masuda to explain this cultural difference.
Although the article is focussed on international business relations between the two cultures, it highlight how easy it is for confusion to arise when people approach scenarios from different angles.
Medical leadership arrangements in English healthcare organisations: Findings from a national survey and case studies of NHS trusts – Health Services Management Research
This project set out to describe the involvement of doctors in leadership roles in the NHS as well as NHS trusts’ organisational structures and management processes.
Managing creativity: lessons from Pixar and Disney animation – Harvard Business Review Blog
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, reflects on company culture and the impact of integration with Walt Disney Animation Studios. The decision was taken that after acquisition of Pixar, employees could go and see processes and systems that were used by the other divisions, but were under no obligation to adopt them. The divisions were encouraged to keep their own independent cultures to help foster creativity and share learning from different projects.