When you are hiring and managing millenials, what are you going to be dealing with?
Are they really different, somewhat different- what is the pattern of variation? Should they be managed differently? Do they have the same values and motivations as their bosses? .... Here are some perspectives.
Contributed by alan on 11th of May 2015 09:53:26 AM
Over the last 30 years, there have been a series of buzzword programs in the quality and productivity improvement area in organizations. These include such alphabetic combinations as TQM, BPR, Lean, AGILE, LSX, Six Sigma, ERP, MRPII, TOC, WCM, Kaizen, CIT, CAPM and quite a number of others. All of them have been attributed to successful business results and a few to many.
Contributed by alan on 21st of April 2015 12:13:11 PM
There is a key concept in business and life that can have a powerful impact on your ability to identify problems and address them effectively. The concept is variation. Variation is the difference between what you expect to see and what you actually observe (expected vs. observed). W.
Contributed by alan on 19th of January 2015 07:58:01 PM
Most of us will agree that understanding each other is important, but many can't really describe what you need to understand. Many will cite relationship styles, decision making styles, leadership styles and communication tendencies as key issues. In fact there are quite a number of additional issues that can cause conflict and misunderstanding if not accurately understood. In fact, the worst scenarios occur when people think they understand and they don't (incorrect assumptions).
Contributed by alan on 10th of September 2014 11:21:01 PM
By accessing this specific research or running a study on a job you are hiring for, to fine tune the specifications, the level of understanding is increased greatly. The end result is a single number, based on research that constitutes a probability of success in that job (success = high performance). Selection decisions can be made MUCH more accurately. Just in the last couple years, leading companies such as MasterCard, Travelers, Qualcomm and hundreds of others have begun adopting this approach to select their people.
Contributed by alan on 19th of December 2013 10:21:27 PM
Statistical thinking is the ability to understand a situation by accurately assessing probabilities, understanding variation and dealing effectively with uncertainty.
I just finished teaching a graduate-level statistics class where the textbook material was the conventional hypothesis testing, confidence intervals and n/z/t/f/chi2 distributions... This is all valuable stuff in assessing samples and providing proof of the validity of your data. Far more valuable, I believe, is the ability to actually think statistically, which actually has very little to do with this.
Contributed by alan on 25th of January 2013 06:25:48 AM
Does HOW you do things matter? Think of anything significant you do- think of HOW it can best be done. Now, consider HOW you do it currently. This is a great line of thought for business leaders to instill in their managers but before you go down that road, you need to ensure they are focused on the right processes. Not all processes are important but the ones that have the following characteristics are:
Contributed by alan on 10th of August 2012 06:20:38 AM
The objective of a planning process, in marketing or elsewhere, is typically to pick the most worthwhile goals and figure out how to get there in the most efficient way possible. Usually, the most significant barrier to effective planning for many is oversimplification and basing decisions on assumptions and "feel-good" information that has no or little relation to reality. This leads to really bad decisions and I believe is a primary reason that statistically, most businesses and plans fail.
