In order to succeed every organization must provide something valued by the people possessing the capabilities they require. An attractive brand and value proposition can enable them to build and sustain the right workforce. That workforce is a critical form of capital. Capital comes in many forms: financial, operational, customer and intellectual. Over the last … Continue reading How Valuable Are An Organization’s Employees?

One of the most important principles underlying sound compensation management is that the cost of labor, not the cost of living, should impact how organizations pay their people.  Inflation is a macro-economic measure that is impacted by factors outside the control of organizations.  The ability of a firm to compete effectively for the talent it … Continue reading Will (Should) Short-term Inflation Increase Pay Levels?

The pandemic has resulted in more employees working from different locations. Many large, centralized offices and plants have become echo chambers lacking human habitation. Others are more sparsely populated at any given time, because employees do not spend all of their working time there. This massive relocation of work and those who do it may … Continue reading Should Organizations Relocate Their Workforces?

Innovation often is defined narrowly as invention… creating something that has never been. But there are other forms of innovation. I can improve existing technology or products and gain a competitive advantage. Or I can integrate features that already exist but have not yet been combined into a single device. Jobs led the creation of … Continue reading Creativity & Innovation: How Critical Are They?

Using teams to perform work continues to increase in frequency. The more complex work of today requires skill sets that fewer individuals possess on their own. And processes like the concurrent engineering of new products necessarily involve knowledge in a wide variety of fields, such as Finance, IT, Production, Marketing and the like. A team … Continue reading The Problem With Teams: They Are Made Up Of People

To determine if two employees in the same occupation are paid equitably relative to each other three comparisons should be made: Competence: capable of doing work of the same complexity, difficulty and variety? Contribution: perform at the same level? >Compa-ratio: their pay rates compared to their pay range midpoints the same ratio? If the answers … Continue reading Pay Equity: The 3 C Test

Employment is a contractual relationship between two parties… an organization and an individual. The contract may be emotional and not legally binding, which makes if more of an agreement about a relationship. Both parties want the conditions of employment to be fair, competitive and appropriate… from their perspective. The organization wants to get as much … Continue reading The Employment Contract: Let’s Make A Deal

Formulating the right strategy is critical. But an inadequate investment in training everyone on strategy execution will negate the value of having the right strategy. And if management has not ensured that people understand and adhere to the policies and practices that are required for execution not much that is good happens. If managers and … Continue reading Is It The Strategy… Or The Execution?

Professionals and managers are exposed to an avalanche of information about what is going on in their field of practice. Some of it is derived from discussions with others, some from practitioner journals and some from ideas presented at conferences. Continuous environmental scanning is a prudent strategy, particularly in the kind of dynamic environment that exists today. … Continue reading Following Trends: A Good Idea?