HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

"Managing Change"
"Basic Training for the Global Marketplace"
"Videoconferencing Transforms Training"
"Technology as a Change Agent"
"Managing Teams Well Is the Key"
"Ethics at Work"
"When Compliance Is Not Enough"
"Leadership Development: Prime the Pump to Avoid a Future Leadership Drought"

Managing Change
Global Services Online (08/06/06) Vol. 1, P. 20; Marlin, Steve
Resistance to workplace changes can substantially lessen the positive outcome of an outsourcing or offshoring decision. Change management is a specialized sector that can often be hard for global sourcing executives to learn, but the payoffs can be significant. The initial step in change management is to determine the individuals who are likely to be impacted by the change, which in outsourcing is probably the business-procedure owners, whose agreements could be put at risk by the new outsourcing deal. This can be remedied by involving them in the outsourcing strategy, such as placing them on the team that is studying the outsourcing opportunity and getting their opinion concerning how their procedures can work more effectively. Firms need to discuss with their workers their decision to outsource, such as the reasons why, the procedure it is outsourcing, and whom they are teaming with. Some of the most crucial question that are on workers' minds include possible layoffs, the criteria for choosing these individuals, and job relocation. Evolving leaders able to handle change is something that is frequently missing at companies. Organizational theory and psychology studies emphasize the importance of talking to stakeholders about the effect of transformational alterations that happen due to company revamping, downsizing, or mergers.

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Basic Training for the Global Marketplace
Chief Executive (08/06) , P. 26; Kaufman, Henry; Johnson, Thomas S.
Institute of International Education chairman emeritus Henry Kaufman and chairman Thomas S. Johnson discuss how the United States is losing its advantage in science and technology. While the two men state that the most often-mentioned solution is a vast, greatly needed expenditure of resources for math and science education in American schools, they stress that this is just part of the "basic training" young people require to compete well in a worldwide marketplace. In addition, Kaufman and Johnson write, young people need global knowledge, language skills, and intercultural communications abilities that young graduates throughout the world get as part of their advanced education, and that U.S. companies cannot afford to provide them at work. The two men say that the Institute of International Education stated in its most recent report that study overseas more than doubled in the last 10 years, to an unprecedented high of 191,321 students getting credit this last year. Kaufman and Johnson say the positive news is that the United States already has enacted an efficient means to construct language and cultural awareness: "Study abroad at the undergraduate level." The negative news, the two men point out, is that the figure is just 1 percent of the 19 million students enrolled in higher education in the United States, and that human resources executives do not seem to value overseas experience when preferring hiring decisions. "The lesson is clear," Kaufman and Johnson say. "Business leaders need to support international study with financial means."

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Videoconferencing Transforms Training
Communications News (08/06) Vol. 43, P. 22
Palatine, Ill., firefighters spend around 20 hours per month attending courses associated with firefighting and emergency medical services. The classes cover a broad array of topics, including technical, rescue, handling hazardous substances, incident command system, and nationwide management system. The department looked at a training effort based on videoconferencing, starting the procedure by pursuing an Assistance to Firefighters grant to counter the expenses, while at the same time evaluating businesses that offered videoconferencing systems. The fire department selected Itasca, a Sony value-added reseller, and Computer Sports provided the required equipment. A Sony IPELA videoconferencing network was implemented within the department's current network, giving the firefighters the kind of training solution they mandated. The Sony system restructured the training procedure for the fire department and established a new prototype for first responders. The primary features of the system include total IP-based functionality, meaning anybody with Internet access could utilize it, as well as IPVCR recording ability, so the same classes can be offered to individuals who miss a live session. In addition, it permits firefighters to remain in their response districts to handle emergencies but still take part in live instruction sessions.

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Technology as a Change Agent
ERI Journal (08/06) Vol. 2, P. 38; Berthiaume, Dan
Companies that oppose change often do so for a couple of reasons, the first being that if something is not a problem, it should be left alone, even though a change in procedure or tactic could significantly improve an already good situation. The other attitude is common at companies that have been damaged by one of the many popular business change initiatives of the last decade, such as unnecessarily spending millions of dollars on upgrading their systems codes for Year 2000 adjustments. The sole way to ascertain ongoing business profitability, though, is to enact a flexible company attitude that is willing to change to make things even better. Operating over 5,000 outlets throughout the nation and employing 60,000 to 70,000 workers, Blockbuster, Inc., has a challenging task in handling its workforce. By installing a Web-based automated workforce management system, the corporation has been able to substantially streamline tasks, including time and attendance tracking, payroll, work scheduling, and client traffic predictions. Blockbuster automates workforce management functions with a workforce management suite from BlueCube Software. Managers at the store level have access to the system through a Web browser, and while they formerly had to dedicate between two and three hours a week to conduct manual work scheduling and allocation tasks, these jobs are now done at company headquarters, based on cutting-edge analysis of elements such as client traffic trends and pending product releases and promotions. Besides substantially upgrading the accuracy of workforce management actions while lowering the amount of related manual labor, Blockbuster has saved hard dollars by replacing printed worker forms and manuals with Internet documents.

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Managing Teams Well Is the Key
Construction Contractor (08/06) ; Learmonth, Anna
There are three elements of human resources (HR) that all businesses should focus on--establishing and documenting corporate values, performance management, and training and development. Strong corporate values help employees understand what is required of them, and actions that contravene values should be censured. Values should also govern how leaders manage the firm and who gets hired or dismissed. Performance management can take the form of--at a minimum--discussions on a yearly basis on employees' achievements, strong points, development areas, and long-term career goals. Such a process allows firms to set targets for the period, identify what is working and what is not, and create a platform for realizing business goals. As for training and development, companies should formulate a targeted training initiative that helps the company reach its objectives and eliminate skills gaps. Training could be done internally or through outside providers based on requirements and what the company's training resources are. For example, smaller businesses can provide skills training internally by relying on the more experienced members within employee teams. By focusing on these three HR areas, companies of any size, sector, or location can facilitate leadership development and improve their human resources approaches.

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Ethics at Work
CA Magazine (08/06) ; Allard, Jonathan
Companies need to implement anti-fraud measures that enable employees and customers to report potential fraudulent incidents, such as a manager creating ghost employees on a payroll in order to pocket the wages. In response to workplace fraud, Toronto has instituted an ethics hotline that received 89 calls in 2004 and 184 calls in 2005. Companies also can establish a reporting program, which begins with training employees in ethics and ends with the handling of complaints. Reporting programs must be independent of both employee and executive control, and companies should remember that executive fraud, on average, costs companies 14 times as much as employee fraud. Outsourcing a reporting program or ethics hotline is one way to ensure this mechanism remains impartial. About 85 percent of whistleblowers face problems due to their reporting even under the best of circumstances, according to recent U.S. surveys. Employees most often are the whistleblowers, followed by customers, vendors, and anonymous tips, in that order.

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When Compliance Is Not Enough
Financial Times (08/22/06) , P. 8; Persaud, Avinash; Plender, John
The financial shenanigans of Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat and others have resulted in the creation of new corporate governance laws around the world, and many companies have hired ethics officers to address moral quandaries and black holes, yet too many companies have made ethics the responsibility of consultants, not executives. Business ethics are crucial to business success, because trust is a fundamental part of business relationships, and a lack of trust leads to higher corporate compliance costs, a cause-and-effect chain reaction that leads to the birth of laws like the toothy Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Citigroup has encountered recent ethics snafus in its operations in London and Japan, an example of how difficult it is for global companies to implement an "ethics culture" across the hydra of myriad operations. Leadership at the top is crucial for developing an ethical culture, and drafting and instituting a readable and useable code of ethics is the first solid step. Corporate leaders must set an example and embrace ethics-positive principals such as openness, responsibility, and accounting-numbers integrity. Meanwhile, pay-for-performance incentives in today's board room and executive suites need to be re-evaluated. Some of these incentives create structural pressures that prod people to tweak the books, rather than just perform well.

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Leadership Development: Prime the Pump to Avoid a Future Leadership Drought
Contractor's Business Management Report (09/01/06) Vol. 2006
The construction company Kitchell Corp. has created an internal leadership development program called "Vision 2010." The plan is based on three primary actions--recruiting intelligently, training thoroughly, and establishing performance measurements. To achieve these goals, Kitchell has appointed a dedicated recruiter who reaches out to universities and industry groups; the company is also working on a unified hiring process that features job descriptions, interview guidelines, and references/background checks. To develop leadership qualities, Kitchell evaluates staff members' behaviors and habits through tests like Myers-Briggs and uses the results as a basis for coaching. Kitchell has also developed an official succession plan for essential employees that consists of identifying and developing team leaders; rewarding beneficial achievements; learning how to implement skills; offering training, development, coaching, and evaluations of leaders, and adjusting to the viewpoints of different age groups. The company's performance measurements focuses on such things as metrics and also ensures that every leader has a succession candidate who is in a development program. Kitchell has also launched an online performance management system that features customized job and development goals. Furthermore, Kitchell relies on 360-degree feedback that focuses on existing strengths rather than overcoming obstacles.