When Should Your Organization Use Technology-Based Training?

Many companies are feeling the pressure to employ technology-based training solutions instead of continuing their reliance on traditional classroom training. Some have even taken the plunge with pilot projects, producing both favorable and unfavorable results. But before you go wading into the pricey waters of technology-based training, take the time to look at why many professionals feel it will vastly improve and enhance your … [ Read more ]

Evaluating Multimedia

So you’ve made the decision to use multimedia as part of your overall training strategy. You can take the low cost route and purchase generic off-the-shelf products, or you can expend more of your training budget on your own development. But do you know how to tell the difference between high quality multimedia and multimedia that is substandard (it may do the job … [ Read more ]

Beyond Training: Reconceptualising Learning at Work

“In a relatively known and predictable world rational solutions can be planned, for training as for anything else. A programme can be organised and implemented so that a workforce acquires the skills it needs. These skills will be the possessions of individuals. But perhaps we are beginning to see the limitations of this way of understanding things. To conceive learning objectives as WISE and OPEN … [ Read more ]

Where is HR When You Need Them?

A look at yet another one of the interesting best practices of the US Marine Corps – this time their practive use of HR.

Achieving Harmony and High Performance in the Workplace

The key to creating a stable, productive workplace is to put employees in charge of their own success…The developed steps to get there are geared toward giving employees a clear sense of their personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, and consequently, teaching them how those traits can be leveraged to improve both performance and compatibility on the job. To gain this awareness, it is important … [ Read more ]

Top 10 Layoff Mistakes

Wisdom from Ketchum Inside, the workplace communications and change management practice of Ketchum, a top-10 global public relations firm.

Gossip Poisons Business – HR Can Stop It

“Lies, rumors, and office gossip have always been an entrenched part of the workscape. The office water cooler has long been a place to chitchat about the latest company news and to swap lurid tales . . . Left unchecked, certain kinds of office gossip can lead to serious problems. Employees who perceive that they’re working in a hostile environment might also feel that they … [ Read more ]

Performance Reviews: Perilous Curves Ahead

Grading employees via forced rankings is a valuable management tool, say many companies. A slew of employees beg to differ.

Downsizing: Who Is The Real Loser?

Studies reflect fewer than 30 percent of downsizing efforts have achieved anticipated profitability. This statistic suggests the real downsizing losers are organizations and stockholders.

A brief history of the selection interview: may the next 100 years be more fruitful

Mildly scientific in its original conception, the selection interview first came into vogue around 100 years ago and remains the primary tool for hiring new employees. Researchers continue to debate how well this time-worn process works to find the best candidate for the job, and indeed if it works at all. M. Ronald Buckley and colleagues examine a century’s worth of theory and practice.

How Employees Value (Often Incorrectly) Their Stock Options

Given recent increases in the use of stock options, one might reasonably expect that employees – the beneficiaries of this perk – understand how options work. But according to recent research by Wharton professors David Larcker and Richard Lambert, employees tend to be relatively uninformed as to the basic economics of stock options, a finding that has important implications for employers, boards of directors and … [ Read more ]

Improve Your Interviewing Techniques

A successful interview should determine if there is a match between the individual and the job. Furthermore, a good interview process allows you to understand their behavior, values, motivations, and qualifications.

How Do You Attract and Retain the Best People?

“At the end of the day, we bet on people, not strategies.” So how do we attract and retain the right people to bet on?

It’s Not Just How Many, But Who Gets Stock Options That Matters

Now that employees in many dot-com companies have suddenly found their stock options to be substantially “out of the money,” is it time to announce the death of stock options as an integral component of compensation packages? Not so fast, argue Wharton accounting professors Christopher Ittner, Richard Lambert and David Larcker in a new paper that studies whether the performance of new economy firms is … [ Read more ]

How Online Recruiting Changes the Hiring Game

Online recruiting is changing the way employers think about finding good employees and the way employees think about their jobs and their employers. Indeed, the Internet may completely change the way companies manage human resources, says Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at Wharton. But while the Internet makes it easy to find resumes of passive applicants – people who are happy with their current … [ Read more ]

Is Your Workplace Healthy?

Authors of a new study claim vitality, integrity, tolerance, appreciation and latitude are the main elements to measure a healthy workplace. According to the researchers, trust and caring are the two most important aspects of a job. The pair also discovered that managers are the source of most of the problems. They interfere too much, punish or reward workers for results out of their control, … [ Read more ]

War For Talent II: Seven Ways to Win

McKinsey & Co. surveyed 6,900 senior executives and young managers from 56 companies to figure out the secret to winning the battle for great people. Here is an excerpt from the report on the seven “talent imperatives” that are essential for winning the war for talent. The seven:
1. Instill a talent mindset at all levels of the organization — beginning … [ Read more ]

Learning in a time of chaos

E-business is reshaping what knowledge, skills and behaviours are needed within organisations.

Full House

Arte Nathan was VP of human resources for Mirage Resorts Inc. in 1998 when it launched Bellagio — a lavish resort even by the standards of a city famous for its excess. Everything about Bellagio was larger than life, from its 3,000 rooms to its stunning art collection of original masterpieces. Equally lavish was the challenge that confronted Nathan: Hire 9,600 workers in 24 weeks. … [ Read more ]