Development during the Industrial Revolution.

Development during the Industrial Revolution.
The impetus for the Industrial Revolution developed by the seventeenth
century. Agricultural methods had improved in Europe to the extent that
surpluses were generated. These surpluses were used for trade. Trade
routes were by this time expanding, on a global scale, including those
to the East and the Americas to the West
Technical advances were being made, most importantly in textile manufacturing,
notably in the eighteenth century, Hargreaves's spinning jenny, Arkwright's
water frame and Compton's mule. The steam engine first developed in 1698
by Thomas Savory, was harnessed by James Watt. Improved hygiene and diet, including the boiling of water to make tea (from the East,)
led to expanding populations.
These factors, technological developments, expanding trade/ markets,
growing populations created opportunities for merchants and entrepreneurs
to invest in new factories. This was the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution. With it came the need to improve work methods, quality, and
Productivity.

The Factory System

Adam Smith, in the eighteenth century, advocated making work efficient
by means of specialization. He advocated breaking the work down into
simple tasks. He saw three advantages of the division of labor
the development of skills type the saving of time the possibility of using specialized tools.
Following on rapidly from Smith changes in the process of manufacturing
developed.
After the War of Independence, there was a shortage of musket parts
in the United States. Eli Whitney proposed the manufacturing of muskets
by means of using interchangeable parts. Though the idea was viewed with
initial skepticism, his process was successful in producing large quantities
of interchangeable parts. Thus was born the process of tooling up for
production. At this time Whitney developed and used techniques such as
cost accounting and quality control.
Records from the Soho Bell Foundry in Chelsea, around the same time
as Whitney, reveal evidence of the use of production standards, cost
control, work study and incentives.
In 1832, Charles Babbage, an engineer, philosopher and researcher, examined
the division of labor in his book On the Economy of Machinery and
Manufacturers.His work raised important questions about production,
organizations and economics.

Division of Labor
One factor, crucial in the latter development of incentives, Babbage
proposed, as an advantage of the division of labor, that the amount of
skill needed to undertake a specialized task was only the skill necessary
to complete that task. He illustrated this concept by breaking down the
manufacture of a pin, into seven elements.
The important implication for employers was that they need only pay
for the amount of skill necessary to complete each individual task. He
advocated breaking down jobs into elements and costing each element.
In this way, potential savings from investments in training, process
and methods could be quantified.
Thus these developments presaged the machine age, replacing traditional
manual labor and improving productivity.

Machines were located near sources of power, first water
later coal for steam.
Large concentrations of machines were gathered in one
place under one roof in the factories.
This required large numbers of people, who came together
to work these machines and in the distribution of the outputs from
the factories.

Thus the management functions of control, planning and coordination
were required to be studied in order to further.

Other important developments
Probably the first attempt at formally timing work was in 1760 when
a Frenchman, Jean Radolphe Perronet, studied the manufacture of pins
and attempted to establish standard times for various operations.
Documents have been found relating to the Old Derby China works for
the year 1792 in which a Mr. Thomas Mason pledged himself to undertake
time studies in the factory and to undertake his work conscientiously
and diligently.
At the turn of the century the problems of layout and method were studied
by Robert Owen. Owen's work at the New Lanark Mills was revolutionary
at the time. Through experimentation, he succeeded in raising the living
conditions of his workers whilst reorganizing his mills on commercial
principles. Robert Owen is credited with being the first to recognize fatigue and
the work environment as factors affecting the performance of factory
workers

The ageless search for better ways

It can be deducted, that from earliest recorded times groups of people have been organized to work together towards planned goals. Their efforts coordinated and controlled to achieve such outcomes. Though the term scientific management did not come into being well into the Industrial Revolution (the latter half of the 19th century,) its history is, on reflection, much longer than the term itself. Consider the management skills required, by the ancient Egyptians to build their pyramids, by the ancient Chinese to build the Great Wall of China, the management skills of the Mesopotamians to irrigate their land and wall their cities, of the Romans when building their roads, aqueducts and Hadrian's Wall. All these man-made constructions required large amounts of human effort and therefore organization i.e. planning, control and coordination. The Great Pyramid for example is 75600 square feet at its base, 480 feet high, and contains over 2 million blocks of stone, each weighing 2.5 tons. The base of the structure is only 7 inches from being a perfect square. This was achieved with no computer, electronic calculator, modern materials handling equipment or advanced mathematical techniques/ models.

Scientific Management - some earlier contributors?

The Chinese philosopher Mencius (372-289BC) dealt with conceptual models and systems familiar now under the term of production management techniques. He indicated the advantages of the division of labor. Records indicate that the ancient Greeks understood the advantages of, and practiced, uniform work methods. Their soldiers were instructed as to how their weapons and equipment should be laid out in case of a surprise attack. They also employed work songs to develop a rhythm, in order to achieve a smooth less fatiguing tempo, to improve productivity. The division of labor was recognized by Plato (427-347BC). He wrote in The Republic, 'A man whose work is confined to such limited task must necessarily excel at it'

Ancient attitude to work

However, work itself was viewed by certainly the ancient Greeks and the Romans, as demeaning. Work was something to be avoided as it got in the way of more ideal pursuits, such as the arts, philosophy and military adventure. Therefore, those who could afford to do so employed slaves.

After the fall of the Roman Empire

With the fall of the Roman Empire, development was curtailed; slavery being replaced by feudalism. In pre-Reformation Christian Europe, work was also seen as a burden, a punishment for the sins of Adam and Eve, for which reward would be found in the hereafter. In this period, the mechanical clock, invented by Heinrich von Wych in Paris in 1370, and Guttenberg's printing press were key to all future developments in scientific management. The former permitted accurate work measurement the latter the ability to communicate by the printed word. Indeed Guttenberg's inspired creative thinking can be viewed as an early example of method study. The story goes that Guttenberg, whilst at a wine festival, realized he could apply the technique of using dies for coin-punching with the mechanics of a wine press, to produce a printed page, made up of individual letters instead of from a single engraved block.

The First Production Line?

In 1436 a Spanish visitor to the Arsenal of Venice reported: And as one enters the gate there is a great street on either hand with the sea in the middle, and on one side are windows opening out of the house of the arsenal, and the same on the other side, and out came a galley towed by a boat, and from the windows they handed out to them, from one the cardage, from another the ballistics and mortars, and so from all sides everything which was required, and when the galley had reached the end of the street all the men required were on board, together with the complement of oars, and she was equipped from end to end. In this manner there came out ten galleys, fully armed, between the hours of three and nine. The Spanish visitor had witnessed a production line, around 500 years before Henry Ford. The Arsenal of Venice also used standardized parts. The bows of the warships had to accommodate all types of arrows, stern parts to accommodate all types of rudders and rigging. The deck parts had to be interchangeable. This was also an earlier form of waste control. Wrecked vessels could be cannibalized. This productivity improving method of manufacturing of galleys presupposes some sort of work measurement and method study prior to the establishment of the facility. Plus, the desire to improve productivity in line with a real need to do so i.e. reduce costs, competition, protect, maintain or improve competitiveness etc.

Fifteenth century monks recorded the overall times for the construction of monastery stonework. Such records suggest an attempt, even in those early times, to establish standards of quality, time and output.

Work attitude

With the Reformation, the Protestant 'work ethic' emerged based on Luther's glorification of work theory. Calvinism brought further consolidation to this principle and with it the virtues of thrift, frugality and the honorable acquisition of wealth. Work was viewed in society as respectable and idleness as deplorable. From the forgoing, it can be deduced that though the term scientific management has been coined fairly recently, the application of scientific management principles has been around a lot longer.

Team Building - Suggested uses

Take your group out of their workplace in order to share relevant experiences, insights, perceptions, attitudes and collective wisdom. Use the programmed team building approach;
To identify explore and improve individual work performance challenges and opportunities.
To identify explore and improve group working challenges and opportunities.
To extend knowledge through intensive study, research, and discussion.
To solve work–related problems by sharing common experiences and knowledge.
To develop action plans.
To change attitudes through the amicable examination of the evidence.
To develop a wider perspective on performance improvement.
To develop organizational awareness.
To develop negotiating skills.
To develop leadership skills.
Etc.
The schematic below will give you a full idea of how we approach team building i.e. performance improvement.
Workshop approaches to improvement
The essence of our approach to team building is process improvement. Improvement (productivity) flows from making work
easier
simpler
quicker
rewarding
safer and
fun
Changing and improving unsatisfactory situations, within the context of organizational goals, brings about rapid team development. These unsatisfactory situations are usually caused be ineffective, processes, systems, methods and or resources. They are largely easy to determine, define and correct.
Talking and listening to employees at all levels reveals wonderful opportunities, often simple, that invariably lead to improvement.

Team Building - Exercises and activities deployed

To make the learning and the team development process more effective, during the course of the workshop a number of team building exercises and activities are used. These exercises are designed to be stimulating, informative and challenging.
Performance review and projection
Using input data from the workshop planning phase, delegates interpret key performance data, ‘where have we come from?’ ‘Where are we heading?’ ‘What caused…?’ ‘How did that…’
This contextual team building activity is powerful, much more so than monthly performance targets that take 'snapshots in time' and will often lead to a fundamental change in how performance is viewed, at all levels. In addition it can often reveal hidden problems.
Time series graphs of key performance indicatorsTrends are an important or should be to organizations. They are very important to large investors, who seek confirmation of trends in earnings growth and profitability. Trends are important to national economies, we all want to see growing prosperity, growing employment opportunities and a downturn in criminal activity.
It is very easy to take a snapshot of any kind of data and ‘spin’ it as being positive in relation to some ‘growth in …’ or ‘decline in …’ in the short–term, when the medium to long term picture is otherwise. It is also easy to manipulate data to give a false picture of what is really happening.
Using time series graphs of key performance indicators and using the simplest of trending techniques delegates will fundamentally change their approach to performance management. This focuses team building on the main objective, performance improvement. Events in history can be fully explored and their affects on performance evaluated.

Team Building Blocks
This exercise will give a baseline on the core dynamics of effective team building, that leads to performance improvement and individual employee growth.

Role playing
Using the open systems model of the organization, role playing is simple to setup. During the preparation stage for the team building workshop, relevant special interest groups (or SIGs )are identified. For a commercial organization these would include:
Employee SIG
Senior management SIG
Owners (shareholders) SIG
Suppliers SIG
Customers SIG
Again using the open systems model it may be appropriate to have only internal SIGs, thus:
Sales SIG
Marketing SIG
Manufacturing SIG
Administration SIG
Output from the team building process, such as problems, challenges, opportunities, weaknesses etc. are evaluated from the differing perspectives of each SIG. The key during role playing, is role reversal, for instance rank and file employees role play senior management, then explain how they would handle situation x.
Delegates will use role playing as a means of stimulating discussion, that is aimed at problems solving
Provides individuals and the groups with insight into attitudes that may differ sharply from own
It gives the delegates the chance to assume the personality of (to think and act like) another group; leading to better understanding
Sometimes groups are able to explain cultural / hierarchical differences more clearly
Can be used to seek out possible solutions to emotion laden problems
Gives everyone involved a bigger picture of the relationships, processes and workings of the organization

Buzz sessions
Buzz sessions can be inter spaced through out the team building process to stimulate thought, discussion and add interest. These short sessions entail a guest speaker delivering a short presentation on a relevant subject. Such speakers can be experts in their field, they can be internal employees (QA manager for instance) or external guests from suppliers and or customers.
The idea is to further add goal congruence, context and relevance to the team building process.

Site visits
Site visits can be arranged and conducted prior to the workshop, during the workshop or post the workshop. They are used to develop organizational awareness to compare how the the organization perceives itself internally and how it is perceived externally by suppliers and customers.
Site visits also develop better working relationships and improved problem solving capability. It brings together the concept of 'thinking outside the box' by visiting those who 'live and work outside the box'.'
To relate theory to ‘real’ problems.
To study something that cannot be brought into a classroom.
To stimulate interest and concern.
To demonstrate a course of action ‘in the field’ or in a work environment.
To talk to other workers in their working environment.
To find out details of how things are done.
To study organizational cultures or environments.

The evaluation activities
During the team building workshop, where appropriate, a number of evaluation activities are deployed.
Problem development time–line exercise
Any organizational problem has an history. Problems in the team building workshop are evaluated historically with this activity.

Predicting the future exercise
This activity will assist in gaining agreement for the need to change. What is looked for is the negative consequences flowing from allowing a current unsatisfactory situation to ‘fester.’
Exploration of change analysis activity
Designed to explore a problem in terms of what happened and when in some detail this exercise takes real workplace events and has the groups analyze past events and the effects on SIGs.
Individual, group, organization, suppliers and customers needs analysis activity
During the team building workshop problems in one area or another, or at one level or another will come to the fore. Delegates, through the various exercises and activities will have pinpointed when things started going wrong, they will predicted what they think will happen if things continue in the current vain and they have begun to explore the problem in terms of the effect the unsatisfactory situation is having on them.
Delegates explore what they would like to build into a future solution to this current unsatisfactory situation, that meets their role playing SIG needs.
These team building exercises and activities let the group get to grips with their (and your) problem. How would they solve this (or that) particular problem, taking cognizance of all the dynamics, internal and external, they have explored. These activities greatly improve the problem solving capabilities of delegates and a greater awareness of the dynamics involved in making decisions.

The team building blocks

The following team building blocks, are the essential dynamics that enable any group of people to come together in an organized fashion to deliver or produce effectively and efficiently, goods and services. An initial diagnostic team building exercise takes the form of a comprehensive questionnaire, which individual workshop members complete.
The outcome from the exercise is a composite radar chart displaying the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the 9 team building blocks.
This starting profile is the first step in the team building workshop process.
An experienced 'org. doc' (trainer) soon homes in on the areas that require exploring with an eye on the scale and scope of the potential for improvement.
It's much easier and quicker to change systems, processes, methods, etc. than to change peoples basic character traits. We look for areas around employees, at levels, that bring about changes in behaviors and lead to productivity improvement. If systems are not working, then your people are not working together. The scope for performance improvement exists in all organizations at all times, this includes the reduction in work content (the antidote to extra hours being worked.)
Team building blocks - the process start profile
To begin the exploration of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for improvement and threats to the organization, a start profile of the team building blocks manifest in the group is summarized. The example below shows one such profile in the form of a radar chart. The expert tutor will then go through these team building blocks and have the group explore the 'sore thumb' and hidden problems. This is done in a simple, common sense approach.
By inspection, this team building processes can be seen as relevant to the needs of the organization, the group and the individuals in the group. In any given organization, there will be at least one or two of the team building blocks that can and will make a significant difference to overall performance improvement

Team Building - The workshop process

The workshop uses the talent, experience, wisdom, logic and existing thought patterns of the delegates to forge an improved conceptual model of the organization, from that which exists at the start of the team building process.

They can use the workshop either to tackle:
Existing challenges
Perceived future challenges
Or in a ‘blue skies’ mode to think about ways of improving how the organization operates.
Delegates first establish existing facts, their thinking, perceptions, assumptions experiences and their attitudes; the good, the bad and the ugly. They then begin to challenge this existing base in order to develop an improved conceptual model.
From the improved conceptual model, delegates seek improvements by testing the new model using debate, exercises, activities and role playing. Improvements are likely to be come from the group in the following areas:
Performance
Systems
Methods
Materials
Basic business process plus sub-processes
Management
Leadership
Relationships
The workshop will enable delegates to fully explore their workplaces, the organizational environment and beyond. It will realistically challenge the way they think and view their workplace, their work and their relationships thus paving the way for improved opportunities for personal development and thus improved organizational effectiveness.
Advantages
Can assemble and take advantage of a great deal of diverse experience
Designed for a high degree of participation
Allows for group–determined goals, plans, and recommendations
It will generate more ideas than any individual would produce alone, and will promote confidence in agreed–upon solutions

Team Building

Overview
The Accel-Team Building Developing Synergy Workshop is the most effective and time efficient way to bring about organizational integration and performance improvement.
It dispenses with ineffective gimmicky team building activities and the ‘paralysis through analysis’ profiling of this and that personality type. Instead delegates attending our team building workshop, will critically focus on how their organization operates, what it does, why it does it, where things are done, how they are done, who does what, and to what effect.
Using a variety of innovative techniques, delegates will quickly grasp the ‘big picture’ then step-by-step, drill down to where improvements can be made.
Delegates will find the workshop challenging, exciting, thought provoking and rewarding. Ultimately they will leave the workshop with ideas for improvement and an enthusiastic fresh perspective on:
The world of work
Their roles
Their business process including inputs and outputs
How and why things are measured, plus the effect on people and the effectiveness of such measurement
Group interactions
Team-work
The goals of the organization and most importantly
Areas for individual, inter-groups and organizational performance improvement
Goal and Aim
Rather than fill minds with irrelevant and impractical knowledge our team building workshop has a one simple goal and aim.
The goal is to achieve improvement in the way staff view and do their jobs. This brings about the productivity improvement benefit that all organizations desire.
The aim is to inspire action that improves the way the organization operates and the way staff interact.
Key Features
Uses an 'open systems' model of your organizationYour organization is a complex system, irrespective of its function and size. During the team building process we use a simple open systems model of your organization to explore structural relationships, develop organizational awareness and show cause and effect relationships, in order to bring about the performance improvements you are looking for.
The Team Building Developing Synergy Workshop is scaleableThis means you can concentrate on a group, or a number of groups. Using the open systems approach to model effective team building, you can include representatives from inter alia (upstream) suppliers and or (downstream) customers. It's a simple matter of identifying where you wish to bring about change (improvement), apply the open systems model, diagnose it, then explore the results using the various team building exercises and activities devised to specifically explore, analyze then improve productivity.
Customization of the Team Building Magic workshop to your organizationCustomization is key to successful performance improvement outcomes. The pre-workshop delivery phase requires modeling of your organization, the use powerful trending techniques on key performance indicators (can be internal and or external indicators,) the identification of 'special interest groups' (SIGs) to be role played, the guest speakers, to deliver short sharp 'buzz sessions' and so on.
Powerful, illuminating, constructive and educational role playing (using SIGs)Role playing is used during the team building process to enable delegates to examine the organizational environment from differing perspectives. This meaningful and relevant role playing can be extended during or after the workshop by site visits to other locations such as to the premises of suppliers, customers or other locations within your organization.
Key Benefits
Demonstrably better, more relevant and practical team building methodology that is easy to organize and deliver
Content is relevant, interesting, challenging and rewarding, it taps into real world workplace experiences of employees, no contrived irrelevant team building exercises, activities and simulations.
Universal relevance to any organization. Anyone in any organization can contribute, the more diverse the backgrounds the better potential for true team building.
Makes use of the people with the experience at all levels and utilizes this diversity of interests and experiences to shape solutions and improvements.
Valuable information, based on the sensitivities of all involved will flow out of the workshop. Look out for many areas for performance improvement to be offered up - from all hierarchical levels represented in the workshop.
Identifies the challenges faced by the organization, internally and externally.
Gains consensus through role playing special interest groups (SIGs) (the 'Executive' group, the 'Customers' group, the (other) 'Stakeholders' group, the 'Employees' group etc.
Encourages self-criticism.
Helps develop group and individual opinions by testing ideas, then transforming them.
Can identify future leaders or provide a training ground for future leaders.
Can identify hidden talent and talents within the group.
Develops trust, responsibility and loyalty.
Often produces solutions to previously insoluble problems.
No irrelevant and ineffective gimmicks.
Adaptable to needs and vocabularies of any group of employees.
Easy to target key result areas, where performance is below what is required.
Old technology, old procedures, old policies, old methods, or
New technologies, new procedures, new policies, new methods

Communication Skills

Conceptual Model
Communication is a two-way process in which people transmit (send) and receive;
-ideas
-information
-opinions or
-emotions.
These must be interpreted and reacted on, normally through feedback before the communication process is completed. In the world of business, the aim should be to develop communication patterns, between individuals and groups, that are;
-meaningful
-direct
-open, and
-honest.
A manager conveys information and instructions through communication, either written or verbal. It is therefore a vital link between the manager and his or her team and effective communication is the key to good management. Yet, in reality, it is a very poor link.
We have quoted Drucker above on this issue. If you still have any doubts, just consider the results (Warner (1981)) of two surveys on this subject. According to the first survey, we are all being constantly bombarded with messages, and of around 2000 a day, we will only remember some 65 - hardly a good average.
The other and completely independent survey confirms this very low rate of retention, but goes a step further in looking at the retention for the various means of communication:
-Reading 10% retention
-Hearing 20% retention
-Seeing 30% retention
Hearing and seeing 50% retention
This study provides a very useful clue to effective communication, and confirms that audio-visual techniques are much better than just audio or visual. Also that writting / reading messages is the least effective way to communicate. There are broadly four components of any communication:
-communicator;
-medium;
-message; and
-recipient.
But we tend to focus attention on only one of the four, the message. The other three components are usually ignored and this leads to a complete breakdown in communications. In the case of international business communications there are additional factors such as language barriers and cultural differences. These can further complicate the picture by distorting the message.

Plain talking
A neglected skill?

Typically, the members of such a team may have backgrounds in accounting, engineering, legal, production and computing. A project team comprising five such professionals are known to behave like five different firms, each concerned with their own world . For example:
Accountant - presents the analysis in jargon
Engineer - uses every technical phrase learnt at school
Lawyer - speaks in Latin
In effect, all at different wavelengths. If the project manager talks in plain words to the team - "anyone who cannot use words understood by a high school student would be kicked off the team". This is bound to have immediate effect and everyone will start talking in plain language.
Words can indeed mean different things to different people. There is, or was, a sign in the Pentagon in Washington that proclaims:
"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Humpty Dumpty explaining his philosophy of life to Alice, says:
"When I use a word", Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less."
Are we all living in "wonderland"? Those gentlemen at the Pentagon seemed to think so, if the sign above is any indication of their thinking.


Listening

Why all this fuss about listening?
Surely, after all that we have said so far on communications, this question ought not to be asked, but we are sure it should be asked, because nobody really listens! It is a vital communication skill, yet it is always being taken for granted that people actually listen and understand.
A survey based on interviews and questionnaire among 400 project engineering personnel proved (Klauss (1982)) that nearly 80 per cent of a managers time is spent in face-to-face interpersonal interaction with co-worker. It was found that although the substance of the oral message was important, the style and credibility were the key to the impact of the message on the receiver - a point which we have made earlier in this sub-section.
In another survey (Training HRD (1978)), more than three hundred members of the academy of Certified Administrative Managers were asked: "What abilities or competencies do you consider to be the 20 per cent that yields the 80 per cent results?" This 20:80 rule has its origin in the well-known Pareto law, sometimes expressed in the statement, vital few versus trivial many.
The survey led to a consensus amongst twenty critical managerial skills, of which four were rated by the participants as 'super critical', seven as 'highly critical' and nine as 'critical'. The four super-critical activities were found to be, in descending order of importance:
active listening;
giving clear effective instructions;
accepting your share of responsibility;
identifying the real problem.
Isn't that interesting? All the four super-critical activities relate to communication and of these listening is considered to be the most important.
Listening is big business these days. There are several full-time consultants, and seminar leaders who are occupied entirely, day in, day out, with this one subject.
There is also the International Listening Association, with members from several countries, which aims to promote effective listening through exchange of information, methods, experience and materials and pursuing research on the subject.
There are many books dealing exclusively with the subject of listening and the message running through all of them is simply this: listening is vital yet much neglected. It is a skill that can and must be acquired. They all seek to point the way to perfection, each author having his or her own 'golden rules'. Many of them, of course, are much the same in principle, only expressed in different words. We give you, for your use, the ten rules from a book (Montgomery (1981)) published by the American Management Association:
-Look at the speaker.
-Question the speaker to get clarification.
-Show concern about the speakers feelings.
-Repeat occasionally to confirm.
-Don't rush the speaker.
-Have poise and emotional control.
-Respond with a nod, a smile or a frown.
-Pay close attention.
-Don't interrupt.
-Keep on the subject till the speaker finishes his or her thoughts.
Let us conclude by saying that listening is a gift and a skill that can be learnt and must be learnt and to learn it will not cost you a great deal of money - yet it is priceless to the person to whom you are listening, and the skill is absolutely essential for you, as manager and as individual, both in your professional and your personal life, to be truly effective.

Negotiating at work for what you want

This is the so-called 'win-win' rather than a 'win-lose' situation, making negotiation a cooperative effort rather than a competitive process. If and when one of the parties is convinced that there is nothing further to gain, the negotiation process will come to an end.
Another recent book on the subject starts (referenced in the PDF) with what one might think is a most obvious statement:
"Your real world is a giant negotiating table and like it or not, you are a participant."
Life is full of negotiations indeed and managers are constantly involved in these in the course of their normal work. Their success, in fact, depends on how they handle their daily negotiations with their teams, their peers and their top management and a host of other agencies. They could order their team mates around, but the surest way to accomplish their tasks would be to negotiate with them and gently persuade them onwards to their goal. They should be able to negotiate for what they want and on this they should be quite clear. To quote Henry Ford I:
"If you think you can or you cant you're always right."
For negotiation to succeed a manager must first find out what the other side wants and then show them the way that they can get it, whilst they (the manager) are still getting what they want. This is the most satisfactory solution, the 'win-win' equation as noted earlier. It is not always possible, but it is also the only equation acceptable to both parties.
So nothing short of that will really do. In negotiating with people of other nationalities, the manager must take into account the cultural differences between them and also their significant national traits. But above all it will be the personal element that is most important. This applies not only at the top but also at the detailed working level, between the members of the team and their counterparts. It was Sir John Buckley, chairman of the Davy Corporation, who after a round of discussions and negotiations in China remarked:
'... in this business where lots of money is being spent - the customer likes to look the top man in the eye from time to time to say you are going to stand by me, aren't you?'
This kind of feeling cannot be conveyed by telephone or letter. On the subject of contractual negotiations, Sir John also mentioned that Chinese prefer simple and brief contracts. They seem to say that there's nothing in the world you can't get into three pages. If we did not trust you, we would not do business with you.
This is in sharp contrast to the American and European practice of elaborate contracts covering just about everything under the sun, including all eventualities. Sir John implied candidly that, after all, in this field most business is done between consenting adults in private!
Let us conclude this section by two tips (referenced in the PDF) on negotiation. Firstly, never forget the power of your attitude, since nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Secondly, never judge the actions and motives of others since it is impossible to look into someone's heart or mind.

Huddling

The informal way to management success
To be effective, a manager needs to be a 'huddler'. Normal communications within an organization are in the form of inter-office memoranda and or e-mail, with copies to all and sundry. If it deals with matters which are confidential, and is so marked, then it is read by everyone including the office helpers, even before the message reaches the target person. So much for confidentiality.
Further, the recipient, already flooded with a paper explosion, hardly has the time to read it, let alone act on it. The same message conveyed verbally face-to-face will not only remain confidential but will be extremely effective.
Clarification, if any, is sought and given immediately, and in addition instant feedback ensures that there is complete understanding of the message and the resulting action required. Plus, of course, there is the 'human touch' element, completely lacking in the memorandum.
Huddling, of course, is nothing new. It has always been there in the matter of inter-personal relations. The book attempts to formalize an informal means of communication. There is, too, sufficient demonstration in the book, as from our personal experience, about the effectiveness and result-achieving ability of the technique.
A few minutes of informal conversation with subordinates, peers and superiors, along the corridors of the office or in the wash rooms can be most effective. The practice of this technique therefore needs to be encouraged

Conclusions:
Hear with your ears, listen with your mind
Communications are vital in management; in fact, they are the essence of management. We have shown that our communications skills are poor, and the poorest of these is listening. Managers spend a great deal, over half, of their time listening, or at least hearing, and yet they have never had any formal training in this discipline.
Any wonder, then, that the listening efficiency is very low-of the order of 25 per cent. Negotiation is also what management is about, so we discuss this in order to achieve the 'win-win' situation. Some of the recent works on 'huddling' and 'manage by walking around' have been found to be most effective in business situations.
A complete revolution in communication technology has and is still under way, but while it is making a most useful contribution, there is an urgent need to stay with the 'basics' of human nature vis-a-vis communications

see:www.accel-team.com for more details

Pruductivity Improvement - Checklists

Lack of productivity costs money and when costs are under threat, then so to are jobs. No matter what job title the reader holds, in no matter what type of organization, the search for and the need to improve productivity is the ultimate goal. This is true today, as it was yesterday as it will be tomorrow.
Millions of dollars are wasted each and every day in organizations, through lack of awareness of this need to constantly improve productivity. Most of it can be stopped. A concerted effort at all levels, management, supervision and 'shop floor' will produce results. Positive, active cooperation by lower levels is the surest method of producing results.
Sometimes, particularly with (though not confined to) small organizations, splendid results can be obtained by concentrating effort on one section of the personnel, and often the most logical is supervision/ team leaders.
By careful training, education, planning, assisting and coordinating the activities of supervision and employees solid improvements can be made. These activities can form the basis of an effective and vital team building campaign. To be effective the superivisor or team leader must consistantly think, act and speak productivity, thus displaying leadership in this vital area.
In our PDFs and around our site you will find additional resources, that together with this checklist, will help to improve productivity in your organization. The checklists here are ideal team building activities and can easily be incorporated into team building / productivity improvement programs.
The fundamentals of productivity improvement
In any team approach to improving productivity, there are a number of fundamental aspects which should be borne in mind. These are:
No organization is too small or too large, whether it be in the public or private sector, to rule out the attractive possibilities of improving productivity.
Productivity is a state of mind and should be promoted as such.
Involve as many employees as possible in the search to improve productivity. Psychologically it is sound to spread the degree of participation so that as many as possible feel that, to some extent, the success of the program rests with them.
It should be a continuing program, for it is never finished. A product line that is competitive today needs analysis to remain competitive tomorrow. Improving productivity should therefore be a permanent, alive and part of the organization at all levels.
Concentration should be made on controlling the controllable. Unless care is exercised, much time and money can be wasted in endeavoring to control the uncontrollable. Much of the success in improving productivity comes from judgment exercised in relation to categories in which various expenses lie and the respective opportunities offered. Although the day - to - day approach is that every cost reduction tool should be used wherever practicable, over the years, improved productivity has come from better METHODS and better EQUIPMENT.
Improving productivity is not achieved by raising voices against people. Often there is too much talk about productivity and too little planning and concentrated effort.
Improving productivity is the real key to national prosperity under a rising standard of living.
No concern can afford to ignore the concept and practice of productivity improvement. The competition will not do so and certain national economies in the East have not and will continue to hold certain advantages, which have to be challenged in a competitive global economy.
Money must often be spent in one place to save in another.
Improving productivity requires resourcefulness, imagination, and enthusiasm. Success in affecting savings today merely presages extra effort tomorrow.
Productivity leadership flows from the top down. It rarely seeps up from the bottom.

Productivity improvement commandments

You will go far in your career if you embed these truisms into your personal approach towards management and leadership.

1. Discard conventional fixed ideas.
2. Think of how to do it better, not why it cannot be done.
3. Start by questioning current practices, methods and resources used. Do not make or accept excuses.
4. Others will follow you, if you continually seek improvement. Leave the search for 'perfection' to others.
5. Do it right away even if it will only achieve 50% of target.
6. If you make a mistake, correct it right away.
7. Throw wisdom at a problem, not money.
8. Seek the wisdom inherent in your people rather than the knowledge of one.
9. Ask 'WHY?" five times and seek root causes.
10.Don't ask workers to leave their brains at the workplace entrance

Expertise required
The skills required to improve productivity are much simpler than most people think or believe. We all know the phrase 'time is money' and to a great or lessor extent we have expertise in the 'money' part of this truism. We speculated on how we can earn more, save more, manage it better, get a better return on the money we invest and so on.
Given that time is money, all we really need to be is experts in time, to produce the improvements in our organizations.
Evaluate how things are done currently
Some simple work measurement (no stop watch / study board required) and some analysis and you will come up with improvements in the ratios of input resources (essentially time and money) and output (goods or services) in your work place.
The simple schematic below is your starting point. If you understand this conceptual model, your organizations' productivity and your career prospects are in for a boost.

Develop Conceptual Models
These resources are essentially about improving productivity. We have put together in our online articles and include in our PDF publications conceptual models to help you understand the factors involved in improving productivity. Productivity is about making work:
-Simpler
-Easier
-Quicker
-Rewarding
-Safer
-Fun
for employees. Conceptual models enable you to quickly understand, develop and adapt the model to your specific workplace situation.
The better your understanding what is going on in your workplace and of the factors involved, the greater your chances of 'sniffing out' better ways and getting your recommendations installed as new practice

Waste of Time

Improving poor time utilization
Here is a checklist of common causes of poor / low time utilization (time wasters.) These are prime targets when seeking to improve productivity. The old addage, "money is time" is no more true, than in business. Apply your team members job knowledge, together with this checklist to identify areas for improvement.
Rigorously examine each item
TIP: Measure the before and after effect wherever possible. That is, you should attempt to quantify each cause of waste time you attack, in terms of money, time and material. This way you can objectively assess the difference you have made:

Lack of proper planning, keeping workers waiting between jobs or waiting for material.
Failure on the supervisor's part to thoroughly understand orders and instructions received
Lack of knowledge of what constitutes a full day's work
Failure to make orders and instructions clear to workers
Failure to insist that tools supplies, and portable equipment be kept in proper places
Ordering overtime work that could be avoided
Not seeing that workers are supplied with proper tools and equipment for every job
Allowing workers intentionally to do less work than they can
Failure to inform human resouces department when more labour is required
Keeping too many workers
Failure to write records and requisitions intelligibly
Failure to question and correct workers who lay off
Allowing workers to get habit of talking, visiting, killing time
Failure to get workers to start on time, slack supervision
Delay in making decisions
Unnecessary absenteeism or tardiness on the supervisor's part
Being late with reports
Not investigating immediately when repairs are needed
Unnecessary visiting and conversation on the job
Failure on the supervisors's part to organize his / her time and work
Lack of proper planning, keeping workers waiting between jobs or waiting for material