Management

While declining Workers’ Compensation rates have benefited employers in recent years, there are challenges that cloud the future. The outlook for 2008 is one of caution and concern. Consider the following issues: 1. Rising costs and utilization of medical treatments. Alarming increases in utilization of medical services compounds the ever-present negative impact of escalating medical costs. An NCCI study concludes the key driver is not price, but growth in the number of medical treatments. What’s more, there is a move to more complex and expensive treatments. The seismic shifts in medical innovation and the corresponding increase in treatment options, coupled with consumer demand for the

By every indication, employee benefits—particularly health care—are primary concerns for American workers. As medical costs continue climbing, the issues will only become more critical for businesses of all sizes. Here is an assessment of what companies can look forward to in 2008 and beyond: 1. Rising costs in health care rates. Despite attempts to ameliorate bad news, costs will continue to go up and premiums will rise anywhere from 6 percent to 20 percent, depending on the plan and the group. The Towers Perrin annual health care cost survey for 2008 indicates a 7 percent increase, bringing the

Is “walking the walk” a tired old cliché, or a bold new concept? A lack of formal management training might result in poor communication, delegation and leadership skills among managers. According to a Gallup poll, 25 percent of U.S. employees would fire their bosses if they could. Why? Because a lot of managers fail to abide by the high service standards they set for their employees. Employees will only respect management’s authority if they observe excellent customer service skills applied by their superiors. Customer loyalty must be a top-down initiative. Here are five ways managers can earn greater respect and increase employee loyalty: •

Within an organization, change and improvement planning call for systems and discipline. Many improvement paths are discovered accidentally by change champions blazing new trails. Newly discovered paths can then be applied to the whole wagon train. Change and improvement processes adjust to the shifting environment and what’s being learned about what works and what doesn’t. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches are needed. The challenge is finding the proper balance. Managers play a pivotal role in the success of any change effort. They signal values, plan, direct and coordinate—which are vital tasks. However, most don’t address the employee-management change and improvement paradox. The leadership

Group norms are adopted to regulate actions and represent value judgments about appropriate behavior in social situations. Although these informal rules are rarely written down or discussed, they have a powerful influence on group conduct. If each individual in a group decided how to behave in each interaction, no one’s reaction would be predictable and chaos would reign. Understanding how group norms develop and why they are enforced is important to managers, as they are signs of a group’s potential productivity. Managers can play a part in setting and changing norms by implementing them to facilitate tasks, assessing whether a group’s current norms

The incentive business is booming. One would think the promise of cash is generally incentive enough for competitive salespeople to cross quota finish lines each year. However, businesses invest approximately $1 trillion per year in sales teams, reported the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement’s white paper: “Making the Case for Sales Incentives to the Tune of 10% ROI.” Incredibly, sales incentive industry research indicates motivational programs such as gifts and trips are more effective than monetary rewards when it comes to companies seeing returns on their collective trillion-dollar investment. In fact, a 2005 study by the Incentive Federation titled “A Study Among

For your company’s next major change, how about creating a prototype first? In many pilot tests, the pressure to perform outshines ensuring a design’s success, as well as the spirit of experimentation. Instead, consider running an experiment—maybe a hands-on simulation—away from the pressure of performance. In this laboratory, you could try things out, ask the simulation’s users about their experiences, listen to them and redesign accordingly. Fortune magazine reported how Apple became the best retailer in America, earning $4032 per square foot. From the start, Apple knew becoming a retailer be risky. After all, what did they know about retail? They got advice from

In his book “Selling Is Everyone’s Business: What It Takes to Create a Great Salesperson,” author Steve Johnson points out that consistently low-performing sales people have a negative impact on staff morale, and consume valuable resources and training time that could be put to better use. Realizing the situation exists is one thing; doing something about it is another. Whether out of a desire to avoid confrontation or uncertainty over how to handle the situation, some managers tend to let poor performers continue to under-whelm. Now, Johnson’s book offers nine tips for dealing with the situation and restoring balance to the team: 1. Make sure

Occasionally, we have the opportunity to have a prospective customer visit our manufacturing plant in Vincent, Ala. As we escort each visitor through our plant, the clean, organized facility with late-model automated equipment speaks for itself. Therefore, our focus of conversation always turns to our people. One stop we always make is at the photographs hanging on the wall of the hallway that leads into our manufacturing plant. I take great pride in sharing photographs and conversation about our 40 employees with more than 20 years of service to our company. This leads me to our secret of success for printers and manufacturers—do everything

Mergers and acquisitions are significantly reshaping the competitive landscape, and they will continue to do so. With manufacturing facilities, the big story surrounding a new negotiation typically concerns increased capabilities, enhanced efficiencies and greater profitability. But, it takes a village to produce printed business products, and the human resources arena is where a lot of the action takes place. Keith Walters, president and CEO of Ennis, Midlothian, Texas, explained that company owners usually will have approached Ennis about being acquired. “We have been approached by some companies where, for one or more of many possible reasons, we choose not to engage in discussions. The