Employee Empowerment

Take things step by step: At first, assign projects that are well suited to participatory collaboration. Gradually move toward taking a collaborative approach to all team projects.

What are the advantages?

Employee empowerment is a beneficial process for employees, managers, and the company as a whole. Employees feel more invested in the company, valued as important contributors, and motivated to excel.

People who actively participate in the workplace see greater skill development, and gain a greater understanding of which techniques are effective and which ones are not. They also have a greater opportunity to come up with creative solutions to problems, and novel ways to improve performance . The power to utilize their creativity and knowledge leads to expertise. People who are able to independently evaluate and implement projects have a sense of ownership that makes them committed to the project’s success.

Indicators:

Empowerment can be difficult to quantify. There are no statistics or percentages by which to measure its success. When it comes to empowerment, qualitative indicators are the most important measure of success. Understand, however, that change does not occur overnight.

Indicators of success include:

Open management: Team members are actively involved in meetings, evaluation and analysis of important issues, and identifying creative solutions. Managers support their skill and autonomy, and allow team members to exercise control in these matters.

Team spirit: Team members and managers alike show a high degree of enthusiasm, and company morale is high.

Decentralized control: Team members function in relative autonomy, with overlapping roles and functions, all the while maintaining clear individual roles.

Taking these important employee empowerment measures will result in a more skilled, motivated, and autonomous employee team while at the same time increasing the overall effectiveness of the company.

Looking At Major Benefits Of Service Business Management Software

If you are running a micro sized business, you would naturally know the importance of ensuring the best forms of customer service. Such businesses basically spread through word of mouth recommendations and thus maintaining the best of services on time and at the same time not pinching your budget is very important. Service business management software can help you in processing of jobs, provide costs in a detailed manner and also provide transparency in the scheduling. These days traders say that getting this kind of software to manage work is as important as getting an insurance.

This kind of service provides a very integrated approach to business. You do not need to handle much paperwork and all things separately. It helps getting things done very quickly and with almost half the effort.

Advantages of service business scheduling software:

The service business scheduling software provides many benefits. Taking a look at the points that follow one can understand them.

Handling bigger projects:

It can help you take bigger projects with a great amount of confidence. You can keep track of the jobs being handled at present and also make plans regarding the scheduling. You can allocate the correct job to the correct employee or worker. It also helps in controlling the costs.

Cash flow management:

Software helps you keep up with accounting and invoice generation. Cash flow should always be maintained well in a business. A profitable business can go down if its cash flow isnt kept track of. It helps in issue of invoices and gets prompt payment. You do not need to look through receipts and account books to view all incomings and outgoings. Also duplicate entries are avoided.

Accurate records are maintained:

An owner must always keep records of everything that takes place in business. Records of all transactions are very important. It can help you in avoiding future problems.

Improvement of services:

Service business software helps in giving the best of services to your customers. It helps you keep track of what a customer requires and when they require to enable you serve better.

Tracking of field services:

Good software enables you in keeping track of field workers and dispatch services. Emergency services can be rolled out based on the nearest located worker available.

Conclusion:

You can easily get an idea of the importance of service business scheduling software. It is a very important tool that can transform a small scale business to a large scale one. It helps in keeping business activities at normal flow without many hassles.

Understanding The 4 Most Common Responses To Change

In today’s fast paced business world organisational change is becoming a consistent challenge. The reality is that change will always be here as it is a part of life. There is nothing that you can do to stop it. Many people and organisations try their best to avoid it or deny it but, eventually they will have to face it sooner or later.

Denying change can be very costly for an organisation as it can mean that your competitors can get a head of you and leave you behind. There is the temptation for managers to protect their staff from change knowing that it can affect them. However, putting off the inevitable can make the situation worse.

Effective managers understand that trying to fight and resist change is a waste of time, energy and resources. Effective managers embrace change and use it to the advantage of their staff and the organisation as a whole.

To be better prepared for change you need to be aware and understand the 4 common responses to change as follows:

Denial

The natural human response to change is denial because it is the most convenient and least painful response. When new proposals for change are put forward there instant reaction is to say that it will not work and it is a complete waste of time. Why fix a thing when it is not broken. People can blinker change out and pretend that it is not happening. This blinkered outlook is a classic denial response.

Resistance

When change becomes more of a reality than just an idea people’s responses will move from one of denial to resistance. This is also a natural human reaction to change and is nothing to be alarmed about. The key thing at the resistance stage is not to allow it to become deep seated. As a manager you must work with your staff to ensure the resistance is short lived.

Realisation

To move people towards acceptance it is important to communicate to staff of the benefits that will come with change. Also, emphasize that not changing will create risk and uncertainty in the future. Other things to point out is that the change maybe painful at the start however, in the long term it will make their jobs easier and more productive. At this stage people begin to realise the need for change.

Acceptance

The last phase is the acceptance of change. At this point you, your staff and the organisation have seen the light and have embraced the concept of change.

How Campus Placement Helps Business School Students And Companies

In todays competitive world, number of companies is increasing and there are several vacant positions that need to be filled with the right candidate. Campus placement is one of the best methods for companies to conduct interviews in business school campuses and select bright students to fill these job vacancies. This method is not only effective for companies in getting the right candidate with less cost involved in the recruitment process but also beneficial for business schools in creating a name for their institute in the market.

There are several business schools in India that have a superb reputation in case of campus placements. For instance, Indira Global Business School is one of the leading business institutes in Pune where some of the top companies including MNCs and banks come to recruit bright students for jobs. This method has proved very beneficial for students of business schools because even before they get to finish their studies, they get an opportunity to get a job of their dreams. They dont have to seek out employers, but employers approach them. It helps them shape their careers even before they step out of college.

Today, institutes hire a placement officer whose main function is to get in touch with companies (including small, medium and large) and coordinate with them to set up the campus placement process. If you are also preparing yourself for campus recruitment process it helps to know what are the common qualities that companies look for in a candidate. For instance, they look for students who are good at communication, have a good track record, self confident and a positive attitude towards their career. A business school such as Indira Global Business School gets its students placed in some of the top companies in India.

There are many companies that not only choose a student but also make an investment in training him/her. This ensures loyalty from the employees side because students tend to identify better and more closely with the first company that recruited them. In many cases, students also get ready to work at low salaries offered by large companies because it gives them a positive start in their career. There is no doubt that the method of campus recruitment has opened up doors of opportunities for students. Therefore, if someone is planning to pursue business management course, it is very important to select a good business management school. They must check the institutes reputation in terms of campus placements to get a basic idea.

John Leigh Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

Recognised for 40 years as key industry figure.

John Leigh, Managing Director of Europcar UK and National Car Rental, has received the highly coveted lifetime achievement accolade in the Holiday Autos Partner of the Year Awards, confirming his status as an industry legend. In acknowledging his enormous and positive influence which has helped to shape and evolve the sector, the Holiday Autos Partner of the Year Awards ceremony honoured John for his dedication and commitment to the vehicle rental industry.

The Award was presented by Brian Murphy, Group Managing Director of Lastminute.com at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

“The evening was very emotional for me and I feel proud to be honoured by the industry in this way,” said John Leigh. “The Award was a complete surprise and it means a great deal to me to be recognised by my colleagues and partners who have put this industry where it is today.

John Leigh began his working life promoting concerts of legendary acts like Roy Orbison and Pink Floyd. In 1967 he decided to get a proper job and joined Godfrey Davis eventually to become Europcar, where he held a number of management roles. In 1972 he joined Swan National where he enjoyed a successful career culminating in his appointment as Managing Director in 1990 shortly after it had rebranded itself as EuroDollar.

Following an MBO from TSB and the acquisition of EuroDollar by National Car Rental USA, John was given responsibility for launching National into the EMEA marketplace.

In February 2007, the European operation was acquired by Europcar and John was appointed Managing Director of Europcar UK Group the largest daily rental company in the country.

As Chairman of the BVRLA in 2006/7, John played a leading role in defining and implementing industry standards for quality and customer service. He is also a Vice President of Chelsea football club, as well as being a very active patron of the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, a charity that grants wishes to often terminally ill young people. Two years ago he was also honoured with an “Unsung Hero Award” by the Celebrity Guild of Great Britain in recognition of his charitable work.

“I cant think of anyone more deserving of this award than John” confirmed Brian Murphy of Holiday Autos. “He has been the driving force behind the success of the industry, not just the growth of his own business. His vision and dedication has led to many of the innovations car rental customers now take for granted and he continues to challenge and lead the sector forward to new levels of service.”