In This edition

1. Has Online Learning Eclipsed The Classroom's Value?
2. Disentangling The Meanings Of Diversity & Inclusion
3. Total Cost Of Ownership: In-House Payroll And HRIS
4. How South African Companies Manage Executive Expatriate Staff In SADC Countries
5. Great Managers Understand Their People
6. Case Law & Legislation Review: Practice and Procedure Appeal and Review
7. Downloads: General Employee Training Needs Analysis
8. Book Reviews
9. Web Reviews: Business For Social Responsibility
10. Unsubscribe & Moving Soon

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Jeff Sacht: Publisher-editor

www.equityskillsweb.com

jeffs@worldonline.co.za

'A MUST TO PRINT & READ'

30,000+ AND STILL GROWING!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Human Capital Institute (HCI) & Sandton International Business School (SIBS) To Launch The 'Principles Of Human Capital' Certificate Programme In South Africa

The Human Capital Institute (HCI), an international non-profit think tank and association working to advance talent management strategies and tools, and Sandton International Business School (SIBS), the first privately owned Black Economically Empowered Business School in South Africa will bring the acclaimed 'Principles Of Human Capital Management' certificate programme to South Africa. SIBS will launch the programme at their Sandton Campus, and shortly thereafter at venues around the country, and in other African and Asian states.

A Challenging Curriculum

Human Capital Management is a new business discipline that goes far beyond re-treaded, or current HR practices under a different name. SIBS and HCI is committed to providing the best educational experience for its learners. HCI courses are developed by forward-looking academics and thought leaders sponsored by the Human Capital Research Foundation and affiliated colleges and universities.

Industry-leading content experts and instructional designers develop each programme to a set of standards that insure a consistent, interactive, effective and engaging learning experience. In addition, HCI certificate courses include uniquely developed materials that synthesize the latest research, best practices and insights from HCI's research initiatives. These materials focus on practical knowledge, skills and concepts that help to drive a talent mindset throughout the enterprise and maximise the performance of its human capital. By adopting a practical perspective, HCI educational programmes are closing the gap between the rhetoric and actual implementation of talent management practices.

Core and Specialised Programmes

HCI's core certificate programme is the 'Principles of Human Capital Management'. This is a landscape programme designed to provide executives, line managers and HR practice leaders with a solid understanding of the new business science of talent management. The programme is comprised of six modules on the key talent management functions of workforce planning, acquiring, developing, deploying, retaining and evaluating human capital. The course requires reading and practical activities amounting to an additional three to four hours of self-study. At the conclusion of the course, a 50- item assessment covering all six courses is offered. After the workshop learners are also required to complete an in-company practicum to complete their learning. The core certificate programme is a pre-requisite for subsequent specialised certificate programmes.

Specialised certificate programmes are designed to provide an in-depth examination of critical topics in Talent Acquisition, Talent Development and Talent Management. Each certificate consists of two courses delivered in a single day. One course provides a synthesis of the latest content and information, and the other presents a simulated real-life case study so that these ideas and concepts can be practically applied. These case studies are challenging, state-of-the-art learning activities that enable participants to learn from each other as well as from the facilitator. Active participation is a hallmark of all HCI certificate programmes.

Audience

HCI's certificate programmes are offered to HCI members and non-members alike. Because HCI courses are not basic primers, participants should have some experience managing an HR function and/or practical experience. This level of experience is also important because a great value of the educational offerings is gained from participants sharing their best practices and insights. The richer this exchange, the better the programmes.

In a marketplace where intangible assets (chiefly Human Capital) represent 80% of corporate value, executives and line managers must learn the fundamental principles of acquiring, developing and managing the best and brightest contributors. At minimum, we recommend the Principles of Human Capital Management series for executives and line managers, and suggest a deep dive into additional certificate topics as needed.

Search and HR professionals must become familiar with the latest innovations in talent management from sourcing and selection, to performance measurement and retention. HCI certificates are not designed to teach functional HR skills; rather, they are a vital link to business strategy.

For advance information about these programmes contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za.

1. Has Online Learning Eclipsed The Classroom's Value?*

From www.clomedia.com 

Online learning has proved that it can create cost and time savings in different scenarios at different companies across a variety of industries, but the type of learning offered is usually based on fact or skill acquisition. Leadership development has, for the most part, remained a focus for traditional instructor-led learning, which offers a broad platform for in-depth interaction, coaching and mentoring.

The U.S. Navy may have discovered a way to mesh the value of an online learning with the benefits of classroom-based leadership development. The organization released a study titled "Is Online Leadership Training Effective?" which highlights marked benefits for nearly 4,000 chief petty officers who used Situational Leadership II courses from Ninth House to build skills in aviation and information technology, increase organizational efficiency, improve performance and provide business skills for civilian life.

The chief petty officer is the highest-ranking officer of all the Navy's enlisted members-the corporate equivalent of middle management. The training was deployed to accelerate skills on the aviation side of the Navy, the Air Wing, and to get chief petty officers more involved with the IT systems. "They weren't really missing functional skills," said Jeff Snipes, CEO and co-founder, Ninth House. "Their challenge was the leadership skills, the thinking and partnering needed to manage that part of the Navy. They did the 360-degree multi-rater assessment as a benchmark to understand how their peers perceived their leadership skills. They took Situational Leadership, and six months later they were given the multi-rater again. The feedback asked what was their peer improvement and leadership skills and secondly, how would they apply that improvement to functions of the aviation and technology?"

The results: 44 percent higher skills improvement and retention, savings of $3 million for one course, and time savings-online learning took less than one-tenth of the time required for classroom courses. "It was a breakthrough for the Navy for a couple of reasons. One, it showed them that online learning by itself was a very effective means of increasing retention long term. It also pointed them to some specific results around how well they would transfer that learning back to the job," Snipes said. "They found they also had a statistically significant change in leadership behavior."

The courses mirror classroom training, yet offer the economies of scale and efficiency found online. The online leadership courses also help to expand on the business skills Navy personnel need for civilian life. "The types of skills that make them better when they leave the Navy are to some degree functional because they do learn technical skills, but more importantly they come out of the Navy with a lot of self-discipline," Snipes said. "You really understand how to manage a team and how to be a leader in any organization. They spend a lot of time and money developing what they consider to be their strategic advantage, which is: How do you run a team with discipline? How do you execute? How do you lead people in very complex situations? The courses are focused exactly in those skill sets."

"I believe that classroom training has a valuable role to play and it always will in that for small groups of people dealing with complex skills, ideally at the executive level, you need to get those people together," Snipes said. "But if you're trying to reach a large population with ever changing skills with a remotely distributed workforce, it's just no longer feasible."

Bob Mosher, director of learning and strategy evangelism for Microsoft Learning, agrees-sort of. "I think in many ways the value of a traditional classroom has faded," Mosher said. "With online learning and synchronous online, there are a lot of cost-effective ways to get information through other means. The classroom though, where I think it still has huge value, and where I think it's misunderstood, is the value of community and the value of collaboration. I think the classroom has huge value in bringing folks together to do group work, critical thinking skills, problem solving, to have a mentor or coach do demonstrations (and act) as a guide to further someone's learning."

Learning is not always about getting information, Mosher said. There are certain skill areas, such as soft skills, project management or executive-level development, where classroom learning is more beneficial and ultimately produces better results. "When we put together classes that are more scenario-based, more job-role-based-not just what we used to call 'straight skills' classes-we see a need and a place for those kinds of classes. It's just that from the buyer's perspective, if it's just transfer of skills, it's tough. I personally would prefer to go to a class, and I think a lot of learners would, but unfortunately we're living in a time where it's not a matter of preference. It's a matter of being realistic about what the outcomes going to be," Mosher said. "For some, myself included, I'm directed toward what I would perceive as a lesser environment online because if it's just to get skills, I get it. If it's to do other things, I think the classroom is really very rich. If you want to make it richer, get that coach or mentor up there or the subject-matter expert and create environments where we talk about stuff, work on projects, and can bring our own work to class. I can't think of anything else that would even come close to doing that."

*Reprinted by permission of the Editor of Chief Learning Officer Magazine

http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_section.asp?articleid=963&zoneid=101 

IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP: MANAGING CHANGE & TRANSITION IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK

An Intensive and Practical 2- DAY WORKSHOP FOR HUMAN RESOURCES AND LINE MANAGERS TO DEVELOP THE CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE TO PLAN FOR AND LEAD TEAMS THROUGH CHANGE & TRANSITION. Enhance your ability to plan for and lead a team through the transitions triggered by a continuously changing world of work.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

2. Disentangling The Meanings Of Diversity & Inclusion*

By Quinetta M. Roberson who can be contacted at www.ilr.cornell.edu/CAHRS  , Cornell Working Paper 04-05, June 2004 Center For Advanced Human Resource Studies

Consistent with labor predictions, the workforce of the 21st century may be characterized by increased numbers of women, minorities, ethnic backgrounds, intergenerational workers and different lifestyles (Langdon, McMenamin & Krolik, 2002). Further, organizations have realized that the extent to which these demographic workforce changes are effectively and efficiently managed will impact organizational functioning and competitiveness (Harvey, 1999; Kuczynski, 1999). As demonstrated by the more than 75% of Fortune 1000 companies that have instituted diversity initiatives (Daniels, 2001), the management of diversity has become an important business imperative. Despite a pervasive awareness of the need for management to concern itself with diversity-related issues, organizations have adopted different approaches to diversity management.

Common perspectives on managing diversity focus on targeted recruitment initiatives, education and training, career development and mentoring programs to increase and retain workforce heterogeneity in organizations (Cox, 1993; Morrison, 1992). However, some organizations have begun to rely on a broader set of programs and initiatives including employee participation, communication strategies and community relations (Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 2000), which emphasize the removal of barriers that block employees from using the full range of their skills and competencies in organizations (Harvey, 1999). As such, some organizations espouse a focus on inclusion in the management of diversity (Mehta, 2000).

Despite this move from diversity to inclusion in the practitioner literature, we have a limited understanding of whether it represents a material change in organizational actions and outcomes, or simply a change of phrasing to reduce backlash against the same initiatives (Linnehan & Konrad, 1999). Some research, which explores varying organizational approaches to diversity management, suggests that there are practical differences in focusing on diversity and inclusion. For example, Cox (1991) and Thomas and Ely (1996) propose typologies that distinguish between organizations and their diversity management paradigms based on the

Disentangling the Meanings CAHRS WP 04-05 Page 5 degree to which diversity exists and is integrated into organizational structures, strategies and processes.

Research on diversity climates, which highlight workforce demography, personal value for and comfort with diversity, fairness, and inclusion as dimensions of employees' diversity climate perceptions, also suggest a distinction between the concepts of diversity and inclusion (Kossek & Zonia, 1993; Mor Barak et al., 1998). However, little research has empirically investigated the specific attributes and practices for diversity and inclusion in organizations. The results of a study by Pelled and her colleagues (1999), which examined and found support for decision-making influence, access to information, and job security as indicators of workplace inclusion, provide some understanding of the construct of inclusion and practices to support inclusion in organizations. Yet, research is needed to explore additional indicators of inclusion as well as to explore how indicators of inclusion parallel, or differ from, indicators of diversity.

This study comparatively investigates the meanings of diversity and inclusion in organizations. First, I review definitions of diversity and inclusion and related research that explore the dimensionality of these constructs. I then describe three studies to develop and evaluate a scale for measuring attributes for diversity and for inclusion in organizations. In Study 1, information on these constructs was solicited from a sample of Fortune 500 organizations to generate items for the scale. The reliability and factor structure of the scale was evaluated using a sample of diversity professionals in Study 2 and retested using a sample of organizational development professionals in Study 3. I conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of this research as well as directions for future research.

Download the paper at: www.ilr.cornell.edu/depts/cahrs/downloads/pdfs/workingpapers/WP04-05.pdf 

* Reprinted by permission of the author

IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP: MANAGING FOR DIVERSITY

An Intensive and Practical 2- DAY MANAGEMENT/ SUPERVISOR WORKSHOP to develop insight and self-knowledge about intercultural competence and enhance your capacity to work with a diverse workforce.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

3. Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO): In-House Payroll and HRIS*

By Michael P. Rooney Chief Financial Officer ADP Employer Services

who can be contacted at www.adp.com 

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Editor's Note:

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The following is an extract from a 3-part series of articles on Total Cost of Ownership of in-house payrolls and HRIS.

In 2003 ADP asked PwC to measure the total cost of ownership (TCO) for in-house payroll and

human resources systems because we felt that companies may not have a clear picture of all of

the associated costs. Then in 2004, PwC followed up with the second study in order to investigate whether ADP outsourcing clients have a lower TCO and to make direct points of comparison.

As you will read, the earlier study offered credible evidence that in-house systems are more expensive and less strategic than buyers predicted. In contrast, this year's study showed that

outsourcing with ADP offers an average 35% savings on payroll and more than 50% savings on

HRIS.

Below are 2 extracts from the 3-part series of papers that will give you a clear idea about whether to rethink your 'bloated' HR modules that come bundled with the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems that may well have been foisted on you by over zealous DP departments in their quest for systems integration and a single database. Today's best in breed applications are cost effective and run through the web without any (real) problems of one system or database talking to one another. There are numerous software applications available that allow different applications to talk to one another without a hitch.

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HRIS Shelfware

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Because in-house systems generally offer broad-based integrated functionality, many companies believe these efficiencies outweigh the advantages of having a best-of-breed solution. Yet according to the PwC findings, much of that functionality is never implemented.

Respondents reported that a high percentage of purchased HR functionality (roughly 30%) goes unused. All too often companies are using their systems as data repositories rather than strategic tools. Unused functionality becomes expensive "shelfware" which continues to require expensive upgrades and ongoing maintenance fees. Furthermore, because much of the HRIS shelfware is focused on employee development and workforce planning, companies experience

opportunity costs by electing not to implement this functionality.

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Are you saving money or merely shifting costs

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Today's larger in-house software systems hold out the promise of TCO advantages over other software packages. But the PwC study provides evidence that these applications do not offer total cost of ownership advantages over other software packages, including smaller vendors and homegrown systems. They simply redistribute the costs across budgets. The average TCO per paycheck for major ERP systems and all others was roughly the same at $16. ERP systems promise to capture and share data between components, creating economies of scope. This promise comes with a trade-off. The bigger systems do not focus on best-of-breed functionality or strategic best practices. In trying to accommodate entire enterprises, ERP system modules are best at facilitating complex, administrative tasks. But such functionality does not necessarily translate into Economic Value Added. Users may be left with expensive systems that fall short of promised economies and redistribute component costs rather than truly lowering TCO.

Request the 3 articles from Lorena Harris Director of Marketing Communications

ADP National Account Services; mailto:Lorena_Harris@adp.com 

*Reprinted by permission of ADP

4. How South African Companies Manage Executive Expatriate Staff In SADC Countries

By Dr. Victor E. C. Arnold who can be contacted at www.barloworld.com ; heyarnold@telkomsa.net 

The investigation was a pioneering study in identifying the policies and processes employed by South African (SA) Corporations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Prior to the start of political reform in the 1990's, and South Africa's first free elections in 1994, political isolation and exchange controls prevented South African companies from taking part in international investments. South African companies are therefore relatively new to internationalization. An increased demand for expatriates came about as South African Reserve Bank exchange controls were sufficiently relaxed to enable investment outside of the country's borders, and as a consequence the rate at which South African managers took up foreign assignments increased.

Literature on different models of the expatriation process, both theoretical and practical were reviewed and evaluated. There is limited research and literature on the practices of South African Companies' policies and processes of expatriate management, so the literature review focused on research undertaken outside of South Africa, and the practices of MNC's in Asia, Europe, the USA and South America.

The study had 3 primary objectives, to:

1. Establish what factors are deemed to constitute international best practice in the process of managing expatriates.

2. Assess to what extent SA companies apply international best practice when assigning and managing expatriate executives in the SADC.

3. Assess if application (or lack thereof) of best practice has had a significant impact on the success rate of SA expatriate managers in SADC assignments.

The literature review showed that there are a number of phases in establishing international assignment strategy and managing expatriates, and that there are best practice norms for each of these. The phases and most important best practices are:

# Establishing an international assignment strategy linked to corporate strategy and developing a policy document that supports international strategy as well as human resource requirements.

# Establishing a selection process that has clear job specifications, selection criteria, includes a battery of tests to ensure the criteria are met, and allows sufficient time to identify and select the right candidate.

# The importance of each selection criterion needs to be established, and emphasis should be placed primarily on cultural adaptability, technical competence as well as the family situation.

# Training programs need to be planned to prepare the employee adequately prior to, and during the international assignment. Training programs should minimally include environmental briefings, a pre-assignment trip, cultural training, job previews and language training if applicable.

# Pre-departure planning and relocation need to be well planned and all bureaucratic matters should be completed prior to departure. Issues such as accommodation, transport, and schooling are of paramount importance.

# Ongoing support should include the assigning of a mentor, a structured communication plan and visits to the home office.

# Repatriation should be well planned to ensure that the employee's international experience is used and should be integrated into the employee's planned career path. Support and re-integration training should be provided to the employee and family.

Primary research took place, with a total of 79 South African companies identified as managing expatriates in the SADC. Of these, 50 agreed to complete questionnaires and 35 valid questionnaires were returned and analysed.

It was found that the FAILURE RATE OF SA COMPANY EXPATRIATE MANAGERS IN THE SADC IS WELL BELOW THE 15-40% AVERAGE FAILURE RATES REPORTED BY RESEARCHERS FOR MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS ELSEWHERE. The average annual failure rate of SA company expatriate managers in the SADC is zero for 70% of respondents, and a cumulative 85% of respondents had failure rates of 1% and below.

The research revealed the following:

# The link between strategy and international assignments is good for the majority of SA companies. There are however some weaknesses and missed opportunities, and better alignment would be desirable. The use of short-term and commuter assignments could be used to address some of the SADC subsidiary needs, but is seldom used.

# The overwhelming majority of respondents have a policy document, a positive first step to best practice. The policy content is comprehensive for most of the respondents, covering scope but less in terms of strategy and objectives and eligibility.

# The family is taken into consideration in the policy document and that allowances are made for the spouse and family, but the policy support for the spouse falls short of that recommended in the literature.

# The selection process is severely lacking, with selection being similar to home country vacancy selection. Very few SA companies use selection tools to ensure the candidate has cultural adaptability and maturity to cope with a different environment.

# The selection criteria used by SA companies is average to good, considering that technical skills and ability are still deemed to be the most important criteria for selection of expatriates, but with multicultural skills and adaptable psychological profile still getting a high rating.

# South African companies have a poor to average pre-departure training process, with a very high ratio not providing any pre-departure training whatsoever.

# Support during the assignment is limited, and only a quarter of SA companies have an established mentoring program.

# South African companies have poor (where they exist) repatriation programs in place, and only a fifth plan repatriation in line with the employee's career path.

# The majority of SA companies provide very good relocation assistance. However, the remuneration premiums paid by SA companies to expatriates are on average lower than those paid by other Multinational Corporations (MNC's) in the SADC. Generally, the additional benefits offered by SA companies compare favourably with those offered by MNC's elsewhere.

Although SA companies have very low failure rates, they do not follow many of the recommendations put forward by researchers.

The following may be some of the reasons leading to low failure rates:

# Each company only has a small number of expatriates in proportion to their home country staff. Due to the small number of expatriate posts in relation to the home country staff, most companies select staff internally (who are well known to other managers) without having to resort to external sources.

# The selection and pre-departure training procedures are adequate for the limited number of assignments available.

# The experience in cross-cultural management acquired by managers in South Africa, where they are involved in managing a diverse workforce.

# The willingness to take cross-border assignments to gain international experience and earn hard currency.

In sum, the research shows that there are a number of general shortcomings in expatriation policies and practice of many SA companies, the most important being:

# Selection criteria are not rigorous in seeking the attributes required for success in expatriate assignments;

# Lacking pre-departure training and ongoing support;

# Poor or no repatriation planning.

As expatriate numbers increase, companies' policies, and their approach to expatriate management, will have to evolve to avoid failure rates increasing.

IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP: EMPLOYMENT EQUITY COMMITTEE TRAINING

An Intensive 2-Day In-Company programme For ELECTED EMPLOYMENT EQUITY (EE) MEMBERS & CHAIRPERSON To Competently & Confidently Represent Co-Workers.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

5. Great Managers Understand Their People*

By Marcus Buckingham who can be contacted at

http://hbswk.hbs.edu 

Average managers treat all their employees the same. Great managers discover each individual's unique talents and bring these to the surface so everyone wins. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review.

"The best boss I ever had." That's a phrase most of us have said or heard at some point, but what does it mean? What sets the great boss apart from the average boss? The literature is rife with provocative writing about the qualities of managers and leaders and whether the two differ, but little has been said about what happens in the thousands of daily interactions and decisions that allows managers to get the best out of their people and win their devotion. What do great managers actually do?

In my research, beginning with a survey of 80,000 managers conducted by the Gallup Organization and continuing during the past two years with in-depth studies of a few top performers, I've found that while there are as many styles of managers, there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest: They discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. Average managers play checkers, while great managers play chess. The difference? In checkers, all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way; they are interchangeable. You need to plan and coordinate their movements, certainly, but they all move at the same pace, on parallel paths. In chess, each type of piece moves in a different way, and you can't play if you don't know how each piece moves. More important, you won't win if you don't think carefully about how you move the pieces. Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.

This is the exact opposite of what great leaders do. Great leaders discover what is universal and capitalize on it. Their job is to rally people toward a better future. Leaders can succeed in this only when they can cut through differences of race, sex, age, nationality, and personality and, using stories and celebrating heroes, tap into those very few needs we all share. The job of a manager, meanwhile, is to turn one person's particular talent into performance. Managers will succeed only when they can identify and deploy the differences among people, challenging each employee to excel in his or her own way. This doesn't mean a leader can't be a manager or vice versa. But to excel at one or both, you must be aware of the very different skills each role requires. [...]

Managers will succeed only when they can identify and deploy the differences among people.

Make the most of strengths. It takes time and effort to gain a full appreciation of an employee's strengths and weaknesses. The great manager spends a good deal of time outside the office walking around, watching each person's reactions to events, listening, and taking mental notes about what each individual is drawn to and what each person struggles with. There's no substitute for this kind of observation, but you can obtain a lot of information about a person by asking a few simple, open-ended questions and listening carefully to the answers. Two queries in particular have proven most revealing when it comes to identifying strengths and weaknesses, and I recommend asking them of all new hires-and revisiting the questions periodically.

To identify a person's strengths, first ask, "What was the best day at work you've had in the past three months?" Find out what the person was doing and why he enjoyed it so much. Remember: strength is not merely something you are good at. In fact, it might be something you aren't good at yet. It might be just a predilection, something you find so intrinsically satisfying that you look forward to doing it again and again and getting better at it over time. This question will prompt your employee to start thinking about his interests and abilities from this perspective.

To identify a person's weakness, just invert the question: "What was the worst day you've had at work in the past three months?" And then probe for details about what he was doing and why it grated on him so much. As with strength, a weakness is not merely something you are bad at (in fact, you might be quite competent at it). It is something that drains you of energy, an activity that you never look forward to doing and that when you are doing it; all you can think about is stopping.

Although you're keeping an eye out for both the strengths and weaknesses of your employees, your focus should be on their strengths. Conventional wisdom holds that self-awareness is a good thing and that it's the job of the manager to identify weaknesses and create a plan for overcoming them. But research by Albert Bandura, the father of social learning theory, has shown that self-assurance (labeled "self-efficacy" by cognitive psychologists), not self-awareness, is the strongest predictor of a person's ability to set high goals, to persist in the face of obstacles, to bounce back when reversals occur, and, ultimately, to achieve the goals they set. By contrast, self-awareness has not been shown to be a predictor of any of these outcomes, and in some cases, it appears to retard them.

Great managers seem to understand this instinctively. They know that their job is not to arm each employee with a dispassionately accurate understanding of the limits of her strengths and the liabilities of her weaknesses but to reinforce her self-assurance. That's why great managers focus on strengths. When a person succeeds, the great manager doesn't praise her hard work. Even if there is some exaggeration in the statement, he tells her that she succeeded because she has become so good at deploying her specific strengths. This, the manager knows, will strengthen the employee's self-assurance and make her more optimistic and more resilient in the face of challenges to come.

You can obtain a lot of information about a person by asking a few simple, open-ended questions. The focus-on-strengths approach might create in the employee a modicum of overconfidence, but great managers mitigate this by emphasizing the size and the difficulty of the employee's goals. They know that their primary objective is to create in each employee a specific state of mind: one that includes a realistic assessment of the difficulty of the obstacle ahead but an unrealistically optimistic belief in her ability to overcome it.

And what if the employee fails? Assuming the failure is not attributable to factors beyond her control, always explain failure as a lack of effort, even if this is only partially accurate. This will obscure self-doubt and give her something to work on as she faces up to the next challenge.

Repeated failure, of course, may indicate weakness where a role requires strength. In such cases, there are four approaches for overcoming weaknesses. If the problem amounts to lack of skill or knowledge, that's easy to solve: Simply offer the relevant training, allow some time for the employee to incorporate the new skills, and look for signs of improvement. If her performance doesn't get better, you'll know that the reason she's struggling is because she is missing certain talents, a deficit no amount of skill or knowledge training is likely to fix. You'll have to find a way to manage around this weakness and neutralize it.

Which brings us to the second strategy for overcoming an employee weakness. Can you find her a partner, someone whose talents are strong in precisely the areas where hers are weak? Here's how this strategy can look in action. As vice president of merchandising for the women's clothing retailer Ann Taylor, Judi Langley found that tensions were rising between her and one of her merchandising managers, Claudia (not her real name), whose analytical mind and intense nature created an overpowering "need to know." If Claudia learned of something before Judi had a chance to review it with her, she would become deeply frustrated. Given the speed with which decisions were made, and given Judy's busy schedule, this happened frequently. Judi was concerned that Claudia's irritation was unsettling to the whole product team, not to mention earning the employee a reputation as a malcontent.

Always explain failure as a lack of effort, even if this is only partially accurate.

An average manager might have identified this behavior as a weakness and lectured Claudia on how to control her need for information. Judi, however, realized that this "weakness" was an aspect of Claudia's greatest strength: her analytical mind. Claudia would never be able to rein it in, at least not for long. So Judi looked for a strategy that would honor and support Claudia's need to know, while channeling it more productively. Judi decided to act as Claudia's information partner, and she committed to leaving Claudia a voice mail at the end of each day with a brief update. To make sure nothing fell through the cracks, they set up two live "touch base" conversations per week. This solution managed Claudia's expectations and assured her that she would get the information she needed, if not exactly when she wanted it, then at least at frequent and predictable intervals. Giving Claudia a partner neutralized the negative manifestations of her strength, allowing her to focus her analytical mind on her work. (Of course, in most cases, the partner would need to be someone other than a manager.)

Should the perfect partner prove hard to find, try this third strategy: Insert into the employee's world a technique that helps accomplish through discipline what the person can't accomplish through instinct. I met one very successful screenwriter and director who had struggled with telling other professionals, such as composers and directors of photography, that their work was not up to snuff. So he devised a mental trick: He now imagines what the "god of art" would want and uses this imaginary entity as a source of strength. In his mind, he no longer imposes his own opinion on his colleagues but rather tells himself (and them) that an authoritative third party has weighed in.

If training produces no improvement, if complementary partnering proves impractical, and if no nifty discipline technique can be found, you are going to have to try the fourth and final strategy, which is to rearrange the employee's working world to render his weakness irrelevant. This strategy will require of you, first, the creativity to envision a more effective arrangement and, second, the courage to make that arrangement work. But the payoff that may come in the form of increased employee productivity and engagement is well worth it

* Reprinted under license agreement with Working Knowledge, the online publication of Harvard Business School (HBS).

6. Case-Law & Legislation Review: Practice and Procedure Appeal and Review

By Gary Watkins who can be contacted at

www.caselaw.co.za ; www.workinfo.com 

MAGNUM SECURITY (PTY) LTD V PROFESSIONAL TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION & OTHERS

Case No: JA24/02

Judgment: Date 27 May 2004

Jurisdiction: Labour Appeal Court, Johannesburg

Judge: Judge Zondo, Judge President, Davis et Jafta , Acting Judges of Appeal

# SUBJECT: Practice and Procedure Appeal and Review

ISSUE: The employees were employed by the employer as security guards. There was an implementation of a sectoral agreement prescribing the maximum ordinary and overtime working hours. The employer then implemented a reduction in the normal working hours and the court a quo held that this amounted to a unilateral reduction in working hours. On appeal the court held that the sectoral determination which reduced the ordinary hours of work did not have the effect of removing the employees' obligation to tender their services for five days a week from 6am to 6pm. The employer's conduct in changing the terms and conditions of employment of the employees without their consent constituted a repudiation of their contracts of employment and was unlawful. The appeal was dismissed.

SUMMARY OF FACTS: the employer, who provided a guarding service to its clients, had employed the employees to work a 72-hour week, of which 12 hours were overtime between 1996 and 2000. In March 2000 a sectoral determination changed these hours to 65 hours per week of which 10 were overtime and for the next year to 60 hours per week with the same overtime provision. In March 2001 the employer implemented a reduction in the normal working hours for security officers, to 48 normal hours per week on the basis that the reduction of normal working hours to 50 per week would be impractical, viewed within the context of employer's business. The employees then brought an urgent application for their normal working hours to be restored as well as an application for compensation for lost income. After hearing evidence, the court ordered the employer to schedule the employees for 5 twelve-hour shifts per week (60 hours) as per the existing agreement between them as well as compensation for the period when they were scheduled to work fewer hours.

SUMMARY OF JUDGEMENT: The key issue to be decided was if there existed an agreement between the parties, which gave the employees the right to work a 60-hour week. The court came to the conclusion that such agreement did, in fact, exist and that employees had been required to work a 60-hour week, 5 of which were overtime that was not voluntary.

The court then found that the reduction of working hours to 48 hours per week (which was 2 hours less than the determination prescribed) was a unilateral change. In this respect the court found that:" What in law is required for an employer to effect a change to the terms and conditions of employment of an employee is the latter's agreement to the change. The operational requirements of the employer can provide no valid justification in law for employer to effect a reduction of second and further employees' hours of work without their agreement.

The employer's conduct in changing the terms and conditions of employment of second and further employees without their consent constituted a repudiation of their contracts of employment and was unlawful. Employer's remedy, if it wanted to reduce the second and further employee's hours of work - in order to suit its operations - lay in negotiating a change to the actual hours of work of the second and further employees and to obtaining their agreement for a change to be effected. If no agreement was reached, employer would have a right to dismiss second and further employees for operational requirements and employ employees who would be prepared to accept employment on terms and conditions that would satisfy the operational requirements of the employer." Accordingly, the court found that the reduction in hours was unlawful and that the employees were entitled to reject the repudiation of the agreement by the employer.

Regarding the effect of the sectoral determination, the court found that this did not have the effect of removing the employees' obligation to tender their services for five days a week from 6am to 6pm. The effect of the sectoral determination was to alter the five hours from 8am to 1pm on the last of the five days per week from being ordinary hours - if they were worked - to overtime.

ORDER: (1). The working week of the second and further applicants is declared to be 60 hours comprising 50 ordinary and 10 overtime hours. (2). First employee is ordered to compensate second and further applicants by paying them the difference between the amount they would have earned between 20 March 2001 and 11 April 2002 had they worked 60 hours per week, comprising 50 ordinary and 10 overtime hours, and the amount in fact paid to the individual applicants during that period. No order was made as to costs.

7: Downloads: General Employee Training Needs Analysis (GETNA)

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Editor's Note:

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The primary purpose of the GETNA is to identify general employee training needs in your organisation. Remember, plenty of training needs exist not covered by Unit Standards!

Download a PDF copy of this instrument developed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation for the US Department Of Energy Affairs. Click on www.workinfo.com/free/downloads/180.htm 

8. Book Reviews

# The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

To purchase this book click on http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=293&sku=28086623 

By Thomas Friedman, A. Lane Publishers, 2005

When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter Y2K to March 2004, what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalisation? And with this flattening' of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in one place, has the world got too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?In this brilliant new book, the award-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the 21st century; what it means to countries, companies, communities and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.

# The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits

To purchase this book click on http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=293&sku=27778970 

By C. K. Prahalad and Ck Prahalad, Wharton School Publishing, 2004

"For once a new book really does deserve the label 'visionary'." Management Today; The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market is where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the billions of poor people in the world have immense untapped buying power. For companies who learn how to serve them they represent an enormous opportunity. Not only can it be done, it is being done profitably, and in the process is moving very poor people out of their poverty. Now, one of the world's leading business gurus C K Prahalad shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets, how to drive the radical innovations needed to profit from them, and how those innovations will make you more competitive everywhere. Prahalad presents eleven in-depth case stories from India, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela. They range from salt to soap, banking to mobile phones, healthcare to housing. Prahalad shows how multinational firms can play an extraordinarily constructive role in building "bottom of the pyramid" markets, reducing poverty, and creating an inclusive capitalism that works for everyone.

9. Web Reviews: Business For Social Responsibility

# Click on http://bsr.org/index.cfm 

As a one-stop forum for the latest in do-gooding, the development of this nonprofit site shows how the perception and practices of business's role in the world has evolved in the past decade. Founded in 1992, the org originally brought together small- and medium-sized companies for discussion; now a quick glance over the list of companies represented on its board of directors shows that the big guns have arrived: McDonald's, Unilever, the Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, and many more. What this means for visitors to the site: strong play given to issues facing global companies-and who isn't in a global company these days? The news corner focuses not just on inequities but, crucially, also on practical steps to improve conditions. For example, recent articles looked at the economic benefits to ending child labor; work being done in global manufacturing to better women's reproductive health, and ways to improve conditions throughout global supply chains. The list of almost seventy "issue briefs" offers accessible primers on everything from human rights to community investment.

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