| Management and Leadership Skills |
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| Management Express (MEX) is a collection of short articles and focused reports on Management and Leadership skills. Selected from leading UK publications, these articles provide an essential tool for the thinking manager, whether experienced or starting out. |
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| Key Features |
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Carefully selected resources from Infotrac and Ashridge Learning Resource |
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Special MEX newsletter |
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Printer-friendly option |
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Booklists on global management thinking |
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| How to Subscribe? |
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| Article Previews |
| Each month two abstracts from the current issue are available for preview. Browse through the current and past issues below: |
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| Preview the following items for free: |
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Ethical evangelists |
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With the stark realities of global warming ever more evident, the public is fixated on finding sustainable ways of living and consuming. The anxiety is being picked up by leaders keen to be seen to be Doing the Right Thing, their saintly fingers crossed in the hope that it won�t hit profits. A new chapter opens in the CSR story.
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Spot the Future |
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Management guru Peter Drucker once said that the future was always already happening somewhere; it was just a question of spotting it. Here are 10 ideas to consider � 10 issues that will undoubtedly affect your organisation.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Out in the Open |
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It's no secret that clear and regular communication holds the key to good leadership. But, according to new research, just 40% of employees believe their bosses communicate with them effectively. Alison Hjul reveals how leaders can improve this allimportant skill.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Fairtrade Attraction |
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There's a price to pay for cheap supermarket food and it's not paid by you or me but by farmers scraping a living in developing countries. The fairtrade movement turns that on its head by ensuring producers get a fair price plus a social premium for things like schools and clean water. But how does the fairtrade logo on bananas, chocolate or coffee guarantee this, and what about quality? Steve Coomber investigates what you - and more importantly the farmers - get when you buy fairtrade.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Adventure Capitalists |
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A new breed of entrepreneur is making it their business to generate world's poor and disadvantaged rather than to line the pockets of and financial institutions barely recognise their existence, but there signs that this might be about to change, reports Emma Clarke.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Fast track to� self confidence |
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Whether you're presenting to the board or simply walking into a party full of strangers, confidence is something we would all like more of. Super self-belief won't come overnight, but there are some simple strategies we can all use to give our self-image a lift.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Reinvent yourself |
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When I started out in advertising few gave me the time of day. I spent months knocking on the doors of advertising agencies. Eventually I landed a job as a junior copywriter and within a couple of years, I became creative director. So why did I stick to my goal? I learnt that I had to believe in myself. With the support of people around you, perseverance can lead to far-reaching change.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Leading minds |
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The days of command-and-control may be over, but there's more to inspired leadership than the ability to delegate. Some are born to it, others need to hone their skills. Jane Lewis reveals why leaders need charisma, empathy, good judgement, big ears - and a healthy pinch of narcissism.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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The fear factor |
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Fear is a disabling emotion that can prevent managers from reacting effectively in difficult situations. But it can also be a useful catalyst for positive action. As Gabriella Goddard explains, the trick is to respond rationally not emotionally.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Pass it on |
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It�s painfully familiar � you�ve just heard that a competitor has won a deal that you were banking on. It�s just what you didn�t want to hear. You�re finding it harder to get prospects� attention.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Corporate chameleons |
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How does an obscure Scandinavian manufacturer of boots and bog paper transform itself into a multinational cellphone giant? Steve Coomber reveals some of the secrets of corporate transformation and explains how, when the going gets tough, it can make the difference between survival and oblivion.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Starters orders |
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So you want to run your own business? The rewards from launching a successful start-up can be high, reports Steve Coomber, but so are the risks and the workload.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Managing projects |
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Running a fast-changing business can be like managing a series of projects; while good partners are vital you can�t handle all decision-making and risk taking to them � careful preparation and choice of top teams are essential to success.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Draw the line |
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Fraud costs UK firms an estimated �110 million a day. And it's not just the big-money embezzlers who are to blame. Millions of staff admit to pilfering the odd pen, popping a parcel or two in the company post and even rounding up their expenses. Alison Hjul asks what businesses can do to discourage dishonesty at work.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Marketing a Service |
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The 'service economy' still often uses marketing techniques from in an industrial age; new forms of presentation and persuasion are needed when value is in the experience rather than the eye of the beholder.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Product Bundling |
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Selling linked products together at discount can kill competition so powerfully it�s under regulatory attack; but other bundling strategies can benefit buyers, so are less likely to bring in the lawyers.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Design |
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When everyone�s got the technology, and China can make it cheaper, look and feel can be all that make products stand out from the crowd; design can boost the bottom line by making things saleable for more, and producible for less.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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How to do a deal? |
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To make a successful deal happen, managers need to get a handle on their negotiating strategy and partners � but they also need to be able to identify when the price is just too high.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Get Motivated |
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By understanding what makes your staff tick you can inspire them to work more effectively. But before you can hope to motivate your workers you must first find out what motivates you.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Mapping Strategy |
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Putting the cartography before the horse?Consultants� research shows current strategy is:
- understood by only 59% of employees
- linked to incentives for only 25% of managers
- lined to budgets in only 60% of companies
- discussed by most execs for 1 hour a month
Their answer: transcend the narrow text of mission statement and business plan, by drawing maps of how business processes work and where they lead.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Real time strategy |
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Instead of marching ahead with a blueprint, strategists are being urged to think on their feet � but coherence needs an aim that stays consistent as contingency plans rise and fall.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Tipping Points |
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Ideas about �viral� transmission have moved beyond marketing, to show how influential subgroups can speed up changes in employee and customer behaviour; but when, and which way, they tip the balance isn�t always easy to predict.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Learning to Negotiate with a Female Touch |
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The best negotiators use an array of techniques, including what have been seen as traditionally female attributes - so why do women still find it difficult to ask for a pay rise? For years, there has been a perception that women are worse negotiators than men. Indeed, compared with men women are, on average, paid less and occupy fewer leadership positions. Women have, on average, fewer or worse negotiation opportunities and conditions. Even in some studies in which women and men were given similar opportunities, women still had, on average, worse negotiated outcomes than men. Much circumstantial evidence indicates that women are worse negotiators than men, which creates the impression that to succeed women must emulate the aggressive, male-associated style.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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You�ve got mail |
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The explosion in e-mail usage over the last three years has left many of us drowning in a sea of surplus information. But it doesn't have to be this way. Kay Celtel urges managers to stop wasting their time, and start using e-mail appropriately.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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The Write Stuff |
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However consummate your conversation skills, if you want to get your message to a broad and varied audience, you've got to be able to put it down in words. Heather Atchison offers managers a guide to effective written communications.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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How do you learn? |
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As the emphasis in the workplace shift towards asking more of employees - to 'be creative', 'have initiative', 'invent' - how people learn, or indeed how individual managers can get people to learn, is becoming a crucial skill.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Managing multitasking |
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You drive to work and liaise with staff on the mobile, you deal with client calls while scrolling your e-mails, you do an Internet search and jot down notes for the next meeting. You managers are 'do more with less', 'use time twice' but can really multitask and stay sane?
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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My Favourite Manager |
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Ever wondered how the best in the business got where they are today? Chances are one or more exceptional managerial mentors had something to do with it. Sue Weeks asks five high fliers who they turned to for inspiration.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Career Pathing |
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The new corporate career path is lateral (vs. linear), is characterized by greater inclusivity and line manager involvement, and has swapped 'employability' for jobs for life.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Effective Coaching |
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Coaching has become big business - and its focus has shifted, from counseling and mentoring to a more probing one-to-one relationship based on improving performance and achieving tangible results.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 39 KB) |
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Building Self-Confidence |
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Confidence used to be seen as a God-given quality but the latest thinking is that confidence waxes and wanes in different environments and is simply the fuel that powers the hard work, perseverance that results in success.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 40 KB) |
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Influencing Skills |
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Struck by the short-term success of the conventional 'command and control' technique, firms are seeking subtler, more strategic approaches to influence people at work.
This focus Report takes managers beyond the enduring stick vs carrot debate.
PREVIEW FILE (PDF, 44 KB) |
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