Rules and Sanctions

Rules are usually of limited value unless considered alongside corresponding sanctions.  Sanctions?  Yes, else why would anyone comply with the rules?

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Gods of Management

I’ve previously written about Charles Handy’s cultural models (see here) but omitted to reference the Greek gods that he attributed to them.

Teams

The word team appears a lot in my writing and, I believe, with good reason.  Most of us work in a team, whether or not that’s what it’s called – and that also applies in our non-work life, too.  Charles Handy likens teams to tribes in some of his books, bringing together theories of teams and theories of culture.

Motivation

There’s a whole discipline here – what follows is merely a starting point to follow up.  Actually, nothing here should be new to anyone who has studied management and, if it is new, and you do think of yourself as being in management, you probably need to start studying.

Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Principle

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the USA.

It’s Not the Holy Grail

The quality world is entranced by ISO9001 and certification, almost essential in western business, and it employs many in compliance auditing.  Even first and second party audits focus on compliance.  Inspection is frequently reduced to pass or fail judgements.  But is that the only way to think, or even the best way?

Manager vs Engineer

No intention to start a fight to say who’s best, a manager or an engineer; rather to try and recognise a key difference in role that may clarify responsibilities for some.