Management Communications to Employees Converts Deficiencies to Effective Results of Business Goals

Communication is one of the most frequent issues in many organizations. Regardless how big or small your teams and organization - there are challenges about communications. An assumption that having the right people who tackle and disseminate information to your entire organization does not guarantee success. 

Executives and management team members have the same problem. Many delegate their communication tasks to their reporting staff. Some takes the initiative to communicate directly to employees. Others will hire external party to handle their communications for both externally and internally. Integrating an effective communication flow is essential.

©2012 JNTConsulting

When an organization aspires to become one among the 'high performance organization' that will be operating, they consider 'effective communication' as the major part of their strategy.  

"It is very important to have a strategic approach in communicating your business goals, target markets, long /short term objectives, programs and initiatives, actions that will take place globally or domestically, responsibilities and expectations, new hires and succession plans, policies and procedures, rewards and compensation. These are essential facets of human capital and resources management, that will be used by your valuable assets - your human capital / employees" - said Juntee Terrenal, President and Global Director, JNT Consulting Global Resources.

In  a recent survey published by Accounttemps-Canada, it emphasized on "lack of communication" as a big problem shared by CFO's who participated. 

Source Acknowledgement: Accountemps Survey

The graph above identified that the highest mistake that companies make in managing their employees is lack of communication.  The graph confirmed that there is a lot of work to be done within the companies that were surveyed. 

Per Accountemps, please find below the five things recommended to be communicated to employees regularly, to quote;

1. "Here's what's happening."  Whether it's updates on the company's financial performance, department initiatives or group projects, keep staff abreast of organizational information that affects them and their responsibilities. Keeping people in the dark will lead to tension and rumours.

2. "Do you have what you need?"  Take the time to find out if your team members have the right resources to perform their work effectively.

3. "Thank you."  Thank and praise staff (http://www.accountemps.com/recognition) who go above and beyond. Call attention to successes by highlighting them in staff meetings and sending a groupwide email  recognizing those who help and copying relevant managers.

4. "What challenges are you facing?"  Often, employees are hesitant to voice concerns when problems arise. It's essential to proactively ask staff members what's going on and how you may be able to help.

5. "How can we improve the company?"  Invite staff members to suggest things they can do to help achieve business objectives. You may be pleased to discover how innovative and resourceful your employees are.

Kathryn Bolt, Canadian president of Accountemps noted, "Employees want to be kept current on company news and able to have access to their supervisors". Source: Press Release: Accountemps – Thu, Apr 26, 2012 

“People are becoming more fearful for their jobs, even panicky, and when things go awry they do one of two things: They pull into their shell or they start lashing out at other folks,” said, Jeff Cohen Source: Talent Management

Technology is viewed as contributory factor of the deteriorating state of communication today. Meg Clara, director of recruiting and human resources at Caiman Consulting, criticized the disruptiveness of electronic communication such as texts and emails in forming personal and professional relationships. By conducting conversations through devices, workers lose out on person-to-person interaction and the etiquette that goes with it.

In January, Harvard Business Review offered an insight that, "The combination of vitality and learning leads to employees who deliver results and find ways to grow. Their work is rewarding not just because they successfully perform what’s expected of them today but also because they have a sense of where they and the company are headed. In short, they are thriving, and the energy they create is contagious." Source: HBR

  

Perspectives:

Economic stress and uncertainties are omnipresent amongst workforce of today, and it is affecting employee behavior. In addition, emerged discouragement and desperation , the non-stability of business environment combined with new technological trends socially influenced the quality of corporate communication.

While the above survey graph was conducted in Canada, the contexts of the issues are similarly faced by many organizations in the United States and other parts of the world. 

In our February 2012 Edition of the JuNcTion, an article "Become the High Performing Organization in 2012 and Beyond" highlighted many areas that relate to 2012 business strategies and communicating effectively. 

Considerations to note in order to achieve effective communication are by understanding about the following:

1. the content 

2. the context 

3. the form of the language being used 

4. the recipients of the information 

5. how this information will be used

Comments:
We like to hear about your insights. You can email your comments to: info@jntconsulting.com or write in the provided message field at the end of this article.

About JNT Consulting

JNT Consulting Global Resources offers professional consulting and resources management, provides workforce solutions that will achieve the "High Performance Organization" regardless of size and location.

JNT Consulting has its headquarters in San Jose, California and is "Your Partner for Growth & Development”, “Your Professional Coach”, and “Your Provider of Global Resources”. You can contact us by calling +1 650 241-3207 or visit our website.

Reference:

1  The JuNcTion

2 JNTC Articles

2 JNT Consulting

3  Facebook /JNTConsulting

4 Twitter/JNTConsulting  

5 http://finance.yahoo.com
6 http://accountemps.rhi.mediaroom.com 

7 http://hbr.org/

8 http://talentmgt.com

Japan: Workforce Power Harassment (Bullying) Prevention

In the previous months, bullying has been highlighted in the media across the United States, and many other countries internationally like UK, Australia, Canada, and other parts of the world.

Source: maps.com

In Japan, the so called "power harassment" has been an issue. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published a report that defines harassment in the workplace. This provides guidance to companies that harassment must be eliminated in the workplace. The number of complaints of power harassment increased in 2010 with reported cases of 39,400 compared to 6,600 cases in 2002.

A labor ministry official said, "that defining "pawahara" represents the first step toward dealing with the issue", TV Asahi reported.

"Power Harassment" is defined as any kind of behavior in which a senior person takes advantage of his or her position in the workplace to cause coworkers physical or psychological pain.

The Guidance Recommendation: (klgates.com)
1. Have a clear message about power harassment from top management
2. Establish a consultation area
3. Determine the company rules regarding power harassment
4. Prevent reoccurrence through training sessions
5. Recognize the current situation of the company
6. Announce the company's policy to all employees

In the published report it identified six categories of actions that relates to power harassment. They are;
1. Committing acts of physical abuse or assault
2. Committing mental or psychological attacks such as intimidation, defamation or slander or insulting
3. Isolating or ignoring individuals
4. Making excessive demands, such as assigning work that is impossible to perform or is clearly unnecessary
5. Making demeaning demands, such as assigning work that is clearly below the employee's ability or experience or assigning work at all
6. Intruding or invading into employee's personal life

A strategic action that companies will take is to conduct an employee education and establish policy awareness of power harassment issues at a regular basis.

While the preventive measures may differ depending on the size and setting of the organizations, a court of law might likely review the policy measure to determine whether the company violates its duty to supervise and provide a safe workplace for employees. In establishing a power harassment policy, human capital and resources management responsible in this initiative must consult an outside counsel who are expert in employment law in Japan.

Perspectives:
The guidance issued by the Japanese Ministry advocate clearer communication of policy and continuous education among employees about the preservation of safe workplace instead of growing power harassment.

Education is always a prime source of adequate knowledge that will provide someone to act effectively, professionally and with care. Particularly when within a setting that relate to different people like the workplace. The workplace is an environment where collaborative efforts are expected. However, demonstration of behaviors that are demanding attention, power assertion, discriminating, and unprofessional must be avoided.

This type of strategic initiative where continuous education must be enforced should be practiced globally across business units of organizations. The professionals in the department of human capital and resources management should not wait for issues to arise. Instead, they calendar a regular educational sessions that are interesting, interactive and meaningful to all employees. Identify many techniques that will transfer the learning on this particular issue to employees in that way, they are encourage to attend.  Many failures of educating people is the monotony of session techniques that has been used over and over. Hire an experienced Consulting Trainer who can help you identify various alternative approaches that will gain interest from your audience.

Comments:
We like to hear about your insights. You can email your comments to: info@jntconsulting.com or write in the provided message field at the end of this article.

About JNT Consulting

JNT Consulting Global Resources offers professional consulting and resources management, provides workforce solutions that will achieve the "High Performance Organization" regardless of size and location.

JNT Consulting has its headquarters in San Jose, California and is "Your Partner for Growth & Development”, “Your Professional Coach”, and “Your Provider of Global Resources”. You can contact us by calling +1 650 241-3207 or visit our website.

Reference:

1  JNTC Articles

2 JNT Consulting

3  Facebook /JNTConsulting

4 Twitter/JNTConsulting  
5 Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
6 http://www.klgates.com 
7 http://www.japantoday.com

Internships - The Desire to Learning, Experience and Future Opportunities versus Exploitation that Prevails

The debate on the consequential benefits of internships continues, and its global footprints are evident:

We asked our President, Juntee Terrenal, MA, GMS about his insights on Internships as a consequential form of human capital exploitation among organizations. He offered four fundamentals about Internship;

©JNTConsulting

1. Recognizing the Interest:

The ambition to be somebody, the desire to learn through experience within recognizable organization, being a part of the fast, trendy and hip teams, the opportunity of gaining lucrative career in the future are bits and parcel of a growing individual.  Competitive individuals search for their stage to shine.

2. Opportunities and Potentials:

Being an intern at an organization that is advanced, technologically oriented, popular and highly visible teams are seen to be a technique of getting the best opportunity in town.  Internship’s main goal is experiential learning that will facilitate career opportunities that are success-enabled and growth potential. Historically, many individuals who have been an intern have gained success in their careers. While others did not get employed.

At the very outset of the internship, compensation was not the main motivation to participate in the program. Instead, because of the opportunity of experiential learning where exposure that will enable the individual to develop its bi-product such as skills development in different areas of the business and operations. The skills they learn reinforce the academic learning from schools and outside world.

3. Challenges and Responsibilities:

An important role in the internship is the responsibilities of the Host of the Internship Program. Understanding their main business goals and intents in running the internship program is very important. Aligning the expectations from the internship, the human capital resource that interns offer to the organization, the scope of roles that each intern will be responsible and execute, how their efforts are valued, and at what extent the roles they will execute is not conflicting to full time employee responsibilities.

Internships can either be paid or unpaid. Certain regulations apply in order to qualify an internship to be unpaid. Each country has its own employment regulation that pertains to internships. Experienced human capital managers knew about these responsibilities. Inexperienced ones need to learn. “If your company benefits from the work an intern do, the intern will get to be paid.”

4. Misguided Assumptions:

Oftentimes, inexperienced internship managers do not understand the scope of their responsibilities with their interns. They often assume that they can just delegate any type of tasks to their intern. They take the ‘free ride on unpaid times’ and the efforts of the intern without hiring a full time employee. They forget about their role as a company, as managers and the compliance to certain employment regulations when it comes to internships and its limitations. The US Department of Labor has criteria in determining whether an intern’s responsibilities are not for immediate business results and profit of the host. Other countries have similar statutes or guidelines.

Reported Concerns, Cases and Successes about Unpaid Internship

In every country, there are numerous debates on reported challenges as well as successes about unpaid or paid internships across the spectrum. The internet provides insightful opinions and experiences of interns, organizations that are taking advantage of their interns’ efforts, as well organizations and individuals who benefited from internships.

Please find below few links of reported cases, concerns and successes regarding internships in different countries where high competition exists.

United States:

The most recent reported case is Xuedan Wang, a 28-year-old former intern at Harper’s Bazaar.

In 2011, another case was filed, Black Swan Unpaid Interns

Australia:

1.  Hidden cost of Free Labour: Interns

2.  The Rising Phenomenon of Unpaid Internships

3.  Are Internships A Modern Form Of Slavery?

Canada:

1.  Opportunity of Unpaid Internship

2.  Internship Success with Romantic Twist

3. Lawyer Says Many Unpaid Internships Are Exploitative, Illegal

4.  Unpaid Internships: Career Killer?

United Kingdom:

1.      Unpaid Internships – Boris Johnson

2.      Fashion Labels on Unpaid Internships

3.      Interns Exploited by Employers

 Japan:

1.  Potential Issues You May Face During Internship in Japan

What does this mean to you?

Terrenal says, “If your company benefits from the work an intern do, the intern will get to be paid.”

When you are planning to hire an intern or need to develop an Internships Program and need additional guidance, just give us a call. We will be glad to assist.

Comments:
We like to hear about your insights and thoughts. You can email your comments to: info@jntconsulting.com or send through the provided message field at the end of this article.

About JNT Consulting
JNT Consulting Global Resources offers professional consulting and resources management, provides R.O.I. and results driven solutions that achieve the "High Performing Organization" regardless of size and location.

JNT Consulting has its headquarters in San Jose, California and is "Your Partner for Growth & Development”, “Your Professional Coach”, and “Your Provider of Global Resources”. You can contact us by calling +1 650 241-3207 or visit our website.

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Source References:

1 dol.gov

2 slate.com

3 abcnews.go.com

4 theaustralian.com.au

5 abc.net.au

6 pedestrian.tv

7 networkedstreets.com

8 careeredge.ca

9 huffingtonpost.ca

10 arbitragemagazine.com

11 huffingtonpost.co.uk

12 guardian.co.uk

13 news.bbc.co.uk

14 ezarticles.com