Records

Records are a necessity in every organization. We all need them to do our job. Remember when something you said or did came back to haunt you later? Well, the records you generate in your organization can come back to haunt you too.

One department manager in a Washington state organization proposed a plan for a number of other department managers to leave the company and start their own business. He was secretive about it because the business venture he was proposing would be in direct competition with their present company. The planning went well for awhile. It came apart when he saved his plan on a disk and then accidentally used the same disk to send another file to corporate headquarters.  Read the full article...

Conflicts among team members are going to happen. They’re also going to be tough to solve. As an HR professional, you will be called upon to either give advice on how to resolve a dispute between two employees or you will be asked to take a direct hand in resolving a dispute among several employees.

The tough part is coming out of the situation as an impartial leader and not one who appears to side with one or the other of the parties.  Read the full article...

You will hear various types of talk in the workplace. The following styles were detailed by Sherod Miller, Daniel Wackman, Elam Nunnally and Phyllis Miller in their book, Connecting With Self and Others. I have added some additional comments in places.

Learning to recognize the various types of talk will help you determine the motivation behind the talk. Some types are necessary and when properly used can be positive. Others are harmful. As a supervisor, you absolutely do not want to use some of the types of talk discussed here, nor do you want them to be commonly used by your team. Let’s discuss them and learn why some styles can be dangerous.  Read the full article...

Who are they? What value, if any, do they have in the workplace?

Every organization has them. Even if your team has only two people in it, one of them is probably the informal leader. If you ignore the informal leaders in your workplace, you do so at your peril. Believe me, they can make or break your career.

I have known executives that woke up one morning and found that their workforce has unionized. And they have no damn idea why it happened!  Read the full article...

I think you will get a kick out of the following Office Guides. These rules were given to all new office employees at the Albert Lea, Minnesota Queen Products Division of the King Seeley Corporation in the early 1960’s. Although it is fading, I still have the original mimeograph.

The following guides to office practices are outlined to familiarize employees with our office routine. Careful attention to them will aid in avoiding possible embarrassment or misunderstandings.

1. Smoking is permitted throughout the office at all times. Please do not leave lighted cigarettes on desk tops or throw cigarette butts onto floors or into waste baskets. See the Office Manager if you need ash trays.  Read the full article...