The TimelessTime Blog
Hiring Managers Must Overcome Bias to Get Access to the Whole Labour Market
There is evidence to suggest that hiring managers may be inadvertently excluding parts of the labour market when they select new employees. For example, where candidates apply for jobs for which they are over-qualified, some managers give reasons for not selecting such as ‘we don’t think you’ll stay’ or simply ‘you’re too good for the job’. They perhaps worry that the new recruits will overshadow colleagues. Whilst there is always the argument that managers should recruit those who aspire to the job, it seems illogical that managers would want to preselect out able candidates. Rejecting such candidates would seem to fly against both the business case for including everyone possible and moral viewpoints.
Why is it then that such excuses are used? Can it be that someone is indeed overqualified? And is it reasonable to surmise that someone who is overqualified will not stay in a job and will move on in search of a job that better fits their skills even given the current economic climate? Continue reading →
Implementing ISO-9001: when people meet systems.
Firms implement the ISO-9001 quality standard generally for two reasons. The first is simply as a marketing activity where the key outcome needed is the ISO certifying organisation’s logo on headed notepaper and website. The second is as a vehicle to the general improvement of the business. This blog looks at the latter case – where a firm wants to evolve its systems into those that would comply with the standard and be good for the firm in general. It uses as a model a company that could by many standards already be considered a ‘quality firm’. It comes from a standpoint that the firm is not trying to use ISO-9001 to rescue it from demise. Indeed most firms that enjoy a modicum of success are most likely to be quality firms since they would not be satisfying their customers otherwise. ISO-9001 is about customer orientation and incremental improvement for future good. Continue reading →
Training and Development: Who Pays?
Training is something that we do in order to develop our concepts, skills, attitudes, abilities and behaviours in some positive way in the hope of gaining some benefit. It’s a form of investment and by its definition, investment means spending money now in the hope of greater returns sometime in the future.
Training beyond tertiary education for a typical employee over the course of their working lives could be as much as £40,000. If it’s even half that, it’s still a lot and we need to think about who pays. Who pays for the upkeep of employees’ competence? Continue reading →
So What Type of Firm Are You?
Each nation state “depends for its livelihood on the wit, wisdom, agility and adaptability of its people”[1]. Such attributes have won wars and built great nations.
The fortunes of a nation state and the fortune of firm are inextricable linked. The nation state needs to grow its Gross Domestic Product to enhance social welfare. The firm has a top line sales value, cost of goods sold, administration costs and profits and relies on its people to achieve its objectives and maximise these profits. But arguments rage about the best way to manage these human resources to achieve such objectives. Continue reading →
There is No Such Thing as ‘Best Practice’ HR Management
Our ideas of contemporary human resource management practices have foundations in the 1970s when in the United Kingdom we realised that we had to make our employment practices more flexible and our staff more competent in order to compete with the Japanese. Before the 1970s the function that dealt with people in a firm was known as ‘personnel’. The new title of ‘human resource management’ emphasised the idea of management and the concept of optimising the human resource in the firm to meet strategic objectives. In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher fought the unions and introduced the new era of right-wing politics and with it the dual focus of ‘individual’ and ‘markets’ that came to be known as the ‘enterprise culture’. Continue reading →
On Corporate Social Responsibility
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is not only the domain of big businesses. It is relevant to any business of any size. CSR is concerned with business impact in four areas: economically (suppliers and clients), socially (local and national community), environmentally (waste and recycling) and employees (psychological contract).
Having a CSR policy tends to be a pre-requisite for any firm wanting to do business with government bodies. But having such a policy goes beyond this; it can have significant impact on a firm’s competitive advantage. How? Externally by protecting and enhancing the firm’s brand and reputation and internally by improved employee engagement.
CRS is not a ‘bolt on’ to a firm but should be ‘part of the fabric’. This means that CSR should be embedded and viewed by all in the firm as part of day to day activities. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform published a report in 2009 titled Corporate Responsibility Report. This shows that CSR does have true advantage in five business areas as shown in the diagram. Continue reading →
On Transformational Leadership: the importance of context in leadership approach
Synopsis
Across small and medium sized firms (SMEs) deemed to be failing or simply not performing to stakeholder expectations, there is a tendency for boards to parachute leaders into the CEO post and expect transformational leadership. Leaders in this case are selected for their heroism, charisma and drive. They are put to task and given objectives, often demanding instant results. But is it right to seek transformational leadership? And does transformational leadership always deliver? This post discusses these points and looks at the alternatives: if not transformational, what leadership approach might be more appropriate to turn round failure?
Driving competitive advantage through people™
TimelessTime are proud to be using Denison[1] tools to support firms in their mission to improve their performance by improving their culture and leadership. Denison work with a network of consultants, like TimelessTime, to help clients who are facing a wide range of challenges. These challenges can include many things as listed below:
• helping firms assess their culture and determine the areas for improvement,
• integrating two firms through a merger, and
• developing leaders in a firm.
The solutions provide a range of options to address critical business challenges at the firm, team and individual level. Continue reading →
A Simplified Model of Organisational Change
Change must happen in all firms. If there’s no change, failure results as the external environment changes around the firm and it loses competitive advantage. But how can a manager perceive change let alone plan for it? The following is a simplified model with which change can be thought about and planned. Continue reading →
Is compromise ever acceptable in recruitment?
The following comes from many years of recruiting staff into a variety of roles and recruiting specifically into posts where there were always few candidates that could do the role, let alone candidates who were ideal.
The Issue
The issue is this. Under norms of recruitment, the employer goes into the market to recruit an employee, either through a recruitment consultant who sources candidates or via an advertisement in a journal or paper. The result is over-subscription. There are hundreds of candidates for every job advertised. This is certainly the case where general skills, non-specific knowledge and modest qualifications are sought.
As soon as the skills, knowledge and the qualifications tighten, the candidates fade away until, for a job such as as a telecommunications network modeller say, we perhaps get four viable applicants. Continue reading →
