Management Books

1. Are you familiar with self-help books of the genre 'How to Unlock Your Confidence' or 'Don’t Wait For Your Ship to Come In. . . Swim Out to Meet It'? Have you read any? Which were useful to you; which weren't? Did any of the books affect the way you go about your life? If so, in what way? Do you have any recommendations for a book or an author? 

2. Have you read any personal development books for managers? What titles do they typically have? Are they popular amongst managers in your country? Which authors specialise in this genre? Who is a typical self-help book author (both domestic and international)? Do you have any criticisms of this particular genre?

3. Read article here: Management Books Reading

4. Did your criticisms match those of the author of the article?

5. Below are some of the constants that management advice books have, and their actual outcomes (according to the author). Do you recognise any of them? Have you seen any examples of them in your industry?

a) Human behaviour is changeable. (Then why do we spend years receiving therapy?)

b) The manager will bring about change. (Company infrastructure outweighs any individual.)

c) Everybody in the company will benefit from the changes. (Outcomes are different for different workers.)

d) The new technique is universally effective. (Cultural or sectoral differences stop this.)

e) Positive case studies that prove the technique works. (Negative case studies are avoided.)

f) Managers are heroes. (Adoption of folk tales doesn't help.)

6. Why do you think that the market for management self-help books exists? Isn't it in the interests of companies to train their own managers and not rely on managers doing it themselves? Is there something missing from a manager's learning journey (leave university, get an entry-level job, then promotion)?

7. Modern authors sometimes borrow classical works and adapt them to modern business environments - I'm thinking of Lao Tzu's 'Art of War' - to arrive at something like 'Lao Tzu's Art of Accountancy'. What is the appeal of using texts from the past for the basis of a self-help book, do you think?

8. Could common sense replace a lot of the advice given in self-help books, or do you think that they contain real insights?

9. In what situation would you face 'myriad challenges'?

10. Does your language have an equivalent for 'herding cats'?

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Situation

The CEO of AndrewCorp (your teacher) wants to reduce the costs of the employee training programme: most employee training is done in-house by training contractors who teach IT, software programmes, and some foreign languages. His idea is to give each employee a small training budget which they should use for the purchase of books which are relevant to the employee's position in the company. 

You are the head of HR. Make your opinion known on the use of self-help books for employee training - in which areas will it be effective/non-effective? Make recommendations on the types of training you think will be needed.

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Discuss quotes

"Self-help books for women are part of a multibillion-dollar industry, sensitively attuned to our insecurities and our purses."

--- Harriet Lerner

"Self-help books are for the birds. Self-help groups are where it's at."

--- Janice Dickinson

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.”

— Agha Hasan Abedi

“Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich.”

— Robert H. Johnson

Student Handout PDF: Management Books

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

Family Business

1. Have you ever worked for a family-run business? What was your experience? If you haven't, what do you think working for a family-run business is like? What are the pros and cons?

2. Are there any famous family-owned businesses in your town/city? What relationship do they have with their employees, do you think?

3. Has anyone in your workplace ever said 'We are just one big family here'? How did you react?

Read article here: Family Business Reading

4. Do you recognise any of the the three downsides given to trying to create a family atmosphere at work (blurred work-life boundaries, exploitation of committed employees, departing employees treated as traitors)? Give an example from a time when you have seen these things.

5. Does your current company provide free breakfasts, meditation classes, happy hours, or other benefits in order to keep employees satisfied? If not, should it?

6. Do you keep in touch with former colleagues? Is this encouraged/discouraged/not addressed by your current company? 

7. How aware are you of your company's purpose? Does your company have a mission statement? Do you know what it is? 

8. Would an out-of-hours email ban, a four-day week, or taking all of your holiday allowance make you a more efficient employee? If not, what would?

9. What other ways are there to creating loyal employees? In times of economic hardship, do employers need to worry about this?

10. What typically happens when a colleague leaves a company in your country? Would you ever consider returning to a former company? Do people from your country, in general, ever do this?

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Situation

You are an employee at Andrew Corporation. You work long hours for little reward and are thinking of leaving the company. In an effort to reduce staff turnover, the CEO (your teacher) has introduced free meditation classes, free dry-cleaning, and happy hours - but this has had little effect. As the employee representative, approach the CEO with some of your ideas on how to improve staff/company relationships.

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Discuss quotes

"People who build family businesses are not classically trained. They have to deal with an enormous amount of politics. You think corporate politics are tough? Go work for your dad or mom."

 – Gary Vaynerchuk

"Starting a business with your brother either ends business or ends brotherhood."

 – Amit Kalantri

"You have family-owned businesses that have been around for over 500 years. You cannot name a corporation that survives in fact for even a few decades."

 – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.”

--- Tim Ferriss

"Maybe it was because my resignation letter was well written, and this attracted the attention of the factory supervisor. They kept me on and gave me a promotion to head up my own newly created department."

--- Zhou Qunfei

Student Handout PDF: Family Business

Photo: Tatutati

Career Advice

 

1. What was the best piece of career advice you were given? Did you follow it? Have you yourself given career advice to someone else? What was it?

2. Have recent economic events caused you to find ways of saving money/diversify your income? What areas of expenditure would you like to reduce?

3. Would you be tempted by a change of career if your new career provided for a lot of the non-fiscal things that you currently need?

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Read article here: Career Advice Reading

4. What is your reaction? Does the author's suggestion of joining the military seem far-fetched? Would it have been considered just as far-fetched if he had written the piece 100 years ago?

5. How attractive would having accommodation, a profession, and disposable income be to a young person today (assuming they could avoid front-line action)?

6. Is your country subject to the same pressures that might make joining the military seem a reasonable idea i.e. a shortage of affordable homes, a mountain of student debt, and personal debt?

7. Do you think that the military's "solutions" to these problems could be replicated in a non-military setting e.g. car pooling/sharing, apprenticeships instead of going to university, more house building? How would people in your country view the above strategies?

8. Are there any other institutions that provide for your immediate/future needs in a similar way to joining the military? Can labour shortages be addressed by offering good global packages to potential employees? Do you know of any examples?

9. If you could modify your current job with only one of the following elements, which would you choose?

a) The use of nearby accommodation

b) Increased non-specialisation training 

c) Subsidised public transport/use of company car

d) A less intense working regime that allowed personal projects

10. Daniel Younan's text contains one or two errors that make certain idioms appear non-idiomatic - can you spot them?

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Situation

You are a careers advice officer for a local college. Give your counterintuitive advice to a student (your teacher) who has yet to decide on his/her future career.

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Discuss quotes

“If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.”

 – Latin Proverb

“Desperation works in job search as well as it does in dating. ”

– Darrell Gurney

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. ”

– Confucius

“Where military service begins, logic ends.”

― Turkish Proverb

"A man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten."

- Oscar Wilde

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments."

- Earl Wilson

Student Handout PDF : Career Advice

Mystery Shopper

1. Which store/brand/company offers the best customer service in  your country? Who has a reputation for poor service?

2. Is there an established mystery shopping industry in your country? Does it have a positive image?

3. Is being a mystery shopper something that you would consider doing? What aspects of the job appeal to you?

4. What character traits should a successful mystery shopper have? What kind of wardrobe do they need?

5. Who benefits most from these visits - companies or customers? Or is it win-win?

6. Which government agencies can benefit from the use of mystery shoppers? Can you think of any examples?

Read article here: Mystery Shopper Reading

7. Do you think the article gives an accurate portrayal of life as a mystery shopper? Is it really all free lunches and meeting interesting people?

8. Fifty thousand mystery shopping trips are carried out each month in the UK - does this figure surprise you?

9. Is it reasonable to use the information from a mystery shopper to determine staff bonuses?

10. "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." How can a budding mystery shopper decide on which opportunities are real or fake?

11. Mystery shopping agencies often ask their mystery shoppers to adopt either an 'experienced shopper' profile, or an 'inexperienced shopper profile'. What do these descriptions mean? How would they be manifested in the following situations: a housewife seeking car advice at a garage, someone  from the provinces seeking financial advice at a bank?

12. Could a mystery shopper be used in your line of work? What areas could they provide useful feedback on?

13. Do you think technology will remove the need for mystery shoppers in the future?

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Situation

You are a supervisor at a popular mystery shopping agency. Your new client is a bank that wants to check the quality of advice from its customer advisors. Brief your mystery shopper (your teacher) on what he should do and say.

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Discuss quotes

"A man without a smiling face must not open a shop."

- Chinese proverb

"Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. They'll just walk away."

- Marylin Suttle

"When the customer comes first, the customer will last."

- Robert Half

"Solve it. Solve it quickly, solve it right or wrong. If you solve it wrong, it will come back and slap you in the face, and then you can solve it right. Lying dead in the water and doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without risk, but it is an absolutely fatal way to manage a business."

- Thomas Watson

Student Handout PDF: Mystery Shopper

Self-Employed

 Read infographic halfway down page: Self-Employed Reading

1. Are there any nationalities that are predisposed to being self-employed? Are there any that are not? Why does the UK have the most self-employed workers in Europe?

2. Which of the eight 'Reasons to become self-employed' from the infographic would be the most important for you?

3. What hardships are there in being an employee?

4. Discuss the following:

a) Employers take care of a million details.

b) Employers provide infrastructure.

c) Employers often provide free training.

d) Many people’s favourite part of  employment is the social aspect.

e) You don't need to be as motivated when you are an employee.

f) To be self-employed, you must be able to develop strategies, and be able to market your business.

g) "At 5 p.m. I go home and don't have to think about work any more."

5. How many people do you know who work in the profession of their choice?

6. Is self-employment something that you would consider for yourself? Would you only accept work that involved your speciality, or would you be happy to work in other sectors?

7. Is it easy to work for yourself in your country?

8. In the UK, some employers see self-employment as a way of shifting risk/responsibility on to their staff. Does this happen in your country?

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Situation

You are the head of HR at a large company.In an effort to reduce costs, your company wants to lay off some staff, and then re-employ them as self-employed contractors. 

Start the process by discussing the proposal with your employee (your teacher), who has been at the company for 10 years.

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Discuss quotes

"England is a nation of shopkeepers."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"The maxim of the British people is “Business as usual.”

- Winston Churchill

"Being your own boss is great: you get to choose which 18 hours of the day you work."

- Anon

Student Handout PDF: Self-Employed

Can You Be Successful Without A College Degree?

1. Why go to university?

2. Do your reasons for doing a degree apply to all universities (good/bad/indifferent)? Do your reasons for doing a degree apply to all subjects? 

3. Rate the importance of the following: subject knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, learn workload/time management, networking with like-minded peers

4. True or False?

a) Most employers see having a college/university degree as a basic formality - they have no real interest in your subject knowledge, or what kind of student you were.

b) Most students see going to university as a rite of passage; the student lifestyle (leaving home, parties, making friends) outweighs any negative costs.

c) Tony Blair (former UK PM) said that he wanted 50% of young people to attend university. This should be the benchmark for all countries.

d) Going to university and accruing a large amount of debt with a worthless degree is the real reason why young people can't succeed.

5. What do you think the infographic (see below) will recommend: going to university, or starting a career?

Read infographic here: College Degree Reading

6. What is your reaction? Were you surprised that careers without a degree have seen their salaries tripled, while careers that demand a degree have only doubled? How about the eightfold increase in tuition cost? American student debt hit $1.5 trillion in 2018 - is this sustainable?

7. What is the situation in your country? Does it mirror the situation in the US?

8. Are university enrollments falling/rising/staying the same?

9. In terms of earnings, is there a big gap between those who go to university and those who don't?

10. Has the average family size changed in your country?

11. What do people in your country want more of: vacation time, technology, restaurant dinners, or something else?

12. Is the average home in your country getting bigger/smaller/more expensive?

13. Do you have enough plumbers, electricians, hairdressers, nurses, or do young people no longer want to pursue those careers?

14. Do you know any famous people who didn't go to university?

15. Complete the following sentence (regarding your time at university)

If I had to do it all again,...

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Situation

You are the head of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry). You are concerned that labour shortages in the jobs market and a workforce that lacks practical skills is hindering UK growth. You are appearing on a radio show as a guest. Make your case for young people choosing a career over going to university. Your host (your teacher) will ask you questions.

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Discuss quotes

"Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed."

- Robert Green Ingersoll

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

- Mark Twain

"Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog."

- Mark Twain

Student Handout PDF: College

Do You Want To Work For Google?

 1. How would you describe yourself as an employee?

2. Why do think Google is considered to be the best company to work for in the US? What kind of people do they look for?

3. Who is considered to be the best employer in your country?

Read article here: Want To Work For Google Reading

4. How did you answer the five questions?

a) Do you have an IQ higher than 130? (Why is 'yes' the wrong answer?)

b) What shall we have for dinner this evening?  (Why is 'don't know' the wrong answer?)

c) Why did you choose the last five articles you read? (Why is 'don't know' the wrong answer?)

d) Are you incompetent and lazy? (Why is 'I am' the best response?)

e) Do you have a track record of doing something really well? (Why is it a 'disaster' to anwer this affirmatively?)

Do you have what it takes to work at Google? Why/why not?

5. Do unusual interview questions help when recruiting someone? Have you been asked any? Would you consider using unusual/counterintuitive questions when employing, say, a tradesman? For example, you need a plumber and there are several to choose from.

6.  What are the key questions for your current place of work? Write down five.

7. If you had your own business, how would you go about hiring relative strangers?

8. 'Beggars can't be choosers' would seem to apply to the current job market. Can employers be as quixotic as they like when offering jobs? Are there any types of job where the employee can still have the upper hand when negotiating a new contract?

9.  Here are some of the perks available working at Google. What do you think of them? Is anything missing?

a) The cafeteria has great food, and it’s free.

b) Weekly, company-wide meetings are held, where people can submit questions to the founders beforehand. This encourages everyone to speak their mind.

c) Employees are given a lot of independence. They can make their own decisions and don’t have to be afraid of punishment for doing something their boss doesn’t agree with.

d) Google gives their employees ambitious challenges and difficult to reach goals, which is just what  smart creative people desire.

 e) 10% of their budget goes to experimental projects – no matter if they fail.

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Situation

You are head of recruitment for your existing company and you are looking to fill a vacancy in one of your departments. You want your company to be forward-thinking and attractive to new talent. The next candidate you have to interview is (your teacher). Tell him about some of the benefits of working for your firm, and ask him your five counterintuitive questions.

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Discuss quotes

"When choosing between two similar applicants, hiring managers are increasingly turning to social media outlets to supplement information they are unable to glean from applications or interviews."

--- Amy Jo Martin

"Do you think the Chinese think twice about hiring a hacker with a mohawk or a tattooed face? No."

--- John McAfee

"It's counterintuitive to take a long time to hire someone, but it will save you enormous amounts of time and money later. Our biggest mistakes in hiring stem from speed."

--- Pamela Meyer

"When I'm hiring a cook for one of my restaurants, and I want to see what they can do, I usually ask them to make me an omelette."

--- Bobby Flay

“Dating and hiring have a lot in common.”

― Scott Wintrip

Student Handout PDF: Do you want to work for Google?

Photo: divinetechygirl