Siemens, once noted for its bureaucratic and hierarchical approach to business, has adopted a grass‐roots and “bottom up” approach to knowledge management, which has transformed the company over the last three years. Without any suggestion or provocation from above, middle‐level...

How often have individuals vowed to change their ways, stop, reflect and start over? Large corporations too often face the starker situation of evolve or die – few can do so. Boeing has proved itself one of the global leaders in knowledge management. Given the pressures and increasing strains...

Imagine a world without voice mails, e‐mails, pagers and cell phones. For workers aged around 40, or over, it is not hard to do. The only interruptions many of these people used to experience to the normal rhythm of daily working life were when the office telephone rang, or someone called in...

Purpose – Shows how workforce analytics can help human resource (HR) management specialists to be more effective in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach – Draws on the author’s experience, plus a review of the literature. Findings – Reveals how analytics have transformed ways of...

The most important element of successful change is never to let your people get offside, says Marie Gill, head of organizational development at UK supermarket Asda, which recently merged with Wal‐Mart, one of the world’s largest retailers. She was speaking at a forum organized by Brathay, a...

Throughout the turbulent recent history of UK carmaker Rover, culminating in parent BMW’s sale of the company for £10 to the Phoenix consortium in May 2000, internal communications with the workforce were never far from the top of the agenda.

Reinsurance and financial‐services organization Swiss Re has repositioned its alternative risk resources after a radical reorganization. Strategic imperatives included establishing a new performance culture among its 500 associates, who mostly work in virtual teams as part of the new Swiss Re...

Action learning – often seen as only a tool for personal development – was the way chosen to open up the culture, sharpen up service provision, increase revenue and reduce costs in the UK Publishing Services division of Oxford University Press.