Increasingly, customers expect suppliers to deliver a high standard of service before and after purchase, and in a competitive market this can mean the difference between success and failure. Explores the role of employees in providing customer satisfaction, and ways in which management can...

If you sense that there are underlying concerns in your company about a major new development or problem, how do you bring them to the surface? One solution is to hold an agendaless meeting, at which employees sit in a circle and are invited to speak out about the matters on their mind. Explores...

Dutch multinational Philips Electronics went through a crisis in 1990, as its share price plunged. Operation Centurion was launched. The programme, which takes a long‐term view, aims to create a winning company through learning. Discusses the main elements of the programme, and considers the...

How can workers best be encouraged to give their energy and commitment to the company? In the 1980s, performance‐related pay was favoured. Rejects that approach and emphasizes the need to build a partnership between workers and management, and for all to feel involved in every aspect of the firm.

Investigates negative employee attitudes through the experiences of the Hawkins Partnership which specializes in providing effective communication in businesses. Lists and exemplifies negative attitudes common in many organizations and illustrates the process necessary to help an organization...

The Hotel and Catering Training Company′s latest research project, Employment in the Catering and Hospitality Industry – Employee Attitudes and Career Expectations , shows that within the industry, job satisfaction is high, most companies have a loyal and happy workforce and there are few...

The development of an employee development assistance programme at Ford Motor Company goes from strength to strength, with unions and management seeing great benefits to their respective organizations. Although personnel must participate in the programme in their own time, the range and variety...

“All you need is love” is not only the title of a famous Beatles song but also a guiding principle behind education and training at a multinational retailing chain. This article describes the unusual staff‐development practices employed by Yaohan International Group.

Your company has a rising young star who is energetic, hardworking and good at his job. You pay him a great salary and provide generous benefits. But still he expresses his intention to leave. You perceive his “disloyalty” to the firm as “typical of his generation”. But could you have...

Yesterday’s “baby‐boomers” are the pensioners of tomorrow. The “graying” of the population in most Western countries is a phenomenon that financial services, health care and even marketing professionals have come to terms with over the last decade or so. But there are signs that many...