EzineArticles - Expert Authors Sharing Their Best Original Articles


  Submit Articles
  Members Login
  Benefits
  Expert Authors
  Read Endorsements
  Editorial Guidelines
  Author TOS

  Terms of Service
  Ezines / Email Alerts
  Manage Subscriptions
  EzineArticles RSS

  Blog
  Forums
  About Us
  What's New
  Contact Us
  Article Writing Shop
  Advertising
  Affiliates
  Privacy Policy
  Site Map


Advanced Search


Home » Expert Authors » Hans Bool

Hans Bool - EzineArticles.com Expert Author  

Changes often comes in stages. Before 2004 I worked as a business consultant, (project) manager and business architect for large companies. Since then I developed a new online consulting formula. And recently I have an additional focus in writing articles and books.

[View Hans Bool's Extended Author Bio]

[Display Categories] Sort By [Title] [Newest] [Oldest]

Displaying 1 - 250 of 1,048 [Prev] [Next]

  • Wait For Me in Heaven (Maruja Torres)
    [Book-Reviews:Fiction] Sometimes you read a book because you think; "he this author I've heard of" and you find a book of her and decide to read it. In my case the title of the book "Wait for me in heaven" (original title in Spain: Esperadme en el cielo) reminded me of another book I'm also reading from Christopher Moore - A Dirty job. It's not the title but also about Death.


  • Investment Management Equals Change Management?
    [Business:Change-Management] Simple formulas are often wrong or do not grasp the whole issue. Of course, but sometimes a simple formula shows a very important relation.


  • Some Basics About Greenhouse Business Architecture
    [Business:Architecture-and-Interior-Design] Greenhouses are one of the perfect examples of business architecture where new business development is solved by the architecture of a new sort of organization; only by means of the greenhouses - which were used before for other purposes in a more private atmosphere - the products (fruit and vegetables) could be grown irrespectively of the natural climate. Basically the new business development is more of the same but by extending the production possibilities.


  • How Valuable is (Corporate) Safety?
    [Business:Workplace-Safety] These are not real corporate values, but can be understood as "protected values." There is often no question about safety and security although the level of provided (corporate) safety is open to discussion.


  • Corporate Values - Profitability
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Not long ago the CEO of Citi announced by the famous e-mail that the group was profitable again. It was one of the factors in the turning-point in the falling financial market.


  • Cultural References in Fiesta
    [Book-Reviews:Fiction] Fiesta, or the Sun also rises, is the first novel of Hemingway. Before reading it I read his last novel: the old man and the sea. Both have something in common...


  • Legacy From Vincent Van Gogh (Letters to Theo)
    [Book-Reviews:Non-Fiction] How many possibilities do we have to learn from the artist himself about his life? Amsterdam, 18th of August 1877. Later I had breakfast with a slice of dry bread and a glass of beer; that is a means that Dickens recommends to those who are near suicide.


  • A Family Business - Or Familiar With the Business?
    [Business:Management] A family business is often a strong business with a strong culture. Everybody seems to know what "the family" wants for the business and what this means for the organization.


  • The Transformation of Oslo
    [News-and-Society] Architecture is about building. In the design process previous to new buildings there are many criteria to evaluate such a new building. One of them is the connection of the new with the existing, another criteria is how the new building is able to make a transformation of the old and existing architecture.


  • Another Corporate Reminder - Trust
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Trust, not only companies are based on them, but every other transaction in the world is. Would you trust the following: We build trust by acting ethically, transparently and consistently. Trust goes hand-in-hand with credibility.


  • Corporate Values - People Matter
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] This value is often combined with the clause: Quality. For example, we know that our people are the most valuable asset and make the difference.


  • Will the E-Book Change the Novel?
    [Internet-and-Businesses-Online:E-Books] One of the mayor factors in change of culture comes from changes and developments in technology. For instance, the mobile phone changed our live... The e-book changes the way we read. But will it change the novel too and how?


  • Formula-One and the Bonus-Culture in Business
    [Business:Management] Sport is a suitable metaphor for business. Formula-1 for instance offers the reasonable fit in comparing investment banking with sport. ING started to sponsor the Renault team some years before the top of the investment market.


  • What Does the Language Distribution on Wikipedia Reveal About Culture?
    [Reference-and-Education:Languages] What does the language distribution on Wikipedia tell about culture? That the highest entries are in English seems logical. But how about the difference in number between Spanish Wikipedia entries and the Dutch ones?


  • Some Basics About Organizational Culture
    [Business:Management] Corporate values belong officially to the domain of culture. Managing culture is an abstract topic and often people (managers) are skeptic about it. But this is due to the fact that advisors and consultants do not agree on the definition of culture or make it too difficult to understand... But it isn't all that complex.


  • Organizational Culture - Business (First) And Organization (Next)
    [Business:Management] As Culture is defined as what people do and how they do it, how does this work in the organization? How to manage culture?


  • Tender is the Night - Cultural and Other References
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] "Tender is the Night," from the same author F. Scott Fitzgerald, however is more contemporary and serving more of a niche market by offering a story of an American family in Southern France.


  • While Europe Slept - Introduction
    [Book-Reviews:Non-Fiction] I must have been one of them, because I didn't notice this book, which was published in 2006. The Spanish translation is from 2007, which is what I read (From Isabel Gonzalez- Gallarza).


  • Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
    [Book-Reviews:Fiction] A scoop is a term that is part of the journalism slang: "a news story, particularly connotating a new or developing story with aspects of importance and excitement, normally an exclusive for the journalist involved (wikipedia). The Spanish word for Scoop is "primicia."


  • Change in the Great Gatsby
    [Business:Change-Management] As important literature is being filmed these days, one could wonder why The great Gatsby isn't part of this trend. Probably because the book was adapted to television in 2000, at an appropriate moment during the divide of the old and the new economy; matching very well the East Egg West Egg divide in the book.


  • Corporate Reminder - A Positive Work Environment
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Recently a marketing campaign in St Petersburg in Russia promoted the "smile." Due to the crisis people felt more insecure and the campaign was focused on the attitude and atmosphere. An incentive to improve the climate. And a way for people to bond where they all share the same problems. A smile can make a difference.


  • Corporate Values - Speed, Agility & Acceleration
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] All fine but these are not corporate values. Values are personal or can be translated to individual employees. What do you communicate to an employee you are going to hire: "no matter what you do, but do it fast!" That is a secure way to fail.


  • Knowledge is Valuable, Just That
    [Business] What kind of company or organization would value know-how most? It is similar to "expertise," but expertise is associated to the expert, someone who knows very much about a certain - specific - topic.


  • Corporate Values - Business Ethics Versus Staff Morale
    [Business:Ethics] There is a difference between morale and ethics and the best way to show this, is to add: "staff" and "business". Business ethics is in general more specific and focused on good-practices in business; like that of a company's practices in market behavior, in sales practices (intimidating clients) or accounting practices, etc...


  • Are Singles Recession-Proof?
    [Relationships:Singles] Trend-watchers claim new trends every time, and the trend of the happy-single got noticed some time ago. But how fundamental are some of these trends?


  • How Productive is the Gambler?
    [Arts-and-Entertainment:Casino-Gambling] In these days where the financial corporations receive full blamed for causing the financial crisis, it may be an idea to look at the gambler. Did the gambler have a role in all this?


  • What is the Spanish Banesto (Recovery) Model in Finance?
    [News-and-Society:Economics] The CEO of the Spanish bank BBVA proposed to use a best-practice to save banks. This way work in 1993 for Banesto.


  • Requiem For a Spanish Peasant
    [Book-Reviews:Fiction] Ramon Sender was born in Huesca in the North of Spain in 1902. He was a journalist and writer. The novel was first published in Mexico under the title "Mosén Millan" in 1953 and got its current name -- Requiem for a Spanish Peasant -- since 1960.


  • Corporate Values - Evidence Based
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] This value is predominantly used in healthcare environments where a physician or medical specialist uses a practice that is based on evidence. This means that the specialist doesn't adapt new measures, techniques or methods until there is prove that it works.


  • From Everyman to Elegy - The Translation of a Novel
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] Everyman is a novel of Philip Roth. The title refers to a medieval play under the same name.


  • Corporate Values - Open Communication
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] This is a value that is focused on the organizational process and a reason to select this value into the corporate values statement is that the organizational process is more important that the result. This may apply for those companies where the result is not a clear cut product but rather a somehow intangible, not transparent service. Think of governmental organizations, universities, etc.


  • Client Relationship Management With Shareholders
    [Business:Management] CRM has been the buzzword for years after the now already common standard of ERP. Everyone knows what the best-practices of enterprise resource management are. But how about CRM and CRM for shareholders?


  • Corporate Values - Stakeholders' Interest
    [Business] A "normal" company operates in a business environment of suppliers of which it receives valuable resources and customers to whom it sells added value in form of products and services. Modern business however has become more and more complex and the concept of "community" entered the business scene; an organization is more than a static entity that offers products and services to consumers.


  • Managing Diversity
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] When (Live) searching the internet for "diversity and corporate values" the first page shows six technology (related) companies: IBM, Abbacus Technology, Dell, Google, HP and AT&T. Another company on the first page is the BBC; they state in their mission: to be the most creative company in the world.


  • The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] This is an interesting novel about the role of faith and religion in life that is represented by two main heroes in the story. The priest and the lieutenant, or the hunted and the hunter, because the lieutenant is hunting the priest as the catholic faith and practice is forbidden at the time in Mexico. A fact the novel has been based on.


  • Healthcare ASP Part 2 - The IBA Healthgroup
    [Health-and-Fitness:Healthcare-Systems] One of the fears of hospital management is that they partner a Application Service Provider and that this partner becomes insolvent. The IBA Healthgroup recently bought a ASP which made them a strong global player. The other side of this fear is that a good software package will always be bought by someone, as in the (same) case of iSoft.


  • Healthcare ASP Part 3 - An ASP Example - Isoft
    [Health-and-Fitness:Healthcare-Systems] The strategy of Isoft is to offer Application Services (ASP) for Health Care organizations. Lorenzo is their product name, an application dedicated to the health care sector and which uses a service oriented architecture. This means that each hospital or health care provider can tailor and tap the services just according to their needs.


  • Comparison of an Investment Fund Management Approach
    [Investing:Mutual-Funds] In the Netherlands there are two popular investment funds. There is also a site where the characteristics of funds can be compared. I've tried it for those two funds and came up with a peculiar fact, when looking at the last (5 years') performance of both funds:


  • Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] Sometimes you are overwhelmed by comments on a subject or in this case a book. In Spain this book has often received positive attention and critics and I was curious reading it. All this attention, however inflating the expectations, didn't lead to a disappointment after reading the novel. On the contrary.


  • Health Care & ASP Part 1 - Introduction
    [Health-and-Fitness:Healthcare-Systems] Hospitals are one of the organizations that have the highest information density. This means that the business that is organized in a hospital is very independent on information.


  • Character Building - The Ramadan Experience
    [Self-Improvement] Some example get labeled: don't try this at home. In this case of "Ramadan" I have to say: I didn't try this myself. But I'm wondering how the culture of Ramadan would influence one's character.


  • Life is Elsewhere (Kundera)
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] The Czech President Vaclav Klaus who is currently presiding the European Union, said the EU Is Becoming a Soviet Union Look-Alike... I found it a good moment to dig into the Czech's past and have a look at their literature. For instance - Life is Elsewhere, from Milan Kundera.


  • Signs of Our Time - Public Infrastructure Gets Some Attention
    [Business:Management] Not only President Obama announced vast investments in public infrastructure and healthcare, school, etc also in China the government prepared a recovery plan investing in infrastructure. Is infrastructure the only thing they can do, or is there more to it? There is in fact. It is not a coincidence.


  • How Business Intelligent Are the Search Engines?
    [Internet-and-Businesses-Online:SEO] Search Engines -- we all know -- are relatively new companies which have no comparable benchmark in business or in organizing. The SE business is unique.


  • Organizing is Like Trading
    [Business:Productivity] In the organizational caverns of a company we encounter professionals that normally operate in a pure business environment. One of such a professional is the trader.


  • Basque Elections - The Morning After
    [News-and-Society:Politics] The Basque Country in Northern Spain is a place where social life changes. Slowly. What happens in this Basque Country influences Spain and visa versa.


  • Differences in the European Stock and Bond Market
    [Investing:Stocks] There are some interesting developments in the European marketplace as individual member states have their own problems to solve. Individual member states get rated for their governmental bond market, according to the government budget deficit and outstanding debt. For instance the Netherlands has a higher debt rating than Spain as the market reckons that Spain may default sooner than The Netherlands.


  • Where Are You Going Navigator?
    [Business:Strategic-Planning] These days it is hard to figure out how companies are really doing. Last year's profits (if any) and current 2009 outlook (negative) gives something to go by. But it isn't much. So an interview with the CEO may help. And indeed, as we are looking for confidence, some extra information can make the difference.


  • Company Profiles - Cardinal Health
    [Business] Cardinal Health is now an "$87 billion" global healthcare products and services company dedicated to making healthcare "safer and more productive." But it all started in 1971 - with Cardinal Foods -- when founder Robert Walter opened a small distribution center in Ohio. Eight years later the distribution branched into pharmaceuticals when the company purchased a drug distributor and became known as Cardinal Distribution (2).


  • Employee Job Satisfaction - A Luxury Problem?
    [Business:Management] Not long ago I heard about a company who got rid of their Employee Job Satisfaction (EJS) surveys. Boldly stated they found that job satisfaction was a semi-objective figure that didn't quite fit anymore: employees seemed bored to fill in the list, it was not clear what to do with the exceptions (the 20 percent of employees who were less satisfied whereas most other 80% were) and there was no relation to the success of the business.


  • Corporate Wide Passion
    [Business] Recently I read about a consultant who was invited by a client hoping to find their passion. At first I found that astonishing, but then I thought, Yes, that's not that odd. We often don't realize where our passion lies after we talk about it with someone.


  • Productivity Measurement in a Banking Environment
    [Business:Productivity] Applying productivity measurement to a banking environment is possible on different levels. On an employee level one should know first what this employee role is in relation to the overall business process and (thus) how this process is organized. The question can be summarized by: what should I do?


  • Empowerment As a Corporate Value
    [Self-Improvement:Empowerment] Empowerment is a concept that was invented by consultants. The idea was that once they would leave, the professionals in the organization would be able to apply what they had learned; they were empowered to do the job. In previous situations consultants left and took the knowledge with them.


  • New in Spain - Doctor Mateo
    [Arts-and-Entertainment:Movies-TV] For those who are somehow tired of Dr. House and who happen to live in Spain there is a new soap: Dr. Mateo. It is one of the innovations on television of a unique formula.


  • Exotic Places in the World - Lazkao
    [Travel-and-Leisure:Destination-Tips] People often travel to places because there is something to see. There is always something to observe, but what is that exactly? A museum, the architecture of a building, nature, a cultural event, a historical monument... Or a place where a celebrity has lived. It is also possible that people visit a landscape where a film was recorded.


  • Company Profiles - CEC - Leaders in Education
    [Business] Career Education Corporation (CEC) was founded in 1994 and according to their own statement, has become one of the world's leading providers of quality post-secondary educational services. Gary E. McCullough is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of CEC.


  • How to Design a Shared Service Center (2)
    [Business:Customer-Service] Professsionalization leads to a higher overhead costs. In this case the professionalization is achieved as the distributed activities are grouped together and centrally planned, whereas they were performed at the local business level previously.


  • How to Design a Shared Service Center (1)
    [Business:Customer-Service] Whether a shared service center is suitable and under what circumstances is subject to the situation in which it is to be designed. One motive to setup a SSC is the professionalization of an organization.


  • Organizational Change by Trusting Customers
    [Business:Change-Management] Does change come as a necessity or because people want it so badly? Normally it is the former; problems add up and there is no normal way out improving things. To escape "this one," we need a change.


  • Culture and Different Sorts of Teams
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] There are different sorts of teams that require a different kind of management approach. First of all there is a difference between operational teams and project teams. A project - think of Ocean's 11 - is a team of professionals that are selected because of their expertise.


  • What Will the Crisis Do to the Euro?
    [News-and-Society:Economics] A crisis will make people stronger. Of course it is also possible that a crisis will lead to (personal or business) bankruptcy. But will the Euro collapse as some predict?


  • Some Characteristics of an Engineering Culture
    [Business:Industrial-Mechanical] Every profession has its jokes. For instance about economists. An example of an engineering joke is this one: what's the difference between a mechanical engineer and civil engineer? One builds bombs the other builds targets.


  • Levels in Measuring Productivity
    [Business:Productivity] There are three main levels in which productivity of an organization can be measured. The most common level is that of the company itself. It is basically the output achieved related to an "amount" of human resources.


  • Productivity - Whistleblower Versus Fraud Detective
    [Business:Productivity] One of the few presents that Harry Markopoulos received was a silver whistle. What if he was perceived as a detective, what present would he have received, an authentic Sherlock Holmes magnifying-glass?


  • How Do You Write?
    [Writing-and-Speaking:Writing-Articles] Strange question? Wrong title? Well, there are three or more ways to write and each of them influences the process of writing.


  • The Actor at Work
    [Business:Management] Maybe you have heart this one, when a manager is not performing well that he blames this on the situation; "I'm officially in charge but nothing else is arranged," he refers to a separate room, a budget to hire employees, are in the situation of a project manager, who is responsible but without any authority.


  • Company Profiles - Rhoen Klinikum
    [Reference-and-Education] According to their own -- Rhoen Klinikum (RK) -- investors' information, the healthcare market is in crisis- and weatherproof: Medically necessary treatments are not exposed to the economic cycle but to a decisive extent depend on the demographic structure of the population. But it is also common knowledge that sick leave is proportional to economic prosperity; employees are afraid to loose their job during a crisis. Wouldn't this also count to a certain extent for the hospital market?


  • Company Profiles - Citi Solutions
    [Business] There is hardly any information on this company, internet is nearly blank on the firm, with a single exception: "Has anybody got any experience of a financial services firm called Citi-solutions. They are part of the ubiquitous Citigroup somehow?"


  • What is Going On - Microsoft Versus TomTom
    [Computers-and-Technology] As there is only very little news available on this topic, how is one to interpret this information. This is my first impression.


  • Arise Sir Tom Jones
    [Book-Reviews:Biographies-Memoirs] A biography is often a story of change. In this biography the changes of the protagonist and the lives around him go hand in hand.


  • Company Profiles - Fresenius Medical Care
    [Business] Fresenius Medical care is a producer of dialysis equipment and offering services in this field of (chronic) kidney failure. The best known of these kidney supportive functions is hemodialysis which became routine in the 1960s.


  • Homo Faber (Max Frisch)
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] The first scene of a novel often marks the setting, the opening is to show what it important and where to concentrate on. The main symbol this novel opens with is that of the airport. One association could be ...


  • The Journalist at Work
    [Business:Careers-Employment] In the office we often come across the career in a new context, like the arbiter, the police officer, the judge... and even the journalist although you might think it's hard to imagine.


  • Abel Sanchez (Unamuno)
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] Abel Sanchez - a story of passion -- has a similar style as Mist, but the relatively story encompasses a whole lifetime and is written without too many details a plain and ordinary story. At first sight.


  • What Exactly Do You Mean by We Value Teamwork?
    [Business:Team-Building] "We value teamwork," who doesn't one might ask? In order to add teamwork to the list of corporate values, one must know what exactly is meant with it. Often with values there is a certain focus.


  • Changes in the Stock Exchange Market - Dark and Visible Trading
    [Investing:Stocks] While stock market activity (trading) is slowing down which is felt by companies like the Deutsche Boerse and the NYSE Euronext, new trading platforms silently enter the market scene. Chi-X is a relatively new company that offers stock trading and exchange according to their own information at a lower price, and higher execution times.


  • Company Profile - MAN
    [Business] MAN is a company with a history of more than 250 years. It started with the construction of an iron mill in 1758 and grow into the engine business after 1897 when Rudolf Diesel built the world's first functioning Diesel engine...


  • Company Profiles - Grifols
    [Business] Grifols is a producer of biotechnological products and services for the healthcare sector. The website starts with a strong statement: "What matters most: People." More difficult it is to evaluate the site and the annual report on this statement.


  • Portrait of a Librarian
    [Business:Careers-Employment] The function of a library is to offer information. The Collection of books and other informational material fulfill a memory function in live. We print and publish and collect to keep in touch with the past.


  • Nature Calls
    [News-and-Society:Pure-Opinion] The news reads something like; "Darwin 200 years alive." And the controversy is about who created men: God or some random process of natural selection that created apes first and evolved into men as we know ourselves?


  • Productivity Profile of a Spy
    [Business:Productivity] Intelligence is valued in many situations and also in the business environment. Business Intelligence can lead to competitive advantage. But in the game of competition there is always deceit; in sport it is done through the use of drugs and business it is about spying: what if your intelligence is not enough? Try to get some from the competition.


  • Do You Believe - For Example, In Prophecies?
    [Self-Improvement:Spirituality] In an interview (Humo), Patrick Geryl responds to the question what he will do when the 2012 prophecy will not happen, "will you commit suicide?" "Those who do not act now are suicidal!" Patrick Geryl is one of the followers of the 2012 prophecy predicting that the earth will be destroyed by a catastrophe and only a few will survive.


  • Company Profiles - Veolia
    [Business] Veolia is a company founded at the dawn of the industrial era and the start of urban development and focused on water, waste, energy management and transport. As urban development changes continuously, the question for the future is how 8 billion of people on the planet and "half of them in urban environments" will impact: water, waste energy and transport. Looking forward requires first of all looking back.


  • Characteristics of a Good Reader
    [Self-Improvement] It appears that Osama Bin Laden writes poems. I learned this from a book title from Charlotte Mutsaers which refers to one of his poems. The world is full of surprises.


  • The Author (Pamuk) And His Work (The White Castle)
    [Book-Reviews:Literary-Classics] The question: "is literature art?," is one that seems as open and unresolved as the definition of literature itself. But if literature isn't art, what is it then? The result of a craft similar like the work of a carpenter? Or that of the architect?


  • Flying to the South
    [Book-Reviews:Multicultural] Flying to the South is a provisionary title I gave to the novel of Ian Gibson, an Irish Hispanist. The official and literal title would be "the wind of the south or Southern Wind (Viento del Sur).


  • The New Architecture of Microsoft
    [Business] Microsoft is going to introduce shops, similar to those of Apple. Nobody really knows or understands how this new store-concept is going to be implemented and how it will evolve in the near future, but the first step is taken and speculations follow. This is one of them:


  • Who Was Velazquez?
    [News-and-Society] What it this, another trial pursuit, the latest hype or candid camera? When reading about Francis Bacon -- and about the influence of his life on his paintings -- whose work is currently exhibited in the Prado museum in Madrid, I dwelled upon another painter: Velazquez. In the same article, Felix de Azua unveils (el Pais 16th of February) the fact that Velazquez as we know from Las Meninas, is not the Velazquez we think he was.


  • Organizational Awareness
    [Business:Management] The "new" manager that has not yet chalked his management slate and starts freshly with its new assignment becomes aware of (the) organization. This change starts with a change in his role where he is now cataloged as a manager after having build-up experience in a specific field of expertise. In the first month the new manager realizes that his (business) expertise is no longer the driving force and he has to build confidence in a new area.


  • Business Awareness
    [Business:Management] Management is not difficult on itself but it becomes hard as often organizational issues take the lead. If you think about it why management was or is needed you will come to the role of the professional who normally knows what to do. So why do you need management?


  • Management - Organizational Awareness Versus Business Awareness
    [Business:Management] The manager has to balance his abilities between the business and the organization. This is exactly what makes one a manager; he must bridge the gap between business and organization... Think about the tennis player. His "business" is to win a match, a tennis game. But this is not the only thing.


  • The Author (Schlink) And His Work (The Reader)
    [Book-Reviews:Fiction] In an interview I read about Jack Nicholson commenting that he once visited a museum and watched a Van Gogh painting. As he was observing the work, he noticed that people were looking at him... That is indeed a paradox of our times; a valuable painting is not as valuable as meeting a famous film star live... Of course, the painting will stay there on the wall.


  • Corporate Values - Conviviality
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Corporate values have a purpose and therefore each value has a certain focus to serve that purpose. Some values are focused on... Conviviality ... It has not a specific goal as many other values have, but it indirectly serves the organization.


  • The Day Before Signing the Contract
    [Business:Career-Advice] The new-born manager looks back on his past (experience) before he addresses this new step in his career. His professional career was in this type of business he knows very well, but now he has been asked to become a manager of the team. It's a different kind of responsibility.


  • Fiat's Brand History
    [Automotive] The history of a company's logo not only reflects the changes of the company, but most of all that of time. Particular in Fiat's history is the change of color.


  • A Symbolic Move in Argentina
    [News-and-Society:Politics] Why did you take so long, is a question often asked? Why or what was the reason that change took so long? Argentina as an example, but the parallel in business is near.


  • Guidelines and Hidelines
    [Business:Management] Guidelines are sort of indications of where to go. They offer a direction; left or right, straight (continuing current strategy) or they serve to indicate a deviation, etc.


  • Part-Time Contracts in Spain
    [News-and-Society:Economics] Part-time contracts are still not very common in Spain and as an exercise on change I think that this is directly related to another topic of inequality between men and women in the workplace. The work of men and women is not equally valued which is often the case, but more persistent in Spain. And this is of influence on the structure of the labor contract.


  • About Spain - New Man New - Business?
    [Book-Reviews:Non-Fiction] Some changes are merely look-a-likes. Is that the case with post-machismo in Spain? It could be one of the conclusions of "The New Man New"


  • Productivity Profile of a Guide
    [Business:Productivity] A guide shows you the way. This can be for existing or un-chartered territory.


  • How to Decently Unsubscribe Subscribers
    [Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Email-Marketing] Even in a rapid developing world of the Internet one might imagine that there are enough best-practices to copy because they have proved reasonable, efficient or otherwise suitable. The copy-paste-culture should help to spread solid habits.


  • The Cash-Flow-is-King Metaphor in Management County
    [Business:Management] That Cash-is-King seems to be widely accepted in the investment world. But this has not always been like that. And to go a step further, one should say that what really is important is cash-flow: how does wealth matter if you cannot generate income out of it?


  • Focus on the Smokers' Culture May Help the Individual Smoker to Quit Smoking
    [Health-and-Fitness:Quit-Smoking] The stop-smoking discussion is most of the time focused on the individual smoker and is attended by measures that the smokers should follow. These sometimes include alternatives like the plasters that help during the process or something like chewing gum that gives the then idle mouth something useful to do...


  • The Chief Architecture Officer
    [Business:Careers-Employment] The first page results for Chief Officer on Google include: Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Petty Officer Chief financial Officer Chief Happiness Officer () The next page continues with chief procurement officer, chief security officer, chief operational officer and chief risk officer or chief talent officer are also in use probably to be found a few pages further.


  • The Foolish Writer
    [Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] According to Susan Sontag, a writer should accommodate at least four of the following (human) beings (1): The obsessive fool The idiot The stylist and The critic The story didn't elaborate on these four and the Internet is blank on the subject too. So I used my imagination. Writing as an obsession?


  • Google's Chrome - A First Impression
    [Shopping-and-Product-Reviews] My first impression of Google's Chrome? I'm glad that you ask.


  • The Benefits of a Quarterly Dividend Policy
    [Investing] The saying Cash-is-King has been used quite some while. But many companies have not yet fully adapted their course to benefit from this wisdom.


  • Apologize - Yes Or No? (The Golliwog Doll Affair)
    [News-and-Society] We live in sensitive times it seems. And "mistakes" are easily made. The question then is do you apologize or not. Is an apology a sign of strength, or weakness or neither of them?


  • Well Done, Angela
    [News-and-Society:Pure-Opinion] The current Pope, the German Joseph Ratzinger, is one of the world leaders; leading the Catholic Church. Another leader, and also German, Canceller Angela Merkel openly criticized a re-appointment made by the Pope of a bishop because the bishop in question is a holocaust denier.


  • Life Often Starts When the End is Near
    [Self-Improvement] Writing or talking about death is still a taboo. And that is strange as it is the most natural thing that happens to all of us although in many cases death-causes are not purely natural. That is perhaps another taboo.


  • Father Dies, Legacy Remains - Hans Beck
    [Business] Little information is found on this man. What do we know of the man behind playmobil?


  • The First Real Change in the Biography of the Manager
    [Business:Management] On his career path, the manager has dealt with some change. But one change has been especially important as this change is nearly irreversible; the step from professional, expert or specialist towards manager. This change is most of all about a change of focus on the type of work and on responsibilities.


  • Profiling Software - A First Step in Managing Risks
    [Computers-and-Technology:Software] Managing risk is like searching for credibility... or for a lack of it. If you look at a bridge with a solid fundament you can assess the risk visibly and think "when the materials are real and sound this bridge must be suitable." When you observe a new bridge prototype with a modern avant garde-like style, a first assessment on risk should be skeptic like: "how is this going to be strong enough?" Only checks and rechecks will help to ease peoples feeling that "this new and modern structure" will be save and secure enough.


  • A Manager is Not Exactly a Soccer Coach
    [Business:Management] Although it is always tempting to use the sports coach as an example for the role of a manager, but one should realize immediately that the manager is not a coach. The main differences reside in three topics: career, team and culture. The career of a sport-professional is hardly to compare with that of a business professional.


  • Yet, I'm Servicing a New Generation
    [Business:Change-Management] What do you mean ... "yet?" "I am a product of my generation," was to let you think about where you were born, in what kind of an environment and under what kind of condition. What if I was born in the nineteenth century somewhere in 1860? If you turn this up-side-down you get another statement: although I am a product of my time; I am servicing a new generation.


  • The Biography of a Manager - The Coach As an Example (1)
    [Business:Management] Quite sure that most managers know the basics of management. But then, what? What do I do as a manager?


  • Profile of a Chief Risk Officer
    [Business:Management] The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) is part of the CEO's management team. At the end of the year, the CEO checks how he has done. How does he do that? What are the performance metrics of the CRO? And what role does the CRO play in the team?


  • The Biography of a Manager - The Coach As an Example (2)
    [Business:Management] What do I do as a manager... What about the individuals (and their careers) in the team... What about culture and style? These were some of the first topics in the biography of a manager. The next topic is something every manager has been dealing with throughout the whole of his career.


  • Managing Change in Consulting is Managing Ownership
    [Business:Consulting] One of the issues where consultants are dealing with is with ownership. Ownership may become the obstacle that makes that the ideas, concepts and methods of the consultant are not fully accepted. In change terminology: resistance.


  • Understanding Culture - The Military Language
    [News-and-Society:Military] Understanding culture is understanding language. In this example the focus is on the military language.


  • The Competitive Advantage of the Architect
    [Business:Consulting] When writing about competitive advantage, one immediately thinks about Michael Porter. When extending his field of analysis one could wonder whether some professionals have competitive advantage over others. For example: does an architect have a competitive advantage over a business consultant or an advisor?


  • Change in the Automotive Industry - Chrysler and Fiat
    [Automotive] The case is that of the Chrysler and Fiat alliance. It is an operation that doesn't involve cash. This seems logical in these "cash-is-king" times. Chrysler will cease 35% of its capital to the Fiat group.


  • Change and the Next Step - Obama 2.0?
    [News-and-Society:Politics] For those who are searching for change and cases where change happens need only to look at Obama; it is one of the biggest change agents of our time. And what more can you write about it. Well probably the fact that this thought change is not going to be what many think.


  • Credit Rating Companies - Some Basics
    [Finance:Credit] When you search the internet for the largest credit rating agencies you are offered a top 3 led by Moody, Standard and Poor's (S&P) and Fitch Ratings. S&P is part of a larger company: McGraw-Hill Publisher. And this relation can help to explain some basics about credit rating companies.


  • Maintenance Versus Projects (1)
    [Business:Management] Much of our live is ruled by this dilemma. The choice between maintenance and (new) projects.


  • About the Culture of Risk
    [Business:Management] When analyzing risk with Google Trends it appears that the search for "Risk" declines lightly but the search volume increases at the same time. A first deduction is that the factor risk in our lives is quite stable, and even declining over the last years. It maybe something people get used to. One must take into account that risk is a very broad area.


  • Back to the Future - Citigroup
    [News-and-Society:Economics] Understanding the future of the financial industry is understanding what is going on now. And where we are coming from.


  • Functional Use of (Psychological) Profiling
    [Reference-and-Education:Psychology] Movies can be inspiring for hackers. In National Treasure Nicholas Cage remembers some details about a person which helps him to find the right password to hack a security system. A simple detail is only that, but when more facts of someone are gathered a psychologist is able to determine a psychological profile. And that on itself can help to find out passwords.


  • Portrait of Journalism
    [Business:Career-Advice] An interview with Ben Bradlee offers the context for some characteristics of journalism. The interview offers an accurate sketch of what journalism is all about. But one event is the most striking and from it we can learn that some competences are required in any field.


  • Maintenance Versus Projects - Part 2
    [Business:Productivity] Maintenance versus new projects is fundamental in understanding organizations. It is a dilemma that all companies have to deal with. But when digging into the matter, the organization is handled and formed by people; individual specialists and managers.


  • Bologna & Reforming the European University
    [News-and-Society] According to the European Union Website, Europe has around 4,000 higher education institutions, with over 17 million students and 1.5 million staff. "Some European universities are amongst the best in the world, but overall potential is not used to the full."


  • The New Architecture of Bologna - The End of the Greek Theatre?
    [News-and-Society] Another change is about the reform of the European university. And another paradox of our time is that precisely in Greece there is opposition against the academic reforms projected by the European "Bologna" directive.


  • Language and Culture in Spain - What a Joke
    [News-and-Society:International] Spain is often a world apart. Once you understand Spain, you understand the world... A little incident is striking for what is happening here sometimes. This is obviously all about Culture.


  • Social Responsibility & The Corporate Values Statement
    [Business:Ethics] Corporate Values reflect a company's culture. The values make that the culture is to be communicated which is a difficult task. To understand a suitable value statement for a company, one should understand what culture is and whether the statement really represents the culture of the company.


  • Managing Culture is Managing Language
    [Business:Management] Understanding culture is understanding language. Now this is a very difficult task as language is so broad and diverse. Yet in companies the language is ...


  • Credible Career Steps - An Investment Approach
    [Business:Career-Advice] A career is a sequential of jobs that - when you place them one after the other - show a path that leads to some direction. The investment parallel (for some an inappropriate metaphor these days) may help to face and plan your career path.


  • It's Strategy Time Again
    [Business:Strategic-Planning] Now in the situation with a decline in economic expectations many companies revise their organizational structure. The main dilemma to either centralize or decentralize pops-up in favor of the first when business forecasts are weak which is what is happening at the moment.


  • Brand Equity As a Corporate Value
    [Business:Branding] Both brand and equity are two complex terms and concepts, so you might wonder whether they cause a problem in the corporate value statement. But there are valuable reasons to include this value in the corporate values statement.


  • Productivity Profiles - The Air Traffic Controller
    [Business:Productivity] From the film "pushing Tin," with John Cusack we get an idea of some of the competences of an Air Traffic Controller: managing stress in a "focus and control" environment. A comment on amazon.com about the film states that the central theme of the film is that everybody makes mistakes how well they do in life.


  • Incompatibility in Organizing Multiple Businesses Efficiently at the Same Time
    [Business:Management] The airline industry is like no other focused on controlling costs and therefore on efficiency. Managing the availability of employees is one of the measures to gain efficiency. Business intelligence can support this process where daily and near future traffic is predicted and human resources are subsequently reserved and allocated.


  • Business & Literature
    [Business] Is there anything new under the sun? When I searched for the saying I found that the original came from the Bible: it appears to be a phrase adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes.


  • Sprinters, Speeders Or Turbos - What's In a Product Name?
    [Investing] ABN AMRO started this new investment game with the Turbo. It is a product that offers private investors a tool that was limited to hedge funds.


  • What Errors in Newspapers Reveal
    [News-and-Society] Errors, faults and mistakes are of all times. In a volatile medium like that of the Internet errors become quite visible and we are used to them and tend to give them little attention. In a more professional medium like a newspaper, errors are more seldom and therefore they meet more resistance from readers.


  • The New Mayor of Rotterdam (2)
    [News-and-Society] The new mayor or Rotterdam who has been recruited last October was sworn in this week. "I'm a mayor for everybody, irrespective of their ethnic background, or political party," was one of his first statements.


  • What Went Wrong With Wedgwood?
    [News-and-Society] Was it management, the organization or just the business? "For centuries Waterford Crystal has captured light over and over again. In the hands of artists consumed by their craft, light has embraced, danced and cascaded through beautifully cut crystal," explains the annual report of (April) 2008.


  • Leadership As a Corporate Value
    [Self-Improvement:Leadership] Some values are more focused on the internal organization, on organizing on what is important from the company's identity... other values are more concerned about what happens outside, on the business and world that is changing. Leadership is an example of the latter.


  • Business Architecture - The P2P Network Organization
    [Business:Architecture-and-Interior-Design] Buildings around us are directly visible and we can examine their unique structure, its style the function they offer (hospital, library, palace, houses, etc). In business this is even so interesting but not directly visible.


  • Scary Movie About the US Economy
    [News-and-Society:Economics] I was tipped by an investment site and I would pass it to those who haven't seen it. The movie is sort of frightening, it starts with little tension, then more as small pieces of information are revealed and the picture becomes clear.


  • Retention - Manager, Management Or Both?
    [Business:Management] Retention is a topic that pops up at these hard economic times. Under normal circumstances of growth there is not too much focus where the revenue is made; new prospects or existing clients, new product developments, new additional services, as long as the targets are achieved.


  • Supporting Kids - The Mom Or Dad Way
    [Home-and-Family:Parenting] Beware that this may be too much of a stereotype, but there are two main different approaches in supporting (your) kids; I would call them the Dad Way and the Mom Way. Both apply most of all to sports, but perhaps they have a broader role, perhaps this applies too in the office, in the activity of supporting employees.


  • Evidence Based Practices
    [Business:Consulting] One way to describe this value of evidence based is like this: "we are dispassionate and objective. We evaluate and learn from what we do. All we do, all we advocate and all we support is based on sound evidence."


  • Company Profiles - HSBC
    [Business] HSBC is an icon in the financial world. It is currently the largest bank in the world. The only real global bank with presence in 83 countries.


  • Signaling Change - Hero Calls For Help
    [Business:Change-Management] A new crisis, although this one many of us could have seen it coming: it's about the automotive sector. Some changes take a long preparation, but finally they cannot be stopped. The failed merger of Chrysler with Daimler that lasted nearly ten years was a signal for this change we are now experiencing.


  • The Roles of a Manager - A Family Metaphor (2)
    [Business:Management] The people part is where the manager communicates with the team members. The Family Metaphor is about the way this communication could be characterized; the manager communicating as a parent, as a child, as a partner or as a sibling towards the team member.


  • Business Architecture - Siemens Vs Philips
    [Business:Architecture-and-Interior-Design] If Philips was not Dutch but founded in Germany would it than have been called Siemens? Philips has changed radically over the last decades. From a dedicated supplier of consumer electronics, the company is now focused on healthcare.


  • I'm a Product of My Generation
    [Self-Improvement] As the end of the year approaches, it is time to evaluate... "how have I done," what's next. Take some distance from daily nuisances and linger on the past perhaps.


  • Do You Value Professionalism?
    [Business] "We seek to apply the best possible skills, knowledge and experience to all our services to clients," is one way of describing professionalism. The basics are indeed about: skills, knowledge and experience.


  • The Competitive Advantage of Argentinean Call Center Agents in Spain
    [Business:Sales-Teleselling] What is the cultural background of your call center employee... And why is this important? It is not always important, but imagine that you live in Spain. Then agents with an Argentinean background have a competitive advantage.


  • Biography of a CEO - Ben Verwaayen
    [Business] The Context of the biography is located in the French company Alcatel that has recently merged with the American Lucent. The merger started in December 2006 with many difficulties: losses, a shrinking market share, aggressive competition from China, and a stock plumbing more than 60% of its value (which is - taking into account the financial disasters - not that unique).


  • Business Architecture of Fraud
    [Business:Architecture-and-Interior-Design] Business architecture is about the architecture of the various businesses within one company. Banks for example have designed so-called Chinese walls. These are not walls as you would see in real architecture, but they are virtual walls that separate one business (unit) from the other, in cases where both may not influence each other.


  • Do You Value Learning?
    [Self-Improvement] Learning is a corporate value that makes sense. That doesn't mean it can be used for each and every company. One examples of learning in a values statement is: "We are committed to developing the skills and capabilities of all our staff. We value knowledge, ideas and skills. We learn from experience."


  • What is Client Friendly?
    [Business:Sales] You might wonder "who is my client," which is a marketing topic. But besides the description of your client, client-friendliness can be defined.


  • Entrepreneurship As a Corporate Value
    [Business:Entrepreneurialism] An advantage of this value is that it is an easy value to communicate and to remember. Entrepreneurship is something that most people have a positive idea about.


  • Courageous - More Than a Simple Value
    [Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Courageous is not a very common value. It can be best compared with a value like "passion" which is also focused on emotions. If organizations want to use this value the first thing they should ask is: why?


  • Biography of a CEO - Peter Loescher
    [Business:Management] Peter Loescher became president en CEO of Siemens in 2007. His background in healthcare must have been one of the elements that Siemens was looking for. Healthcare is one of the three main sectors of Siemens' focus (next to energy and industry).


  • Corporate Values - Lean (but Not Mean)
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Lean is a value that is not often used, and there is a reason for it: it is very particular. It is one of those values where you should wonder: what would clients think of this? Why do you value leanness? What does it mean for us? Is the product mean, focused on the economical market.


  • Productivity Profiles - Medical Specialist Vs Physician (Vs Hospital)
    [Health-and-Fitness:Healthcare-Systems] Sketching the productivity profile of the last mentioned (the hospital), one could say that the hospital offers the facilities and the support (equipment and infrastructure) so that individual specialists, the more generalistic physicians and nurses (m/f) can perform their activities ... all in order to serve clients or patients. The hospital management forms the part to organize the whole by defining policies outlining strategies, etc.


  • Have Fun!
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] "We stimulate in an environment for people to have fun," that is one way of phrasing fun as a corporate value. Fun is a very focused corporate value that can be used for certain companies, but obviously not for all and this is not only true for Fun but also for values like "Passion." When to use Fun as a value?


  • Company Profiles - The Latest Impressions on Santander and BBVA - Part 4
    [Business] The law, "When things can go wrong they will," currently applies to Santander. Only a few months ago this bank was valued as one of the more secure in the world. Now this image is somehow under pressure as new events occur.


  • Creativity As a Corporate Value
    [Self-Improvement:Creativity] How important is creativity as a corporate value, when should it be used and how can you use this information in your career? Creativity: "we encourage initiatives where solutions, approaches can be different than the current ones."


  • How Text-to-Speech Technology Can Improve the Quality of Articles
    [Writing-and-Speaking:Writing-Articles] Speech-to-text software conversion technology is already used in many areas, and so is the opposite: Text-to-Speech. The first can be used to speed-up article production by recording text and to have it automatically converted to text which can than be uploaded to an article-publishing site.


  • The Role of Fraud in Culture
    [Business] Bernard Madoff was not an innovator. He is one of the many, but in this case it took so long to discover: fraud. The original trademark for this kind of fraud carries an Italian name: Charles Ponzi started it and he exported the formula to the US.


  • Do You Value Performance?
    [Business:Careers-Employment] Performance is a value that is concentrated on flow, on action and results. It is used to make sure that "the troops" are moving. There is often a need for dynamics.


  • Independence As a Corporate Value
    [Business:Careers-Employment] Independence is a value that gives direction in the world of networking. But rather than autonomy, independence is focused on an own identity and role that is not isolated from the rest.


  • Corporate Values - Become the Best
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] This is a value that is not often seen in the market: "We go for the extra mile to ensure that we deliver excellent service in all that we do." Global Perspective. Learning from the best in the world, we aim to become the best in the world. (toyota-industries...


  • Common Sense, Where Are You?
    [Business:Management] The company Philips has invented the lemma "sense and simplicity," which supports their vision on appliances: they must be smart and easy to use. The lemma is quite accurate in a world that becomes more and more complex and hard to understand.


  • Do You Value Integrity?
    [Business:Careers-Employment] This is the cliche of the corporate values, but sometimes it is just what organizations need. Integrity is also the value that is most used. And that is logical because the value is quite universal. Nearly every company could use it.


  • Company Profiles - EDF
    [News-and-Society:International] To date, the French state is by far the largest shareholder of: "Electricite du France". Only a small percentage (about 13%) is free for public trade. The so-called: free-float.


  • Corporate Values - Innovation
    [Self-Improvement:Innovation] Innovation as a corporate value; I would not use it..."Innovation is a driving force in our company. It enables us to create new products and technologies as well as processes." The above statement is more of a wish what the company would like the achieve than a statement about value what it likes to be.


  • Corporate Values - Expertise
    [Business] Expertise can be described as: "We build our strength on functional knowledge and being recognized as the authority in what we do." A similar value is "Knowledge":


  • Company Profiles - Ithmaar Bank
    [Business] Ithmaar bank is interesting from a business architectural viewpoint because it represents Islamic finance. Ithmaar Bank was incorporated in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 1984 initially under the name of Faysal Investment Bank of Bahrain E.C. (FIBEC).


  • Corporate Values - Customer Satisfaction and Customer Focused
    [Business:Customer-Service] Corporate values, they are still used. Why should a company not use them? The only reason not to use them would be if they are meaningless and (therefore) not "alive." Values should when used be part of the day-to-day business, they should be used throughout the organization, if not they are useless.


  • Business Architecture - Will Audit-Only Make It?
    [Business:Architecture-and-Interior-Design] Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the SEC led a commission to examine the state of auditing and the accountants firms. One of the main topics in this investigation is the feasibility of the Audit-Only accountant firm.


  • Managing Culture - People-CMM
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Culture can be described as that what (a group of) people do. They organize activities because of certain business requirements. They have found solutions for certain problems that arise in this business environment.


  • Corporate Values - Collaboration
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] "We build relationships within our organization, between the departments and domains, between agencies and between individuals (to meet client needs)." Another example: "We act with integrity, loyalty, trust, and mutual respect. We work as a team beyond organizational and geographic boundaries to achieve superior results.


  • Judge (Of Character)
    [Business:Productivity] A judge listens to the pleas, watches the process in the law court and sometimes depending on the law-system, takes a decision. But how does this apply to judgment in the office? Judgment is used at work too.


  • Manager - What Side Are You On?
    [Business:Management] It is easy to come up with thirty types of managers, to name a few only think of: the sales manager, marketing manager, operations manager, logistics, HRM, Finance, a CFO, a business development manager, a product manager, quality manager, etc, etc... But where are the real differences in these examples. What is key for understanding the managers' main focus? There are many ways to define the management main focus but one of them is straightforward but nevertheless not applied often.


  • Team Selection - A Systematic Approach
    [Business:Team-Building] Some use astrology in selecting teams. Raymond Domenech, the French coach admitted he used astrology as a means for team selection. If I recall, "scorpions" were left out because they would destabilize the team.


  • A Personal Mission and Vision
    [Business:Careers-Employment] Companies have a mission (statement) and this mission is derived from a vision about the near future and the role of the company in it. Does this apply to your career to?


  • Decisive Moments in Your Career - The Kennedy Example
    [Business:Careers-Employment] One question in managing ones career is: do I plan everything in advance, do I have a mission or ... do I leave my options open for an opportunity to come by? There are many examples of either case. But which did it for John F. Kennedy? How did he enter politics?


  • Medical Decision Making in Hospitals - Beyond Simple Evidence
    [Business:Management] Why is a hospital so difficult to manage some may ask? Is the business unlike any other business? Are the professionals unique?


  • Productive Differences - Engineer Versus Medical Specialist
    [Business:Productivity] In what way are engineers similarly productive to medical specialists? The field of the engineer is in design, repair and development of systems and products. The medical specialist is wholly dedicated to the repair (cure) of the human body (or mind).


  • On Productivity - The Philosopher and the Monk
    [Business:Productivity] At the end of the day... You come back from work, or whatever you have done that day, before you go to sleep you take a moment and reflect: "How have I done? Have I done the right things?" or perhaps you may wonder: Am I a better person than yesterday?


  • The Thief at Work
    [Business:Productivity] If the work environment is like a micro-society within a society, an economy within an economy, wouldn't there also exist thieves as in real life? Of course.


  • Real Madrid, Schuster and (No) Change
    [Recreation-and-Sports:Soccer] Real Madrid is one of the few clubs in the world with the highest budgets. But will it be enough to survive? Or will soccer be the next area, after finance that will face problems? It is possible. Money or finance is not always enough to achieve the right results.... Replacing a coach won't always be enough to change the course of events...


  • Productivity Profiles - The Clown
    [Business:Productivity] One of the (few) organizations that explicitly use the clown is the hospital. They use the clown for the children who are hospitalized and to offer them a good time. The little patients really need some kind of diversion because they are still very dependent on their basic emotions. Emotions rule their life and they have not yet developed a rationality to understand what is happening with them.


  • I'm Begging You
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Whenever you visit big cities there is always a beggar to find. The beggar is productive because he receives money, although it is hard to find out how much. In difference to a street musician and street performers, the beggar just sits still waiting for a donation.


  • The Cost of Flexibility
    [Business:Management] Organizing within a company is similar to the way companies do business with other companies. In the B2B world contracts play a very important role.


  • Acknowledging Change During Growth
    [Self-Improvement:Techniques] Changes you experience during your life often come unannounced. We face changes that are visible, some familiar examples include becoming a parent, marriage or partnership and moving to another place.


  • A Productive Change - From Trader to Coach
    [Business:Change-Management] It started with hackers who were contracted as security-officers. They were smarter as the average employee in that area and they could find leaks where others would not look. These hackers worked low profile, they were not famous.


  • Nursing - Lessons From Nightingale
    [Health-and-Fitness] Nursing is the activity of helping patients recover after being cured, but still in need of special care. (Interesting is however the concept of nursing which is not limited to the healthcare. Relations also require nursing).


  • Economy Doesn't Lie
    [Book-Reviews:Economics] The title of this article is not of my own, but the translation of a book title, invented and written by Guy Sorman. A great title. Perhaps for the title, it is one of those books I would like to read, the many on the to-do list... Guy Sorman writes about economic progress and stresses the importance of good decisions making in the field of economic politics. Or economic policies.


  • Manage Your Manager
    [Business:Management] When is it time to do so? First of all you need to understand the basics of organizing and management. You can't manage your manager if you are not on equal terms with your manager. You must accept each others roles and see your manager as a partner who can work for you.


  • Sports Management - How to Prevent Injuries
    [Recreation-and-Sports] Sports management is similar to business management: there is a fun part - playing - and there is the part of the necessary preparations, which is normally less appreciated. The higher the league, the harder is it to manage those sports specialist who -- although just in their twenties -- think to know it all.


  • Mission or Vision?
    [Business:Strategic-Planning] What is more important and when to use either of them? "We have to get organized." Is what you often hear for a club, a non-profit organization or another institute of which the business is not all too clear.


  • Confidence Based Operating - Film Stars and Surgeons
    [Business:Management] Some studies offer insight of which one might wonder whether we need it. But one study may lead to another. In this study the context is a hospital environment. In only in one case it refers to the real (hospital) world, in the other it is only on television.


  • The Biography of Mikhail Gorbachov - Part 3
    [Book-Reviews:Biographies-Memoirs] 1991, chronicle of unannounced catastrophe. The title of the next two chapters refers to the book of author Marquez (Chronicle of an announced death). The parallel is obvious: 1991 is the year of the Putsch.


  • The Biography of Mikhail Gorbachov - Part 2
    [Book-Reviews:Biographies-Memoirs] To appease the changes Gorbachov started to use his perestroika as an international campaign, without moving around at home. It is the time of the Chernobyl incident of which the biography doesn't mention nearly anything. An exploring of the world outside starts. Gorbachov reminds that he didn't know what a credit card looked like when the public opinion had noticed Raisa buy earrings. To export his ideas to the western world he publishes his book called perestroika.


  • About Strategy - Cuba Libre
    [Business:Strategic-Planning] Is big still beautiful? GM, Chrysler and Ford... Citigroup? Are these the leaders of tomorrow or the laggers of today waiting for a change? There was a time - during or just before the previous dot.com crisis, that small was even more beautiful. Until small became big too.


  • Sweden Joining the Euro
    [News-and-Society:Economics] A Chinese online newspaper reported that ... more Swedes agree to accept Euro. Timing is the most interesting about this news. Why now, all of a sudden?


  • The Biography of Mikhail Gorbachov - Part 1
    [Book-Reviews:Biographies-Memoirs] Having visited Moscow (and Minsk) in 2007 I became intrigued by this country, its people its history, how else could it when you have stayed in the beautiful historic hotel Sovietsky? But understanding a lot of modern Russia?


  • Change in the Biography of Mikhail Gorbachov
    [Business:Change-Management] We live in a unique world and in a unique time, but that doesn't mean that all is new and different. The biography of Gorbachov is full of change. Somewhere in chapter four I found this passage:


  • The Original Function of Interim-Management
    [Business:Change-Management] A product can be used differently according to the perception and the requirements of the user. Although systems are not really a product, their use varies from the intention of the client. And even functions can be used differently. Like the function of interim management. The usage has changed over the last years.


  • The Future of London and New York As Financial Centers
    [Finance] "Do not write off New York and London," is the title of an article written by Michael Skapinker in the Financial Times (30th of September). According to his opinion he figures that those two cities will remain leaders in Finance despite the negative publicity in the last month.


  • The Biography of a Manager
    [Business:Management] The biography of a manager is an elaboration of an existing idea. Peter Drucker stressed that the first task of every manager consists in deciding what business to move in. In a more general way you could rephrase this and refocus this viewpoint towards the proposition: "what are you going to do, to achieve your goals in life?"


  • Navigation Between Rhineland and Cowboys
    [Business:Management] Charles Wyplosz argued that "French and German anger misses the fact." (1) A reason for what he calls a back-lash of Anglo-American capitalism and globalization is the delicate balance between individualism and solidarity.


  • Strategic Infrastructural Development in Spain
    [News-and-Society:International] One of the most well known examples of game theory is the prisoners' dilemma, in which the outcome of someone's decision depends on the decision of the other "player" in the game. Another example of game theory is where bluffing may or may not affect the decision of the other. Poker playing must have influenced the development of game theory.


  • Impact of the Depreciation of the British Pound on the Spanish Economy
    [News-and-Society:Economics] The construction and housing crisis in Spain weight heavily on the economy because of the high percentage of real estate and construction in the structure of the economy. Recently the depreciation of the British pound adds a new risk to the Spanish economy. Because part of the real estate sector is also related to residential tourism.


  • How to Cause a Conflict?
    [Relationships:Conflict] If we know how to cause a conflict, we may understand better how to solve one too, or even how to prevent a conflict. In some cases conflicts are productive, in others they are not.


  • Company Profiles - The Latest Impressions on Santander and BBVA - Part 3
    [Business] The story continues. The difference between in stock-price between Santander and BBVA show a bigger gap every day. What is the last issue that provoked this gap?


  • Universal (Proverbial) Wisdom About Change
    [Business:Change-Management] There is so much knowledge available about change that has rooted itself in our language(s). In this article I have gathered a lot of these sayings. Some have to do with a change of status, or flow. The tide never goes out so far but it always comes in again.


  • What Comes First - The Leader Or Leadership?
    [Business:Management] Chicken or Egg? Yet, relevant for the leadership discussion.


  • How to Improve on Concentration
    [Self-Improvement:Techniques] Concentration is important because without it we wouldn't finish any task properly. When someone is concentrated, she directs its mental or physical powers to a single activity. This activity can be a few things. We normally think that concentration on a single activity requires very limited and specialized activities. But think about a project manager.


  • Harmony Without a Conductor
    [Business:Management] The title of the above article is: "the conductor-less orchestra." The orchestra serves as a parallel for organizing activities with less management, or even no management at all.


  • Casualties of the Crisis - Sport and Culture
    [Finance:Personal-Finance] More sport, less crime and a healthier society, it seems so simple. But the problem: there is not always enough money.


  • The Best Specialist Becomes a Manager - Maradona As Coach
    [Self-Improvement:Coaching] Why, some may ask. Because "everyone" has done it? Cruyff for example. He was one of the best soccer-players. And he became a successful coach.


  • Product Or Service Culture & Corporate Values
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] The focus of this article is on corporate values in relation to the issue of product or service culture. How do corporate values reflect either culture and is there any difference at all?


  • Some Basic Differences Between a Product and Service Oriented Culture
    [Business] Identifying the main tendency of the organizational culture is more and more important in managing change. Change is often the most important issue that defines a successful strategy from an unsuccessful one. And part of this is whether the envisioned change is feasible, because: Culture + Change = Problems.


  • Language As a Risk Factor in a Majorcan Hospital
    [Business:Ethics] Language rules impact the organization where they are applied. In this example a governmental decree states that sanitary employees are obliged to use a specific (Catalan) language. What will this mean for the organization?


  • Company Profiles - The Latest Impressions on Santander and BBVA (2)
    [Business] Santander's President Emilio Botin saw the crisis as an opportunity to expand the banks' foreign presence: ... it acquired a stake in Sovereign Inc. in 2005 and 2006 and expanded this stake recently. It bought Alliance & Leicester Plc and branches and deposits of Bradford & Bingley Plc in the U.K.


  • Change - Here and Now, One of the Best Example in Present Days
    [News-and-Society:Politics] The clouds have gone. "Change" has been massively elected above experience and a continuation of the current policy. The high-turnout indicates this too; people voted more than average. And as the economical situation deterred over the last weeks or month, change became more and more the item of the elections.


  • Using the Concept of Maturity Levels in Organizations
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] Some managers are just like kids. In that way they resemble some employees, who struggle with the same problem of maturity. But it is not all that bad behaving as a kid at work, but sometimes it causes problems.


  • Cultural References in the Biography of Napoleon
    [Book-Reviews:Biographies-Memoirs] There are many views on a biography. The historic view is one that dominates the biography of Napoleon, written by Andre Maurois. But there is also another view, like this one in which culture is the axle around which the story can be explained. In the story revealed by Maurois there are many cultural references, although many of them are not fully elaborated.


  • Stop Violence, But How?
    [News-and-Society:Crime] Violence. When I think of it, the first thing that comes to my mind is a name of an ex-general and dictator, whose name was: Viola (he who violates). That summarizes is quite well: force someone to do something against its free will.


  • What is a Healthy Culture?
    [Arts-and-Entertainment:Humanities] Psychology is the subject that analyzes human behavior. Sociology describes in the same why the behavior of social groups. Anthropology or cultural science analyses behavior of specific groups. With the risk of oversimplifying, one could argue that with psychology one studies human behavior, culture is about studying group-behavior. Could we than make the same comparison to introduce the concept of a healthy culture, referring to the mind of the organization?


  • Management Formulated
    [Business:Management] There is a large number of management types, like sales management, operational management, human resources management, etc, etc. So there are also many different areas for managers to operate and specialize in. Management is a very broad domain, which has drawn attention from the academic world to the successful entrepreneurs who have written about it.


  • Don't Throw (Old) Knowledge Overboard When Changing Rules
    [Business:Change-Management] Some people have waited for this crisis to happen. They rub their hands in a sense of self-satisfaction now that they see a collapse of a system, a management approach and they pull their own ideology out of the closet. In that, they discard completely any positive element of the other method and propose to do things completely different: a switch of at least 180 degrees.


  • A Cultural View on Global Terrorism
    [News-and-Society] I think if we try to understand more about the sick we learn more about health. If we study the insane, we might get to know more about sanity. If we understand terror we may get a grip on peace?


  • Learning by Doing - Simple But Costly
    [Business:Management] To define the essentials of a company one could say that a company is an official legal entity to do business and to do so it needs an organization. It all starts with the business, with what someone wants to achieve, with the market in which, the product X, and clients of type Y (retail, for example). It starts with an idea.


  • The Reason McCain Will Win
    [News-and-Society:Politics] It is not about the picture where Obama stumbles just near the finish and McCain beats his rival in the last second of the race. It is neither about another contrarian's opinion, just for the sake of a lucky guess.


  • The Price a CEO Pays For a Free Corporate Advice
    [Business:Management] "Corporate advice is free," said someone some time ago - a banker in the managing board. How does this work?


  • From Europe to Africa by Train (2)
    [News-and-Society] Someone didn't value the first article on this subject, why would that be, I wondered? It's just an idea, but the vision behind it is about migration flows and how to balance these so that flows go either way, from and to developing countries...


  • Cooperation in the Financial Crisis - The Argentinean Pensions Example
    [News-and-Society] "Own banks first," said someone lately commenting on the affects of the financial crisis and the response of the individual governments. The Dutch Nationalized a bank and the emerging countries have learned quickly.


  • How to Manage a Personal Crisis
    [Self-Improvement] If you observe the media during the crisis they invite more speakers who are extremely bearish. Go with the flow, seems the adagio. It looks reasonable, why would you predict a turn in a depression when there are no signs yet? That is risky.


  • Post Crisis Banking Architecture - Cultural Changes
    [Business:Workplace-Communication] When people think of and talk about changes that are required in the financial system, they bring in a lot of structural elements; the most visible is the risk management system. There is however a cultural element that needs to change too. Culture is a broad area, but one essential part is related to the rewarding system.


  • The New Mayor of Rotterdam
    [News-and-Society:International] Mayors in the Netherlands are not chosen, but appointed by the city government. Last week an interesting candidate got selected for this new position, in the second largest city in the Netherlands, Rotterdam. Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Moroccan-born Dutch politician holding dual citizenship - Dutch as well as Moroccan - has been appointed mayor of Rotterdam..


  • Post Crisis Banking Architecture - The (Virtual) Office
    [Business] The post crisis banking architecture will change. The crisis has revealed some weaknesses of the banking system which will have to be solved. Although the position of the virtual and real office is not one of the highest priorities, it may be an area where changes can be expected.


  • Management Basics - Mind Your Own Business
    [Business:Management] If people would mind their own business life would be boring. But it would help organization if employees would mind their own business. The easiest way to manage an organization is by picturing it as a network, hierarchy or other form of small atomic business units; ...


  • It's All a Matter of Experience
    [News-and-Society:Pure-Opinion] Joe has it, Sarah doesn't really, John has it, Barack has less. And it is only one element in which they differentiate. Experience.


  • Lesson From the Nobel Peace Laureate
    [Self-Improvement:Leadership] Interesting interview with Martti Ahtisaari...About peace: every road to peace starts with a rupture of the past. Germany did it, Russia didn't (meaning that they hadn't faced Stalin and his crimes).


Displaying 1 - 250 of 1,048 [Prev] [Next]


© EzineArticles.com - All Rights Reserved Worldwide.