Category Archives: management

Hierarchies are networks! Hyperlinks do not subvert hierarchies.

Posted on March 28, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

For many who believe in the web as way to transform society, politics, and human life, my blog may come as a shock. There is no evidence to support the claim that hyperlinks subvert hierarchies. When you check the evidence, … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, information management, innovation, knowledge worker, learning organisation, management | Tagged Henry Kissinger, hierarchical organisation, Hierarchies, Hierarchy, Information Routing Group, Organizational chart, Peter Drucker, Usenet, White House | 5 Comments

Which is more difficult? To admit your mistakes or to admit someone else was right?

Posted on March 15, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

Perhaps the hardest thing to do at work (and in life) is to admit when someone is right, especially if you disagreed with them. In many books on management and learning organizations, we hear about the need to admit when … Continue reading →

Posted in change, culture, learning organisation, management | Tagged Decision making, leadership, learning, Learning organization, management theorists, Organizational culture | Comments Off

What a photocopier tells you about your corporate culture

Posted on March 10, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

Many times leaders will ask themselves how they can tell the morale of their troops. Sure signs of bad morale are easy to spot. We see slumped shoulders, people looking at their shoes, people not picking up after themselves and … Continue reading →

Posted in change, culture, management | Tagged corporate culture, culture change, leadership, management | 2 Comments

More words and phrases that kill customer service

Posted on March 8, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about words that kill customer service. Words like “unfortunately” or “of course” and “obviously” immediately undermined the attempt to give good customer service. I am now returning to that idea with some … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, customer service, learning organisation, management | Tagged customer service, Education and Training | 1 Comment

Risk cannot be conquered: Has Wall Street forgotten Machiavelli’s lessons?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

In chapter 25 of Machiavelli’s Prince, we see the problem of fortune and the challenge it presents to a prince. In this instance, we are using fortune to refer to risk. The two are not exactly the same so one … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, coruption, culture, management, renewal | Tagged #ows, environment, Hedge fund, hedge fund managers, Hurricane Katrina, Niccolò Machiavelli, politics, Prince, Wall Street | 3 Comments

Tax Avoidance: Barclays and the death of Corporate Social Responsibility?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

Tax Avoidance: Barclays and the death of Corporate Social Responsibility? Why do we pay taxes? Everyone grumbles about having to pay taxes and worries about paying too much, but how many of us worry about paying enough? How many of … Continue reading →

Posted in coruption, culture, management, phone hacking | Tagged Barclay, citizenship report, democratic legitimacy, HM Revenue & Customs, HMRC, Tax avoidance and tax evasion, what it means to be a good citizen | 1 Comment

Why do companies obey the law? Compliance in a self-regulated business is habit that needs to be nurtured.

Posted on February 17, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

One of the challenges faced by businesses is how sustain compliance with corporate governance rules. The recent corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom and others shows what happens when the internal corporate culture diverges from corporate governance. The challenge is … Continue reading →

Posted in coruption, culture, management, phone hacking | Tagged Business, Corporate governance, Enron, Human resources | 1 Comment

Reducing the Deficit: Leadership and the challenge of deficit thinking in management

Posted on February 11, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

One thing I have been noticed is how managers and leaders approach problems. In a previous job, I had a couple of projects that were technically challenging and had to get sign off from a number of managers before being … Continue reading →

Posted in change, culture, management | Tagged leadership, management, Middle management, Strategic Management | 2 Comments

Using your company’s services like a customer: your chance to learn and change?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

In a recent blog post, Dan Lee had an excellent suggestion that gets to the heart of local government improvement. On point 12 of the post, he suggested that “Use local government services like a resident would to see how … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, culture, customer service, innovation, local government, management | Tagged Peter Drucker, Robert McNamara | 1 Comment

The myth of the rogue employee: rotten barrels create rotten apples

Posted on January 7, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

Often people will say that a problem has happened because of one “rogue” employee (reporter, cop, trader, or whatever). This is a myth, a dangerous myth. Why is this a myth? All employees work and operate within an organisational context. … Continue reading →

Posted in coruption, culture, management, phone hacking | Tagged corruption, Employment, News Corporation, News of the World, organisational culture | 5 Comments