We are in a day and age where we are constantly hearing about the impending workforce shortage (and in some professions such as accounting, teaching and the public service it is already a reality).

What does it mean that we will face a talent shortage or for that matter an out right head count shortage? It means that analogous to the housing market it is now a sellers market with the “seller” being the employee and the “buyers” the employers. Given this “sellers market” the buyers are making a very big effort to get the first and best offer to the seller in order to secure the home they desire. Similarly, in the workplace we are now observing that employers are trying to court employees and sell them to the virtues and benefits of employment with their organization.

This is great news for employees who are more than ever shopping for the right value fit with their potential employers.

Seeing as how employees have become savvy at assessing if they have found a fit, this leaves the onus on the employer to be able to answer the questions “what do we value?” and “how do we live those values?” The larger question to answer is “what are we all about and how do we behave around here?” The culture is the sum of the organization’s DNA; values, shared assumptions and beliefs that are visible in the way things are done in the organization. Regardless of whether we can name it or not, every organization has a culture, whether by default or by design. Creating a strong and healthy organizational culture is not simply about a good compensation package and a few team building activities, it is about anchoring everything that we do in a certain philosophy or set of beliefs and values. Take an organization who says that it values work-life balance, for this to be truly reflected in the culture we would see it exemplified in all of its processes and structures, an example would be how meetings are run (do meetings allow for conference calling to accommodate telecommuters? are meetings constantly called for 4:30 not allowing people to leave on time?), how are rewards and recognitions allotted (do people who work overtime get bigger bonuses and promotions?). In other words do our actions match our stated values?

In my work with varied clients in differing industries I am often told that they would like to become an employer of choice and aspire to the “Top 100 Best places to work.” The challenge in this is helping clients to understand that building an on-site gym with free massage and yoga classes will only serve as short-term motivators for employees. Numerous studies have shown that what employees really want is a workplace that not only provides those types of benefits but also creates an environment where people feel valued, respected and where they feel like they make an important contribution. If you treat people with disrespect, provide no recognition or positive reinforcement; a nice massage may take the sting out for a while but very quickly the pain returns.

Therefore, creating a strong and healthy organizational culture is more than a few services that create a nice appearance from the surface. What really counts is what people will find when they dig below the surface.

Being aware of and assessing your organizational culture is the first step in capturing an image of the present day situation. Once you have some data about your culture you can objectively take a step back and ask yourself what the results mean to your organization and it’s strategic vision of the future. Will your present day culture bring you to where you need to go as an organization?

Consider the business situation of the emerging high-tech software company. The financial backers and executive management are anxious to build value in the fledgling software company as quickly as possible, with the minimum initial cash investment required. The bulk of the initial investment necessarily goes to finance, engineering, marketing and sales.

In addition, conventional wisdom demands that software technology companies need to show strong profit margins, with an overwhelming bias toward software sales compared to services sales, in order to demonstrate viability as a software company. Company valuations are typically much higher for software companies than for services companies, so the investors and management don’t want any confusion. They want to be defined by the marketplace as a software company, not a services company. It’s no big surprise then that emerging software companies are reluctant to aggressively embrace a services business component initially.

So what do you do? Emerging software companies desperately need their 1.X products to be successful so they can create reference accounts and build momentum, but it’s likely that the availability of technical resources to assist early adopters will be limited. This work would obviously fall within the charter of an internal professional services organization, or PSO, if one were available.

One common solution is to use product engineer (R&D) staff or pre-sales technical resources to help alleviate the problem. However, doing so takes them away from their primary responsibility of building the next release of the product, assisting clients with tech support issues, or assisting sales in generating new product sales. Using R&D and pre-sales engineers in this way always leaves services revenue on the table since they are trying to do the minimum consulting required to accomplish a successful installation and then get on with their primary responsibilities. In most cases this strategy leaves the early adopter client wanting more.

The result is a real business management conundrum. The company and its clients need a services capability that the company would rather not implement if it could get around it. The solution could be Virtualization.

Virtualization, as in Virtual Professional Services Organization, or VPSO, is a management strategy that can be used to reduce, or avoid, the cost, risks and reluctance associated with building out an internal professional services organization within emerging software technology companies.

VPSO can be designed and implemented to provide internal PSO capabilities, including executive management, specific to the software technology company adopting it so that in-depth subject matter expertise can be offered to their customers in exactly the same way an internal PSO would. Organizational virtualization has already been adopted by many companies worldwide as we’ve seen in business process outsourcing of help desk and customer services functions. The VPSO model takes this compelling management strategy into the professional services functional area of software technology companies.

Since the VPSO model is not, as of yet anyway, defined in an industry standard manner, it can be implemented in any number of ways. Regardless of the details of the implementation, there are a core set of features and benefits that must be considered in order to achieve the overriding goal of the model, which is to provide PSO services virtually at the same level, or better, than an internal PSO could provide. In the absence of an industry standard, the success of the VPSO implementation should be measured, at a minimum, against the following objectives.

• A commitment to developing a services business plan that demonstrates a path to achieving the business and financial goals of the VPSO arrangement for all parties involved;
• The ability to provide a seamless PSO management interface between the software company using VPSO, the services delivery company that is providing services, and the clients being served;
• The ability to develop a consulting services staff that is able to provide in-depth technology and business solution consulting around the company’s products using subject matter experts;
• The commitment and ability of the VPSO services delivery company to assist sales teams to leverage software/technology license sales through consulting services and the commitment and ability of the company using VPSO to leverage consulting services business through software/technology license sales;
• The ability to generate a services revenue stream that meets the business requirements of the company using VPSO and the services delivery company that is providing the services;
• The ability of the VPSO program to succeed in harmony with the partner channel of the software technology company;
• A commitment and the ability of the services delivery company to develop a PSO operating platform including methods, procedures, standards, engagement framing documentation, management structure, and information processing mechanisms that can be utilized if and when the software technology company decides to transition from VPSO to internal PSO.

This is not to say that the VPSO model works for all emerging software technology companies, under all circumstances. However, it is a strategy that can work in many scenarios and should be seriously considered as a means to transform a critical business challenge into a winning business opportunity.

Before embanking on starting a business, there some crucial elements that one has to consider in ensuring success. With high competition for customers and harsh economical times, it calls for a business owner to be above average. One important element is handling of customers.

An entrepreneur needs to enhance his customer relations so as to ensure movement of his products or services. This is because there is a lot of competition and having customers is what determines a business success. Systems to guarantee effective customer relation must therefore be put in place, this may include having a customer care desk and providing efficient after-sales service.

In as much as the quality of a product is important, there is always the need to market it. Effective advertising and salesmanship is mandatory otherwise the business will not thrive. Some of the places to advertise would be through Medias of communication like radio, television and the internet. As for those conducting online business, you may consider social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with new and existing customers.

Some businesses fail due to slow decision making processes and inflexibility of the business. The entrepreneur should as a result adapt quickly to new business management trends and technological advancement so as to fit into the current business world. Failure to do that, a business will be left behind and eliminated from the competition.

Ultimately to succeed in business, an entrepreneur must be focused and determined. He should seek to gain knowledge in business organization by attending business forums and reading widely on current business management skills.

In order to ensure that the farmers get fair and stale returns on their production, marketing boards in general carry out several functions. They resist competitive production of the product to stabilize prices or to prevent great falls in prices. To do this, they may fix the price of the product or restrict the supply allowed in the market. The total amount produced is greater than the amount supplied into the market by the amount that the board holds back in its own warehouses or diverts to the other markets. For example: overseas market. They may also establish a system of grading the produce and set standards of quality control. They also attempt to improve the quality of the product through research and introduce economical methods of production.

Although the organization of the Marketing Board may differ in detail from board to board and form place to place, it normally consists of some of the principal features. The board is empowered by an Act of Parliament to control either the production or distribution, or both, of named product. The Act also specifies the total number of members on the Board, how they should be appointed and the powers they possess. Normally, they will consist of the leading members of the producers’ organizations in the country.

They also consist of one or two nominees of the government, usually from the Department of Agriculture. On the other hand, they normally consist of some representatives from the Consumers’ Advisory Council who have no power except to report to the Board. Representation on the Board is given to producers, government officials as well as representatives of consumer bodies because the decisions of the Board to set a minimum price or to restrict the production of a staple crop will certainly affect the cost of living of the people. So, in order to alleviate the burden on the producers as well as the consumers, the government may have to give subsidies to the farmers instead.

On the other hand, there are some operations of the Marketing Boards. The Board, empowered by the Act of Parliament, will keep a register of all producers of that particular product in the country. All the produce has to be sold to, or through, the Board, except that which is used by the producer for his consumption. It may allocate to each producer a quota if it wants to restrict competitive production and supply.

The prospect of being interviewed by a reporter creates anxiety in even the most confident professional charged with serving as an organization’s voice in communicating with media. Training helps increase the likelihood that this spokesperson relays an organization’s key messages clearly, and in a manner that fits a journalist’s needs. Understanding the three spokesperson roles-expert, educator, and salesperson-is the first and most important component of this training.

As the individual to be interviewed, the designated spokesperson is the one who the reporter wants to speak to about a topic at a certain time. The spokesperson has the needed knowledge and perspective. The reporter considers the spokesperson to be an expert.

As an educator, the spokesperson offers insight to a reporter so that he or she emerges with a clearer understanding of the topic. Reporters vary in journalistic experience and subject matter knowledge. Even the most experienced reporter doesn’t know everything. An effective spokesperson has information the reporter doesn’t have, particularly regarding company activities and industry trends. As an educator, the spokesperson acknowledges the reporter’s expertise and crafts the content and delivery of his or her remarks accordingly. The main challenge here is for the spokesperson to share information without coming off as patronizing or arrogant.

Finally, the spokesperson is a salesperson for the organization, cause, product, and/or service. Public relations and other professionals approach reporters with story ideas because they see the media as a powerful means of communicating what their organizations have to offer to current or potential stakeholders. To this end, the “spokesperson as salesperson” role demands an enthusiastic, energetic communication style.

However, it’s imperative to recognize that reporters do not want to be sold, as a salesperson might attempt to persuade a prospective client about a product’s merits. Their goal is to write stories that interest readers, viewers, listeners, and other media consumers. A reporter’s purpose is to serve this audience, NOT to do a commercial for a company. That’s why the salesperson role comes third, after the expert and educator. In short, the most effective organizational spokespersons mute their marketing and sales orientation when they talk to reporters. They highlight what the subject of the interview means to the reporter’s audiences while avoiding a treatise on why their company’s offerings are the best.

In short, the spokesperson’s goal is to provide useful information that meets a reporter’s needs and communicates an organization’s key messages. It’s admittedly challenging to balance these tasks while filling the three roles identified. Yet it’s invaluable over the long term for building productive media relationships that in turn serve marketing and broader organizational objectives.

It is good to remember a family is an organization. In fact, it is the basic organization of society. This is just one of the reasons I am such a proponent of family meetings. You wouldn’t think of running a successful business without a plan, goal setting meetings, team building sessions and clear missions and expectations. As such, everyone in the family should have an equivalent of a job description. Each person’s job description helps him define his roles and responsibilities in the family.

Just like in the workplace, the clearer the job description and the more input is solicited from the participant, the more ownership is established. If you have ever worked in a workplace where no one knew what their job was day to day and rules were arbitrary, you will recall how chaotic and frustrating it was for everyone.

The following information on structuring a family council has been compiled in part from information contained in The Parent’s Handbook by Dinkmeyer & McKay, as well twenty five years of personal experience.

WHAT IS A FAMILY COUNCIL?

A family council is a regularly scheduled meeting of all family members. Its purpose is to make plans and decisions, to provide encouragement, and to solve problems. It is very much like a team building or staff meeting held in the workplace. Plans and decisions made during a family meeting remain in effect until the next meeting.

FAMILY MEETINGS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITES TO:

o Be heard

o Convey positive feelings about one another

o Give encouragement

o Distribute chores fairly

o Set goals for the family unit and assist in personal goals

o Express concerns, feelings, and complaints

o Settle conflicts and dealing with recurring problems

o Plan family recreation

o Have fun

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE FAMILY MEETINGS;

o Establish a specific weekly meeting time.

o Rotate chairperson and secretary.

o Establish and stick to time limits.

o Make sure all members have a chance to offer ideas.

o Encourage everyone to bring up issues.

o Don’t permit meetings to become gripe sessions.

o Distribute chores fairly.

o Plan family fun.

o Use your communication skills. Use “I” statements

o Evaluate the meeting.

o Maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and honesty.

A TYPICAL AGENDA FOR FAMILY MEETINGS

o Share positive feelings about good things that have happened during the week.

o Read and discuss the minutes from the previous meeting.

o Discuss old business. Evaluate how assignments went for the week.

o Bring up new business (focusing on family fun as well as on plans and problems).

o Summarize and evaluate the meeting.

Agreements as well as logical consequences for not following through with assignments should be discussed and agreed upon by the family. All members should be encouraged to participate in family meetings as equals. Family meetings are essential if families want to build strong relationships.

Good luck and God bless. You do the most important work in the world.

© 2005 ArtichokePress.com

Writing a grant proposal can be a daunting process. The good news is that there are steps you can take right now to make it a little easier. Certain information is common to most grant proposals, and it’s a great idea to gather those pieces now so you can focus on the specific requirements of each proposal. Place these documents in a multi-part file with labeled sections. This keeps all the information organized and in one place, rather than using several individual files that can get misplaced, or one large file where the information can become disorganized.

Grant proposals usually require a description of the organization. The mission statement, vision statement, strategic plan and history of the organization help you draft that description. To develop a section about key staff qualifications, you can utilize organization charts, and biographies of the staff and board members.

Most grants are program specific. To address this section of the proposal, you should have descriptions of the organization’s current projects and programs. You need to know what specific services are offered and how they are provided. One of the best ways to develop this section is to actually spend time with program managers and get involved with the program activities to get a better sense of how things work and who is served. This knowledge allows you to better match your organization programs with funder areas of interest.

Grant makers usually appreciate some assurance that their investment into your programs will be successful. You can address this by developing information about resources your organization has that make its projects and programs flourish. This can include partnerships with other groups, significant experience or expertise with particular populations, or staff, volunteers or board members with specialized knowledge.

Catalog the accomplishments of the organization. Don’t overlook any awards, media coverage, commendations, thank you letters, and especially success stories of your program participants. Collect these items as they are received so it’s an automated part of this organizational process.

Review and place the latest organization publications in your grant preparation file. This includes the annual report, newsletters, brochures, the most recent 990, and the budget. These items help you understand the organization better, and they are often requested by the grant maker as part of the application.

Having all this information ahead of time makes your job easier because you will now understand your organization thoroughly. Additionally, you should be able to determine more quickly if a particular grant is the right match for your nonprofit.

To avoid encountering trouble with your employees and having to face lawsuits on wage discrimination, you need to have a good pay structure that is competitive, fair, easy to administer, and compliant with federal and state regulations.

Striking the balance

The quest to come up with a suitable formula to create salary range is an ongoing challenge for many organizations, as industry and economic factors that determine what is “fair” may change rapidly. If you make the mistake of paying workers too little, your company may alienate and lose its best workers; worse, you may fail to recruit desirable candidates. If you pay too much, on the other hand, company resources may run out.

Your pay structure needs to be competitive with the structures of other companies in your industry; if recruitment is the main goal, strive to make it slightly better than your competitors’ wage structure. Your policy on salary likewise needs to be institutional, meaning, it should provide a solid, sensible, and fair framework on which salaries of other employees and new hires can be based.

The right formula

When creating a policy for your salary structure, you need to follow a formula to create salary range. Keep in mind these objectives:

· A good formula to create salary range should give consistent and equal pay to the employees according to their assigned responsibilities and duties.

· It should encourage productivity while stimulating or motivating employees to give their best at work.

· It should set basic parameters for determining salary range widths.

The most widely-used formula for determining salary is fair is the Compa-Ratio (short for Compensation Ratio), which is a position-specific representation how well an employee is paid compared to industry standards. Each job position in your organization should have a salary range values encompassing the minimum, the midpoint, and the maximum, each representing the industry average for the position.

Divide the base salary by the midpoint industry average to get the Compa-Ratio. If the result is 1.00 or 100%, then the employee is paid correctly based on industry averages. If the ratio is 0.75, the employee is paid 25% below the average.

This ratio may also be used to determine which employees may be entitled to pay raises, and by how much. As a general rule no further increases should be given to employees with ratios of 1.15 and up. For those whose ratios are 1.00, the typical average raise given by the company may be expected. Above-average pay raise may be granted to employees with a ration of 0.80 and below.

Surveys and comparisons

To start improving your company’s salary structure, review any existing salary policies your company may have and find some room for improvement. Start determining salary range widths by listing down the job titles within the company and then researching comparable positions in wage and salary surveys. Analyzing the job positions within the company helps you become more familiar with the responsibilities, skills, and experiences needed or required in each.

Many consulting organizations offer wage and salary surveys for purchase, which include most industries, geographical regions and positions. Doing this research will help in gathering enough salary survey data so you can check what factors in the current state of the market can influence your salary policy. The market research also makes you more familiar with current market trends. Salary benchmarks can also be used so you can easily compare your policy with other companies. You can find salary benchmarks easily on the internet and in salary surveys.

Be sensitive to economics

It also helps to design a salary range that accommodates increases in cost of living. With the fluctuating economy (especially during hard times and recessions), more people are relying solely on their salaries to compensate for daily, monthly, and yearly expenses. Unexpected economic fluctuations can inflict problems on the well being of employees, and on the company itself. Therefore, the company needs to strike a balance; it needs to establish a salary range and policy that can help its workforce stay comfortable during economic downturns without sacrificing the company’s viability during trying markets.

Creating a salary range is an important function for human resource staff members because doing so supports the company’s most valuable assets: the employees. Once the company has come up with a reasonable salary policy, it should be communicated clearly to employees.

An organization is an entity where thoughts are implements in the actions and creativity takes the best route for final execution. In the pace of growth, productivity and business competition, organizations have started thinking on certain strategies that improve the process of organizational development. An organization is a perfect blend of several components that act together. These components include Employees, Management, Administration and above all the functional departments. The entire study of the organizational development revolves around these components. An organization development takes care of several factors at a time. These factors include:

• Products and service

• Additional Technologies

• Implemented Systems

• Business Relationships

• Organizational culture

• Management techniques

Strategists in an organization look upon the key strategies of the business to assess the organizational development scenario. These scenarios include legal business framework, business ownership, segmented sources of finance and engaged networks. Development across an organization can only be done by absorbing new knowledge base, acquiring more information on the subject matter, upgrading the management skills, and modifying the work culture.

If experts are to be believed, organizational development is a comprehensive process that carries several attributes in itself. An Organization Development strategy goes on a straight forward path to execute a number of things collectively.

• Comprehensive and planned process of organizational change

• Implementation of behavioral knowledge base

• Assessment of the change of organization culture

• Reinforcement of organization strategies, structures and processes

• Approaching long term institutionalization of new business

A value added organizational development process is devised in a very straight forward manner. The process recommends that an individual should be treated with full-fledge respect and dignity and the work culture in the organization premises should be decided and characterized by vital factors namely trust, openness and support. An organization is said to be developed if the problems and issues inside the organization are confronted and resolved without any disguise and avoidance.

An action research model of the organizational development is taken place in a strategic manner and comprises several consecutive steps. These steps include:

• Problem Identification

• Behavioral Consultation

• Data Gathering and Primary Diagnosis

• Key Client Feedback

• Collective Problem Diagnosis

• Joint Action Planning

• Final Data Gathering

All these steps are complete in it and help businesses to alter the structure of an organization. These steps make sure that work inside the premises turns more interesting, challenging and productive as well. All these Executive education strategy involve internal activities like job enrichment, job enlargement and formation of organizational structure. Team building is an important component vital to the functioning of any modern organization. The team members in the team include leader, investigator, motivator and system analysts. The roles of all these entities for the group work and depend on their levels in the team. Joint ventures of all these team members create a pathway for the organizational development.

Large posters are always appealing to the eyes. Generally posters are used for the purpose of publicity or advertising any products or services. Companies find it the best way to attract people. Posters come in various shapes and sizes. Basically, large posters are more appealing to the eyes. Large posters are the trademark of any company. Any message that a poster need to convey should be clear crystal. A confusing poster will fail to achieve its desired objective. Words sometimes fail to knock the door of the heart of the mass, but posters makes it possible. To bring out large posters is a very tiring job and it requires lots of hard work.

There are many experts who work day and night to bring out a beautiful and attractive poster. Generally posters denote various meaning and symbols. Companies bring out large posters for some special purposes or during special occasions. Posters are the pride and prestige of any company. Looking at posters, we can assume where a company basically stands. Large posters are an effective tool of advertising. Whenever, a company plans to launch its any new products or services then they use large posters. A clear poster conveys several meanings. A beautifully designed poster touches the heart and soul of human beings.

Colors and designs are a crucial part of any poster. Companies bring out posters during a special occasion. Some company has their own departments to make large posters, while some companies hire experts from any firms. Making large posters is not an easy job. Only an artistic mind can think and frame a good poster. Usually copy writers take care of the language and art director takes care of the designs and symbols. Today many schools are coming up to train students on posters designing. Poster making has become a lucrative job today. It requires lot of brain work. The demand of poster designers is increasing day by day. Many people are eagerly coming to take up poster designing as their profession.

Various types of graphic are also used now-a-days. Those graphic are quite appealing and makes a person to stop and glare at it for at least a second. Before the final posters come up, various dummy posters are made. Posters should be planned in a systematic manner to achieve the aim and ambition of the organizations. Care should be taken that it should not hurt the feelings and the sentiments of the mass. The price of posters varies depending on its shape and size. Different posters aim at different sections of the people. A poster carries pictures, images, texts and punch lines. It should not be dull at all. On the basis of requirement, a company designs their posters. Everybody wants their posters to be the best. Companies hire expect to fulfill their requirements. Designing a large poster requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Making posters is not a fun because it carries the name and fame of any organization. A well designed poster raises the status of any organization.