REMARKS FROM THE EDITOR
A bi-monthly source for promising executives – the prospectives leaders in the future. EGA briefings are aimed at sharing trends, knowledge, strategies and tactics, current issues relating you the communications management development. Each issues is meant to develop the reader’s potential as an individual in the hope that it will inspire the surrounding environment for necessary changes in the new paradigm.
In this second issue we will find more emphasis on the trends of human resources development as the demand for shifting the traditional, administrative, management of human resources toward the ‘empowerment of this intellectual capital’ in inevitable. On the other hand, the quality of leadership in each organization seems to be the first priority to handle if organization wish to survive in the complexity of national and global competition.
Assertive behavior, understanding the importance of communications will enrich our knowledge as effective communicator. Self assessment on the demand for promotion and career path for those pursuing career in public relations will add to our reference on career development plan. The trend toward women leadership and entrepreneurial behavior will be elaborated in the first members gathering.
All issues will be discussed in our first Roundtable. A bilingual interactive dialogue meant to exchange ideas, knowledge and experience with our distinguished EGA briefings Member : Helena Abidin, the Public Affairs and Communications Manager of PT General Motors Indonesia and Bob Widyahartono, a senior lecturer, the author of several books and productive columnist in national newspapers.
Get the first benefit of membership by joining us on March 15th.
See you soon!
Best wishes,
Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto
Editor
TIPS OF THE MONTH
- No organization can avoid conflict. Conflict can occur within company employees, between individuals or groups and across organizations as they compete. Conflict arises from disagreement over the goals to achieve or the methods used to achieve these goals.
- In interpersonal conflict, some sources of conflict are
- Organizational change
- Personality clashes
- Different sets of values
- Threat to status
- Contrasting perceptions
Confronting conflict is not easy for some people
Do you wish to know how to resolve conflict?
- Be assertive! Assertive is a process of expressing feelings, asking for legitimate changes, and giving and receiving honest feedback.
- Assertive people are direct, honest and expressive
- They feel confident, gain self respect and make others feel valued
- Here are some stages in assertiveness :
- Describe the behavior
“When you do this …”
- Express your feelings
“ I am sorry I feel …” - Empathize
“I understand why you …” - Negotiate a change
“I would appreciate if you …” - Indicate consequences
“ If you do (don’t)…”
- Describe the behavior
(Source : J.W. Newstorm / K. Davis, Organizational Behavior)
COMMUNICATIONS
Why communication is important?
- All business functions require communications. That is why communications skill are highly valued by organizations. Check these functions, how often you practice them :
- Instructing – directing – informing – reporting – disseminating – information – exchanging opinion – generating enthusiasm – resolving conflicts – analyzing situations and problems – motivating – negotiating – selling – refusing – evaluating – persuading – agreeing – granting – requests – congratulating – proposing – transmitting documents – maintaining business relationship
- Is your communication effective?
Does it have a positive impact? Do you know that <10% of the impact comes from words we say and >90% of the impact is determined by non verbal communication (facial expression, eye contact, gestures, leg movement, body posture, special distance, clothes, general appearance, tone of voice)
- Effective communicator needs to be congruent : your body language and tone of voice
For example – if you want to come across as confident or assertive, then you must look and sound it as well as saying the right words, if you want people to believe you.
Observe the characteristics of high performing organizations
- Communications professionals in high-performing organizations play a strategic role
- High performing organizations do a better job of explaining change
- High performing organizations focus on communicating with and educating their employees
- High performing organizations channels for upward communication and listen to what employees say
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Do you really want to know the Career Path
in public relations and the scope of responsibility?
- Entry-level technician
- Performs tasks assigned by others
- Technical & Craft skill needed
Writer – Artist – Desktop Publisher – Photographer – Video Technician – Assistant Editor – Research Assistant – Special Event Assistant
- Technician 2
- Gathers and disseminates information
- Responsible for small functions
Public Affairs Specialist – Public Informations Specialist – Publications Editor – Special Event Coordinator – Account Executive
- Supervisor 1
- Manages processes, projects and functional units
- Plans, budgets, schedules, organizes and leads
Public Relations Supervisor – Public Information Coordinator – Public Affairs Supervisor – Media Relations Supervisor – Senior Editor
- Supervisor 2
- Supervises organizational units
- Planning, budgeting, scheduling, organizing, leading, controlling, problem solving
Public Relations Supervisor – Public Information Supervisor – Public Relations Affairs Supervisor – Media Relations Supervisor – Investor Relations Supervisor
- Manager
- Responsible for departmental operations and for constituency and issue trend analysis
- Planning, organizing, leading, controlling, evaluating, problem solving
Internal Communications Manager – Investor Relations Manager – Marketing Communications Manager – Community Relations Manager
- Director
- Responsible for departmental level communication and operational planning
- Constituency and issue trend analysis
- Planning , organizing, leading, controlling, evaluating, problem solving
Public Relations Director – Public Affair Director – Corporate Relations Director – V.P Public Relations – V.P Corporate Relations – V.P Public Affairs
(Source : Brett St. Clair, APR, Public Relations World Congress 2000)
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Do you want to get a raise?
- Just answer honestly the following questions?
- Do you deserve a raise?
- Can the organization afford to give you a raise?
- Are you willing to ask for a raise?
- Are you prepared to go somewhere if you don’t get one?
- Who controls your raise? YOU.
- Know what you are worth : Skills, experience, years of service, level organization type and size, competition
- Assess your job performance : what’s your contribution to the success of the organization? What problems do you solve? What initiative do you take? How do you make your supervisor’s life easier?
- Evaluate your employer’s economic health : Do you think they can afford it?
- Determine how much to ask for : How much you are worth and What you are paid now. Be realistic. Consider your whole ‘package’
- Build your case : Keep an Accomplishment file. Develop a portfolio. Prepare for your annual evaluation. Write a memo outlining your case
- Have a plan for ‘No’. Don’t deliver any ultimatums you aren’t prepared to back up. Never ‘drop’ before you ‘add’
- Timing is everything
LEADERSHIP
- What are the major barriers to Leadership Development?
- The number one factor driving change within an organization is leadership
- 54 percent of respondent identified leadership (CEO) as the agent of change within the organization
- In turn, leadership was blamed by 71 percent of participants as the reason a company failed to make its objectives
- From the result of Watson Wyatt study (1997) on executives in US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. It is obvious that leaders feel little progress has been made in the leadership development
- Why? Executives in the study identified four distinct obstacles as the major barriers hindering leadership development
- Inadequate succession planning
- Inadequate leadership training
- Lack of commitment to leadership development and
- Failure to delegate bu senior management
- Each of these barriers to leadership development is rooted in part in an organization’s culture – and in the conflict with the leader’s role in the 80’s and early 90’s versus the leader’s role today
- Some leaders are not effective.
Why employees do not want to listen to them- To be effective leaders, we should have Personal Leadership Qualities
- Leaders must themselves exhibit the work habits, attitudes and priorities they expect of their subordinates id their leadership is to be the most effective
- Exhibiting confidence in an increasingly uncertain situation is the second most frequently notes personal leadership quality
- What exactly the Personal Leadership Qualities
- Leading by example
- Facing change and uncertainty with confidence
- Being motivated by strongly held principles and beliefs
- Knowing one’s own strengths and weaknesses
- Being committed to continuous learning
(Source : Watson Wyatt Research & Publication)
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In Search of Entrepreneurial Traits
- Do you want to start your own business? There are many success stories about this, yet one this is certain that success does not seek out the entrepreneur. One common misperception is that most successful persons have a dishonest aspects on their plan
- On the contrary, a key business success factor that has been identified in theory and practice is integrity
- An entrepreneur is not afraid to make tough decisions, although it results in failure.
Some attributive qualities of entrepreneurship are :- Willingness to experiment, to try things out-a strong inclination and bias for action. Do it, try it, fix it
- Willingness and have the ability to tolerate, accept, absorb and cope with failure. Not easily be daunted by setbacks
- Stay close to and focus on the business and market you know best
- Do not leave your base
- Able to communicate and relate with financial sponsors
- The importance of failure
To succeed, you have to experience ‘failure’ first. A successful entrepreneurial venture does not happen at random. Solid background of experience with a proven track record. Do not look back. Be motivated to achieve.
(Contributed by Bob Widyahartono)
GLOBAL TRENDS
Investing in Human Capital
- Competing in global economy several trends in business worldwide are identified
- Shifting from investing in an organization fix to investing in the human capital of the organization
- Moving away from a structural focus toward a cultural focus
- Focussing less on work processes and more on developing people and programs that motivate both behavior and performance
- The successful implementation of new technologies depends on many factors including the efficient management of human resources.
- Recent research indicates that intellectual assets and resources can be utilized much more efficiently and effectively if organization apply knowledge management techniques for leveraging their human resources and enhancing their personnel management
- The human resources departments are well positioned to ensure the success of knowledge management programs, which are directed at capturing, using, and re-using employees’ knowledge.
- Through human resources management a culture that encourages the free flow of knowledge for meeting organizational goals can be created.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Using intellectual assets as a success strategy
- Human resources managers in a global environment require a fundamental shift from traditional administrative personnel manager to intellectual capital management in the way the organizations value work.
- The forgotten assets are largely intangible and include
- Human assets – knowledge, skills, creativity and experience
- Intellectual assets – information, memoranda, illustrations and publications
- Intellectual property – patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks
- Structural assets – culture, organization models, processes and procedures, distribution channels
- Brand assets – awareness, reputation and goodwill.
(Source : Davis Kaila, Lynne Hall, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 2000)
Knowledge Mapping
- The strategic role of human resources management
According to Davenport (1999) categorizing and organizing knowledge should be a core competence for future organizations. Therefore human resource departments should contribute to- Deciding what knowledge is important
- Developing a knowledge vocabulary
- Creating indices and search tools and
- Constantly refining knowledge categories
- Knowledge management activities should result in
- Improving productivity, enhancing the business environment and increasing levels of innovation and
- Assisting organizations to address human resource management problems on local and global levels
- Transform human resources managers into knowledge practitioners or facilitators, with responsibility for developing employee competence
(Gustafson and Kleiner, 1994)
While effective knowledge management can be expensive, inefficient knowledge management is inevitably far more expensive.
(Source : Fawzy Soliman, Keri Spooner, Journal of Knowledge Management, 2000).
TEST YOURSELF
How often you do the following:
- Stop taking risk
- Be always contented
- Never deviate from what the founder did
- Be very strict to the rules
- Rely totally on textbooks, research and experts
- Concentrate on your competitors
- Put yourself – not the consumer – first
- Solve administrative concerns first
- Let others do the thinking
- Rely on ‘That’s good enough’ and ‘ That’s not my job’
- Rationalize slow growth
The more you do any of these, the greater chance for you to lose
