Does a Project Charter or Project Initiation Document Lead to a More Manageable Project Delivery?

Initiating a project usually involves writing one of two documents; a Project Charter or a Project Initiation Document (PID). Now a great many things happen during initiation. High level scope is determined, deliverables set and budgets estimated.
If these aren't investigated and documented effectively it can adversely impact the entire successful delivery. But which document is better for ensuring this?

Well to give a quick overview, a PID is a highly detailed paper which forces a PM to spend time upfront in seriously thinking about the deliverables, processes and governance required, before it even starts. A Project Charter is far less detailed and hence requires much less from a PM. It is essentially a quick way for work to get underway fast.

However, despite this, both documents have a similar feel and endeavour to fulfil the function of enabling effective initiation. But as you will have already seen, both definitely put the emphasis in different areas.
So which is better? Well if you have a small project then writing a long, convoluted PID doesn't make sense. On something this size it is highly likely the deliverable will be simple, the amount of resources utilised small and there will be just the one Sponsor.

Essential Documents to Manage Your Projects

Speak to an experienced project manager, and they can give you a wealth of good advice on the do's and don'ts to successfully manage any project. All this advice, in a nutshell, would be about how to manage the people doing the work (that includes you too), to deliver their results on time and to a budget, while keeping the risk of failure to a minimum.
It really doesn't sound that difficult to do, but for some reason, many people think that project management is a massive overhead to any project. I often hear phrases like "oh, don't waste your time planning the work, just do it!" or "why are you wasting your time writing the objectives, we all know what needs to be done!"
So the number one shortcut to successfully manage any project is:
"Understand the few essential brief documents you need to create and regularly review during the life of your project."

Document 1 - The Project Charter

For example, at the beginning of your project, you need to create a one-page document called the project charter. This document will make sure that you and your customer understand the general goals of the project. After all, if you don't know where you are going, how are you going to get there? Remember, you could also be your own customer!

How Managers Monitor and Control Worker Behavior

Managers have to monitor the activities of their team and the external forces. Without that monitoring you won't know whether your plan is working or if it needs to be adjusted. And managers must then control those elements that they can control to keep everyone moving toward the goal.

In the control task, you monitor the work being done. You compare the actual progress to the plan. You verify that the organization is working as you designed it.

If everything is going well, you do not need to do anything but monitor. However, that seldom happens. Someone gets sick, the database sort takes longer each iteration than projected, a key competitor drops their prices, a fire destroys the building next door and you have to evacuate for several days, or some other factor impacts your plan. The control step now dictates that you have to take action to minimize the impact and brings things back to the desired goal as quickly as possible.

That means going back to the planning stage and adjusting plans. It may require a change in the organization and you will have to re-direct everyone toward the new goals. Then you control the new plan and adjust if needed. This cycle continues until you complete the task.
Here are some additional aspects of Monitor and Control:
Keeping Score Isn't Winning
There is no point in monitoring if you don't take action based on the information. Don't just keep track. Make sure you are measuring the right things and then take appropriate action to fix whatever problems the measurements point out.

Chartering Projects

Formal chartering may be the step most frequently overlooked by organisations when beginning projects. Root cause analysis of project failures often identifies "poor vision" or "lack of a charter" as a key reason projects go awry or are cancelled.
Knowing this, why is developing a good project charter apparently so difficult? It is certainly not due to any complex technical reason, like not being able to find a word processor advanced enough to document the information. There are a few reasons so many projects have ineffective charters.

Business managers that sponsor projects are not experts in project management. The care and nurturing of projects are merely a fraction of their job duties.
Business managers simply need results. Many times they feel their responsibilities are complete if they simply identify the problem to someone (like a project manager) that is assigned to correct it. If it is the role of the project sponsor to create the charter, they may need some training or assistance in order to develop a charter that serves as a foundation for future project work.

Why Businesses Should Use MSP Programme Management

MSP (Managing Successful Programmes) is a best-practice guide from the OGC (Office of Government Commerce, an independent Office of the Treasury). It has been developed using the collective expertise and practical experience of some of the leading practitioners in the field. Managing Successful Programmes is unique in its status as a flexible generic best practice framework, and although it has been founded on best practice, it is not prescriptive.

MSP describes programme management as a "pragmatic, robust management approach that will help organisations to deliver and realise the required benefits, innovation, and new ways of working that will ensure success with major projects and programmes of business change."
Managing Successful Programmes provides a business or organisation with the framework and strategies of programme management - in other words, providing an approach for managing change and delivering business benefits from a set of related projects.

Understanding MSP Programme Management

For any organisation or individual that needs to manage and control related projects (portfolio of projects), Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) programme management is a management tool for bringing together people, activities and information to achieve the end goal.

History of MSP Programme Management

MSP programme management was developed by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), an independent Office of the UK Treasury, and supported by a full range of commercial partners. It was first released in 1999, and in 2007 a third version was released to reflect the evolving knowledge of programme management. MSP programme management is the UK Government Best Practice standard for effective programme management, and is a globally recognised qualification.

What is Programme Management?

A programme is made up of a number of projects identified by an organisation that will deliver a defined objective, or set of objectives, for the organisation. A programme can only succeed if the projects within the programme are completed, therefore, without programme management, the projects would be uncoordinated and not integrated into a final goal.

What is Change Management?

The change management process is key to the successful outcome of a project. The process ensures that each change introduced is properly defined, considered and approved before implementation. Change management contains four stages:

• Proposing a change
• Summary of impact
• Decision
• Implementing a change

Proposing a Change

This process give the ability to anyone within the team (including the customer) to propose a change to a project. The proposal must include a description of the change and expected benefits or other reason for the change and is presented using a Change Request Form.

Persuasion and Perception

Every year, between forty and seventy percent of all corporations and public sector bodies attempt to make strategic change. Overwhelmingly, formal projects are the preferred structure used to organise such effort, regardless of whether the underlying goals are defined in terms of business process re-engineering (BPR), technology upgrades, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence or similar concepts.

Each organisation starts with a desire to make itself better. But "better" is a slippery concept. Certainly projects bring about change, but do they necessarily make things better? Better in the board room might mean lower costs through reduced head count, but would the rest of the team agree? Perspective matters.
In the absence of personal control of events, everybody hates change. A failure to remember this fundamental insight is the root cause of a great many failed projects. Sophisticated communication strategies and planning models may impress project owners, but these tools will not persuade a hostile group of users or stakeholders that a new project will improve their lot in life; certainly not when their instincts and reflexes are telling them to resist.

Forecasting Support Costs

Did you know that maintenance accounts for 50% to 80% of the overall product cost? Well, it does! And while most project managers are fairly good at sizing new product features, many are terrible at estimating the effort required to support a product once it becomes generally available. As a result, maintenance projects are inadequately staffed, companies can't respond to customer requests in a timely manner, and products never reach payback.
This article presents a methodology to help you guesstimate and therefore plan for the maintenance phase of generally available products. But first, let's define a few terms that are important to the comprehension of this article.
Maintenance
Maintenance is defined as the effort associated with fixing defects in a software system after general availability (GA). In other words, how many person-months will it take your organisation to fix bugs discovered by your customers in the field?

Management Tips From Readers

You can learn a lot about management from this site, but you can also learn from each other. If you have a unique perspective on management or some words of wisdom you want to share with your fellow mangers, check out the links below.

Amusing Excuses For Being Late For Work

Employees come up with many interesting, amusing excuses for being late for work. What is the best, most amusing excuse you have heard? Kim says: An employee called in saying her elcctric garage door opener wouldn't work because of a blown fuse and she had to wait for her husband to come manually raise the door.

Swine Flu Business Preparations

The US government predicts the H1N1 virus, also know as the swine flu, could infect as much as 30 percent to 50 percent of the population, leading to as many as 1.8 million hospitalizations and causing between 30,000 to 90,000 deaths. How prepared is your company for the disruption to your business that such sickness could cause?

 

Top 10 New Manager Mistakes

We provide a list of the Top Ten Mistakes New Managers Make. Readers add the 11th.

Olapitan says: Like people say respect is reciprocal, if you show them some respect they will definitely respect you. The effort of the employee should also be appreciated and admired.

 

Reasons To Hire Or Not Hire Overqualified Workers

The hiring decision is very personal for both the manager and the candidate. Whether you are the manager or the candidate, tell us below your top reason a manager should hire or not hire an overqualified worker. Don says: My overqualified Managers work harder to see profit increase and give reason for a raise. and take pride in the company. We have improved customer satisfaction. Which is the key to our bussness.

What Would You Ask Your CEO?

A "Lunch With The CEO" program is a smart idea for the company, the CEO and the employees. If you could ask one question of your CEO (or the CEO of any company) what would you ask?

Tera says: How can we help? In this environment, it is more important to us to keep our jobs. Lots of employees have GREAT suggestions, that have a small or large affect on the bottom line. How can we be heard, without the idea being considered "too small" or "insignificant"?

Employee Retention Tips

Employee retention is important. What do you do that increases employee retention where you work? What's your best tip? lchinta says: Put them in places and situations where they can succeed.

 

Total Cost Of Ownership Calculation

Comparing products A and B, which is cheaper? Which Would You Buy? Ivern says: It's the same cost for each, but the additional work in calling for product A to be serviced will translate into man power hours $. Buy product B.

 

Best Boss You Have Known

Have you had someone in your career who made a big difference, a lasting impression? Who would you nominate as the best boss or best leader you have know? Hans says: He was like a father who showed so much commitment to his work and always encouraged me. He really mentored me, always gave me the free room to advertise and made corrections where need be.

What Management Skill Level Are You?

Different people are at different levels on the Management Skills Pyramid. Have you made it to level 4? Or are you still on level 1, 2, or 3? Tell us what level you are on and the one thing you need to do or learn next to move to the next level.

Managing Multi-cultural Teams

On a recent trip to London, I had the buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The young man who managed the restaurant was British. The people on his team all spoke English, but with varying degrees of proficiency and accents.
As I watched this team perform their duties I noted several key elements that let this manager keep them working together with high efficiency despite their differences.
In an earlier article, Managing Foreign Language Teams, I listed the key elements of managing multi-language teams as

• remembering different is not wrong,
• respect is essential,
• you must open up to new ideas,
• focus on the goal,
• and work harder at communicating at all levels.

This young man did not use the same key elements, but here is what visibly worked for him:

Training

Everyone on the team had a specific task or group of tasks to perform. They had been trained in their duties and could do them without much conversation during the meal. It was not clear whether the team members had been cross trained in the duties of the other team members, but they knew what they were doing that day and there was not a lot of overlap.

Smoothed Interfaces

Where the team members had points of interaction, the “hand-offs” had been rehearsed and went smoothly. The Eastern European hostess delivered the diners to the French, Spanish, and Scandinavian waiters with a couple of simple English-language sentences. There was not a lot of conversation required.

Teamwork

The various members of the team were alert to opportunities to help other members of the team, and the diners. This was most noticeable with diners whose primary language was not English. One woman had difficulty understanding what one dish contained. The person who had placed the dish on the serving line tried unsuccessfully to explain in English. Then one of the bus boys stepped forward and explained it to the woman in her native Portuguese.

Clarity

When the manager had to explain something to a team member during the meal the directions were given in a clear, simple manner. He spoke slowly, calmly, and clearly while looking directly at the person so he could gauge comprehension. He would ask the person if they understood and once asked to have the directions repeated back to him so he was sure the person had understood correctly.

Patience

The environment was very busy. A lot of people needed to be fed in a short period of time so they could get to their various appointments. The manager and his team all moved very quickly. However, the manager was always patient as he gave direction to his team or answered their questions.

Good Humor

Despite the pressures of the job, the people on the team seemed to enjoy their work and each other. There were no signs of conflict. Perhaps they had been well trained to present a cheerful public face to the diners, but it seemed deeper that that. People who enjoy their work do better work, smile more often, and work better in teams.

Bottom Line

Most of us will not be faced with managing a team who doesn’t speak our language, but these key elements extend beyond language. If you have ever managed a cross-functional team, you will know that it often seems like the business owners, the accountants, and the IT team, for example, are speaking different languages. Practice these key elements and you will be more successful managing teams whose members have different languages, skills, interests, or cultural backgrounds.

Managing Foreign Language Teams

As the planet shrinks and the world’s economies become more interconnected, it is becoming more common to have teams whose members speak different languages and may even be citizens of different countries.
Managing such a group takes a little more skill than staying within your own language, but it is not too hard if you remember a couple of key principles.
To successfully manage a foreign language team remember different is not wrong, respect is essential, you must open up to new ideas, focus on the goal, and work harder at communicating at all levels.

Different Is Not Wrong

Too many times our first reaction to something different is that it must be wrong. This is a childlike response to the first time we saw someone do something differently than our mother did it. Since our entire frame of reference was the way Mom did it, anything different was wrong, and that could be scary. As we got older, met more people, eventually went off to school, etc. we were exposed to many different ways of doing things. We learned it was okay to cut a sandwich across the middle, not just corner to corner. We discovered that some of our schoolmates brought tamales instead of sandwiches for lunch. We saw that some people had different color eyes, hair or skin. The sooner we were exposed to these differences the less likely we were to see them as scary.
When you went to work for your first employer, they had a certain way of doing things. You didn’t know any differently so you accepted that as the correct way. If you stayed with that company for 20 years, their methods would have gotten pretty ingrained. It would have been very difficult for you to accept a different company’s way of doing something as correct. It would have been hard to admit that the new way might be better.
If, however, you moved from branch to branch within the company, or went to work for another company several times in your career, you learned that there are very few things that everyone does exactly the same. So you quickly adopted the habit of picking the best way, regardless of where it came from.
It is critical to remember this when managing people from a different country, culture, or language. Different is not wrong; different is just different. There is nothing to fear from different, per se.

Respect Is Essential

Fear is a common reaction to encountering something different. Unfortunately, so is disrespect. “My way is better”, you say to yourself, “why should I listen to him?” That leads to thinking that since his way is not as good as yours, he must not be as good as you. That breeds disrespect. When managing foreign language teams, it is imperative that you treat each member of the team with respect. It not only shows them that you understand differences and do not fear them, but it also shows them you are someone they can respect in return.
It is very easy to pick up on when someone is disrespecting you, even if you can’t speak their language. A key danger here is that the disrespect may be attributed to something different and it may produce undesirable results.

Open Up To New Ideas

Since you are smart enough to not fear differences, you are halfway there. It is not enough to simply not run away from differences; you must seek them out if you are to grow. You recognized early in you career that every person on your team had different skills they could contribute to the team’s success. You took advantage of that in the tasks you assigned them. Then you started asking the team for suggestions because you knew that their different backgrounds and skills gave them different perspectives. From those different perspectives came ideas you might not have thought of. This is just as true when you are managing foreign language teams. Not only do these people have different backgrounds, they often have completely different cultures. Their value systems may be different. They may be of a different religion. They probably have worked for companies that you have not. They may even have experience in industries other than yours. All these things give them a different perspective and can produce innovative ideas if you are open to them.
Yes, you can ask the team for input, but be open to other facets of their differences too. Try their native foods, watch their movies (with sub-titles if necessary), find out what their national holidays are and why they are important to them. The more you open up and internalize differences, the broader a base you have from which to produce ideas and solutions.

Focus On The Goal

As you embrace these differences and you reach out to the members of your foreign language team, don’t lose sight of the fact that you have a job to get done. Whether you are building an international product, selecting an offshore vendor, or opening a market in a new country there is always a goal. You need to know what that goal is and to stay focused on getting there. When you were managing a single language team, you would not have let a single individual’s lack of results stop the team from getting to its goal. The same is still true when managing foreign language teams. Be respectful, be open, embrace difference, but get the job done.

Work Harder at Communicating When Managing Foreign Language Teams

The primary key to success when managing foreign language teams may be the focus on communication. Since the other team members may not speak your language fluently, you must adjust. The expression “let’s hit one out of the ballpark” may be very clear to an American team, but may not be clear to a team member from Singapore. Even within the same language there can be confusion; many Americans don’t really understand what a “sticky wicket” is. The language you use, when speaking and writing, must be clear or it must be explained until it is made clear if you want everyone on the team working together in the most efficient manner to reach the teams’ goal.

Here are a few specific things you can do to enhance your communications when managing foreign language teams.

• Make your language a little more formal. Speak and write as if you were talking with a person you respect, perhaps your grandparent, rather than one of your buddies. This will cause you to use better grammar, more complete sentences, and fewer slang expressions. This will make it easier for others to understand you.
• Stay away from slang, idioms, and jargon. A classic example is the brilliant foreign surgeon who was about to start his first operation. He told his colleague "I have cold feet." He did not mean he was afraid to do the operation, he meant that the draft coming under the door was making his feet cold. Slang that you have grown up with may be perfectly clear to you, but most people learn a foreign language in school, not by living in that country, so they are not often exposed to this level of informal communication.
• Don’t use "don't". In my written communication with my foreign language teams, I always spell out contractions. While I am pretty sure most of them understand simple contractions like don’t and can’t, I am not sure which ones they do know and which ones they do not know. In a written document, they can not ask me for clarification so I try to be very clear in how I write. People from some cultures may even find it difficult asking you for clarification of what you just said, so try to watch your use of contractions there as well.
• Ask for feedback. When managing foreign language teams, you may encounter some people who will agree with you, nod their head, even say “yes, I understand” when you ask if the understand. That does not mean they actually understood. They may be embarrassed or otherwise reluctant to say no to you. The only way to be sure your message got through is to ask for them to repeat back to you, in their own words, what you asked them to do. Then you can correct the message if needed.
• Be patient. It will take longer to do it this way, but it’s worth it. Recognize the effort the members of you foreign language teams are making to speak with you in your language. If you were as good in their language as they are in your, it wouldn’t be a “foreign” language.

Bottom Line

Managing foreign language teams is not as difficult as it might seem. Just remember that different is not wrong, respect for your team members is essential, and you must open yourself up to new ideas. Don’t lose your focus on the goal. And most importantly work harder at communicating at all levels.

Scruples Are A Good Thing

I believe most people are good and honest. I believe that most managers act in ways that are beneficial for their employers and their employees. I do not believe that most of us are driven to take from others regardless of the cost. Certainly we have seen enough proof recently that there are unscrupulous people running businesses, but most managers are honest, scrupulous people.
Having scruples, or being scrupulous, means sometimes having doubts about doing something because it might not be right, because it might go against your principles. We all have an inner voice telling us when something we are considering isn't right. We might not always listen to it, but it is always there. As a manager, one of the best things you can do is to listen to your inner voice. If something isn't right, if your scruples kick in, if your inner voice tells you not to do it - listen. There is a reason for it.
Do you want your fifteen minutes of fame because of something you did well or are you willing to settle for fifteen minutes of infamy for having lied, cheated, or stolen?

The Voice Inside You

Sure, it can be tempting to take the easy way out, to tell a small lie because no one will be able to prove you lied, to claim credit for someone else's work because they work for you. Yet you will always know that is the wrong choice. Your inner voice will tell you.Some people are better at ignoring their inner voice than others. They think they can talk loud enough, live fast enough, that they can drown out their inner voice. They can't. It's always there. So is yours.

The Upside

When you have scruples, when you listen to your inner voice, life is easier.

• You never have to remember your story
  If you always tell the truth, you don't have to worry about what you told who.
• You are more effective
  When you know you are doing the right thing, it is easier for you to get behind it and push to make it a success.
• You sleep better
  When your inner voice isn't nagging you, you sleep more soundly. You aren't fighting with yourself.

The Downside

If you decide to ignore your inner voice, there will be consequences. They may not be obvious or immediate, but they will come.

• You will be found out
  Regardless of how clever you are, or how practiced a liar you become, you will slip up. Someone will catch you in your lie.
• You will be less effective
  You will spend so much time and energy covering your tracks that you will get less done.
• You won't like yourself very much
  Even if no one else knows, you will know.

Manage this issue

The easiest course of action for any manager, the best course, the most effective, is to follow your inner voice. If something seems wrong, don't do it. If you use that moral compass as your guide, you will be a better manager and you will like yourself more. Others will sense it too, and you will be a better manager.

Lessons Learned From Enron

We all get complacent sometimes. We have comfort zones. We do the things we enjoy, that feel good, that come easily. That's why many people surround themselves with people who agree with them, think like them, and support them. The CEO of a large company does not have that luxury.
In return for the outlandish compensation being heaped on them by the shareholders, the CEO must immerse himself or herself in the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, the different opinion. Only in that way can they keep the company strong and growing. Only then can they earn what they are being paid. Only then can they, and their shareholders, avoid a debacle like Enron.
There are many lessons that can be learned from the collapse of Enron. Any organization has an obligation to all of its stakeholders, not just its shareholders, and those obligations were not met in this case. Executives at Enron made decisions that were wrong. Some of their decisions may have involved illegal activities. Many people also are beginning to question the professional conduct of auditors Arthur Andersen. Did their interest in preserving their income cloud their judgment? We will leave those discussions for others and focus instead on the key management failure - curbing dissent.
It starts at the top
It is the leader's job to provide the vision for the group. A good executive must have a dream and the ability to get the company to support that dream. But it is not enough to merely have the dream. The leader must also provide the framework by which the people in the organization can help achieve the dream. This is called company culture.
When your company culture allows people to challenge ideas, suggestions, and plans, you create an organization of thinking, committed people capable of producing the kind of innovation and productivity required to succeed today. However, if your company culture does not allowed dissent, if people who suggest alternatives are castigated for not being "team players", you produce an environment of fear, stagnation, and antipathy. Not allowing appropriate dissent will kill your company.
Discuss and debate - up to a point
You're smart manager. You encourage your people to challenge you and suggest alternatives. But are you a good subordinate? Do you challenge your boss? Or do you sit back and protect your job by agreeing with everything the boss suggests? Such agreeing won't protect your job, as Enron's employees have learned.
Every manager has a boss. It is our responsibility to our bosses to be honest with them, to tell them what we really think, even if we disagree. Especially if we disagree. You, and everyone of your peers, need to discuss issues openly, frankly, and with the best interests of your area clearly visible. You need to give the boss as much information and as many options as possible. Don't be afraid to fight hard for what you believe to be right. Be professional about it, but be candid too.
However, once the boss has made a decision, the discussion and arguing and dissent must stop. Once the decision has been made you have an obligation to support your boss in that decision. You expect it of your people; you should do no less.
Disagree without being disagreeable
You think your position is right. You want what is best for your people. You want things done in the way that works best for your department. So you argue your points strongly. That's good, but don't overdo it. You won't win every battle. After all, your boss is looking after the best interest of his or her entire organization, not just your part of it. Recognize the aspects of negotiation involved. Remember you will be working with these people again in the future. For those reasons it's important that you "disagree without being disagreeable".
Dr. Suzette Elgin, an expert in psycholinguistics, wrote the definitive book, "How to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable: Getting Your Point Across With the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense". The next time you have to give someone a bad performance evaluation or a co-worker verbally attacks you in a meeting you will wish you had read this book of practical, real-life techniques.
There are many other resources on the Internet. Here are two more:

• Fast Company calls this their Starter Kit on Managing Disagreements.
  Using Mark Twain humor and common sense, they suggest ways to deal with the most common types of disagreeable people.
• Disagreeing Without Being Disagreeable
  Professional trainers Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon, writing for "The Industrial Physicist", recommend these conflict-solving steps to help you "become as proficient at resolving people problems as you are at finding technical solutions." 

Think for yourself
Challenging the status quo has to be a top priority in any organization. Accepting the status quo leads to stagnation. Stagnation will kill any organization.
Being a yes-man is damaging to the individual, not just the company. The classic movie "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" chronicles the stress Gregory Peck's character endures by agreeing with everything his boss says just to keep a job he really doesn't even want. If you find yourself in an organization that does not encourage dissent, move on to one that does.
The Internet Search Engine Google has "never settle for the best" as one of their goals and puts that at the top of their corporate information page. Their performance recently, in a very tough market, is testimony to the value of that plan.
Manage This Issue
Foster a culture in your company where differing opinions are encouraged. Avoid the temptation to surround yourself with individuals who are so similar to you that they can't offer a different perspective. Don't surround yourself with people who are so afraid that they won't dissent. Reward creativity and original thought in your decision-making process. Hang on to those people who have mastered the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable. Maybe then you can avoid being blindsided by events such as Enron has encountered.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, or if there is an issue you would like us to address, please post them on our Management Forum to share with the entire group.

Your Boss Is Watching You

More companies are monitoring their employees electronically. Why? What can you do about it?
Active monitoring of employees has risen sharply in the past 4 years, from 35 % to 80 %. These results from the American Management Association's (AMA) most recent annual survey are the first to show an increase in monitoring that is significantly greater that the increase in employees with access to the systems that are being monitored (voice mail, email, internet).
"Privacy in today's workplace is largely illusory. In this era of open space cubicles, shared desk space, networked computers and teleworkers, it is hard to realistically hold onto a belief in private space," said Ellen Bayer, AMA's human resources practice leader.
Why Monitor Employees?
The reasons companies monitor employee activities are valid business reasons, not just a desire to snoop. The AMA listed (in alphabetical order) five reasons given by survey companies as to why they monitor their employees.

• Legal Compliance. In regulated industries, taping telemarketing activities gives both the company and the consumer some degree of legal protection. Also, electronic recording and storage may be considered part of a company's "due diligence" in keeping adequate records and files.
• Legal Liability. Employees who are unwittingly exposed to offensive graphic material on colleagues' computer screens may charge a hostile workplace environment.
• Performance Review. Customer service and consumer relations personnel are frequently taped as they field calls, and tapes are reviewed with supervisors to evaluate and improve job performance.
• Productivity Measures. Net-surfing, personal use of office e-mail, and/or dialing up 900 numbers expend time and assets on non-business related activities.
• Security Concerns. Protecting the value of proprietary corporate information is a primary concern in an age when e-mail and internet connections continue to expand.

"Work is carried out on equipment belonging to employers who have a legal right to the work product of the employees using it", Bayer said.
It should be noted that the survey revealed that "90 percent of the companies engaging in any of these practices inform their employees that they're doing so." Also, most of the monitoring is "performed on a spot-check basis rather than an ongoing 24-hour basis."
What Are My Rights?
As an employee, very few. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse "New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees' jobs, especially on telephones, computer terminals, through electronic and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise (and even this is not assured), your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications."
Their Fact Sheet 7: Workplace Privacy has a very good summary FAQ about employees rights, or lack therefor, with respect to phone calls, computers, email, and voice mail.
For other resources, be sure to see the right sidebar in this article.
Manage This Issue
Managers have an obligation to their company to monitor the activities of their employees to ensure compliance with applicable laws and policies. You monitor their behavior, their adherence to the dress code, the way they greet customers. The need to monitor their electronic activities is equally as great and the reasons are the same.
Be sure to let employees know that they are being monitored electronically. Let them know what is being monitored and why. Let them know what is acceptable and what is not. The easiest way is to develop and publish your companies policies with regard to the use of computes, the internet, email and voice mail. You should monitor for compliance and discipline as you would for any other company policy.

Management Career Paths

A management career path is not a straight line. Nor is it the same for everyone. Yet all management career paths have a starting point. All have milestones along the way. This page is the starting point for several management paths. Each path leads managers to what they need to know based on where you are in your career and where your interests lie. On each visit you can go further along the path, retrace steps along the same path, or start down a new path. Five paths are listed below.

Considering Management

This person wonders whether a management career is for them. Maybe someone has suggested it. Maybe they just feel they can do it better than their current boss. Take this path to learn more about what management does and whether management might be for you.

Going For It

This person has decided to try the management career path. They have no management experience yet, but are interested and motivated. This path leads to the knowledge and skill needed to land that first management job.

Just Starting Management

This person has just started, or is about to start, their first management job. This path will guide you through those first confusing, challenging days and months. It takes you through the basic knowledge needed to be a manager and how to deal with the problems that crop up.

Experienced Manager

This manager has had several years experience in management. He or she has had time to make some mistakes and achieve some successes in the real world and now want to improve. This path leads to the resources to improve their skills and their promotion potential.

Management Pros and Consultants

These are veteran managers interested in increasing and sharing their professional knowledge and experience. They have managed different and difficult opportunities, but they know there is always more to learn. This path connects them with their peers and to cutting-edge theory.

Management Skill Level

Different people are at different levels on the Management Skills Pyramid. Have you made it to level 4? Or are you still on level 1, 2, or 3? Tell us what level you are on and the one thing you need to do or learn next to move to the next level. How Will You Advance?

Good Management Is Predictive Management Not Reactive Management

Many managers believe that their job is to resolve problems that arise. While that is true, it is only the lesser part of the job. More importantly, a manager's job is to prevent problems. This is the difference between reactive management, which solves problems as they occur, and predictive management, which tries to prevent many problems from arising in the first place.

Reactive Management

Reactive management deals with problems as they come up. It is a management style that is much admired for its ability to quickly get the resources back into production, whether those resources are machines or people. If you are good at reactive management, you are:

Job Interview Questions to Ask

When the screening of the candidates is done, you will bring the top two or three in for an interview. What questions should you ask them? What answers should you be looking for? How will you know which one to hire? Whether you work for a large company with a Human Resources department and volumes of procedures or are a small business owner with a few employees, the questions you want to ask are the same.

The Questions to Ask

You want to ask questions that, in increasing order of importance, tell you 1) whether the person has the skills to do the job, 2) how they function under pressure, and 3) how well they will fit into the team.

Meeting Management

Meetings can be very productive. They can also be a waste of time. Here are some ways to improve your meeting management skill.

Meeting Management Key - Stand PAT

I use a "PAT" approach to meetings. A meeting has to have: a Purpose, an Agenda, and a Timeframe or I don't do it. You should be able to define the purpose of the meeting in 1 or 2 sentences at most. "This meeting is to plan the new marketing campaign" or "this meeting is to review shipping's new policy for handling returns." That way everyone knows why they are there, what needs to be done, and how to know if they are successful.
Set an agenda. List the items you are going to review/discuss/inspect. I like to assign a time limit to each agenda item (see below) and identify the person responsible to speak or moderate the discussion.

What Is A Leader

At the most basic level, a leader is someone who leads other. But what makes someone a leader? What is it about being a leader that some people understand and use to their advantage? What can you do to be a leader? Here's what you need to know and do.
A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Let's look at each of those in detail.

The Leader's Vision

A leader has a vision. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle. Whatever it is, it is the focus of the leaders attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.

From Manager to Leader, The Steps

Ask anyone and they'll tell you. There's a difference between managers and leaders.
Ask them what that difference is and they may have a bit more difficulty. Suddenly the words become amorphous and undefined. Somehow leadership is an intangible - a charismatic component that some people have and others simply don't. That's why, according to the ubiquitous "they", it is such a rarity.
Wrong.
The difference between being a manager and being a leader is simple. Management is a career. Leadership is a calling.
You don't have to be tall, well-spoken and good looking to be a successful leader. You don't have to have that "special something" to fulfill the leadership role.
What you have to have is clearly defined convictions - and, more importantly, the courage of your convictions to see them manifest into reality. Only when you understand your role as guide and steward based on your own most deeply held truths can you move from manager to leader.

How To Be A Better Manager

Earlier, we did a Letterman-like top ten list - How To Tell If You Are Management Material. Here are some key skills and abilities that help anyone be a better manager.

Need For Good Managers Increasing

The need for good managers is not going away. It is intensifying. With ‘flatter’ organizations and self-directed teams becoming common; with personal computers and networks making information available to more people more quickly; the raw number of managers needed is decreasing. However, the need for good managers, people who can manage themselves and others in a high stress environment, is increasing. I believe anyone can be a good manager. It is as much trainable skill as it is inherent ability; as much science as art. Here are some things that make you a better manager:

Top 3 Leadership Books

Leadership is different than management. It entails visualizing the goal and effectively communicating that goal. It is the art of getting people to move together toward a goal they don't yet see. These three books, of all the books on the subject, best capture that unique idea.

1. One-Minute Manager

by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth H. Blanchard Originally published in 1986, the message of this book is universal and timeless. To get more out of life and more out of your people, this is the guidebook to read. Brief and to the point lessons in the day-to-day application of fundamental management principles.

Beep! Beep! An Interview with Management Guru Oren Harari

Never has there been a greater need for a business to be agile. The business environment, the economy, the competitive landscape, the regulatory conditions all are changing faster than ever before.
In their book "Beep! Beep! Competing in the Age of the Roadrunner", authors Chip R. Bell and Oren Harari lay out the solution. Using the cartoon characters Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner as their examples, Bell and Harari lay out the problem and its solution - businesses, and the individuals who lead them, have to be more like the agile, adaptive Roadrunner and less like the tradition-bound coyote. Their seven "New Rules of the Road" tell you everything you need to know to succeed. The challenge is whether or not you're good enough to pull it off.

Matrix Management

Definition: A style of management where an individual has two reporting superiors (bosses) - one functional and one operational.


This is commonly seen in project management where an engineer, for example, reports to the chief engineer functionally, but reports to the project manager on operational project issues.

Matrix management also is common in branch offices. The accountant in the Tokyo office reports functionally to the Vice President of Accounting in headquarters in London, but reports operationally to the Regional Manager in charge of the Tokyo office.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Social Security

Has what happened at Enron got you thinking a little more about your retirement; doing a little planning for your personal financial future? If so, and you live in the United States, this is a book you need.

Whether you are about to retire, just beginning to think about it, or helping parents or other retirees, this book can be your roadmap through the complexities of the US Social Security Administration. Author Lita Epstein, a former Congressional press secretary and the Managing Editor of Atlanta's Business To Business magazine, lays out everything you need to know in straight-forward, easy to understand language. The book is structured such that you can read the chapters that interest you and skip others until later.

She begins with the history and purpose of Social Security and then addresses specific topics from when to file to election of survivor benefits.

Hire The Right Candidate

A manager at a major software company is wasting money and making more work for herself. She is making her vendors less effective and more frustrated. Her bosses will notice the lower performance, but they won't know it's because she is fishing for minnows with whale bait.

This manager, we'll call her Tina, has been promoted. She needs to backfill a position in her department that supports the position she just left. Instead of taking the time and thinking it through, she gave the recruiters her old position description and said, "Find me one of these".

* The recruiters are frustrated - they source their best candidates that match the position description, prepare them, and send them to the interview, but they don't get hired.