Articles
Poor Organisational Structures Affect Performance
People say structure follows the strategy and that is true. You should leverage your organisational structure to deliver on your strategy. In practice, though strategies change more frequently, organisations are rarely structured to follow the strategic priorities of the business. Most structures we see in practice are meant to serve personal interests of executives instead […]
When customer service training is a waste of time
A number of organisations spend big on customer service training with the hope that the business will benefit in terms of new business and customer retention. However, in reality, the benefits are very minimal if any. The reason why customer service does not work in most cases is due to the approach used to deal […]
Why workforce planning matters for every business
Memory Nguwi caught up with Tracy Smith (USA) to explore how workforce planning can help businesses reduce workforce management risk. She is an expert on analytics (HR, diversity, supply chain, purchasing, quality, customer service, ops), a business author, and speaker. She regularly advises companies on how to apply analytics in a practical and cost-effective way. […]
Individual Personality, Emotional Intelligence, and Life Outcomes
Memory Nguwi caught up with Steve Hunt (Senior Vice President Human Capital Management Research at SAP SuccessFactors) to discuss how personality and emotional intelligence impact on life outcomes. MN: What is individual personality and can it be changed or improved? SH: Personality is often defined as a natural tendency to display certain kinds of […]
Why some organisations always hire the wrong people
The cost of making wrong hiring decisions is enormous but we still find organisations not paying attention to how they bring in new employees into the organisation. In most businesses, the quality of the people in the organisation is the single most important contributor to business performance more than access to capital and other resources. […]
What drives unethical behaviour in Board Members and Executives
Sometimes I get puzzled when I see organisations spending a lot of money training Non- Executive Directors and Executives Directors specifically targeting to reduce unethical conduct. I guess the belief in those championing such training is that these senior executives are involved in unethical behaviour because they do not know what is right and wrong. […]
Are leaders born or bred? A Perspective from an Organisational Development Expert
Memory Nguwi caught up with one of the leading Organisation Development Experts from the USA and explored what makes a leader. Gilmore Crosby is the President at Crosby & Associates – Leadership and Organisation Development Experts MN: What is leadership? GC: While there are many possible answers, such as the ability to inspire others to […]
How to improve your recruitment procedure for graduate trainees
It does not make business sense to waste company resources training people who are not trainable or who do not have the qualities to fit into your organisational culture. When selecting people for trainee positions such as Graduate Trainees or Apprenticeship candidates it pays to invest in the selection of the right candidates. Employees […]
What are the most commonly used job evaluation systems in Zimbabwe?
We recently undertook a survey to appreciate the most commonly used job evaluation systems in Zimbabwe. 82 Zimbabwean organisations employing a total of 54 964 employees participated in the survey. The smallest participating organisation employed 12 people and the largest employed 16 000 people. In basic terms, job evaluation is a process of comparing […]
Windfall for workers fired on 3 months’ notice
Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter Thousands of workers whose contracts were arbitrarily terminated on notice pursuant to the infamous Zuva Petroleum judgment of July 2016, will now be paid damages for loss of employment. Dismissing a challenge by Greatermans Stores today, Chief Justice Luke Malaba said the amendments to the labour laws that compel employers […]
