Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Indian textile industry is the second largest in the country with regards to employment generation, next to agriculture. It contributes significantly to national output, employment, and exports of the country. Apart from China, the country’s textile sector is matchless in size, and competitiveness. Textile sector in India is expected to reach $110 billion by 2015. This includes a $45 billion of exports. Growth rate of the textile sector is estimated to be around 8% per annum. To sustain its growth ratio, Indian textile industry requires an investment of $24 billion by 2015. This comprises of the domestic investment of $18 billion, and FDI of $6 billion.

The reasons of this vibrant growth are manifold. The country has a complete supply chain starting from raw material supply to superior quality of finished products. Availability of skilled and cheap labor is abundant. The industry encompasses experienced entrepreneurship, and design skills, which are tough for the competing countries to match.

Textile ministry aims to improve foreign investment. Germany, France, and Switzerland are identified as prospective countries ideal for investing in India. The Government is now exploring investment opportunities in potential countries like Japan. A trade delegation is proposed to explore the potential opportunities in Italy, Turkey, and Switzerland. Textile Minister Mr. Dayanidhi Maran has expressed positive hopes of attracting 20% of the expected $6 billion FDI during 2009-10.

India has been and is liberal and transparent with regards to its FDI policies. Investment in textile units by foreign countries does not require any prior approval either by the Government or by the Reserve Bank of India. The FDI cell set up by the Ministry of Textiles assists the investing countries by providing assistance and advisory support with other organizations. It monitors data relating to domestic textile production, and foreign investments. It aids the foreign companies in solving their operational problems, and assists them in locating joint venture partners.

With the advent of recession, there was a drastic fall in the export figures during the last fiscal. With possible opportunities for FDI, textile ministry is trying to explore new and profitable investment opportunities. Investments are expected in fabric manufacturing, textile machineries, technical textiles, and man made yarn and fibers. Renowned international brands are eyeing opportunities in India comparatively over its counterparts. Brands such as Carrefour, Decathlon, H&M, JC Penney, Gap, Levi Strauss, Metro Group, Nike, Target, Tommy Hilfiger, Tesco, Marks are Spencer, and Wal-Mart are a few to name. These key international players are predicted by industry analysts to look towards India for their sourcing requirements.

Textiles and handicrafts made in India are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide. Ready made garment sector is the largest in the country, comprising 41% of the total textile exports of the country. Domestic, organized retailing in India showed a growth rate of 13-14% for the year ended March 2009. Apparel is the second largest retail sector in India. Domestic apparel retailing is estimated to be around $2.7 billion USD. With positive foreign investments, the textile and apparel sector can see a skyrocketing growth.

Presently Government polices have changes a lot regarding investment opportunities. With the country opening its doors to the outside world, foreign direct investment opportunities can be transformed into profitable opportunities.

References:

1. http://iitrade.ac.in
2. http://www.business-standard.com
3. http://texmin.nic.in
4. http://www.dnaindia.com

Guests of hotels and resorts at the top end of the hospitality range of properties are being under-serviced. The impact is felt directly on the top line of sales and potentially indirectly through return visits.

The under-servicing is manifested at the organisation level through low levels of up-selling and cross-selling. Most hospitality staff do not see the value in cross-selling and up-selling for themselves or for their guests.

However, research by The Forum Corporation of North America confirmed that 88% of customers value being advised on products and services that better meet their needs. Further, 73% are interested in hearing about new products and services and 42 percent buy “sometimes” or “frequently”

The hospitality industry more than any other, has segments which desire to have their wants satisfied as well as their needs and appreciate an appropriate cross-sell or up-sell.

Guests using four star and five star resorts and hotels consist of three basic segments:

- Leisure (tourist) guests

- Conference guests and

- Business guests

The needs and wants of the guests in each case go beyond the provision of somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat and somewhere to conduct meetings.

Leisure guests at a resort or hotel clearly want to spend time away from their normal environment. Otherwise why would they come? They need good accommodation, pleasant staff, a variety of food experiences and efficient and effective service.

They want, however, to experience many different things which can be retained as a pleasant memory to be recounted amongst friends and family. For leisure guests a stay at a resort or hotel is not just about relaxing but about bragging rights which build their self esteem. They may want, for example, to have a dining experience that is significantly different from anything they would get at home.

Except for reservations staff and some front office staff, hotel and resort staff do not know enough about the services the property they work in provides to be able to advise leisure guests about the services that are available.

Similarly, conference guests need efficient handling of their conference sessions. Audiovisual must work first time, every time. Refreshments must be available at the time of a break commencing. An ability to be flexible in meeting changed break requirements is very desirable. Planned excursions and events must be executed smoothly.

Individual conference guests, however, often have further wants. Guests may want an upgrade in the wine package that is served with dinner. Guests as individuals may want, but be unaware of, the facility to provide a massage. Guests may want to play a round of golf after the conference is completed.

Most staff at a resort/hotel do not bring to the attention of a conference guest extra services that are available. Sometimes this is fuelled by a fear of doing the wrong thing by the conference organiser.

Conference organisers will have established rules about what is allowable as an expense or not. However, staff should not feel precluded from informing conference guests about the services provided by the resort/hotel.

The decision by conference guests to use other services is separate to being informed about their availability.

Business guests have needs and wants somewhat of a combination of a leisure guest and a conference guest, with some additional needs attributable to carrying on their daily business whilst out of the office, often in another state or country.

Once again, however, most staff in a hotel/resort do not know enough about the property’s services to be able to cross-sell or-up sell to guests from the entire range of segments.

In addition to not knowing enough about the products and services that the hotel/resort sells, hospitality staff generally have two further barriers to cross-selling and up-selling.

They believe that guests do not want to be sold the services.
Most hotel and resort staff either come from a backgrounds or are of an age where attending four and five star resorts/hotels for an extended visit is not within their financial reach.

Staff will judge what a guest wants or needs based on their own background. In doing so, they determine that guests will not want to buy before trying to sell.

They do not know how to cross-sell and up-sell
Cross-selling is not difficult, but does have two basic principles supported by research.

Those principles are:

- Satisfy the guest’s initial request for service

- Only cross-sell products and services related to the guest’s needs established by sing probing questions during their initial request for service

- Focus on the guest needs describing how the additional product or service will benefit them

To improve the perception of customer service, top line sales and bottom line profits, hospitality staff need to be proactively trained in and tested on the:

- Products and services of the property,

- Asking probing questions

- Servicing the needs and wants of the segments attending the property and,

- Cross-selling of products and services

©2007 Change Factory
Article Source:
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

Measuring economic development is a difficult process. Existing attempts to assess national development are still suffering from conceptual and measurement challenges. This has led to a literature that is, in general, excessively focused on economic development without connection to the capabilities of those institutions to expedite economic development of citizens. (Holmes and Gutiérrez de Piñeres, 2006: 54)
Africa is home to most of the least developed countries in the world. It suffers from poor infrastructure, limited trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), huge external debts, rampant corruption, and mismanagement. Approximately, seventy percent of Africa’s population lives on less than $2 a day. Despite these challenges, a number of positive developments have taken place in recent years. Since 1995, Africa has generally averaged between 3 and 5 percent annual economic growth. Many countries have implemented political and economic reforms to strengthen economic growth and attract more FDI. Regional economic organizations have fostered greater trade among neighbors. Steps have been taken by developed countries to alleviate Africa’s debt burden. This update looks at the economic challenges that Africa faces and prospects for future economic development on the continent.

I-African Economies Today:

By the mid-1990s, many African economies began to improve after years of decline. But even with this improvement, poverty remains widespread. In order to truly understand African economies and their prospects for further development, one must first get a clear picture of the main economic activities on the continent. These activities include agriculture, energy and mineral resource extraction, industry and trade, and government service. In addition, it is important to examine rates of unemployment.

I-1-Agriculture

Sixty-two percent of Africa’s population lives in the countryside. Most of them work in agriculture. Agriculture is largely undertaken by hand on small plots of family or village land, where economies of scale cannot take hold. Many African farmers are poor and survive at subsistence levels.
African states often have only a few cash crops. When world demand for a country’s few agricultural exports declines, or when droughts or other natural disasters occur, the country is left unable to pay for badly needed imports. Such situations are made worse by the fact that neighboring countries often produce similar products. The production of similar products leads to increased competition, lower prices, and reduced opportunities for regional trade.
Nevertheless, the African Union’s New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) characterizes agriculture as “the engine for growth in Africa.” This statement reflects the fact that 16 percent of all sub-Saharan African exports are food products.
Trade barriers and agricultural subsidies in industrialized countries also handicap Africa’s efforts to develop through agricultural exports. For example, West and Central Africa potentially lose $250 million in annual revenues from cotton exports due to the US subsidies alone. Better access to markets in the developed world would allow African countries to become less reliant on aid and loans.

I-2-Energy and Mineral Resource Extraction:

Africa has immense deposits of energy and mineral resources. In North Africa, oil and gas play a major role in the economies of Algeria, Egypt, and Libya. Libya derives over 70 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from petroleum exports, and Algeria derives over 30 percent.
Egypt’s energy earnings are more limited, but still significant.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and Sudan all have significant energy resources. Most of the west coast of Africa, stretching from Angola in the south to Côte d’Ivoire in the northwest, is rich in oil. In 2005, West Africa supplied 14 percent of U.S. oil imports, and that number is expected to rise to 25 percent by 2015.
Africa also has enormous non-energy resources. In addition to oil, Angola has diamonds, gold, bauxite, and uranium. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold, silver, tin, and uranium. Guinea has almost half of the world’s bauxite reserves.
Namibia has large deposits of copper, diamonds, lead, tin, and zinc. Zambia has large quantities of cobalt, copper, lead, and zinc. And South Africa, a rich African state in terms of mineral resources, has huge quantities of antimony, chromium, copper, diamonds, gold, manganese, nickel, platinum, tin, and uranium.
If Africa holds such enormous energy and mineral wealth, why is it one of the poorest regions of the world? First, one must consider Africa’s historical legacies and the general problems associated with a reliance on only a few primary products for export. Second, much of Africa’s natural wealth is concentrated in only a few countries. Third, some countries that have natural wealth have not been able to exploit it. Fourth, foreign corporations often play a central role in the exploitation of Africa’s natural wealth. These businesses pay wages and bring in investment and technology. However, there have also been many cases where foreign firms have abused populations, severely degraded the environment, and taken home huge profits. Finally, even when African states have control over their natural resources, few people generally benefit.
Corruption on the part of government and corporate officials is a significant problem. Money that could be used for development needs is often diverted into personal bank accounts.

I-3-Industry and Trade:

Industrial production in Africa is modest but it is increasing. It accounts for about one-third of the overall African GDP. Also, African trade grew from $230 billion in 2000 to $457 billion in 2005. Nevertheless, it is important to note that African countries account for only 2 percent of world trade.
Under the United States “African Growth and Opportunity Act” (AGOA), thirty-seven sub- Saharan African countries receive trade preferences as they export goods to the United States.
Initially, this expanded access led to strong job gains in the textile industry. However, since 2005, U.S. imports of African textile products under AGOA have been decreasing, while U.S. AGOA-related imports of crude oil, platinum, diamonds, and cocoa have been increasing.
An increasing number of Africans are engaged in export processing zones (EPZs). In these areas, they are paid by multinational corporations to assemble imported parts into finished products for reexport. The main criticism of EPZs is that export companies are physically separated into their own areas. Technology and production skills often do not spread throughout the rest of the economy.

I-4-Unemployment:

African countries face many challenges. Even so, many people inside and outside of Africa are working to overcome these challenges.
No reliable estimates exist for the large number of unemployed Africans. However, a look at just a few countries gives some indication of the situation. In 2005, it was reported that 17 percent of Algeria’s work force was unemployed. In 2004, Botswana declared an unemployment rate of 24 percent. In South Africa, at least 27 percent of the country’s workers were looking for employment in 2005. Zimbabwe and Liberia both registered more than 80 percent unemployment in 2005 and 2003 respectively.
The number of underemployed is even more difficult to estimate. Many agricultural workers and those who have migrated to Africa’s cities hold only part-time jobs. They often work in the informal sector outside of taxes and regulation.

II-African economic landscape and its development struggle

Contemporary Africa is still struggling with the legacies of slavery, colonialism and the deleterious impact of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) and now globalization.
This is not to say that globalization does not offer opportunities but without rethinking development economics both in theory and practice especially at a time when the market ideology has become the dominant one, there is a risk of witnessing further impoverishment of the continent.
Africa tends to be treated as a homogenous block, yet the economies of Africa are diverse, plural and often address their problems in different ways. Some parts of postcolonial Africa have attempted to set up ministries of economic development; others have concentrated on attracting on foreign direct investment (FDI) whilst some others have early on realized that the state and private capital should work hand in hand for development. But these different approaches have not always necessarily had the results that are necessary for development and to make matters more complicated, the continent have to struggle in a context where trade remains inequitable and finding a niche for themselves remains a difficult task. So rethinking development economics at the local, regional and international level has become imperative and different stakeholders such as academics, civil society, trade unionists, business community and the state have an important role to play in the process.
Development itself has for far too long been seen and interpreted within the narrow confines of economic growth and yet development is in fact as Amartya Sen points out development from illiteracy, from want, from diseases. But development seems to elude the masses on the continent. My intention is not to paint an Afro pessimistic picture of the continent but the reality is that the continent is still very poor, ridden with conflicts and struggling with the AIDS pandemic.
Sachs et al. argues that there are three types of poverty traps in Africa: the savings trap, the demographic trap, and the low capital-threshold trap. Thus Africa seems to suffer from many deep-seated, structural problems that propagate poverty. But analyzing poverty and human development without rethinking development economics would not make sense. Amartya Sen reminds us that development, which creates more inequality, is not humanistic. I will be looking for is how to unleash the potential at the “bottom of the pyramid” through pro poor macroeconomics policies that could lead to poverty alleviation in this part of the population. This point also deal with the issue of inequality that Amartya Sen vividly spearheaded when he argues that “everybody today believes in equality of something”: equal rights before the law, equal civil liberties, and equality opportunity and so on. Inequality is an inevitable product of any functioning market economy”
Hernando De Soto5 in his book “The Mystery of Capital” argues that growth in developing countries depends on bringing to life dead capital, and that capitalism has failed in developing countries. African countries for a long period of time were not effectively and efficiently using all their resources for sustainable development, and in some parts of the continent, they were embarking in some kind of macroeconomic policies not taking in consideration certain programmes for sustainable development; here come the issue of good governance. I will be addressing in the book, the issues on regional trade and integration, gender-centered policies, land reforms polices and agro industry.
Furthermore, for a long period of time many African countries were focusing on growth as an ultimate tool, in reducing or alleviating poverty in the continent. The book intends to equip development professionals with new thinking on the shift on development economies in the African context.

III-Some Important Indicators

Current measures of economic development include overall growth rates; growth rates being measured in purchasing power parity (PPP), human development index (HDI), and independent measures of inequality such as Gini coefficients. Based on the preferences of decision and policymakers, these different measures always tell different stories. To remedy the failure of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to capture purchasing power inequality and to allow cross-country comparisons, PPP equivalents were constructed.
However, growth rates based on constant American dollar (US $) values often mask the distribution of wealth. Growth rates can increase dramatically but still fail to raise the overall well being of the general population of a country or region. (Holmes and
Gutiérrez de Piñeres, 2006: 54). Other measures were constructed to address the fact that income alone is not a sufficient measure of development. The physical quality of life index is a composite score of life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy. The problem is that this measure reveals more about the quantity as opposed to the quality of life.
A very wide variety of indicators can be used to characterize the difference between developed and developing countries. However, some of these are more reliable than others.

III-1-GDP per capita:

GDP per capita is the total value of (final i.e. not intermediate) goods and services produced within a country divided by the total population. It also illustrates the relative difference between countries categorized as “developing”.
On average, people there live on no more than about $2 a day. As a measure of development this seems to be the most important indicator: if people want to be in a position to buy commodities and enjoy high standards of health and education then they will need the income to match.
There are some issues concerning the reliability of this indicator. One problem is measuring GDP in countries where much economic activity is unofficial. The data itself may be collected by governments who use different and more or less efficient methods of measurement. The measurement of inflation is also problematic: if inflation is under-estimated then real output will be over-estimated. Government officials may have an incentive to over-value output (particularly the unsold output of nationalized industries). Another major problem is the high level of subsistence farming in developing countries: non-marketed output may never get measured.
To enable cross-country comparisons the data needs to be standardized to a particular currency. Using current exchange rates is unlikely to be appropriate for this. They are only based on traded goods and are greatly affected by speculative capital flows.
The alternative, finding a purchasing power parity (PPP) rate with which to do the conversion, is non trivial in a world where goods and services differ so widely between countries. There are some other problems. First, it may be more informative to see patterns of GDP per capita growth over time, rather than just a snapshot of a particular year.
Second, there is no sense in which this indicator can tell the whole story of a country’s economic or social situation.
For example, there can be widely varying standards of health and education for countries with similar levels of GDP per head.
The distribution of GDP may also vary, in some countries being much more uneven than in others. Third, increasing GDP per capita may bring with it costs as well as benefits, particularly if it is brought about in a non-sustainable way: the level of negative externalities needs to be considered.

III-2-Measures of Poverty

It is important to understand the difference between absolute and relative poverty.
Absolute poverty refers to the inability to acquire goods necessary to satisfy basic needs e.g. the means to obtain the minimum level of nutrition necessary to sustain an active life. Basic needs also tend to include clothing and shelter. Put simply, absolute poverty is having .just enough to survive but no more. However, it is well worth considering whether what counts as absolute poverty is, to some extent, relative to the culture concerned: the concept is by no means uncontroversial.
Relative poverty refers to the differential of income and wealth between people or countries. That is, it involves some comparison across economies.
One indicator of absolute poverty is the percentage of the population receiving less than the equivalent of $1 a day income. For most developed countries there is no absolute poverty according to this measure because of social security benefits. The World Bank estimates that 1.2bn people live off less than $1 a day, with a further 1.6bn existing on less than $2 a day.
The figures for absolute poverty have to be treated with some caution for reasons similar to those discussed for GDP per capita. The concept is itself rather loose, and a $x a day measure is somewhat arbitrary: especially as local costs of living vary enormously and there are wide variations across countries of, for example, climate.
There is also something of a preconceived idea involved in defining poverty in terms of income levels. It may be that for some people there are other more pressing objectives e.g. having shoes to wear or establishing a separation of living quarters for people and animals. These other objectives may be improving even when income is falling. Many commentators therefore prefer to see “poverty” as a multidimensional concept. This is important because the way poverty is conceptualized will influence the policy measures adopted to deal with it. For example, a definition based exclusively on income will tend to see growth in GDP per head as the only solution to poverty.
Other dimensions of absolute poverty might include access to .essential drugs and the proportion of the population using regulated water supplies.
To shed light on relative poverty it is possible to compare GDP per capita between countries or to look at income distributions within a particular country. The inequalities of income in developing countries can be very pronounced.
Note that relative poverty is an issue even at a local scale of description. For example, within households there can be widely varying distributions of resources e.g. on the basis of age or gender.

(ArticlesBase SC #1092700)

Before beginning a management leadership training process it’s important to determine exactly where you want to be at the conclusion of the program. If you have investigated the various offerings available to your organization you know that management leadership training comes in various forms from outside experts to internal trainers to public seminars to DVDs. Which one or combination of solutions is best for you can more easily be determined when you know where you want the process to lead you.

In other words defining in advance what a successful result will be for your organization and its members. Most business owners report that success is knowing their company’s values and its goals and then doing business in alignment with them. If you, as the business owner, expect successful results for your people at the end of their management leadership training – you must first be able to identify your core values and articulate them to the trainers – so that their efforts will point your employees in the direction of those values.

You organization’s purpose and its core values should be integrated into any management leadership training program so that the training reinforces them and they support the training, in an “everything leads to everything else” scenario. This is not meant to be cheer leading – rather it is to help imbed the core values in a way that causes managers and leaders to act in accordance with those core values naturally, reflexively. This is what builds the “way” that everyone in the organization addresses every issue.

Your organization’s values were not built in upon incorporation. You did not receive them as part of the Inc. package you received from your lawyer. When the company started it had no values of its own, only those of the original owners. Those values were instilled in them by their parents, mentors, teachers, peers, and everyone who cam in contact with them. Every day they, and now you, choose to accept or reject values from different sources. It is a never ending refining of who you are and who your people are as individuals and as an organization.

A successful management leadership training program helps people at every level in the organization quickly react with “that’s not like us” or “that’s the way we do things here” automatically. These internal values are combined seamlessly with the organization’s external persona or brand to insure people that when they do business with your company they can absolutely count on being treated in a certain way.

While it might not be in the trainer’s brochure of benefits or on the DVD or online management leadership training web site, management leadership training crystallizes the internal and external values of everyone from the Board room to the loading dock. Whatever skills training employees receive, in the long run it will be clear, are a bonus. How they see themselves as leaders and managers and how they are on board with the company’s mission is where the real lasting value is.

The training will help your employees see more clearly where the company is going so they can become a permanent part of the solution for themselves, their contemporaries, and all those who follow them. Management leadership training will help your employees get more of what is important to them and help your organization become more and more profitable in the process.

Since the beginning of time, leadership development has meant many different ways to encourage followers. Today’s leaders know that being a leader means to inspire others to follow them, during good times and bad.
Article Source:
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by: BMA Editorial Team A

An assessment center is a methodology (rather than a place) for thoroughly assessing a candidate for a job. A development center follows similar principles, but rather than selection, its primary purpose is to aid in the development of a current job-holder.

Owing to the costs associated with assessment and development centers, they are typically used for higher level jobs. For example, they are used as part of graduate selection exercises for fast-track programs or for executive and managerial development. Also, as a result of costs, assessment and development centers are tools associated more with medium to large sized organizations and especially multi-nationals.

The expense of assessment and development centers comes from the thorough process, time and competence required to run them. The centers incorporate a number of different types of assessments throughout a one, two or even three day period.

Candidates will have the opportunity to show and explore their talents over a range of different exercises and within each exercise, a number of competencies are usually being assessed.

A major benefit of centers which run over multiple days is that it becomes more difficult for candidates to fake characteristics (such as extraversion, social boldness, friendliness) which are often faked at interview.

The familiar job or performance appraisal interview may form part of the centre, but will be run in a standardized, structured manner. Group discussions, negotiation and team-working exercises, in addition to presentations, in-tray (realistic work simulations) exercises and psychometric assessments of personality and ability are all found within a typical assessment or development center.

Each center that is run is unlikely to assess a large number of people in one go. It is typical to assess around 8-12 individuals and there will be a high assessor-assessee ratio (at least one assessee per assessor and often more than this!).

Exercises are either developed by experienced assessors in-house, or they can be purchased from specialist exercise vendors. The purchased exercises can be rather expensive, many times costing in excess of US$1000 per exercise. Others will charge a fee per assessee and even this can amount to the same fee of US$1000 per assessee depending on the exercise.

Another option is the purchase of computer software which contains a number of validated exercises in addition to the facility to schedule and manage the complete logistics of the centre.

Where exercises are developed in-house, there is always the question of validity. That is, do they really consistently assess what they were designed to and purport to assess? Of course most organizations will not conduct the necessary validity studies to support this due to cost and/or competence issues!

Turning to “validated” off-the-shelf exercises however may also not always be wise. Whilst they may have been shown to be valid in Organization X using managers from Division Y for example, this does not necessarily mean the same exercise(s) will be valid in your company and your division!

Given the costs associated with designing the assessment or development center, running it and ensuring that all assessors are appropriately trained and competent, it is necessary to ensure that there is a return on investment…or in other words, that this is money well spent that will be returned two-, three- or many-fold!

Generally, business-case studies, research studies and common-sense show that well designed and run centers do provide a good return on investment.

From the common-sense perspective, if you are being more through in your selection process, it would seem that you are more likely to select the appropriate employee.

From a business-case perspective, this follows through. If an organization continues to select on the basis of its current selection system (say an interview and a personality test), at best, we would expect them to reproduce current performance levels.

However, if the organization becomes more choosey and opts for a well-thought-out assessment centre composed of various team exercises, presentations, tests, interviews and so forth…assuming the center was competently designed and run, and the exercises accurately assessed the attributes they were supposed to assess…surely, that organization would be more accurate in their selection of the right person to do the job!

Now, what if that person were to take on a job that for ease of argument managed assets worth say US$1 million? Given that the organization has a better person in place by way of the more rigorous selection process, we can perhaps expect to see a conservative 3% increase in performance. That would amount to US$30,000 (all else being equal!).

If we further assume that this person remains in the job for longer, let’s say three years (because they are the right person for the job and thus happy with it), we can multiply that return by 3, taking the gain to US$90,000!

Assume we select 3 people from the center and they all perform similarly, we can further multiply by 3 and our gain triples to US$270,000. This gain is likely to be at least 15 times the initial cost of the assessment center!

So, even though assessment centers are expensive and labor intensive, they are likely to provide an excellent return on that investment.

The same can be said for development centers. Again, we can assume that without introducing a development center, the employee will develop at their current rate. With the introduction of the center, development may multiply and bring with it a massive return for the business.

All of this is of course dependent upon the level at which the candidate is in the organization and the influence that his or her competence and further development has upon success.

Research shows that assessment centers are one of the most predictive forms of assessment for performance at work (e.g., Robertson & Smith, 2001) and that they have incremental validity over and above supervisor ratings for predicting promotion (Chan, 1996).

Of course, this only works if those who design the centers are appropriately trained not only to design the exercises, but to run the centers, ensure accurate and fair ratings of candidates and to be able to translate center results into hypotheses about performance at work.

Further, in the case of development centers, the responsible person also needs to be able to sensitively discuss the implications of the results with the candidate and know how to assist that candidate in embarking upon a development program that will lead to tangible results.

References:

Robertson, I. T., & Smith, M. (2001). Personnel selection. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74(4), 441-472.

Chan, D. (1996). Criterion and construct validation of an assessment centre. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 69(2), 167-181.
Article Source:
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© Cheryl Hopkins, 5th Nov 2009

Let’s cut the bull:

Will these tips change your life over night? Does a one time visit to the gym get you the perfect body? No, but if you apply what the coach shows you, day after day, things improve and it’s the same with these tips.

Tip 1: Clear out the crap

Fear… lack of confidence is the mother and father of all saboteurs; an amazing emotion it can save your life when in physical danger but all too often it pushes us into a corner of self-doubt and anxiety, suppressing our life choices… our desires. How do you recognise it: it’s the voice that says “don’t be stupid, you can’t do that; you’re not ready; it’ll go wrong; you need to cover your arse; better keep your head down or else….” It’s the incessant tightness in your chest, your gut, your throat… that feeling of dread that comes over you when you think about making a change or are faced with the unknown. So, instead of trying to numb it out with a drink, food, the TV… how about facing it, once and for all, because when you do so you’ll see what an illusion it really is.

There are many ways and aspects to transforming fear; I teach what I’ve personally tested and used, and I’ve been testing stuff out since I was 2 years of age (I’m 38 now)! A key thing I’ve learned is that you have to deal with the fundamentals i.e. you have to change how you feel in your body when you feel fear and let go of the original injury that caused it in the first place; the very practical approaches below will begin to free you from fear’s grasp:

1) The next time you feel fear, anxiety even anger, stop what you’re doing and focus on your body; feel the physical sensations… the knot in your stomach, the lump in your throat… see where they want to move to… where they want to exit. Breathe deeply. It may feel weird at first, even ‘scary’, so experiment with this at home and then take it out and about… to the office. As you watch your sensations, you’ll find that the feelings will eventually dissipate leaving you feeling stronger, more confident and in ‘control’, instead of having you reach for a diversion that leads you into a deeper hole.

Tip 2: Cut the bull about efficiency…

I seriously doubt that anyone wakes up longing for their life to be more ‘effective’ yet plenty of companies… people tell us we need to be. I think efficiency is about as inspiring as a lump of poo and what’s more it restricts us. Why? Because in making it our aim we get captivated by ‘what’s going wrong’; we focus virtually all our energy on our problems, setting off stress, conflict, de-motivation… is that being efficient?!

What truly drives us, what fuels our ‘efficiency’ is our joy… passion… enthusiasm; think about how focused you are… how helpful you are… how much clearer your thinking is when you’re doing something you enjoy… when you feel happy. Surely it makes sense to get yourself into this state as much as possible in order to support your efforts:

1) So, do something that excites you… that you enjoy, every single day e.g. checking out locations for your next holiday, sitting in your garden, going to the gym, stopping to have a coffee on the way home, playing on your XBOX, your Wii… looking out at the birds or at a picture on your desk… whatever it is, connect with this energy every day and as often as you can throughout the day. Take regular ‘happiness’ breaks; think those happy thoughts/day dream for 15 – 60 secs at a time, so you can get that ‘good’ feeling and then get on with what you were doing. In addition to giving your body a lovely hit of serotonin, which is what the ‘high’ is, and clearing out stress in your system, you’re also creating new patterns of thinking, new pathways, so that ‘happiness… enthusiasm’ becomes your ‘normal’ way of being, instead of the same old ‘worry… life is shit… you’re to blame’ route that so many people get stuck in day after day. It’s your choice; which is going to be more resourceful and effective for your life?

Tip 3: Create your life on a daily basis

You already create your life every day, it’s just that for many people it’s solely based on responding to whatever is going on around them… getting hooked on the latest dramas. Now, of course there are ‘issues’ that need your attention during the day but why is it that some people’s lives seem to be full of ‘Eastenders’ and others ‘Beverley Hills’? Well, in short, we tend to get what we expect; ever had the feeling that everything was going to turn out OK and it did or thought this is going to be a disaster and it was? Why?

Well, a major contributor is a part of the brain called the Reticular Activation System (RAS); its job is to ONLY select data that matches the ‘life’ picture you’ve told it you want… it filters all the information coming in through your senses based on your thoughts, feelings and actions – your life map – and deletes approx 99.99995% of information that you receive every moment of the day. So if your ‘life map’ says: ‘Life is a struggle, I never get what I want… I’m always last in the queue…’ guess what you’re RAS looks for? Conversely, if you think ‘you’re fortunate, life always treats you well, you’re always getting opportunities…’ what do you think your RAS will look out for?

So, if you want to change your life… a situation, you need to paint a picture of what you want:

1) Every day: Write a 1 page summary entitled ‘My yummy life’ and fill it with all the details of your ideal life, as if you’re living it now e.g. “I feel amazing, my work is going really well; I’ve just been promoted and my team are great people to work with… they just get on with the job…” You write it in the present tense because it enables your RAS to start looking for evidence and solutions to create it. Spend a max 15-20 mins on it, making it as detailed or big picture as you like but you must do it every day. Why? Because it’ll begin to focus your brain… to create new neurological connections that look for ways for you to achieve this ‘ideal life’; it’s like setting your Sat Nav for destination X, without programming it you’ll probably get lost… or waste a lot of time going round in circles, which is alot like life if you ‘fail’ to programme your ‘wanted’ choices.

And always write in the ‘positive’ i.e. ‘I feel relaxed, calm, in control ‘ as opposed to ‘I’m not stressed’… avoid the word ‘not’ because your brain does; test it ‘do not think of a blue elephant in yellow shoes’… what happened? You had to think of it first before you could replace the image and so you’ve told your brain to go get the thing you want to avoid, hence always write “I want x” and in the present tense (as I’m living this now). You can email me for an example.

Tip 4: Ask for help

Hmmm, a tough one this; asking for help, surely that’s like saying: “I’m not good enough, I can’t cope…” but of course it also recruits resources, expertise beyond your own, opens up possibilities making the ride a whole lot easier. So, which view point is more helpful and it really does come down to your viewpoint? In the past, I’ve been a great one for struggling… a gruelling challenge, believing it’s the only way to achieve; to have a worthy victory… what bollocks! It’s an insane and exhausting attitude, yet I see it around me on a daily basis because people have been conditioned into believing things like: ‘life is a struggle… asking for help is for weaklings…. it’s unsafe to ask…’ but these types of ‘viewpoints’ just sabotage you so, it makes sense to clear them out:

1) So, go ask people for help! I usually get a very positive response because people like to feel valued, that their opinions and experience count; by being asked their view it’s a confirmation that they’re knowledgeable, that their life has meaning and so they’re often only too happy to help.

A word of warning: Take everything others say with a pinch of salt and that means my ideas too! Why? Because the information others are providing you is shaped by their life; their hopes, joys, pains, disappointments… it comes from their map of the world and, for many people, the rules they were told to play by as a child; rules that meant others would accept them. This mishmash of rules is what many people have as their ‘world view’, so be aware of this and bear in mind point 2:

2) Only ask people that you want to emulate; who seem to be walking their talk… sharpening up their own game on a daily basis, because they’re the ones on the road to true success; they’re far more aware of their own pitfalls and saboteurs and will be less likely to dump their crap on you, and can help you spots yours too. Plus, why emulate someone that represents something different to what you want to create; would you ask someone who’s broke to show you how to be a millionaire?. Plus, avoid naysayers, they’re a dead weight around your neck and will pull you down; if there’s no one around you feel comfortable with, you can ask me for support or any other professional; just get the right person for you.

Tip 5: Get out there

Tying into tip 4; in fact all of the tips tie in together; you have to take a chance and speak up; to let people know who you are, what you’re about; what you want in life because it opens up possibilities: Having briefly mentioned that I write articles, I have the possibility of working with a major major bank. After sharing some ideas around a process I use, I’ve just been asked to speak at an International conference! You see, when you start to speak up a little, you sprinkle seeds; the more you plant, the more (success) you grow.

Tip 6: Follow the breadcrumbs

I believe that everything happens for a reason; that I create my own reality based on the way I think, feel and act; that in any moment I am making a choice or a request to the Universe we live in, to send me ‘x’ and that serendipity or coincidence are the little breadcrumbs, the sign-posts for the route I need to take. E.g. I found my real mum after reading an article that flashed up on AOL and then checking the website it mentioned; it took me 10 minutes to find her after 28 years of being apart. Having sent an email to the Women in Banking & Finance organisation, to attend one of their events, I happened to mention my passion/interest in developing more enjoyable and sustainable (effective) banking workplaces; 9 months later they asked me if I might wanted to deliver on their Personal Excellence Programme; I’ve now been selected. These results came about so incredibly easily; of course I did some work, but they happened because I followed my hunches… my gut feel at the time.
1) So, when you get an idea, a thought, an image, even a feeling that excites you, in a flash, and then you quickly dismiss it as silly, pointless, off track… STOP! This is a little sign from your intuition… your immensely powerful sub-conscious that sees the bigger picture of what you desire, and then sends you intel on which way to proceed; it’s rarely logical or in the timing or package/way you expect it to show up as but then if you already knew how to achieve ‘x’ you’d have done so by now, so I guess our little conscious/logical mind is less capable than we think. So, follow those flashes, those feelings of excitement; test it out, a little at a time.

Tip 7: Make it a daily practice

How often do you clean your teeth, eat, wash…. sleep? Daily, right? Why? Because if you miss these things out you suffer; you get toothache, you smell, you feel tired… life becomes hard work. So guess what, these tips only work when you apply them on a daily basis. Even if you decide to do your own thing, you’ll only reap what you sow because you’re creating new habits or ‘ways of being’ and the mind and body need to develop and adopt these new patterns, in the same way you mould a piece of clay; a bit at a time… it’ll stay in a lump without your hands working it!

Tip 8: Trust the process

If you keep digging up newly planted seedlings they’ll probably die; if you spend lots of time worrying about ‘when these tips will take effect by’ you’re pretty much doing the same thing. For new roots to form you need to focus on applying your new tool(s) and letting things bed in by ‘just getting on with life’. You need to be consistent and expect the results to take care of themselves; like cleaning your teeth, you do it and then get on with life, you don’t keep inspecting them. I keep a daily journal where I literally list processes I’ve used and the day’s results/occurrences; sometimes is just a factual account, at other times I get massive insight into how my behaviours changed, how much better I feel… I list all the amazing new things I’ve gained because it helps me ‘keep score’/feel confident in the process whilst allowing it to work at its own pace; it might be a useful tool to use.

So, in conclusion:

I’ve written them pretty much in the order I apply them each day; of course, it’s a continuous process and there’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way so just test them out. You can start with one tip and test it for 2-3 weeks to see how you get on; and yes I do mean 2-3 weeks… treat it like a scientific experiment, as if your life depended on it, because it does :0)

Of course, you’ll get bigger results from our learning and development programs but these are a pretty good starting point; if you want more information please contact us.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – 8 Powerful processes to boost your work life

The emphasis given by sectoral players to reduce costs and improve efficiencies has lead logistics players to muscle their expansions

Recent meltdown and its after effects saw more than half a dozen logistics companies a lot of developments happening to supply chain segment in India, thanks to the emphasis given by different sectoral players to reduce their costs and improve efficiencies.

The happenings once again underlined the ample opportunities that are there to value-engineer processes to offer value for money and just in time efficiencies. Some of the companies that developed their 3PL (third party logistics) and warehousing strength include Allcargo Global Logistics, Safexpress, Shree Shubham Logistics, Transport Corporation of India, Gati, and AFL.

The emerging retail sector, which is considered to be the next sunrise industry in India, is believed to be the primary mover behind all these developments. The logistics players knew that the success or credibility of a participant of the retail sector depends on ensuring continuous availability of a wide range of products in optimum quantities across a widely spread operational network, which means a high level of control on logistics. The retail segment also demands the highest quality of service from logistics solution providers. Global benchmarks are increasingly being applied to retail operations in India. Not only do the logistic service providers require breadth of transportation network but also strong expertise in storage and value added services to cater to such dynamic market.

As pointed by a recent report ”Transforming Landscapes on Indian Warehousing’ by CII – Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, logistics costs in India equals 13% of the GDP, which is significantly higher than those of the developed countries, where it equates to only around 10%. “Even a slightest reduction would result in considerably huge savings for the country”, it pointed out.

The report went on to point out that the emergence of outsourcing along with the consolidation of 3PL players would result in improving efficiencies and lowering costs in the supply chain.

The developments also underlined, what, Tushar Jani, chairman of CII western region logistics sub committee and chairman, Blue Sea Shipping Agency implied when he said that there was a need to develop a new kind of confidence on the quality of service where people would start trusting in third party logistics.

For example, leading logistics player, Allcargo Global Logistics has started offering its customers 3PL solutions as a way to add value to their existing supply chain logistics services. With this, Allcargo customers can now benefit from an integrated network of warehouses to ICD/CFS to the closest gateway port. The 3PL division enables Allcargo to offer full service, end-to-end logistics service package comprising in-house expertise and facilities for freight forwarding, customs clearance, transport, warehousing and distribution services.

Safexpress, one of the country’s largest supply chain and logistics company has launched its ultra-modern logistics park in Pune. On the occasion of launching the company’s ninth facility in the country in the last nine months, Vineet Kanaujia, GM-marketing, that the company ‘has taken the ownership of driving a warehousing revolution in India. We are investing Rs 600 crore to develop world-class warehousing at certain strategic locations across the country.”

Mr. Kanaujia said, “There is a huge growth opportunity for warehousing business in India. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are one of the major driving forces for the business in the country. A large number of upcoming SEZs have necessitated the development of logistics parks for the domestic market as well as for global trade.”

According to him, Safexpress plans to develop 5 million square feet of additional warehousing space across the country in the next couple of years, adding to the existing warehousing space of 5 million square feet. “In all, we plan to launch 32 logistics parks in the next two years. These parks are all set to revolutionize the way supply chain functions in our country today,” he said.

VRL Logistics, the logistics division of the country’s largest owner of trucks, is also giving more thrust on giving 3PL & warehousing solutions, which are tailor-made and cater to unique needs of customers. According to company sources, VRL Logistics is expanding its service to reach even the remote locations in the country.

Shree Shubham Logistics, a subsidiary of Kalpataru Power Transmission, is also focused on developing a string of commodity warehousing logistics parks at strategic locations in states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Companies like Transport Corporation of India, Gati, and AFL are also developing their 3PL and warehousing muscles to supplement the retail industry.

Originally published in The Economic Times dated: January 11, 2010

Being a hostess is great for a friendly person. The job requires a personable, outgoing demeanor and the best of manners. The basics of your duties include greeting the customers with a warm smile, asking the number in their party and then seating them at the appropriate table. If there was a wait, you have to diplomatically ask them to have a seat in the lobby and give them an estimate as to how long they will be waiting for their table. As the customers leaves, you would wish them a good afternoon or night and thank them for coming in.

The same applies to answering the phone. You get to field the questions the caller will have, answering the same questions about hours and locations and what special is on what night and perhaps handling reservations. You will discover that your conversational skills will greatly improve from this experience. You will become a master of small talk.

The tricky part of being a hostess comes when the restaurant gets busy. On any given Friday night, there could be 75 people waiting in the lobby and outside. Determining what section and server each table would be assigned takes a little strategic thinking. One suggestion would be to create a rotation so that no server receives more tables than they can handle, or else you’ll be backing up the kitchen, thus increasing wait time and decreasing customer satisfaction.

Whatever the system, be sure it’s one that your waitstaff agrees will be the best solution for everybody. Hopefully, the rest of the staff recognizes the need to co-operate as a team. As the hostess you’ll be in a key position relative to the staff, ensuring that the operation of the restaurant runs smoothly.

Under a high-pressure circumstance, you have to keep your cool. Some people are just rude or irritable by nature, but you have to deal with them and not blow your cool. If your establishment is a particularly popular one, you’ll have a real crowd on your hands on weekend nights and holidays. So this also isn’t the career choice for the bashful. A hostess is just a little bit of a performer, and a gift for skillfully handling a large group will be a real plus.

Herein, a small catalog of dealing with some customers who will need some extra special attention:

Families with small children Hopefully, the children are well disciplined. If you must keep them waiting, offer whatever resources you have to keep the kids amused. Many family restaurants keep activity sheets and little crayon packs or balloons or other small, cheap toys. By no means should you let the parents coerce you into being a free baby-sitter while they duck out for some reason. Your establishment should have a policy regarding unattended minors.

The elderly You’ll need some extra time and patience to deal with the well-aged senior. If they have a mobility problem, make sure they have a seat if they have to wait for a table and offer some assistance in helping them get to a table and get seated. Sometimes, you may be dealing with somebody a little hard of hearing, near-sighted, or forgetful. Use as much discretion as you can while doing your best to help the guest have the most pleasant experience.

The intoxicated Try to keep things moving along briskly. You may need to remind the guest that as the hostess, you’re “in charge” and will not tolerate offensive behavior that annoys the other patrons. Do have a keen sense of when you’re in “over your head”, and know when to ask for help from the manager. Remember that “intoxicated” also covers illicit substances other than alcohol, and people under the influence of some psychedelics and narcotics will exhibit highly volatile and unpredictable behavior.

“Difficult” people An important thing to remember when dealing with somebody who is rude or hostile is “Be nice; everyone’s fighting a battle, even if you can’t see it.” You don’t know the personal life of the customer – who knows what they’re going through? At the same time, try to keep personal boundaries here – a hostile customer will do their best to draw you down to their level, and you just have to put on your happy face and play by your professional script. After the encounter is over, you might want to ask if you can be relieved for a break to take a couple minutes to pull yourself together. You’re only human, after all. Fortunately, the other witnesses to an incident will usually be understanding of your situation.

The dishonest In the restaurant trade, this is known as “dine and dash”. If you get a patron who runs out the door without paying, you are not expected to go after them. Just quickly notify either security (if you work someplace like a casino, mall, or amusement park) or the manager. in fact, your manager is usually the best person to tell. Leave it in their hands. You may be called on later to give some identifying information to authorities. Note race, height/weight, hair/eye color, and clothing, and their vehicle if they have one. That’s the most anybody reasonable should expect of you.

(ArticlesBase SC #126194)