By Mary Kelly Corporate managers frequently complain that employees are unfocused, unproductive, and struggle to work cohesively. Employees not actively engaged generally lack interest in the goals of the organization. In economics, we call this the ‘principle-agent problem’ meaning employees look out for their own interests before considering their employer’s interests. Motivating employees and ensuring [...]

Supervising people is a thankless task. Anyone who has supervised employees knows that directing the performance of others requires patience, skill, and courage. People come to work with all of the messy stuff of life, including their own expectations and demands. And as business becomes more complex, and management styles more involved, it is hard [...]

It’s happened to all of us. We are told one thing by leadership, and then they do the opposite. One company had as its slogan that it valued its people, promised no layoffs, but 3 months later laid off 5 percent of the workforce. By the third layoff in 18 months, the workforce certainly did [...]

We all negotiate — all of the time. We negotiate with our employees, with clients, with salespeople, with our children, with car dealers, and on and on. Most of what you read on negotiating skills makes it sound like you have to be a certain type of person to be a good negotiator. But the [...]