The self-assessment process

The entire job or career search can best be illustrated as a ladder. With the bottom rung as the beginning of the job or career search process, the next rung in the self-assessment process is the preparation of an effective resume, and ultimately the top rung of the ladder, or the final objective, is securing the appropriate position. The goal in each step of the process is to understand yourself and to present yourself as positively as possible, to overcome any negative aspects that would inhibit a competitive job offer, and to be ultimately successful in the interview process. All of this must be achieved using the most effective, efficient method in the shortest possible time while still facing serious and aggressive competition. The long road ahead can be made easier and can make you stand out from the crowd if the sometimes difficult and time-consuming groundwork provides your ladder with the foundation necessary to reach that top rung as a winner.     

The Ratatouille paradox. An inductive study of creativity in haute cuisine

Organization literature has extensively explored the crucial role of creativity in enabling organizations to survive in fast-paced environments. However, there are still substantial misunderstandings about the way in which creative processes unfold. In most studies, creativity has been analyzed using a compositional sequential model. Building on interpretive inductive research, conducted in the empirical field of Italian haute cuisine, this study develops a framework for the following creative processes, emerging within the field: improvisation, experimentation, trial-and-error, and imagination. The main difference between these processes is the relationship between four aggregate dimensions: process triggers, planning, the unfolding of creative phases, and trialing. This new framework offers a more comprehensive understanding of creativity as it is enacted, shedding light on its real potential in contemporary organizations.C: In every dish, Chef Gusteau always has something unexpected. I will show you. I memorized all his recipes.L: Always do something unexpected.C: No. Follow the recipe.L: But you just said that…C: No, no, no. It was his job to be unexpected. It is our job to… Follow the recipe. (“Ratatouille,” min. 43, Pixar, 2007)C: What are you doing? You are supposed to be preparing the Gusteau recipe.L: This is the recipe.C: The recipe does not call for white truffle oil! What else have you…? You are improvising? This is no time to experiment. The customers are waiting! (“Ratatouille,” min. 48, Pixar, 2007)     

Lead, follow, or get out of the way

The more we know about the individuals who work for us, the better understanding we will have of them and the better job we will do in motivating them. Regardless of whether you work in credit, production, accounting, sales, engineering, personnel, or purchasing, you will have one problem in common with all managers. The problem is people. They take up by far the greatest portion of our operating budget. People are difficult. They have their strengths and weaknesses, their ups and downs, their joys and sorrows; and you don't have to be managing people for long before you find out that people don't like change.     

创业路上无“明星”

娱乐界的光环能否继续照耀在"明星企业家"们的创业路上?能否凭着明星的特殊身份让他们的创业之路比常人平坦很多?他们能否也成为企业界的璀璨明星……     

浅谈建筑工程现场管理

施工企业管理的核心是工程项目,建筑工程施工若是要做好每项工作,都必须在工作前对这项工作进行全面了解,这样才利于更好地开展工作。     

基于价值链的企业营运资金管理问题探究

不论对何种企业而言,均必须要同社会与时代的发展保持同步,面对不断发展的新时代,如果不想被淘汰,就一定要把自身的营运资金管理认真做好,这一点非常重要。倘若能够在营运资金管理方面取得较好的成效,则对实现整个企业的利益最大化来说也将是大有裨益的,进而促进企业良好发展。本文基于国内外营运资金管理现状,分析了基于价值链的企业营运资金管理理论,并针对现阶段企业营运资金管理问题提出了针对性建议,以供参考。     

What is the Chance of Yuan Revaluation?

From a Chinese perspective, chances of any change in the Yuan exchange rate look pretty slim. If you were an official in Beijing, would you stick your neck out even recommending this idea? If the status quo looks fairly acceptable, and it is ‘stability oriented’ (a very Chinese preference), why go rocking the boat? You certainly do not make any changes just because Japan or the US tell you to. And financial markets are not that persuasive – after all they wanted a devaluation only a short while ago. In this article, Vanessa Rossi and Simon Knapp assess the likelihood of a Yuan revaluation and its implications for the economic outlook.     

Multiple Choice Questions: Concepts and Definitions

Answering multiple choice questions at 'A' Level involves different skills from ordinary questions, Walter Allan, publications director of the Institute of Economic Affairs and former teacher of economics, outlines some concepts and definitions.
The multiple choice paper is still the area which lets many students down. Economic Affairs provides 50 definitions for particular multiple choice questions which should give the student more confidence in the examination room.
Questions are normally split equally between definition and numerical questions. If you know your definitions, the numerical questions become second nature.
Multiple choice papers are difficult to revise for since you do not know which questions will arise. If you take a look at the following list, check how many concepts you are familiar with.     

How to use benchmarking to reduce planning and purchasing costs

Each year at budget time, the standard question asked of the materiel management group is "Why do you have so many people?" Our answer had been that we do not have enough people. With more people, we could lower total cost and manage inventories better. The inevitable standoff occurs with each side feeling that the other does not understand the need for materiel management services. In early 1993, we decided to be prepared to answer the famous question of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, "How do you know?" We wanted to show people we really did know our business and thus initiated a project to benchmark planning, purchasing, and scheduling services of other companies. This article shares not only the results of the benchmarking efforts, but also the techniques for getting started.     

A new executive responsibility: Managing behavior change

A man is promoted and begins to react in unexpected, uncharacteristic ways to routine situations—why? Another man who has competently done his job in the past lets his performance deteriorate—what do you do?.     

个人—环境匹配、员工满意度与离职倾向关系的实证研究

企业环境是企业在发展的过程中所形成的一种工作氛围,对其内部员工具有重大甚至决定性的影响。"近朱者赤,近墨者黑"、"孟母三迁"等历史典故也都证明了环境对人的成长与发展具有重要的作用。因此,员工在选择职业与岗位时,应当着重考虑一下企业环境与个人属性是否匹配:匹配的环境犹如"良禽择木而栖",使员工的个人才能得到充分发挥;不匹配的环境,将使员工难以适应,最后只能以离职收场。与此同时,企业也应努力营造有利于人才成长的良好的企业环境,进而促进企业各项事业的蓬勃发展。     

论人事管理的重要性

面对日益激烈的市场竞争,企业不仅需要进行产品创新及技术改良,更应该关注企业的人事管理。人事管理是企业管理的重要组成部分,做好人事管理能使企业的人力资源达到最优配置,为企业的发展提供强有力的人才支撑。     

从“保姆”到“妈妈”——班级管理中的老庄之道

技工学校的学生处于一个特殊的时期,他们渴望成长,渴望独立,但又常做出一些在外人看来很幼稚甚至愚蠢的行为;他们有了初步的是非观,但在许多事情的判断上又常常似是而非。面对这样野马似的学生,班主任的管理就显得非常重要而突出,而班主任的思维方式、角色定位以及观念则决定了管理的效果。培养出什么样的学生和人才,班主任的影响将是很大的。老庄之道有否值得借鉴的地方?在陷入迷茫时,不妨静下心来吸收精华,多作思考,或许会有新发现。     

Cities within the City: Do‐It‐Yourself Urbanism and the Right to the City

In many cities around the world we are presently witnessing the growth of, and interest in, a range of micro‐spatial urban practices that are reshaping urban spaces. These practices include actions such as: guerrilla and community gardening; housing and retail cooperatives; flash mobbing and other shock tactics; social economies and bartering schemes; ‘empty spaces’ movements to occupy abandoned buildings for a range of purposes; subcultural practices like graffiti/street art, skateboarding and parkour; and more. This article asks: to what extent do such practices constitute a new form of urban politics that might give birth to a more just and democratic city? In answering this question, the article considers these so‐called ‘do‐it‐yourself urbanisms’ from the perspective of the ‘right to the city’. After critically assessing that concept, the article argues that in order for do‐it‐yourself urbanist practices to generate a wider politics of the city through the appropriation of urban space, they also need to assert new forms of authority in the city based on the equality of urban inhabitants. This claim is illustrated through an analysis of the do‐it‐yourself practices of Sydney‐based activist collective BUGA UP and the New York and Madrid Street Advertising Takeovers.     

Returning to the workforce after retiring: a job demands,job control,social support perspective on job satisfaction

Despite growing interest in the aging of the workforce, few investigations have explored a key aspect of diversity among older workers: whether or not they consider themselves retired. Using a sample of workers ages 50 and older from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (2008), we apply career development theory and the job demand–control(–support) framework to investigate potential differences between working retirees (i.e. employed older adults 50+ who consider themselves retired) and working non-retirees (i.e. employed older adults 50+ who do not consider themselves retired) in terms of their job characteristics (i.e. demands, control, support) and how these job characteristics are related to job satisfaction. We find that working retirees report lower job demands and higher social support, and that there is limited evidence for the buffering hypothesis. Implications for researchers and employers are discussed.     

Cost control: a personal balancing act

Rid yourself of the word "spend." Substitute "invest." Spending never has been an acceptable component of effective cost control. Investing always has been and always will be.     

Leading to Learn

“You don't see to draw, you draw to see.” And then Fred said, “It's just the same for leadership, you don't learn to lead, you lead to learn.” The arts can teach us to stay with our senses and not know and in that way to provide a balance to the dominance of the analytic approaches to our organizational worlds. There is an old saying that you can only manage what you can measure. The arts can help us to work with what we cannot measure and the way to do that is by leading to learn. The current article explores the qualitatively different way in which the arts teach us to apprehend the world and how that is central to leadership.     

A new approach to managerial selection

There are two keys to picking the right man for a job: knowing the results the man has achieved on past jobs (not only the names of those jobs) and knowing the objectives of the job to be filled. If he has in the past achieved the results the present job is aiming for—he's the right man.     

你的成功来自意外

作为一个成功的管理者,你认为公司成功的最大因素是什么?好的商业模式?领导的高瞻远瞩?还是良好的市场氛围?也许上述原因都非常重要,但最重要的因素可能你想都没有想过——你的成功只是意外。作为一个成功人士当你在聚光灯下头头是道的拆解自己的成功之道时,你是否会加上这么一句:"我的成功其实只是意外"呢?如果你连这句话想都没有想过,那么你的成