The making of a French manager

France's recent successes make it more important than ever to understand what makes its managers tick. This year, France surpassed Japan and the U.K. in acquisitions of U.S. companies. And many French companies are world leaders, including Michelin and L'Oreal. According to the authors, who have studied the French model of management development, the system stands as a coherent whole. Its clear logic and rules provide unambiguous signals that shape managerial action. Thus French industry has a focus and sense of purpose that the rest of the world should not underestimate as a key to strong economic performance. In France, management is a "state of mind" rather than an interpersonally demanding exercise. It is managers' cleverness, not skills, that distinguishes them. And these managers are not simply born. They are molded through an elaborate education and induction into the managerial elite. Alumni of the grandes écoles dominate the upper echelons. These elite colleges have grueling entrance exams resembling Japan's "examination hell." Graduates automatically enter the tight-knit cadre circle--the managerial elite who enjoy the same social prestige as doctors or lawyers. French managers prefer to put things in writing, even informal interactions. They excel in quantitative expression, at ease with putting figures to proposals. Hierarchy in French companies is often literal--the head of L'Air Liquide works on the top floor, while the typing pool is in the basement.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The middle manager as innovator

If there's one thing that most U.S. executives agree on, it's the need for higher productivity in American workplaces. So far most efforts at raising performance have concentrated on factory and office employees-partly, one assumes, because their output is easily measured. However, the increases in productivity at the shop or office level will mean nothing in the long run, if, for instance, new products aren't designed, new structures aren't put in place to accommodate change, or new equipment isn't conceived to improve product quality. In other words, a company's productivity depends to a great degree on how innovative its middle managers are. In this article, the author describes a study she conducted of 165 middle managers in five companies to determine what managers contribute to innovation and what factors the most innovative companies have in common. She found that, among other things, innovative managers tend to be visionary, comfortable with change, and persistent. Innovation flourishes in companies where territories overlap and people have contact across functions; information flows freely; numbers of people have excesses in their budgets; many managers are in open-ended positions, and reward systems look to the future, not the past.     

The duties of a receiver/manager in Nigeria and Ghana

This paper critically examines the duties of receiver/managers in Nigeria and Ghana with a view to determining their adequacy or otherwise. The paper distinguishes between a receiver/manager appointed pursuant to ownership or management dispute and a receiver/manager appointed pursuant to the realization of security. With respect to the former the paper concludes that the persons appointed thereby are better described as managers and suggests a more detailed elaboration of their duties. To determine the duties of receiver/managers appointed to realize security the paper examines the meaning of the receiver/managers; the capacity to be appointed to that office and the duties of a receiver/manager appointed by the court as well as those appointed out of court by the security holders. The paper also considers the consequences of a breach of duty and concludes that the law on receivership is largely the same in Nigeria and Ghana even though there is more litigation in Nigeria. Furthermore the paper suggests the importance of appointing professionals as receiver/managers; the need for the clarity of rules to enable the receiver/managers effectively discharge their duties to enable an assessment of the adequacy of the duties. In this regard the paper recommends a comprehensive reform of insolvency law in Nigeria and Ghana. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bringing minds together

Boston Scientific founder John Abele has been party to his share of groundbreaking innovations over the years. But the revolutionary advances in medical science that these breakthroughs brought about were not the efforts of one firm alone, let alone one inventor. Abele tells two fascinating stories of collaboration--one about Jack Whitehead's upending of hospitals' blood and urine testing procedures and the other about Andreas Gruentzig's success in bringing balloon catheterization into the cardiology mainstream. Both Whitehead and Gruentzig spearheaded the emergence of entirely new fields, bringing together scientist-customers to voluntarily develop standards, training programs, new business models, and even a specialized language to describe their new field. The process of collaboration, Abete says, is fraught with contradictions and subtlety. It takes consummate leadership skills to persuade others to spend countless hours solving important problems in partnership with people they don't necessarily like. Moreover, managing egos so that each person's commitment, energy, and creativity is unleashed in a way that doesn't disadvantage others requires an impresario personality. Finally, true authenticity--something that few people can project--is critical for earning customers' trust and convincing them that their valuable contributions won't be used for anything other than moving the technology forward.     

詹艳景:价值管理者

1983年,她工科毕业,16年时间,从一名技术员成长为集工程师、会计师、高级经济师为一身的复合型人才,从一名学生成长为副总经理;1999年,她应聘到一家上市公司做了7年财务经理,亲身实践了从13亿元到250亿元的低成本扩张全过程;2005年,国资委面向全球招聘央企高管,她从诸多竞争者中脱颖而出,得到了中国南车总会计师的聘书。 詹艳景说：＂这是一条高速路。＂     

Blackfoot physics and European minds

Western science and ‘European consciousness’ is contrasted with that of Indigenous and traditional peoples. The metaphysics of the Blackfoot of North America and this vision of an animate world is examined. It is argued that something similar existed in Europe of the early middle ages but that the secularization of space, time and matter paved the way for the development of science. A new science may be possible which combines the current power of abstraction and analysis with an ‘impersonal subjectivity’.     

论基金管理人的股东化转型

在传统的基金治理结构中,基金管理人大多采用经理型模式,基金管理人的道德风险的发生难以避免。对基民与基金管理人的委托—代理合同进行优化,重激励、轻约束,不能从根本上消除基金管理人的道德风险。要消除基金管理人的道德风险,必须实现基金管理人从经理型向股东型的彻底转变,将基民与基金管理人的关系由传统的基金运行模式中的股东与经理的关系改造为优先股东与普通股东的关系。基金管理人的股东化转型,相对于经理型基金管理人而言,至少有两大功能:对基金管理人的机会主义行为的矫治功能;对基金管理人能力的甄别功能。     

The impact of manager philosophy on knowledge management systems

This paper analyses how information about managers and technology can be used to provide those managers with a system that is congruent with their needs. In particular, using McGregor's Theories X and Y philosophies, managerial needs are elicited and then contemporary knowledge management technologies, including intelligent agents, and the way they are implemented, are analysed to determine how they meet those manager needs. Different knowledge management technologies are found to be important to manifesting the requirements of particular management philosophies. For example, ‘Theory X’ appears consistent with use of intelligent agents to ‘monitor’ behaviour. This leads to the concept of ‘technology congruence’, where the choice of the technology ultimately is tied to which view of the world the manager employs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

银行的管理者需要有宏观意识

经济金融形势分析预测有多重要 企业的经营管理离不开国际国内经济金融领域这个大环境．尤其是对商业银行管理者来说．正确看待、分析、把握当前经济金融发展状况及其中长期走势十分重要。国际国内经济金融发展状况变化多端，影响因素错综复杂．关键在于抓住本质进行深入透彻的分析。首先的重点是分析研究一国的宏观经济政策，主要包括一国的财政政策和货币政策。     

Beware the busy manager

Managers will tell you that the resource they lack most is time. If you watch them, you'll see them rushing from meeting to meeting, checking their e-mail constantly, fighting fires--an astonishing amount of fast-moving activity that allows almost no time for reflection. Managers think they are attending to important matters, but they're really just spinning their wheels. For the past ten years, the authors have studied the behavior of busy managers, and their findings should frighten you: Fully 90% of managers squander their time in all sorts of ineffective activities. A mere 10% of managers spend their time in a committed, purposeful, and reflective manner. Effective action relies on a combination of two traits: focus--the ability to zero in on a goal and see the task through to completion--and energy--the vigor that comes from intense personal commitment. Focus without energy devolves into listless execution or leads to burnout. Energy without focus dissipates into aimless busyness or wasteful failures. Plotting these two traits into a matrix provides a useful framework for understanding productivity levels of different managers. Managers who suffer from low levels of both energy and focus are the procrastinators: They dutifully perform routine tasks but fail to take initiatve. Disengaged managers have high focus but low energy: They have reservations about the jobs they are asked to do, so they approach them half-heartedly. Distracted managers have high energy but low focus: They confuse frenetic activity with constructive action. Purposeful managers are both highly energetic and highly focused: These are the managers who accomplish the most. This article will help you identify which managers in your organization are making a real difference--and which just look busy.     

保障网上银行安全的第三方认证——访中国金融认证中心总经理李晓峰

日前，上海市民蔡先生的网上银行账户被盗一事为多家媒体曝光，使得网上银行安全再度成为公众关注的话题。如何保障用户安全使用网上银行，如何有效界定网上银行案件中的责任，是网上银行发展中各家银行、相关监管机构及认证服务机构需要面对并妥善解决的问题。这些问题的广泛宣传和相关措施，也成为制约我国网上银行发展的关键因素。就目前网上银行的发展来看，电子签名技术是打造相对安全的网上银行的有力措施，而这一技术的实现需要引入第三方认证，成立于2004年的中国金融认证中心（CFCA）作为权威、公正的第三方认证机构，长期为网上银行及电子政务等领域提供认证服务。针对网上银行发展中存在的若干问题，记者日前走访了CFCA总经理李晓峰先生。     

对新形势下当好支行行长的几点认识

文章探讨农业银行经营转型与新形势下对支行行长的挑战。     

项目经理分级管理初探

随着项目管理技术的不断完善和实践成效日益显著,中国工商银行数据中心（北京）（以下简称＂数据中心＂）已将项目管理作为银行业务创新、产品研发的重要手段。为此,数据中心构建了集项目管理制度、项目管理方法、项目管理控制、项目管理平台、项目经理管理和项目管理文化为一体的项目管理体系。