Manfred Eckstein has been working at a large pharmaceutical conglomerate for 10 years in the same position. In all this time, Manfred had not taken advantage of the highly advertised internal job market to look for career opportunities. Manfred's tasks had become repetitive and in a moment of self-reflection, Manfred decided to look for a … Continue reading Faked internal job market revealed as engagement initiative
The CEO of a major automotive supplier has had a breakdown after a series of 'anxiety attacks', it has been revealed. 57-year-old Manfred Schmidt had been feeling increasingly fearful and vulnerable in the last few months. He had lost all hope in the future and the people within his own company. "It all started with … Continue reading Secrecy program revealed after breakdown
An investigation performed by the Georgia State University interviewing thousands of travelers at a major airport has now revealed: 95% of all business travel are without positive effect on the business. Background research even revealed one company spending over 80% of its revenues on business trips. Incentivizing travel activity as a form of agility has … Continue reading Proof: Traveling not only bad for the environment
Two years ago, a large municipal administration started an ambitious transformation program. It introduced flexible working spaces, a "fun at work" initiative, and a social media platform. The adoption of the social media platform was rather sluggish in the first year: the employees simply didn't understand why they should use it. Consequently, a performance target … Continue reading Digital Immigrants Disconnected After Update
Teams at a large bank face a yearly ritual called 'the headcount challenge'. In simple terms, the ritual involves the head of HR handing out new headcount targets to each division on the basis of cost reductions. The joke is of course that no manager can actually do anything: it is impossible to fire people … Continue reading Headcount Tactics
When one of the world's leading sailboat makers realized the company was dead in the water - completely unable to innovate - the CEO invited the management team for an extensive workshop on one of their sailing boats. On the second day, the unlucky crew sustained significant damage to their boat during a mild storm. … Continue reading “Shipwrecked” Management Team Returns To A Completely Different Company
Following the global trend towards more workspace flexibility, a large telecommunications company has changed more thoroughly than ever expected. The company has offered home working as a standard. The majority of employees - bored by corporate politics and the lack of real change - have chosen to take full advantage of the proposal. Two months … Continue reading Home office renders company completely lifeless
Recognizing that legions of change agents promoting continuous improvements were not able to break ground for a cultural change in his company, the CEO of a large toothpaste manufacturer has taken the decision to switch to a more radical model: continuous reorganization. Switching from the well known lean technique of "5-whys" to a blame allocation … Continue reading Continuous Reorganization beats Continuous Improvement
Big data analytics has revealed a new insight into corporate life: sick days at the beginning of the month are directly linked to end of month reporting. An AI system at a large product development company has made this correlation after data scientist Brian Watkins decided to look into staff attendance data as a joke. … Continue reading Proof: End of month reporting frenzy detrimental to your health
Managing Spaghetti 