Whereas Baby Boomers were the last generation to go out behind the barn
and cut a switch because we mouthed off to our mothers, Gen-X kids would quickly remind us that charges will be filed or they'll suffer mental anguish if they are so much as verbally reprimanded. Is the difference in upbringing a factor in their ability to work and lead ?
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From "The Herman Trend Alert," by the Herman Group, a new alert, discussing Women in Engineering. Like all of the excellent work The Herman Group does, it is an exceptional piece addressing a critical issue in the skilled workforce.
A recent study demonstrates clearly that the field of engineering is still primarily a "Boys Club". Only 20 percent of engineering degrees in the United States are earned by women; only 9% of American engineers are women.
Though a study by the Families and Work Institute showed that young men are taking a much more active role in their children’s lives, in the US and Europe, the majority of people still expect that most of the burden of housekeeping, childcare, school interface, looking after aging parents, and similar family duties are handled by the woman.
In many industries, an engineering career frequently demands long hours and lots of travel---difficult for a man, even harder for a woman. It is challenging to take care of a family when the job sometimes requires an emergency plant visit at 2am, or worse, weeks or months on assignment overseas.
When it comes to advancing in the corporate hierarchy, women engineers experience the most problems. There is a "systemic pressure," far more difficult than any "overt discrimination," that makes matters even more challenging for women engineers.
Nancy Bartels, Managing Editor for "Control" Magazine, interviewed a number of women engineers. Here’s what they want:
There is no doubt that engineering will benefit from having more women who bring their unique perspectives and innovative ideas to the industry. They also possess intuitive skills and can provide different ways to solve many complex problems, problems that may be approached better through their distinctive points of view. Hundreds of colleges, organizations, and businesses have created programs, workshops, and conferences to increase the number of women in engineering. And if your organization is looking for engineers, don’t overlook The National GEM Consortium, a non-profit headquartered in Washington, DC.
JIM's NOTE: Also, check out the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
Like Montreal, 3 decades ago, the construction costs of the 2010 games is soaring. Construction spokespeople have blamed escalating labour costs for the overrun. Now, calls are being heard in some business circles for the Canadian government to solve the problem by bringing large numbers of foreign workers into the country. Union busting?
In a recent edition published by Parade magazine, an article entitled "How Safe Is Your Job?" examines a very real issue for management and affects workers too:
U.S. workers are increasingly disengaged, and that foreign workers have appear to have a higher level of focus and commitment.
The article cites :
Beyond the cheaper cost of labor, U.S. employers say that many workers
abroad simply have a better attitude toward work. “American employees
must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,”
says Chao. “They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills,
and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people
bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.”
Thus, when developing today's workforce, attention needs to be paid to the "soft skills" that are essential for career and workplace success. Providing development in just the technical skill areas is simply not enough.
There are plenty of good traditional classroom training and online training resources available to help develop these skillsets. For busy people, who want or need to take courses on their own time schedule, online training providers RedVector and Skillsoft provide excellent "competency-based" education programs to help you or your team to increase their skills in these important areas,
Many years ago, when I was aspiring my first supervisory role, my mentor asked me what experience I had in "taking orders", by which he meant, did I have any experience being directed what to do, and being held accountable for the result?
As it happens I had multiple such experiences - by directive parents, teachers, and early employment situations, and time served in the armed forces - all of which gave me perspective about examples of leadership - some were great leaders - some were awful.
This is a critical skillset to master, even if you're only a crew chief of a two person crew.
From these experiences however, I learned a couple of important things:
When I encounter someone who has not experienced first hand "taking orders", who wants to accede to supervision or management, it makes me wonder what kind of orders they will give, and what kinds of results they will see.
Seems like the "veterans" who have been the most successful, can relate to their own personal experiences and draw upon not just theory of management, but actual emotions that help them give orders that important, are appropriate to the person and address the situation at hand.
How do you acquire the ability to direct others if you've never had to do it yourself?
While it seems many Canadians would prefer their kitchen table over the boardroom table any day, most don't feel their employer cares about work-life balance. So says Holly Lake the gifted reporter who writes for Sun Media, entitled Employers fail to sell work-life balance.
A study published yesterday by Desjardins Financial Security found that while 25 per cent of Canadians are assured their organization "walks the talk" around work-life balance, only 29 per cent feel their employer truly cares about them having it in their lives.
Released in advance of the Canadian Mental Health Association's National Mental Health Week (May 7-13), the survey found while many companies are implementing programs to promote balance, 65 per cent of Canadians feel the values in their workplace and personal values are not in tune.
When asked what they valued, 54 per cent of respondents listed family first. Work topped the list for only 10 per cent.
In a release, Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Irvin Wolkoff called the gap in values a "warning sign" to employers.
"If employees do not feel that they can balance their work and their personal priorities such as their families, not only are we going to see the number of Canadians struggling with mental health issues increase, but we are also going to face an employee base who are resentful, disengaged and stressed," he said.
Glenn Thompson, chief executive officer of the Canadian Mental Health Association said often both partners in a family are working, raising kids and trying to care for an elderly loved one.
Combined with job stress, it can lead to depression, burnout and anxiety disorders.
With the war for talent escalating, employers can't afford to ignore employees' needs, said Alain Thauvette, Desjardins' senior vice-principal of group and business insurance.
At a few companies on the leading edge, you can arrange extra time off, set your own hours or even get a cheaper mortgage. Plus, see what the majority of us can expect.
Our colleagues over at Management-Issues always provide insight into the most compelling issues in todays workplace. A recent article, entitled "Is there an upside to assholes" cited the contentious question posed in a thought-provoking manifesto
by Robert Sutton, a professor of Management Science and Engineering at
Stanford Engineering School and author of (the excellent) The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't (Warner, 2007).
The article discusses the unfortunate truth, Sutton concludes, is that, yes, there are advantages to acting like an asshole (just ask such famous assholes as Steve Jobs of Apple). As sad as that is, it reminds me of a time when I as a typical precocious and somewhat rebellious teenager was confronted by my Dad who hit me with "Even though you're acting like a total asshole, I don't want you to think you're completely useless." I couldn't believe in the middle of this verbal attack that he was actually making a supportive statement. It didn't last however as he continued: "You can always serve as a terrible example to others." So, I discovered that being an asshole did in fact have a redeeming side to it.
Unfortunately, Sutton didn't appear to cover THAT specific aspect in his book. Sad.
Few would disagree with the importance of motivation and positive communication. By understanding that our basic human needs form the basis of all motivation (positive and negative) we discover the benefits of reward, growth and challenge as motivational factors. Nothing moves without motivation and this course assists you in creating and maintaining positive and productive motivation. We naturally want to keep our teams happy and productive...and out of trouble.
An innovative program has been developed by Mrs. Donna Kobylarczyk, entitled Team Building IV: Conflict Management.
Mrs. Kobylarczyk has over 20 years of experience as a Team Leader for the finance department of AT&T and the Director and/or President of various non-profit organizations such as the Autistic/Handicapped Children of Central Florida, Inc, and ia an author for the online education provider RedVector.
Since we all deal with conflict perhaps having a better understanding of it might be in order, wouldn't you think? Conflict is common and normal and has been around for as long as we have had humans in toe workplace. An ancient Zen Proverb states, “Life will always have conflict. The idea is not to live life without conflict. The idea is to deal with conflict gracefully.”
Conflict exists whenever one or more individuals desire a certain goal and perceive that one or more other individuals are preventing them from attaining it. Many of us have experienced some form of conflict in the workplace which may not have been resolved successfully. Although many feel comfortable addressing conflict in other areas of life, sports, politics, car buying, vacation planning, etc… We generally do not address and resolve conflicts in the workplace conflicts. Why is that?
Check out this program, it will help answer some of these questions and provide a means of reducing the disruptive effects of this phenomenon.
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