tagged w/ management
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If you buy a new car, it comes with an owner's manual.
If you buy a dresser from Ikea, instructions tell you how to put it together.
If you become the boss of a federal agency, good luck.
Jonathan D. Breul wants the next set of government managers to have more than luck. His 22 years at the Office of Management and Budget, rising to become the top career executive for management policies, taught him that the officials who come to town with any new administration need more than the on-the-job training they usually get.
So, now, in his current role as executive director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government, Breul and three colleagues -- Mark A. Abramson, John M. Kamensky and G. Martin Wagner -- have produced two how-to volumes for those who will run government agencies and their senior teams, including political appointees and civil servants.
IBM funds the 10-year-old center, which conducts practical research with an eye toward making the public sector more efficient. The two books, "The Operator's Manual for the New Administration," and "Getting it Done: A Guide for Government Executives," offer practical lessons in an accessible, nicely packaged, well-written form.
The books aren't very long, which is a good thing. Each is less than 200 pages and they are organized in a way that allows readers to jump from topic to topic in order of interest. Bureaucracies run on memos and the authors creatively use that model to the reader's advantage. Each chapter of "The Operator's Manual" begins with information in memo form. For example, chapter three begins:
"Memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies
Subject: People"
Under the heading "develop effective relationships," the memo advises the new bosses: "It is crucial that you develop a good working relationship with your own employees. . . . Based on the experience of many previous agency heads in government, spending an appropriate amount of time with your union representatives to forge an effective working relationship can be beneficial."
Innovation, a topic too often overlooked in management discussions, has a chapter that encourages executives to "recognize that employees, especially those who are on the front line of your organization and who regularly deal with your agency's customers, often are the source of innovative services that can benefit your customers."
The companion to "The Operator's Manual" is "Getting it Done." It begins with a "to do" list of six items, including learning what actions must be taken quickly and assembling a political/career team.
If you buy a new car, it comes with an owner's manual.
If you buy a dresser... more
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The Transportation Security Administration this month inked an eight-year, $1.2 billion deal with Lockheed Martin Corp. to provide TSA with comprehensive human resources support. The contract could expand into a $3 billion project if the Homeland Security Department decides to use it for human resources support at its headquarters operations.
The unprecedented deal is being viewed by many as a bellwether of things to come. Many expect a fast-paced outsourcing of HR services by federal agencies in the months and years ahead.
The outsourcing trend is fueled by a recognition that in-house HR methods are behind the times and unresponsive to growing needs. Agencies across government are seeing large-scale turnover of their staffs because of retirements, and that means accelerated recruiting, hiring and training. The move, proponents say, will enable agencies to employ smaller HR staffs that can focus on crafting strategic hiring plans and pay-for-performance systems. Meanwhile, contractors will handle the day-to-day operations of processing pay and benefits, recruiting and hiring, and managing personnel files, experts say.
“The role of HR has changed,” said Solly Thomas, associate partner for human capital management services at IBM, one of the contractors added to the government’s HR Line of Business program. “It’s gone from just processing, to looking at how they recruit and hire, and [considering things like] performance management practices.”
The White House is pressing agencies to consolidate their HR operations under a handful of service providers, both federal and private sector, under HR Line of Business. The program started in 2004, but officials overseeing it expect to win congressional support in coming weeks to greatly expand it.
The HR Line of Business program currently includes five federal HR service providers: the Defense, Health and Human Services and Treasury departments, the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center, and the Interior Department’s National Business Center. Those agencies provide payroll processing services, process employee benefits and manage employee personnel files. Some also provide training, labor relations and strategic analysis. Actual hiring decisions remain with the customer agency, and agencies set their own goals and strategies.
Lockheed Martin said it’s getting increased interest from federal agencies. “Some agencies that have previously done everything in-house are starting to put feelers out, and see what benefits the private sector can offer,” Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Emily Simone said. She would not say which agencies she was referring to.
The reason for the increased interest, experts say, is that the private sector is way ahead of the government in offering innovative Web-based personnel systems and other cutting-edge services.
Kelley of Ameriben/IEC said HR work at intelligence and national security agencies should probably remain in-house to avoid security breaches. And agencies should specifically spell out what it expects from contractors to avoid confusion, sloppy work and wasted money, he said.
Because of the urgency with which it was created shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, TSA has always relied extensively on contractors to run its HR operation. The Lockheed Martin contract consolidates work previously done by Accenture, CPS Human Resource Services and Avue Technologies. TSA spokesman Greg Soule said the deal will streamline operations and improve efficiency.
Homeland Security now relies on Northrop Grumman Corp. to provide many of its HR services at its headquarters and has no plans to drop the company, said DHS spokesman Larry Orluskie. But if DHS adds a new division or suddenly needs to ramp up hiring, it will turn to Lockheed Martin, he said. The Transportation Security Administration this month inked an eight-year, $1.2... more
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Introducing Season 2
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This week we look at the concept of Content Remediation - ie Why do organisations need a strategy for their internal contentThis week we look at the concept of Content Remediation - ie Why do organisations need... more
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This week we look at the company behind the Video Podcasts - Knowledge Hemispheres - what do they do and how they could help an organisation?This week we look at the company behind the Video Podcasts - Knowledge Hemispheres -... more
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4 years ago
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Episode 17 - This month we look at Quality Assurance and Quality Control
- NB this podcast can also be downloaded onto your video ipod - Pleaase also check out the free knowledge wiki called k-wiki at www dot k-wiki dot com
- and the knowledge store at www dot kh-2sales dot com.Episode 17 - This month we look at Quality Assurance and Quality Control
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Episode 16 - We learn about LMS's, SCORM and a variety of eLearning approaches.
- Please also check out the free knowledge wiki called k-wiki at www dot k-wiki dot com
- and the knowledge store at www dot kh-2sales dot com. (more) (less)Episode 16 - We learn about LMS's, SCORM and a variety of eLearning approaches.... more
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Episode 15 - Another Special Video tutorial episode - showing you the Knowledge Store to purchase best practice content and the Phonecasting application sites
- This particular podcast incorporates both picture-in-picture and also an in-parallel screen cam recording
- Therefore the video quality is compromised in favour of the views of each application
- Part 2 of 2
- NB this podcast can also be downloaded onto your video ipod - Pleaase also check out the free knowledge wiki called k-wiki at www dot k-wiki dot com
- and the knowledge store at www dot kh-2sales dot com.Episode 15 - Another Special Video tutorial episode - showing you the Knowledge Store... more
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Episode 14 - A Special Video tutorial episode - showing you K-wiki and also both IT and Human Resource Management eInduction concepts and applications
- This particular podcast incorporates both picture-in-picture and also an in-parallel screen cam recording
- Therefore the video quality is compromised in favour of the views of each application
- Part 1 of 2
- NB this podcast can also be downloaded onto your video ipod - Pleaase also check out the free knowledge wiki called k-wiki at www dot k-wiki dot com
- and the knowledge store at www dot kh-2sales dot com.Episode 14 - A Special Video tutorial episode - showing you K-wiki and also both IT... more
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4 years ago
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(Knowledge Hemispheres Ltd IP Television) pronounced 'ClipTV' for short.In Episode 13 of the Know-Wow Best Practice Project and Management Consultancy Show, we consider the benefits and efficient use of Customer Relationship Management Systems.
* Why it is important for whole of an enterprise's function's to use CRM to derive corporate efficiencies
* The importance of cleansed and consistent data and
* How CRM can help forecast and predict sales capacity / pipeline management(Knowledge Hemispheres Ltd IP Television) pronounced 'ClipTV' for short.In... more
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Management & Consultancy Show - Learn about how to deliver effective Project Definition Workshops.Management & Consultancy Show - Learn about how to deliver effective Project... more
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