Barefoot Psychologist/Outsourcing

Quite rightly in my view there has been some discussion about Supermarkets only allowing disabled customers the same amount of time to shop before they are slapped a huge fine for parking. It should be reasonably simple to either double the time allowed in the disabled zone or scrap the fine completely for those blue badge holders in the zone. I personally feel businesses should do everything they can to help all members of the community and it seems reasonable to allow extra time for shopping ...

A contact of mine told about an issue he had recently, and gave me some good tips about how to check if a website is accessible for those who are visually impaired. Although there are issues with compliance here, I think even more important is the moral imperitive - you are excluding people from accessing information on your website just because they don't fit society's 'norms' of sight.

He said he had a phone call from a major bank (call centre of course), and the lady asked him ...

As we are very keen glow worm hunters in this family, and it gives me a good rest from 'business' I thought I would start posting up information about what we have seen and under what conditions.

Remember glow worms are actually beetles, and they are a gardeners friend as their favourite diet is - slugs and snails!

They are amazing to see, one of natures wonders in my mind - I am like a child again whenever I find them glowing their bright green light.

...

An interesting video on this subject available from HSJ:


HSJ this week, 20 November 2008 from HSJ clips on Vimeo.

Can we stop bullying at work?

Friday was Stop Bullying at Work day in the UK, and I attended (and spoke at) a conference at our local healthcare NHS Trust.

One of the definitions of bullying at work is 'repeated less favourable treatment of an individual by one or more people in the workplace', and it was helpful to discuss this definition with staff. There was a comment, for example, that a ‘one-off’ situation can be so extremely upsetting that it stays with you for ...

Just reading an article where one of the key messages was 'A bad process automated is still a bad process' - something everyone in the IT industry would surely agree with.

I argue that the same rule applies to outsourcing. If something is causing you a problem you need to fix the issues before you outsource - or you will still have issues!

You cannot rely on an outsourcing organisation to fix bad processes, miraculously ensure poor performance turns into high performance, ...

In an earlier article I discussed my research into managing the transition of people in an outsourcing situation. I highlighted the problems people experience, anxiety, lack of control, resistance and reduced performance. Many also found it very difficult to treat their previous employer as a client, and were not able to feel a part of the new company to which they had been transferred.

An outsourcing transfer can be viewed as a form of transition. This change process involves ...

An article in Computer Weekly highlighted the problem that the salaries for mid-level IT staff have increased due to greater demand due to Outsourcing. Companies need experienced staff capable of overseeing project work, managing virtual teams, negotiating service line agreements and so on (the hidden costs of outsourcing) – but they don’t need the lower level skills because most of those jobs have been outsourced to lower cost economies such as India.

It seems project managers and ...

Saw the programme last week about the rainforest in Guyana. I thought the concept of making the rainforest valuable standing rather than when it is chopped down is so important. I am going to investigate further what is being done about this, as it seems so sad that the President of Guyana is prepared to agree to protect these important forests if we richer countries will help them out a bit, yet nothing much seems to be happening.

I did find the following:

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5913 ...

Video based business advice from world experts now available on Bizface with yourBusinessChannel

We are of course trying to grow BizFace and develop innovative new ways of supporting our members. I give below the press release regarding the new service we have launched.

Online business TV packed with tips and advice from some of the biggest names in business is now available on Bizface, thanks to a new agreement with leading business content producer yourBusinessChannel. ...

Had yet another meeting last week where the top guns were telling me about the failings in their outsourcing project. Many times now I have sat in meetings and heard depressing stories about the real problems faced after an outsourcing transfer.

Recently Zurich did warn that organisations should ‘prepare for two years of IT disruption’ when they outsource. However, this type of press is rare. Most of the conversations I have are absolutely dire, with very poor performance and real ...

So the Shell drivers are striking because they have had enough of relatively low pay - squeezed by their employer ever since they were transferred in an outsourcing deal.

Clearly someone at Shell decided that driving tankers was not their 'core' business, and/or that they could do this more cheaply if they could transfer it to another company who 'specialises' in this sort of thing.

Research shows that, particularly in service jobs such as driving, cleaning, catering, outsourcing ...

Reading Roys blog about the use of Blackberrys made me think about one of my other interest areas - the psychology of the use of technology. I have placed a few notes in the psychology forum, but thought a blog would be appropriate.

I have just joined technocrati
Technorati Profile

and it made me think also about the links between these types of electronic social networks, and PDA's and other handhelds that further help us to keep in touch.

There was ...

We were talking today about the importance of stewardship of the earth. The question was raised about why we need to continually 'sell' people on the benefits to them of saving the planet. How switching things off will in the long run be 'good for them as individuals'. The discussion was around the inherent selfishness in all this - what happened to good old stewardship - the idea that we should look after our world because it is the right thing to do?
It made me think about my work as a business ...

Today I had to delete a number of posts on the guest forum which were clearly against our ethical code - either adult content, selling arms, or sexual drugs.

It is amazing how quickly the culprits found the open area - we purposely left the guest room unmoderated and put in a poll to see what sort of things guests and members liked on the site. Before we knew it we were having to delete posts like mad. I have set it to moderate now, which I do not like having to do because it feels ...

This is an area I still feel is overlooked. I started researching on this because talking to IT people for another study a number of them told me they had been outsourced and that it had been a difficult time for them.

I wondered why IT people would stay to be transferred to an organization that was not of their choosing. I found the whole concept of being 'moved' almost like a piece of machinery, a bit concerning. But I kept an open mind and started to interview people about their ...

Myths and Realities of Outsourcing

Outsourcing has been written about in some management journals as if it was a ‘must do’ process. There has been much hype about the need to focus on core competencies, the drives for cost reduction, the ability to access top quality staff and the latest technology, and therefore gain competitive edge. We refer to these as the myths of outsourcing to highlight the need for a critical stance. Outsourcing can work for some, but not for all. So is outsourcing ...

I have finally got round to filling in my expense forms today. I don't know why but it is the one thing I really hate doing, it feels very similar to the 'watching paint dry' idea. It seems to have little purpose (other than to get a bit of money back, which is of course important and yet does not feel motivating).

It makes me think of the complaints one hears from a range of professionals; teachers, police etc (mostly in the public sector?) about all the forms they have to fill ...

Chatting to some chamber members yesterday and it was suggested that technology is the main reason we are all so stressed out. Job losses, insecurity and so on were also laid at the door of new technology (is that good English?). So has it made our lives easier or turned our world into a nightmare?

Well, I agree people's expectations are much greater now - they know we have instant access to emails anywhere (almost) in the world, and that most of us have mobile phones on 24/7 (except ...

I received an invoice today for a service we no longer need. I will not mention the company as this is just one example of things that seem to go on all the time. Written on the invoice was a clear note 'If you no longer need these services then please contact us on the telephone number above'.

So I duly rang the number, and went through two separate message systems, being warned at the beginning that I must listen carefully as the messages had changed, I did so dutifully.
...

Back from a weekend away in Paris to find lots of people have been looking at BizFace but no new members since Friday. Now I know this is a business site, but people were still looking during the weekend, so what puts them off joining? It is fast and simple, we have a good reason for wanting people to join as it helps us ensure no spammers or rudeness etc. We have assured everyone that their emails etc., will not be sold-on, so what is going on?

The psychology of this is probably ...