Dow Jones World Sustainability Index and small businesses

What is Dow Jones World Sustainability Index? In few words, Dow Jones World Sustainability Index is a measure used to track corporate social responsibility, to create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. This index excludes companies that generate revenue from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, armaments & firearms.

The Dow Jones World Sustainability Index set guidelines for “CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY” that many small businesses can use to as a checklist to improve their own business performance.

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Corporate Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. Corporate sustainability leaders achieve long-term shareholder value by gearing their strategies and management to harness the market’s potential for sustainability products and services while at the same time successfully reducing and avoiding sustainability costs and risks.

The quality of a company’s strategy and management and its performance in dealing with opportunities and risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments can be quantified and used to identify and select leading companies for investment purposes.
Leading sustainability companies display high levels of competence in addressing global and industry challenges in a variety of areas:

Strategy: Integrating long-term economic, environmental and social aspects in their business strategies while maintaining global competitiveness and brand reputation.
Financial: Meeting shareholders’ demands for sound financial returns, long-term economic growth, open communication and transparent financial accounting.
Customer & Product: Fostering loyalty by investing in customer relationship management and product and service innovation that focuses on technologies and systems, which use financial, natural and social resources in an efficient, effective and economic manner over the long-term.
Governance and Stakeholder: Setting the highest standards of corporate governance and stakeholder engagement, including corporate codes of conduct and public reporting.
Human: Managing human resources to maintain workforce capabilities and employee satisfaction through best-in-class organizational learning and knowledge management practices and remuneration and benefit programs.
Corporate sustainability performance is an investable concept. This is crucial in driving interest and investments in sustainability to the mutual benefit of companies and investors. As this benefit circle strengthens, it will have a positive effect on the societies and economies of both the developed and developing world.

The above guidelines about “ CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY”,
can be found at :www.sustainability-index.com/07_htmle/sustainability/corpsustainability.html

How to navigate your way through office politics

Being hard working, experienced and well educated are not enough factors to help you win support for your project within the corporate environment. My first real experience with office politics happened to me at the age of 26, although relatively mature at that age, but I have never experienced office politics until I was 26 years old.

While studying, I was hired by my college to head the purchasing department, while the pay was not much, the job give me considerable decision making authority on picking up vendors to supply the college with its various needs. I really liked my job, talking with suppliers and negotiating contracts was a piece of cake for me, so I was so confident in my skills and in my ability to reorganize the department to make it more efficient that I totally became results oriented and only had my mind on the end results and……..here where I went wrong.

Older and most senior staff members felt as if I was stepping over their authority and that I am not sticking to the ways things done around there. The changes I brought to the department were real good and the teaching staff was pleased by the progress I was making, but the whole idea didn’t resonate well with the senior staff members.
As I moved on, I have faced office politics at my other jobs; it’s the reality of the work place. So what could you do to navigate your way through office politics and win support for your project(s)?
1-To get support for your project, working hard and being problem solvers is not enough.
2-Always pay attention to the views of the decisions makers.
3-When you come up with new ideas, try to introduce your solution in a manner that is not intimidating to your peers or your direct supervisor, your co-workers may feel intimated by your energy levels, it happened with me.
4-If you feel your project is not getting the desired support you hoped for, than be patient and wait for a better chance to start to talk about it again.
5-If you feel that your project will not get the support you wanted, try to get more people involved and work as a team.
6-Always keep in mind; people are, by their nature, reluctant to change.
7-If after doing all the above and you still can not get the needed support for your project, than its time to take your ideas somewhere else.

I worked as project manager in few places and even though my job title was “project manager”, my ideas faced fierce resistance and I didn’t know follow the above guidelines and all my efforts were wasted.

Workers management conflicts at small businesses Part 2

In my last article I stated that I will keep you informed on the problem I am trying to resolve dealing with workers/ management conflict taking place at my current job.

I also stated that currently, I am working in the State of Qatar, a small country in the Arabian Gulf.
There is a large number of expatriates working here, people from Asia, US, Europe and the Middle East. Working with people with diverse cultural backgrounds is interesting and challenging at the same time.

Dealing with workers-management conflict in a country in this part of the world is quite different than dealing with it in the US. I had to prepare myself by:

1- Familiarizing myself with the cultural backgrounds of all parties involved.
2- Familiarizing myself with the current labor laws in the country.
3- Meeting with senior managers in the company to get an idea of current practices in conflict management in the country.

My next step was to meet with all the parties involved to reach to the root of the conflict.
Direct talk was the key to resolve the conflict; the mechanics were worried about their pay and other minor issues regarding work. The Management was not happy with the way the mechanics voiced their concerns, it felt it was intimidating.
In the meeting:
1- All the mechanics were giving a chance to express their concerns which mainly were:
a- Not getting paid on time
b- No contact number where they can call if they have an issue
c- No group leader

2- The management were concerned with:
a- Mechanics not being patient with the pay issues, the management had no intention to delay their pay, but at times, especially with small businesses, things get out of control
b- The management didn’t appreciate the way the some of the mechanics intimidated the office secretary with their demands
c- The management didn’t appreciate nor it will allow the formation of any types of unions

The meeting went real smooth and all the points above were discussed. The mechanics were giving a monthly date (from the 1st to the 5th of the month) where they should receive their pay; they were told they can not have a group leader or from any types of unions and all their grievances must be communicated to management and finally they were giving a number to call in case they had any concerns.

The management acknowledged the frustration felt by the mechanics when they didn’t get their pay on time or when they cant find the right person to call when the faced a problem.
All the above points were translated into an agreement and was signed by both parties

Workers management conflicts at small businesses

As I start with my new work assignment with a new company and in a new country, I will again share my experience of managing small businesses.
Right now I am in the State of Qatar, small country in the Arabian Gulf region and one of the contenders to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

My first assignment as business development manager with my new company is to resolve a labor dispute between a group of mechanics and the management.

As the case with many small businesses around the world, most of the small companies don’t have clear guidelines for new employees nor there a clear job description for the current employees.

The issue I am having at hand is dealing with the mechanics complaining that the company is not providing them with what they were promised and the management complaining that the mechanics demands never ends and they have no respect for the company’s policy or a respect for its staff members.

The firs thing I requested form all parties involved is to have a general meeting with me to hear from everyone involved in the case, I want to start by having a fresh look at the whole problem.

Meanwhile, I have instructed my direct staff to work on the followings:
1-Develop employee’s handbook that details in particular “employee-management relations.”
2-Re-write the current contract with the mechanics to the level accepted by all parties involved.
3-Write complete job description, skills set and duties of every employee. One of the issues that led to the current conflict is that no one is ready to take the responsibility during time of crisis.

This is the immediate steps I took to resolve the current conflict; I will keep posting about any new developments as they happen.

Think Big by thinking small

As I enjoy working with and managing small businesses, I see a great deal of opportunities within the small business communities.
Many small business are flexible and ready to explore new ideas, one of the most powerful elements of the United States economy is within its small business community.
Developing countries started to realize the important contributions small businesses make to the local economy, although some are still far from providing the real support small businesses need.

In countries like Japan, various electronic parts manufacturing is giving to small businesses by giant corporations, this step helps in supporting the local economy in addition to creating more jobs at local levels.
Some of the benefits local communities can get from supporting small businesses:
1- Boost the entrepreneurial spirit within the local community which lead to more innovations
2- Small business owners are aware of their local communities problems and how to solve them
3- Since setting up and operating small business takes shorter time, the creation of jobs is almost immediate
4- World’s most successful companies started as a small business

So if you have the spirit to innovate and the desire to make it on your own, start as small business, you may get lucrative job offers from the corporate world, but your ideas may not take off in the corporate environment, only at small business level you will have the flexibility and freedom to innovate. If your local environment is not supporting, than fly with your ideas to more supporting environment.

Cut and Paste Customer Service

Have you ever experienced cut and past customer service? This is what will you get if you try to e-mail a company or a government agency asking for more information. The advancement in websites use led many customer service departments to refer their customers to the company’s website for more information.

No doubt the web is a great tool for customers to get answer for many of their questions about a service or a company. But as customers are encouraged to send e-mails if they need any more information that are not available on the website, the customer service representative are relying more and more on sending cut and paste replies back.

Recently, I have sent few e-mails to some government agencies requesting specific information on certain issues, I stated in my e-mails that I am requesting more information because I couldn’t find the information I wanted on their website or I needed more clarification on what I have read on their website.

Although I have sent detailed e-mail requesting very specific information, all I got is either automated e-mail replies or cut and paste replies. The customer service agent just cut and paste what he or she thinks is the answer for my questions from their website.

The reply basically sent in a way that makes you feel stupid, you feel like they are telling you “go and check our website stupid.”
I became certain that they don’t read the e-mails when I sent few e-mails where stated that I visited their websites, but I didn’t find the information I was looking for.

As the world moves closer each day to information and service based economies, we still have some customer service gurus who think everyone out there is stupid and doesn’t read instructions…very sad…

Customer service ….will it ever improve!!!!!!!!!

I am a person who, by his profession and life style, has to deal a lot with different types of customer service agents, either in person or on the phone. Because of my traveling, I came to deal with many customer services representatives in few countries.
Dealing with customer service representatives could range from simple inquiries such as asking about flight information or asking for directions to serious matter such as asking information about investment and immigration laws.

As a professional, I would never consult with a customer service representative on serious matters, but what a person could do when the only way to reach for a higher ranking official in a company or in a government agency is through a customer service agent.

While traveling, I needed to get some information about investment laws in a certain country plus I needed to get information about immigration laws of another country. On the first instance, I walked into the office of the investment authority to get first hand information about their new investment laws. Unfortunately the ill-trained agent was talking to 2-3 people at the same time about important investment laws; he talked to me briefly and gave me his number to call back if I needed any help. Honestly, I never called him back although the information that I needed were crucial, but the way this agent was dealing with the clients didn’t not encourage me to seek him for any professional advice. On the second instance, I needed to apply for a certain type of visa for a particular country, before I apply for the visa, I have called the country’s embassy few times asking for information and each time I talk with a customer service representative I get a run around and when I requested to talk to a visa official, the answer is always “that is not possible.”

Why would a company or a government agency hire customer service representatives and not train them well or give them enough authority to make decisions?

Dealing with customer service agents in various industries and being a customer service agent myself at one point in my life, I can tell that customer service agents’ job performance could never improve beyond certain level. Unfortunately, companies are not welling to invest more in training of their customer service agents, nor the job has the appeal and future job security that would encourage the agents to focus on improving their job skills.
When the customer service agent gives the client the wrong information, who will be responsible of the consequences? It happened to me few times!!!!!!!

Teaching quality management in schools

As I continue with my traveling, I keep asking myself the same question over and over “why people can not use simple quality management skills to improve their lives?” I am not talking here about quality management at corporate level, no I am talking about quality management in everyday life, how people can use simple life management skills to relief their sufferings.

Why people cannot understand that by respecting traffic laws, they will get to their destinations faster and with less energy used. Driving in some cities in the developing world is a nightmare, a daily struggle for the commuters. No one respect traffic laws, no police or the police force is not sufficient to enforce traffic laws. As I commute daily in some of these cities I ask myself “why they cannot see what I can see? why they cant see the obvious?”

Struggling with traffic is only one of the difficulties people in major cities in the developing world face in their daily lives. Watching how people live in this part of the world, led me to make one conclusion, spending millions of dollars or even billions of dollars in projects to improve the lives of the people in the developing world will lead to limited results.

While in most of the developed countries, school age children learn the first basic skills in quality management, “to form lines, to respect traffic laws, to keep their school and neighborhood clean, to eat healthy food etc.”, I have never noticed these types of skills being taught at schools in developing countries, or at least even if these skills are taught to the children, they have no place to practice them nor they are encouraged by the outside world to practice these skills.

So the governments and people in general need to understand that to improve their quality of life, quality management skills must be start at early ages with school children and than it must be reinforced by the society at large. Spending billions of dollars in building better infrastructures must be accompanied by developing quality skills in school children.

Is America losing its competitive advantage?

Is America really losing its competitive advantage? What is the real advantage America has over other nations of the world? Many concerned politicians and business leaders worry about the possibility of America losing its competitive advantage in science and in technology to other nations, they talk about the need for the American educational system to lure more students into majoring in science and in technology.

Does America’s competitive advantage really stem from America’s mastery of science and technology?
As an individual who lived and experienced three different cultures (including the American culture), I can say that America’s competitive advantage stems from the ingenuity of the American people and the ability of the American people to invent and tackle challenges.

The spirit to innovate is what gives America its competitive advantage and as long as this spirit is well woven into the American culture, America will lead the world in innovations and in technology.

Quality Management…..a hot filed in India

Before my current visit to India, I have read, as most of us, about the rapid growth of India. The mood here, for both government and people, is happy and optimistic. Development is taking place in every corner and people have more money to spend.
This is a great time for any consultant/firm looking for global opportunities to enter the Indian market.

I saw many opportunities within the service sectors that can be taken by even small firms:

1- Professional cleaning and sanitary services: in most places and cities that I visited in India, there is a huge problem with cleaning. Building and street cleaning is a major issue in India. The initial investment to start such a business is really small; the business blue print can be based on US cleaning services.
2- Independent technical support service: as the middle class grows in India, so does its purchasing power. The demand for computers and other electronic devices will be strong for years to come and with it will come the demand for quality customer and technical services. A vast and populous country such as India will offer limitless opportunities for all sizes of businesses, from small independent consultants to big service firms.
3- Educational consulting: again with the rapid growth of the middle class in India, the demand by parents to get their children the best education is at its peak in India. Most parents and perspective students are really not aware of education opportunities available to them.
These are few business opportunities I have noticed almost immediately while visiting India.