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Mark Lane
Business Today
Editor
http://www.ukbusiness-today.co.uk/

Mark Lane previews the latest issue of Business Today

Posted: 25th January 2012

A good friend of mine works for a large, international blue chip company. The economic uncertainty of the past few months has begun to take its toll on the business.

Profits are down and there is concern about possible job cuts. My friend describes the atmosphere at the company as ‘toxic’. Senior management are, in his words, ‘nit-picking about the tiniest things and constantly trying to catch us out.’ Morale among my friend and his colleagues – all of whom work in front line roles – is low. Many are looking for alternative jobs. They enjoy their work and the roles they do. They just don’t like the way they are being treated right now.

I rather suspect that this rather textbook case of poor management is being replicated across the UK right now. For the sad fact is that, in many instances, when the going gets tough, senior management start looking for scapegoats. Sadly, many readers will be familiar with what I am talking about.

But there is another way. This issue’s email debate is with Ashley Ward, a director with European Leaders. In an illuminating exchange on management and leadership development, Ashley talks about the, “old style micro-managing, bullying, macho tough guy whose only real motivator is fear. These people have thugged their way into the top.” He adds: “When they are under siege, poor leaders tend to operate a blame culture and dump on their team, when in actual fact what is needed is maximum transparency and maximum team involvement.”

Very much tying in with the general theme of how businesses treat their people is an extended feature on the subject of well-being at work. Dame Carol Black, a key government advisor in this area answers some critical questions relating to well-being at work. The overall message of our contributors here is pretty simple: happier, cared for employees are more productive and better for business. Rocket science it isn’t and yet, as my friend’s case above highlights, even the biggest businesses are still getting it badly wrong.

The theme of training and development is prevalent in this issue. We’ve got other articles in this area looking at the growing popularity of apprenticeships, the role of psychology in identifying talent and the importance of personal development and appraisal in improving staff engagement.

Finally, we have a look at the response to the Chancellor George Osborne’s recent Autumn Statement which, as it turned out, was gloomier than even the most pessimistic forecasters had predicted. Osborne had a thankless task and one wouldn’t have blamed him if, like some of his more illustrious predecessors, he’d had a drop or two of whisky while making his speech. The overriding message of the speech: we’re all going to have to tighten our belt in the next few years. But we already knew that anyway, didn’t we?