Why Teams DON'T Work (journal article)
Interview by Diane Coutu of RichardHackman
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Iss 5 May 2009, pp. 98-105
"The belief that teams make us more creative and productive--and are the best way to get things done--is deeply entrenched. But Hackman, a professor of organizational psychology at Harvard and a leading expert on teams, is having none of it. Research, he says, consistently shows that teams underperform despite all their extra resources. In an interview with senior editor Diane Coutu, Hackman explains where teams go wrong. Shockingly, most of the time members don't agree on what the team is supposed to be doing or even on who is on the team. The belief that bigger is better also compounds problems; as a team grows, the effort needed to manage links between members increases almost exponentially. Leaders need to be ruthless about defining teams and keeping them small (fewer than 10 members), and some individuals (like team destroyers) should simply be forced off. The article also discusses other problems with teams."

The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Goood Times and Bad (journal article)
By Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, Boris Groysberg and Nitin Nohria
from Harvard Business Review Vol 87 Iss 5 May 2009, pp.74-84
"Few companies are thinking about hiring right now, but that's a mistake. If history is any guide, staffing will become a front-burner issue once the economic upheaval eases. Even now, companies are running into staffing problems in emerging markets, and many will have to find talented replacements for baby-boom retirees. Will they be able to meet their needs? Not likely, say Fernández-Aráoz of Egon Zehnder and Harvard Business School professors Groysberg and Nohria. Their research, conducted with scores of CEOs, HR executives, and recruiters, found current hiring practices to be haphazard at best and inept at worst. And no wonder. Ignorant of their staffing needs, most companies treat hiring top-level executives as an emergency. That leaves them little choice. One study found that nearly a quarter of the time, the executive selected was the only candidate considered. Far too few companies conduct reference checks; far too many rely on gut reactions when judging qualifications and cultural fit. Hardly anyone considers whether candidates will be good team players. And, shockingly, only half of the top managers recruited by the companies studied were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. The result: About a third of promising new hires depart within three years of being recruited. As a remedy, the authors offer their best thinking about state-of-the-art hiring practices for the top levels of the organization. Their recommendations cover the entire hiring cycle in seven steps: anticipating the need for new hires, specifying the job, developing a pool of candidates, assessing the candidates, closing the deal, integrating the newcomer, and reviewing hire-process effectiveness. Whatever the future brings, firms that follow these practices successfully will have a distinct advantage over their short-sighted competitors."

Do Take That Break (journal article)
By Samuel Z. Goldhaber
from Harvard Business Review Vol 87 Iss 5 May 2009, pp. 30-30
"A recent study from Wellington Hospital in New Zealand found that office workers who sat for several hours without getting up were more likely to form a deep-vein thrombosis--that is, a blood clot in a vein deep in the leg--than those who moved about more often. Together, deep-vein thromboses and pulmonary embolisms (which occur when a piece of the clot breaks away and blocks blood flow to the lungs) kill upwards of 100,000 Americans each year, or about as many as die from breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined. In this article, Goldhaber, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explains the connection between DVTs and prolonged periods of sitting anywhere (not just on airplanes) and offers tips for prevention."

Looking Toward the Future in the Midst of Economic Uncertainty (journal article)
By Martin Wolf
from Futurist Vol 43 Iss 3 May/June 2009, pp. 36-39
"A Financial Times columnist looks at challenges facing the global economy and how the
actions of governments could improve the situation — or worsen it."

Job protection legislation and productivity growth in OECD countries (journal article)
by Andrea Bassanini, Luca Nunziata and Danielle Venn
from Economic Policy, Vol 24 No 58, April 2009, pp. 349-402
"We examine the effect of dismissal regulation on productivity in the OECD, using annual cross-country aggregate data on the stringency of employment protection legislation and industry-level data on productivity from 1982 to 2003. Our empirical results suggest that mandatory dismissal regulations have a depressing impact on productivity growth in industries where layoff restrictions are more likely to be binding. By contrast, we find no evidence of a productivity effect of regulations concerning temporary contracts, which suggests that partial reforms, facilitating the use of fixed-term and atypical contracts, are unlikely to have an important impact on efficiency and technological change and cannot therefore be a substitute for comprehensive reforms whereby dismissal restrictions for open-ended contracts are also weakened. "

Balancing training and development programmes for your team (journal article)
by Andy Preston
from Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 41 No 3, 2009, pp. 142-145
"Training should be bite-sized and incorporate real situations, coaching and feedback. The paper provides new thoughts and distinctions around the internal training arena and is suitable for training managers and directors of organisations. "

Outliers : the story of success [book]

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

"Examines everyone from business giants to scientific geniuses, sports stars to musicians, and reveals what they have in common. He looks behind the spectacular results, the myths and the legends to show what really explains exceptionally successful people. ... [Argues that] the real secret of success turns out to be surprisingly simple, and it hinges on a few crucial twists in people’s life stories - on the culture they grow up in and the way they spend their time." - cover.

You can borrow this book by clicking here, and sending a request to your library.

OECD. Economic Policy Reforms going for growth, 2009 [online]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"This fifth edition of Going for Growth comes at a time when OECD countries are faced with the most severe financial and economic crises in a lifetime. The still unfolding global crisis and recession have inevitably raised questions about the extent to which markets can be trusted to deliver good outcomes and whether earlier reforms have contributed to make economies more vulnerable. ... This report identifies three broad fiscal/structural reforms that could yield a “double-dividend” at present: increased spending on infrastructure; increased spending on active labour market policy, including on compulsory training courses; and reduction of personal income taxes, notably on low-income earners. In addition, product market reforms that ease entry restrictions and strengthen competition may boost demand in some cases in the short term and increase productivity in the long term."

An innovation economics agenda for the Obama administration (journal article)
By Robert D. Atkinson
from The Journal of Technology Transfer Vol 34 No 4 Aug 2009, pp. 440 - 447
"Seven recommendations are offered for the Obama Administration to ensure that the economy is on a robust growth path over the next decade. These recommendations are intended as first steps towards building the innovation-based public-private partnerships needed to drive economic growth and prosperity."

Learning from burnout : developing sustainable leaders and avoiding career derailment [book]

Authors: David Megginson & Tim Casserley

Examines the nature, causes and symptoms of burnout, the role of dysfunctional organisations in contributing to burnout, and how coaches, HR professionals and bosses can support people experiencing burnout.

Click here to request to borrow this book.

Businomics : from the headlines to your bottom line - how to profit in any economic cycle [book]

Author: William B. Conerly

"Connects the dots between the economy and everyday business decisions including: staffing levels, inventory, capital expenditures, financial structure, and investments - and shows you how you can profit and protect your business during any economic cycle." - cover.

Would you like to read this book? Click here to request a loan from your friendly library!

China Economic Outlook 2009 (collection of articles)
by Janice Foo
from Far Eastern Economic Review
"In this special online analysis, experts speak to the REVIEW about their economic forecasts for 2009, and weigh in on China's consumption crisis and government stimulus package. While some remain pessimistic, others are beginning to see tentative signs of recovery."

There is no alternative? The financial crisis and the problem of bail-outs (journal article)
by Tony Aspromourgos
from AQ, January-February 2009, pp. 4-9
"The great vulnerability of traditional banking as a form of financial intermediation is that if, perchance, an unusually large number of depositirs of a bank all turned up on the same day seeking to 'go liquid' and convert their deposits into cash, the bank might well lack the liquid reserves to meet its obligations to depositors ... one does not need an economics degree to know that banks are not holding sufficient assets in cash to match their deposit liabilities."

Level Three Common Sense (journal article)
by James G.S.Clawson
from Management Decision, Vol. 47 No. 3 2009, pp. 470-480
"The purpose of this paper is to show that “common sense” is rooted in genetic and memetic legacies developed early in life and is not so common based on where those legacies were developed; and to show that managers who are unable to review and adjust their common sense are not likely to be effective managers locally or globally."

Assessing managers' common sense using situational judgment tests (journal article)
by Nicholas P. Salter and Scott Highhouse
from Management Decision, Vol. 47 No. 3 2009, pp. 392-398
"In industrial-organizational psychology, research and practice has focused on the use of situational judgment tests to predict managerial job performance. Although there is considerable controversy over what these tests actually measure, many have argued that they at least partially measure practical intelligence or “common sense.” The authors conclude that these tests do offer an efficient method of assessing common sense that can be easily adapted to many employment settings."

The Venturesome economy : how innovation sustains prosperity in a more connected world [book]

Author: Amar Bhide

Argues that offshoring research and development to China and India will not threaten Western prosperity. Similarly, subsidizing these activities in an attempt to maintain a lead in the field is counter-productive. The most important factor for economic growth is the willingness and ability of businesses and consumers to use new products and technologies.

Want to borrow this book? Click here to request.

SEGRA (Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia) twelfth national conference, 18-20 August 2008, Albury, NSW [CD ROM]

Source: Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia Conference

Key themes include: 'Delivering sustainable economic development', 'Showcasing innovative policy responses, actions and decision making techniques', 'Tools and models for regional development', and 'Identifying the latest trends impacting regional Australia'.

Like to borrow this one? Click here to send an email to the library.

Opening markets for trade in services : countries and sectors in bilateral and WTO negotiations [book]

Authors: Juan A. Marchetti & Martin Roy

"[Explores] the challenges, motivations, and achievements of such negotiations. ... [Highlights] issues in important service sectors, such as distribution, energy, finance, telecommunications, air transport, and the postal and audiovisual sectors, as well as areas such as cross-border trade, the movement of natural persons, and government procurement." - cover.

Just click right here to request to borrow this book.

Learning from past recessions (article)
from The McKinsey Quarterly Chart Focus Newsletter March 2009
"Despite claims that the current recession is
"unprecedented" it seems to be following many of the same
patterns the four previous ones did - patterns that may provide
insights into the future performance of sectors. To learn more about the
possible sequence, magnitude, and length of the downturn, read this article."

Competency-based resumes : how to bring your resume to the top of the pile [book]

Authors: Robin Kessler & Linda A. Strasburg
"How to understand competency-based systems, define the competencies employers are looking for in your profession, create a well-written competency-based resume, prepare to write competency-based cover letters, [and] expect and prepare for competency-based interviews." - page 14.

Ask to borrow a copy of this book from your friendly library by clicking here!