69. Leadership in recession for small business – John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership
Leadership has become a major management topic in recent years, and there is a tendency to think naturally about large teams and big corporations. Having yesterday attended a workshop of the Leadership Academy at the Open University the subject of leadership and leading out of recession is top of the mind. Small businesses usually lead the […]
67. Leadership thinking for small business (part 2)
Leadership for small business is essential but so often forgotten. We scanned some of the theories in the last of these. So what should a small business person do with all this theory? Most importantly, to be aware. Be aware of the need to lead as well as to manage your business; be aware of […]
66. Leadership thinking for small business (part 1)
We have been looking at some of the motivational theories and how they apply to small business. In the area of leadership, the gurus come by the pile, with lots of theory and not much evidence. What it is critical for a small business to know is that leadership is not the same as management, […]
65. Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y for small business
McGregor published his book, The Human Side of Enterprise, back in 1960, and it has been influential ever since. He suggested 2 approaches to management. Theory X managers believe that employees do not like work and have to be managed with carrot and stick to get anything done; Theory Y managers believe that people get […]
61. Corporate Strategy and Igor Ansoff for small business (part 2)
Ansoff working on how corporates grew considered a number of important concepts taken up later by other writers, including the core capabilities of the organisation, its product and market scope (or marketing focus) and competitive advantage. The strategy for growth could exploit these factors and consider the options for development which Ansoff defined in his […]
59. Management by Walking Around for small business
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are not just famous for their computer company – they named the concept of Management by Walking Around, which had a period of popularity and prominence some decades ago – and perhaps its a bit of a shame that it has been somewhat forgotten these days. In large corporates its easy for […]
33. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 5
“The assumptions on which most businesses are being run today no longer fit reality”. Drucker wrote this quite a few years ago when the pace of change in the business world was slower and there was more of a tendency for businesses to believe that the way the market worked for them was fairly fixed. As […]