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robert edward cenek
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1 year ago
in It Ain’t About the Tsotschkes on KnowHR Blog
That is a catchy phrase. My only nit would be that the level of reward should be commensurate with the level of achievement. Some successes do not warrant lavish rewards. However, in general, the point is well made.
In today's work environment, the catchiest of phrases would be: "we expect 5 people to the do work of 10 people, but will pay the 5 the same total what we would deliver to 7 people!"
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
In today's work environment, the catchiest of phrases would be: "we expect 5 people to the do work of 10 people, but will pay the 5 the same total what we would deliver to 7 people!"
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
1 year ago
in What’s Your GPA? on KnowHR Blog
Patrick:
Good point!
Can't agree more that this is a complex analysis. That's why very good companies will go beyond the school - and the GPA. However, most firms are in the business of minimizing risk with a selection, especially for those roles that will require a significant amount of training. Under those situations, a solid selection process will look at some (and many of the following):
GPA
SAT/ACT
School attended
Academic load (4 year or 5-6 year plan)
Extracurricular activities
Outside Employment (filters slackers)
Community/Charity activities (filters slackers)
Results from robust behavioral interview
Results from selection batteries
Quality of interview
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
Good point!
Can't agree more that this is a complex analysis. That's why very good companies will go beyond the school - and the GPA. However, most firms are in the business of minimizing risk with a selection, especially for those roles that will require a significant amount of training. Under those situations, a solid selection process will look at some (and many of the following):
GPA
SAT/ACT
School attended
Academic load (4 year or 5-6 year plan)
Extracurricular activities
Outside Employment (filters slackers)
Community/Charity activities (filters slackers)
Results from robust behavioral interview
Results from selection batteries
Quality of interview
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
1 year ago
in What’s Your GPA? on KnowHR Blog
Here is an interesting study that specifically targets the GPA/Lawyer debate.
http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_stud...
Again....at the end of the day.... overall smarts are important. Not perfectly predictive - but important. Exceptions abound.
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_stud...
Again....at the end of the day.... overall smarts are important. Not perfectly predictive - but important. Exceptions abound.
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
1 year ago
in What’s Your GPA? on KnowHR Blog
The dudes in the suits are correct!!! Job success is ultimately determined by many factors - in addition to GPA and overall mental ability. We can turn to football to see analogies of this. Joe Montana did not have a lot of natural athleticism. He did not have a particularly strong arm, nor was he fleet of foot. However, he used other abilities to help him in being one of the best QB's in NFL history.
Politics would be another good example. Ronnie Reagan was a strong president, but he was hardly the sharpest tack in the drawer.
IQ is still a very strong predictor of job success, especially in higher level positions requiring critical thinking abilities. Other things are critical - e.g., creativity, EQ, etc.
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
Politics would be another good example. Ronnie Reagan was a strong president, but he was hardly the sharpest tack in the drawer.
IQ is still a very strong predictor of job success, especially in higher level positions requiring critical thinking abilities. Other things are critical - e.g., creativity, EQ, etc.
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
1 year ago
in Business Slang: Top 10 Worst “-ize” Words on KnowHR Blog
Frank:
Keep up the good stuff!!
The most egregious use of ize is when folks use utilize when the word use would suffice!!
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
Keep up the good stuff!!
The most egregious use of ize is when folks use utilize when the word use would suffice!!
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
1 year ago
in Whoever Designed Ray Mozilo’s Severance Package Should Be Ashamed on KnowHR Blog
Some good comments, but the reality is that the small investor can not influence the design of executive compensation packages. I think that unfortunately this is an "institutional problem" that requires an institutional solution. Up to this point however, our electorate has seemed content to elect office holders who don't wish to take on this issue.
1 year ago
in Whoever Designed Ray Mozilo’s Severance Package Should Be Ashamed on KnowHR Blog
JT...I think that real issue is that our society needs to move away from the myth of the heroic CEO.
For every Steve Jobs there are 15 Carly Fiorini's --- 2 Ken Lays ---- and 1 Jack Welch wannabe.
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
www.cenekreport.com
For every Steve Jobs there are 15 Carly Fiorini's --- 2 Ken Lays ---- and 1 Jack Welch wannabe.
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
www.cenekreport.com
1 year ago
in Whoever Designed Ray Mozilo’s Severance Package Should Be Ashamed on KnowHR Blog
Countrywide's Board of Directors clearly share some culpability here. In a larger sense our society needs to share the blame. Another example of the unbridled greed that has exploded throughout our country - and in epidemic proportions over the past 15 years. How sad....
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
robert edward cenek
Cenek Report
1 year ago
in A Little Humility Goes a Long Way on KnowHR Blog
Congratulations Frank! Your recognition is well deserved. the IE7 comment is probably sour grapes from another blogger!
1 year ago
in Why should smokers pay for fatties? on lean & six-sigma
Right on the money...
I wrote a similar note on the obesity epidemic within the US. This is the real public health calamity, not smoking.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
I wrote a similar note on the obesity epidemic within the US. This is the real public health calamity, not smoking.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
1 year ago
in Don’t Dumb Down Your HR Communication on KnowHR Blog
Well put. I have always cringed at the comment, "you need to take it down to their level."
2 years ago
in We Are (Not) Family on KnowHR Blog
Ditto to Wally's comments. At the very least it's a public admission of organizationally sanctioned paternalism.
Yes, we do tend to glorify the 100 hour per week employee – and for those who do not have a family, this may be the best use of their time.
It strikes me that the behavior you’re describing is representative of a far deeper problem that’s beset a number of our corporations – an outright failure to operate according to the values, principles and moral compass that helped build this great nation. Examples of this systemic problem abound, but one good example can be found the in the recently exposed caper of stock option backdating.
As of March 2007, 155 shareholder derivative lawsuits and 29 securities fraud class actions have been filed relating to allegedly improper stock option grants. An additional 140 companies are also currently under investigation by government agencies for options backdating practices. One can reasonably conclude that in most of those organizations doing “what’s right” was less important that “doing what you can get by with.”
Since Enron and Tyco we’ve been treated to a steady parade of egregious, warped behavior that goes beyond the examples of moral turpitude you’ve highlighted. While those persons engaged in that behavior made a personal, conscious decision to do so, I often wonder how much of it is influenced by a society that’s increasingly losing its moral grounding.
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Yes, we do tend to glorify the 100 hour per week employee – and for those who do not have a family, this may be the best use of their time.
It strikes me that the behavior you’re describing is representative of a far deeper problem that’s beset a number of our corporations – an outright failure to operate according to the values, principles and moral compass that helped build this great nation. Examples of this systemic problem abound, but one good example can be found the in the recently exposed caper of stock option backdating.
As of March 2007, 155 shareholder derivative lawsuits and 29 securities fraud class actions have been filed relating to allegedly improper stock option grants. An additional 140 companies are also currently under investigation by government agencies for options backdating practices. One can reasonably conclude that in most of those organizations doing “what’s right” was less important that “doing what you can get by with.”
Since Enron and Tyco we’ve been treated to a steady parade of egregious, warped behavior that goes beyond the examples of moral turpitude you’ve highlighted. While those persons engaged in that behavior made a personal, conscious decision to do so, I often wonder how much of it is influenced by a society that’s increasingly losing its moral grounding.
robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in If an HR Department Sets Policy in the Woods and No One Listens, Does It Make a Sound? on KnowHR Blog
Scott:
I think that we are getting warm on what tends to drive, or at least influence negativity toward the HR function. Here is an interesting piece taken from the Taleo blog.
Academic Study Proves Value of HR Performance
It’s always gratifying when a study proves what you intuitively know. Professors from Florida State University and Auburn University used a technique called meta-analysis to mathematically combine the findings of 92 previous studies covering 19,319 organizations published since the mid-1980s.
They produced the study, How Much Do High-Performance Work Practices Matter? A Meta-Analysis of Their Effects on Organizational Performance, published in the autumn issue of Personnel Psychology.
Key Conclusions:
• When a company emphasizes human resource activities such as incentive pay and flextime, it can enjoy a 10 to 20 percent improvement in employee retention, employee productivity, profitability and stock price.
• Conversely, companies which cut spending on human resource programs can expect to see their bottom line shrink by up to 20 percent.
• Performance improvements are stronger when companies take a systematic approach to human resources rather than implementing one or two practices.
• When companies cut their HR budgets—which was often the first place to save dollars when the economy took a slide—it had a knockdown effect on retention, productivity, profitability, and stock price.
Study co-author and Lowder Eminent Scholar at Auburn University, Dave Ketchen said: “Over the last 25 years, corporate America has debated whether the human resources function adds value or if it is just a necessary evil. Our results show that negative images of human resource managers miss the mark. Skilled HR managers can make the difference between a company making a profit or losing money.”
I think that we are getting warm on what tends to drive, or at least influence negativity toward the HR function. Here is an interesting piece taken from the Taleo blog.
Academic Study Proves Value of HR Performance
It’s always gratifying when a study proves what you intuitively know. Professors from Florida State University and Auburn University used a technique called meta-analysis to mathematically combine the findings of 92 previous studies covering 19,319 organizations published since the mid-1980s.
They produced the study, How Much Do High-Performance Work Practices Matter? A Meta-Analysis of Their Effects on Organizational Performance, published in the autumn issue of Personnel Psychology.
Key Conclusions:
• When a company emphasizes human resource activities such as incentive pay and flextime, it can enjoy a 10 to 20 percent improvement in employee retention, employee productivity, profitability and stock price.
• Conversely, companies which cut spending on human resource programs can expect to see their bottom line shrink by up to 20 percent.
• Performance improvements are stronger when companies take a systematic approach to human resources rather than implementing one or two practices.
• When companies cut their HR budgets—which was often the first place to save dollars when the economy took a slide—it had a knockdown effect on retention, productivity, profitability, and stock price.
Study co-author and Lowder Eminent Scholar at Auburn University, Dave Ketchen said: “Over the last 25 years, corporate America has debated whether the human resources function adds value or if it is just a necessary evil. Our results show that negative images of human resource managers miss the mark. Skilled HR managers can make the difference between a company making a profit or losing money.”
2 years ago
in If an HR Department Sets Policy in the Woods and No One Listens, Does It Make a Sound? on KnowHR Blog
Mel"
Ditto....with the exception that I believe more HR folks are in fact in at the BIG TABLE than what you surmise.
Some folks are highly competent, and in some settings are justified in voicing displeasure about not having a seat at the table. Yes, some should earn it, but again unfortunately report into individuals who would not know a strategic HR thinker if one landed on their desk.
A former work colleague of mine, who I might add is one of the sharpest HR executives that I have known, did a 6 month stint with one of America's top new economy companies whose founder is glorified as a diety. His message to me....The guy was a total jerk that absolutely knew nothing about human behavior. He moved on, and now runs an HR department with 300 staff members, for one of America's top financial companies. He did the right thing.
My experience has been that those who are the most negative about the HR function are quite often individuals who would have the most to gain by taking some their advice.
robert edward cenek, RODP
wwww.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Ditto....with the exception that I believe more HR folks are in fact in at the BIG TABLE than what you surmise.
Some folks are highly competent, and in some settings are justified in voicing displeasure about not having a seat at the table. Yes, some should earn it, but again unfortunately report into individuals who would not know a strategic HR thinker if one landed on their desk.
A former work colleague of mine, who I might add is one of the sharpest HR executives that I have known, did a 6 month stint with one of America's top new economy companies whose founder is glorified as a diety. His message to me....The guy was a total jerk that absolutely knew nothing about human behavior. He moved on, and now runs an HR department with 300 staff members, for one of America's top financial companies. He did the right thing.
My experience has been that those who are the most negative about the HR function are quite often individuals who would have the most to gain by taking some their advice.
robert edward cenek, RODP
wwww.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in If an HR Department Sets Policy in the Woods and No One Listens, Does It Make a Sound? on KnowHR Blog
Frank:
I always enjoy articles that report on the effectiveness and value of HR. They always drive me to reflect on my nearly 30 years of experience in the field, and ask whether the function has improved or remained the same.
In many respects I think that "blame" can be shared among all camps. I have seen very bright, articulate, and strategic HR leaders relegated to lesser roles because they had the misfortune of reporting into a granite head. Over time, these people do move on to other organizations that truly practice the motto - "people are our most important asset."
I have also witnessed senior HR people who were more chameleon-like than Forrest Gump, or who were consumate administrivia experts who can recite specific pieces of code from the FMLA, but who were socially inept or lacked confidence in front of the Board.
In general however, an HR leader with strong conceptual thinking and emotional intelligence abilities will excel in most organizations.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
I always enjoy articles that report on the effectiveness and value of HR. They always drive me to reflect on my nearly 30 years of experience in the field, and ask whether the function has improved or remained the same.
In many respects I think that "blame" can be shared among all camps. I have seen very bright, articulate, and strategic HR leaders relegated to lesser roles because they had the misfortune of reporting into a granite head. Over time, these people do move on to other organizations that truly practice the motto - "people are our most important asset."
I have also witnessed senior HR people who were more chameleon-like than Forrest Gump, or who were consumate administrivia experts who can recite specific pieces of code from the FMLA, but who were socially inept or lacked confidence in front of the Board.
In general however, an HR leader with strong conceptual thinking and emotional intelligence abilities will excel in most organizations.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in They Were Great When You Hired Them on KnowHR Blog
I like the recent use of metaphorical descriptions of the business world. Reminds me of Kosinski's "Being There," starring Peter Sellers.
Your post really underscores, and lucidly so, the power of planning and providing for early nuturance.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Your post really underscores, and lucidly so, the power of planning and providing for early nuturance.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in They Were Great When You Hired Them on KnowHR Blog
I like the recent use of metaphorical descriptions of the business world. Reminds me of Kosinki's "Being There," starring Peter Sellers.
Your post really underscores, and lucidly so, the power of planning and providing for early nuturance.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Your post really underscores, and lucidly so, the power of planning and providing for early nuturance.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in How Many Birthday Wishes Do You Send Out Each Year? on KnowHR Blog
Frank:
Great suggestion!! The key to birthday wishes is that they must be meaningful and not "form-like." It could also be powerful to include the congratulations on the firm's intranet, incuding in the message a little known "fact" or something of that nature about the person.
The key point of your suggestion to me is that too many organizations (and leaders) are not personal enough. Yes, we can be business-like and professional, but still inject a little compassion and warmth into our normal work day.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
Great suggestion!! The key to birthday wishes is that they must be meaningful and not "form-like." It could also be powerful to include the congratulations on the firm's intranet, incuding in the message a little known "fact" or something of that nature about the person.
The key point of your suggestion to me is that too many organizations (and leaders) are not personal enough. Yes, we can be business-like and professional, but still inject a little compassion and warmth into our normal work day.
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary on the World of Work
2 years ago
in What Everybody in HR Ought to Know About Blogs and How to Read them Fast on KnowHR Blog
Frank:
Kudos for the great advice. My informal, anectodal polling suggests to me that many in the world of HR do not use RSS readers. Whenever I ask groups of HR folks if they are using a RSS reader, I get this really blank look. At that point I move on.....
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary in the World of Work
Kudos for the great advice. My informal, anectodal polling suggests to me that many in the world of HR do not use RSS readers. Whenever I ask groups of HR folks if they are using a RSS reader, I get this really blank look. At that point I move on.....
robert edward cenek, RODP
www.cenekreport.com
Uncommon Commentary in the World of Work
