Reinsurance and financial‐services organization Swiss Re has repositioned its alternative risk resources after a radical reorganization. Strategic imperatives included establishing a new performance culture among its 500 associates, who mostly work in virtual teams as part of the new Swiss Re...

Action learning – often seen as only a tool for personal development – was the way chosen to open up the culture, sharpen up service provision, increase revenue and reduce costs in the UK Publishing Services division of Oxford University Press.

A new program of vocational training is helping a UK plastics company to achieve its five‐year target of trebling in size. Underpinning the aim of Ravenscroft Plastics, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, to become the top polymer extruder in the UK and a major player on the world stage is a...

The East Midlands factory of K. Stevens (Leicester) Ltd has become the first in the UK to introduce a brightly‐coloured “pod”, which could transform learning in the workplace. The pod which houses the Learning Works system brings online learning into the workplace for employees of the...

A global electronic‐business course, delivered over the Internet, is helping to provide managers with an understanding of how electronic commerce is changing the way they think about business today. The program, developed and managed by FT Knowledge and the Wharton School of the University of...

Any organization can only be as strong as the collective strengths of the individuals within the set‐up. As statements of the obvious go, that must rank pretty high. It follows, of course, that sustaining that strength through succession planning should be of prime importance to companies...

Corporate culture has become increasingly important to firms in the past 20 years. Despite its intangible nature, its role is meaningful, affecting employees and organizational operations. And while culture is not the only factor guaranteeing success, positive cultures offer significant...

Some firms call it induction, the process by which new employees get to know about their company and the way it operates. But while induction can be superficial and concentrate on systems, socialization is much more important: the learning process by which newcomers’ attitudes and behavior is...

Around 50 people a year commit suicide on London Underground by jumping in front of a train as it comes into a station. For the drivers involved, it is a shocking, and sometimes traumatic, event. Their employer has procedures in place to deal with the immediate aftermath of the event, but it...

Literature has seen a few famous salesmen suffering from burnout. Think of Willy Lomax’s famous disintegration in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or the tortured individuals in the work of David Mamet. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted as to why salespeople suffer from...