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Cheerful through the crisis?
The current financial and economic crisis tops all others in terms of its dimensions and impact. Managers are faced with emotional challenges that they are ill equipped or not equipped at all to deal with. Emotionally competent managers are not afraid to speak the truth regarding the facts and their feelings about the crisis. They do not go on about their hopes and dreams, but focus instead on what is there. People who are capable of expressing everybody’s feelings earn respect. Strong leadership can come to the fore and shine in times of crisis. Those who wish to lead others should first be capable of finding their way through the crisis. How is this done?
“Technical communication is a quite stable area”
Dr. Michael Fritz is manging director at tekom. tcworld spoke with him about the effects of the global financial crisis on the organization and the technical communication sector as well as about tekom’s increased efforts to collaborate with organizations internationally.
Managing time and success for technical writers
Time is a constant given by nature and cannot be altered by human beings. We all have the same amount of time at our disposal. And even rich people cannot buy more time, which is totally fair, too. However, many technical writers feel that the pressure of deadlines that weighs on them is unfair: this is usually precipitated by impending market rollouts, poor groundwork by other technical departments or authoring processes that are not regulated precisely.
Intercultural Coaching: The next big thing
Intercultural coaching has the same basic tenets as standard professional coaching but also takes into consideration the coachee’s cultural perspective, and those of the people around him/her. Intercultural coaching focuses on creating an ‘intercultural climate’ that allows the coach and coachee to become more culturally aware and adapt their behavior and expectations as appropriate.
Quality in the eyes of the customer
Customers want—and expect—quality. This certainly states the obvious! But probe a little deeper, and you will find that what this really means varies greatly from client to client, and even from project to project with the same client. So why do language service providers define quality the same way for every client?
The future of the language services industry
Olga Pechnenko-Kopp became Chief Executive Officer for McElroy Translation (of Austin, Texas USA) last October. As an under-40 leader with deep entrepreneurial experience, she brought a fresh perspective to the venerable language service provider. In this interview with her, we learn about changes in the industry and how it recovers from the economic downturn.
Managing international assignments
The traditional concept of an ‘international assignment’ is rapidly becoming a misnomer. Certainly the situation whereby an individual is sent to an overseas location for two or three years still occurs – despite the recent downturn in business. However, today there are all sorts of permutations of business activities that can result in business people working with international colleagues and clients.
Intercultural management: Leading an international team
With advances in information technology, international teams have become a common phenomenon with many large organizations structuring their workforce according to function rather than geography. Successful organizations do not hesitate to make use of talents around the world. But what does it take to manage such a culturally diversified and geographically dispersed team?
Sharing knowledge across borders
As companies have their offices spread across more and more geographic locations and a large scale of employees working in different countries, it becomes even harder to represent a single organization as one unique entity. The key lies in raising awareness for the company’s vision and mission as well as equipping staff in all locations with the latest technologies. Advancements in communication technology have led to a deeper focus on knowledge management activities – benefiting both the organization and the individual.
Interview with Patrick Lambe: “Real value comes from building relationships”
An enormous amount of knowledge resides within international organizations. But how can the knowledge management (KM) team unlock this information and make it available to a large number of employees around the globe? How much knowledge should actually be shared and what kind of experience should not be passed on because it might hinder innovation and creative thinking? In an interview with tcworld KM expert Patrick Lambe answered these and many other questions.
Intercultural management at Škoda Auto
The merger of Škoda Auto and Volkswagen AG in 1991 compelled the tradition-bound Czech company for the first time to face the challenges of internationalization. Today Škoda is the largest industrial undertaking in the Czech Republic as the company sells its products in 100 countries worldwide. The Joint Venture with VW is regarded by the company as a successful marriage between the systematic, methodical and dependable approach of the Germans and the creative, improvising and proficient disposition of the Czechs.
Choosing media strategically for cross-border team communications
More and more organizations are establishing cross-border teams to take advantage of global talent and global markets. Location and time are no longer impediments to building the 'dream team' but in our rush to take advantage of these new media of e-mail, video conferences and the like we may not realize that there is also some learning for us to do on the cultural front.
Managing culture change within the context of mergers and acquisitions
The generic term “mergers & acquisitions (M&A)” appeared for the first time at the end of the 19th century in the United States. In times of increased global competition, M&A activities have reached all regions of the world and are not solely concerning large enterprises. However, with many M&A projects never reaching the synergy effects that were expected of them, the successful integration of one company into another remains a challenge.
Interview with Robert Gibson: “Communicate consistent messages“
Being active in 190 countries around the world, mergers and acquistions are part of the business routine for the engineering conglemerate Siemens AG. A smooth integration process is vital for business success. Supporting this integration process is one of the tasks of Robert Gibson, senior consultant for training and projects at the Siemens headquarters in Munich, Germany. tcworld spoke to him about the challenge of integrating new corporate and national cultures.