HOW TO DEAL WITH ISSUES IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

HOW TO DEAL WITH ISSUES IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

We often come across issues in our day- to- day lives, which are related to our professional environment and our personal lives. A practical and strategic outlook is imperative while coming up with a methodology which is best suited in resolving an issue. I have given a practical example from my work life in order to demonstrate how an issue can be resolved with minimum fuss and without pressing the panic button.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION OF AN ISSUE IN A CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT. 1. Identify the problem. 2. Brainstorm along with the departments which are directly affected by the problem. 3. Find the various processes and solutions that can help resolve the problem. 4. Which is the most effective and efficient method of resolving the problem. 5. Applying the process to the problem 6. Assessing the degree to which the problem has been resolved 7. If the problem has not been resolved, the process has to be followed again.

I used to work as a Senior Customer Service Executive for a well known vending machine in India and had to resolve an issue that was affecting the profitability of the company in Pune. I applied the scientific method of resolving the problem as inspired by the “What Makes A Great Science Project Logbook” Joanne Rebbeck, Ph.D.February 24, 2005

Identifying the Problem a.A high frequency of breakdown of vending machines in clients’ site. b.Delay in registering a complaint about the break down. c.Loss to the company as we billed our client by usage. d.Delay in the time taken by the technicians in repairing the vending machines at the clients’ site.

Consequence: The problem was eating into the profits of the company, as we suffered losses on the volume of sales and our reputation also suffered because of the frequency of break down and our competitors were trying to lure our clients, who had been with our company for decades.

A national conference was immediately conducted, when I reported the issue to my immediate superior in India. The concerned departments had a brainstorming session, and various hypotheses were investigated.

Hypothesis i)The quality of the spare parts being used was not of standard quality. ii)Lack of skilled manpower had caused the delay in repair work. iii)Sabotage - by client canteen employees or our own technicians

Investigation on Various Hypotheses i)The quality of spare parts :Our national technical manager decided to conduct a surprise check on various client sites’ all over India.

ii)Lack of skilled manpower:The HR department decided to investigate on the number of site coffee boys present at one time on site and the frequency of servicing done on each department. iii)Sabotage :Number of times a vending machines broke down, against the average breakdown of machines after it has had its scheduled servicing and replacement of parts.

Conclusion of Investigations a)The National Technical Manager reported that the spare parts were of the standard quality being used our company. He also the tested the present technicians on the skill and knowledge for repairing the machines. b)An investigation by our HR departments reported that the clients were not happy about the servicing done by our coffee boys, as one coffee boy was allotted per station, by our company. There were frequent absentees and negligence in scheduled servicing. c)Vending Machine break down was 200 percent higher than the average break down as calculated by our technical department for a properly serviced machine.

I decided to investigate further into the complaints of absenteeism among the coffee boys as reported by the HR department, and the possibility of sabotage.

Further Investigations conducted on the Clients’ Site in order to gather evidence. i)I personally interviewed the sites’ canteen manager and found out that, though the sheets were filled on a timely basis, the machines were not being properly serviced and the coffee boys were often found to be missing from their stations. ii)I supervised the repair work on a vending machine and made sure that new parts were used and the coffee being prepared was of standard quality. iii)I also requested the clients’ management that a CCTV be used, to investigate the possibility of sabotage.

Conclusion on Personal Investigation a)The coffee boys were filling their sheets in advance b)The vending machine that had been serviced was not working properly again. c)One of the client canteen workers was seen tampering with our canteen machine after hours on the CCTV.

How to choose the right college major: Ivy League admissions advice

How to choose the right college major: Ivy League admissions advice

While this site focuses primarily on elite college admissions, I’ve occasionally posted on broader topics, including how to choose the right college. These were pretty well received judging by the emails I received, so I’ve decided to continue writing more about the college life.

A topic of huge importance to incoming freshman is how to select the right major/degree. It has many future implications that most high school students simply don’t know.

The wrong major can:

-Drastically limit your career options and career choices (try going into finance with an English degree) -Drastically restrict your flexibility with choosing different courses that you are personally interested in

Most of all, IT CAN BE BORING! You may not like the classes, the professors, the students…and then spend the next 10 years of your life regretting not choosing that really cool-sounding major back in freshman year.

Now on to picking the right major. Here’s what you should seriously think about.

It’s important to discuss these things with your parents too. Most of what they say has a lot of value, even if you don’t realize that yet.

1. Think about what kind of JOB you want to have

If you want a career in business…choose a social science major (eg, economics) or engineering major (eg, computer science)

If you want a career in engineering…choose an engineering major (duh)

If you want a career in medicine or research…choose a science major

If you want a career in journalism and writing…choose a liberal arts major

Some of these are obvious. The point is to think beyond 4 college years to the rest of your life.

What job would make you happy? What career would fulfill you? What do you love to do now, that can be translated into a paying job?

2. Think about what type of personality you have

Are you outgoing? Computer science may not be for you…

Are you detail oriented? Engineering, math, and economics might be great majors…

Are you artsy/creative? Try creating your own major, or try an interdisciplinary major

The point is to think about how you work best. If you like numbers, gravitate towards an analytical major. If you like writing, gravitate towards a humanities/social sciences major.

Focus on your strengths - the last thing you want is to be in a major you’re not very good at, which will only make you more miserable.

3. Plan out the next 4 years and create a LIST OF GOALS

Some of you already have. Some of you may think that’s ridiculous and too much work. I don’t care - you should do it if you want to be smart.

Do you want to study in Italy/France/China? Pick a major that gives you flexibility to do that

Do you want to minor in Art History or Photography? Pick a major that overlaps with those or gives you room to take extra classes

Do you want to spend a summer working as an investment banker? Pick a major that helps you with recruiting and marketability for those types of jobs at Goldman Sachs

The point here is that beyond your major, you have other goals in college. Think about what those goals are, and figure out the majors that will allow you the room, time, support, and skills to achieve them!

Remedial

Remedial Reading: Is It The Definition Of Insanity?

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again always expecting a different result! Whoever said practice makes perfect was definitely not trying to teach a child with learning disabilities to read, write or spell! It suddenly struck me how true this definition is of traditional methods of remedial reading.

Now please don’t misunderstand, I am not accusing reading teachers of being insane (although if you spend long enough trying to teach a child with learning disabilities to read you may inch closer to it). Teaching children with learning disabilities is a noble and often painstaking profession. It takes a lot of time, energy, patience and skill to do the job well. Of all these, possibly patience is the most difficult to come by, because as you go over the same principles and reading texts again and again, teachers, parent and the children themselves become very frustrated, and very discouraged.
Surely There Must Be A Better Way!

Doing something over and over again can be beneficial if the person involved has the ability to change and learn rapidly. But what happens if practice doesn’t make perfect, it just makes huge amount of frustration? What happens if the child continues to make the same mistakes page after page, day after day, month after month. They’re trying hard, the teacher or parent is trying hard, but the only progress they’re making is destroying their relationship!

What if there was something you could do that would INCREASE the child’s ability to LEARN TO READ? Something that was not as painful as reading, something that you could see and measure progress in and something that the child could walk away from saying, “I can do this!”

Train The Right Things

The old story of the two axeman is applicable here. Remember the story of how one kept chopping wood, kept trying longer and longer and yet day after day he chopped less trees. The other took some time out of his busy day to sharpen his axe, and managed to chop more wood than his colleague. So perhaps it is time to take a break and sharpen your child’s axe!

The great news is that, as a practitioner working in the filed of learning disabilities for over 20 years, I have had enormous success caring for children with learning disabilities in my community. What has brought such success and stopped the painful remedial reading syndrome? Training the skills that are needed to do the job.

Vision is the dominant sense, with over 80% of all information in the classroom coming in through the visual system. So, it makes sense that, if we train these skills to be more effective, we can make the process of learning to read far easier.

This training goes beyond the simple ability to see: It involves eye coordination, focus, visual memory, sequencing, whole body development, left-right awareness and a whole host of visually related skills. All of these can be improved, usually very substantially, by doing the right therapies, and thus reading can be improved as a consequence.

How Can This Be Done?

Until recently this form of training has only ever been available directly from the practitioner. So, if you did not have a Behavioral Optometrist in your area, you could not help your child in this way. But I have spent the last year modifying my therapy program so you can do it in your own home for a fraction of what you would pay a qualified practitioner, anywhere in the world. It takes only 20 minute a day, it has clear and concise instructions and you will see your child improving within 6 months if you follow the therapies correctly.

The Best 20 Minutes In Your Day

What is an IP address?

What is an IP address?

What’s my IP address?, Every computer connected to the Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

IP Search is IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a “dotted-quad”) and look something like 127.0.0.1.

Since these numbers are usually assigned to internet service providers within country-based blocks, an IP address can often be used to identify the country from which a computer is connecting to the Internet.

Because the numbers may be tedious to deal with, an IP address may also be assigned to a Host name, which is sometimes easier to remember. Hostnames may be looked up to find IP addresses, and vice-versa.

At one time ISPs issued one IP address to each user. These are called static IP addresses. Because there is a limited number of IP addresses and with increased usage of the internet ISPs now issue IP addresses in a dynamic fashion out of a pool of IP addresses (Using DHCP). These are referred to as dynamic IP addresses. This also limits the ability of the user to host websites, mail servers, ftp servers, and DNS servers. Dynamic DNS services can be used to provide DNS records for servers running on dynamic assigned IP addresses.

How does the MSDS “Material Safety Data Sheet” authoring system work?

How does the MSDS “Material Safety Data Sheet” authoring system work?

Authoring Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) can often be an arduous task which unfortunately many companies face. A company might have a limited software budget, limited amount of MSDS/SDSs to author on a yearly basis, lack of time or expertise, or even overburdened Environmental Health and Safety staff. All of these can contribute to the MSDS authoring obstacles that many companies face. To simplify the process of MSDS authoring, the best route a chemical company can take is to get in touch with a “Chemical Regulatory Compliance Company”.

In order for the regulatory company to be able to author an MSDS you must provide the following items and specifications:

1.What country do you want your MSDS to be compliant in? 2.In what language do you need the MSDS authored in? 3.Full formulation of the product is required in order to analyze the composite in detail: a.Name of each component in the formulation b.CAS Number of each component c.Percentage range for each component 4.Existing MSDS or Technical Data Sheet (if available) that contains any physical/chemical specs, such as pH, flammability, flashpoint, color, odor, etc.

Once the MSDS is fully authored, the supplier of the chemical product must ensure the following:

1.The person to which the product is being sold has full access to the correct MSDS at the time of sale. 2.The MSDS must be submitted to the purchaser in the correct official language of the jurisdiction. If this is not specified to the supplier, then the language in which communication has been transferred between the supplier and purchaser is acceptable. If more than one language is requested, the supplier must comply with the demands of the purchaser. This may result in multiple MSDS’s, one for each official language within the jurisdiction. 3.The MSDS, if submitted over the internet, must be in a fully readable manner when downloaded by the purchaser. There must not be any pages or sections missing from the MSDS, and it must be in the same complete and final form as any paper copy of the same MSDS. 4.The exchange or download of the MSDS by the purchaser must take place at the time of sale of the chemical product.

Once all of the above requirements have been met by the supplier, the purchaser can give a written consent that all of the documentations have been received at the time of perches.

What “Cleaning Companies” need to know about MSDSs “Material Safety Data Sheets”?

What “Cleaning Companies” need to know about MSDSs “Material Safety Data Sheets”?

In order for a “Cleaning Company” to do its job, chemical products must always be involved.

However, no matter how many or how few chemicals you use, it is important that you have the MSDS for each cleaning product. One should note that an MSDS is not only important to have on hand for safety reasons but it is also a WHMIS “Workplace Hazardous Material Information System” requirement. These sheets must be available to employees; in fact, an employee can refuse to Work with a product if not shown the product’s MSDS.

If you are not sure where to get an MSDS it can be obtained from the manufacturer or supplier of that specific product. If your supplies come from a janitorial supplies distributor they will either have the MSDS or be able to get if from a janitorial suppliers distributor, or the main manufacturer. If you buy supplies from a big box store or over the Internet, the supplier might not have the MSDS for the product. In this case, you will have to get it from the manufacturer or you may be able to search for it on the Internet.

Employers should carefully read over the product’s MSDS before using it and share the information with employees. Invest some time into learning product properties, as it can protect your employees, and keep your cleaning company out of trouble in case of a spill or accident.

These are the main details you should look out for and pay close attention to while reading an MSDS:

1.Hazards Identification

2.Composition/Information on Ingredients

3.Fire Fighting Measures

4.Accidental Release Measures

5.Handling and Storage

6.Exposure Controls/Personal Protection

7.Physical and Chemical Properties

8.Stability and Reactivity

9.Toxicology Information

10.Ecological Information

11.Disposal Considerations

All of the above listed points are the most important facts a “Cleaning Company” needs to look out for in order to keep its employees, company, and the environment safe and secure.

Branding Lessons: Build School Culture and Identity with A BRAND

Branding Lessons: Build School Culture and Identity with A BRAND

You’re an educator and you are starting to think about branding. Of course, you can’t help but do this. When I am asked in business settings about my ability to work within the business community, since my perspective is informed by education, I simply smile and say…”I’ve been in the business sales all my life. I’ve sold “education” to a diverse marketplace: students, teachers, parents, administrators, school board members and the community.”

So today, with my sales perspective, I’m traveling the country speaking to educators about the common ground of educators and business people. The ground of selling and living a BRAND for ROI in education.

Let’s capture one Branding definition to work with. Branding is a total experience for the user that is based on relationship. It’s more than a logo or a tagline.

If we lead with that principle, then as educators, we should feel a good fit. Education is about building relationships. Educators work hard to do honor that, and have their own tools that make this harmony of relationship building happen everyday in schools. SO with that in mind, can a school culture be created through strategic understanding and a champaign to advance a brand? Can this result in brand loyalty among students, teachers, parents, administrators, board members and the community?

To define what education is today is as challenging as defining what a brand is. There are many ways people try to define both, and branding is in essence solid and changing at the same time. That is true for education as well.

The way to make connections right off the bat is through CULTURE. Branding tenets that are from Madison Avenue’s hallowed halls are perfect tools to develop language and attitude for building CULTURE across the diverse market for education. The beginning of the work lies in the understanding that branding is based in an implied promise. In schools, the promise is achievement. Savvy principals today can be Madmen…or women leaders by applying Madison Avenue tools to include branding, some marketing and a dash of social media to create culture that feeds a loyalty to the organization. Madman Principles? They work. And you’d be crazy not to try.