Category Archives: Psychology

Change for Your Customer

Posted on October 4, 2007 by John Hunter

Lets say you buy a some ice cream. You get your wonderful ice cream cone from the employee and they point you to a small metal dish to pick up the coins you should recieve as change (the currency is … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology | Comments Off on Change for Your Customer

Bring Me Solutions Not Problems

Posted on October 1, 2007 by John Hunter

My comments on: No Problem Without a Solution [I removed the broken link] I understand that most managers feel that their employees should not bring them problems. Instead, expressed in the most positive way, employees should fix things or bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Keeping Older Workers

Posted on September 16, 2007 by John Hunter

We’re Not Finnished With You Yet Abloy and many other Finnish companies are suddenly treating older employees like a precious resource. Instead of nudging them into early retirement, they’re coaxing gray-hairs to work longer with better health benefits, extra weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Hiring – Does College Matter?

Posted on September 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Another essay by Paul Graham packed with great thoughts – this one on hiring, colleges, measuring performance of people, etc.. Practically everyone thinks that someone who went to MIT or Harvard or Stanford must be smart. Even people who hate … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Education, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology | Comments Off on Hiring – Does College Matter?

The Siren Song of Multitasking

Posted on September 5, 2007 by John Hunter

The Siren Song of Multitasking Yet multiple technologies often translate into multiple interruptions: On average, workers are interrupted once every ten and a half minutes, according to Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studied the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Data Visualization

Posted on August 30, 2007 by John Hunter

Data is often displayed poorly, making it difficult to see what is important. When data is displayed well the important facts should leap off the page and into the viewers mind. Edward Tufte is an expert on this topic with … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creativity, Data, IT, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Data Visualization

Constant Change and Growth

Posted on August 29, 2007 by John Hunter

The Toyota Secret: Constant Change And Growth by Norman Bodek the chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation. He said, “Failure to change is a vice! I want everyone at Toyota to change and at least do not be an obstacle for … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Quality tools, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

The Importance of Management Improvement

Posted on August 23, 2007 by John Hunter

If organizations just adopt management improvement practices I firmly believe customer service, financial performance and employee satisfaction could be improved. This was a big part of the reason I started to use the internet to share management improvement ideas back … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, curiouscat.com, Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Statistics | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Don’t Empower

Posted on August 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I believe I learned this from Peter Scholtes, though maybe I am remembering it wrong or explaining it wrong (so give him the credit and if I mess it up it is my fault). I believe there is a problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Stop Demotivating Me!

Posted on August 14, 2007 by John Hunter

Esther Derby has the right idea in Stop Demotivating Me!. Some of my previous posts on this topic: Stop Demotivating Employees – Problems Caused by Performance Appraisal – Why Extrinsic Motivation Fails… Esther’s article points out a number of problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect | 7 Comments