The business world has now long known about the Peter Principle. This was first proposed by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his book. This paradox states that people tend to get promoted based on their performances at work, but this simplicity ignores the fact that their new promoted position may have a very different profile. Thus, companies inadvertently keep promoting people up till a point where the employees’ incompetencies rise up the surface. This has been observed to be particularly true for the sales profession. This is because sales persons can be evaluated quantitatively the easiest. So a number of them get promoted to the sales manager’s post. Invariably, most see a decline in performances. Companies are now fighting this Peter Principle through innovative measures. Microsoft for example has highly competent talent management systems in place by which it ensures that even after promotion, the broad line of work does not change too much. Others are trying methods where employees get incentivized by higher pay rather than any positional promotion.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-do-people-really-get-promoted-to-their-level-of-incompetence

Uploaded Date:23 July 2019 

For long company culture was something considered intangible. But now reliable markers have emerged to measure the same. The MIT SMR in collaboration with leading talent recruitment firm Glassdoor has designed the Culture 500 index to quantify company culture. The tools identified have come up with some critical cultural markers that leading companies tend to have. One of them is that culture in such places is measured as a sum total of values and norms. Overall, nine major culture values have been chronicled. These are agility, collaboration, diversity, customer- centricity, execution, integrity, performance, respect and business innovation. Among the tech giants, Amazon comes out right on top. Samsung comes next. Facebook is in the middle followed by Google, Apple and Netflix. Intel, IBM and Microsoft find themselves further behind. But towards the bottom are Oracle and Cisco. Glassdoor has utilized its own data to emerge with such deductions.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/measuring-culture-in-leading-companies/

Uploaded Date:20 July 2019

While statisticians swear by the power of data, some social scientists have also now started questioning the undying love for the same shown by business decision makers. One area where data science fails compellingly is the context which needs to be created, within which the said inputs have to be judged against. The concept of creating a hypothesis around the data warehousing done, is already fraught with irregularities. This creates the effect of business decisions being data- inspired and not driven, as the term is used in common parlance. To use the same, a sort of discipline needs to be built in. This is the reason, that behavioral economists set decision criteria, well before receiving the information. Once this decision criteria is kept open, one is free to receive the data selectively. A number of decision makers often also suffer from what is termed as the IKEA effect. Here, one tends to believe a certain positive business analysis, simply because one has invested time and money on it.

Source:https://hbr.org/2019/06/the-first-thing-great-decision-makers-do?ab=hero-subleft-1&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social

Uploaded Date:03 July 2019

A technological revolution alone isn’t enough to impact any business. A simultaneous organizational one is also needed to truly ring in the changes. It was only the early factory system, for instance, that truly harnessed the potential of the steam engine. Right now it is the turn of digital to undergo such changes. The agile talent management method is one such key example. Another change this will bring in is to bridge the gap between the managers and the actual work. Indeed, managers are already putting many more hours at work, in this present hyper- connected world. But a lot of their time, goes up in non- productive tasks, such as meetings, conferences and emails. Part of this happened due to the rise in business complexity, that meant that few people had to handle the corporate strategy from the very top. But now that the technological complexity has also risen, if managers are not involved in the real value- creation, they do not really appreciate the process. Instead of maintaining a command and control system of yore, managers now need to orchestrate a certain behavioral system. While earlier the design and execution were divorced, now one needs to frame policies through action.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/en-in/publications/2018/bringing-managers-back-to-work.aspx

Uploaded Date:29 June 2019

Countries worldwide are grappling with finding a solution to climate change. Most are unsure on whether they will be able to match the targets set at the Paris Agreement of 2015 or not. This is true for both the industrial as well as developing countries. Some methods have been suggested by which industrialized nations could be weaned off carbon- producing energy processes. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, need to be utilized to a greater extent to fulfill the power requirements. The biomass available will also need to be concentrated in the industrial sector. Low- emissions district heating needs to be used for the building sector. Electric mobility must become the norm in transportation. The investment required in all this would be sizeable. Germany can be a good example to study for others in Europe and North America. One major difference though between the USA and the European countries is the fact that while the latter is expected to see a population decline, the same will rise by about a fifth in the former. Developing countries such as India, Brazil, Russia and China will increasingly consume even more energy, due to the fast rate of growth they are experiencing. This study by the management consulting giant BCG confirms, that among the BRICS nations, it is only South Africa that has taken proactive steps to reduce its carbon emissions. Emissions trading too has hit a brick wall, with natural boundaries arising. Carbon trade schemes thus require a new paradigm.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/economic-case-combating-climate-change.aspx

Uploaded Date:27 June 2019

Among the several industries primed for change, one is the automotive. One such transformation is to be its electrification. Self- driving vehicles will also increasingly become the norm, with fleets expected to prosper by the year 2035. The sharing economy will thrive with more amount of mobility being shared among people. These mutually reinforcing changes will have major impacts on the sale of automobiles. Newer sources of profitability will also emerge with China a definite market now. While growth will continue to be experienced, the profitability will be driven by new mobility tech. The profit pools will rise dramatically from emerging means. Data warehousing will also get a further new lease of life, as the insights captured will now be inherently higher than previously. This will further boost the on- demand mobility. Top car makers like GM have already got themselves a toe hold into these means of growth. The infrastructure will also likewise need a lift, with more number of battery production and charging facilities.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/en-us/publications/2018/profit-tech-transforms-mobility.aspx

Uploaded Date:27 June 2019

Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have already started to ring in the changes for employment practices, but more is to follow by 2030. Besides jobs, even skills and wages will be disproportionately affected. A study was conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute to pinpoint this trend, and the transitions now due. Several questions now need to be posed before we move ahead. One is what impact automation will have on work. Another is to understand the possible scenarios for employment growth. This will also impact on the talent recruitment trends. To add to this, will there at all be enough work in this future, is another matter of debate. There are several growth scenarios that could take place. It increasingly looks like whatever path this takes, inequality will be a component of it. This is because the digital age is all about winner takes all. The emerging economies will lead the way, with increased consumption. Populations are also ageing. Technology will thus be deployed accordingly. Due investments are needed in renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. Unpaid domestic work, possibly needs now to be linked to the market. Economies need to be prepared for extremely large, and painful work transitions.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages

Uploaded Date:26 June 2019