Back to essentials in management teams

 

Today I would like to recommend the reading of two classical articles. One related to explore yourself in a holistic approach and the other one related to be a member of a team.

1. Managing Oneself: by Peter F. Drucker
Drucker focus on the idea to develop a deep understanding of yourself. What are your most valuable strengths and most dangerous weaknesses? how do you learn and work with others? What are your most deeply held values? And in what type of work environment can you make the greatest contribution.

*Acces: BEST OF HBR 1999

2. The Discipline of Teams: by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K.Smith
These two authors defined what a team is: “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”

This definition is currently explained in most of management courses. Easy to put in a paper but difficult to implement in real life

* Acces: BEST OF HBR 1993

* To read the full article in Harvard Business Review you have to Register for free.

photo: (*) Photosolde
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Si la universitat genera coneixements però no els transfereix, la societat no se’n beneficia

Aquesta afirmació pertany a l'autora  Inés Macho-Standler, professora del Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona i investigadora del MOVE (Markets, Organizations and Votes in Economics), un Centre de Recerca CERCA.

A l'any 2010 l'autora va publicar un document anomenat Transferència de les Innovacions Universitàries als Opuscles del CREI, documents de difusió per al públic en general de la recerca que es fa en El Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI), un altre centre CERCA.

Un article interessant de llegir i molt actual, on algunes de les seves conclusions són:

• El suport públic a les universitats i a altres centres d’investigació es justifica per la preferència que el sector privat té cap a la investigació més aplicada i amb el rendiment a curt termini, que comportaria una subinversió persistent en investigació fonamental o bàsica que resulta de més difícil apropiació i escàs valor comercial immediat.
• Les dues activitats primàries de la universitat són la docència, que transfereix coneixements directament i contribueix a la formació de les noves generacions de tècnics i d’investigadors, i la investigació, que transfereix nous descobriments a través de les publicacions científiques i les patents.
• Fixar-se només en una activitat pot donar una idea errònia de la tasca de difusió d’una universitat i del seu impacte en l’economia i en la societat.

Accés a l'article en pdf:

• CATALÀ
• ANGLÈS
• CASTELLÀ

photo: (*) Photosolde ________________________________________________________________________________

Science foresight: The future of Science

 

The Institute For the Future (IFTF) is an independent, non-profit research organization in Palo Alto (US) who produces documents, maps, forecasts and scenarios to understand the future in three main areas: 1) Global landscape; 2) People + Technology and 3) Health + Self.

Here we present the super-visual report, called "The Future of Science: 2021" Research Map

The map focuses on six big stories of science that they think will play out over the next decade:

• Decrypting the Brain
• Hacking Space
• Massively Multiplayer Data
• Sea the Future
• Strange Matter
• Engineered Evolution

I recommend to visit the IFTF website  Future of Science 2021 to go in more detail and to watch the video: Platforms for the Future: Magic and Neuroscience by Luigi Anzivino

photo: (*) Photosolde
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Compromís i transparència: dos valors per al lideratge

Aquestes setmanes s'han succeit uns quants esdeveniments a l'entorn del Sistema Sanitari Català que em van fer piular al twitter un pensament al voltant de dues paraules que em van dir: Compromís i Transparència.

Vaig piular "el compromís i la transparència són dos valors que fan gran a qui se'ls creu i els aplica i mesquins a qui se'n enfot"

Quan algú decideix esdevenir directiu d'una organització, ja sigui gran o petita i dirigir-la lo més dificil no és gestionar uns recursos que són escassos, de la manera més eficient i equitativa possible, sino gestionar les persones que conformen les organitzacions.

Un directiu tanmateix, només esdevé líder quan té incorporat en el seu ADN aquests dos valors: el compromís, envers ell mateix per mantenir la seva coherència i els seu valors, envers els altres i envers la institució i la transparència en explicar i mostrar el que s'està fent en l'organització i donar-ne comptes.

Us penjo dues fonts per aprofundir-hi:

• Un article sobre la Transparència i el Lideratge: Transparency: The Clear Path to Leadership Credibility
• Una conferència a càrrec del Prof. Àngel Castiñeira d'ESADE, a l'Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, sobre el Compromís:  Les respostes dels professionals en temps de crisi

photo: bansky ______________________________________________________________________________

some ideas to solve the health care spending everywhere

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution from US that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. One of their research area is the Health and Health Care

One of the US problems faced is the relentless growth of health care spending, a major contributor to America's long-term fiscal imbalance.

Victor Fuchs considered by many to be the father of health economics said in 2012 in an interview in the New York Times: “If we solve our health care spending, practically all of our fiscal problems go away.”

Here in RAND-Health you can find a series of research briefs dedicated to flattening the trajectory of health care spending,

RAND Health outlines four broad strategies for constraining spending growth in the market-oriented health care system:

1. Foster efficient and accountable providers.
2. Engage and empower consumers.
3. Promote population health.
4. Facilitate high-value innovation.

Photo: Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. Donn Clendenon, 1969

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The Foreigner's opinion about Work, Business and Life in Barcelona

 

Is Barcelona reaching the criteria of: Technology, Talent and Tolerance?

Barcelona Global is a private, independent and not-for-profit civil society platform made up of business leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs committed to Barcelona and its future.

They have presented  the results of the 1st survey Barcelona Global´s "International Professional Talent Monitor 2013".

The survey is meant to understand how local business climate, working conditions and quality of life (including cty amenities, social integration, school offer...) in Barcelona are perceived by this pool of outstanding professionals who moved to Barcelona, out of many other cities worldwide, to live and work.

Survey results are of two types, quantitative (ratings on a scale from 0 to 10) and qualitative.

• Acces to the document: Survey Results 2013
• Related Post: Technology, Talent and Tolerance

footnote: Surprisingly the survey results have been removed from the web.
 
photo: (*) Photosolde
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Gender Equality Index in European Union

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) from the European Union has constructed the Gender Equality Index a unique measurement tool that synthesises the complexity of gender equality as a multi-dimensional concept.

The gender approach takes into account the situation of women and men in various domains of economic and social life, including those where men are in disadvantaged situations. It consists of six core domains: work, money, knowledge, time, power, health and two satellite domains (Intersecting inequalities and violence).

The Index provides results at the domain and sub-domain level for the EU overall and for each Member State. It provides a measure of how far (or close) each Member State was from achieving gender equality in 2010.

The Gender Equality Index assigns a score from 1, total inequality, to 100, full equality.

The target is the equality point, benchmarked in 100, and a given Member State is equally treated whether a gap is to the advantage of women or men.

The Index reveals that the EU reached only half way towards a gender-equal society, with an average EU score of 54 (2010 data).

photo: (*) Photosolde
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