August 26, 2007

With local government elections to be held on October 13, Colin James looks at the issues and opportunities facing the country’s councils – and some things businesses should consider.

A scholarship worth total of $100,000 to study for an MBA at Cranfield School of Management in the UK has been awarded to 34-year-old manager from insurance company AMI. Adrian

Christchurch’s Life Pharmacy Northlands has become the first retail pharmacy in the country to achieve accreditation, under an international standard, as an Investor in People. The IIP Standard provides framework

Sarah O’Hagan, general manager, US western region, Nike What prompted you to seek work out of New Zealand? I spent 10 years in London as child, so I knew there

There is one upside to the skills shortage – it has created opportunities for older workers who want to keep working part-time rather than retiring altogether. New Zealand employers are

Kiwi managers don’t work as hard as their Australian counterparts, but are putting in longer hours than managers in economically booming Ireland. Over 5000 managers from 17 countries were questioned

Gordon Noble-Campbell Spicers Portfolio Management has appointed Noble-Campbell as chief executive officer. General manager wealth management for AXA New Zealand prior to joining Spicers, he has also held senior positions

Flexible working arrangements and work-life balance are being championed to address New Zealand’s tight labour market. Minister of Labour Ruth Dyson and Small Business Minister Lianne Dalziel have launched two

Jo Tarlton, general manager of Auckland’s Eco Maintenance, has won the Northern Region section of this year’s NZIM/Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year. The judges said her excellent leadership

Work-related stress is cause of clinical depression and anxiety among young adults, according to new research from Dunedin. study of almost 900 32-year-olds, found that 14 percent of women and

Building organisational and personal capabilities while managing workplace diversity, were the dominant themes at the recent Australian Human Resources Institute National Convention in Sydney.

Back in the 1980s political theorists talked up ‘subsidiarity’ – clumsy French word depicting future of government decision-making and action moved from central governments closer to where people lived and

Are Kiwis culturally incapable of thinking long term? What’s wrong with shoving ‘strategy’ on a schedule? We explore the common pitfalls of strategic planning.

I’m old enough to remember PTA parents and Scout masters driving old cars around neighbourhoods as apparently delighted unpaid children threw bottles onto homemade trailers. Let’s hope we don’t have

Development in information and communication technologies creates new business opportunities and customer expectations. But is the future of IT shaping the future of business or vice versa – how do managers ensure both are closely aligned?

A board’s role is to ensure its organisation has an effective framework for corporate governance. Management controls are key part of this framework and the board turns to management for

“Managers can improve their performance by improving their performance of these constituent activities.” There are five basic operations in the work of the manager. • Managers, in the first place,

New Zealand companies are still grappling with corporate social responsibility issues and have yet to come to grips with the concept and what it means to them. They are well

Experienced executives are increasingly shunning the security of permanent positions in favour of short-term contract positions. Why is this happening – and is it good for management?

• James P Womack, Daniel T Jones, Daniel Roos • Harper Collins • $39.99 Reprinted and re-bracketed with new foreword and after-word, The Machine That Changed the World is still

• Robert Sutton • $34.95 This book is the comforting coffee and chat with good friend you make time for on Wednesday when half the week still looms and the

• Lee Iacocca, with Catherine Whitney • Harper Collins • $44.99 Self-confessed flunkeed retiree Lee Iacocca is back to shout his views at us. It is delivery method which has

I have recently moved to new organisation in the role of general manager and have question about our accountant. She has apparently been employed by us for 13 years, working

What is good governance? How is it practised in New Zealand? A new survey highlights changing trends and identifies a growing and un-met demand for boardroom skills. NZ Management outlines the survey results and invited a panel of experts to debate some of the issues raised.

Is New Zealand’s SME sector being held back by a dearth of director talent? The ANZ Bank’s Privately Owned Business Barometer sheds some light on such questions, as Ellen Read reports.

Exporters became nervous, as the kiwi dollar inexorably rose towards US$0.70 in March. The squeeze on their margins tightened further, over the next few months, and the kiwi nudged over

I’ve never been very good at sport. My netball team won something when I was about 11 but I’m pretty sure I was there because I was tall. At high

Rod Oram • Penguin Books • $35 What I’ve always enjoyed about Rod Oram’s business columns is not just that they’re perceptive and well written – they’re also upbeat. Perhaps

For someone who claims little in the way of actual business knowledge, Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor has identified a great recipe for business success. He also models two of its key ingredients very well: passion and tenacity.

In 2004, the learning and development roles of the ANZ Bank and National Bank of New Zealand were merged. How were two distinct systems and brands effectively blended? They say

Susan Devoy, one of New Zealand’s best known sporting champions, former chief executive and now chairperson of Sport Bay of Plenty, has become an advocate for employing people with experience

Jo Healey • General manager • Fujitsu New Zealand What are the key components of good leadership and why? Leading by example has always been my mantra. I believe you

Overly talkative colleagues have taken over from cigarette breaks as the biggest enemy of workplace productivity – and New Zealanders are among the worst culprits. The latest Robert Walters global

The Government is considering an emissions trading system under which businesses which make emissions must buy carbon credits and those who reduce emissions can sell carbon credits. Do you agree

The hunt is on for applicants for Leadership New Zealand’s 2008 programme. Leadership New Zealand, not-for-profit trust, was set up in 2004 to focus on developing and enhancing the quality