CorpU Weekly Digest: Learning Excellence (2011-Sept-05)

Here are this past week's headlines in learning excellence: 

• Fundamentals of innovation ;
• Predicting turnover ;
• Becoming a networked enterprise ;
• Talent management at Tata ;
• Biology and workplace behavior ;
• Tapping into employees' desire for meaning at work ;
• Reaching a distant workforce -- their way ;
• The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships
• Books
• Webinars
• Conferences

 Learning Excellence and Innovation

Fundamentals of innovation

Jens Martin Skibsted, a founder of Skibsted Ideation and co-founder of the design agency KiBiSi, answers five questions about the fundamentals of innovation. read Washington Post interview brief "The fundamentals of innovation"

Predicting turnover

A meta-analysis of turnover antecedents represents the most wide-ranging quantitative review to date of how successful we can be at predicting turnover. This important academic study identifies various moderators of antecedent-turnover correlations, and gives some early hints for those of us worrying about turnover in our organizations read article "A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Correlates of Employee Turnover: Update, Moderator Tests, and Research Implications for the Next Millennium"

Becoming a networked enterprise

INSEAD's Soumitra Dutta proposes five strategies that companies can pursue to push their organizations towards becoming fully networked enterprises and ensure a relatively smooth transition in the process: choose the right technology, loosen control without losing control, harness the knowledge of youth, lead from the top, and integrate across the company's operations. read review "Let the Revolution Begin"

Talent management at Tata

Satish Pradhan, Human Resources Chief at Tata Sons, speaks about Tata's talent management strategies at a seminar organized by Singapore Management University's Lee Kong Chian School of Business. Read the review "Tata's HR strategy: Think far, wide and smart"

Biology and workplace behavior

Modupe Akinola, an Assistant Professor of Management at Columbia Business School, suggests that the integration of biological measures into organizational research yields intriguing new insights into workplace behavior. read the "Measuring the pulse of an organization: Integrating physiological measures into the organizational scholar's toolbox"

Tapping into employees' desire for meaning at work

The chief human capital officer at the Department of Defense says HR leaders must be subject-matter experts with great bedside manner. He stresses the importance of tapping into employees' desires to do meaningful work read HRE Online review "Shifting the Mind-set"

Reaching a distant workforce -- their way

"One of the biggest mistakes companies make — and it's not just US and western Europe, it's Chinese and Brazilian companies — is to force fit and make them all think the same way, basically like a colonial model, where you try to set up systems to make them like the parent," according to IMD Professor Dan Denison. read Financial Times article "To reach a distant workforce" (requires registration)

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 The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

No major news in mergers, acquisitions, or product releases.

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 Books To Read

Professor Henry Chesbrough, a professor at the Haas Business School, originated the controversial term "open innovation." His bookOpen Services Innovation: Rethinking Your Business to Grow and Compete in a New Era (2011, Jossey-Bass Publication) focuses on how open innovation can be combined with a services approach to business. See the book reviews on Amazon

Stephen Bungay, director of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in London, makes a strong case for integrating military history and management in order to help understand the essence of implementation and its challenges in his book "The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results". Read Booz & Co review

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 Webinars

From Command to Community — A New Approach to Leadership Education
Presenters: Nicholas Longo and Cynthia M. Gibson
Date: September 29, 2011 at 10:00 - 11:00 AM ET Register now 

After the Training: 11 Tips for Making Training Stick
Presenters: Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman
Date: Wednesday, 19 October 2011, 1:00 PM ET Register now

Strategic Communications with Neill Archer Roan
Presenters: Neill Archer
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 4:00 PM ET  Register now

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 Conferences

European Talent Management Summit Conference
Date: 27-29 September 2011
Location:  London, UK  Register now

HR Africa Conference
Date: 4-7 October 2011
Location:  Johannesburg, South Africa  Register now

World Business Forum 2011, Inspiring Leaders
Date: 5-6 October 2011
Location:  New York City, NY  Register now

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