Waiting For That Promotion

October 18, 2010 1 Comment

Listen to this postA time will come during our long careers when we would wait for that important promotion. Naturally, most of the promotions involve a decision to select you between different candidates. Office politics and favoritism may have some affect on the selection but finally the selection is made and you will know about it in one of the following ways:

  1. You are called into one of your Bosses offices and told that they have thought about the selection and how difficult was the decision to select between you and the others, but at the end you were the best choice. You tell your self “finally they noticed me, I don’t now why it took them so long?” If you are promoted then you need to gain new knowledge and learn new skills to fulfill the job requirement. What you have learn so far was enough to get you the promotion, but your current capabilities are not enough to survive and thrive. First you to learn what it takes to do your new job, and then you have to improve your skills and knowledge to be ready for the next promotion.
  2. You are called into one of your Bosses office and told that they have thought about the selection and how difficult was the decision to select between you and the others, but at the end you were not the chosen one. You blame everybody and everything (except yourself) for not getting the promotion. You have to understand why you did not get that promotion. What were the reasons for not selecting you. What was the selection criteria and in which part you were not competitive. Start immediately working on your weaknesses and get ready for the next opportunity.
  3. You are not called, or you don’t know about the selection process and you would be the last one to know that somebody else was promoted and you have missed the chance. You feel that you were cheated or stupid. If you were not aware of the opportunity then you need to improve your networking skills. However, if the opportunity was keep secret on purpose then you should consider changing your employer. Go ahead and find another employer who appreciate your work and give you equal opportunities with other candidates.
By the way, if you are not ready for a promotion or there are no promotions for you in the near future then you have to think seriously about your career.

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Are You New To The iPad

October 8, 2010 5 Comments

App Store
Image via Wikipedia

Listen to this postI have used the iPad for sometime now and was asked by a close friend to recommend some of the applications I used so far. I listed some of them below but the best guideline I would recommend for purchasing and using an application for your iPad would be the number of stars the users rated the application in the App Store. Aways chose applications that have the plus sign displayed next to the price tag. The plus sign means that the app will work on your iPad and iPhone. If you do not have iPhone until now, you will buy yours very soon after you use the iPad. I can not tell you which app is best for you but most of the apps are priced between $1 to $3 less than your Starbucks Latte, so do not feel bad when you buy the application and find it disappointing.  One last advice to the iPad users: do not use the Jail Break no mater how wonderful the idea seems.

You may be interested in reading “Should I buy an iPad” in this blog.
Application Free Type Remarks
Pages No Prof. Equivalent of Word in windows although I find this application much better for the regular user
Keynotes No Prof. Equivalent of PowerPoint in windows although I find this application much better and easier for the regular user
Numbers No Prof. Equivalent of Excel in windows although I find this application much simpler for the regular user
OmniGraffle No Equivalent of Visio in windows although I find this application much better for the regular user
Digits Nice calculator but there are many of them in the App store. You may choose another one according to your needs and taste
Twitter Yes A social networking application if you like to tweet.
OmniFocus No Prof The best task organization App. This app had more functions than the regular user need, but the options and functions let you organize and achieve your task in a professional way. App price is $39.99 but worth the money if you are serious about your tasks.
Todo No Pro Excellent task organization App. good functions and options and recommended for the regular users. I stopped using this app after i installed the OmniFocus.
Corkulous No Nice app to organize your thoughts and ideas. The app will help you visualize your thoughts in a fun and simple way. You can export the action list in this app as a task in the Todo app mentioned above
FlipTime XL No Nice time display and alarm. There are many you can choose but this is my personal favorite.
AccuWeather Yes Free app with excellent weather display.
GoodReader No To view and download PDF files.
iBooks Yes To buy and read digital books
Priority Matrix No Prof Excellent thought and priority sorting application that is easy to use and organize. The best SWAT analysis application I used so far.
Pocket Pond Yes To relax and unwind.
Flipboard Yes To organize and display multiple feeds in a magazine like display.
Angry Birds No Game Must have.The best so far
RealRacingHD No Game Steer the car by tilting the iPad
MultiPong Yes Game Nice game
Pinball HD No Game Good resemblance of the Pinball game we use to play 30 years ago
Fruit Ninja No Game Must have
UZU No To relax and unwind.
Super 7 HD Yes Game Educational and relaxing game

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Wasta

September 21, 2010 8 Comments

Listen to this postWasta is a small city in south Dakota with a population of 75 people. But “Wasta” is whom you know in Kuwait or how strong is your social network. The equivalent of wasta in English would be “Cronyism”. In Cuba it is known to be “Sociolismo” but in Russia it is called “Blat” and in China called “Guanxi” and finally in Germany has a longer word that I can not even pronounce “Vetternwirtschaft”.  So what is “Wasta”? Wasta is your social network and how you can maximize the use of your relationships. Wast is calling somebody you know to do you a favor that you have to repay back sooner or later. It is a way to overcome bureaucracy and unnecessary delays in the routine work. But like everything useful in life, you can misuse wasta to get what you are not entitled for. You have to “Pull some strings” sometimes to get what you deserve, but some people pull “stronger” strings to get what you deserve before you. Some of my friends says that they use wasta just to make sure that they are getting what they should get. But the question is: how did they know that whatever they got by wasta was meant for them?

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Don’t Complain, It is only Hot!

July 11, 2010 3 Comments

Weather forecast Listen to this postThe weather in Kuwait is intolerable, I hear complains about the weather from everybody and from every direction. The complains are coming from Kuwaitis and ex-patriots who lived in Kuwait for at least 15 year. So, what is new? If you are wondering what is the temperature like in Kuwait then you have to understand that at midnight the temperature was 31oC (87oF). The expected highs for the next few days is above 50oC (122oF). OK, so the temperature is high and the weather is intolerable but we should look at the bright side of living in Kuwait. With the hot weather, Kuwait never had a natural disaster. Kuwait never experience an earthquake that registered more than 3 on Richter scale. Kuwait never experience tsunami, floods, hurricanes or volcanic eruption. On top of that, Kuwait is blessed with oil and a lot of it. the natural resource is enough to tolerate the hot weather. So we can afford air conditioning and nice cars to drive around in the hot afternoons. Nest time you sweet go ahead and take a cold shower and enjoy life.

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Sexual Harassment or Office Relationship?

April 25, 2010 9 Comments

Listen to this postWhat would you do if a co-worker was sexually harassed? You may not accept sexual harassment and you would report it right away to the right person for immediate action. But before reporting the harassment, you should make sure that you know the difference between office relationship and sexual harassment. The result of surveyed workers in the US stated that 40% of the surveyed workers admitted they dated a co-worker and 18% of them had dated more than one co-worker (Pearce II, 2010). The age group between 35 to 44 are most active group in the office relationship group because 44% of them admitted a relationship (Pearce II, 2010). Pearce II (2010) state that the age group of 55 and older are also participating in the office relations activity with lesser percentage of 34%. Office relationship is defined as “relationship between two individuals employed by the same company that advances beyond the socially acceptable employer-employee association and the work-related duties” (Pearce II, 2010, p. 38). Office relationship might be desirable by large number of employees but sexual harassment can lead to “employee turnover, absenteeism, insurance costs and lost productivity” (Popovich & Warren, 2010, p. 45). If you have been sexually harassed by a co-worker then you should:

  • Remain calm and do not start blaming yourself.
  • Tell the offender that you do not like what was done and it should be stopped immediately.
  • Report the harassment to the right person. Fill the forms or write a litter of complain to you superior.
  • Follow up on the investigation and disciplinary action. Make sure it will not happen to you or other co-worker.

But before you file a complain for your co-worker, make sure that they have been harassed.

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References:

Pearce II, J. A. (2010). What execs don’t get about office romance. [Article]. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51(3), 39-40.

Popovich, P. M., & Warren, M. A. (2010). The role of power in sexual harassment as a counterproductive behavior in organizations. [Article]. Human Resource Management Review, 20(1), 45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2009.05.003

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Pricing Initial Public Offering

April 4, 2010 1 Comment

Listen to this postIf the price of an initial public offering (IPO) is too low then the issuer losses the ability to raise the intended capital. The issuer would like to take advantage of this opportunity to raise capital, but with lower price the investor would take advantage of this low price and resell it for a marginal profit (Smith, 2001). The issuer would only receive capital from the IPO but the marginal profit from under pricing would be lost (or gained by the investor). Investors, especially the informed ones, would not bid for an overpriced IPO simply because they do not profit from it, at least in the near future. As a result the issuer will not raise the intended capital. The best way to set a price for an IPO is to use the services of an underwriter, where the underwriter has the market information and skill to estimate an attractive price for the IPO (Ibbotson & Sindelar, 2001). Experienced underwriter would have a good reputation for setting the right (underpriced) IPO to attract enough investors to raise the intended capital and benefit the investors with marginal profit.

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References

Ibbotson, R., & Sindelar, J. (2001). Initial Public Offerings. In The new corporate finance: where theory meets practice (pp. 309-317). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Smith, C. (2001). Raising capital: theory and evidence. In The new corporate finance: where theory meets practice (pp. 277-293). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

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The Results of Wrong Relationship Marketing

March 25, 2010 10 Comments

RakazListen to this postReligious and patriotic campaigns are getting more intense and popular in the last few years in Kuwait. The campaigns are trying to reach the young generation in the age of 16-26 and those with modernized thinking and western influence. Most of the advertisement and billboards that display the campaigns massages are showing young men wearing western outfit (T-shirts and pans) while the Deshdash (traditional men outfit)  is never used in these messages. The western outfit may be used intentionally to relate to the targeted group but at the same time wrong message might be delivered. Showing the young generation in non-traditional outfit encourage them to abandon the traditional principles which is directly connected with religion and patriotism.

I have done an extensive research on the wrong relationship marketing done by Coca-Cola in India and would like to share the research with you. The researched case might not be similar to the above subject but would present the consequences of building the wrong relationship. Please click here to read the full research.

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Multicultural Business Environment

March 23, 2010 8 Comments

Team Work

Multicultural Team Work

Listen to this postMost of the difficulties in managing multicultural teams are resided in the cultural diversities and time difference which mainly lead to miscommunication (Chitakornkijsil, 2009). Culture evolves with time as the workers integrate into an effective group and adapt to the external environment efficiently to carry on their work (Edewor & Aluko, 2007). Organization culture, according to Edewor and Aluko (2007), is the “assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization’s members and their behaviors” (p.189). Cultural diversity has two dimensions, the first consist of age, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual affection orientation which molds the workers self-image and fundamental worldview. The second dimension influence the workers self-esteem and definition since it consists of “educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, religious belief” (Edewor & Aluko, 2007, p. 190).

Edewor and Aluko, (2007) suggest the following guidelines to overcome multicultural differences at workplace:

  1. Leaders should set themselves as a good example and address myths, stereotype and cultural differences.
  2. Communicate in writing the rules that forbid prejudice and discriminatory behaviors.
  3. Offer training courses, or embed training material in existing courses, that address multicultural differences and the benefits of these differences.
  4. Recognize individual differences and note that some people may view the following differently: authority, acceptance of power dissimilarity and desire for neatness and organization.
  5. Seek comments from minority groups to break the glass ceiling and show importance to the minority groups.
  6. Revamp reward systems to reinforce the importance of effective diversity management.
  7. Sponsor and encourage social events that mix teams together like cruise ship trips and getaways for global teams and picnics and Christmas parties for domestic teams.
  8. Maintain flexible work environment that enable people to work according to their needs.
  9. Monitor the organizations policies and practices to ensure good environment for all employees.

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References

Chitakornkijsil, P. (2009). Communication in global cultural teams and international communication challenge. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 1(4), 102-112.

Edewor, P., & Aluko, Y. (2007). Diversity management, challenges and opportunities in multicultural organizations. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities & Nations, 6(6), 189-195.

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Census Department Old Methods

March 22, 2010 2 Comments

Census StickerListen to this postThe sticker shown on the right hand side is used by the census department to mark the counted houses during this years census. The sticker is made of paper and posted on the wall by the strongest glue I ever known. All attempts to remove theses stickers were  unsuccessful. The funny thing is the same stickers with exactly the same design have been in use by the census department as long as I can remember (and you should know that I am old!). I do not understand why a different method is used by now since technologies have advanced in different ways.

Census office markingGoogle Earth and Google maps give good pictures of all buildings in Kuwait. I think investing some money to buy the updated pictures is better than manually gluing the stickers and post them on each building in Kuwait. Small chip that cost around $2 is inserted under the sheep skin to help the owner to find his sheep when lost of stolen. Sheep owners in Kuwait had switcher from the old method of making their sheep with special paint to the state of art electronic chips because of their efficiency. However the census department is still using paint to mark the houses! I am not sure, but maybe the old methods are still efficient and cost-effective.

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Change Management: Transforming from Caterpillar to Butterfly

March 16, 2010 10 Comments

The Caterpillar is happy at this state

Listen to this postSpring time in Kuwait and the butterflies are filling the air for more than a week now. Many of us forget that the beautiful butterflies were caterpillars. The caterpillar is slow moving worm that many of us would not even touch. When the time is right, the caterpillar select a place to build a cocoon around it and start the transformation process. During the transformation the caterpillar would not regret its decision and stop, go back or change its mind. The process continue until the full transformation takes place. The caterpillar use to be  expert in synchronize its legs to move from one place to another. Now the caterpillar is a flying butterfly that does not old experience to move since it can fly fast form one point to anther.

Transformation process in the Cocoon

Many companies are having average performance and would like to change to compete for the top spot in their businesses. Hesitation take place while the transformation effort is in progress or when facing the first unexpected obstacle. The company would have three choices: 1) Enforce the change with full support for top management, 2) Continue the change effort with average results just to save face, 3) Abandon the change effort quietly to go back to the comfort zone. If the caterpillar does not change it will remain as a caterpillar for the rest of its live while the rest of the caterpillars had transformed to butterflies and flew away.

The end result

The caterpillar use to be happy at the state it is in but after sometime it realizes that it is time to change and move to another state. The caterpillar would know when is the right time, so it builds the cocoon around itself and get busy transforming, no hesitation and no regrets. The caterpillar would finally emerge from the cocoon as a beautiful butterfly and stay as a butterfly. The change is from a slow-moving caterpillar that needs tree branches for transportation to a flying butterfly that move from one flower to another.

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