Managing People - An Art

The Art of Managing People

By Goke Ilesanmi

Managing people has always been a challenge everywhere. This is because people are difficult to manage and most managers too lack the skill of effective people management. This is why we are X-raying this book entitled "The Art of Managing People". It is co-written by Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr.Anthony Alessandra, two brilliant management experts.

Hunsaker is a professor of management and director of management programmes, School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. He is a renowned consultant, speaker and author of many best-selling books on management. As for Alessandra, he is a highly-respected sales, marketing and management consultant as well as an award-winning public speaker. He has written more than 100 articles.

According to Hunsaker and Alessandra, the art of managing people productively and effectively is a dynamic process that is ever changing and evolving, and many of the managerial concepts proposed only a few years ago cannot and will not work in today's environment. These experts ascribe this development to the fact that people, business environment, government and world have changed, while scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labour.

Hunsaker and Alessandra submit that attracting, training, motivating and keeping employees have become much more difficult and expensive, adding that these will even get worse in the future. They submit that this text has been written to overcome many of the traditional manager-employee relationship problems. According to these authors, when a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the whole organisation are substantial.

These authors assert that the text offers you practical strategies, guidelines and techniques for developing interpersonal skills critical to the improvement of relations with employees; how to understand differences among people and behave accordingly; assessing and improving current working situations; creating trust between managers and employees, etc.

Hunsaker and Alessandra say person-to-person skills are central to the development of an effective team of satisfied and energetic workers. They educate that allowing your workers to express their own personalities and maximise their potential will reduce stress within the workforce, create a positive spirit throughout the company and increase the organisation's productivity and profitability.

This text is segmented into three parts of 19 chapters. Part one has a generic subject matter of building productive managerial relationships, and covers the first five chapters. Chapter one is entitled "Adjusting effectively to personal style differences". According to Hunsaker and Alessandra here, interactive management is a process of dealing with people as individuals in order to build trust, openness and honesty in the manager-employee relationship, thereby improving productivity in the organisational set-up. In their words, "To treat your employees as unique individuals, you as the manager must understand what makes them different from one another. With this knowledge, you can go about managing your employees as unique individuals with unique personalities, problems, and needs. This 'custom-tailored' approach to managing employees in an organisational setting is one of the major thrusts of interactive management."

Chapter two is entitled "Learning how to learn". These authors say here that successful managers in today's rapidly-changing world are distinguished not so much by a set of technical skills as by their ability to learn and adapt to the fluctuating demands of their careers. They stress that continuing success requires the ability to explore new opportunities and learn from past successes and failures.

Hunsaker and Alessandra say one purpose for studying the learning process is to understand how people go about generating concepts, rules and principles from their experiences as guides for their future behaviour, and how they modify these concepts to improve their effectiveness in new situations.

In chapters three to five, these authors discuss concepts such as doing unto others; deciding how to decide; and analysing transactional styles.

Part two is summarily woven together as "Interactive communication skills" and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters six to 13. Chapter six is entitled "The art of questioning". Here, Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that one of the most critical and valuable tools in the manager's arsenal of communication skills, is the art of questioning.

They add that the ability of the manager to ask the right questions at the right time to help his or her employees best is an essential and integral part of interactive management. "Skilful questioning simplifies the manager's job because it gets employees to 'open up'. The employee feels free to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, current situations, goals, and desires. With this knowledge, the manager is in a much better position to guide the employee to the ultimate achievement of personal, professional, and organisational goals," assert Hunsaker and Alessandra.

In chapters seven to 13, they beam their analytical searchlight on concepts such as the power of listening; projecting the appropriate image; communicating through voice tones; using body language effectively; spatial arrangements saying things; how your use of time talks; and making sure with feedback.

Part three, the last part has a general subject matter of interactive problem-solving and covers the last six chapters, that is, chapters 14 to 19. Chapter 14 is entitled "Problem-solving together". Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that when managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually something like "I don't know. I just do what has to be done". In the words of these authors, "Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, all would probably agree that making 'good' decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management."

In chapters 15 to 19, Hunsaker and Alessandra discuss concepts such as defining the problem; developing action plans; implementing action; following through; and what to do with what you have learnt.

As far as style is concerned, this text is on the high rung of the ladder. For instance, the language of the text is simple while the organisation of concepts is okay. The authors use graphical embroidery for visual reinforcement of readers' understanding. What's more, the title is short but assertive.

However, grammatical errors are noticed in the text. One of these is, "Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potentials..." (outside back cover), instead of "Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potential..." Note that "Potential" is an uncountable noun and therefore does not structurally take an "S"). Another error is that of structural redundancy, that is, "Much more difficult and much more expensive" (page xi) instead of the elliptical version "Much more difficult and expensive".

In spite of these errors, this text still passes for a masterpiece. It is a must-read and the tips must-apply for anybody that wants to become well educated in the art of management in the New Year.

5 Jobs Underwater

5 Interesting Jobs You Can Do Underwater

Life should be fun and interesting, if you get up in the morning thinking 'I'm dreading work today' then maybe it's time to broaden your horizons and see what other opportunities are out there. Have you ever thought about working underwater? It's definitely not your normal 9-5 job but there are lots of people making a good living from working underwater, here are some ideas to inspire you.

Underwater Archaeologist
A wealth of human history lies submerged at the bottom of lakes, seas and oceans of the world. An underwater archaeologist spends all their time unearthing these lost treasures. You could be examining anything from shipwrecks to exploring lost, underwater cities. The work is scientific with equal amounts of time spent on dry land researching treasures and planning the next excavation. If you're fascinated by history and enjoy diving then a career as an underwater archaeologist could be ideal for you.

Underwater welding
This is a highly specialised niche in the construction industry but also one that is very well paid. In certain situations, such as on an oil rig, it is often not possible to bring items onto dry land to get them welded. In these cases, experienced welders who have trained to work underwater with specialist equipment are drafted in to provide the necessary support. The work can be very challenging and the good pay is in compensation for inherent risk that comes with the job.

Dive instructor
If you like teaching and enjoy diving then why not consider a job as a diving instructor. The work can be demanding as you have to strike a balance between being a good host and having fun while ensuring the safety of your group. The hours can be a little unsociable too as you will generally be busiest at weekends and during annual holidays. Having said that, you will also have a great amount of freedom with the job and becoming a diving instructor could well be the first step on a long road towards owning your own diving school.

Underwater Photographer
Taking photographs underwater requires a different set of skills and equipment to that of photographers on dry land. It is a specialist job but also one that is in constant demand from magazines and art galleries. You could be shooting anything from coral reef and sharks to underwater models from fashion houses. The work is varied and you may well be asked to travel to far flung destinations around the world in order to get your shot. As well as photographers, underwater videographers make a good living doing essentially the same thing but with video.

Underwater Tour Guide
If you enjoy diving and consider yourself a good host then maybe you should try being an underwater tour guide. You could be guiding anyone from groups of experienced divers looking for the best diving spots to perhaps leading a tour of visitors wanting to swim with sharks. It can be a scary job at times and you have to accept responsibility for the safety of your group. However it's also a fun and varied role that lets you meet people from all around the world whilst living in an exotic location.

An Accumulation Of College Study Tips

If you plan on going to college you'll soon realize that in order to survive you are going to have to learn study skills. I was talking with a community college student the other day and one of the things he told me his instructors were preaching to him was that contrary to popular belief, college isn't just a place to learn a pre defined set of skills like you would at a Trade School. What happens in college is that throughout your tour, different professors will present you with different challenges. By facing these challenges and pressing forward, you will be forced to learn to solve all kinds of different problems. When you get out in the working world, you will face these same kinds of issues.

One of the professors told my friend even if you don't remember any facts from the courses you take while you're in college, the ability to solve problems presented by the professors will stay with you, and when your boss presents you with research tasks and needs information you'll be able to get it for them. There are different ways to get this research knowledge that will ensure you pass your classes with good grades and which will also help you become an asset in the field you wish to enter. Go over these different ideas and use them as necessary to pass your college classes.

Mnemonics are learning devices that help jog your memory and help you learn specific things. They are essentially associations that help you learn and comprehend specific concepts. They can either be words or maybe short poems which are related back to the data that you need to remember. This principle is based on the fact that arbitrary sequences based around boring subjects can be difficult to remember and retain, and that our psyche works better with personal, funny and spatial concepts that intrigue us. 

It works more on the principal of using natural memory to retain boring concepts since natural memory is inherent within all of us. For example an acronym is a popular type of Mnemonic. To illustrate if you needed to remember the initials for my name Brian Keith, that name might not be easy to remember unless you stored it in long term memory. But if you could remember the popular shoe British Knights, you could refer and think of that to remember my first and middle name. Another example of a Mnemonic is an association phrase. When I'm developing nested HTML tags I always think of the Mnemonic phrase, "The first tag on is the last tag off". This has to do with which order the html tags go on a particular line of code. Hopefully this puts things in some perspective for you.

Gleam Cards can be great for putting ideas and concepts into your short term memory and studying for tests, mid terms and final exams. Gleam Cards are just ideas and concepts that might be presented on a test. You can use 3x5 or 5x7 cards for these. I perfer 3x5 cards but to each their own right? A popular way to structure these is to put the question on the front and the answer to that question on the rear of the card. What you want to do is flip through these cards and try to answer the question. When you get stuck just refer to the answer on the back of the card. At first you'll be looking for the answers a lot. But after a while you should be able to answer all the questions on the Gleam Cards on your own without looking for the answers on the back. You want to keep using these cards until you can instantly answer the question without referring to the back of the cards. 

Another test taking technique is simply rewriting your list of notes from class. When you rewrite your notes they will be neater and easier to read than what you wrote down in class. Then spend some time, maybe a couple hours and start fixating on these notes until all the material appears extremely familiar. This way when you see test questions that are similar to what you studied chances are you'll be able to pick the right answers through association. You can also transfer your notes in little chunks to Gleam Cards and use the same technique as I just mentioned above. 

Also if you have a dedicated and responsive professor ask them to view the notes you rewrote and ask them if you are missing anything major that may be on the test. Tell them you took a few hours rewriting these and if they could just spend 5 minutes viewing them and giving their input it would be highly appreciated. I always end up with the professor giving me a few things extra to include in my notes when I do this and get a few extra questions right on the test as a result. It's a great technique for squeezing a few extra points from your class.

Chances are if you are struggling with your class some of your fellow students are as well. Try to organize a group of fellow students to meet at one of your homes or a Starbucks to study together. Student support groups are helpful, if for no other reason than psychological. You are all there sharing your concerns and opinions about passing the class, and each of you will understand class concepts that the others don't. Sometimes a serious student brain storming session will help everyone involved get a higher grade and allow all of you to add concepts to your notes you might have missed out on initially. 

Sometimes being a student also means being a Private Detective. Bringing a tape recorder and recording all the class lectures isn't a bad idea. You can play the tape over and over when you get home and jot down ideas you might have missed during the original class lecture. This will give you the opportunity to compile a list of "killer" notes that could easily put you above the rest of the class. I come from a Human Resources background and one thing we are taught is potential is interesting but performance is everything. You may have that one classmate that seems naturally gifted and is 15% smarter than the rest of the class. But I guarantee if you focus and tape record the class sessions and study hard you can get as good of a grade as they do, then you can be the icon of the class.

Getting through college isn't as much about memorizing facts as it is using common sense, good study habits and being dedicated to studying while you are there. Even if you don't come from an academic background and lost out on some opportunities many gifted students got, you can still compete with them if you just focus. Our education system is supposed to offer the same opportunities to everyone regardless of how they were brought up as well as their financial status.

We all know it doesn't work out quite this way but you really can make it work out this way for yourself if you follow some of these proven principles. Society will be forced to recognize your talent if you just get out there and start using it! If you remain dedicated and focused in college great things will start happening for you sooner than you think. You'll even start viewing things from a much more positive perspective and all kinds of doors will start opening for you, and if you're not careful you might even forget where you came from because so much good fortune will start beating a path to your door.

First Day Back In School

This is my first day going back to school after an entire month off. I have 5 classes left before I graduate with my B.A. in Psychology. I’ll be going back to school full time until the end of February, then I’ll have just one class left after that. I get to take the month of March 2011 off since I’ve already taken CD 440 Drugs, Values and Society. Then in April 2011 you guessed it, my senior project. I’ve heard they’re going to make us write a 30 page research paper. We have to get our topic approved, so I’m going to try to get it done on Teenage Drug Addiction, since I’m very familiar with that topic, having met so many people over the years with drug problems. 

In case you weren’t aware there’s a very big problem with drug abuse in Southern California in general, but in Oceanside, CA. and all over San Diego, it’s about as bad as it gets. Fortunately I’m all about helping people and choose not to use any recreational drugs, but sadly too many people these days do. We have a serious drug problem here in California and our jails are so full of people getting busted just for smoking marijuana, I think it’s about time the government legalized and regulated it. This way they would make more money and our jails wouldn’t be quite as crowded as they are now, but I guess that’s a whole different topic.

So 5:30 PM today I’ll be back in the saddle at National University. Wish me luck. This blog will not be theme oriented. I use it just to take a break from many of the Internet Marketing tasks I do on the internet and will just be writing what I want on here. I work with a partner from Madison Heights, VA Jeff West and we’ve done lots of different Internet Marketing and Network Marketing stuff over the years, and have made quite a bit of money together doing it. In fact we’re just about at full-time income again which I’m pretty stoked about, and what’s even more amazing is that we did it all through SEO. 

But now we’re making the shift into Paid Marketing methods and will be giving them an honest shot over the next 3-6 months. The failure rate in general is pretty high in paid marketing. I think part of the reason is because people just don’t have enough seed capital to get started, but that’s a smaller reason than a lot of people thing. Most people who made it big in PPC and CPV started out almost completely broke, luckily we’re not quite in that category. But I think the biggest reason people take nosedives is just because they don’t test enough or stick in the game long enough for it to pay them.

Lets hope PPC and CPV leads to the higher road of financial freedom over the next year or two for Jeff and I. I have plans to become a Mental Health Worker or to do some other similar job when I graduate from college, like being a Staff Member at a rehab facility, those are my backup plans. But my heart really is in this making money from home stuff, as I’ve had great success with it over the years and am moderately successful with it right now. 

I guess you can say I’m putting up this blog in an attempt to be completely transparent regarding how it’s going for us, and if we’re doing something that peaks your interest, you can just contact me and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction. When I was younger I always had fantasies about making billions of dollars and taking over the world, but these days I’d be stoked just to know I bring in enough net income to get all my bills paid and to be able to save some money each month after this and only working a few hours per week to do this.

Back in 1991 I was in an elite Marine Corps Paratrooper unit called 1st Anglico and did my entire 4 year tour there (I’m 41 now). I hurt my back pretty bad on a parachute jump, so I get a small pension, but not nearly enough to retire on. So my goal is to keep learning more about how free and paid traffic works until I can walk away with a net profit each month of more than I would make if I did 20 years of honorable military service. 

In fact this is where my heart and mind are set and you can say I feel I’m entitled to at least that much. One of the things I’ve learned over the last year is it’s more about working smarter than harder. Some things take forever if you try to do them all yourself. I’ve learned to outsource almost all of my SEO tasks, and it’s freed up more of my time. Jeff and I are on the verge of going full-time now, as we’re almost at $100 per day, and this income is pretty darn stable.

If you wanna get to know me, just keep reading my blog. I put this up so people like you trying to get ahead in life like myself, will have someone to relate to. I don’t believe in secrets because there are trillions of dollars out there to be made by marketers like us, and like I said before I’d be very happy with a high 5 figure income, and I know many people reading this blog feel the exact same way. I have a ton of experience in marketing and it’s all starting to come together now. It really does take time to learn all the ropes, but it’s definitely possible. Jeff and I even have a retail site called Poker Stars Direct that’s doing about 20k yearly, but it needs a major content overhaul. Once we get unique content on each page, which will cost about $8,000, the site should be doing about $100,000 per year in gross sales.

So that’s about all for starters, obviously I have a lot more to share with you than this, but we gotta start somewhere right? Overall the courses we’ve bought on the internet to teach us this stuff do teach a lot, but for some reason everything we’ve purchased so far only teaches pieces of the puzzle and don’t provide us with the full picture. Certain references are outdated, or don’t even work, and some of the real juicy stuff steps are left out so we need to figure it out on our own or just give up on it. I don’t mean give up on Internet Marketing as a whole, I just meant one specific type of task.

All I can tell you is if you keep reading this blog and learning about my life is that I’ll be completely transparent with you. The reason is that I have nothing to lose at this point and am bound determined to make a full-time income on the internet the right way, by providing value to the marketplace without hurting anyone in the process. Hopefully I didn’t leave anything else out. I have to start getting ready for school in the next few hours, but I’ll keep you updated

Online Degree

Success Is What I Need - Should I Get An Online Degree?

By : Judy Wellsworth    


If you have been looking for the right steps to succeed then it may be in your best interest to look into an online degree. Statistically speaking online degrees are pursued by mostly females between the age of 18 and 35 who have kids. It is this exact stat that makes it extremely important for not only that category but the ones who fall out of it to see the opportunities that are presented to them if they where to obtain an online degree. 

Almost everyone knows that getting an online Master’s degree is so popular because of its convenience. In a lot of cases you can get a degree from a fully accredited online school in your spare time in roughly under 2 years. Some schools even offer degree programs that offer you the opportunity to get a degree in as little as 9 months. This is all possible because of the fact that most and sometimes all of the coursework is completed in the comfort of your own home. You don’t have to worry about on-campus parking, gas costs, child care, and even money to eat out for lunch. 

Another great plus about online colleges is that you don’t need to live near a top accredited college to get a degree. This is great for people living in remote regions of the country, people with full time jobs, at home moms, or even the handicapped. A traditional education is not the only route to take when pursuing higher education. There are several fully accredited online schools that will offer you’re the degree you need. 

Now there are several different ways online courses are taught. It’s easy to get this information before you start your degree program. This is necessary because knowing the specifics about how a school teaches its courses is the second step after narrowing down a list of potential schools. 

In a lot of cases test and course work are completed at your convenience, and a lot of the time there is no time limit on particular course work. The rest of the course material is usually taught through some kind of live online media. By live online media I mean, using live online audio chats, chat rooms, instant messaging, and by the use of webcams. Usually the only materials a student needs to purchase besides their coursework is a headset with a microphone and a web cam. Most schools also offer recorded records of online sessions. 

These online classrooms are extremely effective when it comes to interactive learning, and it's all done from the comfort of your own home. The only down fall to them is that you need to fit your schedule around them. This is why it's so important to find out exactly how much scheduled time versus “at your convenience time” there is on a particular degree program. 

Getting an online degree is easy if you pick the school that fits you best. Make sure you get information on any financial aid or government grant opportunities available before you finalize what school you want. The only thing left to do is to make sure that the school is accredited with the local governing agency.