Business and Leadership Seminars
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) :
"Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large"(World Business Council of Sustainable Development). There is an increasing interest taken by external stakeholders in the activity of organizations and the impact of their actions on the society. Social responsibility is seen as an integral part of the wealth creation process and businesses that interact with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis have a competitive edge that cannot be ignored. A company that does not ignore its ethical obligations therefore is likely to attract more professional staff and to generate more business. This course will introduce into principles of CSR and its implications on the business as a whole.
Diversity- Working in Multicultural Teams :
Diversity in human capital can lead to increased creativity and efficiency, but managing multicultural teams or working as team-member in a culturally diverse workforce can be very challenging and often demanding. People have to have a high ability to adapt as well as to respect and understand other cultures and beliefs. Personal beliefs can extremely vary and an effective leader needs to understand how to behave, motivate, influence and communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds. This course will introduce into the characteristics of leadership and tools to manage a highly diverse workforce in the context of an existing organizational culture.
Macroeconomics, Business Cycles and Sustainable Strategy :
The development of every economy is characterized through periods of expansion that are followed by periods of recession. Industrial dynamics are subject to changes in these periods and a company needs to be able to cope with them in order to sustain. During the phase of expansion, production and employment rates increase, while the recession period typically results in inversely proportional characteristics. In a declining economy it is not only important to sustain, but also to being able to use existing knowledge through applying it on new services or products that will be demanded once the economy has recovered and starts growing again. This course will provide an introduction in the principles of macroeconomics and the impact of business cycles on a corporation as well as show tools and methods that help companies to sustain during times of recession.
Stakeholder Management :
Effective stakeholder management is a prerequisite to achieve strategic perspectives. It is therefore useful to make a stakeholder mapping and to analyze influences and relationships between the various key stakeholders. Important stakeholders in an organization are employees, clients, suppliers, the government and last but not least the public community. Ethical values are sometimes in conflict between stakeholders and organizations as many still perceive the bottom line of a business being independent from social responsibility. Well communicated values, however may not only improve the reputation of an organization, but may also help to increase revenues, competitiveness and help a company to sustain in a fast moving economy. This course will explore ethical responsibilities to stakeholders and their impact from a social, environmental and economic perspective.
Managing Change in a Rapidly Changing Environment :
This training will introduce to methods that help to embed change in existing processes. Further it will provide solutions to managing change in a culturally diversified environment and for businesses with a highly diversified product portfolio or their counterparts with a high level of industry specialization. Change can occur at any time and at any department of your business and may impact competitiveness and labor productivity.
Human Resource Management- Performance and Evaluation Tools :
Various areas of human resource management are critical to the performance of an organization. Employee empowerment and flat hierarchies help to stimulate employees and to create a good work atmosphere, but this also requires certain control mechanisms to monitor this new freedom. Performance management can help to improve leadership skills and to strengthen confidence, to make employees feel valued, to increase morale and commitment and to achieve goals. This course will introduce several tools for employee performance and evaluation and will provide an introduction to statistical methods that support these processes and decision making.
Organizational Development :
In today’s economy organizations operate in a rapidly changing environment. In the organizational development course, the attendees will discover innovative ways of collaboration and approaches to achieve personal and corporate goals. Each organizational system has its own attributes and degrees of alignment that make a company a highly complex system. Organizational development helps to improve strategic planning, organization design, leadership development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity, and work-life balance.
Organizational innovation, job satisfaction and labor productivity :
Job satisfaction is increasingly gaining importance and is generally recommended to be prioritized by employers as it impacts final results and productivity. Employees, who are able to identify themselves with the organization they work for and who are satisfied with their employers are more creative, committed and loyal. Cultural issues certainly play a great role and motivational tools can significantly vary between cultures. This training takes an approach that introduces to practical implications in employee motivation and organizational innovation.
Competition and Competitiveness :
In order to remain competitive an organization needs to know the external environment that impacts its business, but also work methods and approaches of their direct and indirect competitors. This course will introduce into the world of competitiveness as well as to evaluation and assessment methods based on the theories of Michael E. Porter, the leading authority on company strategy and competitiveness.
Decision Making- Internal Influences and the Decision Making Process :
Decision making is the study of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. Out of many alternatives a manager has to choose the one that promises the highest efficiency from both an economical and a social point of view. Even though uncertainty often cannot be eliminated, it can be reduced to an extent that the risk taken is calculable. But decision making also requires a person’s ability to motivate and influence others. This course will introduce in various tools of decision making and in related social, ethical and behavioral considerations.
Research & Development (R&D) :
R&D is an investment in your company’s future. Constant improvement of existing processes and development of new ones increase your chance of staying competitive. Existing products and processes will once be outdated and will be replaced with new technology. The first company that introduces a new product creates a temporary quasi-monopoly and will keep it until successors follow. In rapidly changing markets such as the Middle East investment in R&D is even more important.