The development of managerial skills

July 2008

Since the end of the 1990s, companies have become aware of the role of managers and of the importance of helping them to manage teams and to motivate or mobilize their troops…in short, to be good managers. Today, more and more of these firms feel that all these general-purpose, standard training programs are next to ineffective. New approaches to the development of skills have appeared and deserve to be analyzed and compared. What are the issues they address? How do they work? What results can be expected?

This is the subject of this issue of CBB (Cahiers Bernard Brunhes) dedicated to the development of managerial skills.

It is focused on eight practical examples for an in-depth take on the theme, and on describing these new approaches, explaining in full the methodological principles that emerge from them and creating the link between the development of managerial skills and actual management. At a time when French employees are particularly critical of their superiors (see the findings of the international survey of management conducted by BVA for BPI group in October 2007), this subject should be of interest to a good number of corporate management offices.

Managers in question? Questions of management?

BPI group works with companies to promote excellence in management. To better locate the underlying changes in practices and cultures, in November 2007 we, with the BVA Institute, carried out an international comparative study entitled "Employees Assess their Manager", questioning 5,500 employees from 10 different countries.

The study teaches us a lot, and the results deserve to be analyzed and put back into the context of companies today. Indeed, while employees' wants and needs are evolving, companies, for their part, have to be increasingly agile and responsive. Midway between the two, management has to find its bearings. These are the themes we have focused upon in the brochure "Managers in question? Questions of management?"

To get your PDF copy, thank you to send your electronic address by e-mail.

[ Back to top ]

Tempos de grandes mudanças - reestruturando vidas e empresas

Editora Senac Sao Paulo by Gilberto Guimaraes

Gilberto Guimarães, the manager of BPI group Brazil, has written a new book.

Dedicated to corporate restructuring. He reviews what years of experience have taught him in a sector that is uncompromising, complex but always exciting for anyone looking to deliver responsible management.

Book available in Portuguese only. www.editorasenacsp.com.br

[ Back to top ]

"Lève-toi et travaille" (Take Up Thy Bed and Work)

January 2008

Eyrolles by Jean-Michel Milon

At a time when the pundits are applauding "The French Who Rise Early", BPI group Consultant Jean-Michel Milon pokes fun at our national failings, portraying a daily routine where work is the be-all and end-all. We laugh with him at our crazy attitudes at work, our relations with shrinks, leaders and our lives...

His is an amusing, caustic but always tender view of the people he meets in the work place every day.

His album of drawings has just been published by Eyrolles and is on sale in bookshops : relevant, funny and a great.

[ Back to top ]

"Et leurs entreprises verront le jour" (And Their Businesses Will Arise)

Autrement by Bernard Brunhes & Jean-Michel Mestres

[Et leurs entreprises verront le jour] Bernard Brunhes, an acknowledged specialist in the art of industrial mediation, has in recent years embraced the cause of the creators of new businesses. Here, he gives some useful thoughts about creating a company, and thereby employment, explains the collective approach of his movement "France Initiative" and lays down ideas for future ways forward.

Today, "France Initiative" federates some 250 "platforms" which, in a bid to aid budding entrepreneurs, assembles chambers of commerce and professions, companies and banks with the financial backing of territorial community institutions and the Caisse des Dépôts. It is a crucial partnership which helps to kick-start the financing of thousands of nascent companies out in the field and gives company creators or buyers that extra mile of support.

Under some tough questioning, Bernard Brunhes specifically explains the action of these new "companions for company builders". It is also the opportunity for him to look back at his own career as a company manager. As a perfect connoisseur of social and corporate policies, he dwells on the value of the creation of jobs triggered by the boom in micro-companies, without concealing how much this owes to the pressure exerted by present-day circumstances. Here is a pragmatic man who invites the reader to commit whole-heartedly to a new momentum, which amongst other things is having a great effect on the unemployed by getting them back into a job.

[ Back to top ]

"Profession dirigeant" (Profession, Leader)

Dunod by Gérard Roth & Michal Kurtyka

[Profession Dirigeant] Written by two company men, this book deals with the essential components of the profession of leader: devising strategy, evolving and implementing this strategy through the existing managerial system and human resources, and embedding change in the long term. The book has a two-fold ambition, namely conceptual input and the providing of real tools. It develops original notions, such as resonance and dissonance in management, and thoughts about how organizations and the profession of manager are evolving.

It is illustrated with examples and analysis grids taken from managerial practice.

This reference work, from which emerges the indispensable human dimension of management, is addressed to company leaders, consultants and people keen to improve their knowledge of the management of change and the profession of leader. It will also be of great interest to students and potential future managers.

The amusing drawings by Tomi Ungerer add a little fun to proceedings. Michal Kurtyka is the CE of BPI group Poland.

[ Back to top ]

"Esta Desabalada Carreira"

By Gilberto Guimarães

[Esta Desabalada Carreira]

In this book, published in Brazil, Gilberto Guimarães, the CE of BPI group Brazil, has assembled the knowledge he has accumulated during his years spent as a teacher, consultant and director of leading companies. He has set out to give everyone looking for personal and professional advancement the pieces of the puzzle they need to achieve success.

Reading this book will always provide you with some excellent advice or a good suggestion to cope with the many different situations you encounter day to day.

[ Back to top ]

"Executives and Globalization"

Publication of no.18 of the Cahiers Bernard Brunhes

Since the beginning of the 1990s, major French groups have been constantly focused on internationalization. Their professions, their markets and their shareholders are increasingly going global.

But what are the consequences of this now fast-growing evolution for the jobs of company executives?

In the 1980s, relocation involved only those jobs requiring little or no qualification. Countries which were once seen as "emerging" are now, a little more each day, joining the ranks of world forces in research, engineering and intellectual services.

The impact of globalization on the professional careers of executives is very gradually changing.

A new international division is taking shape in the employment league.

But which shape? This current issue of the "Cahiers Bernard Brunhes" does not provide the answer but it does present points of observation, analysis and thought assembled and summarised on the basis of very many different studies.

Opinion polls have shown that amongst Europeans, the French are the only people who feel that internationalization is more of a threat than an opportunity. Will reading this paper help them to change their minds? We hope so.

Author: Jean Simonet

To order this issue of the "Cahiers", print out and return the order form below.

If you would like information about our upcoming publications, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]

"A successful merger means putting people first"

Mergers, acquisitions, alliances and other partnerships between countries are a long-term development and are now a major element in our economic landscape. Yet every second merger is a failure: although operations are undertaken for economic and financial reasons, they fail for reasons related to their social and human aspects.

This issue of the "Cahiers" seeks to understand these apparently contradictory phenomena.

It is based on a study carried out by BPI group and Médéric on companies which have experienced mergers and the reactions of various specialists. It provides an opportunity to compare the points of view of the company director, the investment banker, a former minister...and a philosopher. Subsequently, drawing on other studies or testimonials from managers and consultants' experiences, the work lists the conditions for successfully managing a merger.

Readers will find information and food for thought concerning the complex, multiform, uncertain, often painful and unsatisfactory reality of mergers. The work also provides elements to better anticipate the risks, seize the opportunities or identify the meaning of various elements as a manager or as an employee.

Authors: Pascale Portères, Philippe Audureau, André Comte-Sponville, Jean-Pierre Doly, Régis de Laroullière, Francis Mer, Claude Renié, Jean Simonet, Lionel Zinsou

To order this issue of the "Cahiers", print out and return the order form below.

If you would like information about our upcoming publications, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]

Successfully opening a County Council Home for the Disabled

By Jacques Soria and Stéphane Jenck

The Act of February 11, 2005, "for the equality of rights and opportunity, the participation and the citizenship of disabled persons" has led to the creation of County Council Homes for the Disabled (Maisons Départementales des Personnes Handicapées or MDPH).

They form a "one-stop" reception centre for the disabled with a system of mutualisation for the resources invested in them. An MDPH is classified as a GIP (public interest group) placed under the administrative and financial aegis of the chairman of each department's regional council. It has to meet new operating requirements that are explained and made clear.

To order this issue of "Décryptage", print out the order form and send it to us.

If you would like to be informed of future issues, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]

Individual or team coaching

By Alain Boureau

Whether practiced one-on-one or with a team, coaching is a powerful tool for assisting key players in businesses.

Those who sign on for a coaching programme are seeking to increase their self-awareness, develop their potential, learn new behaviour patterns, increase their problem-solving skills, better themselves and achieve a clearer perception of objective reality.

If you would like to take advantage of such an opportunity yourself, with your team, or share it with a colleague or group, this issue of "Décryptage" will help you understand what coaching can actually do for you and identify the prerequisites for success.

To order this issue of "Décryptage", print out the order form and send it to us.

If you would like to be informed of future issues, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]

Outplacement and mobility

By Robert Hayman

Whether it is voluntary or involuntary, mobility has become an inevitable part of the landscape in today's business careers.

Although some may succeed in going it alone on a tough job market with growing competition, hidden opportunities and a need for networking, any job seeker will be stronger and more effective when supported by a consultant who is an employment professional whose task is to help each individual advance in the pursuit of his or her career.

That is the goal of the outplacement services that we offer. This guidebook is designed to explain that process to you.

To order this issue of "Décryptage", print out the order form and send it to us.

If you would like to be informed of future issues, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]

GPEC, framework agreement and law on social cohesion

By Jean-Luc Verreaux and Sébastien Tillon

Since January 2005, the French law on social cohesion obliges companies to renegotiate their forward-looking career and skills management (GPEC, or Gestion Prévisionnelle des Emplois et des Compétences in France) every three years, opening up new prospects for aligning GPEC with framework agreements.

For the first time, the law links GPEC to anticipated economic layoffs. Indeed, the obligation to hold GPEC negotiations is a part of a preliminary section of the labour code that is explicitly named, "Forward-looking career and skills management. Prevention of the consequences of economic changes" ("Gestion de l'emploi et des compétences. Prévention des conséquences des mutations économiques").

A number of court decisions and the involvement of the labour administration have brought this issue into the headlines and placed new restrictions on businesses. This issue of "Décryptage" reviews the law of 18 January 2005 and offers some pointers for negotiating and implementing a forward-looking skill and career management plan that contributes to business efficiency.

To order this issue of "Décryptage", print out the order form and send it to us.

If you would like to be informed of future issues, please send your contact information to: publications@groupe-bpi.com

[ Back to top ]