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  How pharma takeover has turned into publicity drug The biggest business story this week has been the proposed takeover of pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca by US giant Pfizer. The buyer’s history stretches back to 1849, since when it has notched up a run…
• Three steps for effective management in the brave new world of work Despite significant UK investment in management training, many managers tell us that the moment they step out of the classroom, “life happens” – making it hard for them to apply the skills they’ve learned.…
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  River Island battles flood of complaints over offensive product River Island was forced to take one of their products off the shelves this week after a number of Twitter users threatened to boycott the shop.
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  Café dig at Tube strike battered and fried on social media Many London commuters were even more frustrated and stressed than usual this week after having to deal with a 48-hour tube strike – but many people still couldn’t see the funny side of a…
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  New York’s Finest Mess as hashtag becomes law unto itself Launching a Twitter campaign with your own, custom-built hashtag is a gamble – particularly if your organisation’s actions have attracted some opposition.
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  Wolfson pay gesture turns tide on “fat cat” stories The media loves writing stories about “fat cat” company bosses pocketing millions in bonuses, but this week they had to write a story explaining the exact opposite.
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  Aston Martin takes smooth drive through recall crisis Product recalls can be disasters for companies. If they’re handled badly, and public sentiment turns against the brand, it can even end up meaning the end of a business. But there are ways to…
• Actress left Scarlett faced over Oxfam and SodaStream furore Media favourite Scarlett Johansson has made the headlines for something other than a new movie this week. After eight years in the role, the actress has stepped down as an ambassador for Oxfam, saying…
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  Church of England diocese sees the light on social media use They are already being called the “Twitter Commandments” – and with a huge amount of media coverage, it seems that a key Church of England district has scored a hit with its rules on…
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  Malaysian PM’s spinach misfire triggers pop-eyed reaction This week the Malaysian prime minister has been learning how not to communicate to the electorate. Appearing in a viral video clip, Datuk Seri Najib Razak questioned why people were complaining about the cost…
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  Transforming to jelly: lessons from Michael Bay’s Samsung flub Presenting in front of a big audience is something that few people relish, but it can’t go any worse than walking offstage halfway through. This week, Transformers director Michael Bay hit the news for…
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  Twitter debacle sends pub chef to pastures new News outlets often cover workers getting into hot water through misuse of social media, but this week it seems that it was an employer who had the wrong end of the networking stick.
• Advertorial: NEST launches online resources to help SMEs get ready for auto-enrolment Get a head start on automatic enrolment now by taking a look at our resources for employers and registering for the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) countdown emails and webinars.
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  Royal Mail shares no panacea for company image It may have gone down the path of privatisation, but this week the Royal Mail was still facing the spectre of trade union strikes – despite efforts to use the media to smooth things…
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  Grocery misconduct: milk and bread price questions stump Boris and Dave It’s a question often put to politicians in interviews, but this week, Boris Johnson and David Cameron have both shown they have little idea what a pint of milk or a loaf of bread…
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  LG smartphone launch proves to be Seoul destroying This week, a disastrous marketing campaign left 20 people injured and seven hospitalised.
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  Management input key to hiring the right candidates With the cost-cutting agenda still a live issue in many UK organisations, managers will increasingly be required to offer extra assistance in the recruitment process – and, indeed, should.
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  Rolling Stone brand takes hit over “bomber” cover This week saw a 47-year-old magazine, considered an institution in the publishing world, facing an onslaught over the cover of its latest issue – with many retailers refusing even to stock it.
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  Five tips for preventing electronic communication blunders Ever been in a video conference where you can’t get a word in edgeways? Been forced to mediate as a staffer misinterprets the intent of an email? Had to firefight after a worker publishes…
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  Tea and biscuits calm hostilities in Woolwich aftermath This week, a simple gesture received huge coverage in the news, and earned those behind it considerable praise.
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  Abercrombie & Fitch boss blunders on brand identity According to the Independent, estimates suggest that “around two-thirds of America’s clothes-buying population now fall into the plus-size category, generally deemed to be US size 14 and above”. But clothing brand Abercrombie &…
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  Cherie Blair’s four Cs for female entrepreneurs In the work that she has carried out for her Foundation for Women, Cherie Blair has acquired a unique perspective on the challenges that face female entrepreneurs – especially the things that are holding…
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  How Helen Mirren drummed up a new following It could have been a PR disaster for one of our most-cherished stars, but instead it turned into some great coverage for everyone involved.
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  Reginald D Hunter row shows value of background checks Comedian and Have I Got News For You regular Reginald D Hunter has faced reams of negative headlines this week after doing a high-profile stand-up routine in which he used a racist epithet …
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  Katherine Jenkins backed over Daily Mail attack The Daily Mail – and specifically its columnist Jan Moir – are no strangers to writing cutting personal stories on celebrities, and this week they were at it again. Monday’s article on Katherine Jenkins…
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  How managers can make the most of internet memes You could be forgiven for not being aware of it, but this coming Sunday is Ed Balls Day. And for those wondering why the shadow chancellor has suddenly been honoured with his very own…
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  Lack of transparency blighted BBC North Korea probe The BBC has had a difficult few months, with scandal after scandal hitting home at a time when it is financially strapped. This week, the Panorama team was facing criticism for involving university students…
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  Skeletons in Paris Brown’s Twitter feed trigger resignation It may seem like history is repeating itself after our recent coverage of Rob Wilson MP’s social media stumble – but it turns out that it’s not just politicians who need to take more…
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  Rob Wilson tweet gaffe an impulsive misfire Reading East MP Rob Wilson got himself into hot water this week by tweeting a link to a porn site. He apparently intended to share a political story about Work and Pensions Secretary Iain…
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  Evening Standard slip risks wider press restrictions “Things can only get better”, read the headline – but for the sake of a few hours, the story may have cost one person their job, one newspaper a seat at political briefings, and…
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  Ahmed conspiracy theory gaffe demeans political class With the Conservative party and David Cameron on the back foot, this ought to be a good week for Labour to make some ground in the polls. But the latest blow to their party…
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  How to make the big decisions in management Every day, we all make countless decisions. Some of these can be minor – such as what colour socks to wear – and so are relatively inconsequential. In some aspects of life, though, decisions…
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  Councillor’s gaffe shows alarming lack of media awareness He may well have apologised and called it an indiscretion in a radio interview – but a councillor in Cornwall has nonetheless been forced to resign over a comment he made way back in…
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  Six skills for leaders of social businesses Senior executives are sadly quite famous for not getting social media. They veer from not really bothering with it to not seeing the benefits of it. A lack of clear ROI is a significant…
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  Geek Speak: a guide to phraseology Geek: “Our devices are having handshake problems related to the recognition of communications protocol.” English: “Sorry – you can’t use your iPhone to access your work files today.”
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  Tesco chief forces newspapers to wake up and smell the coffee An air of suspicion over big business still prevails in the UK, and in some cases it may be justified. But this week saw supermarket giant Tesco fighting to defend its investment in an…
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  How to encourage innovation in business Most discussion about innovation tends to focus on two extremes. Either innovation is about big science and product development. Or it’s about creativity and culture. Both are of course crucial, but essentially innovation is…
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  Acting BBC boss lacked training to deal with Sky interview Doing a TV news interview is a daunting business, especially when it’s a “down-the-line” number that requires you to stare directly into the camera lens and hold your gaze throughout. That’s why we always…
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  IBM report reveals the key to social business success Social business, and indeed social media as a whole, often struggles to achieve the results it should. Research earlier this year found that just 13% of IT professionals thought their internal social networks were…
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  Addison Lee boss Griffin shamed over deaf footballer rant Writing a controversial letter to a newspaper, when you have a reasonably large public profile, is pretty much guaranteed to get you coverage. This week, John Griffin – chairman of mini-cab firm Addison Lee…
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  Remember to put the social into social business Proving the ROI of social technologies is arguably the most pressing issue in the industry today. Senior executives are now demanding to see how the use of social media is actually making a difference…
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  The management perils of staff presenteeism Sickness absence levels have fallen from 7.7 days per employee per year in 2011 to 6.8 days this year. At first glance, this decrease looks like a cause for celebration, but when we look…
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  How Ford are using communities to improve their business The car industry doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes to responding to user demands. Ever since Frederick Taylor defined scientific management, the car industry has epitomised this Make and Sell philosophy. Even…
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  Media infamy for Brighton restaurant that scorned customers Most businesses try to live by the mantra “the customer is always right” – but it seems like that’s not the case when it comes to one particular “all you can eat” restaurant.
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  How do I deal with the office gossip? The office bigmouth is often one of the most difficult characters to cope with in your working environment. While overhauling this bombastic and indiscreet personality would be the ideal answer, coping strategies are perhaps…
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  Boris Johnson speech at Olympic parade shows value of spontaneous approach Rousing speeches are far from the norm these days, let alone from UK politicians – but this week we got one.
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  Sun manager makes big call on Harry pictures This week there have been few other stories that have attracted the same amount of attention as Prince Harry’s antics. While on a trip to Las Vegas he was photographed playing ‘strip billiards’ with…
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  Are you managing your organisation’s “personal brand”? Personal branding as a concept is one I’m sure you’re all familiar with now. Whilst the concept has been around for over 70 years, it has really taken off in the age of the…
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  The British Cycling school of innovation British cycling is going through a period of success that has never before been seen on these shores, and maybe will never be seen again. They transferred their incredible success on the track in…
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  When you should turn off Twitter As regular readers of my blogs here at Professional Manager will know, I’m a staunch advocate of the benefits of social media at work. For instance I believe that aside from the fantastic benefits…
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  O2 demonstrates the value of honest communication It’s been a tough few days for mobile phone company O2. The problems began on Wednesday afternoon when some users lost the signal on their phones, and it didn’t take long for Twitter to…
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  Treasury minister Chloe Smith’s “Paxman moment” analysed As a media training company, it was this week impossible for us to ignore what has been dubbed the latest “car-crash” interview with Jeremy Paxman. In the debacle, junior Treasury Minister Chloe Smith appeared…
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  You can’t get a good culture through social media As regular readers of my blogs will know, I am very much of the opinion that social media is a force for good in the workplace. New research by Deloitte suggests that managers are…
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  How to stop the fraud culture The morning after a fraud is discovered is always fraught with concerns as business leaders and the managers on the shop floor try to identify why specific signs weren’t spotted. Often there are attempts…
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  Cameron’s insights on political media relations too close for comfort He’s a former PR man himself, and from what we’ve heard recently has been, at times, very close to senior members of the press. But this week the Prime Minister has stated that the…
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  How to get on board with risk management If the objective of boards is to drive their businesses forward while managing risk and respecting stakeholders, why do so many of the people charged with managing risk struggle to get time on the…
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  Can your colleagues improve how you think? For decades knowledge management has aimed to take the knowledge we each have and spreading it throughout the organisation. Thinkers such as Nonaka and Takeuchi conceptualised the knowledge sharing process into models such as…
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  It’s a good thing that the “jolly” is changing Maybe it’s because I have been spending an unhealthy proportion of my time watching re-runs of Mad Men, and the constant flow of client dinners and drinks is threatening to burn a hole…
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  Lesson Five: The best team doesn’t always win With Jane out of the picture, sobbing in the horizon while ensuring Lord Sugar that he’s really missing out, the show is on the lookout for a new villain. And it’s hard to imagine…
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  Need for more employee training on corruption avoidance At a recent meeting with a mining company, I was impressed with the way health and safety was embedded into its business ethos – the firm began its video conference with a five-minute-long story…
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  Alan Davies Hillsborough comments no laughing matter in Liverpool This week, TV celebrity Alan Davies was in the spotlight for “insensitive” behaviour after he criticised Liverpool Football Club’s decision not to play on the 15 April anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
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  Office flings: you know you shouldn’t. But maybe you should? This week I am tackling the office romance. There, that got your attention, didn’t it? Everyone loves a bit of scandal and gossip; everyone likes a love affair. But the office romance is equivalent…
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  Francis Maude pumps gallons of hysteria with ill-starred interview “Buy… don’t buy. Panic… don’t panic.” This seemed to be the government’s message in response to the potential strike this week by petrol tanker drivers.
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  Social Media wants to be your friend: will you accept, or reject? Whether you hail the new frontier or curse the modern nuisance, there is no doubt social media has changed the game for us all. Never before have we been so obsessed with trading and…
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  Good days and bad days So you’ve seen our take – all backed up by serious research but in practice what effect does the day of the week have on you as a manager?
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  How to box clever on public rows As flare-ups go, it was pretty extreme. On the surface, it hard to see the management lesson in boxer David Haye’s violent altercation with Dereck Chisora after the latter has followed in the footsteps…
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  How to avert disaster in a media crisis Hardly a week goes by without a well-known company facing a media crisis, and this week was no exception. Apple is in the news after requesting the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to audit several…
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  Ethics: It’s not them, it’s you It’s my first outing as Ethics Girl, so I thought I’d better warn you.
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  Managing the changing world of office technology On paper, it seems like a sensible idea: mobile workers having permission to use their own handsets (eg, iPhone, Blackberry or Android smartphones), tablets or laptops in the office for use and connectivity, as…
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  Alert Sainsbury’s is bread for success with re-brand A three-year-old girl has led to one of the UK’s largest companies changing the way it brands one of its products. Sainsbury’s is renaming its tiger bread after young Lily Robinson wrote to the…
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  Oops: Tom Watson MP in viral intern Twitter gaffe Usually so astute on Twitter in his commentary on the phone-hacking saga, Labour MP Tom Watson was hoist by his own digital petard today after leaving himself logged on while he was at a…
• Expert help: how can I improve my public speaking skills? First and foremost: ditch the PowerPoint. From school to the boardroom, your audience will likely have seen someone reading a slide full of bullet points a hundred times, and will instantly switch off from…
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  Revolutionary thoughts on employee incentives that caught Branson’s eye Fancy a dose of original thinking to spice up your management-training seminars? You could do a lot worse than open your eyes and ears to this presentation from the Royal Society for the Encouragement…
• Expert help: how do I keep an employee’s personal problems off the gossip radar? When a normally dedicated and effective team member experiences performance problems it is the job of the leader to achieve the best outcome for the employee, the team and the organisation.
• Love lessons: case studies in handling workplace relationships Kristina felt sexually harassed by the inappropriate advances of a colleague – and an investigation was triggered…
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  Stitches in time: a potted history of workwear From City law-firms to trendy design companies, there can be no single definition of office attire. A conversation in a publishing company in London addresses the wearing of a suit to the office. The…
• Tips to sleep-management perfection 1 SAFETY FIRST You’re not fit to drive to work for more than 20 minutes if you’ve had less than four or five hours’ sleep. Don’t risk it.