Management Blog

IT departments ban Skype, embrace instant messaging

A new study suggests the internet telephone service Skype is being banned by a large number of IT departments due to security concerns, ITNews reports.

The findings, which were are based on research conducted at the AusCERT conference, indicate 40 per cent of respondents were blocking Skype as a result of concerns over information leaks.

The study also found that a third of respondents banned social media site Facebook and web based email program Hotmail at their organisations.

However, the survey authors point out that Australian IT managers are supporting employee use of other digital media communication tools.

They say nearly half of the survey respondents provided employees with an internal instant messaging tool, such as Microsoft Sharepoint, while a quarter offered their own blogging software.

'Smile test' for workers launched in Japan

A Japanese rail company has introduced a smile scanner to ensure its employees are emoting adequately, The Guardian reports.

According to the report, the Keihin Electric Express Railway Company's 500 employees are required to smile into a camera that’s connected to a computer that analyses their facial features.

Workers who aren’t beaming sufficiently receiving messages along the lines of: “Lift up your mouth corners”.

The helpful machine then prints out a customised ‘ideal smile’ that workers can refer to during the day when feeling gloomy.

While the scenario might sound like a joke to Australian workers (or it could be a hoax that’s tripping up the world’s media), it does suggest the importance of reading facial features.

To test your ability to decode people's emotions, check out this quick visual test.

When colleagues only here what they want to hear...

Does what people already believe shape how they listen or what they see?

A new study undertaken by a group of US psychologists in a bid to answer this very question has found people tend to filter out information that contracts what they already believe.

According to management-issues, the research shows people are generally twice as likely to select information that reflects their own point of view as opposed to an opposing idea.

People who were identified as having ‘closed-minded personalities’ chose to absorb information that matched their own views as often as three quarters of the time.

In response to the findings the article highlights the difficultly faced by managers wishing to get their point across to colleagues with differing points of view.

The solution: recognise that sometimes it may be necessary to communicate your message more than once as repetition can counter this filtering process.

Universal mobile phone charger unveiled

Having to wander desperately around the office to find someone with a charger that fits your mobile phone could soon be a distant memory with the impending introduction of a universal charger.

According to The Australian, the world’s largest phone manufacturers have agreed to develop a charger that will work on millions of different handsets.

Apple, Motorola and Samsung are some of the 10 companies involved in the project, which will see single chargers unveiled next year.

According to telecommunications analyst Ernest Doku, the manufacturers’ decision is a small move that will have a big benefit for mobile phone users.

But the universal charger won’t just deliver on convenience; it also has the potential to have a positive impact on the environment.

Hard work can make for a happy marriage: survey

New research suggests men who work long hours are no more likely to divorce than those who stick to the nine-to-five regime, The Australian reports.

In fact, the Melbourne Institute survey found the optimal working arrangement is one in which the man works between 41 and 49 hours a week. 

Researchers believe one possible explanation is that the extra money brought into the relationship thanks to working longer hours has the potential to keep couples together. 

In addition to its marital status findings, the report suggests there was an impressive increase in household wealth creation in Australia between 2002 and 2006.

It’s claimed domestic income rose by 35 per cent over this ‘golden period’.

How Twitter is changing business

Hillary Clinton might not know or care about the difference between Twitter and a tweeter, but the rest of the world appears to be increasingly curious about microblogging.

But while it's easy to see how people might enjoy sharing tidbits about their personal lives, just how does this fervor for social media messaging translate to the business world?

In a recent investigation into the topic Time magazine says Twitter is set to change American business in 10 ways. In summary, here are a few of the identified game-changers:

• Hyper-local marketing - an inexpensive way for small businesses to connect with customers and communicate new products, offers and discounts
• Market research - keeping an eye on what consumers say about your product or service via microblogging takes the time and expense out of the feedback process
• Twit-pay - systems that connect Twitter to bank accounts are being developed to facilitate a quick means of paying for goods and services
• Turning old into new - rather than competing with old media, it's claimed Twitter is providing broadcasters and newspapers with an vital new content channel

CSR via mobile phone

The Canadian not-for-profit Mobile Movement is taking the process of community program mentoring for developing countries to a whole new level of accessibility.

According to Springwise, the organisation has recently been established to connect entrepreneurs in the developing world with mentors in the wealthy countries via mobile phone.

The mobile phone channel was adopted to communicate with young social entrepreneurs who may not have readily available access to a computer.

The approach offers, for example, farmers the opportunity to text message or email their mentors for advice at any time of day, or craft-markers the ability to send photos to designers for guidance.

Mobile Movement's first project is taking place in Kenya with 15 youth groups from impoverished areas working on schooling and agricultural programs with guidance from mentors in North America.

Curing email addiction

Do you look for new email every 10 minutes during the day? Check your email as soon as you get home from work? Read new mail during television ad breaks?

According to a recent flyingsolo.com.au blog post, these are a few of the signs you could be an email addict.

But before you start looking for the nearest branch of Emailaholics Anonymous, the post suggests it is possible to break your addiction by changing a few habits.

One of the best tips offered is to only have your email program open for uninterrupted blocks of the day rather than allowing yourself to be constantly distracted by the new mail icon.

B-net's Team Taskmaster blog offers a 'two computer' approach that puts email even further out of sight and out of mind.

It's suggested you turn off your desktop PC's email program and do most of your thinking work at your desk on that computer.

To keep your email handy (but not too handy), the post advises professionals to sit their laptop on the other side of the office with its email program fired up and ready for allocated email periods.

Worth a try, or more trouble than it's worth?

Google hopes to catch the flu

Google has launched an online tool that's capable of tracking the spread of influenza across the country, The Australian reports.

Google Flu Trends works by analysing patterns in online search queries and cross-referencing them with official data to determine the geographic location of influenza outbreaks.

It's claimed the system, which was launched in the US last year, works much faster that traditional data collection agencies which can take days or weeks to analyse data.

All this boasting might have you wondering if Google managed to identify the 2009 version of swine flu before it's spread across the globe.

Unfortunately Google Flu Trends missed the warning signs about the disease as the tool was launched in Mexico just before swine flu broke out in that country.

Retrospective analysis by Google found an increase in flu related searches prior to widespread reporting of the illness in the news media, Wired reports.

Eat away your afternoon slump

Overcoming a mid-afternoon slump is a challenge millions of office workers across the world face every day.

While the Spanish have siestas and some employers actively encourage napping, the majority of us are forced to brave two-thirty-itis as best we can.

But instead of taking afternoon lethargy for granted, a recent Guardian article is encouraging office workers to fight back by following these diet related suggestions:

Big breakfast - load up on whole-grain cereal and toast as well as small serve of dried fruit

Drink up - drinking lots of water will help maintain your ability to concentrate

Feeling fruity - encourage colleagues to pitch into a kitty to fund a fruit bowl for the office kitchen

Forget the fat - keep high-fat foods to a minimum and stick to a well-balanced lunch

Take it outside - get away from your desk at lunchtime to stretch your legs

Stock up - keep a few healthy snacks within easy reach so you stay away from the snack machine