Estie, Author at Consumo Publishers

A Proactive Approach to Addressing Unethical Behavior in the Workplace

While it may not rise to the level of being illegal, unethical behavior in the workplace can have serious consequences if unaddressed. And it can create a toxic work environment in which your employees and business ultimately suffer.

When the authors of Crucial Accountability gave an online survey to more than 900 working people in 2013, the three most common unethical workplace behaviors cited were taking credit for someone else’s work, indulging in extra long breaks and calling in sick when actually well. One-third of the respondents reported having witnessed at least one of these violations the week prior to participating the survey.

Moreover, with the 63 percent of the survey respondents who witnessed unethical behavior, only half of the time was the misdeed reported. When asked why this was the case, four main reasons were cited by survey participants: It might have damaged their career. It would have made the offender […]

Estie2018-03-27T14:54:43+02:00March 27th, 2018|Ethics, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

KFC issued a cheeky apology for running out of chicken – but now it has a gravy problem

See the video at https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/kfc-issued-a-cheeky-apology-for-running-out-of-chicken-but-now-it-has-a-gravy-problem-20180301-p4z27r.html

Estie2018-03-27T14:41:45+02:00March 27th, 2018|Marketing, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

SAA suspends executives after qualified audit report last week

Another Tony Timm contribution! Thanks from all of us!

State-owned carrier South African Airways (SAA) has confirmed the suspension of the CEO of SAA Technical, Musa Zwane, and SAA chief financial officer Phumeza Nhantsi.

The decision to suspend the two executives is based on certain allegations made against them following the conclusion of one of the forensic investigations at SAA, airline spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Tuesday. SAA’s board has resolved to institute disciplinary proceedings against two executives, he said.

SAA has appointed Nona Sonjani as acting chief financial officer and Wellington Nyuswa as acting CEO of SAA Technical. Their appointment is intended to ensure business continuity following the suspension of the group’s two executives on Monday, Tlali said.

Tlali said the suspended executives were still in the employ of the airline and were presumed innocent. He would not provide details of the charges against the executives.

The suspensions follow a qualified audit report by […]

Estie2018-03-27T14:37:28+02:00March 27th, 2018|General management and CSR, Performance of the business, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Charging for fake repairs makes hire car firms more money than rentals

Another interesting article received from Tony Timm from Kingswood College. THANK YOU for always sharing your great finds with all of us!

Some hire car outlets make more money from charging successive unwitting customers for the same ‘repairs’ than from hiring out vehicles, a whistleblower has told Fairfax Media.
The former employee of one of Australia’s largest rental groups, who has spoken out on the basis of anonymity, alleges these repairs were seldom undertaken unless the vehicle was about to be sold and that the amount deducted from customers’ credit cards was also commonly inflated.

“They have deals with the repair shops where they get damage quoted and if they go ahead with the repairs they will get up to a 20 per cent discount that is not passed on to the customer,” he claims.
“More often than not they don’t do the repairs at all but the rental company will use the quote […]

Estie2018-03-27T14:35:01+02:00March 27th, 2018|Ethics, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

#EntrepreneurCorner: Choosing between price, quality and service

Mar 15 2018 Liziwe Ndalana

Cape Town – Many small business owners try to compete on price, quality and service at the same time, but Fin24’s resident expert and small business coach Anton Ressel says this may not be the best way to go about building a business.

He says entrepreneurs often make the mistake of trying to compete on all three fronts at the same time, which may be at odds with each other.

Ressel says it’s important that as a business owner you choose to focus on two of the three areas. Otherwise, you’re going to burn out, or face going out of business.

“What traditionally leads to sustainability in a business is that you focus on two of those elements,” says Ressel.
“For example, if you decide you’re going to compete on quality and service; you have very high quality of work, very high quality of products, your service is exceptional and […]

Estie2018-03-27T11:01:00+02:00March 27th, 2018|Entrepreneurship, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Happy, healthy employees

Jun 21 2017
The author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Anchor discovered that when a person is feeling positive, the brain works much better. His research found that at these “happy” times the individuals tended to be more creative and become better at solving problems, as well as more effective collaborators with their colleagues. Anchor therefore also argues that there is then a clear incentive for employers that the happiness of their employees leads to greater levels of profits.

Further, a healthy workforce is directly linked to high levels of productivity and your business’ positive bottom-line performance. In South Africa’s first Effective Employee Index which was conducted by MMI, the holdings company of Momentum, in consultation with Unisa to research employee productivity, it shows that physical health and financial wellbeing are key drivers of employee productivity. Sick, unhealthy employees who are anxious about their finances then transforms into high levels of absenteeism […]

Estie2018-03-27T10:59:12+02:00March 27th, 2018|Investment and insurance, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Women in SA earn 27% less than men, states study

Mar 16 2018

Cape Town – Pay inequality between men and women is one of the reasons so many women in South Africa are not able to retire comfortably, according to Emma Heap, head of retail at 10X Investments.

She pointed out that new regulations in the UK require that all companies with more than 250 employees report their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office by April this year. She believes this shift towards greater transparency will likely put pressure on companies to pay their female and male staff more equitable wages.
The 2017 Pulse of the People report run by market research firm Ipsos found that, on average, women in South Africa earn 27% less than their male counterparts.

The report surveyed more than 3 500 employed South Africans across various occupations and regions. It found the payment gap becomes even wider when looking at top earners, with local men are […]

Estie2018-03-27T10:56:12+02:00March 27th, 2018|Human Capital, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Inside Labour: The real question about the 4th industrial revolution

Mar 23 2018 – Terry Bell

It is rather worrying that so many of the arguments about the fourth industrial revolution are so simplistic and often crude.

This is especially so, given the amount of readily available information and analysis. As a result, the major problem facing the global community because of the rapid development and introduction of new technologies is, for the most part, seldom debated.

It is a problem that was summed up clearly in 1949 by the “father of cybernetics”, the mathematician Norbert Wiener. With computing and automation becoming talking points, he looked to the future and noted that it would be possible to “live a good life with the aid of the machines”.

These, he pointed out, could ultimately carry out most labour more efficiently and effectively than humans can. But Wiener went on to warn that the same machines could usher in “an industrial revolution of unmitigated cruelty”. He […]

Estie2018-03-27T10:48:45+02:00March 27th, 2018|Human Capital, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

How to beat shrinkflation

Mar 18 2018

Shrinkflation, an unpopular term among consumers, is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity while their prices remain the same. Manufacturers engage in this practice to make money. Angelique Ruzicka has some tips on how to beat them at their own game

Manufacturers often want to increase their prices, but don’t want to do so in an obscene way that may lead to them being labelled “the bad guys”. But if they are facing margin pressure, they have to find solutions. So, what do they do instead?

They reduce the size or the number of portions while keeping the packaging the same.

Alternatively, they use less of the more expensive ingredients and puff up the product with cheaper contents.
This results in manufacturers paying less to produce an item while the consumer pays the same price or more.
The payoff is that the consumer does not notice this shrinkage as the […]

Estie2018-03-27T10:45:48+02:00March 27th, 2018|Environments, Ethics, Marketing, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Three major mistakes Tiger Brands made in response to the listeriosis crisis

Mar 16 2018 – Ilse Struweg

TIGER BRANDS, the South African food giant at the centre of the listeriosis storm engulfing the country, is facing serious brand erosion as a result of the way it handled the unfolding crisis.
It could have responded better.

Tiger Brands was thrown into the centre of the listeriosis storm after South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced that its investigation had traced the origins of the disease to one of the company’s biggest meat processing plants.

The culprit was identified as polony from the Enterprise Foods facility that produces a range of cold meats. Tiger Brands, a $2.5bn Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed business, owns Enterprise Foods among other continent wide popular food brands.

South Africa has been struggling with the listeriosis outbreak for 14 months. Unable to find the source of the affected products, the outbreak developed into the worstcase of listeriosis in the world. By the end […]

Estie2018-03-27T10:37:50+02:00March 27th, 2018|Environments, Recources|

Estie

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