Managing Employees 

The Care and Feeding of Employees – Manager’s Notebook -- Discusses how to properly take care of employees and in turn reduce the employee turnover rate.

Human Resources Planning – Small Business Notes -- Human resources planning is often overlooked by small businesses.

Problem Employees– Feed Grain Magazine -- When you're dealing with a problem employee, your first step is to find out what the problem is.

Are You Supporting your B Players? – HBS Working Knowledge -- B players are the heart and soul of top organizations. Here’s why—and what you can do to manage B players better.

Creating a Great Workplace and Great Managers – Iowa Small Business Development Centers -- Twelve questions that could determine how employees feel about their work situations.

Rules for Your Workers -- CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit -- If you have employees, you need to think about setting some basic ground rules.

Learning to Say What you Mean to Employees – Entrepreneur.com -- Tips for making sure your suggestions and corrections are understood by everyone.

Sharing News That Might Be Bad – HBS Working Knowledge -- We've all taken a vow of transparency, but how do you give employees news that is potentially bad—but extremely ambiguous?

Handling Your Employees' "Exceptional Events" – HBS Working Knowledge -- Managers must learn to deal with life’s "exceptional events," those profound occurrences that blur the boundaries between personal life and work.

On Managing Project Managers – HBS Working Knowledge -- Throw out the Gantt charts. The task of managing project managers involves much more than time lines and a deliverables schedule. Here are the tools you'll need to instill professional management discipline in your company.

When Your Employees Battle, Consider Doing—Nothing! – HBS Working Knowledge -- Not every employee dust-up has to be refereed by you. In fact, often the best strategy is to stand back and watch.

The Knowledge Coach – HBS Working Knowledge – Make sure the knowledge gained by top employees doesn’t leave with their retirement.

Help Your Employees Fight Illness – HBS Working Knowledge -- Relatively minor illnesses—such as asthma, arthritis, or allergies—can have a huge, though largely invisible, impact on how well employees perform.

High Turnover: Should You Care? – HBS Working Knowledge -- New research suggests that you focus less on retaining employees and more on re-recruiting your "knowledge nomads."

The Time Abusers – HBS Working Knowledge -- Is that ticking you hear a clock or a time-bomb? Employees who abuse time will sap a business’s morale and operations. Problem is, these can also be your best employees.

Managing Employees – Entrepreneur.com – Article on employee management.

Motivating Employees

Associates and Motivation – University of Florida Extension -- Motivation comes from the word "motive" which comes from the Latin word "to move."

Understanding Motivation: An Effective Tool for Managers – University of Florida Extension -- Motivation is an important tool that is often under-utilized by managers in today's workplace.

Management Beliefs That Tend to Reduce Associate Motivation and Productivity – University of Florida Extension -- You will be asked to respond to seven "agree or disagree" statements that give an opinion on the relationship between associates and motivation. Seven statements are presented for the reader's consideration.

Providing a Motivational Environment with Proper Associate Recognition – University of Florida Extension -- Are you providing the right motivational environment? Most believe that motivation comes from within, so it is the manager's responsibility to create a positive motivational climate within his workgroup.

Motivating Member Participation -- Montana State University Extension -- Leaders want to know why some members exert more effort than others, why their own levels of motivation vary from time to time and what they can do to influence the level of participation.

Motivating Your Workers – CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit -- Anyone who has ever had even one employee can tell you that the secret to a productive workforce (and therefore a successful business) is an elusive thing known as good morale.

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO – HBS Working Knowledge -- In difficult times, organizational pathologies can cause a death spiral. Here’s how the CEO can win back the hearts and minds of staff.

Pride Goeth before a Profit – HBS Working Knowledge -- For best results, managers should tap into the pride of their employees.

Getting a Handle on Employee Motivation – HBS Working Knowledge -- Figuring out how to motivate your staff and adapt your style for their particular “career anchors” can turn all employees into higher performers.

Motivating Employees – Entrepreneur.com – Articles on employee motivation.

Improving Employee Performance

Performance Management – Beyond Appraisals – Center for Industrial Research and Service -- The concept has great potential for improving employee and organizational performance.

Set Goals for Your Employees – Entrepreneur.com –- Creating concrete, attainable goals is one way to get your employees motivated.

Reinforcing Values: A Public Dressing Down - HBS Working Knowledge -- Often the hardest part of a turnaround is improving bad interpersonal behavior in the organization.

Four Practices for Great Performance - HBS Working Knowledge -- Expecting the best from employees doesn't always deliver results.  Instead, managers must involve workers in setting goals that are achievable, measureable, and tap into motivation.

Job Sculpting: The Art of Retaining Your Best People - HBS Working Knowledge -- Misconceptions about psychology of job satisfaction can cost managers as top employees leave for reasons that are not well understood.

Hidden Value - HBS Working Knowledge -- The real key to success in the knowledge economy is to build an organization that helps all employees perform like stars.

Five Paths Toward a High-Performing Workforce - HBS Working Knowledge -- Making the most of front-line employees means more than simply motivating the troops.  It means unleashing their potential to achieve levels of performance that exceed expectations and are higher than competitors can realistically achieve.

Employee Training

Training Help Farm Market Employees Succeed – Direct Marketing and Tourism Handbook, University of Arizona – No matter how carefully you select your employees, they will not come to the job with all the skills they need.

Training Employees – Entrepreneur.com – Articles on employee training.

Train Station – Entrepreneur.com -- All aboard for a quick tour of the best in classes, courses and online learning.

Easy As ABC – Entrepreneur.com -- No more teachers, no more books. Welcome to the wide world of online learning.

Reducing Employee Errors – Entrepreneur.com -- How can you reach the lofty goal of "zero defects"?

Managing Confrontation

When Potential Employees Lie – Business.gov -- When you receive a resume or job application, how can you be sure the applicant is telling the truth?

Dealing with a Confrontational Employee – Entrepreneur.com -- Working together with your employees can help put an end to negative behavior.

When Your Employees Battle, Consider Doing Nothing – HBS Working Knowledge -- Not every employee dust-up has to be refereed by you.

How to Manage Your Bad Boys – HBS Working Knowledge -- If the rich are different than you and me, perhaps so too are the brilliant. You know the type. A star performer who is brainy—but brash. They know everything. They've seen it all before. Here are steps you can take to help your talented employee grow up and cooperate.

When Silence Spells Trouble at Work – HBS Working Knowledge -- How being nice can lead to disastrous results.

Do You Know What Your Employees Think? -- Center for Industrial Research and Service -- Many organizations are surveying their employees about a variety of things including attitudes.