By Jane DuttonCorrosive work relationships are like black holes that swallow up energy that people need to do their jobs. In contrast, high-quality relationships generate and sustain energy, equipping people to do work and do it well. The book is grounded in solid research and uses energy as a measurement to describe the power of positive and negative connections in people’s experience at work. It provides three pathways for turning negative connections into positive ones that create and sustain employee resilience and flexibility, facilitate the speed and quality of learning, and build individual commitment and cooperation. Through compelling and illustrative stories, the book offers managers, executives, and human resource professionals the resources they need to build high-quality connections in the workplace.
More than 5,500 elected members of local councils are involved in scrutinizing issues across public services effecting their electorates and they are delivering results. The first survey by the Centre for Public Scrutiny concluded that: “The value and potential for scrutiny is being reached.”The public scrutineers have carried out almost 1,700 investigations, and influenced decisions across the board. The Environment Agency altered a work programme related to flooding. An inquiry in to an incident at a detention centre for asylum seekers resulted in a promise from the government that the police authority would not pick up the bill for 100 million pounds. A review into raising educational standards was the trigger for a conference attended by 130 delegates.
Placing enterprise at the heart of urban regeneration rather than social disadvantage is at the heart of a DTI initiative to revitalize deprived urban areas. The concept of the ‘City Growth’ Strategy is based on ideas developed by Professor Michael Porter and his Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) which has already made a significant impact in the US.Under the City Growth initiative launched in 2002 with funding of 1.5 million pounds, strategies for Nottingham, Plymouth, St Helens and four areas in London have been published.