Management Gurus - quick and easy guide

By Lyndsay Swinton
If you need to know who's who in management but haven't got time to wade through stacks of books, relax because in a cup of coffee's time you'll be an expert on management gurus through the ages. Read on...

Management Gurus
Frederick W Taylor - Scientific Management - Frederick W Taylor, an American inventor and engineer, is considered the father of scientific management.
Elton Mayo - Human Relations Theory - Elton Mayo formed Human Relations theory after the surprising results of the Western Electrical Company Study.
Abraham Maslow - Hierarchy of Needs - Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist best known for his theory of the hierarchy of needs.
Frederick Herzberg - Hygiene and Motivation Factors - Frederick Herzberg proposed that satisfaction and dis-satisfaction at work resulted from Hygiene and Motivation factors.
Peter F Drucker - Peter F Drucker is an internationally acclaimed management writer, consultant and lecturer.
Douglas McGregor - Douglas McGregor was an American social psychologist best known for Theory X and Theory Y; opposing assumptions about human behaviour behind every management decision or action.

Quality Management Gurus
W Edwards Deming - Total Quality Management & Deming's 14 points - W Edwards Deming was an American statistician, founder of total quality management, Deming's 14 points and statistical process control (SPC)
Joseph Juran - The Quality Trilogy - Joseph Juran's belief that quality does not happen by accident gave rise to the quality trilogy.
Philip Crosby - Zero Defects & Right First Time - Philip Crosby is an American who promoted the phrases 'zero defects' and 'right first time' in quality management.
Tom Peters - Tom Peters' book “In Search of Excellence”, co-authored with Robert Waterman, presents 8 common themes of successful corporations.
Dr Kaoru Ishikawa - Quality Circles - Dr Kaoru Ishikawa gave his name to the Ishikawa diagram, also known as the fishbone diagram or cause and effect diagram.
Genichi Taguchi - Quality Loss Function - Genichi Taguchi is a Japanese quality expert, known for the Quality Loss Function and 'Robust Design'.
Shigeo Shingo - Poka yoke, source inspection, mistake proofing and SMED - Shingo quality teachings were successful as they were practical and action oriented, and contributed to Just in Time (JIT) production

Management Specialists
Ken Blanchard - The Situational Leadership Model - Ken Blanchard is internationally renowned for his situational leadership model developed with Paul Hersey and his One Minute Manager series co-authored with Spencer Johnson.
Dr Meredith Belbin - Team Roles - Dr Meredith Belbin, founder of team roles theory, is a widely respected expert and adviser on organisations and teams.
Honey & Mumford - Learning Style Questionnaire - The Honey & Mumford self-administered learning style questionnaire determines your preferred learning style.

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How To Do A SWOT Analysis: Strategic Planning Made Easy Strategic Planning" sounds a lofty pursuit and perhaps beyond our humble capabilities. Not so with a SWOT Analysis. Learn how to do a SWOT analysis using the SWOT matrix and become an effective strategic planner today, achieving your goals.

Creating inside tracks - managing business relationships

every executive needs ...

• a relationship network in place when the time for action comes
• the instinct to find shortcuts into the market place
• the knowledge and experience to sort out blockages and problems
• plus the ability to be positive and keep smiling at all times!

"for god's sake be interesting" Paul Cautley CMG DL - D Group Founder

Humphrey Walters - other quotes

'Think in ink'
Safety, Happy, Fast
Crisis team focus challenge and motivation 'look for the gap in the waves' -the way ahead

Leadership is about
- game of increments
- ruthless simplicity
- no dumb ideas

Management need to
- look after resources
- give hope
- show the way ahead; examples crack in the ice, waves
- think outcomes
- plan 'decompression' (post key challenge/success) - model it

Fear...
- is only temporary
- if you give in - it will last for ever

Individuals in a team will make the difference
- thinking correctly under pressure
- goodbye to the normals

Black Swan - the impact of the highly improbable

Nassim Nicolas Taleb

JHP: Everything it says it is on the cover. A great read and one that makes sense of so much....

Ultimate motivator - Go out and Make things Happen

People will

• fight for a right

but will

• die for a cause

........to make (their) world a better place

from Sunday Telegraph 30/12/06

.......

What irks Mr Walters is that much of the wisdom acquired during the Woodward reign at Twickenham is now being ignored. "It's very important to examine success," he says.
"There was no proper debrief after winning the rugby World Cup. Reports were written but they didn't ask for the view of some people on the bench, the groundsman, the bag man.

"Everybody looks at things differently and every view is just as important because it's a game of inches. Everybody brings an inch. It's about sticking them together." Mr Walters cites an example of how knowledge from the Woodward era has been jettisoned. "One of the things we did was to change our kit at half-time. Now it's not happening, or at least some players do and some don't. I noticed Pete Sampras changed his shirt on Centre Court, particularly when he was down. It was like saying to his opponent: 'Listen, mate, this game's just started for me.' So, when we ran out for the second half the opposition must have felt: 'Bloody hell, this is a new team.' The players also felt better, and if they'd had a bad first half it was like dumping that in the waste bin."

Such attention to detail was a crucial element in England's World Cup triumph. Sir Clive was dispatched to study training methods with the Denver Broncos, the American football club, while the players learnt about teamwork from the Royal Marines.

But underpinning everything was a sense of mission. "I said to Clive that we could do all this stuff but if we don't have the hearts and minds of the players then it's a waste of time," Mr Walters explains.
"What we had to do was create a cause, because people will fight for a right but they will die for a cause. We came up with the idea that our duty was to inspire the nation. That was our cause and everything sprung from that."

A bit of inspiration would not go amiss as another year of sporting failure beckons, though Mr Walter believes success will not come unless administrators or even the Government grasp the nettle. Leadership is the key.

"Our coaches are as good as anyone else's and we've got the players. We've got all the ingredients, and that is what is so sad. I think the general public are sick and tired of mediocrity but you can't just hope that something will happen. In business, you've got to go out and make things happen."

However this is not at any cost or just any cause - its still necessary to get a cause people will die for...

Soldier's Dream - Chris Hall

We never wish to fight
but we are willing to die
We die for a cause that's not our own
Many of us soldiers will never come home

We never wish to fight
but we die to protect your freedom
We die for a cause that's not our own
Many of us soldiers will never come home

We love our families, we love our country
We are willing to die for their protection
This is our cause, this is our own
A soldier's only dream is coming back home

Humphrey Walters - Building winning teams // followers' duties

Dream a lot – if you dream a lot, opportunities will pop out of the woodwork.
Don’t tell people that it is easy when it is not, say "It gets easy – but it’s tough to start with."

winner's code

• punctuality - be 15 mins early land, 5 mins early sea
• empathy
• 'scuttlebutt' - don’t gossip, tell them straight
• find heroes and celebrate
• Leave each problem on the ‘wave behind’ – when you have faced a challenge, let it go
• Winning is about doing 100 things 1% better, not 1 thing 100% better.

To build a better organisation, you need

• a sense of excitement
• a sense of belonging
• a sense of performance
• a sense of worth & value

If, an inspirational poem by Rudyard Kipling
Humphrey Walters used this to celebrate the English Rugby team winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them:

"Hold on!"If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!

Humphrey was speaking at annual conference. He specialises in developing high performing teams and told about his experience on the 1996-7 BT Round the World Yacht Race and working with the English Rugby team until in 2003 it won the rugby World Cup. http://www.humphreywalters.com/

The Little Book of Civilisation 2

What is Civil Engineering?
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) members are well aware of what they do, and the contribution their work makes to society. They have defined civil engineering as"a vital art, working with the great sources of power in nature for the wealth and well-being of the whole of society. Its essential feature is the exercise of imagination to engineer the products and processes, and develop the people needed to create and maintain a sustainable natural and built environment. It requires a broad understanding of scientific principles, a knowledge of materials and the art of analysis and synthesis. It also requires research, team working, leadership and business skills. "

A Civil Engineer is someone who practises all or part of this art. But do the general public really understand the diverse work of civil engineers?

"The Little Book of Civilisation" explains how the work of civil engineers touches the lives of people around the world. It has been produced by ICE as a direct response to the membership requirement for raising the profile of the profession.

The booklet contains illustrated case studies covering all the disciplines of civil engineering,
ranging from the Eden Project to Hong Kong International Airport and the WaterAid Ethiopian Project. A combination of high quality photography, inspiring copy and mind-boggling facts and figures will engage every reader.

We remember great civilisations such as the Romans, Egyptians and Maya - all were able to develop building techniques and systems to support life. Today, civilisation relies more than ever on teams of inventive people to design, build and maintain the sophisticated environment that surrounds us.

This booklet looks at the amazing ways civil engineers overcome the challenges of creating and maintaining infrastructure for us, and for future generations.

Click here to download The Little Book of Civilisation 2 (2381 Kb)

A Strategy Director role

1. Purpose

Strategy
to lead
1. the strategic planning and development of Any Company
o through the ongoing internal change programme and
o development of clear strategies for organic and non-organic growth,

- targeting growth towards £1bn plus by 2010, enhanced margins to an average PBT greater than 3%, and
- having a clear long term 5-10 year plan to reflect changing market conditions

2. the regular strategic review of the business and its markets including lead in
o assessment of acquisitions subsequently playing key roles in
i. due diligence
ii. final agreement
iii. integration activities
to create and generate
3. innovative customer solutions and generate sustainable, margin enhancing new market opportunities from current core capabilities

Cultural Change Programme
to support and assist
1. MDs to shift client relationships towards long term, mutually dependant, high-value business relationships
o through enhanced business development,
i. partner selection,
ii. market selection,
o process improvement and
o high impact operational support and coaching

2. the MD and HRD in raising the calibre of business leadership across the organisation including talent development

3. the MD in the ongoing implementation of process improvement and cultural change in Any Company, involving all
o functions and
o business units.

Process delivery
to create
o brand positioning, marketing,
o internal and external communications,
o business development and business improvement functions

o to create sustained growth, market leading positions in our chosen sectors and
o enhanced business reputation
______________________________________________________________

2. Responsibilities:

1. Strategic planning
o acquisition planning and implementation

2. Business development
o Customer solutions
o Marketing and brand

3. Internal and external communications

4. Business improvement

______________________________________________________________

3. Initial Objectives:

Strategic planning
Assess and critique the 2007 strategy submission and develop action plan,
o including assessment of potential new markets and actions to progress
· Monitor and manage our progress against our strategic projects.
· Support or lead the roll-out of our vision and strategy.
· Take ownership of the corporate scorecard.
· Lead the initial scoping and for cross group working in
o regeneration,
o property development and
o complex projects in common sectors (eg Rail, Nuclear)

Business development
· Recruit and/or develop high calibre BDM’s
o agree roles, targets and objectives and confirm meeting and reporting structure

· Support the MD’s in business development strategies for
o relatively new sectors (e.g. power generation, defence, airports, ports, Crossrail) and
o ongoing areas of targeted growth or market share defence (e.g. Rail, Renewables and Water)

· Assess existing customer relationships and identify continuous improvement opportunities
· Review current JV partners and any actions required to address future needs

· Embed and champion account management approach across BU’s
o assess BDM processes and agree a cross company business development plan

Internal and external communications
· Recruit or grow a high performing communications team who are
o proactive and
o recognised by the business units and sites as adding real value to their operational activities

· Develop an innovative and high impact PR and marketing plan
o Develop a detailed plan to raise the Any Company brand awareness,
§ utilising feedback and workshops held to date and facilitate company-wide engagement
o build upon existing plans to enhance external communications; e.g. web site, external literature, site branding etc
o Oversee the completion of a comprehensive library of
§ case studies,
§ pre-qualification materials and
§ other specific marketing literature, both operational and cultural
· Continue to support Cascade, roadshows and other internal communications events which have proved successful

Business improvement
· Lead the cost reduction programme.
o Set targets for efficiency savings and deliver in conjunction with EMT directors
· Chair business improvement forum
· Develop a business improvement plan for Any Company
o including assessment of specific new processes, in conjunction with process owners.
o Support the MD and *** in developing a best practice framework and implement processes and coaching to embed this into our culture
o Assess opportunities for specific performance improvement activities
· on live contracts with resulting client engagement

· Actively support the Values roll-out programme

· Work with *** to develop a company performance model and fully implement
o KPI’s and
o other performance and data requirements

· Assess our CSR strategy and
o support/coach current team to take a step change in our current culture, strategy and profile

China - historical territories and 1914 Republic (days of empire)... from Wikipedia

Click on links

TradeStone's RADICAL vision!

... recognises the importance of private labels and therefore our vision is simple – to provide the world’s leading retailers and wholesalers with private label solutions that deliver radical results. What do we mean by radical?

R – Rapid Response

A – Agility (Opportunity/Challenge Response)

D - Dramatic Design

I – Innovation

C – Controls (QA/QC/Regulatory)

A – Alternative (Channels/Sourcing)

L – Leapfrog (the Competition)

TradeStone’s radical results include: 200 to 400 basis points to the bottom line; sales increases of 35 percent; average consumer spend increases of seven percent; and sell through at margins of 78 percent.
TradeStone…Private Label Solutions; Radical Results!

Thought Leadership

According to commentators such as Elise Bauer, a distinguishing characteristic of a thought leader is "the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates."[2]

Leadership is deliberately causing people-driven actions in a planned way to accomplish the leaders agenda. Phil Cosby[3]

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/cbp 

Ansoff's Matrix

A basic overview is available on Wikipedia at http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Product-Market+Growth+Matrix. Basic thing to remember is that it is always good to have a balance in a business and personal portfolio – suggested split as per percentage below.

UK Ports

see http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=0&msa=0&msid=102119844401171836975.0004436095e195ea75f5e&t=h&ll=52.059246,1.230469&spn=3.34373,9.558105&z=7
Aberdeen (GBABE)

Blyth (GBBLY)

Bristol (GBBRS)

Charleston (GBCHD)

Felixstowe (GBFXT)

Fishguard (GBFIS)

Fleetwood (GBFLE)

Glasgow Apt (GBGLA)

Goole (GBGOO)

Grangemouth (GBGRG)

Greenock (GBGRK)

Holyhead (GBHLY)

Hull (GBHUL)

Immingham (GBIMM)

Ipswich (GBIPS)

Isle of Grain (GBIOG)

Liverpool (GBLIV)

London (GBLON)

Portbury (GBPRU)

Sheerness (GBSHS)

South Shields (GBSSH)

Southampton (GBSOU)

Stranraer (GBSTR)

Teesport (GBTEE)

Thamesport (GBTHP)

Tilbury (GBTIL)

Warrenpoint (GBWPT)

http://www.searates.com/

Brilliant Quotes Of Management

extract from http://www.hftonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1937

Recently, a magazine ran a contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life managers. Here are some of the submissions:

1. As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks. (This was the winning quote from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corp in Redmond, WA.)

2. What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter. (Lykes Lines Shipping)

3. E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

4. This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it. (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

5. Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them. (R&D supervisor,
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)

6. My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected. (CIO of Dell Computers)

7. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say." (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)

8. "How About Friday?" My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)

9. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

10. We recently received a memo from senior management saying:
"This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)

11. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards.) (Note: He must be related to my boss!

12. Speaking the Same Language: As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals.

The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophilia?) working in her company.

Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired - and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary, and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not to worry. He would take care of it.

Two days later a memo to the entire staff came out directing us that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation) roflmao

13. This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large communications company:"(Company name) is endeavorily determined to promote constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing emphasis on
innovative ways to better, if not supersede, the expectations of quality!" (Lucent Technologies)

Change

Change agents need more than raw analytical power to solve complex business problems; interpersonal skills are also critical if they are to lead others through change. Important traits for a potential change agent include empathy, strong communication skills, perseverance in the face of challenge or ambiguity, and an ability to deal with conflict constructively.

Change agent teams must also make a strong effort to hire people with an appropriate mix of skills. A balance should be struck between young “academic types” who have strong analytical capabilities and seasoned managers who have proven track records within the organisation. Working together, these two types of employees complement each other, broadening the team’s skill base and providing for the two-way transfer of knowledge and capabilities within the team.

Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

A smile costs nothing but gives much.
It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he can get away without it, and none is so poor but he can be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business and is the countersign of friendship.
It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature's best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

European Strategies for LCCS

Low-cost country sourcing is probably one of the most powerful means for realising cost-savings opportunities. In March 2005, Ariba Inc. and Supply Management Institute (SMI) conducted a collaborative research project on the topic of low-cost country sourcing (LCCS) to investigate how procurement officers are using this to improve competitive advantage. The research questioned 200 Chief Procurement Officers at large companies from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK with the aim of investigating how they carry out low-cost country sourcing activities to improve competitive advantage. More specifically, the study addressed the following questions:

•  Which locations are most important for sourcing today and five years time?
•  Which supplies are suitable for sourcing in low-cost countries?
•  What risks are associated with low-cost country sourcing?
•  What measures have companies taken to facilitate low-cost country sourcing?
•  What is the impact on corporate performance from low-cost country sourcing?

The findings show that low-cost country sourcing can have a positive impact on company performance in terms of cost and quality although the time dimension remains to be a challenge.

Moreover, the findings suggest that low-cost country sourcing activities must be carefully planned, executed and evaluated in order to cope with risks and other types of costs that may offset benefits if not done properly. Some of the key findings are:

• Companies are still sourcing extensively in the home country, followed by neighbouring countries. Thus, nearshoring is highly prevalent today and the situation will persist to a large extent until at least 2010. 48 percent of the respondents rank their home country among the three most important sourcing countries.
•  Over the next five years, the value of goods and services sourced in low-cost countries will increase by 64 and 60 percent, respectively. In other words, low-cost country sourcing will increase dramatically by 2010.
•  China is the most important country for low-cost country sourcing today, and its position will strengthen even further by 2010. The number of respondents rating China among the top three most important sourcing countries is expected to increase from 30 to 45 percent.
• 48 percent of the respondents align LCCS strategy to the corporate strategy to a high or very high extent. 61 percent of the respondents claim to involve senior management in formulation of visions for LCCS to a high or very high extent.
•  Quality and total landed cost savings are the two most widely implemented performance metrics. These are implemented to a high or very high extent among 56 and 45 percent of the respondents, respectively.
•  70 percent of the respondents have experienced positive impact on total costs, 61 percent have experienced positive impact on transportation costs and 50 percent have experienced positive impact on labour costs.

How a simple Letter of Credit Works

Imagine that one of our UK companies from time to time imports computers from a business called Beijing Computers, which banks with the Shanghai Business Bank. Our company ("XCo") holds an account at HSBC. XCo want to buy $500,000 worth of merchandise from Beijing Computers, who agree to sell the goods and give XCo 60 days to pay for them, on the condition that they are provided with a 90-day LC for the full amount. The steps to get the letter of credit would be as follows:

• XCo goes to HSBC and requests a $500,000 letter of credit, with Beijing Computers as the beneficiary.
• HSBC can issue an LC by XCo funding it directly with a deposit of $500,000 plus fees (minimum 1%+ can run as high as 8%).
• HSBC sends a copy of the LC to the Shanghai Business Bank, which notifies the Beijing Computers that payment is ready and they can ship the merchandise we have ordered with the full assurance of payment to them.
• On presentation of the stipulated documents in the letter of credit and compliance with the terms and conditions of the letter of credit, HSBC transfers the $500,000 to the Shanghai Business Bank, which then credits the account to the Beijing Computers by that amount.

Note that banks deal only with documents under the letter of credit and not the underlying transaction.

Many exporters have misunderstood that the payment is guaranteed after receiving the LC. The issuing bank is obligated to pay under the letter of credit only when the stipulated documents are presented and the terms and conditions of the letter of credit have been met accordingly

1. After a contract is concluded between a buyer and seller, the buyer's bank supplies a letter of credit to seller.
2. Seller consigns the goods to a carrier in exchange for a bill of lading.
3. Seller provides bill of lading to bank in exchange for payment. Seller's bank exchanges bill of lading for payment from buyer's bank. Buyer's bank exchanges bill of lading for payment from buyer.
4. Buyer provides bill of lading to carrier and takes delivery of goods.

NB: Typically, the documents a beneficiary has to present in order to avail himself of the credit, are commercial invoice, bill of lading, insurance documents. However, the list and form of documents is open to imagination and negotiation and might contain requirements to present documents issued by a neutral third party evidencing the quality of the goods shipped.

Strategies for Working Together When Positioned a World Apart

By Lynda Gratton from The Wall Street Journal Online

Around the world, a wide range of corporate tasks are being performed by teams of employees who rarely if ever meet in person.

The rise of so-called virtual teams is hardly surprising, given the vast investments corporations are making in internal communications and networks. Technically, it's no longer a challenge to work closely with colleagues in distant locations or to hold meetings with participants scattered around the globe.

In practical terms, however, plenty of hurdles remain. Among them: time-zone differences that make quick exchanges difficult and cultural miscues that can cause misunderstandings. Teams that don't meet in person are considered less likely to develop the kind of chemistry seen in teams that do -- an element that's often seen as a key factor in making teams productive.

Related Links Video: WSJ's Carol Hymowitz interviews Lynda Gratton, professor of management at the London Business School, about the challenges of managing and overseeing global virtual teams. Discuss: Have you or your company set up a virtual team?

A recent study of virtual teams at multinational companies -- teams ranging in size from four to nearly 200 -- found that many of the groups were beleaguered by just these kinds of long-distance challenges, to the point of being in continuous danger of breaking up. Other virtual teams, meanwhile, were high performers, virtual hot spots of innovation and energy.

Why does one virtual team thrive while another stumbles? What differentiates the two?

It's an important issue, as companies become more reluctant to bear the expense of frequent in-person meetings -- and employees increasingly resent the burdens travel places on their health and personal lives. Finding a way to make virtual teams work better is therefore crucial if companies are going to get the most productivity out of their far-flung work force.

This research began with in-depth case studies of successful virtual teams at a number of companies, including BP PLC, Nokia Corp. and Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of WPP Group PLC. In addition, a research team at London Business School surveyed more than 1,500 virtual-team members and leaders from 55 teams across 15 European and U.S. multinational companies.

Based on our findings, we have identified certain traits and practices common to the most successful virtual teams and their employers. Here, then, are 10 golden rules for making virtual teams more productive:

1. Invest in an online resource where members can learn quickly about one another.

Because of their physical separation, one of the biggest challenges virtual-team members face is an inability to easily learn about one another and what each person brings to the project. Online tools can help, in the same way that social-networking Web sites help college and high-school students get to know other members of their communities. Our research showed that such practices are often unfamiliar to those who graduated from college years ago, but they can be enormously powerful when used in virtual teams.

Take the advertising company Ogilvy & Mather. Its late founder, David Ogilvy, placed enormous emphasis on sharing knowledge within the company. More than a decade ago he invested in an internal IT-based community he called Truffles. As a gourmet, Mr. Ogilvy appreciated the rich taste of a truffle, and he believed that people should search for knowledge with as much energy and enthusiasm as a pig searches for truffles in the oak forests of France.

Truffles gives access to shared projects and a database of company knowledge. It provides forums for the many hundreds of communities of interest that have sprung up in the firm, where ideas and insights are shared. Truffles also features a detailed and frequently updated directory of all Ogilvy employees, giving each an opportunity to list the aspects of work that he or she is passionate about.

Such capabilities help ensure that even virtual-team members can rapidly get to know something about one another. For instance, when a big Ogilvy client wants to launch an ad campaign simultaneously in all of its global markets, a virtual team can start working together effectively within days.

2. Choose a few team members who already know each other.

Virtual teams are much more likely to be productive and innovative if they include some people who already know each other. So-called heritage relationships are crucial to rapidly building networks among the team members.

A word of warning, though: If a majority of the people on a team already know each other, the team can become stale and predictable. It's often through the unexpected insights of new colleagues that innovation is sparked.

3. Identify "boundary spanners" and ensure that they make up at least 15% of the team.

Boundary spanners are people who, as a result of their personality, skills or work history, have lots of connections to useful people outside the team. BP has a long history of colleagues from different business units working together to span the corporate boundaries that separate them.

Another word of warning, though: Having too many boundary spanners risks giving the team so many connections to the outside that it loses its sense of identity and its shared goal.

4. Cultivate boundary spanners as a regular part of companywide practices and processes.

The networking role that boundary spanners play -- not just on virtual teams but in the company at large -- is so important that companies should try to keep them in continuous supply.

At Nokia, for example, a huge range of routines and processes support and encourage employees to expand their personal networks. To start with, new hires are formally introduced to at least 10 people both within and outside of their departments. It's an effort that extends outside the company as well. Nokia has strong working relationships with the faculties of more than 100 universities, co-hosting conferences, sharing research initiatives and supporting postgraduate work.

Growing boundary spanners throughout the company helps ensure that when virtual teams are pulled together, at least some of the members likely will have met before.

5. Break the team's work up into modules so that progress in one location is not overly dependent on progress in another.

Coordinating work across distant time zones can be a continuing battle. Many teams we studied sank into acrimony as one part of the team waited for another to complete part of a task, or as one group worked faster than another.

Whenever possible, assign tasks to team members in different locations that allow them to move ahead at their own pace. Depending on the type of work, try designing the work flow so that contributions from different locations can be assembled into a whole toward the end of the process.

6. Create an online site where a team can collaborate, exchange ideas and inspire one another.

Strong virtual teams often have a shared online workspace that all members can access 24 hours a day. This ensures that while different team members or groups are working relatively independently at times, they can continuously follow the progress and insights of other team members.

At Ogilvy, Truffles includes sites dedicated to individual projects in which virtual teams are able to share their plans, modify a shared piece of work, and informally exchange ideas. This ensures that at any time, people can rapidly understand where their own work is, and how it fits with that of others.

7. Encourage frequent communication. But don't try to force social gatherings.

Members of successful teams communicate with one another often. Interestingly, the mode of communication doesn't seem to be important. At Nokia, for example, the preferred communication tool was text messaging, while in other companies it was email or voice mail. What is most important is that communication be frequent and rapid.

We encountered few negative comments about the amount of communication that went on -- although conventions about the use of e-mail were much appreciated. At BP, for example, team members said that a whole set of rules, such as who should receive emails, who is copied and expectations of reply time, made it easier to work together.

Similarly, a few simple rules can be applied to team gatherings. Virtual teams often make an effort to get the members together at some point during an assignment. We discovered that the timing of such events can be crucial to their success.

Meetings with a strong social element can be resented, for example, when held early in the team's existence. It seems that in the early phases, creating exciting work with a meaningful goal is seen as more useful than hosting social events. But once the virtual team is up and running and has begun to establish a shared working style, then a collective event can play a key role in the building of trust and goodwill.

8. Assign only tasks that are challenging and interesting.

Because the work of virtual teams is often unsupervised, their tasks should be stimulating and challenging -- otherwise the team risks disintegrating under the weight of uninterest.

Indeed, we found that one of the biggest reasons virtual teams fail is because the members don't find the work interesting. They simply fade away, with fewer and fewer dialling into the weekly conference calls or posting ideas on the shared site. It's not that the members don't like one another. It's simply that the atmosphere becomes more like a country club than a dynamic collection of inspired people.

9. Ensure the task is meaningful to the team and the company.

Ideally, a virtual team's mission should resonate with each member's values -- both as individuals and as professionals who want to develop their skills -- and be of clear importance to the company.

We found that when virtual teams really buzz, it is because they are ignited by a question or a task so compelling and exciting that people from across the company are drawn toward it. This happened, for example, at BP when, more than a decade ago, former Chief Executive John Browne asked everyone in the company how BP could become what he termed "a force for good." His question sparked a whole host of virtual teams to gather around the question.

For example, one team of young people, the self-styled "Ignite" team, looked at the idea of trying to shift more energy production to sustainable resources, such as solar power and wind. It was this team's energy and focus that resulted in BP's early commitment to a sustainable-energy agenda.

The importance of meaningful work and inspiring visions is clear in the widely known results of two virtual teams: the collaboration that has produced the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, and the creators of Linux, an open-source computer operating system.

While neither is a company -- each is made up of large numbers of volunteers -- both owe much of their success to having inspired a sense of devotion and mission among their team members, or contributors. Both have ignited energetic and innovative communities with compelling and powerful questions: How do we create a way of bringing the wisdom of the world to everybody? And how do we build an open-source operating system for the world?

10. When building a virtual team, solicit volunteers as much as possible.

As Wikipedia and Linux have shown, virtual teams appear to thrive when they include volunteers with valuable skills -- people whose proof of commitment is their willingness to join the team on their own.

Nokia, for one, sees a connection between a virtual team's success and its openness to volunteers. The company says a significant portion of its teams that are working on strategic challenges of the future are made up of people who volunteered for the task.

-- Dr. Gratton is a professor of management at London Business School. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.