Written by Professor Barney Jordaan
Mario Puzo's award-winning book The Godfather contains some very useful advice for negotiators (I would invite you, for the moment, to look beyond the fact that his main character and source of negotiation wisdom, Don Vito Corleone, was a mafioso). Here are some of my favourites (all quotes taken from the iBooks version of “The Godfather”by Mario Puzo):
"Hagen [the Don's lawyer - the Don was also his only client] had learned the art of negotiation from the Don himself. 'Never get angry,' the Don had instructed. 'Never make a threat. Reason with people.' The word 'reason' sounded so much better in Italian, ragione, to rejoin. The art of this was to ignore all insults, all threats; to turn the other cheek. Hagen had seen the Don sit at a negotiating table for eight hours, swallowing insults, trying to persuade a notorious and megalomaniac strong-arm man to mend his ways. At the end of the eight hours Don Corleone had thrown up his hands in a helpless gesture and said to the other men at the table, 'But no one can reason with this fellow,' and had stalked out of the meeting room.”
2. On making sure your team is organised and don't openly display internal dissent at the table
“If there’s one thing the old man hammered into me it’s never to do a thing like that, to let other people know there’s a split of opinion in the Family.”(Michael, the younger son)
Written by Professor Barney Jordaan,
A lot has been written about the fallibility of our decision making abilities - how the quirks of human perception and cognitive traps lead us to make less-than-rational decisions. (See, for example,Kahneman, Thinking, Fast & Slow, 2011; Ariely's Predictably Irrational, 2008; Brafman & Brafman's Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior, 2009). We are all susceptible (see e.g., ‘The case for behavioural strategy’ available at http://carpenterstrategytoolbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DecisionBias-McKinseyQ0311.pdf)
Decision making errors can be costly (both in terms of economic consequences and impact on the business and personal relationships that really matter) and are growing more costly in an increasingly complex and inter-connected world.
If we all behaved optimally, costs and benefits would always be accurately weighed, impatience would not exist, gains would never be foregone in order to spite others, no relevant information would ever be overlooked, and moral behaviour would always be aligned with moral attitudes.
Different strategies have been proposed to
Pretoria – The Department of Labour has reiterated that private employment agencies are not permitted to charge work seekers any fees for services rendered.
This is according to clause 15 of the Employment Service Act 2014, which is still to be promulgated.
This emerged as the department and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) held a joint labour law amendment road show in Kimberley today.
“The provision also prevents practices by which employers or private employment agencies may seek to circumvent this prohibition or make deductions from employees’ remuneration,” said Martin Ratshivhanda, the Director of Public Employment Services (PES).
The new Employment Services Act seeks to respond to
Read more: Employment agencies prohibited from charging fees
BY lvan lsraelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on
(011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address:
Employees who are sick or disabled are well protected by law. They cannot be disciplined for their incapacity (sickness/disability) even if this has been brought on by their own actions. For example, an employee who drinks excessively and becomes an alcoholic is legally classified as being ill and is protected by law.
Section 6 of the Employment Equity Act prohibits unfair discrimination against employees on the grounds of disability. This means that an employer may not
BY lvan lsraelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address:
Having presided over hundreds of disciplinary hearings for our clients it has become clear that managers regularly fail in their duties as regards discipline of employees. That is, poor management is often the chief reason that employees:
It is not necessarily the manager’s fault that employees want to misbehave or to slack off. Laziness, disinterest or lack of caring can be due to the employee’s own character. However, where this is so, it is up to the manager to
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