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Robert Bacal

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Ceo, Bacal & Associates

54 points

Author, consultant, focusing on communication, customer service, performance management and appraisal, and working with difficult customers.

WEB: http://work911.com

Jan. 31, 2012

Robert Bacal and 3 other people answered this question

Performance Management Transitions: What's the best way to move to a performance mgmt environment?

Makes sense. Performance management is funny. One can explain it in one page, or in 400 pages, depending on how deeply one wants to delve. It's a rich subject that ties in to all kinds of psychological issues and organizational ones. more

Human Resources

Change Management Consulting

Change Management for Organizational Evolution

Jan. 31, 2012

Robert Bacal and 3 other people answered this question

What do you hate about 360 feedback tools?

Anonymity. Why would anyone take seriously, comments from unknown sources about oneself? Anonymity removes the context, and precludes face to face dialogue, which is the essence of improving. There's more FAQ's and commentary on 360 at:
http://performance-appraisals.org/faq/index360.htm more

Human Resources

Employee Feedback

Executive Development

Executive Leadership

Jan. 31, 2012

Robert Bacal and 6 other people answered this question

Is corporate culture best driven by rules? Why-Why not? What alternatives exist for setting policy?

Actually rules DO affect culture, just as laws alter values, not just reflect them. I know most people don't like to hear this, and pick at it, but there's so many examples of how laws have affected behavior and values it's no longer deniable. The ... more

Human Resources

Company Culture

Jan. 31, 2012

Robert Bacal asked a question

What are some of the worst things to say in a team setting?

Human Resources

Jan. 29, 2012

Robert Bacal is now following Andrew Baker

Jan. 29, 2012

Robert Bacal and 1 other person answered this question

What performance management systems should my small business avoid?

Rule out all of them. Managing performance is about people. All of the "tools" only complicate and obscure that.
There's some FAQ's (questions and answer format) at:
http://performance-appraisals.org/faq/indexsoftware.htm more

Performance Management System

Jan. 29, 2012

Robert Bacal and 2 other people answered this question

What are the drawbacks of results-based management philosophies?

I'm not sure how you define results-based, but here's my answer. Because of how inter-dependent so much work is, it's possible for employees to achieve "results" but actually end up interfering with the achievement of the organization's goals. So, as an example, let's say in ... more

Human Resources

Performance Management

Results-only Work Environment

Jan. 27, 2012

Robert Bacal and 2 other people answered this question

How would you help public sector agencies improve their customer service?

There are other even more important differences between governments and private sector, not the least of which is that private sector can generate revenue from customers, while that's not possible for most governments, so for government, customer service becomes a cost center. The roles are ... more

Jan. 27, 2012

Robert Bacal and 1 other person commented on this post

Poor Customer Service in the Public Sector Isn't Going Unnoticed

Executive orders aren't the best way to fix thing, so you may be right. Both Clinton and GW Bush issued similar executive orders. We'll see. more

Customer Experience

May 18, 2011

Robert Bacal and 21 other people answered this question

How do you handle an angry customer?

I'm also a fan of Occam's Razor, but I think that the customer service problems are a result of making oversimplistic generalizations about customer psychology. Your "golden rule" is a good example. It's an absolutely great example of an over-simplistic idea that has great common ... more

Customer Service

Jan. 6, 2011

Robert Bacal recommends this answer by Jeff Molander

Market research: Do customers really know what they want?

Larry -- spot on.
Asking customers 'What do you want?' usually produces the answer: 'More of what I have right now, but for less money.
Is it any wonder that most companies invest in adding more features to products and services only to end up discounting ... more

Consumer Insights

Customer Surveys

Market Reserach

Dec. 26, 2010

Robert Bacal and 7 other people answered this question

Why should I have to make special exceptions to engage the Gen Y workforce?

Nice Connor (or is it Andrew). It's not about generational issues but where people are in life and the entire environment. At a family gathering with people from 22 yrs to 90yrs, and you'd really be amazed because the similarities among people were far more ... more

Workforce Engagement

Dec. 23, 2010

Robert Bacal recommends this answer by Jonathan Eunice

What's the difference b/t what customers say is important and what actually drives their behavior?

It's a great question! What customers say (or think) is important to their purchase and operational decisions is often so very, very different from what really drives those decisions and activities.
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. You could boil it down to some glib umbrella ... more

Dec. 23, 2010

Robert Bacal and 5 other people answered this question

What are the major finance issues facing small business owners today?

Both of the answers above are good ones. I'd go with credit and loan issues, though it seems like things might be improving a bit. If I had to go with something a bit different, I'd probably suggest "scarcity of time",, which doesn't sound "financial" ... more

Business Expenses

Business Finance

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