Interview With a Star (Hint: It's You)

Due to the convergence of reduced recruiting budgets, the need for highly skilled workers to fit a global workplace, and the availability of video-chat technology, "Skype-type" interviewing may be in your future - either as an interviewer or interviewee. View the Time.com video below for some quick tips on how to prepare for a interview that makes you the star:

What did you think? You have to agree, any interview would be made easier if the interviewer were a teddy bear. Some additional items to include on your preparation checklist are:

• ensure you download the program (such as Skype) that you will be using and test your computer's set-up with a friend
• create a professional user name (definitely not "lumpykins25")
• watch hand movements, you don't want to be overly expressive or make sudden movements that may cause screen blur
• eliminate any background noise to the degree possible 
• remember to smile and project a positive attitude through the screen

Water Cooler Talk

The topic of office conversations quite often turns to one of the same topics that you hear in coffee shops, book stores, college political science classrooms, or at home with the visiting relatives anywhere: politics. This is especially true given the current state of politics. With an increase in voting campaigns and no lack of hot button campaign topics people may feel more at ease talking politics. Take a look at this video clip from Vault.com to get a little slice of how politics is discussed in offices like yours:

http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/videos-details?VIDEO_ID=3820#.TicTZDckAqA.blogger

So how do you ensure, as a human resource representative, that what began as a healthy debate does not escalate into a grievance by an offended employee? First, make sure that you establish some ground rules by example and organizational culture. Lets start with that healthy debating. It is better to discuss politics with a view to understanding the opposing position that to debate someone with the goal of making a "convert". Another tip - don't make it personal and don't take it personally. Remember that the best way to open up a dialogue (and get your views heard) is to seek common ground.  

Plato, the Sophists, and Ethics in Business

Much has been written in the past few years about business ethics. Ethical considerations permeate all aspects of an organization and, I'm sure you will agree, one area it is especially important for is human resources. We are familiar with the social mores, values, and practices that outline the ethical decision-making process within our culture of familiarity, but what about multi-nationally? What about the unique ethical considerations faced by an organization that operates in countries where business is conducted in ways that are considered unethical by western standards? Is there a separate set of ethics for each cultural context or is there a set of universal ethical standards?

These questions go far back - back to the Greek philosophers. Plato believed that truth was unchanging, that there is a universal truth. The Sophists, a group of traveling teachers from Iona and Athens, argued that truth has cultural relativism and changes relative to time and circumstances. The two beliefs are debated even today. Allan C. Ornstein and Daniel U. Levine state, in the text Foundations of Education: "Universalists contend that what is true today has always been true. Relativists argue that changing values make life satisfying at a particular place and time."

What group do you concur with? A wonderful quote that highlights the relationship between human resources and ethics appears in People Management  by R. Johnson: "All HR practices have an ethical foundation. HR deals with the practical consequences of human behaviour". Given this, do you believe there is a standard set of truths that inform ethical actions or is truth relative and ethical implications affected as a result?

Some factors to consider in weighing each side (in no particular order):

• shareholder returns 
• free market principles
• the intrinsic value of goodwill
• abuse of physical resources
• human/animal rights violations
• discrimination
• general employment practices
• confidentiality

Miss Manners for Business

When I married my husband I experienced a little bit of culture shock. Being married means participating in the holiday rituals and traditions of both families. Being a newlywed married into an Asian family, I found family gatherings on my husband's side to be a bit bewildering. There were so many different traditions. I did not want to seem disrespectful and so I mimicked the behaviors I observed to "fit in". Eventually those mimicked behaviors became second-nature.

The same type of bewilderment, concern for appearing "unknowing", and adapting through mimicry are also found in the workplace. Whether you are new to a particular organization and are feeling out the corporate culture or new to a specific role within the organization we all find a way to maintain a semblance of capability.

What many do not realize, however, is learning your way around the corporate "traditions" and "rituals" is important to your success in any organization and is simply practicing good business etiquette.

Business etiquette can be everything from knowing department protocol to ensuring you remove your leftover lunch from the office fridge before it becomes a scientific culture. For a great list of office rules read the article Workplace Etiquette: Be Your Best At Work by etiquette expert Lisa Mirza Grotts, former Director of Protocol for the City and County of San Francisco.

Or, if you would like a more office-centric, rather than global, guide to business etiquette peruse USA Today contributor Steve Strauss' article: Top Workplace Pet Peeves and Etiquette Mistakes.