Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Moral intelligence I thoroughly enjoy each month's installment of Knowledge@Emory from the business school of Emory University. Here's a sample from this month's newsletter on moral intelligence. I've worked for a couple of guys who would flunk this test. Have you? Business Ethics Linking Strong Moral Principles to Business Success In Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance & Leadership Success, Doug Lennick and Fred Kiel look at the connection between strong moral principles and business success. Using original research, the authors show how the best performing companies have leaders who are able to promote moral intelligence throughout their organizations, despite the fact that the business world all too often rewards bad behavior, at least in the short run. Included in their book is what the authors call their Moral Competency Inventory, a metric that can help leaders assess where they and their organization currently stand. 3:43:08 PM    comment []

Toyota on top? Toyota has become a formidable competitor in the automobile market. They have engineers all over the Intelligent Maintenance Systems work, while GM sends one engineer from R&D and Ford and DaimlerChrysler send an occasional engineer. What's wrong with this picture? American automakers have known about the Japanese challenge for 25 years. Toyota makes no secret of its keys to success. Yet, devotion to continuous improvement and quality in American car companies' plants is, shall we say, not continuous. They will devote effort for a few years, then slip into another mode for a few years. Meanwhile, Toyota just keeps going. When I was down there a few weeks ago, Toyota management was touting its new 2006 car going into production at the time. More pressure on the American companies who have difficulty coming out with cool new products. They had better get their manufacturing acts together. Toyota, With 2006 Forecast, Challenges for Top Car Maker. The Toyota Motor Company plans to make 9.06 million cars in 2006, a goal that could help it to snatch from General Motors the crown of world's largest carmaker. By JAMES BROOKE. [NYT > Business] 6:19:43 AM    comment []