|
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Local Innovation expert to address worker apathy problem
Creator/Founder of “Unmanagement” model will offer leadership tips
(Nov. 10, 2009, Bountiful, UT) – Worker disengagement, a monumental problem facing businesses worldwide, can be overcome by expanding an organization’s “sweet spot” and incorporating the principles of “Unmanagement,” says Dr. Charles Ehin, an innovation and management expert who will speak at the Salt Lake Leadership Seminar on Nov. 19 at the Radisson Hotel.
Sponsored by Utah State University’s “Partners in Business” program, the seminar will feature a variety of business leaders and experts from across the country. The presentation by Dr. Ehin, an emeritus professor of business at Westminster College, will identify the elements of the worker disengagement problem and recommend approaches for solving this crisis, which costs the U.S. economy as much as $355 billion annually and afflicts at least 25 million workers .
Dr. Ehin, who was formerly dean of the Gore School of Business at Westminster College and has authored three business books, will hone in on how leaders can encourage innovation within an organization or network through voluntary collaboration, through what he calls “Unmanagement”-- a new model of leadership suitable for the current Knowledge Age. Ehin addresses the need for less top-down or authoritarian management in his most recent book, “The Organizational Sweet Spot: Engaging the Innovative Dynamics of Your Social Networks,” published by Springer in June 2009. Ehin wrote the book after analyzing research on human nature which shows that human productivity is at its peak in informal, co-evolving relationships, as opposed to within formal systems where productivity is lower.
“If we are going to solve the worker disengagement problem, not to mention many other problems rampant in business today, we are going to have to start thinking about management and leadership in a fundamentally different way,” suggests Ehin.
The Salt Lake Leadership Seminar, co-sponsored by the Cache Valley Radio Group and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, will feature presentations by eight (8) business and leadership experts. Previous Partners in Business speakers have included great minds such as Milton Friedman, Peter Drucker, Alan Greenspan and Lester Thurow. The program is targeted to business professionals as well as students of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.
About Dr. Ehin
Dr. Charles (“Kalev”) Ehin is a Professor Emeritus of Business at Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT, USA and a recognized management and innovation dynamics authority. Dr. Ehin has authored several groundbreaking management books including The Organizational Sweet Spot: Engaging the Innovative Dynamics of Your Social Networks (Springer, June 2009), Hidden Assets: Harnessing the Power of Informal Networks (Springer, 2004) and Unleashing Intellectual Capital (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000). Dr. Ehin has an MBA from Syracuse University and a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma. (See unmanagement.com.)
About Partners in Business
The Partners in Business program is a student-run, non-profit organization sponsored by the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. The program hosts a series of professional business seminars on a variety of topics including operational excellence, leadership, and many others. Designed to strengthen the bond between the school and industry, the program features experts from all fields of business who are invited to share their advice, expertise and experience. Originally developed in the 1970s as a banking seminar, the program has expanded since then to address human resource management, information systems and world trade, as well as accounting, productivity, real estate, insurance and quality. (See partners.usu.edu.)
|
News & Views 