Connecting people

dents across the four main occupational groups defined in Italy: front-line production and service workers; clerical and administrative staff; specialist professional and technical staff; and supervisory and management staff. The surprising find from their data modelling, showed, that for managers and supervisors-as a distinct occupational group-these policies and practices had neither positive nor negative total effect on their attitudes to the workplace, nor of any behavioural outcomes. They reasoned that these findings further reinforce the importance of progressive Hr on employee perceptions, attitudes and behavioural outcomes. “Clearly, managers and supervisors set the tone, quality and outcomes of workplaces they control through the adoption of Hr policies and practices, as our data modelling affirms,” says Laura Innocenti. “These policies and practices do have an impact on the rest of the organisation and its employees, regardless of what these managers themselves think, of these practices or policies,” she concluded. •

The goal is to inspire ideas rather than limit them. We are paying attention to work flow in the process too, defining the scope of an assignment and the schedule: the end game is that everyone should understand his or her role and responsibility for creative development.

Paul Shulman Y&R Executive Vice President and Global Director of Creative Operations.

Operations: Paul Shulman, Global Director of Creative Operations, has a daily mission: reaching the creative people of the Young & Rubicam Advertising Network in 90 different countries. His recipe is based on a simple premise: inspiring and developing ideas through building relationships.

CONNECTING PEOPLE

twsm In today’s businesses, brands are often stretched across the globe as are their human resources. How do you reach the creative people of the Young & Rubicam advertising network in 90 different countries on a daily basis? ps “The first thing I’m doing here is getting familiar with the businesses we have globally. It’s never just about managing creative people. There are lots of moving parts. The operating word is ‘simple’, because the goal is to inspire ideas rather than limit them. We are paying attention to workflow as well, defining the scope of an assignment and the schedule. The end game is everyone understanding his or her role and responsibility for creative development. Allocation of creative talent and agreement around an assignment is critical to the success of an agency, so process really matters.

twsm How do you know what your clients want, and how do you know you have helped them effect a global result? ps In my opinion ‘global results’ overstates what global clients are after. They are usually interested in different interpretations of the creative solution to their brand. This is a great thing for us. It allows us to stretch our creative muscles. And our new processes are entirely geared to making this do-able. We can tap into talent everywhere to make sure the work is great and culturally on the mark.

twsm How do you leverage and maximise this talent that Y&R has over such an extensive global network? ps The challenge appears to be building relationships and getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of the talent. The flip side of this is huge opportunity, leveraging great talent all around the network. Also, thank God for technology! I can use conference calls and the computer to illustrate concepts in real time. A single format applies to all the countries, this way I can communicate with everybody without having to visit every office. And I’m developing the relationships and process for who delivers and who approves. Technology has also made the work environment much more democratic in the sense that ideas really come from every level and everyone works together to bring them to fruition.