The reason employees become disengaged is because management takes the lion's share of ownership. So if you want to build real employee engagement, relinquish your monopoly on leadership, change the way you view employees and push ownership down throughout the organization.

Organizations that have sat out the recession with the attitude that their best people have no choice but to stay because of the scarcity of other opportunities are going to be in for a rude shock when the upturn finally arrives.

For many leaders, business culture is "all about me" and finishing first. Yet this mindset risks ignoring one of the most important requirements for effective leadership, namely influencing skills. And the art of influencing starts with empathy: not "what's in it for me", but "what's in it for you".

Could it be that in Ebenezer Scrooge one can identify the genesis of the MBA? After all, both share an obsession with accountancy and the belief that employee welfare matters only to the employee and is a net cost to the business.

Twenty years ago, it was people power that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. People also have the power to shape organizations, lead transformation and create the demand for products and services. So to remain competitive, companies need to harness this power.

We need great leadership now more than ever. But we're not getting it - because we seem to have forgotten what leadership really is. Leadership is about work, not personality. It's not about being visionary and it's not about managing people. Business leaders simply need to manage performance

The real toll of the recession is its impact on everyday people. Smart managers know that creating a climate of fear isn't going to help. Instead, they need to focus on the right things that together create a more motivating work environment for their employees.

How do you inspire confidence and innovation in an organization whose employees are worried sick about their jobs? The answer isn't that complicated – and it doesn't involve employee engagement surveys.

Companies are increasingly blocking employees from accessing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like citing concerns over security and productivity. But in building eWalls to keep out danger, organizations may also be keeping out knowledge.

It is incredibly frustrating to have an idea for how to improve a business only to see it get rejected out of hand. But resistance to new ideas is normal. To get your ideas accepted, you need to understand the four stage of resistance and how to deal with each of them.

The second extract from Phil Whiteley's book, Meet the New Boss, published exclusively on Management Issues, records how the working experience played a formative role in rock and pop music - and the lyrical legacy this leaves.

In tough economic times, organizations tend to rely on their managers to communicate face-to-face with their teams about what's going on. But this approach doesn't work, because it usually ends up being about managing fear, not change.

"Work is like sex" opens up chapter one of Philip Whiteley's new book, Meet The New Boss, an entertaining look at the influence of literature, music and comedy on how we view work. So how is work like sex? And what does it have to do with Morrissey's lyrics? Read on to find out.

In the second part of his article on the broken state of management, MillerCoors director and author of The Death of Management, Jack Buffington, explains how companies can learn from the past to adapt to the new normal.

Making green management 'business as usual' is a key challenge facing every manager today. But managers need the support of those at the top of organisations because unless the support is top-down, initiatives are unlikely to succeed.

The unique combination of factors arising from the current economic upheaval means that the rulebook for our workplaces is not merely being overturned, it's being completely shredded. The new normal is here and a range of factors is driving it.

Management is broken, argues MillerCoors director and author of "The Death of Management", Jack Buffington. Only by returning to foundation principles can it be fixed. Here he explains what has gone wrong. Part two will deal with putting it right.

Despite what bankers continue to claim, money buys neither happiness nor loyal employees. So throwing good money after bad isn't a long-term solution for employees suffering from occasional feelings of low job satisfaction. There are lots of tools in the box – tools like pamper power.

While many companies concentrate on physical employment contracts during a downturn, the psychological contract often gets overlooked. Dr Graham Dietz of Durham Business School warns against this and offers advice on ensuring your company's contract remains in good health.

If an organization really wants to attract and retain the best and brightest, a good place to start is by painting a vision. I don't mean some tired mission statement, I mean something with depth, something so compelling that the average working professional wants to be part of it.

When it comes to organizational change, it isn't enough simply to present information to employees and hope this will be enough to win them over. If you really want people engaged and on your side, you need to involve them fully in the process.

It is time to adopt an completley upside-down view of how organizations work. That means focusing resources on the front-line staff who deliver products and services to the customer, not on executives who primarily manage the spin among the investment community.

This recession has felt so bloody partly because our leaders have had to dismantle a business model focused on growth and adjust to a world of greater responsibility and state intervention. But without a new culture of transparency, business will struggle to regain its legitimacy.

Finisher is a term used in American football circles to describe a player who never lets up until that last whistle blows. Sports teams need finishers to successfully compete. Businesses need finishers, too. But how do you find and cultivate them?

During difficult economic times, uncertainty presents a wealth of opportunities to be exploited by entrepreneurs. But without government support and a willing to consider genuine help for start-ups, much of this potential will go to waste.

The mere mention of the term "office politics" instantly makes many people angry. But there's another way of looking at it. Don't think "politicking". Instead, think of the process of building relationships and influencing people as "lobbying".

It's no longer the lack of credit that is keeping business owners awake at night and stifling the economy. What's really paralysing investment and scaring consumers is a rubber-necking obsession with bad news and obsessive pessimism.

If there's one lesson that we need to learn from the current recession, it is that in the long run, trust pays dividends. That means businesses choosing to operate with integrity - not just as a marketing tactic, but as a value that attracts and retains the best people.

The lessons we learned in childhood shaped who we are and created the values that guide us through life. But they may limit our success if followed too closely. Real world experience has other lesson to offer, many of which fly in the face of traditional parental guidance.

The current economic turmoil will have far-reaching impacts – not the least of which will be irrevocable and fundamental changes to our workforces and the way we work. And that in turn demands a fundamentally different type of management.