This collection of articles explores many of the common people-related integration challenges organizations are likely to face during an M&A transaction, and offers recommendations to help executive leadership get it right for Day One and beyond. There are five sections:

Section 1: Due Diligence
Section 2: Integration Management
Section 3: Integration
Section 4: Post-Merger Integration
Section 5: Divestiture

This collection of articles explores many of the common people-related integration challenges organizations are likely to face during an M&A transaction, and offers recommendations to help executive leadership get it right for Day One and beyond. There are five sections:

Section 1: Due Diligence
Section 2: Integration Management
Section 3: Integration
Section 4: Post-Merger Integration
Section 5: Divestiture

The economic slump offers business leaders a chance to more effectively reward talented employees by emphasizing nonfinancial motivators rather than bonuses. A recent McKinsey survey indicates that executives find some nonmonetary rewards motivate employees better than cash bonuses do. See what they are, then let us know what's working in your organization.

Companies increasingly rely on a relatively scarce resource to maintain their competitive edge: the people who are able to use statistics; rigorous quantitative or qualitative analysis; and information-modeling techniques to make business decisions. Or, in shorthand, “analytical talent.”

For business leaders, the importance of such people poses several challenges, but in our experience one question stands out: What’s the best way to organize analysts? Executives have to decide whether they should be centralized or decentralized; “charged out” to the rest of the business as consultants or be made available as a free resource; and where and to whom they should report. New Accenture research helps companies determine the optimal way to organize and retain their increasingly valuable analytical talent.

He can close, but how's his interpersonal sensitivity? A guide to screening sales candidates.

Whether you are seeking to attract and retain talent, generate support for a new business imperative, or to maintain friendly labor relations, an effective Employee Engagement program is one that is built on the five C's: clarity, consistency, context, customization and conversation.

Could a simple five-minute interaction with another person dramatically increase your weekly productivity? In some employment environments, the answer is yes, according to Wharton management professor Adam Grant. Grant has devoted significant chunks of his professional career to examining what motivates workers in settings that range from call centers and mail-order pharmacies to swimming pool lifeguard squads. In all these situations, Grant says, employees who know how their work has a meaningful, positive impact on others are not just happier than those who don't; they are vastly more productive, too.

Given the magnitude of the overall organizational impact, it is surprising how few companies invest in helping their precious leadership assets to succeed during transitions—the most critical junctures in their careers. A few companies explicitly train their managers how to take charge. More common are “on-boarding” programs that introduce outside hires to the strategy, businesses, and culture of the company. While useful, such programs seldom provide systematic guidance on the process of managing a successful transition. And the vast majority of companies do not provide any support at all. Why do so many companies leave their people to sink or swim?

This essay appears in "The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010," which is compiled by this journal in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. The ten problems and the innovative solutions are discussed in each essay. This particular essay describes research demonstrating the importance of daily work progress, even incremental progress, for motivating workers. Additional research showed that managers underestimate the importance of facilitating progress as a motivational tool.

Art Kleiner, author of The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, uncovers an effective and ongoing way to create employee alignment and accountability in Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions, by Gary B. Cohen.

As your company expands, you'll probably want to write down policies and rules that govern your employees. Here's how to create an employee handbook that is sensible, practical, and that protects you as an employer.

At Fog Creek Software, every worker at the same level is paid the same salary. And when one gets a raise, they all do.

Here are 33 traditional and voguish beliefs that, on the basis of their research, the authors of The Enthusiastic Employee say have little or no basis in reality. These beliefs, covering a variety of areas, are widespread and, when applied to the typical employee and work situation, are wrong. They also often contradict each other, as "common sense" beliefs often do.

Company leaders are often quick to acknowledge, even revere, the importance of human capital in their organizations. “Our growth depends on people” and similar sound bites echo through many CEO speeches and litter corporate homepages like the last refrain in a many-versed ballad. Yet, catchphrases and buzzwords offer little clarity when it comes to the ins and outs of building and keeping a workforce.

Why you need to reconfigure the company around your people.

Most companies treat benefits as a cost of doing business. They should see them instead as a competitive weapon.

Historically, there is a significant increase in the number of executives leaving their companies as market conditions improve and more job opportunities open up. Accenture research shows that executives tend to stay longest with those companies that offer the greatest opportunities to enhance their employability. By providing the three opportunities that executives want most, companies will be in a better position not only to retain their most prized executives, but also to attract new talent as the economy recovers.

This article defines the "engagement gap" and outlines the challenge employers face as they attempt to close it. It also discusses the global driver of attraction, retention and engagement as defined by the Towers Perrin Global Workforce Study.

Managers must distinguish what’s innate in their employees (talent) from what can be changed or acquired (knowledge and skills).

Any company that competes on the global stage must, in light of today's changing workforce, rethink the way it manages people.

Layoffs are a fact of life today at many companies, as is survivor guilt--which engenders the feelings of fear, frustration, and distrust harbored by some people who still have their jobs. Companies can address survivor guilt by recognizing that large-scale layoffs represent fundamental organizational change. Leaders need to manage layoffs carefully, ensuring that departing employees are treated fairly and respectfully while striving to give remaining employees confidence about the future.

Here are 10 best practices for using 360 feedback.

Ten best-practices to follow when leading a feedback meeting.

People challenges are greater than ever before at companies, thanks to globalization, an aging workforce, and employee desires for work-life balance. This report, which is based on a worldwide survey of more than 4,700 executives, lays out a comprehensive approach to enable companies to understand the HR environment and how they can create a people advantage. When companies that understand how to measure the effectiveness of their people and harness their talents, they will achieve a lasting edge.

Many CEOs are naturally inclined - and responsible for - overseeing the day-to-day operations of their respective firms. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but in the years ahead, one of a company's major competitive advantages will be its ability to attract, develop, excite and retain talent. Responsibility for managing that talent is already being assumed by some CEOs, who, these co-authors and McKinsey consultants say, are fast coming to the realization that their respective organizations are going to have to improve their talent management practices. In this article, which is based on their recently published book, The War for Talent, the co-authors survey the state of talent management as practiced by 13,000 managers. While becoming a talent manager is imperative, it will require a fundamental shift in how a CEO sees his or her job and a significant time commitment, tasks that the authors describe in the article.