What is behind Goggle’s acquisition of Dodgeball.comWritten by Amitabh Shukla
Google acquired Dodgeball.com that brings social networking to mobile phones based in New York. However, there is no official response for people at google but site dodgebell.com posted a message at their site about acquisition on Wednesday.The service for Dodgebell works something like this: A person enters location on their mobile phones. A group of friends could receive text messages about place where they could meet. In addition, friends of friends who are close also get messages. "Google realizes that expanding search to mobile space can bring in a great deal of revenue," Yankee Group analyst Sui Li Walker said, "as opposed to offering a portal with a lot of free applications." So real question is, why did google brought a tiny company like Dodgebell.com, which was just started last year by two graduate students? Lets see what google has acquired recently: Picasa, blogger tool provider and recently Dodgebell. Is this aimed towards building of some type of portal in future like Yahoo or Google is thinking of using these services as extension of its search engine? With launch of Gmail, Google has made it clear that it understands importance of communication tools and how it grabs people attention and time.
| | Firing someone without resentmentWritten by Julie-Ann Amos
Firing someone is always going to be thankless task, rife with stress and a fraying of nerves. Here are some ways in which resentment and conflict can be minimised throughout this difficult process Firing, sacking, letting go or terminating people is unpleasant. There are ways to minimise resentment, but why bother? Because most legal action and unpleasantness stems from dissatisfaction/resentment about way things were handled - about how rather than what happened. Dismissal can be unfair because of reason, or way it was done, so you need to be extremely careful. In law regarding employer-employee relationships, fairness is key. You must be fair, and be seen to be fair. But fairness, like beauty, is in eye of beholder - after being terminated, very few people have clear vision! Prepare a disciplinary process/policy given to all, with a sequence of verbal then written warnings ending with dismissal. Ensure processes allow for discipline/termination on grounds of both performance (capability) and attitude (conduct). Specify your right to instantly dismiss someone (summary dismissal) for gross misconduct, and give guidance on what would constitute this. Have hard evidence to back up all decisions. Documentation of poor conduct and/or capability is essential. You have to follow your own process to avoid legal unfairness. Negative appraisals/reviews make good evidence. Never take decisions lightly - weak performance can sometimes be improved by skilled intervention/support. Termination is traumatic/demotivating for surviving staff, even when they understand why. Avoid surprises by giving every opportunity for improvement before opting to terminate. This reduces grounds for legal action. Plus, survivors feel less threatened if they see you are fair. Employees who have been aware for some time there is a problem are usually less traumatised, and may already be looking elsewhere. Always avoid firing someone who has no idea its a possibility, except for summary dismissal.
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