Sites T0 Watch Out For

Surfing the net for management sites is a bit like walking through the rainforest in pin-stripes. There are no roadmaps and the terrain is rough. In the dense jungle of information that hits you as you put in your key words into any search engine, there appear thousands of sites jostling for your eyeballs. Of these only a handful deserve them. Here are a few sites that stand out.

CONSULTANTS' NETWORK

Management Consultant Network

International (mcni) is a network of websites for certified management consultants from 30-odd countries. It provides an extensive and useful bank of consultants and is especially useful as a guide for companies and even management consultancies venturing into unknown markets. Created in 1995 by two consultants, the site is very narrowly focused.

The first vertical portal for the consulting profession, its main draw is its use as an online exchange for consultants and consulting information. For this, it has won praise from several users and reviewers, the most notable among them being the New York Times which says: "A good one-stop shop (for management consulting information) is the Management Consulting Network International site."

www.mcninet.com

LEARNING EXCHANGE

This is an interesting site that offers tremendous learning potential for managers. Corp U, or Corporate University Exchange, operates at two levels. At one level it is a site for the knowledge seeking manager, providing him or her with research and relevant news about the world of corporate education. At the second level it operates as an online partner for management consultancies by offering them constant updates about workshops, custom research facilities and a platform for knowlede or learning officers in all organisations.

The site has a category called the CLO exchange, or the Chief Learning Officers Exchange, which offers a platform for people who are responsible for learning within their organisations to share information and experiences. Given the number of big corporate names on the list, this seems to be a fairly popular facility.

One does not need to register for accessing the research material provided online but a company would have to join up for the other facilities.

www.corpu.com

MCKINSEY'S OFFERING

The site is neatly set out and offers a look at some of the work done by the consultancy through its research reports. The McKinsey Quarterly articles can also be read here if you register. Registration is free and all members are entitled to a free McKinsey Quarterly Newsletter. There are a few web exclusives but most of the articles are excerpts from those that appear in the magazine.

Apart from the magazine, the site has a collection of reports from various parts of the world that McKinsey operates in, book reviews and the products and tools that the consultancy offers for insights into global management trends.

Access to most of the site is restricted for registered users but there are pockets of information that can be downloaded without any registrations. The information provided here is quite exhaustive but it is not well presented. To get to an excerpt or an interview, one has to click several times and through several channels before hitting the right match.

www.mckinsey.com

B-SCHOOL INSIGHTS

The site is a compilation of well written and well researched articles based on a survey of 28 of America's best B-schools. Online now is a series of articles based on a survey conducted by editors at Worthington Brighton Press (publishers of Management Masters series). The editors asked B-school professors at MIT, Stanford, UCLA, Duke, Penn-State, Carnegie Mellon among others two questions:

* What are the 10 most powerful insights into management? And

* How should they be applied in today's economy?

The survey results are interesting, some even enlightening. And the articles based on the survey findings are a mature and insightful look at contemporary management practices. This is a free site and one does not need to register to read the articles or view the survey results that are put up on the site. Not everything that has been surveyed, researched and analysed is here however. For the complete works, one has to consult the 10 individual volumes of the Management Masters series. Of course, one can order the books online.

www.managementmasters.com

EVERYTHING ABOUT CRM

An independent resource centre for customer relationship management (CRM) is how the site defines itself. What it is, is an e-zine that is also a forum for members to exchange information about the latest developments in industry. The site also lists jobs and resumes for those interested CRM.

The CRM library has case studies, articles, conference papers, academic papers and vendor papers from leading CRM professionals. There are two kinds of membership, a corporate membership and an associate membership. Associate members sign up for free but corporate members have to pay a fee. As mentioned on the site, the Corporate Membership Package supports many areas of PR, Traffic Generation, Lead Generation, Thought Leadership and Branding.

www.crm-forum.com

ACCENTURES'S ACCENT

The site for the management and technology services company is a treat for managers and management students. Although the company does use the site to advertise its services, there are a number of resources in the form of case studies, survey reports and articles. The articles and the case studies are comprehensively reported and, most importantly, well laid out so that it does not drop down on the screen as an unreadable mass of information.

Those interested can also take the pop quizzes that the site has like "Are you realizing your potential? Take the interactive entrepreneurship guide to find out." If nothing else, the site could provide you with some laughs and quotable quotes from some of the big names in management.

www.accenture.com

FOR FAST COMPANIES

this is the website of the well known management magazine started by two former HBR editors. The online version of the magazine is well written and covers a range of issues. Most interesting is the site design that splits up the webzine into 6 custom-built career zones that have their own stories, case studies, educational tools, etc. For example, the career zone called Build Your Business has resources and tools for business expansion while Lead Your Team has tools for recruiting, managing and developing the team.

The divisions allow for easy browsing and allow one to hit on an area of interest without going through too many channels. The e-zine also keeps abreast of news and issues related to management practices and theories and is quite invaluable for professionals in this field.

www.fastcompany.com

MANAGING CHANGE

This is an online library for professionals in the field of change management. It is a comprehensive list of articles and books available on the subject.

The site offers direct links to articles and books written about the subject. Some articles are free to read as the magazines that they appear in don't charge any registration fees but some magazines may and, if you are really interested, you can order from the site. The site also provides excerpts from the books that are listed here.

Companies looking out for workshops or seminars or webinars for change management methods and developments can hook up with the companies or universities providing the same through the site.

The library also has benchmarking facilities "" one can pit one's company against the tools that the site provides or assess one's performance against the rest of the industry under given parameters. It is a valuable tool for management enthusiasts.

www.change-management.org

HOW NOT TO MANAGE

As the name suggests, it is about bad management practices and their consequences. In the words of those who have set up the site, it offers a view of life "as viewed by someone who has worked with a lot of crap managers."

It is a hilarious takeoff on the jargon, the mannerisms and the manner in which managers operate. The writing is intelligent, crisp and instantly endearing with its honest and tongue-in-cheek view of the world of project management. Even though the site focuses on and around project managers, it can be read and enjoyed by a rank outsider. Almost all the channels on the site are worth a look but the most interesting is the one called Gumbo "" defined as place for miscellanous bits and blobs that don't fit anywhere. This has myths built around what appear to be real life adventures at the workplace and are hugely entertaining.

The site is funny without being frothy and superficial.

www.badmanager.com

(These website reviews were published in the April 2002 issue of Indian Management)