This article is based on the free eBook “The Styles, Models & Philosophy of Leadership”

This article is based on the free eBook “The Styles, Models & Philosophy of Leadership” written by Sarah Simpson.

Leadership models give you a framework or process in which you can apply your learning and highlight how you can adapt to changing situations, organizations or staff. The 5 main leadership philosophies are: Authentic Leadership, Ethical Leadership, French and Raven – Sources of Power, Servant Leadership and Value -based leadership.

1. Authentic Leadership

The idea of being authentic dates back to the ancient Greeks and the notion of being true to one’s self.

Craig and George in their book ‘Defining Your True North’ describe the 4 qualities of authentic leadership as:

• Being true to yourself in the way you work

• Being motivated not by your ego but by a bigger purpose

• Making decisions not because you want to be liked or it will help you ‘get on’ but because they fit your value system and feel right

• Concentrating on long term sustainability

2. Ethical Leadership

The main elements in ethical leadership involve: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Fair Trade’, Work life balance and the psychological contract and 4 P approach – Purpose, Planet, People, Principles.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

CSR is a type of self regulation in which an organization monitors and complies with ethical standards, international ‘norms’ and the spirit of law.

Part of ethical practice covers stakeholder analysis which must take a much wider view in defining who these people, groups, organizations and sectors are. You can then establish their needs and access their impact on the organization.

Fair Trade

Fair trade is described as “a strategy for sustainable development and poverty alleviation” fairtrade.org.uk

Work life balance and the psychological contract

We will all have probably used the phrase ‘I need a better work life balance’ or ‘I live to work not work to live’.

A psychological contract covers that which is not defined in a formal written contract of employment. It covers beliefs, perceptions and informal elements of your role and is usually not enforceable.

It is often represented by an iceberg in which written contractual elements e.g. work and pay is above the waterline and that which is hidden, not agreed or may be seen differently by parties is below the waterline.

Organizations and leaders should be looking to ensure the iceberg rises out of the water as misconceptions and misinterpretations are clarified.

3 P Approach – Purpose, Planet, People, Principles

This aim as far as this model goes is to balance the organizational purpose with the personal needs of people whilst giving due consideration to the world we live in. Organizations that face inwards can no longer maintain success and growth and leaders must now act with global accountability.

4. French and Raven – Sources of Power

According to John French and Bertram Raven (1959) power can be divided into 5 bases:

• Coercive power
• Reward power
• Legitimate power
• Referent power
• Expert power

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership was described by Robert Greenleaf. These leaders give attention and priority to their colleagues and the organization. They ensure engage in personal development and they solve their problems.

Larry Spears developed 10 characteristics of the servant leader. These are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth and community building.

Value -based leadership

This leadership style is based on the notion that people are motivated by their values and live by them. Therefore leaders underpin their decisions and vision with their value motivators. It consists of four core processes:

• Challenging, developing and understanding:
• Values and beliefs
• Capabilities and behaviors
• Embedding success

Value based leadership is more likely to be successful if values come all the way from the top as opposed to being started half way down. This changes the whole organization culture.

There is a lot more you can learn about how to lead and motivate people. If you would like to gain further insights into this topic you might be interested in our unique eLibrary.

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This article is based on the free eBook “Delegation and Empowerment”

This article is based on the eBook “From Reactive to Proactive – High Impact Strategic HR” written by Susan Quinn, Associate Professor, Bissett School of Business.

Human Resource professionals must self-assess their own skills and competencies with the aim to identify areas for improvement. The head of HR must ensure that the qualities and capabilities of the HR staff are excellent.

“The lack of skills of the existing HR staff” is the main hurdle to implementing a change to a transformational HR department, according to 65% of the respondents in the 2008 Global HR Transformation Report. This was followed by “internal bureaucracy” being mentioned by 52% of respondents and 51% mentioning “lack of adequate technology.” (ADP & HROA 2008)

HR staff must know the company’s business

HR staff must know the One comment that arises often regarding the HR staff is that they must know the business of the organization. At a minimum, this would include getting out of the HR offices and touring around the offices and/or various locations to find out what’s going on and how those places work. This may mean taking a road tour to see the various locations. Establishing a relationship with the managers and staff in the organization will be greatly enhanced by seeing where and how they work. Even with the advances in technology which allow for video-conferencing and internet phone calls, a personal visit goes much farther in establishing and advancing interpersonal relationships.

Many HR practitioners will admit that they do not know much about their organization. In order to know the business, HR practitioners, in addition to touring the various locations in the company, should also:

• Understand the ownership of the company. Who owns them? Are they a head office? Are they a subsidiary?

• Know how the organization is financed. Are they a publicly trading company?

• Be able to do a thorough SWOT analysis for the organization as a whole.

To take the concept that HR staff must “know the company’s business” a step further, we are beginning to see HR staff either coming from other functional areas of the company or doing rotations into other areas of the organization for periods of time to gain a better understanding of the various functional areas of the organization.

What about the need for HR to act as internal consultants?

An article from the Human Resources Professionals Association about effective internal consultants lists skills that the individual needs to have in order to work well. These skills include:

• A specific ‘technical’ expertise (HR knowledge and experience)
• Communication skills
• Listening skills
• Problem solving
• Analytical skills
• Customer service
• Connections to other service providers
• Understanding of our clients’ “business”
• Understanding the big picture
• And most importantly: the ability to act as influencer and enabler. (Viktorin & Downs 2010)
If you examine this list above, it summarizes many of the same points that many writers include. In addition to these traits, others come to mind as discussed below.

Being assertive without “pushing” too hard

In order to consult with clients, the HR practitioner needs a curious combination of traits. There is a need to be assertive without “pushing” too hard. After all, the HR practitioner is consulting, not dictating. And yet s/he must also be persuasive in their consulting. S/he does have expertise to offer – likely a track record of successful ideas and implementation. The advice must be presented clearly, in a compelling way, to ensure client buy-in.

As a problem-solver, s/he must also be flexible. Clients will have different levels of comfort with change or with the suggestions being offered. What might seem to be a clear course of action may not be appealing to a client. Therefore, that clear course of action may have to be modified, or broken into smaller component parts so that they become more digestible.

The internal consultant must also be resilient to push-back or outright rejection of their ideas and suggestions. If the consultant has personal credibility (this concept is explored further on in this section), then outright rejection will not happen often, if at all. However, it is possible. In this case, the consultant must figure out how to proceed in the most positive manner for all concerned.

The art of problem-solving

We must also be somewhat careful of the use of “problem-solving”. This must be done extremely well. The problem cannot be solved with a short-term fix, since that generally just restores the situation to the status quo – a “band-aid” response. The view must be longer term, with a broader, more comprehensive perspective involved. The need to be proactive rather than reactive is crucial.

When we look at the HR practitioner as that curious mixture of internal consultant and change agent, the other aspect to that role is to disagree, poke, prod and sometimes provoke change. This must be done with a certain degree of diplomacy, tact and clarity. This HR practitioner can guide others away from an action that might not be advisable or could be improved on. They can ensure that groupthink has not entered into decisions and call it when it occurs. Coupled with their ability to be persuasive, they can steer managers and the company in the right direction and avoid the potential pitfalls along the way.

If you would like to learn more about the art of HR and how to recruit the right people for the job, feel free to contact us.

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This article is based on the free eBook “Delegation and Empowerment”

This article is based on the eBook “Delegation and Empowerment” written by Eric Garner

Delegation and empowerment are two of the most important skills of management today. They chime with what people want and expect at work. They hold the key to motivation. And, when used with skill, they create people who deliver much much more than you ever thought possible.

If you have been wondering whether you should embrace empowerment in your team or organization, here are some of the very strong reasons why you should.

Command-and-tell is out

Until very recently, the only conceivable form of management in our organisations was a command-and-tell one. That’s one where the person at the top issued all the commands and sent them down the line. This structure is no longer guaranteed to work. Why? Firstly, it is inappropriate for modern forms of business, where things move quicker than ever before. And secondly, a more aware, educated, and informed workforce won’t wear it. That’s why, if you’re still operating under old authoritarian forms of management, time is running out for you.

Competitive advantage

Organisational survival is more dependent than ever on the customer. Around the turn of the last century, it may have been OK for Ford to say the customer could have any colour “as long as it’s black”. Not any more! Today, customers can simply go elsewhere. The fact is that all the traditional variables of business – raw materials, systems, management – are no longer exclusive. The one thing that does mark you out, though, is the kind of experience that customers get. And that depends on how your employees behave. Shackle them by telling them they are too stupid to take their own decisions and you’ll lose whatever competitive advantage you had. Empower them and you’ll gain it for good.

We are all managers

We all lead more complicated lives than ever before. The average adult now has to manage what is in effect a dynamic business in their own domestic lives. They have mortgages to manage, money to manage, relationships to manage, children to manage, households to manage, social lives to manage. And yet, when they come to work, we often give them simple and meaningless tasks to perform. And then, as an added insult, we appoint someone over them with the implicit message that they are not up to it. Imagine the difference you would make if you simply tapped in to their home-honed managerial skills!

Team power

It is now widely recognised that the most productive unit in the organisation is the team. The team together can work with each other in a much more powerful way than the individual and the boss can. This is because there are no barriers of status, no distinctions of rank, and no blurring of purposes. The team can, quite simply, focus exclusively on their goal. If managed well, teams can produce ideas, opportunities to achieve and a synergy that surpasses the contributions of individuals on their own. Old “command-and-tell” approaches to people were based on managing people one-to-one; new approaches focus on the team.

Employee expectations

Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation had a different view of the workplace than we do. Theirs was a “job for life” mentality in which do-as-you’re-told loyalty was rewarded with a job from 15 to 65. Today’s generation neither wants nor expects to spend their whole life working in one organization. When surveyed about what they want from a job, “the chance to work independently” and “the chance to learn” always come higher on the list than money and security.

The Power of Information

The changes going on in our organizations and workplaces have been brought about by an unprecedented access to information. We now know what goes on in our organizations to an extent never experienced before. It is instant, constant and huge. Moreover, and most significantly, the information is no longer restricted to those in power. It is anywhere and everywhere.

Adding Value

Delegation, in the sense of management style and attitude, and empowerment, in the sense of how an organisation can change itself, offer ways to bring people into partnership with their organisations and so add value.

A study by the New Learning for Work consortium has identified seven principles by which partnership and added value can be achieved. These are…

1. listen to what people at all levels have to say
2. ensure everyone is clear on what the organisation expects of them
3. create an environment where everyone focuses on results
4. move accountability, responsibility and authority to where it can do most good
5. offer competent support
6. recognise that everyone has their own unique talents
7. back up support with encouragement and review.

If you would like to learn more about how to motivate and train your employees, you might be interested in finding out more about our eLibrary.

How to educate and train your employees in a time and cost effective manor?

Learn more about how Bookboon’s eLibrary solution can help the educating and development of your employees in a time and cost effective way.

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This article is based on the free eBook “Recruitment and Selection”

This article is based on the eBook “Coaching and Mentoring” written by Sean McPheat

When you think about your role in the workplace, consider this idea: you will be remembered when you leave the organization for how well you managed your team. If you want to build a high performance team, then you need to continue to work on building your individual and your team coaching skills.

Achieving a High-Performing Team

First, make sure everyone on the team is committed to the team’s purpose. They must know exactly what that purpose is by the team leader keeping them focused and constantly communicating that purpose in team meetings and regular updates. The team leader helps each individual team member meet his or her own needs while serving the overall purpose of the team.

Next, establish motivating goals for the team members. The team leader should ensure that everyone on the team has clearly defined goals and targets. Your team’s goals may be determined by senior management. In that case, make sure that these goals are clearly discussed. Team members should understand how their jobs support the achievement of the defined goals, and, if possible, have the opportunity to develop individual goals and action plans that spell out how they will contribute to the success of the whole business.

You’ll need to ensure team members have clearly defined expectations but also, that they understand how each of their roles is linked to ever other role. Make sure team members are cross-trained in other responsibilities so that everyone can back each other up when needed. The team leader makes sure that individual job responsibilities are fulfilled, but, at the same time, works to help the individuals develop a common language and common processes and approaches that allow them to function as a team.

Focus on developing multi-directional communication

On the best teams, team members solve problems, communicate with each other, and keep the team leader updated on current challenges or emerging issues. On low-performing teams, communication is one-way (from team leader to team members) or two-way (between the team leader and individuals). Skilled leaders focus on developing multi-directional communication, making sure the team has lines of communication open between themselves.

Determine the level of authority and ownership the team can take

New teams may have to earn this authority by demonstrating that they understand the team’s purpose, processes and priorities. However, effective team leaders work toward pushing authority for the team’s outcomes to the team members. Team members know how and when to get approval for decisions and, in the best of cases, are charged with making on-the-spot decisions when a customer is facing them. On low-performing teams, team members have to constantly get approval before taking action, significantly reducing their effectiveness and negatively affecting their sense of engagement on the team.

Recognize diverse talents

Excellent team leaders pay attention to helping team members understand their unique strengths, talents, and weaknesses. No individual can be good at everything, so the best team leaders assist everyone to develop an appreciation for individual style differences, natural gifts, and personal experience. Teams are encouraged to use the language of acceptance and appreciation, rather than criticism and judgment. Team leaders consciously hire team members who bring complementary skill sets, unique experiences, and diverse perspectives.

Work on developing support and trust

You can’t force a team to be supportive and trusting – it’s a natural result of shared responsibility, shared success, and mutual respect. The high-performing team achieves mutual support and trust because they have a history of working together to achieve great results. They have met challenges, overcome obstacles, backed each other up in good times and bad. A high-performing team has earned each other’s trust.

These recommendations can help you and your team to move into the level of high-performance and to create the conditions that are necessary for maintaining that level of performance. Once you have don’t your assessment of the team, it’s time for you to use the same general tool you used for a personal development program – but for the team as a whole.

Decide on goals and actions

Based on the assessment results and once you have shared some of these goals with the team, decide as a team what you will work on. What goals can they commit to? What actions will they take to achieve the goals? You’ll need to get commitment and agreement from the individuals for their own actions as well as from the team and how they will interact with the rest of the organization. Make sure, just as with the individual performance management tools, you have a way to measure success. How will the team know that they are achieving their goals?

Continue to have follow-up assessments and check the team’s progress on what they agreed to do. Identify any areas where they are not measuring up to their word and get agreement to address those. Encourage them to continue taking responsibility for the team’s success and for their own. And last, but not least, be sure to celebrate the team’s success as well as your own for coaching them to their success.

If you would like to learn more about how to effectively develop your employees, you might be interested in finding out more about our eLibrary.

How to educate and train your employees in a time and cost effective manor?

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The post Coaching tips to improve the performance of your employees appeared first on BookboonGlobal.

This article is based on the free eBook “Recruitment and Selection”

Recruitment and selection is one of the key processes of any business, often regarded as the most important. Sometimes the process is undertaken with little preparation because managers believe they know what kind of person they want and have a gut feel for who will do a good job for them.

But this is seat-of-the-pants recruitment and fraught with dangers, not least because of the costs of getting it wrong, but also because few organizational processes are as uncertain and unpredictable as the recruitment and selection process.

That’s why you should aim to manage it starting with a policy blueprint that everyone in your organisation can work to. Here are some key factors in managing recruitment successfully.

Recruitment Policy

It is important to have a policy on recruitment for your organization. This ensures that everyone who is involved in recruitment campaigns is working consistently towards the same goals, using the same procedures, and reviewing results with the same criteria. In this way, the process can be better managed to achieve your business aims.

Whether your recruitment policy is in writing or just custom and practice, it should cover the Who? What? Why? of your procedure.

The 12 Steps of Recruitment

There are 12 steps in the recruitment cycle. Each stage is a sub-system of the main system and may have sub-systems itself. They are:

1. checking if you have a vacancy

2. taking the decision to recruit

3. writing the job description

4. writing the person specification

5. advertising the job

6. handling the response

7. shortlisting

8. interviewing and testing

9. making a selection

10. taking up references

11. appointing

12. managing the new recruit’s start.

Aims, Methods, and Review

If you want to manage your recruitment well, you’ll need to set your aims, adjust your methods to meet this aim, and regularly review how it’s working. You’ll need to have good administration systems working. You’ll also need to decide what the best way to recruit is. There is a wide array of choices, from paper selection to formal interview; tests to a spell of work experience; and setting up assessment centers to contracting the whole exercise out to experts. Whatever you do, you need to review the results, both short-term and long-term, if you want to manage the process well.

Administration

The systems and sub-systems of recruitment are best managed through attention to good administration. There are some simple rules:

• appoint one person in the team to have responsibility for each vacancy. This person should know the stage that the vacancy has reached.
• open a new file on each vacancy. Ideally use computer programs to handle large numbers or popular vacancies.
• acknowledge letters the same day they arrive
• set deadlines on each stage (eg closure of applications, dates of interviews) and allow no changes
• whittle lists down promptly
• keep people informed if there are delays
• review the list of applicants regularly.

Recruitment Methods

A key feature of your recruitment procedures is the method you use to assess candidates. Assessment methods may be a matter of personal taste or may be laid down by the organization. It is not unusual to have different methods in the same organization. The face-to-face interview is the most widely used method of recruiting although it is widely accepted that it can be an unreliable guide to a person’s future performance potential. Other methods such as biodata, assessment centers, tests and graphology can only give unscientific predictions. In truth, there is no cast-iron method that can guarantee the selection of the best candidate or the selection of the candidate who will turn out to be the star performer we all want. In every recruitment exercise, there will always be an element of guesswork and intuition.

Data and Biodata

Data about people, known as biodata, is at the heart of making good selections. D.B.Goldsmith was the pioneer of selection techniques based on biodata. For example, when asked to find people who would become good salesmen (sic), Goldsmith found out which existing salesmen in the organization were already performing well and listed every factor about them including gender, age, and family background. He then gave every factor a weighting and used this to draw up the ideal recruit. This approach ensured the organization took on the same type of person. Today, this would almost certainly be regarded as discriminatory.

The Interview

The interview has traditionally been the overwhelmingly favored method of selecting staff. Few people get a job without one. However, research shows that assessing people by means of a face-to-face discussion can be a poor way to assess them. This is because we are subjectively influenced by whether we like someone or not. We may admire things at interview – for example, a bubbly personality – that are not necessary for the job. Interviews need to be structured to work well and to focus on information needed in the job.

Assessment Centers

Assessment centers are put together by combining a range of assessment techniques in one half day or whole day session for groups of up to 12 candidates. The techniques need to be carefully prepared and may include an in-tray exercise to simulate a job problem; leaderless discussions; and formal panel interviews. Assessment centers are often used by large organizations such as the Armed forces or Civil Service for senior appointments. They have a high level of success.

To keep in mind…

1. A recruitment policy should indicate who recruits, where, when and in what manner.

2. The recruitment cycle consists of twelve steps, from identifying a vacancy to filling it.

3. Each stage in the recruitment cycle is a system with its own sub-systems and sub-sub systems.

4. The human touch makes the systems approach to selection more user-friendly.

5. There is no cast-iron method that can guarantee foolproof selection.

6. The interview is a universally-used but inherently flawed method of recruitment.

If you would like to learn more about how to recruit the right people for the job, feel free to contact us.

Learn how to generate quality HR leads from your career website!

We are experts in optimizing the traffic you have on your career site today. Companies are spending a lot of money on getting people to their career site, but almost all leaves the career without the company knowing anything about them.

The post 8 key factors in managing recruitment successfully appeared first on BookboonGlobal.

Ereaders Reach Two in Five in the UK

• Apr 17, 2013

Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Ereaders-Reach-Two-Five-UK/1009819#SwsaA1RGC0fvY1HM.99

The post Ereaders Reach Two in Five in the UK – Report about Bookboon by eMarketer appeared first on BookboonGlobal.

How to save money on university reading

Whether you’re an e-book convert or loyal to old-fashioned tomes, what’s really important is keeping the costs down at university says David Ellis.

Student textbooks: Buying second-hand is cheaper, greener and you don’t need to worry about folding the page corners.  Photo: Getty

By David Ellis

7:00AM GMT 28 Mar 2013

The post Bookboon mentioned by The Telegraph (UK) appeared first on BookboonGlobal.

E-Book-Wüste Deutschland [Studie]

Dass der deutsche E-Book-Markt im Vergleich zum angloamerikanischen Raum in den Kinderschuhen steckt, ist allgemein bekannt. Wie gewaltig der digitale Graben tatsächlich ist, offenbart eine neue Studie der E-Book-Plattform Bookboon.

40.337 Menschen aus 13 Ländern befragte Bookboonzwischen Dezember 2012 und Februar 2013 zu ihrem digitalen Leseverhalten, darunter 5.166 Deutsche. In einer ersten Auswertung werden sieben Länder miteinander verglichen: USA, UK, die Niederlande, Deutschland sowie die drei skandinavischen Länder Dänemark, Norwegen und Schweden (Bookboon sitzt in Dänemark und Großbritannien).

Gerätebesitz: Ausnahmeerscheinung E-Book-Reader

12% der befragten Deutschen gaben an, ein Tablet zu besitzen. In den USA, Großbritannien und den Niederlanden liegt dieser Wert mehr als doppelt so hoch (28-30%). Noch krasser ist die Schieflage beim E-Book-Reader-Besitz: 2,6% der Befragten nennen ein dediziertes Lesegerät ihr Eigen. In Großbritannien sind es 13,2% der Befragten, in der Kindle-Heimat USA gar 16%. Selbst dort besitzen aber nur 2,7% Tablet und E-Book-Reader – in Deutschland sollen es sogar nur 0,3% sein. Andere Studien kamen hier zu teilweise deutlich differierenden Ergebnissen.

9,5% der befragten Deutschen planen für die nächsten 12 Monate die Anschaffung eines dedizierten Lesegeräts – ein bemerkenswert hoher Wert im Vergleich zu UK (3,6%) und den USA (1,9% – allerdings plus 7,6%, die im Zeitraum Tablet und E-Book-Reader kaufen wollen). Das bestätigt unsere Vermutung, dass Deutschland in Sachen dedizierte Lesegeräte noch “Nachkaufbedarf” hat und das Peak hierzulande noch nicht erreicht ist, auch wenn der weltweite Absatz aufgrund der hohen Durchdringung in den USA schon erreicht sein mag.

16% der befragten Deutschen wollen in den nächsten 12 Monaten ein Tablet kaufen. Demnach verfügen in 12 Monaten geschätzte 45% der Befragungsgruppe über ein mobiles Gerät zum Lesen von E-Books.

E-Book-Kauf: In Deutschland weithin unbekannt

Bitter wird es bei einem Blick auf die Frage, wer momentan E-Books kauft beziehungsweise wer dies für die Zukunft plant. In den USA kaufen 27% der Befragten schon regelmäßig E-Books, in Großbritannien sind es 24% – in Deutschland gerade einmal 3,5%. Immerhin gaben 23% der Befragten an, innerhalb der nächsten 12 Monate mit kommerziellen E-Books anzufangen. Bookboon fragte auch nach dem Kauf- und Leseverhalten in drei Jahren, diese Werte scheinen aber doch arg spekulativ.

Pricing und Angebot ausbaufähig

30% der befragten Deutschen finden E-Books gegenwärtig zu teuer – dieser Wert bezieht sich allerdings nur auf Amazon.de-Kunden. Das sind mehr als in UK (17%) und den USA (12%) – dort gibt es mangels E-Book-Preisbindung allerdings auch immer wieder Dumping- und Sonderpreise, gerade auf Bestseller. Die “Unzufriedenen-Quote” ist sogar erstaunlich gering, beachtet man die häufig marginale bis nicht vorhandene Differenz zwischen Print- und E-Book-Preis, die für viele Lesefreunde nicht nachvollziehbar ist.

Auch die Zufriedenheit mit dem E-Book-Sortiment ist in Deutschland grundsätzlich gegegeben – gerade einmal knapp 6% beurteilten das Angebot als schlecht (ebenfalls ausschließlich Amazon.de). In den skandinavischen Ländern sind es dagegen gut 40% der Befragten; Bookboon führt das auf einen Mangel an lokalisierten Titeln zurück.

Danach gefragt, warum nicht digital gelesen wird, antworten die Deutschen höchst unterschiedlich. Wer ein Tablet sein Eigen nennt (37% geben das als Grund fürs Nicht-Lesen an), dem sind E-Books im Zweifel dann doch zu teuer (38%). 19% lesen nicht gerne auf einem Bildschirm, 14% bevorzugen aus unspezifizierten Gründen gedruckte Literatur und 16% finden “ihre” E-Books nicht. Eine Auswertung für E-Reader-Besitzer fehlt leider.

Amazon.de-Kunden besonders zufrieden – Trendwende mit Tolino?

Höchst interessant ist die Aufschlüsselung zwischen den Kunden von Amazon.de und denen anderer E-Book-Stores. So sind Kindle-Nutzer durchweg zufriedener mit Pricing (trotz Buchpreisbindung! Grund ist wohl das Angebot kostenloser und günstiger Self-Publisher-Titel sowie gemeinfreier Bücher plus das subjektive Empfinden), Sortiment und ganz besonders mit der Zugänglichkeit digitaler Literatur. Es wird spannend zu sehen sein, ob sich dieser Wert mit dem Tolino Shine verändert – genau in diese Richtung ist das Gemeinschaftsprojekt von Thalia, Weltbild/Hugendubel & Co. konzipiert.

Zur Methodik der Studie: Die Umfrage führte Bookboon über seine Website und hierzulande über den Kooperationspartner semesterbooks.de durch, daneben gab es nach eigenen Angaben Straßeninterviews. Bookboon verlegt Sachbücher aus Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft sowie Reiseführer und bietet die E-Books auf seiner Website zum gratis Download an (über 8 Millionen E-Book-Downloads in Deutschland 2012), Geld wird vor allem mit Werbung verdient. Die Zielgruppe ist somit ohnehin schon recht digital-affin, Bookboon-Bücher werden allerdings derzeit noch üblicherweise über den PC

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Si ce marché reste minuscule, il est condamné à grandir. Et plus vite que prévu
BRUXELLES Serait-ce le début d’un décollage ? Ne nous faites pas dire ce qu’on n’a pas (encore) écrit : ce n’est pas la razzia. L’ebook, ou livre virtuel, ne pèse, en Belgique, qu’un petit pour cent du marché total du livre. Mais l’engouement croît, vite et fort, au fur et à mesure que les gens s’équipent.

Et en Belgique, pour ce qui est des tablettes (la liseuse type Kindle ou Kobo est un poil moins populaire chez nous), ils le font plus vite qu’ailleurs : GfK considère qu’un Belge sur 14 a acheté une tablette en 2012 (800.000 unités vendues). On est à plus d’un sur vingt si l’on porte ce rapport à la France…

ce n’est pas tout. Selon une étude menée par BookBoon (spécialisé dans l’édition d’ebooks) auprès de 1.651 citoyens belges, la consommation d’ebooks pourrait grimper en flèche en 2013. Selon leur étude, 26,7 % des Belges devraient acheter leur premier ebook cette année. Ce qui nous mènerait à une augmentation projetée de la consommation d’ebooks chiffrée à 330 % sur notre noir-jaune-rouge patrie en 2013. Toujours selon l’échantillon sondé, seuls 8,7 % des Belges auraient déjà acheté un ebook.

Qu’est-ce qui freine les autres ? Outre la nature même d’une lecture sur écran qui garde ses détracteurs et les amoureux du papier pas prêts à se passer de son toucher et de son odeur, le prix des ebooks, bien entendu.

37 % des personnes interrogées l’estiment trop élevé. À raison : contrairement au marché anglo-saxon où la bataille du numérique mobilise pleinement les éditeurs, du côté européen et de surcroît francophone, on s’immisce sur ce terrain à pas feutrés, avec une offre généralement limitée et volontairement mal tarifée (très légèrement moins chère, plus souvent au même prix que le livre papier).

Il y a là une volonté de ménager le papier qui fait danser les maisons d’édition sur plusieurs pieds, mais ce petit jeu est intenable à long terme : en 2015, 12 % du marché total du livre proviendra de l’ebook – on est déjà à 17 % sur le marché américain. Aucun éditeur ne pourra se permettre le luxe de s’asseoir sur les 5,4 millions – bien matériels – que pèsera le livre virtuel dans moins de trois ans…

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Deutsche Verlage verpennen Ebook-Boom
25.03.13 Über ein Viertel der Deutschen werden sich in den nächsten zwölf Monaten ihren ersten Tablet-Computer, EBook-Reader oder sogar beides zulegen. Dadurch steigt auch die Kaufbereitschaft für E-Books auf 23,3 Prozent. Doch dieses Potenzial bleibt weitgehend ungenutzt, weil Verlagshäuser die Nachfrage ihrer Kunden nach weniger Preis und mehr Angebot nicht bedienen, so die Auswertung von Deutschland für eine europaweite Studie.

Weiterleiten Artikel Merken
Nach der Umfrage des EBook-Verlags Bookboon in Zusammenarbeit mit Semesterbooks.de zum Konsumentenverhalten
gegenüber E-Books in Deutschland im Vergleich zu anderen Märkten verpasst Deutschland weiterhin seine Chance am EBook-Markt: Deutsche Konsumenten haben ein großes Interesse sowohl an Ebook-Readern als auch an E-Books. Das Problem: Deutsche Verlagshäuser passen sich nur langsam diesen Entwicklungen an.
Knapp ein Viertel der 5.166 Deutschen, die an der Bookboon-Umfrage teilgenommen haben, planen, noch dieses Jahr ihr erstes E-Book zu kaufen. Unter Tablet-Besitzern ist der Anteil an Kaufbereiten sogar noch größer (35,4 Prozent). Innerhalb der nächsten drei Jahre werden voraussichtlich 68,9 Prozent der Deutschen E-Books kaufen. 44,6 Prozent davon nehmen an, dass die Mehrzahl ihrer gekauften Titel elektronisch sein wird. Ein großes Hindernis für den Markt besteht aber darin, dass E-Books immer noch viel zu teuer sind, weil sie dank der von Verlegern mit Zähnen und Klauen verteidigten Buchpreisbindung fast dasselbe kosten müssen wie die Printversion. Deutsche Tablet-Besitzer orientieren sich immer weiter Richtung E-Book, entscheiden sich aber am Ende gegen den Kauf, weil der Preis nicht ihren Vorstellungen entspricht: Stolze 38,6 Prozent der Tablet-Besitzer finden E-Books zu teuer. Konsumenten verbinden mit digitalen Produkten günstige Preise – vergleichbar mit Musik oder Filmen.

Im Vergleich zu etablierteren Märkten wie dem des Vereinigten Königreichs liegt die Zufriedenheit von bestehenden EBook-Kunden in Deutschland weit zurück. Die Mehrzahl der Deutschen kauft ihre E-Books bei heimischen Buchhändlern wie Thalia oder Weltbild . Über 30 Prozent dieser Leser empfinden die Bücher als zu teuer, knapp 24 Prozent haben Schwierigkeiten, die E-Books auf ihren Reader zu laden und 15 Prozent sind nicht zufrieden mit der Auswahl. Amazon.de schneidet in allen diesen Punkten besser ab.

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