Lessons from monarchy management
By Nick Easen for CNN
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Royal scandal, just like the corporate variety, has to be managed properly.
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(CNN) -- What is it like when your CEO is a head of state, your office is in the priciest real estate in the realm, and the "company's" budget comes from the taxpayer?
Welcome to "royal households plc." Throughout Europe, tighter budgets and greater accountability now mean palaces and princesses are managed more like businesses.
Top corporate executives are poached to join management teams at royal households, and if a royal or corporate scandal occurs the PR honchos are called in.
So what can businesses learn from monarchy?
"We have a very nice and open line of communication between the staff, myself and the royal family and we discuss lots of details," Ove Ullerup, Lord Chamberlain in Denmark's Royal Household, told CNN.
Lord Chamberlain may be his official title, but essentially Ullerup runs the royal office.
As well as performing ceremonial tasks, he is in charge of all arrangements for official functions, state visits and audiences.
When we consider time obligations to our in boxes or out-trays, Ullerup is weighing up the Queen and the Prince Consort's commitments to Greenland or the Faroe islands.
Balancing continuity with change is a delicate issue for both established companies and age-old monarchies.
Ullerup says it is all down to a few skills. "There is a very high degree of professionalism and the pride among the staff is maintained at a very high level," he explains.
Copenhagen's Amalienborg or London's Buckingham Palace are hardly the scene for office dress down Fridays. But in some cases a less formal working atmosphere has prevailed.
According to the Times Newspaper, the British Royal Household has a flat management structure and first-name terms are in place to inspire a sense of team spirit.
Ollerup believes it is about having a hands-on approach to management -- that way you keep your finger on the pulse.
"I think the trick is for anyone whose leading an operation is to know what is going on, but not have to do everything," he says.
"If you see something is going in the wrong direction then you can direct it or re-direct the operation."
Although the Danish royal household has high-speed Internet and good communications, they are more technically challenged than your average office.
"There are limits to what you can do because you have to maintain the originality of the palace," says Ollerup.
-- CNN's Andrew Carey contributed to this report
