CHANGE & STRESS Whenever managers implement changes, they should be concerned about the stress they may be creating. If the stress is significant enough, it may well cancel out the improvement that was anticipated from the change. In fact, stress could result in the organization being less effective than it was […]
Month: December 2008
Factors for Change Management
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHANGING AN ORGANIZATION The following factors should be considered whenever change is being contemplated: The Change Agent Determining What should be Changed The kind of Change to Make Individuals affected by the Change Evaluation of the Change THE CHANGE AGENT: The change agent might be a self […]
CHANGE MANGEMENT BASICS
FUNDAMENTALS OF CHANGING AN ORGANIZATION Changing an Organization is the process of modifying an existing organization to increase the overall organizational effectiveness. These modifications can involve any organizational aspect, but typically it affects the lines of authority, the levels of responsibility held by various organization members, and the established lines of organizational communication. […]
Performance Appraisals
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance Appraisal is the process of reviewing individual’s past productive activity to evaluate the contribution they have made towards attaining the organization’s objectives. Performance Appraisal is a continuous review that focuses on both established human resources within the organization and new comers. Its main purpose is to furnish feedback to […]
Training – Need Analysis, Design, Deliver and Evaluat
TRAINING After recruitment and selection, the next step in providing appropriate human resources to the organization is Training. Training is the process of developing qualities in human resources that will enable them to be more productive and thus to contribute more to organizational goal attainment. The purpose of training is to increase […]
HR : Selection, Testing and Assessment Centers
SELECTION The 2nd major step in providing human resource for the organization is SELECTION. Selection is choosing an individual to hire from all those who have been recruited (short listed). Selection is obviously dependent on the 1st step which is recruitment. Selection is a series of stages through which job applications must pass […]
HR: Recruitment Basics
Appropriate Human Resource refers to individuals within the organization who make a valuable contribution to management system goal attainment. This contribution results from their productivity in the positions they hold. Inappropriate Human Resource refers to organization members who do not make valuable contribution to the attainment of management system objectives. For one reason or […]
Centralization and Decentralization
The terms Centralization and Decentralization describe the general degree to which delegation exists in the company. Decentralizing an Organization: The appropriate degree of decentralization for an organization depends on the unique situation of that organization. Relevant Questions will be: What is the present size of the organization? Where are the Organization’s customers […]
Obstacles in the Delegation Process
Obstacles that can make delegation within an organization difficult or even impossible can be classified into 3 general categories: Obstacles related to the Supervisor Obstacles related to Subordinates Obstacles related to Organizations Obstacles related to the Supervisor: A supervisor who resists delegating his authority to subordinates because he cannot bear to part […]
ACCOUNTABILITY & DELEGATION
Accountability refers to the management philosophy whereby individuals are held liable, or accountable, for how well they use their authority and live up to their responsibility of performing predetermined activities. The concept of accountability implies that if an individual does not perform predetermined activities, some type of penalty, or punishment is justifiable. The punishment theme […]
TYPES OF AUTHORITY : LINE & STAFF ROLES
Authority is the right to perform or command. It allows its holder to act in certain designated ways and to directly influence the actions of others through orders. It also allows its holder to allocate the organization’s resources to achieve organizational objectives. AUTHORITY ON THE JOB : Barnard defines authority as the character of communication […]
MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY GUIDE
7 Responsibility Relationships among Managers, as used in the Management Responsibility Guide: General Responsibility: The individual who guides and directs the execution of the function through the person accepting operating responsibility. […]
RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned activities. It is the self assumed commitment to handle a job to the best of one’s ability. The source of responsibility lies within the individual. A person who accepts a job agrees to carry out a series of duties or activities or to see that someone else carries […]
Chain of Command
Departmentalization, Division of Labour, Span of Control and the 4th aspect of organizing effort is SCALAR RELATIONSHIPS – The Chain of Command. Every organization is built on the premise that the individual at the top possesses the most authority and that other individual’s authority is scaled downward according to their relative position on the organization […]
SPAN OF MANAGEMENT
After Departmentalization and Division of Labour, the third main consideration of any organizing effort is Span of Management – the no. of individuals a manger supervises. The more individuals a manger supervises, the greater the span of management. Span of management is also called the span of control, span of authority, span of supervision and […]
DIVISION OF LABOUR & Guidelines on Coordination
After Departmentalization, the second main consideration of any organizing effort is how to divide labour. Division of Labour is the assignment of various portions of a particular task among a no. of organization members. Rather than one individual doing the entire job, several individuals perform different parts of it. Production is divided into a no. […]
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
STRUCTURE: In any organizing effort, managers must choose an appropriate structure. Structure refers to the designated relationships among resources of the management system. Its purpose is to facilitate the use of each resource, individually and collectively, as the management system attempts to attain its objectives. ORGANIZATIONAL CHART: An organizational chart is constructed in pyramid form, […]
ORGANIZING – 16 General guidelines by Henri Fayol
Organizing is the process of establishing orderly uses for all resources within the management system. Here, Orderly signifies the emphasis on the attainment of management system objectives and assist managers not only in making objectives apparent but in clarifying which resources will be used to attain them. IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZING: The organizing function is extremely […]
METHODS OF SALES FORECASTING
Modern Managers have several different methods available for Sales Forecasting. Popular methods are: Jury of Executive Opinion Method The Salesforce Estimation Method Time Series Analysis Method Jury of Executive Opinion Method: In the Jury of executive opinion method of Sales Forecasting, appropriate managers within the organization assemble to discuss their opinions on what will happen […]
PLANNING TOOLS
The planning tools are techniques managers can use to help develop plans. 2 of the most important tools are: Forecasting Scheduling FORECASTING: Forecasting is the process of predicting future environmental happenings that will influence the operation of the organization. Although sophisticated forecasting techniques have been developed only rather recently, the concept of forecasting can be traced […]
PLANNING AREAS: INPUT PLANNING
Organizational inputs,process, outputs and environment are major factors in determining how much the organization will be successful. Planning in areas, such as plant facilities planning or human resource planning, is called INPUT PLANNING – the development of proposed action that will furnish sufficient and appropriate organizational resources for reaching established organizational objectives. e.g.: Human Resource […]
WHY PLANS FAIL?
A study by K.A. Ringbakk determined that plans fail when: Corporate Planning is not integrated into the total management system. […]
TYPES OF PLANS
STANDING PLANS are used over and over again because they focus on organizational situations that occur repeatedly. SINGLE USER PLANS are used only once, or at most, couple of times, because they focus on unique or rare situations within the organization. STANDING PLANS: Policies, Procedures and Rules: A POLICY is a standing plan that furnishes […]
WHAT IS A PLAN?
A Plan is a specific Acton proposed to help the organization achieve its objective. A crucial part of the management of any organization is developing logical plans and then taking the steps necessary to put the plans in to action. Regardless of how important experience related intuition may be to managers, successful management actions and […]
TACTICAL PLANNING Vs. STRATEGIC PLANNING
Tactical Planning is Short range planning that emphasizes the current operations of various parts of the organization. Short Range is defined as a period of time extending about one year or less in the future. Managers use tactical planning to outline what the various parts of the organization must do for the organization to be […]
STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION & STRATEGIC CONTROL
Strategy Implementation, the 4th step of the strategy management process, is putting formulated strategies into action. Without successive implementation, valuable strategies deeloped by managers are virtually worthless. The successful implementation of strategy required 4 basic skills: INTERACTING SKILL ALLOCATING SKILL MONITORING SKILL ORGANIZING SKILL INTERACTING SKILL: Interacting Skill is the ability to manager people during […]
SAMPLE ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES
SAMPLE ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES Analyzing the organizational environment and applying one or more of the strategy tools i.e. Critical Question Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Business Portfolio Analysis and the Porter’s Model; will give the managers a foundation on which to formulate organizational strategy. The 4 common organizational strategies that evolve this way are: Growth Stability Retrenchment Divestiture. […]
STRATEGY FORMULATION TYPES
Understanding the forces that determine competitiveness within an industry should help managers develop strategies that will make their companies more competitive within the industry. Porter has developed 3 generic strategies to illustrate the kind of strategies managers might develop to make their organizations more competitive: Differentiation Cost Leadership Focus DIFFERENTIATION: Differentiation, the first of Porter’s […]
Strategy Forumulation: GE Multifactor Portfolio Matrix
GE Multifactor Portfolio Matrix: GE Multifactor Portfolio Matrix is a tools that helps managers develop organizational strategy that is based primarily on market attractiveness and business strengths. The GE Multifactor Portfolio was deliberately designed to be more complete than the BCG Growth Share Matrix. Each of the organization’s SBUs are plotted on a 2 dimensional […]
STRATEGY FORMULATION TOOLS
After the managers involved in the strategic management process have analyzed the environment and determined organizational direction through the development of a mission statement and organizational objective, they are ready to formulate strategy. STRATEGY FORMULATION is the process of determining appropriate courses of action for achieving organizational objectives and thereby accomplishing organizational purpose. Managers formulate […]
ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTION: MISSION & OBJECTIVES
DETERMINING ORGANIZATION DIRECTION: Through an interpretation of information gathered during environmental analysis, managers can determine the direction in which an organization should move. 2 important ingredients of organizational direction are Organizational Mission and Organizational Objectives. DETERMINING ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION: The most common initial act in establishing organizational direction is determining an organizational mission. ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION is […]
STRATEGY PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
The 1st step of the strategy management process is environmental analysis. An organization can only be successful if it is appropriately matched to its environment. ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS is the study of the organizational environment to pinpoint environmental factors that can significantly influence organizational operations. MANAGERS commonly perform environmental analyses to help them understand what is […]
FUNDAMENTALS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING
STRATEGIC PLANNING: Strategic Planning is the long range planning that focuses on the organization as a whole. In doing strategic planning, managers consider the organization as a total unit and ask themselves what must be done in the long term( 3 to 5 years) to attain organizational goals. In strategic planning, managers try to determine […]
PROCESSES FOR MAKING GROUP DECISIONS
3 Famous Processes for Group level Decision Making are: Brainstorming Nominal Group Technique Delphi Technique BRAINSTORMING: Brainstorming is a group decision making process in which negative feedback on any suggested alternative by any group member is forbidden until all members have presented alternatives that they perceive as valuable. Brainstorming is carefully designed to encourage all […]
TYPES OF DECISIONS & DECISION MAKING PROCESS
A decision is a choice made between 2 or more available alternatives. Decision Making is the process of choosing the best alternative for reaching objectives. Managers make decisions affecting the organization daily and communicate those decisions to other organizational members. Some decisions affect a large number of organization members, cost a great deal of money […]
THE PLANNER: Qualification and Evaluation
The planner is probably the most important input in the planning subsystem. This individual combines all other inputs and influences the subsystem process so that its output is effective organizational plans. The planner is responsible not only for developing plans but also for advising management on what actions should be taken to implement those plans. […]
MBO – Management by Objectives
MBO – Management by Objectives was popularized mainly through the writings of Peter Drucker. Some Managers find organizational objectives such an important and fundamental part of management that they use a management approach based exclusively on them. Although mostly discussed in the context of profit oriented companies, MBO is also a valuable management tool for […]
GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHING OBJECTIVES
In general an organization should have 3 types of Objectives: Short Term Objectives : Targets to be achieved in 1 year or less. Intermediate Term Objectives: Targets to be achieved in 1 to 5 years. Long Term Objectives: Targets to be achieved in 5 to 7 years. The necessity of predetermining appropriate organizational objectives has […]
PLANNING CHARACTERISTICS
4 Aspects of Planning are : Definition of Planning Purposes of Planning Advantages and Potential disadvantages of planning Primacy of Planning DEFINING PLANNING: Planning is the process of determining how the organization can get where it wants to go, and what it will do to accomplish its objectives. Planning is the systematic development of action […]
6 variables in International Systems
IMPORTANT VARIABLES IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM: Different National Sovereignties. Disparate National Economic Conditions Different National Values and Institutions Difference in timing of National Industrial Revolution Geographical Distance […]
Diversity Management: Ethnocentrism and other negative dynamics
The changing demographics set in motion certain social dynamics that can interfere with workforce productivity. If an organization is to be successful in diversifying, it must neutralize these dynamics. ETHNOCENTRISM: Our natural tendency is to judge other groups less favourably than our own. These tendency is the source of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the belief that […]
VARIOUS APPROACHES TO MEETING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Lipson, a desirable and socially responsive approach to meeting social obligations does the following: Incorporates social goals into the annual planning process. Seeks comparative industry norms for social programs. Presents reports to organization members, the board of directors, and stockholders on social responsibility progress. Experiments with different approaches for measuring social performance. Attempts to measure […]
OUTCOMES OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INVOLVEMENT EXPECTED BY EXECUTIVES
POSITIVE OUTCOMES: Enhanced corporate reputation and goodwill. Strengthening of the social system in which the corporation functions. Strengthening of the economic system in which the corporation functions. Greater Job satisfaction among all employees. Avoidance of issues with government regulations. Greater job satisfaction among executives Increased chances for survival of the firm. Ability to attract better […]
KEITH DAVIS MODEL OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Davis’s model is a list of 5 propositions that describe how and why businesses should adhere to the obligation to take action that protects and improves the welfare of society as well as of the organization: Proposition 1: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ARISES FROM SOCIAL POWER. This proposition is derived from the understanding that a business has […]
THE SYSTEM APPROACH
The system approach to management is based on general system theory founded by Scientist Ludwig Von Betalanffy. The main context of this theory is that to be able to fully understand the operations of an entity, the entity must be viewed as a system. A system is a number of interdependent parts functioning as a […]
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
The Scientific Method of problem solving dictates that one should: Systematically observe the system whose behaviour must be explained to solve the problem. Use these specific observations and from which consequences of changing the system can be predicted. Use the model to deduce how the system will behave under conditions that have not been observe […]
HENRI FAYOL’S 14 Principles of Management
Management Principles developed by Henri Fayol: DIVISION OF WORK: Work should be divided among individuals and groups to ensure that effort and attention are focused on special portions of the task. Fayol presented work specialization as the best way to use the human resources of the organization. […]
UNIVERSALITY OF MANAGEMENT & MANAGEMENT SKILL
Management principle are universal; that is why, the apply to all types of organizations including but not limited to FOR PROFIT AND NOT FOR PROFIT ones like businesses, churches,sororities, athletic teams, hospitals and so on. Manager’s jobs vary somewhat from one type of organization to another because each organizational type requires the use of specialized […]
MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS & EFFICIENCY
ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES: Human Resources Monetary Resources Raw Materials Capital Organizational resources are used,combined and transformed into finished products during the production process. Human resources are people who work for an organization.Their skills and their knowledge are leveraged by the managers. Monetary resources are amounts of money that managers use to purchase goods and […]
DEFINE MANAGEMENT & ITS FUNCTIONS
Management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources. Management has the following 3 characteristics: It is a process or series of continuing and related activities. It involves and concentrates on reaching organizational goals. It reaches these goals by working with and through people and other […]
ROLE & IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT
IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT: Managers influence all the phases of modern organizations. Sales Managers maintain a sales force that markets goods. Personnel managers provide organizations with a competent and productive workforce. Plant managers run manufacturing operations that produce the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the automobiles we drive. Our society could never exist as […]
ETHICS OF CONSUMER PRODUCTION AND MARKETING – Theories and Definitions
How far must manufacturers and their representatives go to make their products and services completely safe? WHAT Is the relationship between a business and its customers? a contract, or is there more to it than that? Hos does the fact that companies usually know more about their products than their customers IMPACT their duty to […]
BUSINESS & ENVIRONMENT
The process of producing goods forces businesses to engage in exchanges and interactions with 2 main environments ie. the customer environment and the natural environment. It is from the natural environment that business ultimately draws the raw materials that it transforms into it the finished products, which are then promoted and sold to the customers. […]
ETHICS IN THE MARKET – Theories and Definitions
PERFECT COMPETITION: A free market in which no buyer or seller has the power to significantly affect the prices at which goods are being exchanged. PURE MONOPOLY: A market in which a single firm is the only seller in the market and which new sellers are barred from entering. OLIGOPOLY: A market shared by a […]
THINGS TO CHECK IN A BUSINESS PLAN
We have been consulting an investor ( a strategic VC Operations) on investing in various projects. Common findings: The entrepreneurs who had approached the investors were operating more from their gut feelings than from data. They are very optimistic about their future prospects, even though they have been facing tough times for a long time. […]
MANAGEMENT INNOVATIONS 