Category: Management

Series of conceptual techniques to assist top management!During the 1960s and 1970s a number of management consulting companies developed a series of conceptual techniques to assist top management of diversified corporations to evaluate each of the corporation’s various businesses with respect to the market place and internal resources and thus better manage their portfolio of businesses. Image Source: coe.alasu.edu ADVERTISEMENTS: When all business units have been evaluated, an appropriate strategic role for each unit is developed and each role is integrated into an overall strategic policy for the entire organization.One of the best known examples of the portfolio strategy is the “portfolia frame work” or BCG Matrix, advocated by Boston Consulting Group. This matrix compares various businesses in an organization’s portfolio on the basis of relative market share and market…

Essay on Communication (650 Words)!Communication is considered to be the most important ingredient of the management process. Interpersonal and two way communication is fundamental to all managerial activities. Image Source: fra.europa.eu ADVERTISEMENTS: All other management functions involve communication in some forms of directions and feedback. Effective management is a function of effective communication. Many operations have failed because of inadequate communication, misunderstood messages and unclear instructions.Communication skills can make or break a career or an organization. Studies conducted by Gary Benson, through a survey questionnaire sent to personnel managers of 175 of the largest companies in Western States in America indicated that written and oral communication skills are critical not only in obtaining a job but also in performing effectively on the job. The questionnaire contained some questions regarding the…

Bringing changes in the Individual Behaviour Patterns Within An Organisation !The change agents are those elements that are responsible for bringing about the change in the individual behaviour patterns. This is the most important type of change since other types of changes such as in strategy, structure or process can always be introduced simply by the management and most often these changes are accepted by the workers. Image Source: d223wx6eb72vcz.cloudfront.net ADVERTISEMENTS: Also because behaviour is highly complex phenomenon, it may require a number of strategies to make desirable changes in human behaviour. These change agents may either be the initiators of changes or serve as catalysts for such change. Four types of change agents have been identified. i) Outside pressures: These are pressures from the external envi­ronment and are directed…

Essay on Social Responsiveness (504 Words)!Social responsiveness is defined as “the degree of effectiveness and efficiency an organization displays in pursuing its social responsibilities”. The more socially responsive attitude the organizations show, the greater the degree of effectiveness and efficiency they have in pursuing their social responsibilities. Image Source: energy.cratos-group.com ADVERTISEMENTS: Deciding on the types of social activities that the management wants to pursue, organizing the resources that are necessary to meet those responsibilities and then controlling the management processes so that these social goals are optimally accomplished without wasting any organizational resources in the process, are the key functions of management in this area in order to maintain a high level of social responsiveness. Approaches to Meeting Social Responsibilities: Various managerial approaches to meeting social obligations determine an organization’s…

Essay on managerial skills for Recognising a Situation!It has been pointed out earlier that under certain situations, conflict can become necessary and desirable in order to create changes and challenges within the organization. In such situations, management would want to adopt a policy of conflict stimulation so that it encourages involvement and innovation. Image Source: totalcareermastery.com ADVERTISEMENTS: How does a manager recognize a situation which is vulnerable to conflict stimulation? Some of the factors that could create grounds for stimulating conflict are:i. Too much satisfaction with status quo.ii. Low rate of employee turnover.iii. Shortage of new ideas. ADVERTISEMENTS: iv. Strong resistance to change.v. Friendly relations taking precedence over organizational goals.vi. Excessive efforts for avoiding conflict.Some of the specific techniques for inducing conflict as suggested by S.P. Robbins are: a) Appoint…

Essay on Various Definition of Organization (613 Words)!The word organization is used and understood widely in our daily lives. It has been defined in a number of ways by psychologists, sociologists, management theorists as well as practitioners. Image Source: i.ytimg.com ADVERTISEMENTS: A definition of organization suggested by Chester Barnard, a well known management practitioner, nearly sixty years ago still remains popular among organization and management theorists.According to him, an organization is, “a system of consciously coordinated activities or efforts of two or more persons”. In other words, a formal organization is a cooperative system in which people gather together and formally agree to combine their efforts for a common purpose.It is important to note that the key element in this rather simplistic definition is “conscious coordination” and it implies a…

Some of the characteristics and guidelines that can make the budgetary control effective and successful are given as follows. Image Source: cecd04df9605b630ca29-1241d3348dac2d27e674997029412b55.r13.cf2.rackcdn.com1. Budgets should be oriented towards results. The results or goals should be realistically established. The budgets should have a built- in provision of periodic evaluation and assessment of performance and progress along the way to the achievement of results. The appraisal of performance would be more fair and realistic if budgets allocated are appropriate for the established goals. ADVERTISEMENTS: 2. Budgetary control is more effective if the duties and responsibilities for all operations are well defined and rightly assigned. This would make it easier to trace any deviations to proper accountable persons or departments so that proper and corrective action can be taken3. Budgets should be based an…

Essay on Business Management (965 Words)!“It takes something other than wages to hold good employees: and it takes something other than low prices to hold a good customer.” Image Source: yourarticlelibrary.comManagement in some form or another is an integral part of living and is essential wherever human efforts are to be undertaken to achieve desired objectives. The basic ingredients of management are always at play whether we manage our lives or our business. For example, let us look at the managerial role of a simple housewife and how she uses the managerial ingredients in managing the home. ADVERTISEMENTS: First of all, she appraises her household and its needs. She forecasts the needs of the household for period of a week or a month or longer. She takes stock of her…

While there are a number of behavioural as well as organizational factors which contribute to the existence of conflict, there may be just one single factor that may be highly contributory to reducing such conflict. That factor is “trust”. Image Source: images.flatworldknowledge.comTrust is a highly intangible element but very important in our civilized living. Its presence or absence can govern our inter-personal behaviour to a large extent. Our ability to trust has a great impact on our working lives, our family interactions and our achievement of personal and organizational goals. ADVERTISEMENTS: Since trust is a function of behaviour, such behaviours which lead to defensiveness must be identified and modified. These defensive or aggressive behaviours create a climate which is conducive to mistrust thus leading to conflict in interpersonal areas.Jack Gibb…

Essay on Managerial Skills (818 Words)!A skill is an acquired and learned ability to translate knowledge into performance. It is the competency that allows for performance to be superior in the field in which the worker has the required skill. All managers need to possess technical, interpersonal, conceptual, diagnostic, communicational and political skills. Image Source: totalcareermastery.com ADVERTISEMENTS: While technical and diagnostic skills refer to the knowledge and ability of understanding the processes involved and scientifically analyzing problems and opportunities, all other skills deal with people in one form or the other. These “human” skills are the most important assets of any successful manager.It is the manager’s job to achieve the organizational objectives through the proper utilization of its human and material resources. However, since the material resources of equipment, capital,…