B207b final 2023- weeks-1
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School
Arab Open University, Kuwait**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
BUSINESS B207B
Subject
Management
Date
Dec 21, 2024
Pages
10
Uploaded by CaptainSeahorse2045
Week 7•Change ManagementWeek 9•Historical cost accounting (HCA) and fair value accounting (FVA)Week 10•Improving performance and list the stages of performance matrix•Costs associated with quality include: Week 12•Relationship Marketing and list its benefits•Internal marketing and list its benefitsWeek 13•Identifying leadershipWeek 14•Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Week 7Q1- The empowerment eraThe ability to gain new skills and experiences would allow people the freedom to control their own economic destinies. For employers, this meant a new responsibility for employers to help employees improve their employability. This commonly entailed giving employees the opportunity to learn novel skills and enhance their marketability. For employees, it reflected an ideal vision of modern work where a strong CV would permit them to get a job anywhere in the world in a globalizing economyThe downsides, though, were that for managers it could entail training their workforce to get a better job at a different company, while for employees en masse it did little to stop the structural problems of inequality, underemployment and downward mobility that has characterized the contemporary economyQ2- what is change management?This can be defined as “any perspective or method for the transitioning and redirection of any part of an organization in a way that significantly alters it”. This could include any and all business functions whether it be finance, operations management, marketing or human resource.Everett Rogers’ ‘Diffusion of Innovation’ (1962). As the title suggests, he focused on how change must be ‘diffused’ over time and in relation to existing communication channels. for an innovation to be successful it must be adopted by enough people for it to be self-sustaining and lead to further growth. For this purpose, there are five categories of people associated with innovation: innovators early adopters early majority late majority laggards. Kotter (1996) has famously introduced an eight-step process for achieving successful change management: 1- establish a sense of urgency 2- create the guiding coalition 3- develop a vision and strategy 4- communicate the change vision 5- empower employees for broad-based action 6- generate short-term wins 7- consolidate gains and produce more change 8- anchor new approaches in the culture.
Week 9Q1- Define Historical cost accounting (HCA) and fair value accounting (FVA) and list the advantages(for) and disadvantages(against)Historical cost accounting (HCA) is the approach favored by most accountants. HCA records the value of an asset as the price at which it was originally purchased. Key arguments forhistorical cost include: 1.It is the most objective measurement approach.2.amounts are determined based on actual transactions. 3.There is a clear audit trail – amounts can usually be proven by documentation. Key arguments againsthistorical cost include: 1.Amounts determined may not be relevant to current decision-making if there is a long time span since the transaction occurred. 2.Historical cost does not take into account changes in the value of money over time. In other words, it ignores price inflation. 3.The amount paid for an item or received for an item may not necessarily be indicative of its value. 4.Judgement involved in determining depreciation rates can create inconsistencies and opportunities for manipulation. 5.Inability to determine the cost of some items, as items may be donated with no actual cost to the entity, or they may be internally generated rather than purchased. In contrast, fair value accounting (FVA) identifies the actual market value of an asset or liability at the measurement date to overcome the limitations of measuring the actual value of an asset or liability subsequent to acquisition date. Key arguments forfair value include: 1.It is the most relevant measurement approach for current decision-making. 2.The amount that will be received for an item or that will need to be paid for an item is decision-useful information. 3.It is objective if determined by reference to the market price for an item. The market price is set by forces outside the entity. 4.It is not biased by judgement and cannot be manipulated or influenced by management.
Key arguments againstfair value include: 1.It is subjective where a market price is unavailable. 2.Assets are measured as if they are all going to be sold off, which is not usually the case. 3.Market prices can be volatile and therefore sometimes may not be indicative of the true value of an item. Week 10Q1- Define Quality Assurance and Quality Control and list the Cost of quality Quality assurance (QA) covers all the elements needed to make sure that the finished product or service meets all the criteria given or expected by the customer. It spans all elements of delivering a product or service, including design, marketing, finance, operations and human resources, and all the actions necessary to ensure that a product or service will satisfy the requirements set or expected by the customer. Quality control (QC) covers all the elements needed to fulfill the technical product or service requirements for quality. Quality control tends to focus on the manufacturing or delivery end, and involves monitoring outputs to detect quality issues as quickly as possible. Costs associated with quality include: 1.prevention costs – making sure errors do not happen2.appraisal costs – establishing and measuring the level of quality achieved in products or services 3.internal costs of defects – the cost of dealing with defects when found during production external costs of defects – the cost of dealing with a defect that reaches the customer (
Q2- The key tools to controlling quality1.Histogram It can be used to show the distribution, mean and standard deviation of data. It allows users to study the density of data and identify any patterns. 2.Scatter diagram The scatter diagram is a statistical tool that can suggest relationships between variables, and help users identify any groupings of performance that stand out. 3.Pareto chartThe Pareto chart can be used to investigate the cause of failures or quality issues with the greatest impact. It derives from the Pareto principle (otherwise known as the 80:20 rule) that a large proportion of effects come from a low number of causes. 4.Checklist/tallyThe checklist or tally is useful in collecting quantitative data. The tally sheet is used to capture events in tabular form, allowing for easy updating. 5.Cause and effect diagram The cause and effect diagram is a useful visualisation tool for categorising potential causes that may lead to a particular effect or problem. 6.StratificationIt is a method of dividing data into sub-categories and classifying data based on group, division, class or levels.
Q3- Improving performance and list the stages of performance matrixWhen an organization is looking to steer its operations strategy in the longer term it needs to make a clear link between improvement activities and market requirements. They need a way of spotting any gaps between the market requirements and their actual performance, ideally one that can give some sense of how important the gaps are.Stage 1: Judge the importance of performance measures to customers.Customers usually make a purchase decision based upon a range of criteria. These criteria will be very specific to the market segment. For example, business travelers might be more interested in speed of service but not as bothered about price if they are claiming on expenses.Step 2: Judge the performance against competitors.An organization’s performance of an operation is always assessed relative to their competition. Step 3: Match performance against characteristicsOnce an organization has established both the importance and performance of each priority, it can put them into the importance-performance matrix:1.The ‘excess’ zone show where an operation has a high performance in factors that the customer does not consider important. (this could be traded off with better performance elsewhere2.The ‘appropriate’ zone is where the importance is matched to the relative performance in the marketplace. (No action needed)3.The ‘improve’ zone shows where there is some scope to improve an operation. Maybe the competitors are slightly better at these aspects. (Improve to gain market share or repeat customers4.The ‘urgent’ zone: show where the operation underperforms in areas of importance to the customer. Business is probably being lost as a consequence. (Improve these areas).Step 4: Develop improvement plansThe performance-important matrix can be used to direct improvement activity. It shows where urgent action needs to be taken, and informs the analyst where no change is needed.
Week 12Q1- Define Relationship Marketing and list its benefitsRelationship marketing is about developing repeat purchases or exchanges with customers over the long-term, rather than merely promoting one-off transactions.Benefits of relationship marketing1.It is more cost-effective to retain than replenish customers2.Retaining customers provides profit over the customer lifetime.3.long-term customers 4.being able to help improve production and delivery, thereby enhancing the quality of an offering; increased understanding of customers;5.less price sensitivity; and greater predictability of outcomes as well as profitability.Q2- Types of relationships- Life cycle 1.awarenessrecognition by one party that another party is a potential exchange partner2.explorationthe potential exchange partners consider and conduct a trial exchange 3.expansionthe benefits from exchange and the interdependence of the exchange partners increase 4.commitmentloyalty emerges 5.dissolutionwithdrawal or disengagement.Q3- Types of relationships- Ladder of loyalty1.PartnerSomeone whose relationship with your organisation may be considered a partnership2.Advocate
Someone who actively recommends your organisation to others3.SupporterSomeone who likos your organisation but supports it passively4.ClientSomeone who has done business with you ropoatedy but is not necessanly positively disposed towards your orgarsation5.PurchaserSomeone who has done business with your organisation on a singlo occasion6.ProspectSomeone who you think may be wiling to do business with your organisationQ4- Internal marketing and list its benefits Internal marketing is marketing conducted within an organisation to encourage staff ’s identification with the brand and improve their customer oriented behaviour in representing and communicating the brand externally to consumers. 1.It helps to promote a coherent brand identity: A deep understanding of the brand and identification with it within an organisation helps staff to convey a coherent brand identity externally. 2.It provides a focus for staff ’s diverse organisational role and activities: Having a clear understanding of the organisation’s goals and brand helps staff appreciate how their jobs contribute towards them.3.It supports relationship building with customers: Person-to person interactions between customers and staff are better able to build relationships and stimulate loyalty than are person-toorganisation interactions. 4.It enables staff to feed back information to the organisation and contribute ideas to improve customer-orientation: Frontline staff can be valuable sources of information about consumers and competitors and help organisations to address consumers’ needs more successfully. Q5- Internal communication 1.Line management communication – relating to the management of daily activities. 2.Internal team peer communication – relating to discussion of team tasks.3.Internal project peer communication – relating to the achievement of project goals.4.Internal corporate communication – relating to building employee engagement
Q6- Types of employees 1.Brand champions are the ones who will enthuse colleagues and consumers about the brand. Many are likely to have been with the organisation for a long time, but long service does not guarantee this level of commitment. 2.Brand agnostics are employees who are interested but not committed. The organisation’s goal should be to try to convert this group into becoming brand champions.3.Brand cynics are not convinced by the brand concept and will be hard to convert. 4.Brand saboteurs actively work against the brand.Week 13Q1- Identifying leadership1.Leadership as a person it focuses on an individual’s personality and qualities to define their potential as a leader. The approach initially drew from charismatic forms of military leadership but has latterly been criticised due to the fact that the model cannot reconcile the fact that an organisation can have an extremely charismatic leader and still fail. 2.Leadership as a resultThis model of leadership examines leadership in terms of how far the ‘collective results of an organization [can be attributed] to the actions of an individual leader’. For example, school leaders are held responsible for the results of the students. 3.Leadership as positionThis form of leadership is based on the position of the leader within a hierarchical power structure. For example, this understanding of leadership would place the CEO of a company as the leader and assume that leadership is down to the CEO and that they hold most of the leadership power purely by the very fact that they are situated at the top of the hierarchy.4.Leadership as purposeLeadership as Purpose is a unique way of looking at leadership as it differentiates it from any other activity. For example, ethical leadership Reading 22: Identifying leadership
5.Leadership as process This is ‘Based on an assumption that people that we attribute the term leadership to, act differently from non-leaders, there are four key factors that contribute to leadership, its success or failure: 1.understanding around how actions as a leader may influence followers or staff and how this is dependent on both context and outcome.2.It also considers how staff or followers influence the leader. 3.Finally it outlines how context and outcomes may influence both leader and followers/staff. Week 14Q1- The golden circle (What? How? Why?) 1.What: ‘Quality at the price offered’: an ethical food sourcing policy, high standards of customer service and very long guarantees on electrical goods.’ 2.How: Owned by employees – partners – the shares are held in trust 3.Why: A serious contemporary business, willing and able to tackle major competitive challenges in a principled and commercially adept way and whose ultimate purpose is the happiness of all its members through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful businessQ2- Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation The study revealed two principal factors that influence employee motivation. 1.The presence of motivation factors: factors that motivate employees to work harder, such as feeling valued, career progression and feeling that your work has a purpose.2.The absence of hygiene factors: factors that demotivate employees if they are absent (but don’t necessarily add to motivation if they are present). Such as: clear company policies.Q3- Maslow’s hierarchy of needsLevel 1: Physiological: If the place of work is not warm, if regular breaks are not given and if there is insufficient light, etc. to work by, then employees cannot move to the next level of need. Level 2: Safety and security: Employees must feel safe; not only physically safe in the workplace but psychologically safe too. This means in organisations that have a bullying culture that dismisses employee needs and thoughts, employees are likely to be ‘stuck’ at this level. This can impact on basic motivation and will likely limit their capacity to progress.Level 3: Love/belonging. In a business or organisational context the individual needs to feel a certain sense of belonging.Level 4: Esteem. This level is articulated as the need for self-esteem, to feel that you are valued by others. Level 5: Self-actualization. This level assumes that if needs 1–4 are satisfied, you are left with a motivated and high-performing individual (or an individual that performs to the best of their ability).