Business Management

What are skills of management?

Interpersonal (people) skills

Communication skills

Vision skills

Problem-solving and decision-making skills

Flexibility & adaptability to change

Reconciling the conflicting interests of stakeholders

Interpersonal (people skills)

Those skills needed to work and communicate with other people and to understand their needs

Communication skills

Communication is the exchange of information between people; the sending and receiving of messages

Nonverbal communication

Is any message that is not written or spoken

Body language

the use of gestures, facial expressions and posture to communicate

Tradition definition of management

the process of coordinating a business's resources to achieve its goals

Contemporary definition of management

the process of working with and through other people to achieve the goals of a business in a rapidly changing environment

What is the important role of effective management?

to ensure the joint efforts of employees are directed towards achieving the goals of the business

Vision skills

the clear shared sense of direction that allows people to attain a common goal

Problem-solving

is a broad set of activities involved in searching for, identifying and then implementing a course of action to correct an unworkable situation

Leadership (sub category vision skills)

The ability to influence people to set and achieve specific goals

Decision-making

the process of identifying the options available and then choosing a specific course of action to solve a specific problem

Proactive

refers to a management style that incorporates dynamic action and forward planning to achieve particular objectives

stakeholder engagement

refers to the businesses sharing information with and seeking input from stakeholders, and involving them in decision-making

Goal

desired outcome (target) that an individual or business intends to achieve within a certain time frame

What are the importance of goals

-serving as targets

-measuring sticks

-motivation

-commitment

Benchmark

a standard by which something can be measured or judged

What is success in achieving your goals determined by?

By the amount of planning you undertake

Market share

refers to the business's share of the total industry sales for a particular product

Promotion

describes the methods used by a business to inform, persuade and remind a market about its products

Share

is a part ownership of a public compay

Staff Involvement

means involving employees in the decision-making process and giving them the necessary skills and rewards

Staff Involvement

involving employees in the decision-making process and giving them the necessary skills and rewards

Motivation

refers to the individual, internal process that directs, energises and sustains a person's behaviour.

Mentoring

is the process of developing another individual by offering tutoring, coaching and modelling acceptable behaviour

Training

generally refers to the process of teaching staff how to perform their job more efficiently and effectively by boosting their knowledge and skills

Multiskilled

allows employees to develop skills in a wide range of tasks through ongoing training

What is the goal of employee training?

allows employees to develop skills in a wide range of tasks through ongoing training

What is classical-scientific management?

is an approach that studies a job in great detail to discover the best way to perform it.

What is the contingency management approach?

stresses the need for flexibility and adaptation of management practices and ideas to suit changing circumstances.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the use of external sources or businesses to undertake business functions or activities for the business

What is interdependence?

refers to the mutual dependence that the key functions have on one another. The key business functions work best when they overlap, and employees work towards common goals. For each function area to perform at capacity, it depends on the support of the others.

All business functions should...

-work towards the fulfillment of the business's goals

-be coordinated so that they have a common purpose

What does operations refer to?

refers to the business processes that involve transformation or, more generally, 'production'.

What are tangibles?

are goods that can be touched/physical products that can be handled and stored before they are sold to the consumer

What is intangible?

include services that cannot be touched

What is operations about?

producing goods and/or services based on business goals.

What are inputs?

are resources used in the process of production

What are the 6 categories of inputs?

-material inputs

-capital equipment

-labour

-Information from a variety of sources

-time

-money

What is the transformation process?

conversion of inputs into outputs

What are outputs?

finished goods or service

Quality Management

is the strategy which a business uses to make sure that its products meet customer expectations.

Quality

refers to the degree of excellence of goods or service and its fitness for a stated purpose.

Quality control

involves the use of inspections at various points in the production process to check for problems and defects.

continuous improvement

involves an ongoing commitment to achieving perfection.

marketing

a total system of interacting activities designed to plan, price, promote and distribute products to present and potential customers

marketing concept

The marketing concept is a business philosophy that states that all sections of the business are involved in satisfying a customer's needs and wants while achieving the business's objectives.

For a business to make a profit, it needs...

to create and market products that consumers will purchase.

Successful marketing involves

bringing the buyer and seller together and making a sale

Businesses should continuously strive to

not simply meet but exceed customer expectations.

target market

A target market is a group of customers with similar characteristics who presently, or who may in the future, purchase the product.

mass marketing

A mass marketing approach seeks a large range of customers

market segmentation

occurs when the total market is subdivided into groups of people who share one or more common characteristic

consumer buying behaviour

refers to the decisions and actions of consumers when they purchase goods and services for personal household use.

primary target market

The primary target market is the market segment at which most of the marketing resources are directed.

secondary target market

A secondary target market is usually a smaller and less important market segment.

niche market

A niche market is a narrowly selected target market segment.

marketing strategies

are actions undertaken to achieve the business's marketing goals.

marketing mix

refers to the combination of the four elements of marketing, the four Ps — product, price, promotion and place — that make up the marketing strategy.

product life cycle

The product life cycle describes the life of a product over four stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

product positioning

is the development of a product image compared with the image of competing products.

packaging

involves the development of a container and the graphic design for a product.

brand

A brand is a name, term, symbol or design that identifies a specific product and distinguishes it from its competitors.

What are the four methods of calculating price?

-cost plus margin

-market price

-competitors price

-discount price

promotion

refers to the methods used by a business to inform, persuade and remind customers about its products.

channels of distribution

are ways of getting the product to the customer.

contingencies

are unanticipated events that can lead to financial difficulty. For a business to be well managed, it needs to have saved money for such events.

liquidity

refers to the amount of cash a business has access to and how readily it can convert its assets into cash so that debt can be paid.

expenses:

are simply costs

assets

are items of value to the business that can be given a monetary value.

human resource management

in its simplest terms, is defined as the effective management of the formal relationship between the employer and the employees.

human resource/employment cycle

The human resource/employment cycle covers all stages in the process of employing staff, from initial planning through to recruitment, selection, induction, training and development, performance management, and eventual separation of employment.

What is the most important resource for business success?

employees

Most successful businesses maintain a balance between

concern for success and regard for their employees

The main functions of staffing are to

attract and acquire, train and develop, reward, maintain, and separate the people needed to achieve the business's goals

human resource planning

is the development of strategies to meet the business's future staffing needs.

job analysis

is a systematic study of each employee's duties, tasks and work environment.

job description

A job description is a written statement describing the employee's duties, tasks and responsibilities associated with the job.

job specification

A job specification is a list of the key qualifications needed to perform a particular job in terms of education, skills and experience.

recruitment

is the process of attracting qualified job applicants from which to select the most appropriate person for a specific job.

internal recruitment

involves filling job vacancies with present employees, rather than looking outside the business.

external recruitment

involves filling job vacancies with people from outside the business.

employee selection

involves gathering information about each applicant for a position, then using that information to choose the most appropriate applicant.

training

generally refers to the process of teaching staff how to peform their job more efficiently and effectively by boosting their knowledge and skills

development

refers to activities that prepare staff to take greater responsibility in the future.

learning organisation

A learning organisation monitors and interprets its environment, seeking to improve its understanding of the relationship between its actions and its environment

Training needs must be identified well in advance of any...

proposed technological implementation.

Training should be viewed as an...

investment in the human capital of the business

maintenance

is the provision of working conditions to encourage employees to remain with the business.

compensation

refers to the payment or benefits (or both) an employee receives in exchange for their labour.

remuneration package

The remuneration package is the combination of monetary and non-monetary benefits.

employee contract

An employment contract is a legally binding, formal agreement between an employer and an employee.

enterprise agreement

An enterprise agreement is a negotiated arrangement between an employer and a union or a group of employees.

common law contract

A common law (employment) contract exists when employers and employees have the right to sue for compensation if either party does not fulfil their part of the contract.

workplace democracy

or empowerment is the move towards increasing the influence of employees in decisions affecting their organisation and their jobs.

occupational health and safety

refers to the responsibility the employer has to ensure the workplace is safe for employees and that steps are taken to minimise harm.

award

an employee's minimum pay and conditions

The final stage in the employment cycle is the...

'separation stage', in which employees leave the workplace on a voluntary or involuntary basis.

Voluntary separation occurs when an employee decides to give up full-time or part-time work and includes:

retirement

resignation

redundancy.

Involuntary separation occurs when an employee is asked to leave the business against their will and includes:

retrenchment

dismissal

redundancy.