Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Human Resources Management

Employee relations and management is an essential aspect of organisations. This cuts across organisations that prevailed in ancient days and the organisations in the modern days. Different models and perspectives have been adopted by various organisations to manage employees. The employee relations in organisations emerged amidst industrial relations which began in the 1920s in Europe. During this time, ‘industry’ was the term used to mean ‘the manufacturing firm’. However, in modern days, the meaning of the word has expanded to include the manufacturing firms and other sectors of the economy that do not deal with manufacturing. The definition of industrial and employee relations covers all forms and kinds of employment. Scholars in the field of industrial and work relations have come up with three management perspectives that differ significantly. These perspectives are different in their explanation, understanding and analysis of relations at places of work. These theories include the unitarist Continue reading

7 Key Elements of a Business Plan

The aim of venturing into a business is to make profits. In this case, all elements of a business plan should be aimed at creating a successful entrepreneurial venture. A business plan is a document that indicates a plan on how an investment is to be conducted. It includes among other elements; generation of ideas, financial and market analysis, strategic objectives, cash flows and profits and loss forecasts. Other elements that may be included in the business plan are a balance sheet projections, competitive strategies and scenario analysis. All these elements contained in a business plan give an understanding of the current and future expectations of the business. They identify the business and give a rationale of investing in the said business. In this case, these elements should be comprehensive and a faithful representative of the actual situation of the business venture. If well drawn, the elements of a business Continue reading

Corporate Reputation – Meaning, Definition, Elements and Importance

Meaning and Definition of Corporate Reputation Corporate reputation refers to perceptions of an organization held by all stakeholders acquired over time. This indicates that corporate reputation must be earned. It represents the image of an establishment that the customers have. While a section of scholars believes that reputation cannot be directed and controlled, most believe that it is an integral part of a business and must be managed. Therefore, reputation management refers to an attempt by organizations to influence how their clients perceive them. Corporate reputation defined as overall estimation in which a company is held by its constituents. A corporate reputation represents the net affective or emotional reaction – good bad, weak or strong – of customers, investors, employees and general public to the company’s name. World’s leading companies such as Coca cola, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, etc. had truly created their corporate identities that define their who Continue reading

10 Important Theoretical Concepts in Business Analytics

Making informed choices in the workplace is of great importance since strong data analysis and decision-making skills enable teams to maximize the chances of success. In organizational contexts, those involved in making important decisions should be aware of different methods helping to analyze data sets and make accurate predictions. This article is aimed at analyzing 10 important theoretical concepts in business analytics and discussing their applications in data analysis and decision-making. Ten concepts discussed below facilitate the process of decision-making in business environments. The concepts are relevant to the workplace since they can be utilized to support strategy development, inform inventory and investment choices, establish effective internal policies, and maximize profits. 1. Probability The concept of probability can be justly listed among the terms having numerous applications in decision-making in everyday and professional problems. Based on class activities, the probability is basically the chance that a specific event will happen, Continue reading

Case Study: Why did EBay’s Acquisition of Skype become a Flop?

Acquisitions and mergers are organizational expansion frameworks that allow companies to gain control of more resources and grow their reach to diverse markets. An acquisition involves obtaining another organization’s shares or resources, and a merger refers to establishing an alliance with aligned goals while sustaining independence. Therefore, though creating a partnership and buying out other companies are effective growth strategies, they have different implications, target specific outcomes, require varying managerial approaches, and do not often succeed. For example, eBay’s acquisition of Skype in 2005 was one of the biggest business flops of the 21st century because they did not investigate the feasibility of their expansion strategy. Although eBay made a sound decision to purchase a fast-growing internet company, its initiatives did not yield fruits because it could not use Skype to enhance its business or facilitate efficiency. In the late 1995, Pierre Omidyar established “Auction Web”, as an online auction Continue reading

Case Study on Business Ethics: Facebook – Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal

Facebook is an American social media company providing social networking services to people around the world. It was founded in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg is the Chairman and CEO of the company. People use Facebook to stay connected to their friends and family and to share and express their views. Recently Facebook’s data privacy scandal came into limelight where Facebook members’ data were improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data mining and political strategy firm.  These data were accessed during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica accessed the data for more than 2 years. This is the biggest public relation crisis Facebook has faced. In April 2010, Facebook launched a platform called Open Graph to third party apps. This allowed the external developers to reach out to Facebook users and request permission to access their personal data. In the year 2013, Cambridge University’s researcher named Aleksandr Kogan created an App called “thisisyourdigitallife”.  The app prompted Continue reading