Concepts of Throughput Accounting and Theory of Constraints

Financial Management

Kaizen – Understanding the Japanese Business Philosophy of Continuous Improvement

Operations Management

Role of Leaders in Shaping Organizational Culture

Management Principles

Organizational Culture – Development and Importance

Management Principles

Five Important Organizational Cultural Models

Management Principles

Social and Commercial Profitability Analysis

Social or National Profitability Public projects like road, railway, bridge and other transport projects, irrigation, projects, power projects, etc for which socioeconomic considerations play a significant part, rather than mere commercial profitability. Such projects are analysis for their net socioeconomic benefits and the profitability analysis of such projects is known as social or national profitability analysis which is nothing but the socioeconomic cost benefit analysis done at the national level. Steps involved in determination of social or national profitability:- National/Social profitability analysis takes into account the real cost of direct costs and real benefit of direct benefits,. For instance, some of the inputs may be subsidized. Only the subsidized prices of input is what is relevant for assessing commercial profitability. However the national profitability analysis takes into account the real cost of inputs i.e. cost of input had they not been subsidized. Accordingly the required adjustment to direct cost of Continue reading

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Significance of Research

“All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to invention” is a famous Hudson Maxim in context of which the significance of research can well be understood. Increased amounts of research make progress possible. Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical habits of thinking and organization. Research provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic system. For instance, government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs and desires of the people and on the availability of revenues to meet these needs. The cost of needs has to be equated to probable revenues and this is a field where research is most needed. Through research we can devise alternative policies and can as well examine the consequences of each of these alternatives. Decision-making may not be a Continue reading

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The Difference Between Agency Theory and Stewardship Theory

Agency Theory   An agency correlation as a contractual set-up under which the business owner or the principal engaged a manager or the agent to execute some service on his behalf and may usually entail some decision making exclusively by the agent. The agency theory revolves on the basic proposition about humans, which deals with principals and agents as self-oriented focusing on exploiting their personal advantage. Agency theory described managers as opportunistic by seizing its optimum advantage for his appointment and role as the mover in the firm for its own benefit, at the expense of the principal. Both parties’ goal is to gain that personal advantage in every way possible with the least outlay and expenditure. These expenditures are defined as agency costs. This is the total of cash outflows made by the principal for its organization be it in budget proportions, auditing, or employee honorariums; the expenses incurred Continue reading

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Three Models of Emotional Intelligence

The emotional intelligence field is a very new area of study in psychological research. The definition therefore is varied and is constantly changing. It was only in 1990 that Salovey and Mayer came up with the first published attempt in trying to define the term. They defined emotional intelligence as the ability to monitors one’s own and other feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions. Emotional intelligence to a larger extent involves “emotional empathy” which is the ability to concentrate on one’s emotions and recognize mood both of themselves and others. It further describes how well one is able to adapt to various life challenges like stress and difficult incidences. It also involves the ability balance “honest expression of emotions against courtesy, consideration and respect”. This would obviously involve possession of some level of good social and communication skills. Continue reading

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Globalization and Business Ethics

Business ethics is a well-institutionalized academic field, which deals with the moral dimension of business activity. In the context of international business, it means the treating of moral questions of international cultures and countries. International business should be sensitive to the environment and not just selfish for its own profits. Ethically, safety comes first and the profit comes last. The various issues that ethics target are diverse environmental concerns, animal welfare issues, labor practices, fair trade, health concerns, genetic modification, patenting of genes, cloning etc. International business is both more exposed to a variety of ethical conditions as well as in a position to exploit business ethics due to the sheer size an international company has. The end result of an ethical judgment entails its authenticity from being morally correct. But moral correction itself is a relative concept and is based upon the cultural perceptions as well as traditions. The Continue reading

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An Overview of Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS)

Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) are Operating Systems for systems operating in Real Time. These Operating Systems have functions dedicated to detecting and responding to tasks from the real world within their deadlines.  Real-Time  Operating Systems are systems that are subject to real time limitations and are expected to deliver services within strict time boundaries. The correctness of such systems depends not only on computational output, but also on the instant at which the system produces the output. Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) can be generally categorized into soft and hard real time systems. When a deadline is missed in a hard real time system, i.e. a service is not provided at the instant at which it is expected, the result would be catastrophic. Hence, hard real time systems are generally safety or mission critical. Examples of Hard Real Time Systems are, Air Traffic Control Systems, Pace makers for heart patients and Continue reading

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