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

The Customer Satisfaction Model – Based on American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

Marketing Management

Performance Appraisal

Organizations are run and steered by people. It is through people that goals are set and objectives realized. The performance of an organization is thus dependent upon the sum total of the performance of its members. According to Peter Drucker, “An organization is like a tune; it is not constituted by individual sounds but by their synthesis.” The success of an organization will therefore depend on its ability to measure accurately the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as a vital resource. The performance of an employee is his resultant behavior on the task which can be observed and evaluated. It refers to the contribution made by an individual in the accomplishment of organizational objectives. Performance can be measured by some combination of quantity, quality, time and cost. People do not learn unless they are given feedback on the result of their action. For learning Continue reading

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Criteria for a Good Layout

The layout of a plant or facility is concerned with the physical placement of resources such as equipment and storage facilities, which should be designed to facilitate the efficient flow of customers or materials through the manufacturing or service system. The layout design is very important and should be taken very seriously as it can have a significant impact on the cost and efficiency of an operation and can involve substantial investment in time and money. The decisions taken with regards to the facility layout will have a direct influence on how efficiently workers will be able to carry out their jobs, how much and how fast goods can be produced, how difficult it is to automate a system, and how the system in place would be able to respond to any changes with regards to product or service design, product mix, or demand volume. In many operations the installation Continue reading

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Arguments For and Against Social Responsibility of Business

Business entities should pay attention to the welfare of workers, consumers needs and their security, the well-being and privileges of creditors, government regulations and the obligations of the enterprise towards the social order as a whole. Nowadays, numerous organizations are concerned about social activities and are playing an active role in the same. While the outlook of the society have transformed, companies have become further conscious of their social responsibilities. A cautious analysis of opinions for and against the participation of organizations in social welfare activities is essential to conclude whether an organization should employ social programs. Arguments Favoring Social Responsibilities of Business The needs of present day customers have changed, ensuing in a change in their outlook of businesses. As businesses oblige their profits to humanity, they have to thus counter to the needs of the society. Society and business gain mutual advantage when there is a symbiotic association Continue reading

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Liquidity Risk in E-Banking

Liquidity risk is the uncertainty arising from a bank’s inability to meet its obligations when they are due, without incurring unacceptable losses. Liquidity risk includes the inability to manage unplanned changes in market conditions affecting the ability of the bank to liquidate assets quickly and with minimal loss in value. Internet banking increases deposit volatility from customers who maintain accounts solely on the basis of rates or terms. Increased monitoring of liquidity and changes in deposits and loans maybe warranted depending on the volume and nature of Internet account activities. In a nutshell, the Internet allows all transactions to occur in real time. The management must therefore be prepared for immediate changes and consequently immediate solutions. An institution can control this potential volatility and expanded geographic reach through its deposit contract and account opening practices, which might involve face-to-face meetings or the exchange of paper correspondence. The institution should modify Continue reading

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Different Employee Training and Development Methods

Every organization needs well-adjusted, trained and experienced people to perform its activities. As jobs in today’s dynamic organizations have become more complex, the importance of employee education has increased. Employee training is a learning experience, it seeks a relatively permanent change in employees that improves job performance. Training involves changing skills, knowledge, attitudes, or behavior. This may means changing what employee know, how they work, or their attitudes toward their jobs, coworkers, managers, and the organization. Managers, with HRM assistance, decide when employees need training and what form that training should take. On-the-Job Training Methods 1. Job instructions: It is received directly on the job, and so it is often called “on-the-job” training (OJT). It is used primarily to teach an employee how to do their current jobs. A trainer, supervisor, or coworker serves as the instructor. OJT includes several steps: The trainee receives an overview of the job, its Continue reading

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RFID Standards

As far as standards of RFID are concerned, an RFID system can use a few standards. Reason behind this being that there is no one universally accepted standard at the moment. Since years, competing standards have been one of the crucial challenges for RFID. The specifications and standards may be decided and composed at the national, international, industry or trade association level. The individual organizations may call their own specifications as “standard”. When these individual organizations set various industry standards and specifications, normally they are based on international standards in order to make implementation and support easier. Apart from this, there comes an added advantage of providing a wider choice of available products. These standards can be applied to include the content and format of the codes placed on the tags, the frequencies and protocols that will be used by the tags and readers to transmit the RFID data, the Continue reading

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