The Boundaryless Career: Modern Contemperory Perspective on Career

Human Resource Management

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

The 10-P Framework of Global Strategic Management

The 10-P framework for globalization symbolizes the aspirations and needs of employees and organizations in the new competitive settings. It comes a long way from the initial impetus provided to the subject by Michael Porter in his book Competitive Strategy (1980), and goes beyond his purely industrial organization perspective. The framework operationalizes the 4-Diamonds for a nation’s competitive advantage of Porter. The 10-P framework integrates theory of strategic management and practice of business policy and provides a structure for the practicing manager to evaluate competitiveness at regular intervals. The 10-P framework explores a fine `fit’ between the soft and hard strategic choices. It seeks a self-motivated network of stakeholders who are able to self-actualize a high sense of satisfaction, self-worth, liberty and freedom in business organizational settings. True to the vision of a world-class organization, the central fulcrum in the framework is a PEOPLE-ORIENTATION – both inside and outside the Continue reading

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The SCP Paradigm – Structure drives Conduct which drives Performance

The SCP paradigm assumes that the market structure determines the conduct of the organization. This conduct, in turn, is the determinant of market performance. Examples of market performance include efficiency, profitability and growth. The Structure Conduct Performance Framework seeks to establish that certain structures of the industry can lead to certain kinds of conduct or behavior which then leads to various types of economic performance. The SCP paradigm was developed through evaluation of empirical studies involving American industries. Theoretical models were not used to support the paradigm. The conclusion that was drawn from empirical studies was that market structure determined performance. This is caused by the belief that the laws of competition should not be based on behavioral models but rather on structural remedies. According to J.S. Bain who developed the paradigm in the 1950s, most industries became concentrated than necessary. In concentrated industries, there are high barriers to entry. Continue reading

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Limitations of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

In today’s increasingly competitive world where the world is converging into a single market place, organizations are looking for ways to become globally competitive. Companies must be able to meet customer requirements in the shortest possible time faster than competition and this requires extensive production planning and close coordination between the company and it’s suppliers and customers. MRP (Materials Requirement Planning) was one of the most widely used systems for production planning but it’s main focus was only on managing the production requirements in an organization. MRP systems helped in time phase release of production orders and aggregating planning for material requirements. With time, companies realized that there needed to be an integration of all the functions in an organization and this lead to the development of ERP (Enterprise resource planning) systems. ERP is defined as an Enterprise wide system that facilitates integrated and real-time planning, production and customer response. Continue reading

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Business Expansion – Reasons and Forms

Reasons for Business Expansion Growth is always essential for the existence of a business concern. A concern is bound to die if it does not try to expand its activities. There may be a number of reasons which are responsible for the expansion of business concern. Predominant reasons for expansion are economic but there may be some other reasons too. Following are the reasons for business expansion. Existence: The existence of the concern depends upon its ability to expand. In a competitive world only the fittest survives. The firm need to control its costs and improve its efficiency so that it may be achieved if the activities of the firm are expansion is essential for the existence of the firm otherwise it may result into failure and may be out of business. Advantages of large scale: A large scale business enjoys a number of economics in production, finance, marketing and Continue reading

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Concept of Workplace Spirituality

Workplace spirituality has recently emerged as a significant aspect of organizations and hence, a significant topic of inquiry in the organizational science. Since the late 1990s, publications such as Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune and others have reported a growing desire among employees for meaning and purpose at work, for a spiritual dimension to organizational life. Spirituality is the state of intimate relationship with the inner self of higher values and morality as well as recognizing the truth of inner nature of people. The concept of spirituality at workplace can be explained as an experience of interconnectedness, shared by all those involved in the work process, initially triggered by the awareness that each is individually driven by an inner power, which raises and maintains his/her sense of honesty, kindness, and courage, consequently leading to the collective creation of an aesthetically motivational environment characterized by a sense of purpose, high Continue reading

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Objectives and Principles of a Good Plant Layout

Plant layout is a plan for effective utilization of facilities for the manufacture of products; involving a most efficient and economical arrangement of machines, materials, personnel, storage space and all supporting services, within available floor space. A good rather an ideal layout is one which provides maximum satisfaction to all concerned i.e. shareholders, management employees and consumers. Objectives of a Good Plant Layout Only through an efficient layout, the organization can attain the following objectives: Economy in handling of materials, work-in-process and finished goods. Minimization of product delays. Lesser work-in-progress and minimum manufacturing cycle time. Efficient utilization of available space. Easy supervision and better production control. Greater flexibility for changes in product design and for future expansion. Better working conditions by eliminating causes of excessive noise, objectionable odor smoke etc. Principles of a Good Plant Layout Overall integration of factors: A good layout is one that integrates men, materials, machines Continue reading

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