Standard costing is technique of cost planning and control, based on scientific analysis of elements of cost in terms of standard input / output norms and standard rates / price per unit of input. The following process is involved in setting and practicing standard cost. Establish standard cost, component-wise, for each output Measure the actual cost, component-wise, for each output Their comparison with the actual costs and the measurement of variances. The location of responsibility for the variances and the corrective action to be taken. The analysis of variances for ascertaining the reasons for the same. Establishment of a Standard Costing System The installation of Standard Costing System in a manufacturing concern involves the following steps: Standardization of Functions: All activities should be standardized and the technical processes of operations should also be susceptible to planning. Establishment of Cost Center Classification of Accounts: The different accounts can be codified and Continue reading
Management Concepts
Pluralist Perspective of Industrial Relations
The Pluralist perspective of industrial relations is just as the name suggests, they see organisations as constellations of different groups. The organisation is seen as multi-structured in terms of groups, leadership, authority and loyalty. A miniature democratic state composed of sectional groups with divergent interests over which the government tries to maintain some kind of dynamic equilibrium. The main groups within this perspective that find themselves at the opposite ends of the scales often are the workers and managers. This can be down to a number of issues such as pay, working conditions, bonuses and working hours and it is over issues like these that conflict often occurs. The pluralist perspective during the twentieth century include a widespread distribution of authority and power in society, ownership separation from management, political separation and industrial conflict and an acceptance and institutionalization of conflict in both spheres. The priciple assumption of pluralist perspective Continue reading
Business Risk Management – Meaning, Stages, Benefits and Limitations
Risk is the combination of the probability of an event and its impacts. It is the possibility of an event and its effect that constitute benefits or impediments to success in an undertaking. In an enterprise, identification of a hazard has both a helpful and a harmful aspects. Consequently, both the benefits and threats to the success of business operations are considered in the assessment of risk. When focusing on safety, risk only takes the perspective of negative consequences. As a result, it focuses on the alleviation and avoidance of harm. Threat management is vital in organizations’ tactical management. It entails a process where organizations tackle the risks connected to their actions with the objective of attaining constant benefit within individual activities and across a range of all actions. Businesses are affected by both interior and exterior factors relating to risks. Some risks can be categorized as external, while others Continue reading
Information Systems and Business Forecasting
The business provided support for using Decision Support Systems (DSS) and addressed the following issues: techniques within the DSS, corporation needs and limitations, the forecast cost effectiveness, and the appropriate software system. Sales forecasting is an integral part of marketing DSS. The DSS contains tools to help the forecaster prepare better forecasts; tools are data, records of previous forecasting, and techniques. Forecasts assist marketing managers improve decision-making. In an organizational design context, forecasting should not be regarded as a self-contained activity, but should be integrated within the planning context of which it is a part. When an organization has its own forecasting expertise (prepares its own forecasts) that expertise should not be separated into a self-contained department. Forecasting and planning functions should be combined. Involvement of the forecasters in planning enables them to select criteria for evaluating forecasting methods that are meaningful within the planning context. Managers must go Continue reading
Stimulus Generalization and Stimulus Discrimination in Organizations
Stimulus Generalization in Organizations Stimulus generalization refers to how people recognize the same or similar stimuli in different settings. In other words, it is the process by which they can generalize a contingent reinforcement from one setting to another. Consider the plant manager of a manufacturing company who has a history of effective troubleshooting. Over the years he has been assigned to several plants, each with a serious operating problem. After successfully dealing with the difficulties, he has always received an extended vacation, a bonus and an increase in his base salary. He has learned the basic contingencies or requirements of reinforcement for his job. The stimulus is the assignment, the response is correcting problems and the consequences are several positive reinforcers. When the manager gets his next assignment, he will probably generalize from his past experiences even though he will be in a different plant with different problems and Continue reading
Scope of Management Control System
A management control system refers to the framework by which managers can ensure control over the actions of their subordinates as well as control over the organization as a whole. It is a total system in the sense that it embraces all aspects of the firm’s operations so that the different parts of the organization are in balance with one another. According to Anthony, “A management control system is an explicit set of activities, policies, procedures and reports intended to institutionalize the, formal aspects of the management control process.” This definition reveals that the scope of management control system is not necessarily restricted to measuring, the performance of a subordinate manager toward the achievement of an objective established for, his function. Performance evaluation is only a part of management control. Control system should not be confused with a control method, which is merely one of the many elements of control Continue reading