Supply Chain Management of a Cement Factory Research Proposal

Supply Chain Management of a Cement Factory Research Proposal

I hereby ask you to prepare a reaserch proposal for the above reaserch title which I planned to submit for my MBA completion thesis.

Assignment essay instructions on strategic management process of OSIM

Academic Essay – Strategic Management Process

 

Length:           12 pages (plus references), double spaced 12 point Times New Roman

 

Format:           Academic Essay Format. There should be at least 10 academic articles/journals.

 

Purpose:

To use relevant strategic management theory, and then to analyze the external and internal environments of OSIM that operates in Hong Kong.

 

Reminder:

1.      Referencing - Harvard style

<Reference type - Journal articles>

Article author(s)-family/surname and initials, Year of publication, “Title of article”, Journal name – italicised, volume number, issue number, page number(s)

 

2.      This essay MUST focus on the analysis of external and internal environments of OSIM using learnt theories and concepts with references.

 

3.      This essay is not possible to explore ALL aspects of the strategic management process of OSIM. Therefore, at the beginning of the essay, you should specify the scope of your coverage (what you have chosen to focus on) and why you have chosen to direct you focus in the way you have chosen. For example: OSIM’s  customers (specify to what people, don't write Everyone)

 

Essay Structure:

Structure

Criteria

Words

Introduction

1)      OSIM’s details

2)      Objectives of this task / purpose

3)      Structure of the essay, e.g. first is going to present......, second I like to analysis……)

 

200 - 250 words

 

Body

First: More detailed of OSIM

à What does OSIM do?

à What Business / industry?

à Who is target market?

à What Strategy?

à What vision / mission statement?

à Or anything about OSIM

 

250 – 300 words

Second: External environments of OSIM

à Identify and analyze (external factors – general environment e.g. economic, culture……)

 

à Industry analysis (Five forces model, high/moderate/low, Why) (Identify make profit or not? Unattractive or not?)

 

à Competitor analysis (Who is the major competitor, Competitor’s profile – to be short; What strategy; What resource / core competency;  Their strength and weak - compare with competitor)

 

à Identify opportunity and threat (e.g. government policy to influence OSIM business)

 

At least 1000 words

Third: Internal environments of OSIM

à Core Competency / Competitive Advantage / Tangible Resource / OSIM strength (reputation / image) / Value Chain Analysis

 

à Which activities create value to OSIM (Strengths)

 

à Which activities do not create value of organization (Weaknesses)

 

à Any other Strengths and Weaknesses

 

At least 1000 words

Notes:

1)      In the body of the essay, you are trying to build a logical argument that supports the main theme or proposition. The body needs to be consistent with what you have said you are going to do in the introduction.

2)      Each paragraph should have a topic sentence, and the points you are making should reflect that topic sentence.

3)      You need to refer to theory to analyze the topic you are discussing.

4)      Use theory and examples to explain your argument.

5)      Remember that you are trying to present a logical, cohesive and clear analysis of the key issues that you have identified, and to use these to support your proposition or theme in a systematic way.

N/A

Conclusion

Basic conclusion / summary

à Key point

à Evaluate current ( Strategy -> change )

à Other recommendation

à Whether or not Appropriate / efficient / effective strategy? Why?

 

250 – 300 words

Note:

The conclusion is not just a list of the key points you have made. You need to draw together your key points to demonstrate that you have supported your theme or proven your proposition(s); a plausible, insightful, and rationally persuasive point at which to end the argument.

 

N/A

References

At least 10 academic articles/journals

N/A

 

Criteria

Marks

Critical approach to the topic

1)      The body of the essay is consistent with the introduction and critically analyses the topic

2)      Analysis shows knowledge of relevant theory

3)      There is a balance between descriptive and analytical content, with a strong emphasis of critical analysis

4)      The topic is discussed using relevant strategic management theoretical frames, and these are supported by the use of refereed journal articles that are directly relevant to the topic chosen

10 marks

Line of argument

1)      The introduction outlines the main proposition of the essay and body develops a clear line of argument, the argument is incisive and includes a concise, relevant treatment of the issues

2)      The conclusion draws together the main points of the essay and demonstrates a plausible, insightful, and rationally persuasive point at which to end the argument

5 marks

Use of academic literature/overall presentation

1)      Judicious and appropriate use of 10 journal articles

2)      Makes limited use of textbook, relying on primary sources to support their argument

3)      Sources are referenced consistently and comprehensively using the Harvard referencing system

4)      Use of language appropriate to an academic essay, presentation is professional

5 marks

Total

20 marks

 

 

Principles of Marketing Assignment Questions and Instructions

Question 1 : Planning (25)

1.1 Explain why managers Plan
1.2 Describe the role goals play in planning
1.3 Describe the characteristics of well - designed goals
1.4 Discuss the barriers to plan

Question 2: Organizing (25)

2.1 Explain why structure and design are important to an organization
2.2 Differentiate mechanistic and organic organization designs.
2.3 Explain team - based structures and why organizations are using them.
2.4 Explain the concept of a learning organization and how it influences organizational design

Question 3: The environment (25)

" Managers work in a dynamic environment and must anticipate and adapt to challenges"

With regards to the above state ment, discuss the impact of the macro environment and micro environment on Southern African business.

Question 4: Motivation (25)

4.1 Outline the salient details of at least two motivation theories
4.2 Explain how goals motivate people
4.3 Describe the motivational implications equity theory
4.4 Describe current motivation issues facing managers
4.5 Identify management practices that are likely to lead to more motivated employees

Research proposal for the topic about redevelopment of Kampala City, Uganda

Research proposal for the topic about redevelopment of Kampala City, Uganda

Main interest is focusing on; 

- The nature of structural use and the transition zone in which the use of a building may be altered from residential to commercial.

- The reasons as to why people may end up changing the use of a building 

- The problems it may cause in the economy of the country

- The solutions to such a problem and the measures that may be put forward. 

What are the impacts of a minimum wage increase on an organization with employees in the UK?

 

What are the impacts of a minimum wage increase on an organization with employees in the UK?

 

            When an employer takes on an employee, he will be cautious about making specific investments. After all, by making these investments he renders himself vulnerable. The employee is handed a powerful tool, because the employer's specific investments will be lost if he leaves. With this tool, he is in a position to rob the employer of part of the profits of that investment, in future wage negotiations, by threatening to leave. An employer can, of course, anticipate this problem. So his reaction is to postpone part of his investments (Lehmbruch & Waarden 2003). Less investment is made in specific training than is socially desirable. This problem also exists the other way round: an employee is sensible not to buy a house near his current employer, because it weakens his position in future wage negotiations. The company and the employee have a mutual interest in solving this problem. After all, by arranging matters in such a way that the employment relation functions as efficiently as possible, the total expected profit from the employment relation increases. If the pie is bigger, there are more slices to go round. Both parties ultimately benefit. The solution to the holdup problem is obvious. By fixing the future wage level at the start of the employment relation, prior to specific investments being made, the necessity for future negotiation is removed (Figart 2004).

 

In a corporatist economy, there are two types of renegotiation. The first type is renegotiation by corporatist organizations. These renegotiations remove the effect of aggregate shocks. The outcome of these negotiations cannot be influenced by individual companies or employees. The second type is individual renegotiation, in those cases where corporatist renegotiations do not have the desired result due to firm-specific shocks (Bluestone, B & Bluestone, I 1992). The British campaign to protect low-paid workers lies between two alternative models. A first model, characteristic of many member states of the European Union, is defined by a long established and strongly embedded system of low wage regulation, constituted through either minimum wage legislation or a high level of collective bargaining coverage, or a combination of both. The reason that living wage campaigns have not diffused more widely may be that, compared to the USA, British workers are still afforded slightly stronger protection. The UK minimum wage is higher, unions are stronger, and the benefit regime is less stringent. But conditions for the low paid are not so far behind than those in other countries. The UK has the highest share of low paid workers in the European Union. The government has failed to address the mounting problem of child poverty. The minimum wage is perceived by many employers as the going rate rather than an absolute minimum Many workers have lost opportunities for wage advancement as new contracts for business are won on a low cost basis, with wages factored in at minimum rates There is a great deal of campaigning to improve low pay in Britain, but this has more in common with a European model than any other models (Slomp 1996).

 

The living wage campaign in East London is similar to some of the US living wage movements; however, it is also integrally linked with, and a catalyst to, a broader coalition of low pay campaigns. These campaigns increasingly focus on the legal arena at the level of both the European Union (EU) and the UK. Examples include campaigns to improve the relative level of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and extensive lobbying for changes in the EU Directive on public procurement to incorporate a fair wage clause. Further, groups campaigning for equal pay for men and women increasingly recognize that the concentration of women in low paid jobs, most of which are part-time, is a major contributor to the gender pay gap. Thus, calls from feminist advocates and activists for gender pay audits and new guidelines for contracting organizations to avoid a two-tier workforce add further fuel to the fight against low pay (Screpanti 2001). Union involvement in wage bargaining has been guided by three central goals: wage predictability, wage increase and wage equality. Only the first one, wage predictability, is generally shared by employers. The desire for wage predictability has been expressed in the struggle to fix occupational or industry wage rates for one or two years and at time rather than piece rates. The early fixed-wage rates were originally aimed at preventing arbitrary employer decisions on wages and "unfair" wage competition by low-pay firms. Once some form of uniformity in wage rates was reached, the unions focused on wage adaptation to rising prices, a major issue in twentieth century collective bargaining and conflict. As a principle, wage adjustments for inflation have generally been accepted, but the way in which it is done has remained a source of conflict between unions and employers, and sometimes with the national government (Scharpf & Schmidt 2000). The increase in minimum wage would make sure that the personnel will be motivated and perform better. On the other hand the increase in minimum wage would create additional expenses for a UK company but with motivation and better performance the company can recover from the additional expenses. With motivated personnel come better services to clients or better products thus higher profits to the company.

 

References

Bluestone, B & Bluestone, I 1992, Negotiating the future: A

labor perspective on American Business, Basic Books, New York.

 

Figart, DM 2004, Living wage movements: Global perspectives,

Routledge, New York.

 

Lehmbruch, G & Waarden, F (eds.) 2003, Renegotiating the welfare

state: Flexible adjustment through corporatist concertation,

Routledge, New York.

 

Slomp, H 1996, Between bargaining and politics: An introduction

to European labor relations, Praeger, Westport, CT.

 

Scharpf, FW & Schmidt, VA (eds.) 2000, Diverse responses to

common challenges, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

Screpanti, E 2001, The fundamental institutions of capitalism,

Routledge, London.

 

 

Management of Financial Institutions

Management of Financial Institutions

Introduction

Managing a business in a changing environmental is not an easy task. In fact, many organizations fail to follow the flow of the market because of their reluctance to change their organization. It doesn’t mean that the structure of the organization should be changed but there is a reaction that every organization understands. The changes in the market are a manifestation that the environment is changing and thus the organizations should follow those changes with the aim not to lose their customers. However, in financial markets, where both service and products are playing, the changes seem to be essential. In the midst of the challenges and opportunities led by the global competition, changes in the business organization can be the most classical example. The aim of each organization to gain the advantages against their competitors and earn the market share is the most basic definition of success. However, the global competition do not only affects the business movements, part of it influences the ability of the business leaders to provide the most desirable technology and information system. With the unanimous agreement of the business community, another round of war will be seen in the information systems.

In order to investigate the current status of managing the financial institutions, the paper will examine the changes and financial environment in the financial institutions like HSBC. In order to perform this aim, the paper will tackle the major factors such as the environment and technology used in HSBC’s information system. With the use of the relevant business models, the paper can analyze the challenges and opportunities answered by the information system being implemented. And because of the continuous effort of the organization in creating an effective information system, the paper also seeks to address the enhancements in decision making process through the use of the information system.

HSBC

“To be global” is part of the organization’s aim in performing within the financial industry. HSBC or previously known as the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation brought the management skills in the financial industry in a higher level (HSBC Holdings Plc, 2009). The management of HSBC in catching the changes in the market environment made them possible to perform the international business. Through the application of the management methods like the integration and coordination of the management skills across the borders, the success of the organization is nevertheless at hand. Part of the capabilities of the management is to emphasize the current methods in corporate advertising in which the business analyst that the HSBC is capable of. The statement of the organization “never underestimate the importance of local knowledge” fueled the other local organizations because it simply imply that a local presence, local roots and local services, combined with international reach and large-scale resources, which can be brought to bear for both global and local customers’ benefit. The organization particularly emphasize the importance of local knowledge and expertise within international trade (Segal-Horn, 2006).

Macroeconomic Environment

However, in order to examine the environment of the organization, the PEST analysis has been taken to determine the current performance of the organization.

Political Aspects

HSBC, as a banking institution and an international organization, is naturally under the protection by the regulations and policies formulated by different government in the countries where they are operating. However, its entry might not be that easy that is why it needs to adjust some of its organizational strategy. In addition, the success of the organization in the foreign countries can be traced through their abilities to adhere to the policies given by each government. This is important to ensure that company will be capable to conduct business operations in a successful and effective way. Furthermore, the company also formulates their own protection strategies against any governmental restrictions and limitations (Shreshtha, 2010).

Economic Aspect

As the known largest and competitive organization that performs around the world, the ‘face’ of the banking and finance industry has changed. HSBC is therefore, to have a stable and successful economic stability and become of the top competitor in the financing industry (HSBC Holdings Plc, 2009). Accordingly, despite of the international challengers that the organization encounter especially, in the international setting, the management appears to be strong making HSBC capable in facing the both the threats and opportunities. With the management, the organization can surpass and improve their current business status and together with the other industry, struggles and strives to create a better economic condition (Shreshtha, 2010).

Social Aspect

The firm’s international operation clearly states that the social aspect can greatly affect their management. HSBC in generally addresses the situation of the society in which they are operating and at the same time being affected by those changes. As an answer, the management allowed those changes to penetrate in their system and thus, using it influence to get hold on their consumers. For an instance, the consumers want the banking transaction be easy. This is by eliminating the production long lines and making services fast yet in with the consumers’ preferences. All of the changes can be opportunities for HSBC by producing different additional product options and ensuring that each society is given equal chances to take advantage of the resources given by the organization. In the continuation of the organization’s operation, the company adheres to having good reputation and relations in the society that they belong (Shreshtha, 2010).

Technological Aspect

Due to the influence of globalization along with the changes that it produces, the HSBC becomes more “in touch” with the technology. In addition, the emergence of information technology and internet affects every business sectors around the world and taking the advantage over this modern system processes makes an organization to adopt the changes and add it in their management operations. Actually, HSBC incorporated those technologies and can be described that the root of success is through driving the technologies towards its operations. For the past years, the firm is said to be effective because of its capability to use the offer of technologies in answering the changes within the society. HSBC adopts different IT/IS systems and used internet to reach their customer all over the world and to know the latest trends in the global business. Aside from these, the company also uses facilities which helps them improved their productions and operations (Shreshtha, 2010).

The Consequences of not Following the Changes

It is all true that if the organization did not follow the course of changes, there s a great chance that the organization will lose its consumers. For an obvious reason, the consumers and their never-ending wants and needs is a great for the organization. Generally, the purpose of the organization is to be profitable (except for those non-for-profit organizations) and the only way to do this is to offer that things that the consumers seeks. Therefore, if the organization intentionally did not seek ways to follow the industry trends, it competitors will surely emerge in the industry. However, the rate of success in following the changes is not that clear because there are requirements that the organization needs to recognize. But in spite of that, many organizations openly invites the changes not only to gather the competitiveness by also for the organizational growth. As a classical example in banking institutions, the people used to fall in line before making any necessary transactions and then they often describe the service in a slow movement. But with the adoption of the “online banking services”, the people can now access any transactions using the internet and can ensure that the transaction is secured without making any formal meeting with the teller. This is important for the busy people most likely in the business-type of cities (Sager & Taylor, 2008).

In addition, the international operation of the financial institution is important to strengthen the international relationships. For example, HSBC as an international financial institution have a very complex supply chains because of its connection in both private and public sectors. However, they can manage their operation because of acquiring the internet access wherein every client and every part of the world can transact. With this, it can reduce the gap that the language and differences created and makes the operation more predictable because of the awareness in its environment. Aside from losing the customers and reducing the chances for organizational growth, the market share and effectiveness are also affected by the resistance and reluctance of the organization changes. Although there are amount of money that can be invested in those changes, renewing the strategies seems to be the most important of management changes.       

How to Respond

As taken from the background of HSBC, the financial institution truly created various changes. The use of the information system, nowadays, maybe not new in the business organizations because of the recognizable benefits that are gives to their operation. The collecting of information like the simple means of survey evolved and with that, the organizations can relate their business decisions. However, the changes in the information and seeking for the most appropriate service provider might be the basic question because the underpinning principle in this paper is to determine the application of the information system to the extent of the businesses success in operation and assuring that the products and services are best delivered and in quality. At some point, the information system became the most sophisticated approach of the organizations to analyze the most applicable business technique.

In addition, the management approach of HSBC in enhancing the local knowledge and capabilities promotes the idea that the local knowledge is not about the management skills but also the involvement of cultures. As an international organization, HSBC understands the differences of people not only in language but also in cultures and yet can answer their needs (Segal-Horn, 2006).

The Management

HSBC recognized the evident features that businesses based in the emerging market and is recognized towards their attention in providing the adequate solution for the needs of their customers. Because of the rapid changes in the environment and the arising competition of the leading firms, the result is the emphasis on the information race. Capturing the appropriate efforts towards customer information serves as the main aim of the company to support the profitable customer relationships.

In banking sector, the leaders believe that the central information system in indeed needed to provide the updates. The use of a specific technology or machine serves their credibility in providing quality service if the information is fresh and/or updated. The technologies that acquired by the organization are the kind of machines that enables the customer information transformation. However, the firms in the global competition are experiencing the non-technological challenges that lead to their failure in informative system. The organization, HSBC, recognize the changes in the tradition mainframe environments within the IT. The design of the mainframes is based on the theories of summarizing or averaging the information gathered. This practice in technology conserves time and is more efficient (McKean, 1999). The design of the electronic banking system of HSBC is called Hexagon which was designed specifically for corporations and is the largest private system (Gladwell, 2000). The advantage that it delivers in the organization is the ability to work with multi-bank balance and transaction, therefore, its capabilities can be more flexible that the other system. In the application of the system, for example, the accounts-receivable management services that streamline the collection process and improve cash flow. It can supply comprehensive information on receivables and details of intra-day cash positions (Platt, 2004).

Conclusion

Inspired by the examination of HSBC’s information system, if the organization all over the world, even not in financial sector, will use this kind of innovative approach, there is a possibility for the organizations to have a success even in overseas. However, the costs that the system might produce depend on the size and type of organization. In the long-term practice of the company in their information system, the powerful customer approach tremendously delivered the changes that lead to develop more efficient information system. All of the fruitful efforts significantly created impacts in the areas such as the marketing, sales, service, and customer-loyalty. Therefore, the processes towards the information system remain the central power of the firm, enabling them to participate in the global competition.

References:

Gladwell, M., (2000) The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Little Brown.

HSBC Holdings Plc. (2009) Sustainability Report [Online] Available at: http://www.hsbc.com/1/PA_1_1_S5/content/assets/sustainability/100528_sustainability_report_2009.pdf [Accessed 24 January 2011]

McKean, J., (1999) Information Masters: Secrets of the Customer Race, John Wiley & Sons.

Platt, G., (2004) World's Best Treasury Providers, Global Finance, 18(4):28+

Sager, M., & Taylor, M.P., (2008) Commercially Available Order Flow Data and Exchange Rate Movements: Caveat Emptor, Journal of Money, Credit & Banking, 40 (4):583+

Segal-Horn, S., (2006) International and Cross-Cultural Strategy, The Open University

Shreshtha, A., (2010) PEST Analysis on HSBC [Online] Available at: http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/principles-management-p-o-m/208719-pest-analysis-hsbc.html [Accessed 24 January 2011].

DATA MINING

INTRODUCTION

 

This paper covers the different definitions of data mining that explores the essence of data mining in general.  Data mining may have had varied definition but all the definitions falls into the context that may better explain data mining.  Data mining as a very valuable tool in data management have extended its applications as not being only limited to statisticians but to the various other major fields such as in business, computer systems, manufacturing, and the like.  Further to be able to expound on the applicability of data mining, examples are given in this paper. 

 

The size of world's data is estimated to be doubling every 20 months (1991). The average Fortune 500 company manages over a terabyte of electronic information -- that's between 20 and 500 million document pages and records -- daily, with 57% annual growth (  1998; , 1999). However, due to the growing amount of world’s data, some or majority of these data have not been effectively utilized brought about by the lack of new technology that supports and that is able to analyze tons of volume of data (1998). The problem has been said to be compounded already because of the ever pervasive use of Web applications such as the e-commerce, that is able to gather additional volumes of data to the already intricate databases or data warehouses.  Problem that arises in this case emerges the solution of what is called data mining.

 

Date mining is also known as Knowledge-Discovery in Databases (KDD), is an automatic process in the search of is gigantic volumes of data in seek for patterns that would be useful in the making of futuristic predictions with regards to trends and to prepare contingency plans for the worst case of prediction that may be forecast.  Some authors like  (1997) see data mining as a "single step in a larger process that we call the KDD process" among of the processes includes data warehousing; target data selection; cleaning; preprocessing; transformation and reduction; data mining; model selection (or combination); evaluation and interpretation; consolidation and use of the extracted knowledge.  The definitions being given serves as an overview of the broad concept that evolves in the term called data mining.

 

DEFINITION

As what have been previously mentioned, data mining has a broad meaning.  To limit the number of definitions being incorporated to data mining, in this paper the discussion when it comes to the definition of data mining will be limited to three definitions.  One definition of data mining refers to the the nontrivial extraction of implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from data  and as the science of extracting useful information from large data sets or databases ( 2005)

 

Second is  that data mining us a technique that is rooted from statistics, computer science and pertinent related areas of science that uses typically large datasets for the purposes of finding hidden associations between variables that may correlate and gives significance in its association which in turn, can better aide managerial decision-making.

 

Third refers to data mining as a powerful approach that promises great potential to help organizations to provide emphasis to information that had already been available to the existing database wherein, it provides tools to predict futuristic trends and behaviors, thereby allowing managers to be proactive and make knowledge-driven decisions.

 

EXPLAINATIONS

Data mining to statisticians implies the sense of struggling against the game of chance.  But to the computer people or the information technology professionals, data mining shed a positive light to their field.  The databases in which they made are considered as a resource wherein they can grasp information that is valuable to them.  The application of data mining can be utilized in the human performance data, text data, in geospatial data, in science and engineering data, data in bioinformatics (genetic), customer relationship management data, computer and network security, image data and in manufacturing quality data.

 

Data mining as a process of extracting previously unknown information into the consolidated databases and is also seen to provide support of strategic and tactical managerial decision making, invokes algorithms that enumerate patterns from, or fit models to, data (, 1997). From the extraction of information, the use of data mining can form a prediction or classification model as being able to draw identifying relationship between records of the database. Those patterns or rules can be used to guide decision-making and forecast the effect of those decisions (, 1998; , 1999). Therefore, in data mining it unfolds new additional knowledge for managers which, in turn, results in more informed decision-making.

 

 (1998) grouped the operations of data mining into four common types.  First is the classification, as being the most common practiced mining activity that helps in the recognition of patterns that is descriptive of the group to which an item belongs.  Second, the clustering involves the use of segmentation into partitioning the database into clusters.  Third, association that serves in identifying of the connections between records that is based from association and sequence discovery.  Fourth, is the forecasting which provides estimates on the future value of continuous variables based on patters within the data.  In effect, the completion of two general step is a requisite in data mining: One, is the selection and transformation of data into a recognizing format for the mining operations (data warehousing), and two is in the application of analytical techniques to analyze the data and be able to identify patterns and predictions for decision making purposes.

 

However, given all the good things that can be done in data mining, is that the few flaws in the use of data mining such as it may only lead to discovering non-existent correlations and issues about privacy concern is being associated in the use of data mining.

 

EXAMPLES

 

The predictability power of statistical models run against huge data form the basis of actuarial work in all areas, and strategic planning and risk-benefit analysis rely heavily on analysis of large sets of past data to forecast future trends (, 1999).  For example in marketing, the outcomes of market and customer data analysis are expected to help marketing managers understand and predict future customer, product, or process behavior (, 1996). Another example in the use of data mining is from a credit card company.  Because of data mining it may detect credit card fraud in the identification of counterfeit, lost, and stolen cards and are likely able to generate cautious alarms if cardholders' transactions is unmatched with their previous patterns.  Similarly, data mining aids managers in the discovery of patterns that is predictive of customers purchasing behavior. For example, modeling customer behavior gives lenders a predictive tool that helps mine a bank's retail customers for mortgage product opportunities ( , 1999).  The applicability of data mining enables savvy corporations to develop marketing strategies, target mailings, advertising messages, minimizes risk and as much as possible eradicate wasteful expenditures.  In fact a number of software tools are already been manufactured in response to the demand in the use of data mining.  An example of general tool is Explora ( 1991;  1996) and examples of more domain specific tools are the Interactive Data Exploration and Analysis system of AT&T ( 1996), which permits one to segment market data and analyze the effect of new promotions and advertisements, and Advanced Scout (. 1997) which seeks interesting patterns in basketball games.

 

CONCLUSION

Data mining makes it possible to made information available for managers, companies, and marketing in the event of being able to foresee of what going to happen and be pre-emptive of the plausible scenarios that any business matter would encounter.  Given its many application, data mining must be properly interpreted to maximize its full benefits. However, data mining is also susceptible to the abuse use of data mining.  Thus, when the collection of data involves individual people, many questions arises as concerning privacy, legality, and ethics.

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Improving Organizational Performance through Transition to

Introduction

Performance improvement has evolved over the past year training, to human resources development, to human performance improvement and to the most recent which is workplace learning and performance. Training focused on providing employees with new or additional knowledge and skills to improve their performance of job requirements (Rothwell, Sanders, and Soper 1999). Early studies helped to define trainer roles (Kenny 1976; Lippit and Nadler 1967; McLagan 1983; Nadler 1962; Pinto and Walker 1978; U.S. Civil Service Commission Studies 1973, 1976).

 

While, human resources development (HRD), "integrated the use of training and development, organization development, and career development to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness" (McLagan and Suhadolnick, 1989). Human resource development went beyond training to include organization and career development. Nine major competency studies (Chalofsky and Lincoln, 1983; Gilley 1998; Harris and DeSimone, 1994; Kenny, 1982; Nadler and Nadler 1989) were conducted between 1970 and 1989 that helped shape the HRD field (Gilley and Eggland, 1989).

 

According to Rothwell (1996), human performance improvement (HPI), however, required everyone in an organization to contribute to improving performance and enhancing organizational competitiveness. Human performance improvement recognized that the trainers themselves could no longer solely determine the role of trainers. Human performance improvement required a shared responsibility, among HRD practitioners, management, and non-management employees, for improving organizational performance.

 

And lastly, the most recent which is workplace learning and performance (WLP), requires the combined talents of many organizational members from various disciplines to improve human performance. Workplace learning and performance is "the integrated use of learning and other interventions for the purpose of improving human performance and addressing individual and organizational needs. It uses a systematic process of analyzing and responding to individual, group, and organizational performance issues. Workplace learning and performance creates positive, progressive change within organizations by balancing human, ethical, technological, and operational considerations" (Rothwell, Sanders, and Soper, 1999).

 

Organizations are in a constant state of change, requiring a workforce that is not only prepared to adjust quickly to the changing environment but to simultaneously maintain or improve overall organizational performance. Over the years, organizations have implemented a variety of major organizational-improvement techniques, including total quality management/continuous quality improvement (TQM/CQI), zero-based budgeting, management by objectives, reengineering, and, most recently six sigma.

 

In addition, Hammer (2004) argued that "operations can often be the foundation of strategy and the basis for superior performance." Improving processes with the goal of enhancing the firm's competitive position requires an analysis of both construction and performance processes and also a critical assessment of how individual processes contribute to the firm's business model and strategy. This paper attempts to develop a work plan on the improvement of organization performance through the transition to a process view of management.

 

Goals

1.      Develop a clear set of organizational improvement objectives, complete with time lines, budget, and responsible parties.

2.       Organize a steering committee to facilitate the transition to organizational improvement. The steering committee should include skilled persons appropriate for their responsibilities. Committee members should have the authority to make changes and start projects, within the established time lines and budget. Part of the control process for the steering committee is to establish key measures of performance so progress can be gauged.

3.      Describe any needed structural changes, such as development of teams, and develop a timetable for achieving the structural changes.

4.      Communicate about transition activities to employees at every level throughout the organization, and celebrate when goals are met.

Objectives

1.      To improve organizational performance

2.      To increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of the organization

 

Requirements

Requirements are needed to be considered when working on a work plan for organizational performance improvement. Considerable effort is required to train employees to use organizational-improvement techniques. Some employers routinely build training into employees' schedules and count training as productive time. Motorola, for example, requires managers to receive 40 hours of training per year. In other organizations, productivity may decline during the time employees are being trained. For any organizational-improvement method to work, managers need to plan carefully for the time and resources needed for training and for maintaining productivity.

Training and education constitute most of the resource allocations for massive change efforts such as TQM/CQI, a well-known and long-lived organizational transformation methodology. Changing an organization's culture is a slow process, during which the organization requires additional resources to accomplish the research and the education needed.

In addition, organizations also need to recognize that change management requires considerable money and time. If employees receive only a one-time exposure to the new ideas or new methods, the result will be that employees who have not mastered the necessary skills will become stressed and burned out because of the increased expectations, and the work processes may deteriorate instead of improve.

Moreover, implementing process improvement requires careful planning. Implementing process management faces several significant challenges. First, process management requires structural changes that enable a business to operate around processes instead of functions. For example, process management often uses both technology and cross-functional teams to integrate activities that span traditional functional boundaries. Second, the rapid changes associated with moving to a process management environment often require workers to adapt. Pressure to improve and change the status quo can result in constant tension among individual workers. Finally, process management requires knowledgeable individuals who are able to manage in the increasingly complex process-oriented environment.

 

 

Team Members Involvement

Employee participation is among the more popular strategies touted to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of companies. Its advocates claim that empowerment can increase employee satisfaction, boost employee morale and motivation, enhance organizational performance and effectiveness, and facilitate greater acceptance by employees of organizational change.

In order for the work plan to be at its success, it is important to encourage extensive employee participation. To do this, employee empowerment is encouraged. Employees should be given an active involvement in their work. They should be given a greater responsibility in their workplace.

According to Sashkin (1984, 1986), majority of the employees wish to become actively involved in their work, desire and have the ability, knowledge and expertise to assume greater responsibility in their workplace and can make significant contribution to their organizations; seek to fulfill many of their psychological needs through their work; and management participative management stimulates employee enthusiasm and willingness to carry out decisions in which they have been involved.

It is evidently seen in the most of the organizations that encouraging employee participation satisfies employee’s inner needs and serves as motivating vehicle resulting in greater productivity, effectiveness and commitment in the organization. This may also result to a greater acceptance of employees to organizational change.

In addition, organizations should provide with greater intrinsic rewards from work than do traditional forms of management. These greater rewards from work increase job satisfaction and, in turn, increase employees' motivation to achieve new production goals (Miller and Monge, 1986; Hammer, 1988).

Moreover, it has also been proposed that giving workers access to management information increases mutual trust and commitment to organizational goals (Hammer, 1988). Hence, employee-supervisor relations improve (Cooke, 1990a), employees are willing to be more flexible regarding changes in human resource policies (Delaney et al., 1993), and employees are more inclined to channel their power in positive ways than they otherwise would be (Strauss, 1990).

 

Transition to Process View of Management

A process is any activity or group of activities that takes an input, adds value to it, and provides an output. The product or service that a process delivers may be tangible or intangible.

Management processes such as strategic planning and labor relations influence customer and administrative processes on both a long term and day-to-day basis. Anupindi, et al. (2006) defined four key features of any process: predictable and definable inputs, a linear, logical sequence or flow, a set of clearly definable tasks or activities, and a predictable and desired outcome or result.

Almost all processes involved in delivering products and services to customers are of this type. It becomes clear that superior operational performance most often hinges on the capabilities of cross-functional processes that involve two or more departments. This aspect of process management is worth noting in light of the success of six sigma projects that have been fairly limited to activities within one functional unit (Hammer, 2002). Rummier and Brache (1990) described the key aspects of managing this process capability as:

·         Establishing sub goals for each critical process which drives functional goals

·         Obtaining feedback on process outputs to track performance, provide feedback, and reset goals to current requirements

·         Providing resources to support each individual process goal and its contribution to the overall process

·         Managing the "white space" between process steps, or hand-offs between functions.

In describing this important element of managing process capability, Duck (1993) states that "the critical task is understanding how pieces balance one another, how changing one element changes the rest, how sequencing and pace affect the whole structure." Only a comprehensive organization-wide view of managing processes can achieve this understanding.

Rothwell, Sanders, and Soper (1999) identified seven roles which include: (1) manager, (2) analyst, (3) intervention selector, (4) intervention designer and developer, (5) intervention implementor, (6) change leader, and (7) evaluator. These roles are the key to the success of the work plan since a person in the organization would be given a specific function.

A role represents "a grouping of competencies targeted to meet specific expectations of a job or function" (Rothwell, Sanders, and Soper, 1999, 43). Role theory developed from the earliest analyses of behavior at work and served as the impetus for the identification and development of motivation theories, which are some of the means to determine why individuals act the way they do at work. Motivation theorists argued that individuals behave in a prescribed manner for a number of reasons. Expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) suggested that expected behavior was the result of a valued outcome, which is the attractiveness or value of rewards to an individual for practicing behaviors expected by an employer. Goal theory (Locke, 1968) argued that an employee's behavior was based on his or her desire to achieve personal goals, assuming that the goals were clear, specific, and attainable. According to Pfeffer (1982), individual job behavior stemmed from the combination of work desired by an organization and the values, goals, and needs of the individual. Role theory identifies what individuals might do based on motivational conditions. Katz and Kahn (1978) attributed roles and role behaviors to the relationship between an organization's structure and its supporting environment. Role theory suggested that if an organizational structure supported role behaviors, the desired roles or inputs most likely will create the desired outputs.

Table 1. Roles and Function

Role

Function

Manager

Plans, organizes, schedules or monitor, and leads the work of individuals and groups to attain desired results; facilitates the strategic plan; ensures that workplace learning and performance is aligned with organizational needs and plans; and ensures the accomplishment of the administrative requirements of the function.

Analyst

Troubleshooters and isolates the causes of human performance gaps or identifies areas for improving performance

Intervention Selector

Chooses appropriate interventions to address root causes of human performance gaps

Intervention designer and developer

Creates learning and other interventions that help to address the specific root causes of human performance gap

Intervention implementor

Ensures the appropriate and effective implementation of  desired interventions that address the specific root causes of human gaps

Change leader

Inspires the workforce to embrace change, creates direction for the change effort, helps the organization’s workforce to adapt to change, and ensures that intervention s are continuously monitored and guided in ways consistent with stakeholders’ desired results.

Evaluator

Assesses the impact of interventions and provides participants and stakeholders with information about how well interventions are implemented

 

In addition, Harrington (1991) proposes a basic five-phase approach to be successful in process improvement. These are organizing for improvement, understanding the process, streamlining, measurement and control, and continuous improvement. Tennor and DeTorro (1992) discuss three skill and knowledge sets that individuals need to succeed at process improvement. These include job knowledge, team skills, and process analysis skills. Job knowledge describes what and how to do a task or activity. Teams skills are describe as being able to function and interact in a group or team environment to enhance overall performance of the system. Process analysis skills is described as being able to measure and analyze processes, determine the effects of changes on those processes, and implement an improvement model.

Any approach that fails to ensure these skills are in place will surely fail to improve organizational performance. However, education and training alone do not guarantee success. Gilbert (1978) presents six categories of potential causes for deficiencies in performance: data, resources, incentives and rewards, skills and knowledge, capacities, and motives. The first three are generally provided by management. Individuals must have relevant data that can be transformed into useful information to conduct their work. Resources such as appropriate tools and equipment are needed. Incentives and rewards that reinforce behavior and support the organization's goals are a must.

Education and training, however, affect both the fourth and sixth causes of performance deficiency. This is due to a lack of training in the essentials of process analysis, education in viewing work as processes, and education in decision-making directed at improving processes. Appropriate training and education can overcome a lack of motivation for individuals to change the way things are done and reduce the fear of failure. Finally, overcoming the fifth deficiency, the capacity of individuals, involves matching specific individuals' abilities with job requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

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