General Management

Organizational culture refers to things such as uniformity in work practices, working style, employee motivation levels, sense of belonging, etc. within the company. Culture is also something that takes times to build and also cannot be changed easily. “Organisation culture” refers to: The values and beliefs of an organisation. The principles, ideologies as well as […]

The communities where we live and work are facing complex challenges such as climate change, economic uncertainty, income inequality, multicultural relations, geopolitical unrest and other seemingly uncontrollable forces. People are stressed, confused, anxious, on edge. When we think of leadership in such times, we immediately look toward the dynamic individual leader who can guide us […]

Kotter’s 8-step change model is a change management model that lays down the process for organizations to efficiently implement a new change initiative. Introduction to Kotter’s Change Model Dr. John Kotter had first introduced the model in his book ‘Leading Change’ (1996); the model was then updated and published in the book ‘Accelerate’ (in 2014). […]

An organizational structure is a system set in place, by which work flows within a firm, that helps the firm achieve its goals. Organizational Structure: Types and Importance Here, we take a look at the importance of organisational structure in terms of the overall success of a business. Experts have stressed that key factors have […]

As per the equity theory of motivation, when people see fairness and justice around them, they are motivated, and if they see unfairness and injustice around them, they become demotivated. This is how human beings really feel when it comes to fairness. Equity Theory (Adams 1965) suggests that we compare job inputs (effort/experience etc) and […]

Understand the various theories of trade that explain why countries should trade, understand the factors affecting countries’ trade patterns, and understand how global efficiency is increased through free trade. What Trade theory is important? Trade theory helps managers and government policymakers focus on three critical questions: What products should be imported and exported? How much […]

New Product Development (NPD) refers to the process or steps needed to produce a new product and introduce it in the market. In order to improve customer satisfaction and to increase market share, firms use strategies such as regularly introducing new products and improving upon variables such as cost, time and quality. Managing new products […]

Operations Management is everywhere around us. The concept of operations management applies to every business activities (manufacturing of products or rendering of services) that involves or requires a sequential process. Operations management is about understanding how organizations produce goods and services. Operations refers to the resources that create products and services; it refers to detailed, […]

Aaron Quinn raises the ethical issue of manipulating images in Photojournalism, through the use of computers, high-end camera gear and imaging editing software, as most readers feel that the images they see in newspapers and media is manipulated by journalists, as a result of which public trust is waning in journalism. Aaron Quinn says that […]

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies morality, and Ethics in technology addresses ethical questions specific to the Technology Age. Professional ethics falls under the sub discipline of applied ethics as its purpose is to reason about, and answer moral issues, that arise in certain specific situations encountered by professionals. There are situations when […]

Key issues in the ‘Kohlberg–Gilligan conflict’ and reasons why Gilligan criticized Kohlberg. Kohlberg’s research is based on the cognitive development theory in psychology adopting a functional perspective on ethical behaviour which assumes that: Individual behaviour is directed by moral beliefs. Moral beliefs enable individuals to understand and evaluate the behaviour of others. 18 year study […]

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Importance in recent years and explanation of various concepts Difference between Shareholder and stakeholder theory As per economist Milton Friedman, the main social responsibility of a business is to increase profits for its owners/ shareholders. Any diversion of company profits towards social programmes, charity and other not-for-profit generating activities represented a […]

Business ethics addresses issues of right and wrong in decision making, but how does one decide what is right and what is wrong. Different Organisations Different types of business exists: Small or medium privately owned business where the owner is the manager, Multi-national corporation, Public sector organisation, Charity or other organisation with a social purpose. […]

The business canvas model is one of the more commonly used frameworks that are used to explain the business model of a firm, and to explain the more important elements of the business. The canvas displays all this information in a single view thereby making it easy to visualize the business (Osterwalder et al., 2011). […]

The Value Proposition Canvas is a useful tool to understand how a new product/service that a business plans to introduce can help the buyers. The canvas consists of two sections, the customer profile and value proposition (Osterwalder et al., 2014). The Value Proposition Canvas is a tool/framework used by product owners, marketing experts, and businesses […]

Understanding mission, vision and value statements. A mission statement talks about the organization’s business, its purpose, its objectives and how it intends to meet those objectives. A vision statement details what the organization hopes to become in the future, where it aspires to go. The values statement talks about the organization’s core principles and ethics. […]

Businesses are increasingly more international and the need for effective cross-cultural communication has become essential. Being aware of foreign culture is the key to successful business expansion globally. What is Culture? Culture is defined as the specific learned norms of a society that reflect attitudes, values, and beliefs. In business, major problems of cultural collision […]

Overview of the various leadership theories (Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioural Theory, Contingency Theory, Situational Theory, Transactional Theory, Transformational Theory, and others) that describe why certain individuals develop Leadership qualities. Key Points Great man Theory: Leaders are born and not made. Trait theory: Leaders have traits that can be inherited or acquired. Behavioural theory: […]

Carroll’s CSR pyramid is a framework that explains how organisations can take social responsibility, it highlights the four important types of responsibility of organisations. This is one of the most well-used models used to describe and explain CSR(Carroll, 1991, in Tench and Yeomans, 2017, p.84). According to Carroll, businesses have four types of responsibility: economic, […]

Balanced scorecard (BSC) is a strategic management performance metric that provides a comprehensive view of the business. In addition to finance measures, it also measures customer satisfaction, internal processes, and the innovation and improvement activities of the organization. Several executives felt for a long time that the traditional measures of financial performance were not enabling […]

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Abraham Maslow propounded a theory of human motivation. Maslow identified five sets of human needs. The five sets of needs are arranged in a hierarchy of their importance to individuals. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes the following: Physiological needs Safety needs Social needs Esteem needs Self Actualisation […]

Various types of leadership styles explained. From Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill, to Martin Luther King and Steve Jobs, there can be as many ways to lead people as there are leaders. Fortunately, business people and psychologists have developed useful styles that describe the main ways that people lead. When you understand these styles, you […]

The Belbin Team Roles theory suggests how to select the right mix of people for a team that will help the team succeed. Every person has unique strengths and behaviour that can facilitate the progress of a team. Belbin’s theory identify behavioural strengths and weaknesses of workers at the workplace. Introduction While every firm desires […]

Tuckman Model: Theory to understand the stages of team formation. This model reveals how teams transform as they go from the initial formation towards the completion of the project. You need a team to do take on bigger things and accomplish things faster. However, not every team works at the highest level of efficiency right […]

Theories of Motivation: Understand how motivation is used to lead and manage people in organizations. What is Motivation Motivation is basically the intention or reason for an individual’s activities and desires. It stimulates a person to do things or behave in a definite way. All employees work towards achieving organisational effectiveness but they all have […]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been depicted by the following CSR theories based on their respective focus on different aspects of the social reality: economics, politics, social integration and ethics. Corporate Social Performance (CSP) Corporate Social Performance means changing corporate behavior to produce less harm and more beneficial outcomes for society and their people. It […]

The term Triple bottom line (TBL) was coined by John Elkington in 1994. TBL is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental and financial. Many organizations (Nike, Tesco, DHL) have adopted the 3BL framework to evaluate their performance in a broader perspective. TBL is also commonly known as the three Ps: people, planet and […]

Crisis theory in management refers to the various plans (course of action) that firms could take when they are faced with a crisis. Crisis refer to the occurrence of sudden, unplanned events that cause major disruptions to the working of a company and have the potential to generate fear among employees and negatively affect their […]

Importance and implementation of key success metrics (CSFs, KRIs, KPIs) in Analytics. In order to compete, more businesses are finding it vital to monitor the various business processes so that performance can be measured and improved upon. Acronyms like Critical success Factors (CSFs), Key result indicators (KRIs), and key performance indicators (KPIs) are increasingly being […]

This hypothesis emphasises the accumulation of debt by firms which in times of rising interest rates leads to corporate collapse and hence a fall in output thus compounding the fluctuations in the business cycle. The important intermediary role of the banking sector is also highlighted in the accumulation of debt by firms. The major elements […]

The Solow Model of economic growth is a model that explains the growth of an economy and suggests that sustained growth in the economy is due to growth in technology and not really due to other factors such as increase in capital and labour. The reason for that is because capital offers diminishing returns in […]

Economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen studied the relationship between the economy, society, and culture and suggested that a lot of people make purchases to display their status and accomplishments and not really to fulfill their needs. He is best known for introducing the concept of conspicuous (excessive) consumption and conspicuous “leisure” to signal one’s social […]

Organizations consist of several factors such as functions, people, resources, etc. Differing organisational goals and objectives implies a varying degree of importance on each of these factors, that eventually give rise to different types and structures of organizations. Daft, Murphy and Willmott (2010) identify and discuss the differences between small and large organizations and for-profit […]

The theory of the firm, a microeconomic concept (in neoclassical economics), states that a company’s main goal should be to maximize profits, to create as big a gap between revenue and costs as possible by allocating resources to maximize net profits. The theory of the firm influences decision-making in several business areas, including resource allocation, […]

The General measure of Enterprising Tendency test (GET2) is a measure of enterprising tendency; developed for educational use and self assessment. The General Enterprise Tendency (GET) test measures five entrepreneurial attributes such as: Need for achievement Need for autonomy Creativity Risk taking Internal locus of control Website: http://www.get2test.net Problems with psychological testing of entrepreneurs include the varying […]

What is Ethics? Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles. More definitions by Crane and Matten (2010, p.8). “Morality is concerned with the norms, values and beliefs embedded in social processes which define right and wrong for an individual or […]

German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is one of the most important philosophers although he is not very easy to understand. Kant was not a consequentialist, but attempted to base his moral theory on human reason rather than on feeling, as the utilitarians do. Kant starts off with the basic question, “What is a moral belief?” […]

Every organization goes through different phases; an organizational life cycle divided into the following phases: Existence / Start-up (or Birth): Early days of the company. Survival: Organizations try to expand their business (try to achieve growth) Maturity phase: Company reaches the peak from where it becomes difficult to grow further. Renewal Phase: Companies may reinvent […]

Finance and Accounting for Managers. Managers need to have enough information about finance/accounting that will help them make good decisions based on financial data, and enable them to evaluate company performance. Introduction It is important to understand finance and accounting in order to understand business. The financial health of a business is an important aspect […]

The distribution of wealth and capacity to generate incomes in the world can be captured in the form of an economic pyramid, known as the BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID (BOP) – Prahalad 2005. At the top is the rich and at the bottom is the poor (BOP). With over 4bn at the bottom, market potential […]