Text 9. Decision Making in Business and Public Administration

Carrying out management functions a manager is continually making decisions. However, whether small or solid, short or long-term, studied or impulsive, decision-making involves four major elements - problem definition, information search, choice and evaluation. The first step in defining a problem is recognizing that it exists. Selecting a problem for attention and putting it on the agenda are the most important parts of this stage.

If the problem really exists the next step is to learn more about it. Thus, information search can be defined as the nature of decision-making. Getting information has always been central to public administration, as government institutions are usually primary sponsors of scientific and humanitarian researches.

After the problem is defined and the information is examined, the time for taking the right choice comes. Weighing options and selecting are the most visible decision-making processes. Decisions do not end with taking choices. Decision-making involves evaluating effects and actions. Whether formal or informal, evaluation is another form of information gathered after the choice.

In fact there exist two main categories of models for decision-making - rational and non-rational. Rational decisions are choices based on judgment of performance and outcomes. They are not always perfect and do not eliminate the possibility of failure. In non-rational models choices do not result from deliberate balance of pros and cons. Most governmental decisions are within these models as the time required to take a decision is too sort and the finances are too thin to provide long researchers.

As for decision-making in public administration, it is a debated subject. Different roles of administrators add to the difficulty of understanding the problem. In most countries public administrators define their role in terms of implementing the laws and policies conducted by the Government. An elite also makes decisions. Thus, it can include persons inside or outside government. Technocrats make decisions based on some concept of utility. Complications grow when formal structures and informal channels for making decisions interact. Besides, some civil servants think that decision making is related to charismatic leaders or political and special organisations. They often view their work from the position of dealing with files or carrying out assigned tasks and enforcing rules. They just forget that all administrators are decision makers to varying extends and for different levels of issues.

Answer the questions:

1. What is a manager doing carrying out his management functions?

2. What elements of decision-making can you name?

3. What step is the first in decision-making?

4. What can be defined as the nature of decision-making?

5. When does the time for taking the right choice come?

6. What forms of decision-making do you know?

7. What principal are rational decisions based on?

8. What is the difference between rational and non-rational decisions?

9. Where are non-rational models usually applied?

10.How do public administrators often define their roles?

Text 10. Time and Risk Management

In any business it is important that management should be effective. Managers must be able to achieve their objectives and to get right things to do. Because of the nature of managers' work it is not easy for them to be effective. There exist certain difficulties in distinguishing between important and less important tasks. Effective managers have to manage their time effectively. Before being able to control his time the manager must find how he is actually using it. The best way to do it is to make records. The usual method is to log the task the manager performs. The manager should not rely on memory when logging time. Not many executives can rememberer at the end of the day, all things they did during the day - all those telephone calls, chats and interruptions, the work on the computer, the letter writing and so on. One way of logging time is to note down all the activities and indicate how long they took. Once the manager has an accurate picture of how he uses time, he can analyse the time log. This will help him to re-think and re-plan his work schedule. As the result of this analyses, the effective manager will start getting rid of unproductive time-wasting activities. He will also get rid of some activities which can be done just as well by someone else. Knowing how to delegate is an essential skill of a manager. This does not mean of course that he will be forever "passing the buck" to subordinates. But where possible, he will try to create more time so that he can attend to more important tasks.

As for the risk management, it is related to all the fields and is not confined to one particular field. People in different branches like statistics, economics, engineering, systems analysis have contributed to the task of risk management. There are many useful solutions of how to protect staff and working conditions from injury and damage. Special attention is paid to the so-called "common sense "cases. Thus, it is not recommended for top executives to travel together in the same jet or ship or to store valuable goods in one place.

Risk mitigation and accident prevention is a separate area that requires experienced personnel to identify the risks and prevent accidents. Risk is a condition that may lead to loss and managers have to know that clearly. The amount of loss that may occur as a result of that risk should be evaluated in advance to prevent such risks. Managers should always know the risks involved in any business or project before they take place.

In fact, there are special companies that have consultants for risk assessment. However, some big and rich organisations keep their own risk management department. Thus, fire, for example, is still the greatest potential risk. An experienced risk manager can save a company large sums in fire insurance if he recommends to install special firefighting and safety equipment. Industrial espionage is another increasingly growing risk. Only authorized persons should have access to the information stored in computers. The information security officer can suggest security programs and restrict access to business information.

Answer the questions:

1. Why should management be effective?

2. What steps must managers take to control time effectively?

3. Why should not managers rely on their memory?

4. How can managers improve their work schedule?

5. When should managers delegate some of their duties?

6. What is the term "risk management" related to?

7. Why should not top executives travel together?

8. What is risk according to the accident prevention?

9. How can a risk manager save a company large sums in fire insurance?

10. What should be done to prevent industrial espionage?

Text 11. Security Management

Today business and public administration broadly use computers and information technology to conduct business and perform duties by processing data and receiving information necessary for decision making. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing information databases to designing complex computer networks and sophisticated security management tools. Living in the digital world where blackmail, industrial and political espionage is becoming a norm, business and government have to protect their computer networks from hackers and other intruders. That is why security management is becoming indispensable today. Even apart from the IT industry, any company that uses many systems, devices, and computers would need proper security management. To conduct the business effectively, security managers need to know the users of the system properly and have to give them exclusively rights to some resources depending on the position they occupy in the company. Hence controlling the access rights is also very important. Moreover, if there is any threat to business resources or if there is any threat in the sort of violation of the rights given for a particular user, a security manager must know of that as soon as possible. It enables to take early remedies and to prevent such events in the future.

There are many IT companies that provide solutions for security management. Their security products allow business and government to act intelligently and quickly to the threats that can face them. Such products enable entrepreneurs to focus on their business while their network is secured. Security management can restrict the access to resources and services and provides logging and reporting. It can prevent threats from spyware, viruses, worms and spam as well as from other malicious content entering a corporate network. Security programs empower organisations to identify the weaknesses in their infrastructure and to take quick actions. These products enable companies to prevent the threats instead of rectifying the effects of a threat.

Thus, security information management products enable entrepreneurs to manage real time events and post event analysis to improve the efficiency and reduce costs. In the age of e-business the main challenges are identifying the users and managing security events. With efficient security tools companies can effectively control users, access rights and privacy policies. Entrepreneurs can monitor their network easily and quickly report to the IT security about the incidents in the network that does e-business.

Answer the questions:

1. What do business and public administration use in their work?

2. What type of duties do IT professionals perform?

3. Why is security management indispensable today?

4. What should security managers do to conduct the business effectively?

5. Who provides solutions for security management?

6. How can a company act using security management programs?

7. What service does security management offer?

8. What programs can never enter a corporate network?

9. How can security tools help to manage e-business?

10. Where should entrepreneurs report about the incidents in the network?

Text 12. Sales Management

Dealings in sales management are always connected with the market. The main responsibility of the sales managers is to meet and interact with a variety of customers including their own employees so as to understand the real needs of customers. Due to the varied market requirements and market opportunities, the engaged sales personnel need newer and sophisticated techniques and innovative computer programs to match the market trends. Sales management by itself is a very broad portfolio and it includes all levels and positions such as new business selling, technical selling, trade sales, and missionary sales.

Persons holding sales management positions are required to show a very strong and favourable performance and track record within a year or two. The team that is engaged in sales management has the direct opportunity to deal with the market. The personnel can make use of their expertise and experiences to deal with the human factor. The opportunities such as direct interaction with a variety of customers including their own colleagues make the sales management people very confident. They can do a very quality work by understanding the feel of the market. Any detailed knowledge about the product that they sell can certainly assist sales people in clarifying the doubts and explaining things to the prospective buyers. At the first instance, the personnel who sells the products should believe in the products they sell as without this understanding it will be a difficult task for them to sell. Few of other important factors that directly impact the sales figures are the motivation levels, initiatives shown by the sales team and effective supervision by the managerial group of the organisation.

Answer the questions:

1. What type of management is always connected with the market?

2. What is the main responsibility of the sales manager?

3. What techniques do sales personnel need nowadays?

4. What levels and positions does sales management include?

5. What is a sales manager required to show to get a position?

6. What makes sales management people confident?

7. Why must sales managers have detailed knowledge about the product they sell?

8. Why should sales managers believe in what they sell?

9. What factors can directly impact the sales figures ?

10. Who carries out supervision in sales management?

Text 13. Personnel Administration and Human

Resource Management

Employees must be organised in a special way so that the work to be done correctly. That is why personnel administration is an important task for any organisation - private or public. However, nowadays personnel administration is usually called human resource management (HR) as people are regarded as the most valuable assets that an organisation can posses. Companies pay more attention now to the well being of all employees and their safety at the work place. Human resource management or personnel administration deals with recruiting, selecting, promoting and training employees or making them redundant.

Once jobs have been created, the process of recruitment starts. It means finding people to fill these positions. Trying to attract competent applicants, both private and public companies are trying to make their openings highly publicised Examination is the second step in the personnel process. Examination does not refer only to a paper-pencil test. Some jobs call for an oral examination especially when communications skills are particularly important. In the sphere of public administration the candidates have to pass both professional and administration career examinations to see if they are valid for governmental careers in general.

A recruitment agency or a special civil service commission carefully examines the list with the highest examination scores and chooses the best candidate for the opened position. New employees have to serve for a definite period of time during which their removal is relatively easy. Assessment of the employee performance is the nest step personnel managers. To assess the work of employees companies and organisations work out special rating schemes. In jobs where it is not possible, supervisors are encouraged to judge the employee performance as accurately as possible using special methods and techniques.

As for the governmental structures, they are deeply involved with the further education and training of their employees. Universities and institutes in cooperation with government agencies are developing special programmes and courses for public employees which last usually for a week or two. They are usually conducted either at universities or in public agencies. Government employees can be given special leaves if they want to improve education and to get a degree of MPA or to take part in some other educating programmes.

Answer the questions:

1. Why is personnel administration necessary for organisations?

2. How is personnel administration called today?

3. Why do companies pay much attention to the well being of their employees?

4. What are the main directions in which HR managers work?

4. How does a recruitment agency choose the candidates?

5. What tests must the candidates take in the sphere of public administration ?

6. What does assessment of the employee performance mean?

7. What are supervisors responsible for?

8. What organisations usually work out training courses for public administration employees?

9. Where do training courses usually take place?

10. What benefit can government employees get to improve their education?

Text14. Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a strategy that puts awareness of quality at the heart of all organisational processes. It is a system that aims at a continual increase in customer satisfaction with continually lowering costs by eliminating wastes and defects. The basic goal of TQM is to ensure that the products, services, or processes provided meet specific requirements and are dependable, satisfactory, physically sound and aesthetically pleasant. To improve performance managers are trying to make processes visible, repeatable and measurable. They also examine the ways the customer actually uses the product in real life in order to improve it if it is necessary.

As for quality control, it involves the examination of a product, service, or process for a certain level of quality. The goal of a quality control team is to identify products or services that do not meet a company’s specified standards of quality. If a problem is identified, the job of a quality control team or professionals may involve stopping production temporarily. Depending on the particular service or product, as well as the type of problem identified, production or implementation may not cease entirely. Usually it is not the job of a quality control team or professionals to correct quality issues. Typically, other individuals are involved in the process of discovering the cause of quality issues and fixing them. Once such problems are overcome, the products, services, or processes continue production or implementation as usual.

Quality control can cover not just products services, and processes, but also people. Employees are an important part of any company. If a company has employees that don’t have adequate skills or training, have troubles understanding directions, or are misinformed, the quality of product may be severely diminished. When quality control is considered in terms of human beings, it concerns correctable issues. However, it should not be confused with human resource issues.

Often, quality control is confused with quality assurance. Though the two are very similar, there are some basic differences. Quality control is concerned with the product, while quality assurance is process–oriented. Even with such a clear-cut definition, identifying the differences between the two can be hard. Basically, quality control involves evaluating a product, activity, process, or service. By contrast, quality assurance is designed to make sure processes are sufficient to meet objectives. Simply put, quality assurance ensures a product or service is manufactured, implemented, created, or produced in the right way; while quality control evaluates whether or not the end result is satisfactory.

Answer the questions:

1. What is Total Quality Management?

2. What is the basic goal of TQM ?

3. How should managers act to improve performance?

4. How does a quality control team function?

5. Why can production of goods be stopped?

6. Does a quality control team correct quality issues?

7. Why can quality control be reffed to employees?

8. What can happen to quality of product is the staff has inadequate skills or training?

9. What is the difference between quality control and quality assurance?

10. What is the aim of quality assurance?