Management (definition)
The process through which a company’s resources are used and decisions are made in order to meet the objectives of the business
Roles of managers?
- Planning
- Organising
- Monitoring and Evaluating
- Reporting
Planning (definition)
The process of outlining and scheduling the tasks needed to achieve a desired outcome
Planning involves… (5 points)
- Assessing current performance
- Collecting data to inform future decisions
- Setting business and functional objectives
- Producing functional plans
- Identifying resource equipment
- to be effective it must be ongoing
How does a business get from where it is now to where it wants to be ?
An audit is a review of where the business is now and a manager must plan the journey from here to the businesses objective of where it wants to be in the future
Organising (definition)
The process of coordinating all the resources needed to achieve and outcome
Organising involves… (2 points)
- Organisation of resources so the correct quantity and quality are available at the correct times
- Efficient allocation of resources e.g. financial (budget) and human (workforce plans)
Inefficient organisation means… (4 points)
- The business can’t match supply with demand so aren’t meeting customers needs
- Excess resources so there’s higher average costs meaning a loss of competitiveness
- Poor reputations meaning a loss of brand value
- Over utilisation of resources leading to inefficiencies that will negatively effect profit margins
Monitoring and evaluating (definition)
The process of reviewing and assessing actual performance in comparison to targets
Tools for monitoring and evaluating include … (4 points)
- Staff appraisal to assess current performance against targets
- Management by objectives
- Variance analysis on budgets to assess the use of financial resources
- Ratio analysis
Reporting (definition)
The process of providing a detailed description of an event of outcome
Reporting can be…
- Written or verbal
- Formal or informal
- Group or individual
Ongoing cycle of roles of managers
Planning > organising > monitoring and evaluating > reporting >
Managers are involved in… (2 points)
- Decision making
* Problem solving
Decision making… (6 points)
- how to allocation resources
- setting budgets
- who to hire
- what products to sell
- which suppliers to use
- how to motivate staff
Problem solving… (6 points)
- resolving employee disputes
- solving cash flow issues
- reducing expenditure
- dealing with customer complaints
- stakeholder relationships
- responding to competitors actions
Problem solving methods… (2 points)
- FOCUS
* business canvas model
FOCUS (definition)
F ind a problem O rganise resources C larify what the problem is U nderatand the problem S elect and test a solution
Business canvas model (definition)
Explain…
(4 points)
- a strategic management tool to help managers develope management model
Has 9 individual components that when looked at together provide and oversight of the business
Shows:
• infrastructure - how to improve efficiency to ensure the best value proposition
• offering - the product itself
• customers - effectively dealing with them
• finances - organising the cash flow
