MANAGEMENT NOTES

CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKETING RESEARCH  1. The nature of marketing research is curative one. The need for marketing research is felt when a company is facing any specific marketing problems. 2. Marketing research is used to eliminate possible risk of specific problems. 3. Marketing research is scientific in nature. It is carried out in a systematic manner in place of haphazard or hit and miss manner. 4. Marketing research contains objectivity rather than subjectivity. It means that the investigations in marketing research are not carried out to prove a prior findings nor is it intentionally slanted to arrive at predetermined conclusions. 5. Marketing research is based on data, facts and information. Thus, marketing research is a search for data which are associated or relevant to a marketing problems. 6. Marketing research may relate to any problem or difficulty in marketing operations.

TYPES OF CASE STUDY 1. Cumulative Case Studies : These serve to aggregate information from several sites collected at different times. The idea behind these studies is the collection of past studies will allow for greater generalization without additional cost or time being expended on new, possibly repetitive studies. 2. Inductive Case Study: In such studies, the particular of a case are given and by inductive thinking the trainers work out the theory, or general principles.   3. Critical Instance Case Study: This method is useful for determining causes and consequences. Its main idea is to investigate one or more sources to investigate a situation with unique interest and with almost no interest to generalization. It is also good for questioning a universal assertion. 4. Observational: Using this method, data is gathered by participant observation which is then augmented by formal or informal interview. A good example would be observing workers in the staff br...

CHARACTERISTICS OF CASE STUDY 1. Case study is the detailed information of any topic. 2. Case study is the type of research methodology which provide solution of some problem. 3. Case studies are analysis of persons, groups, events, decisions, periods, policies, institutions or other systems that are studied holistically by one or more methods. 4. A case study research can be single or multiple case studies, includes quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions. 5. It may be problematic, descriptive and illustrative. 6. A case study is a descriptive and exploratory analysis of a person, group or event . 7. Case studies are based on an in-depth investigation of a single individual, group or event to explore the causes of underlying principles. 8. By the end of a case study, the reader should be able to visualize themselves as the hero of their own story. 9. Case study is type o...

CASE STUDY METHOD OF LEARNING IN MANAGEMENT        Case study is a research methodology, typically seen in social and life sciences. There is no one definition of case study research. The case method is a learning style and classic approach to a problem which widely used in management institutions for a long time.  The case study has long been a staple of marketing departments everywhere. However, despite the prevalence of marketing case studies and their potential impact, most of them are dull, boring, and forgettable. Case studies are self-contained stories about how a real customer overcame their problems using your products or services. Just like a story, good case studies have a beginning, a middle, and an end, as well as a protagonist – your customer – overcoming a problem and achieving their objective, just like the main character of a story. Case study of learning method is detailed study of any topic. It shows the path to the researchers. It is s...

LIMITATION OF JOB EVALUATION 1. Another difficulty arising from the installation of jobs evaluation is that is usually promotes an immediate increase in the number of grievances concerning wages. 2. The factors considered for job evaluation sometimes overlap. The weightage given to them and their reliability becomes questionable. 3. It promotes an internal focus instead of a customer-oriented focus. 4. There are apprehensions among workmen when job evaluation is introduced for the first time. It may create doubts in the minds of those whose jobs are evaluated. 5. It is not suitable for a forward-looking organisation that has multiple job titles. 6. Job evaluation is a technique through which you can choose best employees for the organisation. 7. Job evaluation method require a lot money, time and specialized personnel. 8. Many times it gives a false impression about the accuracy of fixation of wages. 9. This is very expensive method wh...

JOB EVALUATION METHODS 1. Point Factor Method: The most widely used evaluation methods is the point system. It breaks jobs down based on various identifiable criteria such as skill, effort, and responsibility. Then it allocates points to each of these criteria. Depending on the importance of each criterion to performing the job, appropriate weights are given, and are summed. 2. Ranking Method: The ranking method is the simplest form of job evaluation. In this method, each job as a whole is compared with other and this comparison of jobs goes on until all the jobs have been evaluated and ranked. All jobs are ranked in the order of their importance from the simplest to the hardest or from the highest to the lowest. 3. Grading Method: Grading method is also known as ‘classification method’. This method of job evaluation was made popular by the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Under this method, all jobs are arranged according to their worth. Jobs are arranged in a simple rank...

IMPORTANCE OF JOB EVALUATION            Job Evaluation involves determination of relative worth of each job for the purpose of establishing wage and salary differentials. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of Job Description and Job Specification only. 1. Reduce Income Problem/ Issues: In the words of Bryan Livy, “Job evaluation seeks to highlights significant problem between units of work on a comparative basis and so produce a more equitable distribution of income within an organisation than might be obtained by more arbitrary methods.” 2. Standardization:  The process of determining the salary differentials for different jobs become standardized through job evaluation. This helps in bringing uniformity into salary structure. 3. Useful in Collective Bargaining: According to Edwin B. Flippo “Job evaluation and collective bargaining are not incompatible; they can and do exist within the same organ...

OBJECTIVES OF JOB EVALUATION 1. It provide solution of controversies of wage and salary. 2. To establish and implement an orderly, rational, systematic structure of jobs based on their worth to the organization. 3. To ensure the fair and equitable compensation of employees in relation to their duties. 4. To ensure that like salaries are paid to all qualified employees for their work which is done by them in the organisation. 5. To develop and implement a base for merit or pay-for-performance. 6. To comply with equal pay legislation and regulations determining pay differences according to job content. 7. To establish a framework of procedures to determine the grade levels and the consequent salary range for new jobs or jobs which have evolved and changed. 8. To increase output and reduce labour turnover.

CHARACTERISTICS OF JOB EVALUATION 1. Provide a standard procedure for determining the relative worth of each job in a plant. 2. The heart of job evaluation is the determination of what criteria will be used to arrive at the ranking. 3. Provide a benchmark for making career planning for the employees in the organisation. 4. To develop a base for merit or pay-for-performance. 5. To establish a framework of procedures to determine the grade levels and the consequent salary range for new jobs or jobs which have evolved and changed. 6. Job evaluation does not design wage structure, it helps in rationalizing the system by reducing number of separate and different rates. 7. The ranking that result from job evaluation is the means to an end, not an end it itself. 8. It assume normal performance of the job by a typical workers. 9. It ignores individual abilities of the performance of the job holder. 10. To ensure the fair and equitable compensation of...

WHAT IS JOB EVALUATION?             A systematic, formal process that allows organisations to compare jobs to others across the company and the industry. Job evaluation is often seen as the foundation for a fair and efficient pay framework. Job evaluation is a term which is applied to a number of distinct but related administrative methods which rank or assess the relative value of different jobs or occupations. Job evaluation is a systematic and orderly process of determining the worth of a job in relation to other jobs. The objective of this process is to determine the correct rate of pay. To remind that job analysis is the process of describing the duties of a job authority relationship, skills required, conditions of work etc.       In the words of Kimball and Kimball, “Job evaluation represent an effort to determine the relative value of every job in an plant to determine what the fair basic wage for s...

NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF WORKER’S PARTICIPATION 1. Organisational Effectiveness: If workers are invited to share in organisational problems, and to work towards common solution, greater degree of organisational balance occurs because of decreased misunderstanding and individual and group conflict. Through participation all workers would be able to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the organisation. 2. Hiring Flexibility:   Hiring flexibility is increased as a result of cross training. Increased coordination among team members also offers a comfort zone for the newly hired. 3. Individual Growth: Worker’s participative management enhance worker’s creativity. It improves response to job challenges. It also improves worker’s natural ingenuity and ability to give creative ideas. If participation is allowed, workers will be encouraged to improve their initiative, creativity and expectation. This facilitates individual growth. 4. Increases Employee Retention...

OBJECTIVES OF WORKER’S PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT         Participative Management refers to as an open form of management where employees are actively involved in organization’s decision making process.  The concept is applied by the managers who understand the importance to human intellect and seek a strong relationship with their employees. They understand that the employees are the facilitators who deal directly with the customers and satisfy their needs. 1. To Make Best Use of Human Resource:  Participative management does not restrict organizations to exploit only physical capital of employees. Rather it makes the best use of human intellectual and emotional capital. It gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas and suggestions to improve business processes and create a better working environment. 2. To Improve the quality of work: Worker’s participation in management improve the quality of work. It re...

WORKER'S  PARTICIPATE  MANAGEMENT         Participative management offers all employees opportunities to contribute to workplace policies and decisions that achieve business goals while promoting career satisfaction. As opposed to an autocratic management style, where the manager assumes operational control and makes all the decisions unilaterally, a participative manager asks for input from team members and considers all opinions to find workable solutions to business problems and implement them to meet deadlines. As a result, employees feel more valued and often work harder on behalf of their employers under this style of management. According to Gosep WPM as “a humanitarian act, elevating the status of a worker in the society and an ideological way of developing self-management and promoting industrial democracy.”       In the words of T. Aspengren, “industrial democracy means that workers and empl...

HOMANS MODEL OF SMALL GROUP  BEHAVIOR      George Homans had studied small groups and their behavior patterns. He formulated a comprehensive theory of small group behavior which is based on the following three elements- (i) Activities: Activities are those tasks that group members engage in. These include the behaviors and efforts of members both for performing the group tasks. (ii) Interaction: Interactions are the face to face dealings among group members. These involve information exchange and include one’s verbal and non-verbal behavior towards another person. (iii) Sentiments: Interaction are feelings, attitude, belief and values held by group members. They constitute the person’s inner state or the things the individual subjectively feels, believe or perceivers.       The major element in Homans theory is interaction. Person in a group interact with one another to solve problems, attain goals, facilitate coordinatio...

TYPES OF GROUP Definition:   The  Group  refers to two or more persons who shares a common interest and come together to achieve common goals and objectives. The groups can be formal and informal; formal groups are created by the organization with the intent to accomplish its objective, while the informal groups get created spontaneously as soon as the individuals interact with each other.       There are two types of groups. These are as follows: 1. Formal Group 2. Informal Group 1. Formal Group: Formal groups are created to fulfill specific needs or to perform tasks which are related to the overall organisational purpose. They are intentionally designed to channel individual effort in an appropriate direction. They exhibit the formality of structure, hierarchy of authority, roles and functions. Rules and sanctions guide behavior of formal groups. (i) Membership and Reference Groups:  The membership group is the one to...