Role of Job Analysis in Human Resource Management

The purpose of a job analysis in human resources is to collect information about a job by analyzing the duties, responsibilities, tasks and activities of the job. A job analysis should identify the types of technologies and equipment that are to be used on the job and point out the types of education and experience that are required for the job to be done successfully. This information is used to prepare a job description, which states the specific duties and responsibilities of a person in the job. Human resource managers also use the job analysis data to conduct other human resources activities, such as recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, and the design of training and career development programs. To successfully plan for the future, organizations working on a strategic plan need to conduct a job analysis for their current positions and possible future positions. This will help them to determine Continue reading

Concepts of Windows and Corridors for New Ventures

A window is time horizon during which opportunities exist before something else happens to eliminate them. A unique opportunity, once shown to produce wealth, will attract competitors, and if the business is easy to enter, the industry will become rapidly saturated. Bicycles did not become viable commercial products until people needed them as transportation. When that need occurred, hundreds of bicycle manufactures rushed to take advantage of the “window of opportunity.” Literally every successful product and service has had an optimal period of time for commercialization. Those introduced too early have usually failed, and those introduced too suffered from crowded markets. A brief period of opportunity opened for electronic spreadsheets when micro-computer hit the fast growth curve. Several entrepreneurs entered the market with good spreadsheet products. The first, VisiCalc was designed for the Apple PC. VisiCalc was quite successful, and later versions for Ms-Dos systems were even more successful. But Continue reading

Steps Involved in Drafting a Research Report

A research report must be well drafted so that it is seriously taken by others and all that have to be said are well said. Reader orientation, purpose orientation, time orientation, technology orientation, etc are all needed. The steps in writing a research report are presented below. 1. Organization of Thought Organization of thought as to how the report be presented is the most fundamental starting point in the journey of preparation of a research report. Ideas come before the mind eye. These are thought over again and a frame of presentation is planned. This plan does not in itself constitute style, but it is the foundation. 2. Acquaintance with the Research Full acquaintance with research is needed. This is facilitated by notes. It is desirable to make notes on separate cards or slips called form-facet. Accuracy and Adequacy are required – The second facet of mastery over notes consists Continue reading

Intermittent Manufacturing Systems

In Intermittent manufacturing systems, the goods are manufactured specially to fulfill orders made by customers rather than for stock. Here the flow of material is intermittent. Intermittent production systems are those where the production facilities are flexible enough to handle a wide variety of products and sizes. These can be used to manufacture those products where the basic nature of inputs changes with the change in the design of the product and the production process requires continuous adjustments. Considerable storage between operation is required, so that individual operations can be carried out independently for further utilization of men and machines. Examples of intermittent systems are: machine shops, hospitals, general office etc. Characteristics of intermittent  manufacturing  systems are: Most products are produced in small quantities. Machines and equipment are laid out by process. Workloads are generally unbalanced. Highly skilled operators are required for efficient use of machines and equipment. In-process inventory Continue reading

Production Control- Definition, Objectives, Levels and Factors

Definition of Production Control All organizations irrespective of size, use production control to some degree. In small organizations, the production control may be performed by one person; but in large complex industries the production control department is normally well-organised and highly specialized.   Production control presupposes the existence of production plans, and it involves the use of various control techniques to ensure production performance as per plans.   Co-ordinating men and materials and machines is the task of production control. Production control may be defined as “the process of planning production in advance of operations; establishing the exact route of each individual item, part of assembly; setting and finishing dates for each important item, assembly and the finished products, and releasing the necessary orders as well as initiating the required follow-up to effectivate the smooth functioning of the enterprises.”   According to Henry Fayol, production control is the art and Continue reading

Price Discrimination in Managerial Economics

In today’s economies where product and service competition is dense, to sell products and services to consumers in the way as expected by the company has become harder but at the same time necessary compared to the past. It has become unavoidable for the firms to use various pricing strategies alongside with the classical selling strategies to reach this goal. In today’s economic conditions in which the markets being far from full competitive state resulted the firms functioning in this market to become more or less a price-maker. For this reason, one of the ways for the firms that aim to increase the total income thus the total profit can use is, to implement different pricing for consumers with different specialties instead of applying the same pricing for all the consumer groups. Because the consumers having different income levels, taste and choice cause them to have a desire to pay Continue reading