ACCA P3 Theorists, models, framework

Here are some of many approach in terms of models,theorists works, and framework used in to assess and approach question in Business Analysis P3 of the ACCA. Some of the knowledge are as a background or can be used in passing which is not a core importance. I know its lot to learn, but its very useful.

1) Johnson, Scholes, Whittington.

• Cultural web
• Feasibility, Acceptability, Sustainability
• Ethical stance
• Strategy lenses, drifts
• TOWS analysis

2) Michael Porter

• 5 forces
• Diamond
• Value chain
• Generic strategies
• Information Intensity matrix with Miller)

3) Philip J. Kotler

• 2P's - Push, Pull factors
• Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning
• Business research
• Differentiation

4) Kotter

• Overcoming resistance to change ( with Schlesinger)

5) Campbell and Yeung

• Mission statement

6) Russell ackhoff

• Characteristics of good mission statement

7) Thomas and Strickland

• Objective - SMART

8) Management, power, leadership style

• Dunphy and stace
• Lewin
• French and Raven
• Blake and Mouton - Ohio state studies, and Michigan studies on leadership
  
• Fiedler model of leadership
• Adair
• Hershey and Blanchard matrix
• Bass transactional and transformational leaders
• Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

TO BE CONTINUE...

Force Field Analysis

The Force Field Analysis was developed by American social psychologist Kurt Lewin as a useful tool built on the idea that forces are often driven by habits, customs, and attitudes that can affect the change process.According to Lewin there are two main forces acting for and against change in and social system. Within the organisation are to be detected:

• driving forces that operate for change
• restraining forces which act to maintain the status quo

It will be useful when looking at the variables involved in planning and implementing a change program and will undoubtedly be of use in team building projects,when attempting to overcome resistance to change.

Driving Forces
-Driving forces are those forces affecting a situation that are pushing in a particular direction; they tend to initiate a change and keep it going. In terms of improving productivity in a work group, pressure from a supervisor, incentive earnings, and competition may be examples of driving forces.

Restraining Forces
- Restraining forces are forces acting to restrain or decrease the driving forces. Apathy, hostility, and poor maintenance of equipment may be examples of restraining forces against increased production. Equilibrium is reached when the sum of the driving forces equals the sum of the restraining forces.

Force Field Analysis are shown:


For example, imagine that you are a manager deciding whether to install new manufacturing equipment in your factory. You might draw up a force field analysis like the one in Figure 1:

Force Field Analysis is a useful technique for looking at all the forces for and against a plan. It helps you to weigh the importance of these factors and decide whether a plan is worth implementing.
Where you have decided to carry out a plan, Force Field Analysis helps you identify changes that you could make to improve it.

Reference:
(1) David Williamson, Peter Cooke, Wyn Jenkins, and Keith Michael Moreton : Strategic Management and Business Analysis .
(2) Mindtools.

Cultural Web

The Cultural Web, developed by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes in 1992, provides one such approach for looking at and changing your organization’s culture. Using it, you can expose cultural assumptions and practices, and set to work aligning organizational elements with one another, and with your strategy.
Elements of Cultural Web as seen Figure 1:

The cultural web contains 6 inter-related elements that help to make up what Johnson and Scholes call the “paradigm” – the pattern or model – of the work environment. By analyzing the factors in each, you can begin to see the bigger picture of your culture: what is working, what isn’t working, and what needs to be changed. The six elements are:

• Stories - within the company focus upon past events in the organisation and are told to people both outside and inside the organisation. They communicate something of the organisation's culture. Company 'heroes', such as charismatic leaders of the past, and mavericks can be perceptions of 'normal' behaviour.
• Rituals and Routines - The daily behavior and actions of people that signal acceptable behavior, Rituals such as training programmes or personnel procedures can reinforce the perception of how things are done, and demonstrate to staff what behaviour is desirable and valued by senior management.
• Symbols - The visual representations of the company including logos, how plush the offices are, and the formal or informal dress codes.
• Organizational Structure - Both the formal structure (as found on the organisation chart) and the informal structure are likely to reflect power structures and play an important part in influencing the core values of an organisation.
• Control Systems - The ways that the organization is controlled. These include financial systems, quality systems, and rewards (including the way they are measured and distributed within the organization.)
• The Paradigm - Basic assumptions and beliefs that an organisation decision makers hold in common and take for granted. It is essentially conservative since it is based on collective experience. It is closely linked to the strategy as experience lens.

USEFUL QUESTIONS TO TRY IN YOUR OWN SETTING:
Stories
What core belief do the stories in my place reflect?
How pervasive are these beliefs (through the levels of the organisation)?
Do stories relate to: strengths or weaknesses? successes or failures?
conformity or mavericks? Who are the heroes and villains?
What norms do the mavericks deviate from?

Routines and rituals
Which routines are emphasised in my organisation?
What behaviour do routines encourage? Which would look odd if changed?
What are the key rituals? What core beliefs do they reflect?
What do training programs emphasise?
How easy are the rituals/routines to change?

Organisational structures
How mechanistic/organic are the structures in my organisation?
How flat/hierarchical are the structures? How formal/informal are they?
Do structures encourage collaboration or competition?
What types of power structure do they support?

Control systems
What is most closely monitored/controlled in my organisation?
What reports are issued to keep control of operations, finance, etc...?
What process or procedure has the strongest controls? Weakest controls?

Power structures
What are the core beliefs of the leadership in my organisation?
How strongly held are these beliefs (idealists or pragmatists)?
Who makes or influences decisions?
How is this power used or abused?

Symbols
What language and jargon are used in my place of work?
How internal or accessible are they?
What aspects of strategy are highlighted in publicity?
What image is associated with your organization, looking at this from the separate viewpoints of clients and staff?

Overall
What is the dominant culture? How easy is this to change?

Reference:
Johnson, Scholes, Whittington : Exploring Corporate Strategies , 7th edition.

Six Sigma

According to the ACCA study guide, in part F regarding the Quality issues, the syllabus emphasise on Quality Initiatives : Six Sigma. I believe that this topic would be important and also quite challenging to those whom are still didnt heard of this Six Sigma. So, for this time around,I will focus on The Six Sigma, but only the surfaces and general source and not to go deeper into black,green belt,or lean six sigma,but at least you know what Six sigma is all about. Well, i've done an extensive reading on materials regarding this Six Sigma, and it took me 2 books for me to understand the reason, application and significance importance of applying Six Sigma to organisation namely Motorola,General Electric (GE).

What is Six Sigma??

Is a statistical measures of variation to improve processes by eliminating defects to represents the latest incarnation of the quality movement. A full Six Sigma equals to 99.9997% accuracy. It also acts as a business philosophy focusing on business improvement and a "tool box" of quality and management tools for problem resolution. Six Sigma's goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or better.

Every process can be characterised by

• Average performance
• Variation

A little bit of history, the Six Sigma methodology was developed by Motorola in the mid 1980's as a result of recognising that products with high pass yield rarely failed in use.Hence,
Six Sigma asserts the following:

• Continuous efforts to reduce variation in process outputs is key to business success
• Manufacturing and business processes can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled
• Succeeding at achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management

Based on the ACCA P3 syllabus, the study guide mentioned Six Sigma solving process relates to DMAIC, however there is methodology relates to DMADV which concerns on create new products or process design. thus to stay within the guide,let look into DMAIC.

DMAIC.
- Provides a logical sequences for applying exisiting problem solving tools and concepts.
- Repacking of exisiting tools and concepts.
-Various quality/ management tools applied at each steps.
-Improves exisiting business process.

Define
-develop a mission and assess business strategy.
-Understand customer needs and demands.
-Map the process or create goals in order to achieve such aim.
-Appropriate tools such as Gantt chart, cross functional flowcharts.

Measures
-Collect baseline data on defects and possible cause.
-Plot defect data over time & analyse for special causes.
-Create and stratify frequency plots and do Pareto analysis (80/20) (please refer)
-Calculate starting sigma level.
-Appropriate diagrams such as Basic flowchart

Analyse
-Create focused problem statement.
-Explore potential causes.
-Verify relationship of the causes and make sure that all factors have been considered.This can be applied by statistical methods to quantify cause and relationship.

Improve
-Create possible solution for root causes.
-Optimize the process based upon the analysis by using techniques Design of experiments.
-Implementation of such plan or processes.
-Measure the results and evaluate.
-identifies what will happen if needed improvements are not made and what will happen if the improvements take too long.

Control
-Develop and document standard practices.
-Possible, train staff teams, and tools are put in place to ensure that the key variables remain within the acceptable ranges over time so that process improvement gains are maintained.
-Team develops a project hand off process, reaction plans, to guarantee performance and long-term project savings.
-Recommend future plans and confirm, communicate,create process for updating procedures.

When to use Six Sigma????

• Unknown causes/situations
• When broad spectrum approach is inappropriate.
• When other problem solving method fails.
• In Complex situations with many variables

but of course in exam, question will relate to applying Six Sigma.

Why adopt Six Sigma??

• Defined process for problem solving
• Proven methodology to solve problem
• Focus on "bottom line" which encourages credibilty/supports from top management.

Probabilty of failing Six Sigma:

• Resisstance
• Fear of change
• Lack of understandings
• Internal sabotage
• CAVE people (Citizen Against Virtually Everything)

Even J.Juran criticised Six Sigma in his book ' J.Juran : A lifetime of Quality 'as "a basic version of quality improvement", stating that "there is nothing new there."

Reference:
1)Wikipedia
2)Six Sigma: The breakthrough byHarry,Schroeder.

3)What is Six Sigma? : by Pande and Holpp (Secondary texts for ACCA P3) (I recommend it)

3) A little bit of Idiots : Six Sigma.( but It doesnt have much information that I desired)

McKinsey & Co 7's

What is McKinsey 7's framework?
It is described as a management model of 7 factors to organise a company in a holistic and efficient way. Together, these factors determine the way in which a corporation operates.
Management should take all 7 factors to ensure successful implementation of a strategy.
It was first made public in Athos and Pascale's 'The Art of Japanese Management' and made even more famous in Peters and Waterman's 80s classic 'In Search of Excellence'.

Originally developed as a way of thinking more broadly about the problems of organizing effectively, the 7-S framework provides a tool for judging the "doability" of strategies.
This is the McKinsey '7S framework' of business that have been used at the McKinsey consulting company:
Hard' variables:(easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems).
- Strategy: plan leading to allocation of resources.
- Structure: organization reporting lines, geography, etc.
- Systems: formal and informal processes used.

Soft' variables:(on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful).
- Staff: demographics of personnel.
- Style: behavior of managers when interacting with others.
- Skills: core competencies of the firm.
- Shared value: culture, which is actually the core element to it all.

Strategy: the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition. Plan leading to allocation of resources which a set of actions that you start with and must maintain.

Structure: the way the organization is structured and who reports to whom, i.e how people and tasks / work are organised and organization reporting lines.The ways in which people are organized, tasks are coordinated.

Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done,in other word all the processes and information flows that link the organisation together.

Shared Values: called “superordinate goals” when the model was first developed, these are the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic. They Longer-term vision, and all that values stuff, that shapes the destiny of the organisation, or the normal saying "big stuff that drives the company forward".

Style: the style of leadership adopted, so called behavior of managers when interacting with others.

Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.Its also involves how you develop managers (current and future).Concerns on demographics of personnel.

Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the employees exists or working for the company. Where the core competencies of the firm is captured.

The 7S model can be used in a wide variety of situations where an alignment perspective is useful, for example to help you:
- Improve the performance of a company;
- Examine the likely effects of future changes within a company;
- Align departments and processes during a merger or acquisition; or
- Determine how best to implement a proposed strategy.

In change processes, many organizations focus their efforts on the hard S’s, Strategy, Structure and Systems. They care less for the soft S’s, Skills, Staff, Style and Shared Values. Peters and Waterman in “In Search of Excellence” commented however, that most successful companies work hard at these soft S’s. The soft factors can make or break a successful change process, since new structures and strategies are difficult to build upon inappropriate cultures and values. These problems often come up in the dissatisfying results of spectacular mega-mergers.
The 7-S Model is a valuable tool to initiate change processes and to give them direction. A helpful application is to determine the current state of each element and to compare this with the ideal state. Based in this it is possible to develop action plans to achieve the intended state.

The McKinsey 7Ss model is one that can be applied to almost any organizational or team effectiveness issue. If something within your organization or team isn’t working, chances are there is inconsistency between some of the elements identified by this classic model. Once these inconsistencies are revealed, you can work to align the internal elements to make sure they are all contributing to the shared goals and values.

Reference:
*Organizational Alignment: The 7-S Model, Harvard Business School Note, Bradach Jeffrey.
*Peters, T., Waterman, R. (1982) “In Search of Excellence”.
Strategic Management Concepts by Michael A Hitt R. Duane Ireland , Robert E. Hoskisson (2006 version).

Porter's Model - Value Chain, Generic strategies, 5 Forces.

Micheal Porter Value Chain
The term ‘Value Chain’ was used by Michael Porter in his book "Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining superior Performance" (1985), for identifying ways to create more customer value.
(a)Value activity describes the activities within and around an organization, and relates them to an analysis of the competitive strength of the organization. Therefore, it evaluates which value each particular activity adds to the organizations products or services.

(b)Primary activities- Primary activities are directly concerned with the creation or delivery of a product or service. They can be grouped into five main areas: inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service.

Support activities - support activities which help to improve their effectiveness or efficiency in those Primary activities. There are four main areas of support activities: procurement, technology development (including R&D), human resource management, and infrastructure.
Any or all of these primary activities are vital in developing a competitive advantage.

(c) Inbound logistics: Refers to goods being obtained from the organisations suppliers ready to be used for producing the end product.

Operations – Value creating activities that transform the input into final product.

Outbound logistics – Activities required to get the finished product to the customer, including warehousing, order fulfillment, etc

Marketing and Sales – Activities that associates with getting buyers to purchase the product, including channel selection, advertising, pricing, etc.

Services – Activities that maintain and enhance product value, including customer support, repair service, etc.

Procurement – process for acquiring the various resource inputs to the primarily activities.

Technology development – Development of machines, computers, processes and system expertise of staff.

Human resource – Activities to train develop and provide remuneration, recruiting staff.

Infrastructure – Maintenance of the general infrastructures of the organization including management, finance and planning.

Porters’ value chain is very important from view of developing on info. system/IT strategy, because the value chain framework helps to build a relative competitive advantages in terms of software in which each of organization are using. It also can be seen as one of two dimension in maximizing corporate value creation when dealing with customers.
This model can be used to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of resource use within each activity in the chain.
Efficiency is to measure of how well resources are being used.
Effectiveness relates to how well resources are being allocated to those activities.

Porter's Generic Strategies

Porter’s proposes 3 generic strategies for achieving competitive advantage;
cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.

Cost leadership – refers to the strategy of operating at a lower cost level than competitors and therefore being able to offer better value for money to customers. Cost leadership is most appropriate when a price or value for money is the most important factors in the buying decision. To achieve this strategy, economies of scale or exclusive use of a particular technology. Thus, increase market share.Each generic strategy has its risks, including the low-cost strategy. For example, other firms may be able to lower their costs as well. As technology improves, the competition may be able to leapfrog the production capabilities, thus eliminating the competitive advantage. Additionally, several firms following a focus strategy and targeting various narrow markets may be able to achieve an even lower cost within their segments and as a group gain
significant market share.

Differentiation – refers to a seeking a competitive advantage by doing something different to competitors. The “something” could be a different way of doing business. The value added by the uniqueness of the product may allow the firm to charge a premium price for it. The firm hopes that the higher price will more than cover the extra costs incurred in offering the unique product.Hence; increase profit margin, increase bargaining power of supplier, and strength of strong sales team with the ability to successfully communicate the perceived strengths of the product.The risks associated with a differentiation strategy include imitation by competitors and changes in customer tastes. Additionally, various firms pursuing focus strategies may be able to achieve even greater differentiation in their market segments.

Focus – focus strategy concentrates on a narrow segment and within that segment attempts to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation. A firm using a focus strategy often enjoys a high degree of customer loyalty, and this entrenched loyalty discourages other firms from competing directly.involves a restriction of activities to only part of the market (a segment or niche) through:
a)Providing goods and/or services at lower cost to that segment ( cost-focus)
b)Providing a differentiated product or service to that segment (differentiation-focus)

A Combination of Generic Strategies - Stuck in the Middle?
Michael Porter argued that to be successful over the long-term, a firm must select only one of these three generic strategies. Otherwise, with more than one single generic strategy the
firm will be "stuck in the middle" and will not achieve a competitive advantage.Porter argued that firms that are able to succeed at multiple strategies often do so by creating separate business units for each strategy. By separating the strategies into different units having different policies and even different cultures, a corporation is less likely to become "stuck in the middle."

Porter's 5 Forces

Michael Porter's 1979 framework uses concepts developed in Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive 5 forces that determine the attractiveness of a market. They consist of those forces close to a company that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. A change in any of the forces normally requires a company to re-assess the marketplace.
Porter explains that there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run industry profitability. These five "competitive forces" are:
-The threat of entry of new competitors (new entrants)
-The threat of substitutes
-The bargaining power of buyers
-The bargaining power of suppliers
-The degree of rivalry between existing competitors

The threat of New Entrants
New entrants to an industry can raise the level of competition, thereby reducing its attractiveness. The threat of new entrants largely depends on the barriers to entry. High entry barriers exist in some industries (e.g. shipbuilding) whereas other industries are very easy to enter (e.g. estate agency, restaurants). Key barriers to entry include:
-Economies of scale
-Capital / investment requirements
-Customer switching costs
-Access to industry distribution channels
-The likelihood of retaliation from existing industry players

Threats of Substitutes
The presence of substitute products can lower industry attractiveness and profitability
because they limit price levels. The threat of substitute products depends on
- Buyer' willingness to substitute;
- The relative price and performance of substitutes;
- The costs of switching to substitutes.

Bargaining Power of suppliers.
Suppliers are the businesses that supply material and other products into the industry.
The cost of item bought from suppliers can have a significant impact on company profitability. If suppliers have high bargaining power over a company, then in theory the company is less attractive. The bargaining power of suppliers will be high when:
- There are many buyers and few dominant suppliers
- There are undifferentiated, highly valued products
- Suppliers threaten to integrate forward into the industry
- Buyers do not threaten to integrate backwards into supply

Bargaining Power of Buyers.
Buyers are the people / organization who create demand in an industry.The bargaining power of buyers is greater when
- There are few dominant buyers and many seller in the industry
- Products are standardized
- Buyers threaten to integrate backward into the industry
- Suppliers do not threaten to integrate forward into the industry

Intensity of Rivalry.
The intensity of rivalry between competitors in an industry will depend on :
- The structure of competition- e.g. rivalry is more intense where there are many small or
equally sized competitors; rivalry is less when an industry has a clear market leader.
- The structure of industry costs- e.g. industry with high fixed costs encourage
Competitors to fill unused capacity by price cutting.
- Switching cost- rivalry is reduced where buyers have high switching costs. E.g. there is a
significant cost to buy from an alternative supplier
- Exit barriers- when barriers to leaving an industry are high (cost of closing down) then
competitors tend to exhibit greater rivalry.

Reference :
Porter, Michael E., Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors.

Some assistance that might help..

I came across through my lecturer site,where he post an article regarding the American universities are light years in advance of the Malaysian universities when it comes to being emphatic of student situation. So here are some strategies that might help we as a student, an exam candidate and hopefully to reach our objectives..to finish ACCA.
This http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/class/mkg_grd/memory.html refers to memory technique,where it apply to most of our studies..

Individual learning process

Individual learning process, a topic that is "pending" to examine the candidates for Paper 5 of the CAT. It migh be the focus for some students for this June 2007 exam. Probability of coming out,well let us put under our emphasis area.
To start out, this learning process points out at workplace or in the organisation. So, what is "learning organisation"? First the concept of learning of the organisation impacts on the effectiveness of both organisational and individual learning.
The term learning organisation has been defined (by the person who develop this concept Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell) as 'an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself '. The purpose of these processes is to create an organisational structure and culture which is capable of adapting and developing to the changing of the organisation.
The Key dimension of the learing organisation are: the generation and transfer of knowledge; a tolerance for risk and failure as learning opportunities; and a systematic, on going, collective and scientific approach to problem solving.

* FOUR characteristics of the learning organisation
(i) Experimentation. Learning organisations systematically search for and test new knowledge. Innovation is encouraged, with a tolerance for risk.Continuous improvement programmes ( kaizen) characterise the attitude to quality

(ii) Learning form past experience. Learning based on their review of success and failures, assess them systematically and seek lessons which can be learned. These lessons are then communicated in a way that is accessible to all employee.

(iii) Learning from others. Organisation encourage employees to seek information and learning opportunities outside the organisation (outside the box) as well as inside. Benchmarking is a key process.

(iv) Transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently through the organisation. Information is made available at all levels and across functional boundaries. Education and training opportunities are offered on an on-going basis.

However,there always be the barrier to learning..well,according to Peter senge( the director of the center for Organisational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management) in his book (1990), lists seven sources of learning disability or barriers to learning in organisation, including the following.

(i) " i am my position". Individuals focuse on the tasks they perform rather than the purposes they fulfil, or what their job is for. this creates a barrier to learning because it inhibits people from thinking 'outside the box', making connections and attributing meaning to their work.

(ii) " The enemy is out there". Individuals shift the blame for problems and failures to someone or something else, rather than taking responsibility for the problem-solving. This inhibits people from learning from their mistakes.

(iii) " The illusion of taking charge". Individuals feels the need to do something about a situation, and it is easier to respond reactively by fighting the supposed 'enemy' than to respond proactively by seeking or creating solutions to the problem.This inhibits people from seeking fresh information and possibilities.

(iv) " The fixation on events". Organisation culture and processes are dominated by past and current events rather that longer term patterns of change. This is a barrier to learning as it inhibits people from thinking creatively and identifying learning opportunities.

(v) "The parable of the boiled frog". Individuals and organisations fail to perceive and repsond to gradually- building threats tp their survival: They only notice sudden, drastic changes, to which they respond in crisis. This is a barrier in learning, because it filters out a range of learning information and opportunities which would enable evolutionary adaptation.

Others that considered, lack of reinforcement (encouragement, rewards) for learning, lack of information for learning, lack of tolerance for experimentation, irrelevance of training to learning needs.

Student also should bear in mind, to suggest appropriate ways in which the organisation can
motivate individuals to learn.

Training and Development

This Topic has been tested by the examiner last round (December 2006)in question 4. Chances of the same question and topic to expect in June 2007,is a very,very slim..nonetheless, candidates should have the relevant knowledge.
In the issue of Training strategy, some of the advantanges to both (i) organisation , and (ii) individual, might be:
In the context of

• Organisation:-

-Increased skills, knowledge and competence for enhanced job performance; higher productivity ; and greater efficiency.

-Better health and safety ; fewer accidents with asscociated costs.

-Greater awareness of quality issues and harnessing of employee ideas for improvement, for competitive advantage.

-Continuous improvement of skills base, which helps the organisation compete and adapt future requirements.

-Enhanced 'employer brand' to attract quality labour.

-Long term, a more cost-effective method of acquiring necessary competencies than through recruitment.

-Foundation for a culture of continuous improvement: learning organisation.

• and in the context of (ii) Individual

-Opportunities for job enlargement(variety) or enrichment(empowerment); more responsibility.

-Opportunities for promotion or career development.

-Opportunities for increased performance-related rewards.

-Opportunities to extend own interest; abilities and social contacts.

-Security and self esteem: perception that organisation values and invests in people.

-"Knock-on" effects of training need analysis and programmes: improved work methods, new technology, and of course team working.

-Opportunites to contribute at a more meaningful level to organisational objectives: job satisfaction.

Other issues that you might consider within this syllabus is able to Distinguish between both training and development where:

* Development refers to the growth or realisation of a persons' ability and potential through the provision of learning and educational experience.

* Training is the planned and systematic behaviour through learning events, programmes which enable individuals achieve the level of knowledge.

Overall purpose of employee and management development is

a) To ensure firms meets current and future performance by;

b)Continuous improvements of performance individual and teams to;

c)Maximising people potential for growth.

e.g of development activities includes; Training both on&off job, career planning, Job rotation, Appraisal, education and guidance.

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Dorming

This article is relevant to those who are taking Paper 5 of the CAT. It is under the the heading of Team Management,where the question relates to explain the stages in the development of a team using Tuckman’s "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Dorming".

Bruce W. Tuckman produced one of the most quoted models of group development in the 1960s.While there are various differences concerning the number of stages and their names - many have adopted a version of Tuckman's model - forming, storming, norming and performing. He was later to add a fifth stage - adjourning (Tuckman and Jensen 1977). To begin we will look at his original formulation.All groups go through a series of stages of development before performing in a fully mature and effective manner and a team develops from individuals through a series of stages in accordance with the shared experiences of its members. He identified four stages of team development that have been adopted by other researchers. There are:

Forming

-The group is not yet a group, simply a collection of individuals. At this stage, the purpose of the group is discussed along with its title, composition, leadership and life-span. Individuals will be keen to establish their personal identities in the group and make some impression on others. Important mechanisms include developing trust, finding similarities, and norms.Team members become acquainted with each other, information is exchanged. They determine each team member's strengths and assign roles and responsibilities.

Storming

-Most groups go through a stage of conflict following the initial, often false, consensus. Purpose, leadership, roles and norms may all be challenged. Hidden agendas may be revealed, and some interpersonal hostility is to be expected. This stage is particularly important to the formation of trust within the group even though it is characterised by dissatisfaction, competition, conflict , fight, counterdependency.

Norming

The group establishes norms and patterns of work within which it functions. A group consensus emerges, it comes to an agreement on its purpose or function.Resistance is overcome, Members are clear what their roles and responsibilities are. The group has a sense of identity and members strive to work together.

Performing

Only when the previous three stages have been successfully completed will the group reach optimum performance level. Achievement orientation, productivity, group structure, norms, are understood and accepted, members know how to work with each other and become supportive of task performance They can handle disagreements and misunderstandings effectively.

Dorming/Adjourning

- A new "dorming" stage as the group gets complacent or"adjourning" as the group successfully reaches its goal and completes its work and the progress become static.This is the dangerous stage, the team has become complacent and lost interest, its sole concern is self preservation.

As a conclusion,Bruce W. Tuckman's model of the developmental sequence in small groups has rightly been adopted as a helpful starting point about possible stages or phases within different small groups.

**Note:

i would like to raise some issue here,regarding Tuckman and Belbin model, because students often confuse Tuckman’s interesting ideas on teams with those of Belbin. The difference is quite clear; Tuckman deals with the process of formation, whilst Belbin describes the roles undertaken once the team has formed and is working.

Further reading and bibliography:-

www.accountantcy.com.pk

Tuckman, Bruce W. (1965) 'Developmental sequence in small groups', Psychological .

Tuckman, Bruce W. (1988; 1998) The Long Road to Boston, Tallahassee, FL: Cedarwinds Publishing.

Motivation

i would like to post several notes and resources that candidate for paper 5 of CAT should (supposely)know :)

• We can distinguish between content and process theories of motivation. Whereas content theories ask the question 'what are the things that motivate people?'


• Maslow determined the innate needs of all individuals, arranged in hierarchy, starting at bottom with physiological needs and progressing to the top with self-actualisation needs. Each level need within the hierarchy is dominant until it is satisfied.


• Herzberg devised a two-factor theory of motivation.The need to avoid unpleasantness emphasises hygiene factors, while the need for personal growth encourages motivator factors. two example of each type of factor. Hygiene=working conditions Motivator=status


• Expectancy model equation Expectancy x Valence = Force of motivation


• Motivation is chiefly important for managers because it is all about getting extra level of commitment from employees. It can be either positive(offer of rewards) or negative (threats of dismissal)


• Job satisfaction is an example of an intrinsic reward. Wage or salary is an extrinsic reward. The key difference between the different types of reward is the level of control that the individual has cover them.


• The issue of job design derives from the theory that it is job satisfaction that drives motivation.Herzberg suggested three ways of improving job design to make job more interesting to the employee. --> Job enrichment, Job enlargement, Job rotation


• Leadership and management require different actions and different mindsets.Leadership entails creating a sense of direction Communicating the vision and Energising, inspiring and motivating.


• According to Blake & Mouton, a manager's concern for people must be matched by concern for ensuring the task is achieved. These concerns can be plotted on the Managerial Grid.

Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

-Is a popular framework for thinking about a leader’s ‘task versus person’ orientation was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial Grid, or Leadership Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and identifies five combinations as distinct leadership styles.

Understanding the Model
The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:
Concern for People – This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task
Concern for Production – This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task.
Using the axis to plot leadership ‘concerns for production’ versus ‘concerns for people’, Blake and Mouton defined the following five leadership styles:

Country Club Leadership – High People/Low Production.This style of leader is most concerned about the needs and feelings of members of his/her team. These people operate under the assumption that as long as team members are happy and secure then they will work hard.

Produce or Perish Leadership – High Production/Low PeopleAlso known as Authoritarian or Compliance Leaders, people in this category believe that employees are simply a means to an end. This type of leader is very autocratic, has strict work rules, policies, and procedures, and views punishment as the most effective means to motivate employees.

Impoverished Leadership – Low Production/ Low People. This leader is mostly ineffective. He/she has neither a high regard for creating systems for getting the job done, nor for creating a work environment that is satisfying and motivating.

Middle-of-the-Road Leadership – Medium Production/Medium People.This style seems to be a balance of the two competing concerns. It may at first appear to be an ideal compromise. When you compromise, you necessarily give away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people needs are fully met. Leaders who use this style settle for average performance and often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.

Team Leadership – High Production/High PeopleAccording to the Blake Mouton model, this is the pinnacle of managerial style. These leaders stress production needs and the needs of the people equally highly. This creates a team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and motivation and, as a result, high production.

Key Points
The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is a practical and useful framework that helps you think about your leadership style. By plotting ‘concern for production’ against ‘concern for people’, the grid highlights how placing too much emphasis in one area at the expense of the other leads to low overall productivity.
While the grid does not entirely address the complexity of “Which leadership style is best?”, it certainly provides an excellent starting place to critically analyze your own performance and improve your general leadership skills.

appreciation to: mindtool.com and Professional Education

Effective leadership, management and supervision

Here,i will post down some of the summarised Q&A regarding Effective leadership, management and supervision which is relevant to CAT T5 Managing people and systems.As stated in the syllabus and study guide under the heading of management theory,principles and techniques which consists of 4 topics including the matters above,plus individual and group behaviour, team management, Motivation, concepts and models.As Dr Beverley Lee the examiner already tested theories of motivation of Abraham Maslow last sitting(Dec 06 Q.3),There is a low risk for such question to appear again until a few coming exam sitting,and of course the exam review taken place pin point that it was agreed by the majority that the questions overall in paper 5 were well structured and clear, achieving good syllabus coverage. The examiner also asked the student in June 2006 sitting Q.3 about "Robert Blake and Jane mouton" managerial grid,this question caught candidate by surprise,nevertheless; majority of them well answered.In December 2005,Q.3 on Delegation, examiner reports this question produced some excellent answers and was clearly a part of the syllabus with which many students were very familiar, both in terms of specific knowledge gained from course material texts and also from their own personal experiences.To make it interesting,till now,all question regarding this part of study guide appears in Question 3. Following are Q&A which some of it taken from past year paper relevant to P5 and other sources of External Q's that is in the context of P5.

1) Henry Mintzberg
Q: (a) Briefly describe Mintzberg view of the process of Management.
A: Mintzberg carried out research into how managers actually do their work.He found that:

-Managers do not spend scheduled period of time analysing formal reports and planning event.

- Managerial work includes routine duties, especially related to authority (i.e signing cheques)

- Managers prefer verbal and informal information to the formal output of management information systems.

-General management is a matter of judgement and intuition, gained from experience in particular situation.

Q:(b)From Mintzberg research, describe the three roles which management appears to fulfill.
A: 1) Interpersonal roles identified with leadership and arise from the manager formal authority within the organisation.They include the roles of:
Figurehead: a role which manager is identified with the organisation and its objectives, both internally and in the business environment.
Leader: manager is responsible for integrating individual and organisational objectives,motivation.
Liaison: manager is responsible for establishing and maintaning a networl of relationship within and outside the organisation.
2) Informational roles identified with administration and arise from managerial access to employees and contacts outside the organisation.They include the roles of:
Monitor: manager scans the environment,gather information.
Disseminator: manager spreads relevant information to those who require it.
Spokesperson: manager provides information to interested parties on behalf of organisation.
3) Decisional roles identified with problem-solving arise from the manager's formal authority and access information. These roles include:
Enterpreneur: managers mobilises information to initiate projects.
Disturbance handler: manager respond to unanticipated events.
Resource allocator: manager distributes the finite resources of department
Negotiator: manager negotiates for and with departmental resources.

** 2) Mintzberg research compare to Henri Fayol:-
Mintzberg saw his research in opposition to the work of classical theorists such as Fayol, writing that: "classical view says that the manager organises, co-ordinates, plans and controls". The main ways in which Mintzberg's work differs from classical writers' work as as:

-Mintzberg noted that traditional approaches to management education and training focus on classical assumptions, rather than encouraging active learning by experience.

-Fayol's classification of the functions of management does not explicitly include 'communicating':communication is rather,built through reporting channels embodied in the scalar chain of command. Mintzberg recognised a mangerial for informal, primarily verbal, communication and wider and environmental scanning.

-Mintzberg recognises that managerial work is reactive as well as proactive responding to incoming information, available resources and unplanned events. This is far more entrepreneurial model that the classic view of the manager within a functionally specialised, essentially bureaucratic organisation structure.

3) Charles Handy
a)(Q) Charles Handy’s classification identifies four distinct cultural types. Identify these four types and fully explain any two of these.

(A)The power/club culture, the role culture, the task culture, and the person culture.

1) The power/club culture is dependent on a central power source which controls the organisation. The organisation relies on interpersonal relationships and communications rather than hierarchy and power structures. It is typically found in small entrepreneurial firms, small family firms and small businesses controlled by the owner/manager. As the organisation increases in size this culture is less evident as influence cease to reach all members of the organisation.

2) The person culture exists to serve the individuals within the organisation and is one of the most unusual in Handy’s typology. All rules and procedures within the organisation exist to meet the needs of the individuals within it and can be changed as those needs change. A good example of a person culture would be that which might exist in a small professional business e.g. solicitors’ or dentists’ partnerships.

Business Information Management

1) SWOT Analysis
A SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business environment or in any other situation requiring a decision.
The required first step in SWOT analysis is the definition of the desired end state or objective. Once the objective has been identified, SWOTs are discovered and listed. SWOTs are defined precisely as follows:

• Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful to the achievement of the objective.
  what advantages does your company have?
  What do you do better than anyone else?
  What unique or lowest-cost resources do you have access to?
  What do people in your market see as your strengths?
  


• Weaknesses are attributes of the organization that are harmful to the achievement of the objective.
  What could you improve?
  What should you avoid?
  What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
  


• Opportunities are external conditions that are helpful to the achievement of the objective.
  Where are the good opportunities facing you?
  What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
  


• Threats are external conditions that are harmful to the achievement of the objective.
  What obstacles do you face?
  What is your competition doing?
  Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
  Is changing technology threatening your position?
  Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
  Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

- SWOT groups some of the key pieces of information into two main categories (internal factors and external factors) and then by their dual positive and negative aspects.Internal factors - The 'strengths' and 'weaknesses' internal to the organization, its strategies and its position in relation to its competitors.External factors - The 'opportunities' and 'threats' presented by the external environment and the competition.

• -SWOT analysis Framework
  In SWOT, strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example:
  


• a) A strength could be:
  Patents.
  Strong brand names
  Good reputation among customers
  quality processes and procedures
  Exclusive to high grade natural resources.
  
  b) A weakness could be:
  lack of marketing expertise
  A weak brand name
  Lack of patent proctection
  poor quality goods or services
  damaged reputation
  


• c) In SWOT, opportunities and threats are external factors. For example: An opportunity could be:
  arrival of new technologies.
  mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances
  moving into new market segments that offer improved profits
  a new international market
  a market vacated by an ineffective competitor.
  

d) A threat could be:
a new competitor in your home market
price wars with competitors
a competitor has a new, innovative product or service
competitors have superior access to channels of distribution
taxation is introduced on your product or service.

• - The SWOT matrix.
  All the best management models have four quadrants, and the SWOT matrix is no exception. You use each of the four quadrants in turn to analyze where you are now, where you want to be, and then make an action plan to get there.
  

2) BCG MATRIX

The Boston matrix model is a tool for assessing existing and development products in terms of their market potential, and thereby implying strategic action for products and services in each category.° Stars: a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry.
Stars may generate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they
investment to maintain their lead.If successful, a star will become a Cash Cow
when its industry matures.

° Cash Cows: a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow
growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that
can be used to invest in other business units.

° Dog: a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry. A dog
may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be
deployed elsewhere. Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should
be liquidated if there is little prospect for it to gain market share.

° Question Marks(or problem child): a business unit that has a small market
share in a high growth market. These business unit require resources to grow
market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown.

Criticism of BCG matrix:
- The link between market share and profitability is questionable since increasing market share can be very expensive.
- There can be practical difficulties in determining what exactly ‘high’ and
‘low’ (growth and share) can mean in a particular situation. .
-The focus upon high market growth can lead to the profit potential of
declining markets being ignored. -The matrix assumes that each SBU is independent. This is not always the case, as organisations often take advantage of potential synergies.

Image:from netmba.com

3) Parson’s six generic strategies

• IT strategies provided by Parson(1983),describes Six strategies in terms of general framework which guide the opportunities for IT which are identified, and the IT resources which are developed. Parson’s approach provides greater detail and coverage.
  
• 1) Centrally planned – In a centrally planned IT strategy firms has attempts to integrate its corporate strategy and its information system strategy. The firm will focused on integrated systems so that maximum utilization is made of computer processing power. A central planned will used a top down planning approach.
• 2) Leading edge – This IT strategy implies that the firm continuously updates its hardware and software with the latest developments available in the market. In such a strategy, state of the technology is continually acquired. Experimentation is encouraged in the hope that discoveries will be lead to superior performance and sustainable competitive advantage.
• 3) Free market – A free market IT strategy assumes that the user is best qualified to determine his/her own needs. In such circumstances, the user is entitled to acquired hardware,software and service either from IT department or from any outside vendor.
• 4) Monopoly – Monopoly IT strategy rests on the premise that there should be one single source of computer service in the organization. To ensure the succession of monopoly strategy is the satisfaction of the user.
• 5) Scarce resource – Scarce resource IT strategies relies on the intensive control of money being spent on the IT department.Very strict budget are set up,and often not permitted to exceed the amounts laid down. This strategy is based on the concept that the administration is an unproductive costs, Hence management must minimize all expenditure in this direction.
• 6) Necessary evil – Necessarily evil IT Strategy is based on the belief that the use of computer should be curtained as much as possible. Only application that cannot be performed without the use of a computer and which are very well cost justified are entertained. A minimum amount is spent on hardware, software and people.

4) GAP ANALYSIS.
- Gap analysis technique is a set of techniques used to examine and describe the gap between current performance and desired future goals, and investigates the ways in which the gap might be closed. Such analysis can be performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization. The gaps can include:

• a) The difference between the organisation’s current operation of an activity and the activity vision, sometimes referred to as "C delta V" (current gap vision);
  b) Considering strategies to close gap, so that a strategic plan can be devised for achieving the organisation’s target.
  - A variety of gaps can be analyzed which includes, a profit gap, a performance-risk gap, and in the case of information systems, an information system gap.
  They are various stages involved when conducting a gap analysis.
  
• ° The Initial stage normally requires information needs assessment ; where users identify their requirements.
  
• ° The second stage requires Information analysis, identifying where and if these user needs can be currently met.
  
• ° The final stage is the gap analysis where the information provision is compared to information needs and any gaps identified.
  
  - Gap analysis can be adopted at a system level or at an organization level. i.e used in the analysis of an organization requirement of IS
  - Gap analysis is used as a tool to identify situations in which the organization IS appear not to meet either current or predicted requirements from a view of business strategy.
  After identified a gap between a business strategy, the next stage is to close the gap. An alternative approach is to use the W’s framework. It can be shown as a 3 stage process ;
  · Where We Are » First stage
  · Where We Want To Be » Second stage
  · Going To Get There » Third stage
• Gap analysis provides a foundation for measuring investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome (e.g. to turn the salary payment process from paper based to paperless with the use of a system).
• Action may be taken to close the IS gap
  º a program of updating and enhancing the current system
  º Outsource or purchase package software
  º Implementation of a data warehouse and data mining
  º Decision to decentralized the IS function
  Any of these option may provide the opportunity to take advantage of emerging technologies.

5) THE SCORING MODEL
◙ Uses a system of ratings for selected objectives to choose between alternative applications or systems. Scoring models rely heavily on quantitative assessment or fit of the system with the overall evaluative criteria.
◙ Used mainly to confirms, rationalize and support decisions rather than as the final arbiters of the system selection. ◙ Relevant consideration (determining the best fit) with existing system has to be taken.It will need to integrate directly or indirectly with other systems used in the firm. It should also fit with organization strategy, culture and current systems.

6) NOLAN STAGE HYPOTHESIS
◙ Nolan’s model attempts to explain how the role and importance of IS/IT
within an organization and the level of expenditure of IS/IT, may increase
over time. The model lists six stages:

□ Initiation involves the automation of clerical operations and
the initial use of technology by technically employees. The
first introduction of computers for cost savings

□ Contagion involves rapid growth in the use of IS/IT as user
become more familiar with new technology and the benefit
of using technology are seen by more staff. At this stage
many island of automation will develop.

□ Control stage involves the introduction of planning and
methodologies to justify control over IS/IT use; others
may be applications concentrate on saving money rather
making money.

□ Integration of functions within an organization allowing
the development and use of systems spread across an
organization. It also sees the increased involvement of
users in the development process.

□ Data administration organization realizes that the
information it has is a key resources. Corporate
databases, intranet and extranets are created.

□ Maturity stage is reached, IS/IT strategy is seen as part of the
overall business planning and development process. IS/IT is seen
as inherent to operations, not separate; used in the battle of
competitive advantage.

-It can argued that Nolan’s model was more relevant in the early days of
computing, which in some organization , the role of IS/IT developed as described by Nolan’s stages.
-Nolan’s model focuses on an individual organization and how the IS/IT
may increase in importance over time.
-Value of the stage hypothesis is that managers might be able to make sense of IS/IT current position in the organization and where it might be headed, also it suggests remedies which IS/IT managers can prescribe to correct any problems.

7) David Kolb's learning styles model and experiential learning theory (ELT).

David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984. The model gave rise to related terms such as Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT), and Kolb's learning styles inventory (LSI). Kolb's learning theory sets out four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage learning cycle.

Kolb's model therefore works on two levels - a four-stage cycle:

• Concrete Experience - (CE)
  
• Reflective Observation - (RO)
  
• Abstract Conceptualization - (AC)
  
• Active Experimentation - (AE)

Kolb explains that different people naturally prefer a certain single different learning style. Various factors influence a person's preferred style: notably in his experiential learning theory model (ELT) Kolb defined three stages of a person's development, and suggests that our propensity to reconcile and successfully integrate the four different learning styles improves as we mature through our development stages.A typical presentation of Kolb's two continuums is that the east-west axis is called the Processing Continuum (how we approach a task), and the north-south axis is called the Perception Continuum (our emotional response, or how we think or feel about it).
These learning styles are the combination of two lines of axis (continuums) each formed between what Kolb calls 'dialectally related modes' of 'grasping experience' (doing or watching), and 'transforming experience' (feeling or thinking)

Here are brief descriptions of the four Kolb learning styles:

• Diverging (feeling and watching - CE/RO) - These people are able to look at things from different perspectives. They are sensitive. They prefer to watch rather than do, tending to gather information and use imagination to solve problems. They are best at viewing concrete situations several different viewpoints. Kolb called this style 'Diverging' because these people perform better in situations that require ideas-generation, for example, brainstorming.
• Assimilating (watching and thinking - AC/RO) - The Assimilating learning preference is for a concise, logical approach. Ideas and concepts are more important than people. These people require good clear explanation rather than practical opportunity. They excel at understanding wide-ranging information and organising it a clear logical format. People with an Assimilating learning style are less focused on people and more interested in ideas and abstract concepts.
• Converging (doing and thinking - AC/AE) - People with a Converging learning style can solve problems and will use their learning to find solutions to practical issues. They prefer technical tasks, and are less concerned with people and interpersonal aspects. People with a Converging learning style are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories. They can solve problems and make decisions by finding solutions to questions and problems.
• Accommodating (doing and feeling - CE/AE) - The Accommodating learning style is 'hands-on', and relies on intuition rather than logic. These people use other people's analysis, and prefer to take a practical, experiential approach. They are attracted to new challenges and experiences, and to carrying out plans. They commonly act on 'gut' instinct rather than logical analysis.

For full list of information refer to http://www.businessballs.com/

Managing People and Sytems

As you should know by now, that Dr Beverley Lee is examiner for this Paper 5. I have done extensive coverage about this paper, and discover that it combines a number of themes including: issues of organisation structure and design, environmental influences, office and accounting systems and practice (including some IT aspects), internal control and internal audit, management, leadership, teams, learning theory, health, safety, and security.Probably the problem that student might face here is the internal control and internal audit which is note to paper 8,however, the syllabus here does not require student to know a detail procedure,what a relief!nonetheless,it is very much a hybrid paper and covers a very broad syllabus.The first title when student start learning this paper is that you must understand the paper are: ‘To develop a knowledge and understanding of the role of the manager in an effective, efficient, safe and secure accounting environment.’ This includes the coordination of work activities, the maintenance of an effective accounting system, people management, personal effectiveness and health and safety issues within the workplace.But warning,to those textbookholics, rote learning material from study guides and textbooks is unlikely to equip you with adequate information to be able to pass this paper..the best way is understand the situation,apply and best recommendation is pratice and pratice past year questions,but not memorising each questions and answers,in fact; learn how examiner approach to questions, and construct the answers.
Syllabus provided is there are five key syllabus areas and all areas are equally important. You can expect to be examined in each of the five areas. The five areas are:
1)the business and accounting environment
2)effective management of business and accounting systems
3)management theory, principles and techniques
4)individual effectiveness at work
5)health, safety and security in the working environment.
but the examiner higlights that he may be examined on security issues associated with data management and protection and you may be examined on the role of IT in effective organisational communications etc. The key theme is that IT can be seen as an enabler in organisations and he may examine it in this context. but note that – he will not be examining any of the technical aspects.