BTEC national diploma in business 2013-2014 Essay

|Unit Title: Managing Business Information |Unit Code: 26 | |Lecturer: Gaye Snook | | | |Assignment Title: Managing Business Information | |Assignment: 1 | | | |Principle Objectives Assessed: | |1 Understand the importance of information to organisations | |2 Know how organisations use business information | |3 Be able to maintain an information system | |4 Be able to produce information to support decision making in organisations. | | | |Key Skills Competence: | |N3.1,3.2,3.3 | |C3.1a, 3.1b, 3.2, 3.3 | |ICT3.1, 3.2, 3.3 | |Date Set: September 2013 |Date Due: December 2013 | | | |Scenario – You are responsible for the information management with The Box Company a company manufacturing storage boxes. You are asked to | |firstly write a report about the effective management of information. You are also asked to carry out practical tasks for information | |management and to report and present the findings of you information interrogation. | | | |Task 1 | | | |Write a report following an investigation of The Box Company, covering the following points | | | |Describe the characteristics of the information that The Box Company needs | |(this addresses P1) | | | |Characteristics: types of information (qualitative, quantitative, primary, secondary); quality of information (valid, complete, accurate, | |timely, fit-for-purpose, accessible, cost-effective, intelligible) | | | | Explain the sources of information needed in The Box Company | |(this address P2) | | | |Sources: internal (financial, HR, marketing, purchasing, sales, manufacturing, etc); external (government, trade groupings, commercially | |provided, databases, research, competitor information) | | | |Describe how information is used for three different purposes in The Box Company (this addresses P3) | | | |Purposes: record transactions and activities; monitor, control, co-ordinate and plan activities; analysis (patterns, trends); prediction | |(extrapolation, what if?) | |Describe the legal and ethical issues the organisation must consider in using business information | |(this addresses P4) | | | | Data Protection Act 1998, Computer Misuse Act 1990; ethical issues (privacy, access, organisational IT protocols, codes of practice from the | |Information Commissioner’s Office(ICO) and the British Computer Society (BCS) | | | |Explain why business information is important to the success of an organisation, giving several examples of how it is used to help decision | |making | |(this addresses M1) | | | |Decision making (operational, tactical strategic); administration; promote efficiency; develop competitive advantage; increase market share; | | | | | |Write a report to evaluate how a selected organisation could improve the quality of its business information to support decision-making. | |Prepare a presentation of the information and your recommendations. You will be assessed on the appropriateness of the formats chosen. | |Remember to justify your recommendations in your report. | |(this addresses D1) | | | |Tracking fast and slow moving sales will suggest to a retailer how to adjust its product range. Monitoring staff absence will allow | |absenteeism patterns to be identified and absence reduced. Improving the quality of the information will improve the business. | |A senior manager will be likely to understand information presented in a formal report, a junior assistant may be better able to assimilate | |information in a visual format. A poor choice of format hinders communication of the message. | | | | | | | | | | | |Task 2 | | | | You are required to conduct practical exercises on a data management system. You do not need to create this system; your tutor will provide | |this for you. Undertaking the following tasks, format the given data management system into a professionally presented and useful system by | |completing the following tasks | | | |Format Table | |Add grid lines | |Add formatting to headers | |Format cell type (i.e. text/numbers) | | | | Add validation rules to appropriate cells | | | |Add profit column (use formula) | | | |Update Table | |Add new sales for next three months | |Customer 128 has gone out of business, delete this customer | |Add customer 129 – Boxes R Us, 145 Station Road, Maidenhead, Sl4 9UY, 07788 6589652. Anticipated demand from this customer will be 30 of | |product B each month from July | |Change contact for customer 125 to 07799 8745698 | | | |Following the above, in the presence of your tutor who will observe you, interrogate the system to provide analytical data e.g.: | | | |a. Total sales per product | |b. Total profit per product | |c. Total sales per customer | |d. Total profit per customer | |(this addresses P5) | | | | | |Task 3 | | | |Building upon task 2, produce information that can be used to support the following business decision. Scenario – the company is thinking of| |launching a new product, however, due to the capacity of the production line it can only do this if is stops making one of the existing | |products. Use the above analysis in task 2 and the details on the potential new product use to justify your decision proposal. | | | |A ) Produce information in four suitable formats to support decision making This can include the following: using an electronic organiser | |to arrange a meeting to discuss the information, including an agenda of items/issues to discuss; circulating supporting information, as | |attachment to email; producing a report outlining the key findings of your analytical data and producing tables etc to highlight the main | |findings. | |(this addresses P6) This will be supplemented by observations from the tutor. | | | |B) Compare the features of different types of software in producing information to support business activities, e.g. word processing, | |spreadsheets and databases, commenting on the appropriateness of using each for a given purpose. (This addresses M2) | | | |C) Analyse the information from above and explain the significance to the organisation of the information that has been obtained from the | |system. Propose appropriate actions to respond to the given scenario, which must be supported by the information generated. (This addresses | |M3) | |Tutor Signature: GAYE SNOOK | Date: | |Pre-Verified: |Internally Verified: | | | | |Date: |Date: | Assessment and grading criteria In order to pass this unit, the evidence that the learner presents for assessment needs to demonstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The assessment criteria for a pass grade describe the level of achievement required to pass this unit. Assessment and grading criteria To achieve a pass grade the evid  |P1 describe the characteristics of the |M1 explain how business information is |D1 recommend how a selected organisation | |information needed in a selected |used for different purposes in a selected|could improve the quality of its business| |organisation |organisation |information to support decision making. | |P2 explain the sources of information | | | |needed in a selected organisation | | | |P3 describe how information is used for | M2 compare the features of different | | |different purposes in a selected |types of software used in producing | | |organisation [RL, CT] |information to support business | | | |activities | | |P4 describe the legal issues an |M3 analyse information produced in | | |organisation must consider in using |different formats to support business | | |business  information |decision making. | | |P5 input and manipulate the data entered | | | |into data management software [CT, TW, | | | |SM] | | | |P6 produce information in suitable | | | |formats to support business decision | | | |making. [IE, CT, SM] | | |

‘Eve Teasing in Bangladesh’ -Causes and Remedies Essay

London, June 16 (ANI): Eve teasing in Bangladesh has taken such a heavy toll on the country’s women that the education ministry there has voted to have an â€Å"Eve Teasing Protection Day†. The announcement was made after the increasing concern over the worrying number of girls and women who have recently committed suicide in the country to escape eve teasing, a euphemism for sexual harassment. According to figures released by the Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK) human rights organisation, 14 girls and women have taken their own lives over the past four months across the country as a direct result of the insults. In addition, a father and a daughter also committed suicide together – in an incident blamed by the authorities on â€Å"eve teasing†. Police say three men who publicly protested against the harassment have been killed over the past 12 weeks. Critics argue that laws, which should prohibit sexual harassment, are so poorly drafted that victims get virtually no help from the law enforcement agencies. Families of the victims are left feeling hopeless and helpless. â€Å"Some victims find suicide is the only avenue that enables them to escape this social pandemic,† the BBC quoted Sultana Kamal, executive director of ASK, as saying. â€Å"The situation is very frightening. The suicides of 14 girls are an alarming sign of the times. If it is not controlled, we women can no longer live in society with any dignity,† she said. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid while admitting to the menace said female students and female teachers were at present not safe on the streets or schools, a situation leading to an increased drop-out rate of female students in many schools, and underage marriages. (ANI) Bengal girl commits suicide after sexual harassment Kolkata, August 14 (IANS) Subjected to regular sexual harassment by a some local youths and following an altercation with her father on the issue, a 13-year-old-school girl committed suicide by immolating herself in West Bengal’s Burdwan district, police said Tuesday. Four people have been arrested in this connection. â€Å"Ujjawala Prasad, 13, had set herself on fire last night and she succumbed to  injuries Tuesday morning. Her father has lodged a complaint against nine persons who had been harassing the girl for the past few days. Four persons have been arrested,† a police officer said. The incident happened in Hirapur in Burdwan district, 213 km from Kolkata. Police said the girl complained to her father about some boys teasing her regularly, following which he went to confront them. The boys said the girl was having an affair with one of them. The father had a heated argument with the girl Monday night. After the incident, Leader of Opposition and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said: â€Å"Not a single day passes when an incident of an attack on women is not reported. Today a girl committed suicide in Asansol after she was harassed by men. The attacks on women, especially on minor girls, has shot up.† Rising incidents of sexual harassment and increasing public anger in protest has prompted the Bangladesh government, headed by a woman, Sheikh Hasina, to take action. In the latest incident Friday, villagers set fire to houses of some alleged stalkers in Talupara village in Sirajganj district, about 110 km northwest of Dhaka. The mob also caught a stalker’s father and handed him over to the police. In another incident, at least 10 members of a family were Wednesday beaten for protesting against stalking, and one of them died, The Daily Star reported. Abdur Rauf, son of Delwar, used to pester Kamrul’s wife Joinab, 18, every day. After Joinab brought the matter to Delwar’s attention, Rauf and his men went to Kamrul’s house and beat up his family. Kamrul’s uncle Aser Ali succumbed to injuries on way to hospital. In another incident last week, a school girl’s father, who managed to nab her stalker and hand him over to the police, could not take questions from the media and died of heart attack. The government has promised a law to prevent sexual harassment of women at work. But the problem is difficult to tackle in villages where women and young girls from broken families or with men away on work face harassment from idle, at times better off, youths. The government declared to observe June 13 as the Eve Teasing Protection Day  from this year. The resolve to raise public awareness comes from the presence of several women in public life. â€Å"In a country where the prime minister (Sheikh Hasina), foreign minister (Dipu Moni), home minister (Sajeda Khatun), agriculture minister (Motia Chowdhury) and the leader of the opposition (Begum Khaleda Zia) are female, women and girls cannot walk on the streets, use public transport, or go to school, shops, parks or other public places without often being ogled, taunted, harassed, humiliated, sexually molested, groped and assaulted – and in some cases, attacked with acid, abducted and raped,† The Daily Star lamented in a commentary Saturday. According to the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, almost 90 percent of girls aged 10-18 years are victims of sexual harassment. The perpetrators range from college students and unemployed youth to street vendors, rickshaw pullers, bus drivers, fellow passengers, colleagues and supervisors. â€Å"Sexual terrorism thrives on patriarchal attitudes, prejudices, cultural norms, double standards and discriminatory laws that devalue women and deny them their rights. Eradicating it will require transformative social change,† the newspaper said. A large number of school and college students held a rally in Dhaka to protest against ‘eve teasing’ and the sexual harassment of women. According to the BBC, the rally was the latest in a series of protests following a number of suicides and killings involving women subjected to bullying and harassment. The protestors have urged the Bangladesh government to take proper steps to curb sexual harassment and provide better protection for women. â€Å"Some right-wing parties say that if the girls wear a veil, then they can escape Eve teasing, but we don’t think so. We need tougher legislation and it should be properly implemented to stop this menace,† one of the protestors said. Young girls often face verbal abuse, taunts and stalkers, and critics are forcibly silenced. Those harassing them are often their school colleagues or men in the street, the report said. According to activists, eve teasing and sexual harassment has led to the deaths of more than 24 people, most of them women, since the beginning of this year in the country. In recent days, some who have spoken  out against sexual harassment have been murdered, it added. (ANI)

Research proposal Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research proposal - Dissertation Example In view of the same, the concept of total quality management is deemed of paramount importance to these outsourced companies. Hence, the main focus of this paper is to look into the manner by which total quality management principles are incorporated into the processes adopted by the outsourced industries. Total quality management is defined as that philosophy for management concerned with the continuous improvement of the quality of products and processes (Ahire 1997). This particular management concept is used all over the world. The functions related thereto are based on the fact that the quality of products and processes is the responsible of everyone who is engaged in the creation or consumption of the products or services that are offered by the organization. In this sense, Total quality management entails the involvement of the management, workforce, suppliers and even customers in order to ensure that the expectations of the customers are met (Ahire 1997). Hakes (1991) on the other hand, also mentioned that total quality management is essential to all successful organizations. ... Literature Review To provide a solid ground to this study, the researcher reviews extant literature with respect to outsourcing and total quality management. This literature review covers pertinent areas related to the same. To ensure an extensive discussion as regards the subject matter at hand, this section is divided into the following sub-sections: (1) Total Quality Management: An Overview and (2) The Outsourced Information Industry: The Need for Total Quality Management. Total Quality Management: An Overview. As earlier stated, the importance of total quality management as an essential part of the management philosophy is grounded on the fact that it ensures the performance of a certain firm in accordance with the expectations of the customers and at the same time, to enable it to cope with the ever changing global market places. Usually, total quality management results into two important consequences for the firms: first, increase in productivity; and second, customer satisfac tion. One of the main characteristics of Total Quality Management is related to the need to identify the root causes of quality problems and at the same time, correcting them from the source. This is basically in line with the efforts to incorporate quality in all aspects of the organizations. Thus, it usually involves all the people in the organizations such as the customers, the employees and the suppliers. According to the article entitled â€Å"Total Quality Management† (n.d.), total quality management often has the following aspects: (1) Customer Focus; (2) Continuous Improvement; (3) Employee Empowerment; (4) Use of Quality Tools; (5) Product Design; (6) Process Management; and lastly, (7) the Management of Supplier Quality. The focus of the

Essay title Even young children can be involved in decision making in

Title Even young children can be involved in decision making in the family and in schools. Use the course materials to illustrate how children can be involved and also why involvement might be difficult - Essay Example Parents who are aware of these issues can begin to interact with their babies from the start. When a child is older, especially when they get to preschool or school age, it is important to begin the process of their decision making by allowing them to make decisions of what they want to wear or about a particular toy they want to use in their play. Another very important aspect of involving children into the decision making process is to help them form secure attachments when they are very young. Secure attachments make a child fell loved and help them to understand that they can talk about anything they need to talk about with a parent. Establishing this type of opportunity when children are young will give them another opportunity to find their place in the family. Decisions making for many things are easy for a parent to involve their child in, but when it comes to something like bedtime the child may not have much of a choice. According to the text book, there are many ways that a parent can work with a child who does not want to go to bed at a certain time. The challenge for parents is that sometimes they are working to get a child to conform to their wishes and the child has no reason to do so. A parent may decide that the child has several options for bedtime that are around the same time. They can then allow the child to pick one of those bedtimes and the child will think they have made their own choice. One of the challenges when a child does not conform or do what a parent says is that the parent may want to use corporal punishment (spanking) for the child. According to the text, this is never a good idea because children can bully other children with hitting, a child is taught to repress strong emotions, smacking can often make defian t or uncooperative behaviour worse and children can become angry and resentful which can change their attitude towards their family members (69). Instead of smacking, many parents use time outs for children and

Microeconomic of my own life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Microeconomic of my own life - Essay Example Having learnt various principles and theories in microeconomics, the objective of this paper is to relate my life experiences to some of these microeconomic aspects. Microeconomics has made me appreciate choice as a comparison of alternatives. The forgone opportunities for the next benefit alternatives would be referred to as opportunity cost as noted by Boyes and Melvin (23). Opportunity costs refer to the highly valued alternatives which have to be forgone when making a choice. Thus, in my case, the freedom to watch movies, eat the food of my choice and play with my pet would be considered as the opportunity cost as I had to forgo this for the sake of enrolling in a boarding school. The next benefit alternative would thus be joining a boarding school which was meant to make me excel academically. Despite the academic benefit that I was to realize by being in a boarding school, I found other benefits that I would not have found had I remained in my previous learning institution. My father worked in a pen manufacturing firm and hence gave me the best ball-pens to use for my writing. I made many friends in school because of these pens as many students would borrow my pens. At first, I was generous enough to give them out. Within a short period of time, students would demand to know where the pens were sourced from. Actually, the pens were available in the stores but at a high cost and thus stocked less. Remember, Boyes and Melvin (23) observe that costly goods do not elicit the urge to buy from consumers. A majority of pen users would prefer the less costly pen varieties as long as these pens served the intended purpose, quality aside. Since my father supplied these pens to me free of charge and in unlimited quantities, I started selling them to those students who demanded for it at a slightly lower cost than they fetched in the retail stores. The attractive qualities of the pens including swift gliding while writing and availability in diverse colors made the p ens popular. Word went round the school on the attributes of the pen which made the demand increase. Students drawn from various classes would look for me to supply them with these pens. Realizing the increased demand for the pens, I raised the selling price for each pen. This trend follows the microeconomic law of supply which according to Boyes and Melvin (52) dictates an increase in supply with increase in the prices of specific goods or services and a decrease in supply with a fall in price. Assuming the role of a supplier, as the students were willing to spend more to have the pens, I kept increasing the cost. Since I could not wholly satisfy the demand for these pens, I could not determine the effect of price increase on demand which according to the law of demand dictates that with such price increases, there tends to be a decrease in demand. But the trend did not last for long as I had to be careful neither to sell the pens at the cost in the stores nor to sell them at a cos t deemed exorbitant to the students. It reached a point where I could clearly see the impact of price increment on the demand for the pens from the students. As if abiding by the law of demand, the students gradually reduced their demand until I had a number of students whose demand for the pens I could satisfy at the indicated cost. In essence, this was the equilibrium according to

Management 3000 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Management 3000 - Essay Example In addition, the book is not only crucial for a manager and an aspiring manager but also to any individual willing to effectively learn important lessons crucial to their lives. The main theme of the book revolves around interpersonal skills on a broader perspective. However, I would divide the book into three, no actually four narrow categories, based on the achievement of the essential interpersonal skills to a manager. Of these four categories, the first one is the importance of self-awareness before seeking to understand others. Consequently, self-awareness is not something that you wake up one day and claim to have accomplished, something I have learned from the book. Apparently, self-awareness is an important and crucial skill that individuals need to conceptualize and acquire through a four-pronged approach. This covered the first unit and essentially the first four chapters in the book. I answered all the questions in these four chapters and I must say, although I read the chapters before answering the questions, there were instances that I found myself marking the wrong answer based on my personal biases. The second important thing I read pertains the need for individuals seeking to acquire interpersonal skills to learn how to work well with others in diversity. This unit covers the next four chapters of the book, that is, chapters five all the way to chapter eight. The questions are crucial to answering an individual’s perceptions about diversity. Thirdly, I read the other six chapters in the book based on the unit I would classify as understanding the team and its dynamics. This is essential for a manager who works with a team in their day-to-day operations, which effectively requires them to be knowledgeable of the dynamics controlling the team. Finally, the last unit I would call it the leadership unit. This is the actual unit that I would

Risk Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk - Coursework Example tegies used by the corporate managers in relational to effective financial planning to meet organization needs regard the financing, capitalization, budgeting and risk management. The perception of various risk influence corporate financial strategies in order to minimize a risk and maximize returns. This document focuses on various types of risks facing businesses and their effects on corporate financial strategy. This is the uncertainty that the organization may obtain lower profits than anticipated in case of unforeseen events occurring. For example, when sales volumes declines, cost of inputs increases, economic climate or government regulations change they may result in loss instead of anticipated profits (Bender & Ward, 2012). In a case of high business risks, the corporates may finance business activities with capital bearing less debt ratio to ensure it can meet financial obligations whenever they are due. Credit risk is the risk that the borrower may fail to repay the borrowed amount and interest charges when they are due. Lenders may incur additional cost to insure their loan portfolios in order to minimize the loss or borrowers are required to use security or guarantees before they acquire the loan (Bender & Ward, 2012). This affects corporate financial strategy especially when the business does not have to tie capital in security assets. They may have to raise funds through other means other than by borrowing funds. This is the risk that arises due to fluctuation of interest payable to the stocks. It can affect corporate financial strategy whereby investors may refuse to commit buy stocks in a particular market due to fluctuations in interests for fear of losing the value of their invested stocks (Bender & Ward, 2012). These are risks investors face due to political instabilities in the countries of operations. It can affect corporate investment decisions whereby the businesses if the managers cannot take enjoy opportunities available in certain