AtricleZine - Business

Marketing Hints and Tips -Increase Your Exposure and Customers
Marketing is about getting your products and services into as many hands as possible, and then encouraging them to come back.What are you doing to get your products/services into more hands? Do you know how many people MUST be exposed to you and your products to get the needed results and dollars that you want THIS very month? There is a simple formula to do exactly that that we’ll discuss in another article. If you want that one, just ask.In the meantime, here’s an idea to get you in front of a lot more people.Partner with other companies to get your products in other people’s hands. First, let’s look at how much you are, or should be spending on marketing on a weekly and monthly basis. (Actually finding the number that you SHOULD be spending that ALWAYS generates the results you want and multiplies that return on investment is a whole different article. Check back with us on that one.) In any case, let’s say that you should be spending $300 a week to generate $10,000 a week in sales according to your business plan.Are you in the mode of “avoiding spending on marketing” or in the mode of “finding the best return on investment marketing method?”“Where should you be spending it to generate the best return for your marketing dollars?” Just one suggestion goes like this (and you should have several going at once, not just one. This is a simple one.).

on, wider markets, higher production, more investments, costly assets etc.

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Despite its inherent disadvantages, the scientific management oriented company may continue to cope effectively for a long period. Many very large companies in Great Britain today may be seen to conform very closely to the characteristics of this phase. However, if the company continues to develop, a point is reached when a number of problems arise:-

Inflexibility And Inertia:

It becomes increasingly difficult for the organisation to adapt and change to meet changes in its environment. As resistance to new ideas grows, the company gradually ceases to progress. It is then in danger of failing to meet outside needs, in terms of markets, products or manpower.

Loss Of Co-ordination:

The formal communication system fails to help individuals within the organisation to appreciate the full picture. Commitment to the organisation is replaced by a concentration on the immediate performance of the section and department. This in turn leads to inter-departmental squabbles and lack of co-operation.

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This c

Tips For Starting Dating Service Business In Los Angeles
Nowadays, finding a dream partner is not as easy as it used to be a few years back. The reasons for this are hectic professional lives and unfamiliarity with dating services. Singles in the U.S. would be glad to know that there are several online dating services. Hence, there is no longer a necessity for them to go and hunt for partners to socialize. They can just go online and browse for such sites that will offer them a lot of options. These sites are of different types: Some of them are broad-based and have members from different backgrounds looking out for several kinds of relationships; others provide specific services for members considering their interest, location, and relationships sought after.If you are planning to set up such a service in Los Angeles, it could be a wise business decision, given the popularity of such services in the city.As a provider of an Internet dating service, you need to facilitate individuals, groups, and couples to meet online and encourage them to develop either a romantic or a sexual relationship. You could also consider providing un-moderated matchmaking services by way of personal computers, cell phones, and internet. These services will enable people to exchange personal information and allow them to search for eligible partners based on the criteria of age, gender, profession, and location.You may also provide the users the opportunity of uploading their photos to your website so that interested people can consider them for “hookups.” You may think o

The Scientific Management Phase:

Introduction:

At the end of the first phase of its development, the ‘pioneering phase’, an organisation encounters a variety of challenges. These are mainly due to the increasing failure of the informal, unsystematic procedures it has developed to cope with the increasing complexity and size of the business.

To overcome these problems, new systems and procedures are introduced, and the company moves into the second phase of development, known as the ‘scientific management’ phase. The principles of scientific management fall into four categories:-

o Mechanisation

o Standardisation

o Specialisation

o Co-ordination

Mechanisation:

The activities involved in mechanisation are self-evident. The small-batch, hand-worked process gives way to mechanised mass production. This is necessitated by much higher production requirements, needs to minimise production costs and the requirements for a standard product (as opposed to the tailor-made product of Phase 1).

Within the organisation, this move highlights the importance of engineering and maintenance skills, coupled with mechanical fault finding, while reducing the emphasis on original trade skills (of small and large companies) - this shift is not always fully appreciated by management and training in hand skills may continue regardless for some time.

Standardisation:

In Phase 2 of development, there is a strong move to ensure that the informal variety of previous planning and activity is replaced by carefully controlled consistency. Quality standards are laid down and individuals appointed to carry out inspection functions. Job methods and procedures are standardised, to ensure that any job is always performed in the same (best) way, regardless of the individual doing it.

To achieve this standardisation, as well as co-ordination, more rigid control systems are needed, which gives rise to much greater emphasis on planning in all areas.

Specialisation:

In Phase 1, jobs were not formally defined - most managers would, in a fairly casual manner, cover a variety of activities, in many areas overlapping each other. This led eventually to problems of duplication of effort and ‘buck-passing’. In contrast, people and functions within the organisation are now expected to concentrate on a more limited and clearly defined range of activities. Specialisation is introduced in a variety of ways:-

‘Vertical’ Specialisation;

Different levels of management are introduced. Top management defines policy, middle management plans how the policy is to be achieved and first line management/supervision carries out the plans.

‘Function’ Specialisation:

Different individuals specialise in specific functions (i.e. production, sales, accounting, engineering etc.). Within some functions, for example production and sales, further departmental divisions are made.

‘Work Flow’ Specialisation:

A distinction is also made between planning, carrying out and controlling the work. Separate departments now concern themselves with planning (production planning, design office etc.) and with control (quality control, costing department etc.), leaving only the actual carrying out of the work to the line management.

‘Technical’ Specialisation:

A variety of professional techniques are introduced into all aspects of the company and individuals or departments are introduced to specialise in these (e.g. work study, computer services, personnel and training etc.).

Co-ordination:

The advent of specialisation clearly has the effect of breaking up the easy communications and teamwork of Phase 1. As a result, the organisation’s structure now has to be made more carefully defined to ensure that co-ordination of effort is maintained. The following ‘rules’ are normally applied:-

Span Of Control:

Each manager has a defined area of operation and a limited number of subordinates under their direct control.

‘One Boss’ Principle:

Each individual is clearly responsible to one manager in the hierarchy. An organisation tree can be drawn, as a result, showing lines of responsibility.

Staff/Line Relationships:

The various specialists are said to have an advisory role to line management. Responsibilities/authority remains with line managers

Financial Incentives:

The labour force is encouraged to work by the application of incentive schemes giving extra pay for extra effort. This replaces the incentive in Phase 1 provided by direct contact with the pioneer and overall commitment to the goals of the company.

Formal Communication:

There is an upsurge in paperwork systems designed to keep employees informed of plans affecting them, and to inform management of activity against defined standards.

Summary Of Phase 2:

In contrast to Phase 1, the scientific management phase relies heavily on systematic planning, controls and standards. The initial informality, flexibility and personal touch of Phase 1 is unavoidably lost, in order to allow the company to cope with a more complex situation, wider markets, higher production, more investments, costly assets etc.

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Inflexibility And Inertia:

Loss Of Co-ordination:

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This ca

How To Get More Freedom To Do The Things You Want: Get A Sales Job
Do you feel trapped in your 9-5 job? Do you wish you had more freedom to do the things you want to do? Most people working in the corporate world would answer yes to both of these questions. Some won’t admit to it because, were they admit to it, they’d be telling themselves that they’re in a rut with their lives. Most business pundits would counsel people that want more freedom to quit their jobs and start their own business. But how many people can stomach the risks involved with starting their own business?There is a middle ground between being stuck in an office working 9-5 and owning your own business. That middle ground is getting a sales job. Let me explain. Sure, having a sales job still means that you are working in the corporate world. But, with 2-3 years of hard work and labor, salespeople can set themselves up for having a lot more free time to do more of the things that they want. That’s the key, though. The benefits to salespeople don’t roll in until they put in two to three years of work.Let’s look at the typical life cycle of a salesperson. He gets a B2B sales job and works feverishly in the coming months to begin generating new business for his company. Sales prospecting and closing is a lot of work. Some will cold call to generate sales leads, although I wouldn’t recommend cold calling. Certain types of guerrilla marketing work better. The salesperson begins to close some sales. With each sales close he gets a few referrals and makes new business contacts. Some commission checks beg

ways fully appreciated by management and training in hand skills may continue regardless for some time.

Standardisation:

To achieve this standardisation, as well as co-ordination, more rigid control systems are needed, which gives rise to much greater emphasis on planning in all areas.

Specialisation:

‘Vertical’ Specialisation;

Different levels of management are introduced. Top management defines policy, middle management plans how the policy is to be achieved and first line management/supervision carries out the plans.

‘Function’ Specialisation:

‘Work Flow’ Specialisation:

‘Technical’ Specialisation:

Co-ordination:

Span Of Control:

Each manager has a defined area of operation and a limited number of subordinates under their direct control.

‘One Boss’ Principle:

Each individual is clearly responsible to one manager in the hierarchy. An organisation tree can be drawn, as a result, showing lines of responsibility.

Staff/Line Relationships:

The various specialists are said to have an advisory role to line management. Responsibilities/authority remains with line managers

Financial Incentives:

Formal Communication:

There is an upsurge in paperwork systems designed to keep employees informed of plans affecting them, and to inform management of activity against defined standards.

Summary Of Phase 2:

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Inflexibility And Inertia:

Loss Of Co-ordination:

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This c

Exporters Forecast Coffee Price Hike In Big Apple
Exporters of coffee found a new place where the merchandise earns its price hike. New York City, the location of most coffee shops in the world, is said to be the place where coffee's price will increase over 20% in the forthcoming months. The beans will most likely outstrip other important merchandises to exporters like silver and copper.Procter & Gamble Co., the company that creates Folgers coffee brand, and Kraft Foods Inc., the manufacturer of Maxwell House coffee are the two companies that have high purchase need for the said beans. Coffee exporters and vendors are resorting to arabica coffee beans that are highly marketed particularly in the said city, after a more affordable kind of beans known as robusta made a recovery in its price after a period of decline in Britain last August.Raymond Keane, a trader who works for one of US' major exporters of coffee beans that delivers the beans for PG and Kraft, said that the rise in robusta's cost will bring other grades of coffee into the market. In the meantime, Michael Coleman, the managing director to Aisling Analytics said that the price of coffee beans in the Big Apple might possibly reach up to $1.30 per pound on the following year. He also added arabica beans are much cheaper at approximately $1.08 compared to robusta, which has raised its price to over 25 percent.The International Coffee Organization (ICO), on the other hand, believe that there will be two percent increase in the worldwide consumption of coffee to seven million tons. I

middle management plans how the policy is to be achieved and first line management/supervision carries out the plans.

‘Function’ Specialisation:

‘Work Flow’ Specialisation:

‘Technical’ Specialisation:

Co-ordination:

Span Of Control:

Each manager has a defined area of operation and a limited number of subordinates under their direct control.

‘One Boss’ Principle:

Each individual is clearly responsible to one manager in the hierarchy. An organisation tree can be drawn, as a result, showing lines of responsibility.

Staff/Line Relationships:

The various specialists are said to have an advisory role to line management. Responsibilities/authority remains with line managers

Financial Incentives:

Formal Communication:

There is an upsurge in paperwork systems designed to keep employees informed of plans affecting them, and to inform management of activity against defined standards.

Summary Of Phase 2:

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Inflexibility And Inertia:

Loss Of Co-ordination:

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This c

Managers: Your PR in the Strike Zone?
Managers: Your PR in the Strike Zone?It is if you’re trying to do something meaningful about the behaviors of those important audiences that MOST affect the business, non-profit, government agency or association unit you manage.It’s in the strike zone when your public relations creates the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.And it stays in the strike zone when you follow through by persuading those key outside folks to your way of thinking by helping move them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.Your managerial public relations is NOT in the strike zone when all that preoccupies you is how to move a message from one point to another using simple tactics like broadcast plugs, brochures and press releases. A simplistic approach to public relations that ignores the need to properly profile and qualify your target audience by probing how they feel about you and your services or products.This could be problematic because the perceptions of key outside audiences invariably lead to behaviors that can help or hurt a business, a non-profit, a government agency or an association.Instead, consider this approach to your managerial public relations and do something meaningful about the behaviors of those important audiences that MOST affect the organization you manage; create the kind of external stakeholder behavior change t

rmally applied:-

Span Of Control:

Each manager has a defined area of operation and a limited number of subordinates under their direct control.

‘One Boss’ Principle:

Each individual is clearly responsible to one manager in the hierarchy. An organisation tree can be drawn, as a result, showing lines of responsibility.

Staff/Line Relationships:

The various specialists are said to have an advisory role to line management. Responsibilities/authority remains with line managers

Financial Incentives:

Formal Communication:

There is an upsurge in paperwork systems designed to keep employees informed of plans affecting them, and to inform management of activity against defined standards.

Summary Of Phase 2:

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Inflexibility And Inertia:

Loss Of Co-ordination:

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This c

Practical Accounting 1
Why do we use Accounting?Accounting became a necessity as merchants needed to track who owed money to them and what they owed to suppliers.The next need was to determine whether the business was making a profit, or in the case of a charitable venture of at least covering costs. The concept of how this is achieved is the subject of many accounting theories and will be dealt with later.Of course, in a Western Society we must all contribute to the cost of providing community services and this means the determination of taxes.After the taxes have been calculated, then what remains may be distributed to the owners of the business.Unfortunately, the pressure of meeting the requirements of the Australian Tax Office means that few public accountants have the time to assist the business owner evaluate his or her specific measures, and to guide them in setting up an appropriate method of reporting on performance.When the GST was introduced in Australia the need arose to account for not only year end trading result taxes, but also for the collection of GST. What was originally a very simple value added tax concept has gradually become more complex as the requirement to cater for different groups in our community has become apparent.The Australian Tax Office has indicated a preference for accounting performed on a commercially produced computer accounting system that meets with specifications that have now been provided to the various software writers.What ar

on, wider markets, higher production, more investments, costly assets etc.

Crisis Of Phase 2:

Inflexibility And Inertia:

Loss Of Co-ordination:

Lack Of Communication:

The policy-makers at the top of the organisation lose touch with the practical problems affecting executive management. This can cause unrealistic policies to exert an increasing strain on company resources. In turn, lower Management feel unable to make decisions because of their lack of overall data, and therefore tend to pass decisions upwards.

Breakdown Of Staff/Line System:

The distinction between specialist and line manager becomes increasingly uncertain; ‘advice’ and instruction’ are blurred.

Lack Of Motivation:

The individuals within the organisation begin to lose their commitment to it. From the narrow limits of their position, they can no longer see where they or the company are going. They feel like ‘a cog in a big machine’, that their work is pointless and other colleagues work to different ends, without proper understanding of their problem.

This attitude causes serious labour relations difficulties at shop floor level, as employees express their general frustration in demands for increased financial rewards; it also affects all levels of the company and can lead to the loss of key management personnel.

Productivity goes down and management may try expensive solutions without effect.

These problems will often indicate the need for a firm to enter the third phase of development - the Integration Phase.

The Integration Phase:

Introduction:

The vast majority of organisations in the United Kingdom are currently in the first two phases of development (the pioneering and scientific management phases). This has made it possible to compile considerable data on the characteristics of each phase, both when it is healthy for the company (i.e. suitable for its needs at the point in time) or sick (i.e. no longer adequate) and causing problems.

Comparatively few companies have surmounted the second crisis and entered the third phase. It is not, therefore possible to describe in such detail all the characteristics of Phase 3, nor to identify the nature of the crisis which might logically be expected to follow it.

Nevertheless, it is possible to describe some of the activities and characteristics which occur.

Principles Of Integration:

The overall aim of the integration phase is to re-establish some of the flexibility, informality and teamwork of the pioneering phase, while maintaining the systematic approach to planning and controlling initiated in the scientific management phase.

This involves a different philosophy to that of Phase 2. In Phase 2, management worked to the basic principle that human beings worked directly for financial reward and were inherently unreliable. The role of management was, therefore, to apply rigid controls to ensure that employees functioned as required and support action to prevent any obstacles to performance.

Phase 3 management aims to create a situation in which individuals can satisfy their fundamental needs as human beings (e.g. the need to be part of a group, the need to be recognised as having status, the need to fully develop their skills set etc.) while contributing effectively to the goals of the organisation. In this situation, the role of management is to assist rather than control, to guide rather than lead and responsibility is shared more evenly through the organisation. The basic principle in this case is that human beings are fundamentally responsible and responsive, provided that a situation is created for them which provides the opportunity for this to develop.

Practical Steps To Reach Phase 3:

A number of steps are necessary to reach this phase:-

Senior Management Philosophy:

Senior managers have to understand the motivational need of human beings and develop the skills to apply such concepts to company goals.

Team Building:

The organisational structure must lose some of its hierarchical rigidity and be replaced by a series of groups. Initially, the top level policy makers must become an effective and cohesive group. They must achieve a level of understanding which enables them to function effectively together and be able to formulate company objectives and policies in realistic and achievable terms. Subsequently, similar team effectiveness must be developed throughout the organisation in interlocking groups (i.e. each manager and their subordinate in turn forms a group with their subordinates). Each group carries its own responsibility for its actions within the overall objectives defined by the company and communication is achieved through the ‘overlap’ of groups.

Management By Exception

Communication up or down the groups is not normally necessary for routine. positive action is initiated only where something out of the ordinary occurs.

Production Process:

Shop floor staff is given more responsibility for setting and maintaining standards and creating change and innovation.

Ending Payment By Results:

The integration phase creates a climate which relies on other inducements than financial for encouraging individuals to contribute. Incentive schemes tend to disappear.

At present, much of our thinking in industry is geared to Phase 2 development and its superiority over Phase 1. Effort for improvement is often concentr

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AtricleZine - The Development Of Organisations - Part 2

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