7 Summary You should now have a clearer idea of the context in which accounting is set. You should also be aware that accounting is the recording and processing of data into information, of the characteristics of ‘good’ information, and of the relationship between accounting and organisational objectives. Now, you should complete the following self-assessed question. 4.1 Initial assessment To find the right person for the job, you need to have an accurate idea of the job itself and of the particular skills and attributes it demands. This can be carried out in a series of stages, as shown in Figure 1. Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: 3.6.2 Listening and responding to what donors and supporters say People rarely behave exactly as you planned or expected; mass appeals and campaigns generate responses, reactions and outcomes you did not anticipate. Make use of your information systems to compare what various groups of supporters are saying, acknowledge what you receive, and act on it to refine future requests. 3.2 Communicating with the project team and other stakeholders In project management, the quality of communication can make the difference between achieving your objectives and falling short of them. Projects often fail not because of problems with the work itself, but because the people involved are not working together effectively. Project managers communicate in diverse ways: face-to-face or by telephone, in written and electronic forms, through presentations and reports. The purpose of communication is primarily to explain to others what has be 2.6 Maintaining balance Monitoring is also concerned with achieving a balance of the three dimensions of the project: cost – the resources available; time – the schedule; quality – the scope and appropriateness of the outputs or outcomes. Many of the difficulties in implementing a project are caused by poor time management. This will have a direct effect on the costs of the project, as well as on the quality of what is 1.4 Resourcing the project Work will be delayed if the necessary materials and equipment are not readily available, or if the accommodation for the project has not been arranged. Although the project manager is responsible for overall resource allocation and utilisation, much of the work can be delegated. By conferring responsibility to achieve an outcome within the budget, more direct links between costs and outcomes are established. In most projects there will be organisational internal controls and statutory require 2.2.3 The modern period Mass production worked well as long as high volumes of mass-produced goods could be produced and sold in predictable and slowly changing markets. However, during the 1970s, markets became highly fragmented, product life cycles reduced dramatically and consumers had far greater choice than ever before. An unforeseen challenge to Western manufacturers emerged from Japan. New Japanese production techniques, such as total quality management (TQM), just-in-time (JIT) and employee involvement 2.1 Force-field diagrams A force-field diagram shows the opposing pressures (or forces) that are bearing on a situation. Within the context of planning and managing change, the diagram shows the forces which are supportive of change (the driving forces) and the forces which are likely to be unhelpful or resistant (the restraining forces). Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Author: Ramy Majouji All other materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: 3.1 Background In practice, there is almost always some element of risk (in the technical sense of ‘uncertainty’) in any investment return. There is in finance the theoretical concept of a truly risk-free asset, but at the moment it is sufficient just to be aware of the main factors causing risk or uncertainty in practice. These are: maturity liquidity variability of income default or credit risk 7.7 Planning for quality Having considered estimating for time and for costs, the third dimension of projects – quality needs to be considered. The need to achieve a particular level of quality may mean that more time must be spent completing certain tasks or that more resources must be made available for a particular purpose. Once the time and cost estimates have been made, review them to ensure that this estimate will allow an outcome of the right quality. Many organisations have corporate quality assurance 5.1.1 SMART objectives When the objectives are identified, trying to ensure that each objective is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound) is good practice or at least to have considered the extent to which these conditions could be met. As in all planning, this process is continuous and as new information becomes available and as the project progresses, changes will need to be made to aspects of the objectives and to the sequences of tasks that contribut 3.5 Journals Journals and articles written by academics or experts are an excellent source of information. Journals are usually published monthly or quarterly, and contain a selection of articles providing details of recent research. Often they will also contain reviews of relevant books. They are usually published more quickly than books, and so are often more up to date. To access content of journals, most publishers require a subscription. There are, however, some journals which you can freely ac 2.1 Planning your search Your approach to searching will depend to a great extent on what kind of person you are. In an ideal world, when searching for information for a specific purpose, we would all find what exactly we were looking for at the first attempt, especially if we are in a hurry. However, it’s always a good idea to have some kind of plan when you are searching for information, if only to help you plan your time and make sure you find the information you need. If I was starting to search for material on Learning outcomes By the end of this guide you should be able to: conduct your own searches efficiently and effectively find references to material in bibliographic databases make efficient use of full text electronic journals services critically evaluate information from a variety of sources understand the importance of organising your own information identify some of the systems available describe how to u References 1 Characteristics of service provision Choosing a service provider tends to be far more difficult than choosing a supplier of goods. While there may be tangible components in the service an HR consultant offers, what HR consultants provide is largely intangible. As a starting point the following activity asks you to consider the issues likely to be involved in the initial decision to use a consultant. References
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