4.2 P is for Presentation

By presentation, we mean, the way in which the information is communicated. You might want to ask yourself:

• Is the language clear and easy to understand?

• Is the information clearly laid out so that it is easy to read?

• Are the fonts large enough and clear?

• Are the colours effective? (e.g. white or yellow on black can be difficult to read)

• If there are graphics or photos, do they help
  Author(s): The Open University
  

  License information

  Related content

  Except for third party materials and/or otherwise stated (see terms and conditions) the content in OpenLearn is released for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share

  No related items provided in this feed

3.9 Choosing the right tool for the job

Before searching it is always a good idea to check what the source you have chosen covers to make sure it will unearth information that matches your search need (you will notice that all the resources we’ve covered in this guide have short descriptions to enable you to decide which to use). Some of the decision makers, depending on the context of your search might be:

• Does it have full text?

• Does it cover the right subject?

  
  Author(s): The Open University
  
  License information

  Related content

  Except for third party materials and/or otherwise stated (see terms and conditions) the content in OpenLearn is released for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share

  No related items provided in this feed

3.4 Databases

At a basic level, a database is a collection of information which can be searched. It is a way of storing, indexing, organising and retrieving information. You may have created one yourself to keep track of your references – or your friends' names and addresses. They are useful for finding articles on a topic, and can be used to search for many different types of information.

You may find some of the following databases useful for your topic. They contain different types of informatio
Author(s): The Open University

1.6 Keeping up-to-date

How familiar are you with the following different ways of keeping up to date with information; alerts, mailing lists, newsgroups, blogs, RSS, professional bodies and societies?

• 5 – Very familiar

• 4 – Familiar

• 3 – Fairly familiar

• 2 – Not very familiar

• 1 – Not familiar at all

Introduction

This unit will help you to identify and use information in business and management, whether for your work, study or personal purposes. Experiment with some of the key resources in this subject area, and learn about the skills which will enable you to plan searches for information, so you can find what you are looking for more easily. Discover the meaning of information quality, and learn how to evaluate the information you come across. You will also be introduced to the many different ways of
Author(s): The Open University

7 Designing evaluation

So far in this unit we have considered information used in making a selection. What about information about consultants thereafter? Evaluating consultants’ work was highlighted as one of the difficulties in this area, yet such information is important. You may need to evaluate a small initiative (perhaps a limited diagnosis, feedback and initial planning contract) with a view to deciding whether to work more extensively with the consultant. You may need performance measures to contribute to
Author(s): The Open University

Learning outcomes

After studying this unit you should be able to:

• appreciate the characteristics of consultancy when viewed as a service offered for sale;

• as client, identify suitable contexts for using consultants;

• as client, identify, gather information on, and evaluate the suitability of competing consultants.

1.6 Equity buybacks, de-listing and reversion to a ‘private’ company

Once its shares have been issued, a company has the option to buy back shares. Buybacks will occur if the company believes that it is overcapitalised and cannot generate a sufficiently high return on capital through its operations. Under these circumstances it is effectively saying to the investor ‘thanks but please now have some of your money back – you can probably make it work harder elsewhere’. A further reason for buybacks arises when a major capital restructuring is undertaken by
Author(s): The Open University

1.1 Definitions

The need for corporate governance arises out of the divorce in modern corporations between the rights of shareholders and other suppliers of capital on the one hand, and the operational control, which is in the hands of professional managers, on the other. This can be described as the ‘principal–agent’ problem. Put simply, the question is: will the managers run the corporation exclusively for the long-term benefit of the shareholders, and what mechanisms can be put in place to ensure th
Author(s): The Open University

Conclusion

We hope this unit has set you thinking about how you and others make decisions. It has been a very brief and to some extent shallow introduction to some quite complex ideas. The reference list should give you some pointers to further resources which will help you explore this topic in greater depth.

Before you move on take some time for a final activity.

Activity 3

In Author(s): The Open University

6.1 Introduction

An important aspect of decision making which crosses all three perspectives is making decisions about risks. Risk is all-pervasive in organisational life and many decisions require us to weigh up and choose between different kinds of risk. Thus any account of decision making would be incomplete without examining how our perceptions of risk affect our decisions. In this section we will examine risk from the three different perspectives we have identified: rational-economic, psychological and s
Author(s): The Open University

5.5.1 Coercive pressures

Coercive pressures come from the social sanctions that can be applied if we do not act in socially legitimate ways. The law is one source of coercive pressure, but so too is the knowledge that you will get promoted only if you act in ways which fit accepted ways of doing things in your organisation.

4.6 Post-decision evaluation

For most normally functioning people, maintaining self-esteem is an important internal goal. This can cause us to filter out or discount information that might show us in an unfavourable light. This is what lies behind the fundamental attribution bias. This is the tendency to attribute good outcomes to our own actions and bad outcomes to factors outside our control. While such defences against loss of self-esteem can be helpful to the extent that they help us persist in the face of adv
Author(s): The Open University

1 Barriers to a strategic view

Marketing communications is not always accepted as having strategic importance in organisations. This unit examines some of the reasons for this, before exploring some recent arguments in favour of a strategic role for marketing communications.

One reason for seeing marketing communications as tactical rather than strategic is that much of its development and execution has been outsourced to marketing services agencies offering a range of specialisms (such as design, creative consultanc
Author(s): The Open University

1.2 The relationship between stakeholders and the organisation

Public and voluntary sector organisations do not have the same shareholder obligations as those in the private sector. However, as the distinction between public and private sector organisations becomes blurred, there are concerns that the ethical role of public service organisations – defined as acting in the public interest through a public service ethos – is being undermined. As public service and non-profit organisations are increasingly expected to achieve targets and become more ‘
Author(s): The Open University

3.2 CSR reporting

We mentioned earlier three reasons for environmentally friendly behaviour, effectively deriving from personally held values, niche marketing or regulatory pressure. To a large extent the same holds true for ethical behaviour.

Some organisations have a long tradition of good citizenship, ranging from the UK social housing of Bourneville or Port Sunlight, through to community involvement schemes from such as Xerox and IBM. Financial sponsorship of good causes, whether that be artistic end
Author(s): 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

Unit Image

Esthr: www.flickr.com/photos/edyson/274977240/

Author(s): The Open University

License information

Related content

Except for third party materials and/or otherwise stated (see terms and conditions) the content in OpenLearn is released for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share

No related items provided in this feed

2 Entrepreneurial qualities

It is now widely accepted that, apart from the start up phase, most small firms in Europe are more concerned about survival rather than growth and relatively few are especially entrepreneurial (Gray 1998). Consequently, a lot of research in this field has focused on finding the characteristics that set entrepreneurs and their firms apart from others. Elizabeth Chell (1985, 1999), a social psychologist, has examined numerous psychological trait-based approaches and concluded that, whilst psych
Author(s): The Open University

Learning outcomes

After studying this unit you should:

• understand the nature of entrepreneurship;

• understand the function of the entrepreneur in the successful, commercial application of innovations;

• confirm your entrepreneurial business idea;

• identify personal attributes that enable best use of entrepreneurial opportunities;

• explore entrepreneurial leadership and management style;

• identify the requirements for building an
  Author(s): The Open University
  

  License information

  Related content

  Except for third party materials and/or otherwise stated (see terms and conditions) the content in OpenLearn is released for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share

  No related items provided in this feed