Managing the software enterprise: The organisational and business context
This free course, Managing the software enterprise: The organisational and business context, relates software to the organisation that it supports, drawing on basic ideas from organisational theory and management. We see how organisational practices become embodied in IT systems, practices that had previously been part of peoples tacit expertise become externalised and codified in procedures and software. The software and its relationship to the organisation are constantly changing as part of a
Building relationships with donors
Legacy fundraising and big-gift seeking are part of the professional fundraiser's role. This free course, Building relationships with donors, will help you to gain the skills necessary to persuade individuals to become donors. How do you change people's ideas about methods of giving, moving them from casual street donations to regular direct debit giving?
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How to frame a business case
This free course, How to frame a business case, looks at reading strategies which help you to frame a business case. In particular, you will learn how to use key business concepts to analyse a business situation.
First published on Mon, 03 Apr 2017 as Author(s):
Introduction Awareness of our own and others’ interpersonal skills can help us enormously in dealing with the work tasks we are responsible for, both in terms of management and also many other aspects of working and non-working life. In this free course, The importance of interpersonal skills, you will consider the fundamentals of good communication. You will consider how the content, language and medium of the message you are communicating, as well as the relationship you have with the per
Using voluntary work to get ahead in the job market
This free course, Using voluntary work to get ahead in the job market, explores how engaging in voluntary work can enhance your employment opportunities
First published on Fri, 23 Jun 2017 as Using volunta
Management: perspective and practice
What does it mean to be a manager? Being a manager is a complex and challenging activity. This free course, Management: perspective and practice, introduces you to the role of the manager. In this OpenLearn course you’ll look at an array of activities including leadership, human resources, finance, project management, change management, operations management and stakeholder management.
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Activity 2: Differences between national culture and organisational culture Allow 30 minutes for this activity. Activity 1 introduced you to national and organisational culture by helping you to develop suitable definitions. This activity will help you to understand more about culture. It looks at differences between national culture and organisational culture. It wi
1.2.1 Target dates The overall plan will indicate the start dates for each group of activities, or each task. A useful way of focusing activities on achieving outcomes is to provide clear dates for completion of stages and of final outcomes. If there are a number of different types of team, these may start and finish tasks at different times. Where the work of one team depends on another having completed in time, there are important issues to consider. Although a good control system will provide information abo
2.8.1 A case study Figure 18 shows part of a critical path for converting surplus retail space into a warehouse. Each task is represented by an arrow; the length of an arrow does not relate to the duration of the task. The junctions (called nodes) where arrows meet would normally be num
2.1.2 How a force-field diagram can help The diagram is a useful expositional or presentational device. When you are presenting an analysis or proposal, the diagram will enable you to describe (and distinguish between) the reasons for a change. It will enable you to do the same for the reasons why a change may be resisted. The diagram will be an explicit prompt for exploring the restraining forces. The more a manager finds out about these, and the earlier, the better placed the manag
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).
1.1.3 The intercept When a line cuts an axis, the line is said ‘to intercept the axis at’ [the particular point]. In this example, the line cuts the vertical (y) axis at £10, so ‘the line intercepts the y axis at £10’. It can also be said that ‘the intercept with the y axis is £10’.
2.3 Capital markets In so far as better corporate governance has the objective of enhancing shareholder control, it should follow that companies with better corporate governance will attract investors and will reduce their cost of capital. A global investor opinion survey carried out by McKinsey & Company (2002) gives some evidence that good governance is linked to investment decisions. The survey found that: investors state that they still put corporate governance on a p
2.2 Recent governance failures As we have discussed before, the creation of corporate regulation is often linked to perceived failures of corporations and their management to behave in the way society expect them to. Corporate governance is not an exception to this trend, and, as with accounting, different countries may well experience difficulties at different times. For example, the development of British codes of best practice, which began with the Cadbury Committee, can be related to governance scandals such as Polly P
2.1 Introduction In this section we are going to review the different needs that drive the creation of corporate governance frameworks. The contingent model of regulation applies to financial reporting: the idea that equilibrium in regulation exists, but is broken by some intrusive event, often a financial scandal. This leads to a search for a revision of the rules, and a new equilibrium is worked out. This is very much a pattern that drives change in corporate governance.
Keep on learning   There are more than 800 courses on OpenLearn for you to Learning outcomes After studying this course, you should be able to: understand the need for organisations to acknowledge the influence of their environments understand the impact organisations have on those environments. 3.4 Evaluation at the end of a project Different types of evaluation may take place at the end of a project. A common one is determining the extent to which the project outcomes have been achieved. This is often done in a meeting of the sponsor, key stakeholders and project team leaders, and sometimes informed by reports from key perspectives. An evaluation of this nature may be the final stage of the project, and the main purpose might be to ensure that the project has met all of the contracted expectations and can be ‘signed o 3.3 Evaluation during implementation of a project At this stage the project activities are monitored to determine how their timing, quality and cost match the plan. The results of this monitoring are reviewed to see whether the plan needs to be modified. New environmental conditions may indicate the need to change the organisation's strategic direction. It might be necessary in that case to re-align the project, so that the outcomes relate to the new direction. In some cases it may be necessary to abort the project, if it is no longer approp 3.1 Evaluation while developing the vision A project is often shaped through discussion among those developing the vision and direction of the project. They may agree in general terms about what is to be achieved, but have to make a number of choices before deciding how to proceed. It may be important to allow time for different views to be heard and considered, and for attitudes to change and – hopefully – converge.
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