7.6 Who should estimate? The person managing the project is not necessarily the best one to prepare the estimates, although they should be closely involved, both as a source of information and because they need a clear understanding of what the estimates mean and what the estimators assume about outputs, inputs and the transformation process. If there are others who have more experience or more knowledge about some of the areas of work, these people may be the best ones to make estimates for the project or parts of i
5.2 Work breakdown A work breakdown structure enables: the work of a project to be divided into ‘packages’; these ‘packages’ can be further subdivided into ‘elements’; these elements are then divided into individual ‘tasks’. This structure provides a basis for estimating the time and effort required. In a large project, the work breakdown structure might allow packages of work to be allocated to t
5.1 Introduction One of the most difficult aspects of planning a project is estimating how long it will take to complete each key stage. An estimate might be based on: the size of the tasks and the effort required to complete them; the number of days that are not available for working on the project; historical data from other projects, including the experience of colleagues. Where a project has a fixed end-date (for
6.6 Professional bodies and societies Consider joining a learned society or professional organisation. They can be very useful for conference bulletins as well as in-house publications, often included in the subscription. Don't forget to ask about student rates. Try looking for the websites of learned societies associated with your subject area (e.g. The Royal Society, the Institute of Electrical
5.9 Plagiarism Referencing is not only useful as a way of sharing information, but also as a means of ensuring that due credit is given to other people’s work. In the electronic information age, it is easy to copy and paste from journal articles and web pages into your own work. But if you do use someone else’s work, you should acknowledge the source by giving a correct reference. Taking someone's work and not indicating where you took it from is termed plagiarism and is regarded as an infringemen
4.4 O is for Objectivity One of the characteristics of ‘good’ information is that it should be balanced and present both sides of an argument or issue. This way the reader is left to weigh up the evidence and make a decision. In reality, we recognise that no information is truly objective. This means that the onus is on you, the reader, to develop a critical awareness of the positions represented in what you read, and to take account of this when you interpret the information. In some cases, authors may be
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
3.10 Summary There is a lot of information available on business and management via the internet. Try the activity below to start exploring what is available. Use the Author(s): 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 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 1.4 Evaluating information How well does the following statement describe your approach to evaluating the information that you use?
When I come across a new piece of information (e.g. a website, newspaper article) I consider the quality of the information, and based on that I decide whether or not to use it.
5 – This is an excellent match; this is exactly what I do 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 Introduction This unit looks at human healthcare concentrating on the life sciences sector. You will see the historical development of the pharmaceutical industry and examine the relevant management strategies used. This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Strategic management in life sciences and healthcare (BS811) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this Author(s): 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 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. Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. All other materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. References Introduction The topic of ‘governance’ is one that has gained popularity, and the term is now used to embrace a range of concepts. This unit establishes some basic principles that will form the basis of your study. You will have the opportunity to consider how well these principles match up with your own observations of corporate organisations and behaviour This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Issues in international financial reporting (B853) which is no longe 5.5.2 Mimetic pressures
Mimetic pressures come from the pressure to imitate what others do. The world is complicated and finding the optimal solution often difficult. One way of dealing with this complexity is to copy others. For example, in my own consulting work I carried out an assignment for British Petroleum (BP). Subsequently, other (smaller) clients would often ask me ‘So how does BP do this?’, usually with little regard for the different circumstances they faced. It is this mimetic pressure that 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
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