Category: Management

Introduction

Marks & Spencer PLC is one of the leading retailers in the United Kingdom with a claim that it has over twenty-one million customers visiting its stores each week. Over seventy-five thousand people have found their employment in the company in its over six hundred stores in the UK alone and others worldwide. The company offers clothing with different styles, of high quality, in addition to home products and foods that are sourced from over two thousand suppliers from all over the world. The company has stated on its website that it is the leading provider of womenswear in the United Kingdom and it is currently venturing into mensware, childrenswear, home business, done online (Marks & Spencer PLC 2009, par. 1-2). This essay seeks to show Marks & Spencers policy towards its suppliers and how the company can adhere to its global sourcing principles and still remain competitive in terms of giving its customers the value they demand.

Marks & Spencer PLC policy towards its suppliers

Supplier relationships

Marks and Spencer PLC company has strong trading relationships in the world with suppliers from China, Honduras, Israel, Kenya, Ireland, Indonesia, India, south Africa, United Kingdom, Spain, and Morocco among others. The company has introduced the semi-announced on-site assessment of its suppliers which is conducted within a period of three weeks; this being done to ensure that their global principles are being adhered to. The suppliers are enabled by the company to address complex issues like working conditions, this being done through networking, websites, and conferences (Marks & Spencer PLC 2009). The company has continued to work closely with the suppliers so as to make sure they adhere to high levels of quality. This they have done by encouraging them to utilize the most efficient and modern techniques of production (Cactus Connects 2009, par. 4).

Quality management systems

The company has upheld to using a management practice that is standardized across all its stores. This has been upheld by utilizing the top-to-the-bottom management approach. This involves every store following a central direction on layout, merchandising, and training that is aimed at simplifying the process of management (Cactus connects 2009, par. 7).

Global sourcing Principles

The company came up with a set of global sourcing principles in a joint venture with its suppliers. Together with its supplies, it has set standards relevant to the countries and industries that manufacture the products (Rose 2008, p. 2). On workforce rights, the company insists that all people working for the supplies must be treated with respect. The production sites are regularly accessed by the officials and the supplies for any possible improvements. The company requires the suppliers to meet local and international standards related to the environment (Rose 2008, p. 3).

Those people that work for the supplies must also be regarded with dignity with their safety, health, and human rights being promoted and protected. Also, the suppliers are required to agree with the company on the production sites for each order and are not allowed to subcontract orders from the agreed location (Rose 2008, p. 2).

Ethical Trading

The company has made it clear that it is a secular organization and thus it embraces all nationalities, cultures, religions, and races. It is not aligned to any states, governments, nations, countries, political parties, with this approach being applied when sourcing all the products. The company allows its customers to chose whether to buy certain products or not by labeling the country of origin. The suppliers are also supposed to adhere with local and national laws that are relevant such as health and safety, working conditions and hours, rates of pay, minimum employment age, and terms of employment. The suppliers are required to improve working conditions that are promoted by the Ethical Initiative, which is a group of trade unions, companies and human right groups (Marks & Spencer PLC, 2009).

Animal Welfare

The company aims to ensure that when animals are utilized to make its products, their welfare is taken care of with the wild animals populations being used sustainably. The suppliers are required to implement standards that are industry-recognized. This they do by cooperating with farmers who have a positive attitude towards animal welfare and also by adopting Farm Animal Welfare Councils recommendations (Schindlmeier 2008, p1). Marks and Spencer have instructions for its suppliers that nonfood products are not to be produced from animals that are bred and slaughtered specifically for producing nonfood products and also from species that are regarded as endangered species. Raw materials from animals should be clearly labeled and synthetic materials that look like animal products should be labeled to avoid unnecessary confusion and offense. The company also states in its policy that it would not manufacture products that may degrade or be harmful to the animals (Schindlmeier 2008, p1).

Fair trade

Fair trade certification gives Marks & Spencers customers an independent guarantee that the farmers who produce the product get a fair price for their crop in addition to a fair-trade premium which is invested into the community. For example, this company changed all the coffee and tea that was sold at fair-trade; 340,000 pounds in fair-trade premium going directly to the farmers to invest in their communities. This led to a 5% increase in sales of the following year (Marks & Spencer PLC, 2009).

How the company can adhere to its Global sourcing principles

Adhering to the global sourcing principles may not be easy for the company as it calls for great dedication and discipline among all of its stakeholders. The company should be careful when selecting the companies that are to supply services and products.

Some of the global source principles that this company has adopted include; one, the company and its suppliers being in a position to set standards that will be appropriate for the industries and countries that manufacture the products. It will be the responsibility of the suppliers to work towards the achievement and maintenance of the set standards. Secondly, the company should ensure that its workforces rights are protected making sure that each supplier complies with national and local laws regarding health and safety, minimum employment age, freedom of association, discipline, working hours, pay rates, terms of employment among others.

Thirdly, there should be an agreement between the company and the suppliers that all the products that are sold in any of the Marks & Spencer stores have labels with the country of origin. Also, the productions site(s) must be specified without allowing any subcontracting. Also, the company ensures that its suppliers access all the production sites and its staff to ensure continuous improvement. The company should at all times ensure that its suppliers adopt such principles as they deal with their own supplies and also be in a position to demonstrate that they are doing so. The company should support any improvements initiated by the suppliers but should also be quick to take action against those who do not adhere to the principles by canceling their contracts or stopping to trade with it (Rose 2009, 1-3).

For the company to develop success factors in developing successful global outsourcing ventures it may be required to believe, focus, and have ownership. This is possible by commitment from the staff and the management, supporting growth, and strengthening global delivery capabilities. They should also establish a relationship that is based on trust (inter-organizational) and transparency with their suppliers. Secondly, the company should focus on value by first defining concrete and a strong value proposition for services and projects that it selects and then create action plans that can address any perceived barriers. It should also evaluate the operation that is based on cost/performance instead of hourly rates as well as seeking for improved quality of deliverables (DMello 2007, p.4).

In addition, the other important factor of success is vigorous organization and processes. This can be achieved by executing global sourcing initiatives as a program with a long-term road map. A program office should also be implemented for the coordination of the right sourcing program which can push the company in an impartial way concerning the right opportunities of sourcing. Also, the dedicated focus should be ensured on transition and change management, with responsibilities and roles being enforced in the entire company (DMello 2007, p.4).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that Marks & Spencer PLCs success in the retail business has been largely attributed to its policy towards its suppliers which include fair trade, animal welfare, supplier relationships, quality management systems, global sourcing principles and fair-trade. However for the company to adhere to its global sourcing principles and still remain competitive in terms of giving its customers the value they demand, it would have to follow some success factors.

References

Cactus Connects 2009, Marks and Spencers Strategies, Web.

De Mello, R 2007, Global sourcing, Atos origin Nederland, Web.

Marks and Spencer 2008, Ethical trading, Web.

Rose, S 2008, Global sourcing principles, Marks & Spencer, Web.

Schindlmeier, P 2008, Animal welfare: Business principles, Web.

Introduction

Using the balanced scorecard, it is possible for management executives to create a continuous process of implementing strategy in their everyday operations in such a way that there is a perfect integration between the strategies and the operations (Silverthorne, 2008). This should involve regular strategy meetings for senior management, and a proper coordination between the operational plan and the strategy management. As Kaplan and Norton (2002) suggest, the call is for a planned strategy, rather than a focus on the improvement of operations, and they consider the use of the balanced scorecard as the best.

Case A

For the four perspectives of learning and growth, internal business process, customer service and financial returns, objectives are set, measures are and targets are established, and action plans are put into effect. Under a balanced scorecard, causal chains are created that link together the set objectives in such a way that achieving one objective makes it possible to achieve the other, in a series, hence an integration of the causal chains and the strategy. Using Table 1 and Table 2 (Albright, Davis & Hibbets, 2001).

Causal relationships are one of the primary benefits of the balanced scorecard. The causal chains link together the objectives in such a way that achieving one objective makes it possible to achieve another in sequence (Silverthorne, 2008, p.1).

For each of the series of objectives under each of the perspectives, the beginning point is the achievement of objectives in the learning and growth domain which ultimately culminate in the achievement of the objectives in the financial return or effectiveness domain. The achievement of one objective leads to the potential achievement of another such that ultimately one or more of the financial performance objectives are achieved in connection with the objectives and measures in the causal chains. Ideally, in this balanced scorecard, the cause and effect linkages occur in that the improvement of the learning and growth perspectives contribute to improvement of internal business processes which cause an increase in customer values and ultimately the result will be improved financial performance. From the table above, the identified causal chains are explained hereunder.

Employee training hours leads to Employee satisfaction/ Employee turnover which leads to new products introduced hence Customer satisfaction. This chain implies that the main objective to be achieved is the satisfaction of the customer. The measures and actions to be employed would chiefly involve training of the employees which would target the introduction of new products and improve the employee turnover.

Sales calls to potential customers leads to Number of new customers which enables New Loans created/New accounts hence Number of products per customer is improved. This chain simply directs or guides the achievement of the objective for achieving an increased number of products for all customers. The measures and actions employed in achieving this objective would involve creation of new accounts and loans, and this would target mostly the new customers.

Thank you calls and cards to new and existing customers lead to Customer retention/Referrals hence Non-interest income. When thank you calls are made, and thank you cards sent to both existing and new customers, more customers and retained, and these customers will act as referrals, thereby increasing the consumer base, which will ultimately result in increased non-interest incomes. The connection between all these causal chains is that better products will lead to better customers, and better customers will mean better income for the business.

Case B

From Table 3 (Albright, Davi & Hibbets, 2001), which lists the before and after performance of each of the branches of the bank, and the interviews with bank personnel in each of the branches where the system was implemented, a comparative analysis of the balanced scorecard performance in the branches is presented hereunder, for those branches which implemented it and those that did not use the BSC approach. The first five branches of the bank, that is, branches A-E, implemented the balanced scorecard, but branches F-J did not implement it. Nonetheless, each of the braches that implemented the balanced scorecard had their own different style of implementing the balanced scorecard. Indeed, the financial data presented in Table 3 shows that the balanced scorecard was a success.

A general look at Table 3 depicts that all the branches of the bank recorded growth in loans, deposits and incomes, after one year, except for branch G which did not have any difference in the growth of loans, branch F, which had a decreased deposit of -1, branch E, which had a decreased income of -1, and branch H which recorded a decreased income of -3. This shows that most of the companies which employed the balanced scorecard posted better financial performance than their counterparts which did not, and moreover, this was depicted by the average rank determined from averaging the growth loans, the growth deposits and the growth incomes.

The average for branches A-E was 3.80 and that for branches F-J, which did not implement the balanced scorecard. For the branches which did not implement the balanced scorecard, branch J posted the best performance, and was overall ranked at number 4, while the rest performed well below those branches that implemented the integration process.

Besides, the magnitude of improvement also serves to showcase the success of the balanced scorecard after one year of implementation in the different branches of the bank. The highest income growth recorded was 65, which was posted by branch A, while the best income posted by the branches that did not use the balanced scorecard was 18, which shows quite a considerable difference. Although branch E recorded a loss of income for the year, having implemented the balanced scorecard, the most possible explanation would be that the branch had a poor execution of the strategy (Kaplan & Norton, 2001).

The interviews bring out the perception and point out the differences in the implementation of the balanced scorecard. It is clear from the representatives in Branch A that they viewed the balanced scorecard as crucial to their meeting their branch goals, though they were not easy. Among the incentives provided for the employees in these branches included cash bonuses for targets met or exceeded. On the other hand, Branch B viewed the balanced scorecard as a measurement tool for their targets, and again, it was also used in assessing the issuance of bonuses. In branch C, the balanced scorecard was implemented as a unifying tool, enabling employees to work together in achieving their set goals. The incentives offered for this branch upon achievement of the set goals included company parties and day offs.

Branch D applied the balanced scorecard in charting the course of growth for individuals within the company. Consequently, the incentives provide when the set goals were achieved involved a monthly monetary gain as well as other means. In branch E, the balanced scorecard was not well communicated to the employees, and from the interviews presented, the employees did not give it a significant consideration in their business operations. It is reasonable to point out from the interviews presented that the problem could have emerged from the poor execution of the balanced scorecard measures by the management, and a lack of proper incentives to reward the employees in meeting the performance measures. This could be the main reason why branch B had very poor results among all the branches that had implemented the balanced scorecard.

To achieve maximum effectiveness, it is crucial that the board of the bank considers adopting the balanced scorecard for all the branches of the bank, but further ensure that the management has well understood and knows how to implement the balanced scorecard. The board should cultivate a culture that considers execution of the strategies laid out and is performance driven, and most importantly, ensure that the right management team is set to implement the strategies.

References

Albright, T., Davis, S., & Hibbets, A. (2001). Tri-Cities Community Bank: A Balanced Scorecard Case. Strategic Finance, 83(4), 54-60. Web.

Kaplan, R.S., & Norton, D.P. (2001). The strategy focused organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Web.

Kaplan, R.S., & Norton, D.P. (2002). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Boston: Harvard Business Press. Web.

Silverthorne, S. (2008). Executing Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard. Web.

Scope of Inquiry

Risk management, trust, and relationship management are among the tasks requiring unparalleled keenness and attention for commercial and construction industries. Risk management involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating the uncertainties or hazards that deter the focus and objectives of an industry. Processes involved in risk management are critical in construction industries since they entail a myriad of problem-solving techniques and evaluation approaches to alter and minimize harm and adverse scenarios associated with a project. Relationship management creates an understanding of how participants relate and the resultant impact on the success of the organizations project. Trust between the organizations management and project partners contributes toward the effective completion of projects due to open communication. This section focuses on providing a risk, trust, and relationship management assessment report through an evaluation of a strategic commercial contract (SCM) case study. The report focuses on the Cardiff Millennium Stadium as the organization in a predesigned case to evaluate various concepts and aspects associated with trust, risk, and relationship management in a construction paradigm.

Reasons for Choosing the Topic

Effective and successful risk management programs help organizations consider the full range of risks. Risk management examines the underlying relationship between risks and the cascading impact they could have on organizations strategic objectives. Construction projects are subject to the unpredictability of emerging events that might contribute to enormous risks. Therefore, managing risk in construction projects has become a vital milestone in achieving project objectives in terms of cost, time, safety, quality, and environmental sustainability. Risk management studies will significantly aid my future career development as a project risk manager.

Presenting Needs

The pressing need for the Cardiff Millennium project is the risk of financial losses as a result of the underestimated budget that exceeded in different intervals of construction phases. The issue of financial loss was caused by the failure of the primary contractor to deliver the Millennium Stadium Project within the expected timeline and budget estimate. Another pressing issue for the Cardiff Millennium Project is the risk of transferring litigation from the primary contractor to the owner due to the border scandal between CRFC and WRU. This report suggests that the risks of financial losses could have been addressed by hiring financial experts. These professionals provide financial assessments and audits to determine estimated costs against actual expenditures. On the other hand, the problem of border litigation can be addressed by advising Millennium Stadium Plc. to hire independent design consultants for construction projects.

Significant Background Factors

Significant background factors and context to the risk management in the Cardiff Millennium Stadium include evaluation and assessment of appropriate financial and expert audits in financial expenditure and independent design consultants. I aspire to work as a financial risk manager and change organizations risk management approaches to different contracts and projects. I understand that risk management helps contractors to reduce the risk associated with different projects they govern and the risk of financial losses is no exemption. Overall, the risk management topic is essential because it will strengthen my future career development in identifying potential problems before they occur and leveraging losses.

Course Concepts and Models

Literature Review

This section critically identifies and analyses literature on risk management, trust, and relationship management in strategic commercial and contract management. Several articles are examined here to understand what trust, risk management, and relationship management promote in a project, particularly regarding the construction industry. Twelve publications are included in this literature review, addressing risk management, trust, and relationship management. Many publications on the subject were located and classified using Google Scholar based on the three topics mentioned above. The articles were chosen based on their depth and ability to address the inquiry topic.

Risk Management

Sarfraz and Ivascu (2021) define risk management as identifying, assessing, and controlling an organizations capital risks. Effective risk management strategies are essential in allowing project managers to identify the projects strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (Rendon et al., 2017). Corresponding studies by Buganová and `imí
ková (2019) and UrbaDski et al. (2019) state that risk management equips one with the knowledge to plan for uncertainties and unexpected events creating preparedness to respond when they occur. The success of a project is enhanced by defining how to handle potential risks so that problems can be identified and mitigated. Risk management is vital because a projects goals depend on planning, preparation, results, and evaluation that guide the achievement of strategic goals.

Dwivedi (2021) researched the role of stakeholders in enhancing risk management in an organizations project success. The study found that risk management was a collective responsibility of every party in a project milestone to ensure fewer losses in case an unplanned event occurs to the project partners. Hilorme et al. (2019) emphasize collaboration in finding risk-mitigating strategies by stakeholders. Collaboration and sharing of ideas between stakeholders and contractors, therefore, help to assess points of strengths and weaknesses a project could hold and provide a cushioning emergency response. Current research by Sarfaz and Ivascu (2021) on risk management asserts that organizations need to manage risks through the strategic planning of a project. Strategic planning is essential in risk management in preventing the enormous losses usually experienced when an unexpected event occurs at any given phase in a projects lifecycle.

Rendon et al. (2019) researched the benefits of risk management in the strategic management of different projects to understand why projects differ in their success rates. Project contractors and stakeholders from five construction projects were interviewed on how risk management impacted their success. This study revealed that risk management was significant in identifying, evaluating, and mitigating the adverse impact that results from risks that arise in different phases of a project (Rendon et al., 2019). Risk assessment is necessary for contractors and industries to reduce losses that result from uncertainties (Wu et al., 2017). Commercial construction industries, therefore, need to lay down strategic plans that enhance preparedness to handle losses that arise from unexpected events.

Relationship Management

Li et al. (2022) performed research to examine the impact of relationship-related and process-related on the success of a project. The research relied on interviews and richly available literature sources to obtain adequate and relevant information on the impact of relationship management on the success of a project. According to Li et al. (2022), an effective relationship between parties involved in a project is a sure way to transition every phase within a projects lifecycle successfully. Further, the research found that project-related factors such as coordination and communication were deemed of important use between parties in a project for timely response to a given need in a contract. However, this study suggests that there are more effective determinants of a projects success regarding relationship management. Multiple meditations and stimulus-organism-response paradigms also prove effectiveness in a projects success. Thus, a robust relationship between contractors and project partners helps to provide a cohesive environment and open communication in a project (Rajhans, 2018). A healthy relationship between each party in a project helps foster a smooth and successful completion.

Ahmad et al. (2019) aimed to determine the existing relationship between managerial expertise and other project partners to determine a projects success rates, while Briggs (2022) studied project performance. The studies show a strong correlation in communication between managerial expertise and partners for the success of a project. However, the study suggested that relationship management must be backed up by linking the project scope with its success. This link helps to achieve accurate estimates of expenditure and budgeting for a given project (Li et al., 2022). Appropriate action is determined early in every project lifecycle stage when flawless communication exists.

Trust

Trust plays a crucial role in optimizing performance by participants in a project. The research study by Li et al. (2020) shows that trust in a project serves two primary purposes that drive every party toward the primary objective of success. This study reveals that organizations that ensure high trust tend to maintain their focus on what they need without worrying about factors such as safety and security. For this reason, this research not only provides the significance of trust between parties involved in a project but also creates a distracting environment. The aspect of trust, therefore, promotes a positive impact on the general mental status and emotional well-being of parties involved in a project.

A trusted network between project participants helps create a platform through which all members can easily share knowledge. Bhatti et al. (2021) studied the impact of trust between participants on the projects success. The research study collected 175 project team members from different industries to test whether trust played a significant role in ensuring a projects success. The findings were analyzed by structural equation modeling to illustrate behaviors associated with parties involved in a project. The results confirmed that trust between participants in a project mediates a sound relationship between trust and the success of a project. Bhatti (2021) asserts that trust in strategic management helps solve and navigate challenges due to exceptional degrees of transparency in highlighting faults and shortcomings in an organization. Participants in a project need to understand that success is achievable through trust as it facilitates coordination and working together to increase the overall projects success rate.

Emergent Insights and Knowledge

Organizations primary objective and focus are drawn toward successfully establishing a project. Project managers and organizations work effortlessly to ensure success because risks involved in different projects might lead to losses in terms of finance, quality, and competitive advantage of the industry. The concept of trust, risk management, and relationship management in SCM are significant for organizations that deal with construction projects. The construction of the Cardiff Millennium Stadium was impacted by SCM principles of trust, risk management, and relationship management before it could be accomplished. This section analyses the relationship between risk management, trust, and relationship management associated with the construction of Millennium Stadium and how the project partners and participants would have done differently to achieve success.

The construction of the Millennium Stadium was faced with financial risks and transfer of litigation between the contractor and project owner due to border rivalries. These risks slowed down the progress and pace at which the Millennium stadium was expected to be completed (Harris et al., 2021). Principles of risk management state procedures through which risks can be averted (Kim et al., 2021). It further stipulates mitigation procedures that can be followed to reduce the adversity of risk events. Like other projects, the Millennium Stadium suffered the risk of financial losses due to underestimated budget and expenditure costs. The client and the contractor of the Millennium Stadium would have managed the risk of financial losses by deploying expert audits and financial experts. These experts would have helped the Millennium project partners helped in providing financial assessments and determination of accurate expenditures and costs which would have provided strategies to avert risk.

Border disputes could have been solved by employing an independent design consultant. Moreover, assessment and evaluation procedures by risk managers, contractors, and the client could have been done before the construction of the Millennium Stadium. These procedures facilitate the timely attainment of objectives in a contract and reduce costs incurred on a project. Risk management enhances a projects success within the time frame allocated, efficiently predicting possible risks like financial losses.

Trust is an ethical requirement that propels the success of a project in any organization. Thus, a lack of trust between participants in a project may pose risks such as wasting time and resources (Bond-Barnard et al., 2018). The contractor and the client in Cardiff Millennium Stadiums construction lacked trust. As a result, the project was hindered by several drawbacks, including financial losses. The contractors of the Millennium Stadium showcased certain levels of discrepancies in their tendering procedures. For this reason, the trust relationship between the contractor and client in the Millennium Stadium was not established to bring the project success. The contractor and the client could have developed stringent policy frameworks to uphold every participant accountable for malpractices in the project. In addition, the contractor should have developed a framework policy incorporating independent financial auditors in evaluating financial progress.

Relationship management is a strategic factor that helps to build a lasting relationship between organizations. Success is more likely to be achieved in a cohesive and open union than independently and in a loose organization (Kamiya et al., 2021). Various literature has suggested the need for a successful relationship between parties in contract management. The relationship between contractors and clients in the Millennium Stadium was ineffective in helping the project milestones succeed. There was a lack of communication and sharing of knowledge concerning the project from the management. As a result, the collaboration between contractors and the client was insignificant during the project implementation. However, there is more that the parties involved in the project could have done to oversee all stages of the contract to increase efficiency and reduce risk.

Four suggestible steps would have been taken to successfully implement the Millennium Stadium project. These steps would have included connecting change management to the projects goals and successes, making change credible for project leaders and team members, communicating effectively, and proactively addressing concerns in the contract. The role of risk management would have, thus, effectively been played by enabling each team member in the project to become a student of the project.

Due to inefficient risk aversion approaches, drawbacks in projects are not surprising in the current world and the past histories of project implementation. However, available literature by different scholars suggests the need to learn from past experiences and failures to plan for appropriate mitigation ways of managing risk. Hitches showcased in the Millennium Stadium can be reframed to fit into the role played by early strategic planning in organizations. When success objectives are viewed from the strategic perspective, project participants will quickly identify, evaluate, and assess possible harm a risk may cause if not prevented. However, project stakeholders in a contract should focus more on change in management to prevent more delays and waste of time and resources. Risk aversion methods were not easily implemented from past experiences, which posed a great risk to many projects. However, there exist numerous aspects, specifically technology-guided techniques, which manage risk in the world today. Innovation and losses resulting from risk should not be a problem affecting the organizations duties in project management.

The literature review on risk management, trust, and relationship management has promoted the understanding of the critical aspects and concepts in strategic contract management. These principles and concepts direct project managers toward successful implementation (Shamim, 2022). The sources used in this reports literature review have still left some questions unanswered. For instance, ways in which change management is easily implemented in the contract without altering the projects lifecycle to avoid future delays in projects such as the Millennium Stadium. The strategic contract management concept of risk, trust, and relationship ensures full portfolio delivery in its full value, effective team operation, and protection of organizations from potential risks (Shamim, 2022). Organizations, contractors, and clients need to prioritize the role of technology, high-value tasks, and cross-functional collaboration in projects to manage risk effectively. Generally, the literature boosted my past understanding of risk management approaches by deploying risk aversion tools.

Key Learning and Action Points

Lessons Learnt at Individual, Team, and Organization Levels

Strategic contract management is a central part of implementing a projects success. It helps individuals focus on project success and stay guided by various objectives set in a contract (Shamim, 2022). Trust, risk management, and the relationship between the projects team members promote quality work and save time and resources. Assessment of resultant risk in a project in a team helps to share knowledge that contributes towards reduced losses (El-Sayegh et al., 2021). Employers should develop trust as it is an ethical requirement in strategic contract management (Yu et al., 2021). Trust guides leaders to avoid discrepancies in the use of resources, allocation of contracts, and hiring process.

Recommendations at the Individual, Team, and Organizational Levels

The case of the Cardiff Millennium Stadium is a vivid example that brings revelation of the significant lapses in the appropriate tendering and management of projects. However, ineffective communication and understanding of processes involved in the projects lifecycle and success lead to most projects financial losses (Rajhans, 2018). There are numerous potential routes for the implementation of recommendations. These recommendations have a significant impact that varies from individual, team, and organizational levels.

I would recommend that individuals develop positive relationship ties with their fellow project members to enhance collaboration. Leaders should be consistent with their ethical skills that involve trust, communication, and timely sharing of knowledge with their sub-contractors to avoid losses that arise from risks. Partnering teams in a project need to effectively follow the process of systematically and efficiently managing contract execution and analyzing the need to maximize operational and financial performance and minimize risk. Unlike in the past, the role of risk management and mitigation procedures has been simplified, and risks have become manageable with tools such as risk registers and SWOT analysis for businesses and projects. Further, project participants need to enhance social responsibility and collaboration in organizations.

Critical Reflection

Analyzing the relationship between risk, trust, and relationship in the case study of constructing the Millennium Stadium has impacted and developed my competence in managing and mitigating financial risks and losses in the future. This experience has inspired me with a different perspective on how to approach the process involved in managing financial and other future risks. I was inspired by how this assessment shed light on numerous approaches to managing financial loss risks as my future career role. I discovered and learned that I could bring changes in organizations by suggesting appropriate models and principles that reduce the effects of risks.

I will utilize the knowledge I have gained in risk management in my career and daily life, specifically in managing unexpected events such as accidents while touring different places and places of work. This case study has influenced me to develop a positive mentality towards teamwork cooperation, trust between team members, and a healthy relationship between contractors and clients to facilitate projects successes. I look forward to perfecting my skills and role in financial risk management by adapting to modern methods and approaches to managing risks in projects I will be in charge of in my future career.

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Introduction

The work of any business or non-profit organization in the world is set up in order to achieve the established goals (Wang, 2000). Some organizations and enterprises are aimed at making profit of their activities that include sales, promotion, distribution, etc (Wang, 2000).

Others, like for instance the governmental agencies and other non-profit organizations, have their aims in developing the social wellbeing, increasing the standards of living of the countrys citizens, care about the facilitation of the development of social institutions, etc (Cooper, 2005). What unites these processes is that they all are subjected to the concept of risk, i. e. something that might, or might not, happen in a certain moment to affect the organization or its part in a certain way and to a certain extent. Thus, risk management is the paramount task for project managers of any level, especially if the matter concerns the individual level and the points of personal safety, i. e. the level of micro-events.

Project Risk Management

The Project

Thus, to begin the analysis of the project risk management procedures involved to handle the micro-event level, it is necessary to identify a specific small-or medium-size project facing certain risks (Cooper, 2005; Prusak, 2009). For the consideration in this paper I propose to use the example of the innovation project implemented by the PTI Company that deals with providing various informational, software, etc. services to its customers all around the globe (Apgar, 2006).

Being a worldwide company with its branches in various countries, PTI has recently faced the necessity to modernize the system of communication between its employees on all levels of its organizational structure (Prusak, 2009). Thus, ordinary employees, managers, and the executive management of the company have faced the necessity to introduce the new instant messaging system for the internal use in the PTIs offices, so that to ensure the proper coordination of their work and joint attempts to reach the companys goals concerning market development, enlarging its customer base, and facilitating the proliferation of its organizational culture (Apgar, 2006; Cooper, 2005).

The system of instant messaging that PTI Company selected for its internal communication is the so-called QuickTalk allowing its users, as well as numerous other instant messaging systems, to reach any person using a computer at the moment in any place of the world (Apgar, 2006). The scale of the project seems to be huge but the initial stages have been intended for the selected office of PTI in order to monitor the project risks and possible outcomes and to foresee the possibility to implement the project at the larger scale (Apgar, 2006; Prusak, 2009). Needless to say that the project has manifested numerous micro-events that made the project managers in PTI consider project risk management basics more attentively (Cooper, 2005; Turbit, 2009).

Micro-events in the Project Environment

First of all, it is necessary to identify the importance of a micro-event for any project and to define the notion of risk in this context (Prusak, 2009). As far as the individual level of safety is concerned, micro-events are especially important as they happen exclusively at this level of project accomplishment. Individual safety and risk management thus are possible to monitor, measure and facilitate only through the examination of micro-events under the risk (Connley, Rad, & Botzum, 2004).

The latter, in its turn, is defined as the extent to which an undesired loss or any other negative consequence can happen to this or that project (Turbit, 2009). What makes micro-events significant is also their dependency on individuals exclusively. The organization cannot be sure about any detail in the life of any of its employees, while those details can substantially affect the progress of the project in case if they prevent a certain employee from fully participating in the project (Connley, Rad, & Botzum, 2004).

The project by the PTI Company also displays certain micro-events connected with the risk associated with this project. First of all, involving over 50 employees and managers from that particular office of PTI, the project of instant messaging system implementation is associated with the risks of personal micro-events that might include the inability of a person to handle the messaging system implemented, intentional or occasional ignoring of the rules of its handling and operation, ignoring or mere forgetting the demands of the executive management about the strict compliance to those rules, etc (Hillson & Simon, 2007).

Moreover, the personal background issues that an employee might experience in his or her outside-of-office life can prevent him or her from the proper participation in the project and can cause the risks predicted to happen. Drawing from this, it is evident that micro-events in every project can be of two types, i. e. those possible to predict and the ones that are not.

Classification of Micro-events Identified

Predictable Micro-events

First of all, the predictable micro-events are those that the project managers can easily foresee in their project guidelines and take measures beforehand in order to prevent them or to eliminate their consequences at the lowest cost possible (Conrow, 2003).

The examples of such micro-events on the whole include the training of employees to comply to the requirements of a project and strict control over the project implementation as conditioned by the predictability of rules ignoring from employees side, etc (Hillson & Simon, 2007). Concerning the PTI Company project under consideration, the predictable micro-events can include the forgetting of the managerial staff to train the employees in a proper way as for the use of QuickTalk messaging system, the ignoring or careless attitude of workers towards the system, etc (Conrow, 2003).

However, there is another type of the predictable micro-events that concerns the things that the company cannot influence by any means. They include the outside influences upon the employees and managers, family issues, private troubles, etc (Conrow, 2003). Drawing from this, the micro-events of the predictable kind can be further subdivided into two major subtypes that include the micro-events that are in the organizations control and out of it (Connley, Rad, & Botzum, 2004).

For example, in case if the PTI Company develops a plan or project risk management for its instant messaging system implementation, it might foresee both the careless attitudes of its employees and the probability that the latter will be affected by something else outside their jobs (Schuyler, 2001). However, the company can control and influence only the first type of predictable micro-events, while its ability to influence the family issues of employees or solve their psychological issues is way too doubted (Hillson & Simon, 2007).

Unpredictable Micro-events

On the contrary, the micro-events that might happen as risk manifestations to the project and cannot be predicted by project managers in any case are called unpredictable (Turbit, 2009). Their main danger lies in the fact that the project managers cannot prepare their project teams for these micro-events and not always even can eliminate the consequences of the unpredictable micro-events (Schuyler, 2001).

The general examples of the unpredictable micro-events can include the health state of every particular employee that might deteriorate at a certain point of time rather suddenly, the technological complications that an employee might have with either reaching the work place or operating a certain device or software program (Schuyler, 2001). As for PTI Company project, the unpredictable micro-events whose consequences cannot be overcome can be observed in its project as the project manager suddenly fell ill, and the company had to look for the substitute and put the project on hold for some time (Dunbar, 2006).

On the other hand, the unpredictable micro-events that can be fought with include on the whole personal attitudes of employees, their preferences and the extent to which the social opinions and currently dominant trends are affecting their positions (Dunbar, 2006). The project under consideration faces such micro-events as well as the modernization of communication means meets numerous obstacles because the employees and managers can have other preferences as for messaging systems, their conveniences and ease of use (Dunbar, 2006). Faced by such preferences, the project of QuickTalk implementation can be carried out slower than intended a time will be needed to demonstrate the advantages of the system chosen to those who oppose it (Schuyler, 2001; Dunbar, 2006).

Qualitative Micro-event Analysis

Thus, having considered the major risks associated with the project that the PTI Company is currently developing and having examined the major types of micro-events, both predictable and unpredictable, it is possible now to carry out the qualitative analysis of the two predictable micro-events as for the rate of their being risky (Conrow, 2003). To grade the risks of the events chosen, i. e. micro-events that can be both predicted and influenced and those that can only be predicted, it is necessary to understand that there is are four stages included into the risk analysis, as well as four major rates which can be applied to the risks, i. e. low, medium, high, and critical (Turbit, 2009). Moreover, the risks are also analyzed according to their probability and seriousness of their impact (Turbit, 2009).

Thus, the micro-events in PTI project include both predictable only and predictable and solvable events. This is due to the fact that no project manager is able to foresee everything, and even is he or she does, it is impossible to affect any event, because such occurrence as death of a relative or a quarrel with a husband cannot be changed by the project manager (Conrow, 2003; Kendrick, 2003). However, such items as careless attitude to work, ignoring of the CEOs requirements as for the project, etc. can and must be affected by the project managers as these are the factors that undermine the whole project and the joint strategic aims of the whole company (Wang, 2000).

Quantitative Micro-event Analysis

The analysis of the unpredictable micro-events should be quantitative as far as the losses that the PTI Company might suffer because of them can be rather considerable (Noller, 2007). For example, the already mentioned deterioration of the employees health state cannot be predicted and by far cannot be affected through any possible means by the company (Noller, 2007; Jutte, 2009). Drawing from this, the basics of predictability are put into the issues of health insurance in numerous companies, which makes it easier for the companies to fight such unpredictable micro-events happening to any of the individuals the company employs ( Jutte, 2009; Kendrick, 2003).

The same can be said about the technologically conditioned micro-events, for example the ones concerning with the lack of IT education of employees or purely mechanical contingencies that include car break up, etc (Kendrick, 2003).

On the other hand, if the unpredictable micro-events belong to the class of those whose effects can be overcome and eliminated, they include such points as the shift in personal preferences conditioned by the social influence and the currently dominated phenomena (Kujawski, 2002).

For example, in case if an employee is interested in the information technology development, he or she might consider the QuickTalk instant messaging system to be outdated or inconvenient and this might result in his or her reluctance to do their best for the success of the project. Thus, the company can influence this attitude of the employee by demonstrating the advantages that then messaging system might bring to the companys work (Kujawski, 2002). As well, the project managers and the CEO of the PTI Company might just insist on the employees conformity to the companys demands in respect of the project in accordance with the PTI recruitment policy and organizational culture (Hillson & Simon, 2007).

Statement of Work Carried Out

Thus, it is evident that the thorough consideration of the major risks and micro-events connected with them, which is presented in this paper, became possible only after the hard work on both analyzing the secondary sources providing the theoretical information on the topic of risks management and considering the primary data from the PTI Company concerning its project of implementation the QuickTalk instant messaging system.

The works consulted for the completion of this work include the book dedicated to the topics of risk management (Apgar, 2006; Connley, Rad, & Botzum, 2004; Conrow, 2003; Cooper, 2005), as well as report and articles (Cooper, 2003; Kujawski, 2002; Noller, 2007) and reputable online resources (Dunbar, 2006; Jutte, 2009; Prusak, 2009; Turbit, 2009). Therefore, this paper can be considered a well-documented and research-supported work on the topic or risk management and its individual level including the micro-events happening in it.

Conclusions

To make the respective conclusion to this paper, it is necessary to state that what unites the processes of activity of business and non-profit organizations is that they all are subjected to the concept of risk, i. e. something that might, or might not, happen in a certain moment to affect the organization or its part in a certain way and to a certain extent. Thus, risk management is the paramount task for project managers of any level, especially if the matter concerns the individual level and the points of personal safety, i. e. the level of micro-events. Understanding the differences between predictable and unpredictable micro-events, project risk managers can easily analyze them and modify their policies so that to face risks with the greater degree of preparedness.

Reference List

Apgar, D 2006 Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Dont Know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Connley, W, Rad, A and Botzum, S 2004 Integrated Risk Management Within NASA Programs/Projects, in Space Systems Engineering and Risk Management, Manhattan Beach, CA.

Conrow, EH 2003 Effective Risk Management: Some Keys to Success. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Cooper, DF et al. 2005 Project Risk Management Guidelines: Managing Risk in Large Projects and Complex Procurements. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley.

Cooper, LP 2003 Assessing Risk from a stakeholder perspective, in IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky MT.

Dunbar, B 2006 Independent Program Assessment Office. Web.

Hillson, D and Peter Simon. 2007, Practical Project Risk Management: The ATOM Methodology. Management Concepts.

Jutte, B 2009, 10 Golden Rules of Project Risk Management, Projectsmart. Web.

Kendrick, T 2003 Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-proofing Your Project. New York, NY: AMACOM.

Kujawski, Edouard. 2002 Why Projects Often Fail Even with High Cost Contingencies. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA. 28.

Noller, D. 2007 Prime Value Method to Prioritize Risk Handling Strategies, in: INCOSE Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Prusak, L 2009, Risk, Ask Magazine Archive. Web.

Schuyler, J 2001 Risk and Decision Analysis in Projects. Project Management Institute.

Turbit, N 2009, Risk Management Basics, Project Perfect. Web.

Wang, JX 2000 What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker.

The role of a human resource department manager reaches beyond mere handling of employee issues. It deals with high-rank decision-making due to the cooperation with the leadership on the proper organizational policy aimed at employee management. One of the pivotal aspects of enhancing company performance is the use of up-to-date, effective talent management approaches based on the recruitment, development, and retention of the most competent, effective workers driven by performance excellence that is available in the talent market. Since hierarchical decision-making is bound to the views of the leaders of a company, it is essential that the human resource manager is capable of explaining the relevance of talent management practices to the head of a company.

When attempting to explain how to use talent management to the head of a company, one should start with the validation of its importance. Indeed, the importance of talent management has been researched and argued for by many scholars and human resource management professionals. Indeed, according to Hongal and Kinange (2020), talent is a primary source of competitive advantage for todays corporate world (p. 64). Companies in the modern business sphere compete over people possessing particular sets of knowledge and skills, which builds their long-term capacity of striving for development, achievement of competitive advantages, and finding innovative solutions. Overall, the rise in knowledge economy has resulted in more focus on acquiring and retaining talented workforce (Hongal & Kinange, 2020, p. 64). Thus, it is essential to employ and retain talented workers if a company is interested in improving its performance since the performance of one worker contributes to the opportunity to achieve the general company goals.

Given the clarity of the importance of talent management for a company, the human resource manager might focus on the possible ways of using this approach to improve the companys performance in the long run. The first aspect of the proper use of talent management is qualitative recruitment. As stated by Hongal and Kinange (2020), talent should match job requirement and must be possible to achieve strategic goal of organization (p. 65). Indeed, an organization should not merely fill vacant job positions but emphasize the quality of the prospective employees skills and knowledge, as well as psychological attributes that would facilitate their ability to fulfill their role. Moreover, in the context of talent shortage and a high level of competition for a talented workforce, the recruitment stage should be focused on deliberate search and attraction of workers with multitasking capabilities (Hongal & Kinange, 2020). Such an approach will allow for covering multiple needs of an organization with fewer individuals contributions while ensuring that the quality of their performance will match the requirements of an organization.

The second method of using talent management to improve organizational performance should be a succession management plan. In particular, this approach implies that a company might already have employees with the proper characteristics for filling vacant positions in other departments. It is essential to invest in talent development and focus on internal recruitment via succession planning (Hongal & Kinange, 2020). When turning to the internal workforce with the aim of advancing their career opportunities or transferring them within the structure of the company, an employer benefits in terms of minimizing costs for introductory training and facilitating an engaged and loyal workforce.

The third aspect is closely linked with the second one and addresses the education and professional development provided by an employer. According to research, in-company or on-work training and career advancement opportunities inside the company stimulate talent retention and allow for improving the knowledge, skills, and performance level of the employees (Hongal & Kinange, 2020). Furthermore, as informed by statistics, one of the most influential reasons for employee turnover is the lack of learning opportunities (Hongal & Kinange, 2020). For that matter, education, and training serve not only as a means of talent development but also as a retention-reinforcing strategy, which is essential for sustainable and long-term human resource management. Thus, a company should invest in the continuous growth of the individual strengths of each employee, thus building their competence and expertise, which will return in the form of improved company performance.

Finally, a general and holistic approach to talent management that should be seriously considered is the development and implementation of a talent acquisition plan. As stated by Hongal and Kinange (2020), Talent acquisition takes a long-term view of not only filling positions of today but also identifying talents for future openings (p. 66). Indeed, when using this approach, the company should focus on the mapping of talent needs in a long-term perspective and improving the current talent. In addition, it should bridge the gap between the existing level of workforce competence and the needed one for the respective industries in the future and manage risks and barriers on the way to achieving plan objectives (Hongal & Kinange, 2020). In such a manner, the management of talent inside the company will be holistic and thorough, which will create a professional culture prioritizing performance excellence.

References

Hongal, P., & Kinange, U. (2020). A study on talent management and its impact on organization performance-an empirical review. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research, 10(1), 64-71.

Introduction

Managing money, personal, family, or invested in a business is significant work in every persons life. In some cases, managing personal finances causes difficulties and subsequent stress, negatively affecting psychological and financial well-being. For this reason, money management skills are of critical importance. This paper includes a review of the article on beliefs about money, which affects life, and an analysis of the authors finances.

Article Review

The authors of the article consider the attitude of people to money and attempt to create Klontz  Money Script Inventory (MSI) to evaluate money beliefs. Klontz et al. (2011) note that beliefs significantly determine the behavior of a person with money. At the same time, these beliefs are often unconscious, transmitted in families, develop in childhood, and can cause money disorders (Klontz et al., 2011). Personal well-being depends more not on the amount of money but on the attitude to them and the ability to use them; therefore, the acquisition of money management skills is critical.

The proposed MSI should help identify destructive attitudes that hinder the achievement of financial goals. The authors identified four main behavior patterns based on different beliefs: money avoidance, money worship, money status, and money vigilance (Klontz et al., 2011). There are destructive aspects leading to anxiety or stress in each of these scripts. For example, with avoidance, people believe that they do not merit their money or that money is destructive. With status, self-esteem depends on the amount of money, which causes excessive spending and subsequent problems. Timely detection of a tendency to a particular harmful pattern can help change the attitude to financial issues and improve well-being.

Budgeting Worksheet

Budgeting Analysis

Based on the income and expenses presented, I can analyze my financial situation. My non-negotiables include rent costs and taxes deductible from my wages. My net earnings after paying taxes are $2.932.93, and after paying rent, I have $1.532.93 left at my disposal. Significant waste goes to bad debt  the credit card fee is $500, and I do not have good debt yet. Since it is crucial for me to pay bad debt, I cannot reduce its cost, and after paying credit cards, I have $1.032.93 left. My flexible expenses include categories of food and others, the latter covers clothing, entertainment, irregular coffee-to-go, and similar costs. I indicated my maximum possible costs in these areas, and their total amount is $800, but in some months may decrease. As a result of all incomes and expenses, about $230 should remain at my disposal every month.

Highlighting the main points in my expenses, I want to note that payment of rent, food, and credit card bills is a priority. Housing and food provide my basic needs, and paying for loans is necessary since they can cost more in the long run. Planning my budget, I can use the available $200 to create emergency reserves and savings to achieve my goals. I can also review the costs of Others  part of them to reduce or redistribute to something that will support my values. My budget plan should therefore extend the table to include planning.

Conclusions

Money management is a critical skill, which will help improve financial well-being and reduce the stress associated with money. Family habits significantly influence behavior with money, and some of them can be harmful. For this reason, people need to determine their attitude toward money and learn how to manage it. Establishing a budget through analysis and prioritization, creating reserves, and paying debts are essential steps.

Reference

Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., & Mentzer, J. (2011). Money beliefs and financial behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2(1), 1-22. Web.

Introduction

Knowledge management (KM) simply refers to an area of study that promotes an integrated move towards identifying, examining, obtaining, and distributing an organizations precise and tactic knowledge resources to meet its mission targets. It involves leveraging knowledge to optimize managerial efficacy and competence. On the other hand, knowledge management institutionalization (KMI) involves the process of changing the outcome of previous KM projects into a set of organizational, strategic and logical institutional activities. The process of successfully institutionalizing KM programs involves almost an entire transformation of the institutions processes, culture and employees personalities (Koenig & Srikantaiah, 2004). However, it involves two basic steps made up of, constructing KM vision, and creating KM guidelines with the key scientific and managerial components to be improvised. In fact, Leidner and Alavi (2001) simplify KM as a process of knowledge creation, storage and retrieval, application, and transfer. Discussed below are the possible programs that were be institutionalized by the missionaries of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in Malaysia to realize the efficient implementation of the KM strategies for sufficient KM.

Discussions

In order to, sufficiently institutionalize the knowledge management strategies in the Malaysian Church, missionaries for the migrant workers implemented the following KM strategies. First, we were involved in the activities of realigning the Church budget and structure that included the following tasks; we decided to organize active evangelistic campaigns for the migrant workers involving them in ministerial efforts for the humble and poor employees. These activities were aimed at providing financial support to ease the economical crisis that the UMC in Malaysia underwent. However, the whole process was met with many obstacles including, inadequate personnel, and a lack of incentives and donations to the workers by the church management. At this stage, it was vital to link all the knowledge management projects (KMP) with the church logic units, for instance, the bible study groups (BSGs) were created in line with the church requirements (Krogh, Ochijo & Nonaka, 2000). These bible study groups assisted the church through numerous ways including, acting as a direct link between the church management and their members and creating outreach projects that led to an increase in the number of believers hence, increasing the economical power of the UMC in Malaysia.

As the UMC leaders in Malaysia, we sat down and formulated policies that were designed to improvise the budget and to help in the payment of the knowledge management efforts within the Church. For example, the Church came up with a leadership-training program that was meant to teach the migrant workers four applicable leadership training including, computer technological advancements, behavioral and cultural citizenship, outreach ministries and English language communication (Davenport, De Long, & Beers, 1998). These programs were designed to increase the disciples leadership capabilities, especially in the bible study groups. These policies met many challenges mainly from the local Malaysian community because most of these training was new to them therefore, they received lots of criticism from a section of the locals who were strict observers of their socio-cultural ways of living; it was hard for them to abandon their native languages for the sake of studying English. This prompted the leaders to develop many infrastructures and plans including, projects and local applications (Koenig & Srikantaiah, 2004). For instance, the United Methodist Church in Malaysia formulated a number of policies to fight the social injustices including, emotional and economical support to the victims of the prevalent human trafficking in Malaysia, preaching and sending messages of hope to the prisoners in jails, outreach ministries to condemn the daily evils like corruption, harassment, rapes and many others. These strategies helped the church to sell its reputation and plans for the people of Malaysia hence reducing the levels of hostility amongst the locals.

The Church leaders played a very important role in the implementation of the UMC policies in that, they enhanced skill-building and management costs in the church by advising the church to institute other educational facilities including, computer classes for the migrant workers in Seremban, prayers and bible study cells, communal worship and baptismal classes for the new church members. These activities were meant to boost the knowledge levels of their subjects and to help the knowledge management force to work smoothly in the church by adding knowledge distribution objectives to performance assessment (Goldsmith, Morgan &Ogg. 2004). To institutionalize the knowledge management initiatives, the Church leaders decided to support institutional legitimization by connecting the knowledge management project with the mission plan of the church, with a key aim of cooperating with different cultures in the church services to expand the church in Malaysia. The church missionary leaders also decided to allocate decision rights to knowledge groups in the church, for example, the bible study group was authorized to conduct their devotions even in prison cells. This, in turn, led to a rise in the employees knowledge-based competition attesting to their autonomy hence, enhancing theirs KM capabilities in the church (Cohen, Spreitzer & Ledford, 1996). In fact, Duguid and Brown (1991) argue that for organizations and communities to function efficiently, the leaders must support and legitimize the performances of various organizational activities by their members, and support sober decisions made by their staff, leaders and employees.

Another important strategy involved the development of clear communication strategies between the church leaders and the members in Malaysia. This made the employees and missionaries view and appreciate how knowledge was managed within the church and the passage of communication. The management decided to involve the use of print media including, use of brochures, newsletters, booklets and magazines to communicate the church goals, mission and developmental progress in Malaysia. The strategies included the use of elaborate surveys, interviews and workshops to enhance proper information gathering concerning the church growth (Prusak & Davenport, 1998). As knowledge management practitioners, the church leaders should be very keen when using the existing processes since, the organizational missions always tend to communicate existing features, organizational units and communicating tools while each leader is always tasked to chip in with new Knowledge managerial skills in the church.

Conclusion

Institutionalizing knowledge management, therefore, involves effectively controlling and allocating authority on the KM projects; it obviously rises above enabling knowledge groups and right decision-making to the ability of the Malaysian UMC leaders to absorb brand new practices used to expand the church membership by carefully designing numerous knowledge groups and decision rights. It is also crucial that, as a leader, you check the internal and external environmental factors affecting the execution of knowledge management strategies, and understand all the knowledge management initiatives and construct competent series of actions for victorious knowledge management institutionalization.

References

Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. (2001). Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues. 25: pg. 107-136.

Beers, M. C., Davenport, T. H., & De Long, D. W. (1998). Successful knowledge management projects. Sloan Management Review. 39: pg. 43-57.

Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organizational Science. 2: pg. 7-40.

Cohen, G. S., Ledford, G. E., & Spreitzer, G. M. (1996). A predictive model of self-managing Work Team Effectiveness, Human Relations. 49: pg. 643-676.

Goldsmith, M., Morgan, H., & Ogg, A. (2004). Leading Organizational Learning: Harnessing The Power Of Knowledge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Koenig, M., & Srikantaiah, T. (2004). Knowledge Management Lessons Learned; What Works And What Doesnt. Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Krogh, G., Ochijo, K., & Nonaka, I. (2000). Enabling knowledge Creation. London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Prusak, L., & Davenport, T. H. (1998). Working Knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Introduction

The first step of a performance management process is establishing standards for employees accountability and authority. This includes setting expectations and guidelines to ensure that employees understand their roles, responsibilities, and expected performance within the organization (Allen, 2022). Additionally, the levels of authority set up a structure to give employees a better understanding of their roles and limits. The second step is creating a code of conduct which outlines rules and regulations that employees must follow to maintain ethical and professional standards in the workplace. The code of conduct should be communicated to employees and kept up-to-date to ensure that all employees are aware of the expectations and regulations.

Main body

The third component of a performance management process is performance assessments. This involves assessing an employees performance regularly, such as through reviews, evaluations, and surveys. Performance assessments help to identify areas of improvement, areas of strength, and areas of weakness in an employees performance (Allen, 2022). These assessments allow organizations to ensure that their employees are meeting the standards set for them and can also provide feedback to employees on how to improve their performance.

The fourth element of a performance management process includes establishing standards of work philosophy and individual assessment techniques. This requires organizations to create a set of values and expectations to direct employees in their work and to assess each employees performance against these standards (Allen, 2022). Moreover, it ensures that employees are acting in line with the organizations values and goals and that they are meeting the objectives they have set for themselves.

Conclusion

The fifth and sixth components of a performance management process are developing employee-centered performance measures and setting rewards and benefit levels, respectively. For the former, this involves creating a variety of methods to measure an employees performance, such as through key performance indicators, customer satisfaction surveys, and productivity reports, so that organizations can understand how their employees are performing about the organizations goals and objectives (Allen, 2022). For the latter, this requires providing recognition and incentive programs for employees who demonstrate outstanding performance, such as monetary bonuses, recognition awards, or other forms of reward (Allen, 2022). This is an effective way to motivate employees and encourage them to strive for excellence in their work.

Reference

Allen, F. (2022). Performance management. Murphy & Moore Publishing.

Derivatives and Risk Management in Corporate Finance

In the corporate finance, there are two thematic structures to be presented in order to foster the understanding and application of management principles in the physical context. There is the use of the term derivative and the other one being risk management which together are dependent on one another and meant to create meaning in the modern field of finance and to enhance financial knowledge among adults. Basically, the two parts are supported on strategy and the asset structure.

In the corporate world, having money or assets is not the end of matter; the management of this matter is of paramount importance in defining its sustainability or even an organization as a whole. According to Ross et al. (2009), derivative first used in financial aspect by Mark Rubinstein in 1976 was confined to options alone but later on given a new meaning as a financial agreement or contract whose value is dependent on the price of the underlying asset. Again, in this context the term option is also presented but diversely expressed on the basis of a price depending on whatever is already there, the structure of an asset and its future survival, the strategy for monitoring it.

Due to this, the term derivative has become part and parcel of the business world to help in proper management contrary to what was initially misconstrued as a financial instrument of the devil (Pablo, 2006). A 2003 report by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) indicated that for a long time, derivatives were not a preference of the corporate world but which now over 90% of the major financial companies cannot do without (Pablo, 2006). The reason is that its inception engineered good financial practices which in return contributed to the blossoming of corporations by giving them an assurance over a wide range of risks encountered in day-to-day business.

In this regard Pablo (2006) notes that most new commodities in the world market have now been designed with corporate needs in mind and which behooves every adult to understand. This is a form of risk management since it acts as a contract between two parties as a guarantee. This is a crucial instrument that every adult must understand. According to Troy (2006), the greatest danger faced by adults in the modern world is lack of knowledge about corporate finance. In the streets are many people with different perceptions of the financial practices for which even the aspect of guarantee offered amidst good practices is bleaker but not lacking. Perhaps, the key problem has been the misunderstanding of the term risk management before coming to grips with the derivatives as its endpoint.

Risk Management

Risk management, a term traditionally used only when attempting to identify and manage the inevitable which could hamper a business process or even lead to the downfall of an organization is all knew to most adults. It has largely been used when focusing on matters related to insurance as a tool for compensation in the event a threat strikes big financial companies but not individual assets. Risk management is about assets irrespective of corporate views or individual interests. So, here again, the asset management is also seen as two fold in approach in the sense that it lingers round both the options and the future of the underlying asset; there is the aspect of both strategy and structure as compensatory policies. According to Barry (1997), the task of risk management therefore depends on the understanding of the why and the how of it before undertaking the process. The why in this case is what basically defines risk management in a wider sense as the overall corporate strategy; one that provides a crucial balance between assets and strategy on one side and capital structures on the other.

On the other hand, the how in risk management relates with the key understanding of derivatives as an agreement between two parties whose value is determined by the price of something also referred to as the underlying. It is the epitome of risk management that addresses two parties with respect to the future of the underlying and thus the key compensatory element which every adult needs to understand in the changing times of technological innovations marked with the fluctuations in the exchange rates (Pablo, 2006). The corporate financial engineering faces the twin challenges with regard to the best option consideration amidst income volatility and the changing times and which in this case refers to valuation. The why and how are no a stand-alone principles since each implies the other on the basis one begins the process and the other ends it to give hope to those party to the contract. From the definition of corporate finance as an area of finance that handles financial policies made by an organization or corporations by use of tools and analyses, there is one fundamental point to take into consideration. Corporate finance exists as an entity in a society where business is taking place with the various classes of people around.

Therefore, in talking about tools and analyses, attention should focus largely on sound management practices for both the intermediaries (dealers) and the end-users of these derivative instruments. That too depends on the choice of derivatives to use in expediting a contract. This varies from factors contingent with the underlying in terms of relation with the derivative, its type, market type where the contract is carried out and the mode of payment that guarantees some premium or else bound to criticism because of notable losses in situations of lack of preparedness (Troy, 2006).

Choice of Derivatives for Use

A very necessary tool for risk management is the choice of the derivative to be used. Every adult is not endowed with the same asset and therefore the choice of derivative, which at some point may not be influenced by the exchange rates or currencies, is a buttress of hope in the risk management strategy. As a financial contract between two parties contingent with the underlying, derivatives come in different forms but for the same reason, security. However, the choice depends on certain factors which must be taken into consideration in order to facilitate risk identification and quantification

First and foremost, there must be a relationship between the derivative and the underlying which may be short term assets or even long term assets. One must be able to identify the most appropriate derivative as a principle in risk management (Ross et al., 2009). Among these derivatives are found swaps, options, and futures among others. What determine the swap are the different rates of exchange where the owner is authorized by options with no obligation to transact an asset through buying or selling. The other determinant of the swap is the standardized contract referred to as future which allows an asset to be transacted even before maturity of the time specified but at the current price.

The type of underlying is a key to proper identification and quantification of risk issues. It can be long term or short term where for instance derivatives on interest rate which can be used as a credit swap transfer between the buyer and the seller. On the other hand, market type where the trading takes place is also important. For example, the largely unregulated OTC (over the counter) derivatives which are traded directly independent of a dealer may be long on promises but short in performance which may end up inviting criticisms. The exchange-traded derivative where derivative instruments are distinctively applicable for transparency and security may be appropriate.

Mode of payment is important, where in the active world of derivative markets, the derivatives have remained neutral on their own until when put to use. Finally, knowledge of the underlying is very important. This is also the most overlooked area in the choice of derivatives and where most contracts have only benefited one side. The process of valuation of non-linear commodities has seen many people enter into a contract by trials largely because of poor education. Education here is not limited to class work but field exposure. As a matter of fact, the problem has been found not to be with the derivatives but the peoples use of the derivative instruments.

Educating Adults

Education of the people is a very important aspect in meeting the needs of the changing world. It is notably right to say that people have great assets everywhere and the corporate finance is better placed to manage all these. The implementation of risk management policies requires an ongoing reflective process in which there are key reminders of the new policies and their application in the changing world of technological innovations (Troy, 2006). Most adults or generally most people in the corporate world earlier referred to intermediaries cannot identify risks or even quantify them. Asset growth and continuing technological developments need to revolutionized risk management strategies but which is contrary to the expectation due to lack of knowledge on the use of derivative instruments.

Derivative as a by-product of the corporate finance has seen an increment in asset volatility and led to a corresponding increase in demand for risk management strategies. This demand is reflected in the growth of financial derivatives from the standardized exchange-traded derivatives to the larger over-the-counter (OTC) systems of the old (Barry, 1997). In the process of all these, there is need for better methods which can easily be understood by most people opting for the easier way out.

Strategy: Value at Risk (VaR)

The guiding principle here should be based on recorded statistics by management. Most risk management firms tend to use derivatives but with great failure due to proper strategy. There have been several great losses experienced by dealers and end-users. According to Pablo (2006), a factor that has contributed to these losses was lack of coordination in corporations. Moreover, there has been an excessive risk-taking backed by insufficient understanding of the choice of the derivative for the asset. These two notable failures serve as a reminder of the importance of strategy associated with risk management as earlier stated that risk management strategy is about corporate strategy which must be established to identify, measure, monitor, and control exposure. Therefore, derivatives as devices for risk management must first and foremost be managed from a corporate perspective. According to Troy (2006), it is important to have a corporate culture where all values such as believes and rituals are considered in order to come up with a viable mission statement.

Financial derivatives as instruments that primarily derive their stock of meaning from the performance of the underlying must be used with great precision. There have been several widely publicized reports on large derivative losses experienced by banks and corporations because of identifying and assessing risks as a bloc and not each risk separately (Barry, 1997). Contributing to these losses therefore were inadequate board and senior management oversight, excessive risk-taking, insufficient understanding of the products, and poor internal controls and hence a battle of minds and hearts.

Therefore, a most viable and practical strategy should be one that does not entail mutual exclusiveness of the events; the choice of derivatives and the use of the choice should not cancel out each other but instead should imply the other. As a concept of corporation then, the Value at Risk (VaR), a name of a risk management by which senior management can be informed through a single number is necessary (Ross et al., 2009). Earlier, we noted in risk management that the how is as important as the why. But now, with the growing number of dealers everywhere, the only acceptable standard for measuring exposure to financial price risks is only through the use of VaR. This is a system which is now everywhere but still not with every person. For this reason there is absolutely a great need to deal with both the dealers and the end-users not only from the standpoint of financial transactions but through exposure to sound management practices.

Therefore, as we look keenly on the corporate culture, there is also a need to have a financial culture in which the intermediaries and the end-users undergo financial drilling to help guide in matters of risk management (Ross et al., 2009). Valuation is a key to success if derived from mutual understanding since risks associated with derivatives are neither new nor exotic. Mutual understanding here implies that not all transactions can be carried out by the intermediaries but that at certain instances the end-users which in this case are adults can decide to transact a derivative as a substitute for cash. In this regard, there are two types of end-users or adults who need this education: there are those who are referred to as active position-takers and will have preference for derivatives relative to their total asset size. There are also those who are referred to as limited end-users and whose main aim is to use derivatives as an investment option or as a way of managing risks using structured notes. These two need to be empowered to make informed decisions in line with their choice.

One point we cannot deny at this point is that both the active-position takers and the limited end users have in various circumstances incurred great unrecorded losses for which some have described them as rogue traders (Troy, 2006). But this should not be blamed on them but rather the use of derivative devices either presented to them or made to sound like a notion by the corporate world. Thus they are rogue traders because there were rigged policies which did not match the derivatives or the risk to be managed. Using VaR as a strategy then will help highlight loss recovery and enhance exposure stabilization. The strategy in risk management that is implemented as well as developed in order to stabilize the cost of the yield is know as stabilizing the exposure.. It helps as a recovery tool and which in this case is a compensatory element, a characteristic we discovered is with the derivatives. Therefore, in thinking about structure which is to be managed, strategy is the endpoint of all happenings. Most adults have structures, some are over-structured but managing them using defined strategies will not only enhance the corporate finance from achieving its goals of 100% derivative compliance but will also empower people to make informed choices when undertaking any derivative as an instrument in risk management.

References

Barry L. (1997). Risk management of financial derivatives. Darby, PA: Diane Publishing books.

Pablo T. (2006). Corporate derivatives: Practical insights for real-life understanding. London: Risk Books.

Ross, S., Westerfield, R.W., Jaffe, J.F., & Jordan, B. D. (2009). Corporate finance: Core principles & applications. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Troy A. (2006). Corporate finance demystified. New York: McGraw-Hill.

According to Marion (2002), project management is an activity that is concerned with organization and its processes. It is more commonly associated with applications in computer engineering and information technology. The process of project management entails the management of resources and teams that are involved in the project this assists the project managers to utilize the resources and personnel as required which finally leads to achievement of the project goals within the scheduled financial constraints (Marion 2002).

Project management is believed to have developed a few decades ago. It is believed to have been developed in the early 1960s and it is normally associated with the earlier projects such as the construction of ancient Egyptians pyramids that are believed to have been constructed 4500 years ago, construction of numerous transcontinental railways during the 19^th century, construction of permanent buildings of different sizes that were complex and meant for the mankind occupancy. Being an important field project management developed from several fields of application. It is believed that the two founders of project management in the United States were Henry Gantt who is believed to be the founder of planning and control methods and also the founder of the bar chart as one of the key project management tool (Spinner 1997).

According to Scott (2005), Gantt carried out a lot of studies which had great details on the order of operations in work place. Gantt made a thorough analysis of his studies from which he established that gantt charts are useful tools that can be used to complete any form of project work when combined with task bars and milestones markers that outlines the series and period which project tasks can be accomplished. Scott further argues that Gantt charts diagrams after their development became more powerful and critical tools for the managers which have been in use for the past years until update in early 1990s where new developments have been added that depict existing dependencies between the tasks (Scott 2005).

According to Spinner Henri Fayol is believed to be the former founder of the six management functions that form the background knowledge in the field of project management. In addition Spinner further notes that Henri Fayol used his knowledge to apply his scientific reasoning to project tasks such as steel mills, shoveling sand, lifting and moving parts from which he analyzed that production could be improved through employee hard work and employees working for a longer period of time. Furthermore Grant, Fayol, Taylor and others lead to the evolution of management business functions that recognized project management as an important discipline in development of projects (Spinner 1997).

According to George (1997), Gantt and Fayol were believed to have been the first to use the earlier theories of scientific management of Frederick Winslow Taylors which were useful in the development of project management industry. These theories were more significant to Grant especially during his studies on the efficient management of the Navy ship building. George argues that the work of Gantt was the originator of numerous modern projects and the modern project management tools among them Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which assists managers to effectively allocate resources to the projects (George 197). After these developments many businesses and organizations began to utilize the knowledge project management in their projects which was done by effective organization of work through critical communication by managers to the team members as well as integration of work across all the multiple departments in the organization. Prior before the development of these events in 18^th century two elements scope and cost control were developed which were used by managers to achieve deadlines since by that time management lacked effective measurement and the control processes were not effective at that time(Scott 2005).

The year 1950s marked a new start for further developments to the modern project management discipline. In the United States before the year 1950s all the projects were managed in a disorderly manner where mostly Gantt charts and other techniques and tools of project management were used. During this time the first project of science addition was initiated by Kelley and Walker that marked the path which led to the development of Critical Path Method (CPM).The critical path method was developed through a joint venture by two famous corporations which were DuPont Corporation and Remington Rand Corporation. The development of critical path method marked a new beginning in the field of project management since it became a useful tool for project managers used for administration and preservation of plant projects (George 1997).

George (1997) argues that the tools and techniques established quickly became useful among the industries as well as for business managers since it provided new ways of managing the projects as the tools were used as a means for managing high organization growth in the rapidly varying competitive world. After the world war second the projects became so complex due to the shrinking war which caused the war-time labour supply to increase which caused high demanded for new organizational structures. More complex network diagrams were introduced with the view of enabling managers to easily control the massive engineered and extreme complex projects such military weapon systems which normally have a greater number of tasks and interactions (George 1997).

Furthermore during the year 1956, some project management founders decided to form an association called American Association of Cost Engineers now called AACE international. AACE since its establishment has continued with its pioneering work to ensure further developments in the field of project management update when recently in 2006 it developed the first integrated process which help managers in the development of projects since managers use it as a tool for portfolio evaluation, program management overall referred to as Total Cost Management Framework this makes the process of project development easier and effective (Marion 2002).

The approval meeting that approved for funding of this project was done in Newark Delaware on 7th of May 1957.After the establishment of the Critical Path Method in 1969, Dr Martin Bames of the United States developed the first iron triangle of time, cost and output after which he also developed course of Time and Money that was used in contract control. During this period one more mathematical project was developed which was Program Evaluation and Review Technique or sometimes called PERT that was developed by Lockheed Corporation Polaris missile which by that time it was a submarine a program developed in the united states as part of the Navy ship that was being constructed. These techniques quickly became useful among the many private enterprises that used them to organize their daily tasks and helped them manage work teams easily (George 1997). Many developments occurred in project management after these events (George 1997).

According to Spinner the year 1969, marked another development in the field of project management. The Project Management Institute (PMI) was established which had its focus to ensure further developments in the field of project management industry. In addition to this in the year 1981, the PMI board developed a guide which was known as A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which contains the principles and procedures governing the practice of project management. The body of knowledge was established later which contained the nine key areas of project management knowledge and project activity processes of developing a project (Scott 2005).

After these developments project management has become part of business and a tool through which functional parts of an organization are brought together with an aim of achieving specific goals or projects. This approach has become so important in the modern projects with many businesses evolving with different models but sharing a common underlying structure which mostly applies to larger businesses. The project management has became useful to project managers since they can easily put together all the work teams and at the same time ensure proper integration and communication of the work horizontally across the different departments (Dennis 2007).

References

Marion E. Haynes (2002), Project Management: Practical tolls for success; Published by Cengage Learning, 3rd edition.

George J. Ritz (1994), Total Construction Project Management; Published by McGraw-Hill Professional.

Dennis Lock (2007), Project Management; Published by Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Scott Berkun (2005), The art of project management; Published by OReilly.

Spinner. M. (1997), Project management: principles and practices; Published by Prentice Hall, 1997.