TOPIC-1 HR ACCOUNTING AND AUDIT

INTRODUCTION
Human resources is a term used to refer to how people are managed by organizations. The field has moved from a traditionally administrative function to a strategic one that recognizes the link between talented and engaged people and organizational success. The field draws upon concepts developed in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and System Theory. Human resources has at least two related interpretations depending on context. The original usage derives from political economy and economics, where it was traditionally called labor, one of four factors of production although this perspective is changing as a function of new and ongoing research into more strategic approaches at national levels. This first usage is used more in terms of 'human resources development', and can go beyond just organizations to the level of nations. The more traditional usage within corporations and businesses refers to the individuals within a firm or agency, and to the portion of the organization that deals with hiring, firing, training, and other personnel issues, typically referred to as 'human resources management'.

HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING (HRA)

The past few decades have witnessed a global transition from manufacturing to service based economies. The fundamental difference between the two lies in the very nature of their assets. In the former, the physical assets like plant, machinery, material etc. are of utmost importance. In contrast, in the latter, knowledge and attitudes of the employees assume greater significance. For instance, in the case of an IT firm, the value of its physical assets is negligible when compared with the value of the knowledge and skills of its personnel. Similarly, in hospitals, academic institutions, consulting firms etc., the total worth of the organisation depends mainly on the skills of its employees and the services they render. Hence, the success of these organizations is contingent on the quality of their Human Resource- its knowledge, skills, competence, motivation and understanding of the organisational culture. In knowledge driven economies therefore, it is imperative that the
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humans be recognised as an integral part of the total worth of an organisation. However, in order to estimate and project the worth of the human capital, it is necessary that some method of quantifying the worth of the knowledge, motivation, skills, and contribution of the human element as well as that of the organisational processes, like recruitment, selection, training etc., which are used to build and support these human aspects, is developed. Human resource accounting (HRA) denotes just this process of quantification/measurement of the Human Resource. The American Accounting Associations Committee on Human Resource Accounting (1973) has defined Human Resource Accounting as the process of identifying and measuring data about human resources and communicating this information to interested parties. HRA, thus, not only involves measurement of all the costs investments associated with the recruitment, placement, training and development of employees, but also the quantification of the economic value of the people in an organisation. Flamholtz (1971) too has offered a similar definition for HRA. They define HRA as the measurement and reporting of the cost and value of people in organizational resources.

PURPOSES OF HRA
According to Likert (1971), HRA serves the following purposes in an organisation:

l. It furnishes cost/value information for making management decisions about acquiring, allocating, developing, and maintaining human resources in order to attain cost-effectiveness 2. It allows management personnel to monitor effectively the use of human resources; 3. It provides a sound and effective basis of human asset control, that is, whether the asset is appreciated, depleted or conserved; 4. It helps in the development of management principles by classifying the financial consequences of various practices.

OBJECTIVES OF HRA
1. Understand and define the concept of human resource accounting.
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2. Describe the main objective and the managerial role of human resource accounting. 3. Appreciate the role of information as a key factor in human resource accounting System. 4. Understand basic concept and the measurement aspect of human resource costs. 5. Follow the concept and various methods of monetary and non-monetary valuation of Human resources. 6. Understand the process and problems of designing and implementing a human Resource accounting system.

MEASUREMENTS IN HRA
The biggest challenge in HRA is that of assigning monetary values to different dimensions of HR costs, investments and the worth of employees. The two main approaches usually employed for this are:

1.Treatment from a Financial Accounting Perspective

Following the definitions already explained, as long as future benefits are expected to come from these training costs, they can be treated as assets. However, this does not hold true in reality. As Cea Garca states:There is a clear absence of correspondence between the real assets in the present firms and those recognised in the balance sheet... In fact, assets are too related to its juridical conception (that is, owned by the firm...), in front of a pure economic approach where asset is every instrument or way that can be used in the productiondistribution firms process or, in general, every category of economic value which can be transformed into goods or services or any instrument at the service of the firm or that the firm uses, regardless of its juridical state...and also all those goods and rights that the firm does not own now but used to own or will own later on, by virtue of collateral contracts or agreements which may induce it. So, a diagnosis is reached about the predominant asset concept. This situation can be explained by two important problems that are met when referring to intangibles. Identify the assets cost and estimate the period in which the asset should be amortized. In international accounting, besides clearly recognizing some items as assets (cash, stock, machinery, and so on) there is great debate whether certain other items are considered capitalization.

2.Treatment from a Managerial Accounting Perspective

Personnel working for a determined enterprise is actually participating in a value-creation process. That is, any economic activity makes the firm incur costs. One traditional classification takes into account the cost categories of raw materials, industrial plants, and personnel. When adding income flow to an organizations market goods and services, if it is superior to the cost flow, it becomes added value. This value is a consequence of the interaction between material and human resources in production. Because it is difficult to know and measure value, accounting has used substituted measures such as acquisition cost, substitution cost, and even opportunity cost.

REASONS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING

Internal Reason
1. To improve human resource management. 2. To focus on employees as Assets. 3. To retain qualified labour force.

External Reason
1. To overcome the difficulties in providing sufficient information to investors in traditional balance sheets. 2. To profile the enterprise and improve its image. 3. To attract future employees

HUMAN RESOURCE AUDIT

An HR audit is an objective and confidential assessment of the organizations current HR policies and practices. Assessment results are used to create a roadmap with simple and effective driving directions to engage a workforce to target performance while addressing the complex, ever-changing landscape of federal, state and local laws and regulations related to employing people.

Business owners and other decisions-makers gain a clear picture of Areas in which they excel in engaging their workforce. Areas for improving their employee engagement. Areas that present a risk with regards to human resource compliance.

DEFINITION HR Audit means the systematic verification of job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, orientation and placement, training and development, performance appraisal and job evaluation, employee and executive remuneration, motivation and morale, participative management, communication, welfare and social security, safety and health, industrial relations, trade unionism, and disputes and their resolution. HR audit is very much useful to achieve the organizational goal and also is a vital tool which helps to assess the effectiveness of HR functions of an organization.

HR AUDIT BENEFIT TO THE COMPANY

Identifies opportunities to align HR initiatives with business strategies. Identifies HR metrics that are meaningful indicators to employee engagement. Identifies compliance concerns for current and pending laws and regulations. Enhances effective utilization of the human resource function. Establishes a baseline to ensure continuous improvement. Performs due diligence for shareholders, owners, and potential investors.

SCOPE OF AUDIT
Generally, no one can measure the attitude of human being and also their problems are not confined to the HR department alone. So it is very much broad in nature. It covers the following HR areas:

Audit of all the HR function. Audit of managerial compliance of personnel policies, procedures and legal provisions.

Audit of corporate strategy regarding HR planning, staffing, IRs, remuneration and other HR activities.

Audit of the HR climate on employee motivation, morale and job satisfaction.

BENEFITS OF HR AUDIT
It provides the various benefits to the organization. These are:

It helps to find out the proper contribution of the HR department towards the organization.

Development of the professional image of the HR department of the organization. Reduce the HR cost. Motivation of the HR personnel. Find out the problems and solve them smoothly. Provides timely legal requirement. Sound Performance Appraisal Systems. Systematic job analysis. Smooth adoption of the changing mindset.

APPROACHES TO HR AUDIT
There are five approaches for the purpose of evaluation of HR in any organization:

Comparative approach Outside authority Statistical Compliance approach and

CONCLUSION
Human resource accounting provides quantitative information about the value of human assets, which helps the top management to take decisions regarding the adequacy of human resources. Based on these insights, further steps for recruitment and selection of personnel are taken. Outside the organisation, quantitative data on the most valuable asset has an impact on thedecisions of the investors, clients, and potential staff of the company. When proper valuation and accounting of the human resources is not done then the management may
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not969+ be able to recognise the negative effects of certain programmes, which are aimed at improving profits in the short run. If not recognised on time, these programmes could lead to a fall in productivity levels, high turnover rate and low morale of existing employees. The Companies Act, 1956 does not explicitly provide for disclosure on human assets in the financial statements of the companies. But sensing the benefits derived from valuing and reporting the human assets, many companies have voluntarily disclosed all relevant information in their books. The training costs can be treated in a similar way as any other capitalised expense.The auditors always prepare and submit an audit report to authority of the organization, which may be clean or qualified. The clean report indicates the appreciative of the department's function, but the latter one represents the gaps in performance and therefore contains remarks and remedial measures. HR Audit is very much helpful to face the challenges and to increase the potentiality of the HR personnel in the organization.

REFERENCE 1. www.wikipedia.com 2. www.businfo.com 3. www.businessballs.com

TOPIC-2 BRAND BUILDING AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign,symbol,color combination or slogan. For example, Coca Cola is the name of a brand make by a particular company. The word branding began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identityit affects the personality of a product, company or service. It is defined by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about the company.A concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a brand associated with a commodity. Milk is an example of a commodity brand.

DEFINITION
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."

BENEFITS OF BRAND

Economies of scale (production and distribution). Lower marketing costs. Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide. Maintaining consistent brand imagery. Quicker identification, recognition and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide).

Pre-empting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets.

Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler.

Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers. Possibility to charge premium prices. Internal company benefits such as attracting and retaining good employees, and cohesive company culture.

KINDS OF BRAND 1) Local brand

A brand that is sold and marketed (distributed and promoted) in a relatively small and restricted geographical area. A local brand is a brand that can be found in only one country or region. It may be called a regional brand if the area encompasses more than one metropolitan market. It may also be a brand that is developed for a specific national market; however an interesting thing about local brand is that the local branding is more often done by consumers than by the producers.

2) Global brand
A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Global brands transcend their origins and create strong enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures. They are brands sold in international markets. For Examples include Facebook, Apple, Pepsi, McDonald's, Mastercard, Gap, Sony and Nike.

These brands are used to sell the same product across multiple markets and could be considered successful to the extent that the associated products are easily recognizable by the diverse set of consumers.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAND

1.Identification To be clearly seen, to make sense of the offer, to quickly identify the sought-after products.
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2.Practicality To allow savings of time and energy through identical repurchasing and loyalty.

3.Guarantee To be sure of finding the same quality no matter where or when you buy the product or service.

4.Optimization To be sure of buying the best product in its category, the best performer for a particular purpose.

5.Characterization To have confirmation of your self-image or the image that you present to others. Continuity Satisfaction brought about through familiarity and intimacy with the brand that you have been consuming for years.

6.Hedonistic Satisfaction linked to the attractiveness of the brand, to its logo, to its communication.

7. Ethical Satisfaction linked to the responsible behaviour of the brand in its relationship Towards society.

THE FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF BRAND BUILDING

1. Strategy
A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision

2. Positioning
Positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization.
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3. Identity
Identity management (IdM) describes the management of individual identities, their authentication, authorization,roles, and privileges/permissions within or across system and enterprise boundaries with the goal of increasing security and productivity while decreasing cost, downtime, and repetitive tasks.

4. Consistency
In quantum mechanics, the consistent histories approach is intended to give a modern interpretation of quantum mechanics, generalising the conventional Copenhagen interpretation and providing a natural interpretation of quantum cosmology.

NATURE OF BRAND BUILDING

Figure 1.1:Nature of Brand Building

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1.Quality
Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the core benefits the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity. Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors.

2. Positioning
Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things.

3. Repositioning
Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumers tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline. The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with aboveaverage longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard.

4. Well-blended Communications
Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience. All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.

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5. First-mover advantage (Creditability)

Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by first-mover they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is plenty of evidence to support this. Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sellotape that, in many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors drawn to the high growth and profit potential demonstrated by the market-mover will enter the market and copy the best elements of the leaders brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop developed the ethical personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the major high street cosmetics retailers.

6. Long-term perspective
This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brands message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must invest in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.

7. Internal marketing
Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed internally as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favourite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty.

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BRAND MANAGEMENT
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line or brand. According to Neil H.McElroy Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo. Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term brand. It includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers committed to your business. A strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to your business. Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging, etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers experience. The intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service. Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It gives an image of an experienced, huge and reliable business. It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a confidence in the current and prospective customers minds that you are the unique solution to their problem.

BUILD AND MANAGE A BRAND 1. Great Brands tie into the emotions
It is crucial that this link be present and underlying all brand building efforts. If the brand efforts don't touch people at an emotional level, their power to leverage and attract is nil. If brand building efforts are not emotionally driven then the power to sustain the brand building efforts will be weak.

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2. Brands are never-ending stories

Branding is a journey. The path that a brand takes is always a bit unknown. This is a key point. We do not always know what lies in the "implicate order." Therefore branding is both recognition and management of the present as well as creating the space and opportunity for emergent possibilities within the context of the journey.

3. Brands have lasting value and transcend fad

While it is cool to be cool, what matters is what lasts. Moving the company brand into a position where it has to be cool to survive is sounding a death nell. Coolness is a result of the brand acceptance not the brand intention. It will pay to remember that.

4. Great Brands are consistent in appearance

Everything done to promote the brand needs design consistency. Continuous management of appearance is critical to creating brand equity and leverage. The biggest part of attraction that many people forget, is that people need to know we are there Brand consistency must be seamless and transparent the effects are clear, the intention is subtle elegance.

5. Brands re-create categories

Look what blockbuster did for video. Boston Market for fast food. Nike for sports. Starbucks for coffee. Each and everyone of these great brands have one thing in common, they became protagonists in view of a simple goal, to reinvent the entire category.

6. Can brand anything

What makes people desire one thing over another?.How does one brand attract people over another.Anything can be managed as a brand by following simple rules and by consistently outperforming the other items in the category. This performance doesn't have to be validated only accepted.

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7. Great Brands have a clear identity

Successful brands know themselves and what they are about. They have become clear regarding their own boundaries and the need to position themselves for success considering all the possibilities in the whole. Sometimes knowing what not to do is the key to brand identity.

8. Brand building is a marathon not a sprint

In today's world of possibilities and global exchange, the only thing is brand. Price has been shown to be superfluous in the presence of a strong performing brand. People want dependability...a known quantity that differentiates itself from the pack of also-rans. People want to feel important and they leverage that through brand identification. Building a brand is a constant and continuous journey a long-term approach.

9. Brands are involved

Brand builders consistently show up at the right time, in the right place and in the right way. A knack for great brand building is precisely knowing when to say when. Consider the brands identity, the branding intention and the brand investment and make continuous deposits towards building brand equity.

10. Brands benefit the consumer

What is the companies feature-benefit ratio. If people are not better off having used the company is in brand, you're in big trouble! That takes two loci of action, one being, that you as a brand manager place the brand in a position to succeed or don't do it; and two that the benefits appear to the consumer in a holistic way. It's kind of like the brand that keeps on giving. Buckminster Fuller is credited with saying that "when you flush a toilet, it goes somewhere." When people use the products and services, the same thing happens. If we sacrifice the long-term value in a holistic sense for some short-term gain, we are endangering the brand equity

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REFERENCE
1. www.blackwellpublishing.com 2. www.philmckinney.com 3. www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com 4. www.wikipedia.com

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TOPIC-3

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
A culture is the unique pattern of shared assumptions, values and norms that shape the socialization, symbols, language, narratives, and practices of a group of people. The word Culture is highly misunderstood. The semantic field for this expression collectively includes but is not limited to, like wider delineations such as national culture, an organizational culture may be generally described as a set of norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that together give each organization a distinctive character. Like national cultures, organizational cultures form and are transformed over time. There is broad

agreement amongst writers that around the time of its inception, an organization responds to and reflects industry characteristics such as the competitive environment and customer requirements, together with the wider community values held by its employees, and also the values and behaviors of its founders or early leaders. What may happen some years from the time of inception, however, is warmly debated, for at this point organizational culture writers and change agents divide into separate camps formed on the basis of distinct paradigms and perspectives. For writers and researchers who take an anthropological stance, organizations are cultures describing something that an organization and thus, like national cultures, an organization comprises: 1. A pattern of shared basic assumptions, 2. Invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, 3. As it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, 4. That has worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, 5. Is to be taught to new members of the group as the 6. Correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

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Language
The oldest human institution and the most sophisticated medium of expression.

Arts & Sciences

The most advanced and refined forms of human expression.

Thought
The ways in which people perceive, interpret, and understand the world around them.

Spirituality
The value system transmitted through generations for the inner well-being of human beings, expressed through language and actions.

Social activities
The shared pursuits within a cultural community, demonstrated in a variety of festivities and life-celebrating events.

Interaction
The social aspects of human contact, including the give-and-take of socialization, negotiation, protocol, and conventions.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
A system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organization. Culture is a term that is used regularly in workplace discussions. It is taken for granted that we understand what it means. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss some of the significant issues relating to the management of an organizations culture. As organizational cultures are born within the context of broader cultural contexts such as national or ethic groupings, the paper will commence by defining culture in the wider social context. Organizational culture is defined as a pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be considered valid and

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therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems Schein. It has also been defined as the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. DEFINITION: According to Stephen Robbins, organization culture refers to system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organization.

CHARACTERISTICS
Innovation and risk taking Attention to details Outcome orientation Team orientation People orientation Aggressiveness

Stability THE ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

Assumptions Values and Norms Socialization Symbols Planning & Administration competency Language Narratives Practices

Assumptions
Shared assumptions are the underlying thoughts and feelings that members of a culture take for granted and believe to be true. At GSD&M, one shared assumption seems to be that creative ideas are stimulated by the environment they dont just develop inside a persons head.
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Values and Norms

A value is a basic belief about something that has considerable importance and meaning to individuals and is stable over time. Creativity and big ideas are highly valued at GSD&M. Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. Norms are rules that govern the behaviors of group members. We discussed norms as elements of the internal process of work teams. When a norm is widely shared throughout the organization, it becomes an element of the organizations culture.

Socialization
Socialization is a process by which new members are brought into a culture. The most powerful way to do so is through consistent role modeling, teaching, coaching, and enforcement by others in the culture. At the social level, socialization takes place within the family, in schools and religious organizations and through the media.

FIG 1.1 SOCIALISATION PROCESS

Symbols
A symbol is anything visible that can be used to represent an abstract shared value or something having special meaning. Symbols are the simplest and most basic observable form of cultural expression. They may take the form of logos, architecture, uniforms, awards, and many other tangible expressions. At GSD&M, the entire building serves as a symbol of the organizations culture.

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Planning & Administration competency

As described in the planning & administration competency feature, a simple scoreboard becomes a powerful symbol for set points employees. They began each week with a board meeting. The meetings served a business purpose of ensuring that everyone understand their priorities for the week and also strengthened the personal friendships among employees.

Language
Language is shared system of vocal sounds, written sings, and/or gestures used to convey special meanings among members of a culture. At GSD&M, key words were carved in stone to remind people of the company values. Roy Spences appreciation for the importance of language is still evident today. When talking about what his company strives for, he says that he wants his employees to be status go not status quo.

Narratives
Narratives are the unique stories, sagas, legends, and myths in a culture. They often describe the unique accomplishments and beliefs of leaders over time, usually in heroic and romantic terms. The basic story may be based on historical fact, but as the story gets told and retold, the facts may be embellished with fictional details. The story of how art fry, a 3m employee, developed post-it notes well-known saga thats told over and over at 3m and many other innovate firms.

Practices
The most complex but observable cultural element is shared is practices, which include taboos and ceremonies. Taboos are culturally forbidden behaviors. A taboo at Johnson & Johnson is to put profits ahead of ethical responsibilities to doctors, nurse, and patients. When people join the company, they receive a copy of the Johnson & Johnson credo, which states this taboo. Ceremonies are elaborate and formal activities designed to generate strong feelings. Usually they are carried out as special events. In most societies, ceremonies celebrate the birth, marriage, and death of the societys members.

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ORGANIZATION CLIMATE
It refers to the shared perception, organizational members have about their organization and work environment. A positive overall workplace climate has been linked to higher customer satisfaction and financial performance as well. Organizational climate also influences the habits people adopt.

BASIC TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES Sub-culture

Set of values shared by a minority of the organizations members. Formed as a result of problems or experiences that are shared by members of different departments. Some subcultures enhance the dominant culture. Some directly oppose the organizations core values and beliefs. They are called counter-cultures

Strong and weak cultures

A culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared. Strong managers determine a strong culture. Factors determining strength of a culture: Sharedness: degree to which organizations members have same values. Intensity: degree of commitment to the core values of the organization. Both of these factors are determined by orientation and rewards.

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Bureaucratic culture
In a bureaucratic culture, the behavior of employees is governed by formal rules and standard operating procedures, and coordination is achieved through hierarchical reporting relationships. Recall that the long-term concerns of a bureaucratic are predictability, efficiency, and stability.

Clan culture
An internal focus also characterizes a clan culture. Instead, in clan culture the behaviors of the employees are shaped by tradition, loyalty, personal commitment, extensive socialization, and self-management.

Entrepreneurial culture
In an entrepreneurial culture, the external focus and flexibility create an environment that encourages risk taking, dynamism, and creativity. There is a commitment to experimentation, innovation, and being on the leading edge. An entrepreneurial culture suits a new companys start-up phase.

Market culture
In a market culture, the values and norms reflect the importance of achieving measureable and demanding goals, especially those that are financial and market based. Hard-driving competitiveness and a profit orientation prevail throughout the organization. EDS, Frito-Lay, and oracle, among others, share many elements of a market culture.

Organizational implications
Organizational culture has the potential to enhance organizational performance, individuals satisfaction, the sense of certainty about how problems are to be handled, and other aspects of work life. Building a strong culture Changing an organizational culture
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EFFECT OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE

Mission/vision could be unrealistic. Policies, if not drafted properly can provide leeway. Procedures can facilitate or create obstacles in smooth functioning. Rules could be a means or an end in themselves. State of organizational development has direct impact on work culture.

MANAGEMENT
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT

Every company has its own personality or culture. For an organization to be successful over the long term, its culture needs to be managed effectively. Management Systems' culture management products/process is designed to help firms define their culture and understand how it affects behavior and organizational success. The process serves as input to the development of strategies for systematically managing culture as a competitive advantage. Management Systems views culture and its management as one of the six key factors (contained in the Pyramid of Organizational Development) that contribute to organizational success over the long-term. Although the concept of corporate culture may seem abstract, we know that it can have a profound impact on corporate success and profitability.

Culture management focuses upon

Identifying what the culture really is (versus what the company says or thinks it is) Determining what the culture should be to promote behavior consistent with the company's goals

Developing a plan to take the company from where it is to where it needs to be with respect to its culture

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CULTURE MANAGEMENT PROCESS Step 1: Data Collection

Management Systems uses a variety of techniques to collect information on a firm's culture and the systems, structures, and processes that support it. a)Interviews

We conduct one-on-one interviews with selected employees to help identify the nature of the company's culture. We may also conduct small group sessions to collect information on the organization's current and desired cultures. b) Culture Survey Depending upon the company's needs, we may design and administer a customized culture survey to a large, representative sample of employees. c) Organizational Development Surveys We may also administer our proprietary Organizational Effectiveness and Growing Pains Surveys to those we interview. These surveys help identify the extent to which the company is experiencing problems with respect to its systems, structure, and culture management process.

Step 2: Data Analysis and Report

An experienced Management Systems team analyzes and synthesizes the data collected. We then prepare a report for the company that outlines

The elements of the firm's current real culture Gaps (if any) between the current culture and the culture that management desires for the organization

The organizational systems, structures, and processes that are supporting the current culture and either reinforcing or obstructing the desired culture

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Recommendations designed to increase organizational effectiveness and improve management of the desired culture.

Step 3: Presentation and Discussion of Findings

Our culture workshops are designed to assist participants in

understanding what culture is developing an understanding of their firm's current culture creating a statement of their firm's desired culture (i.e., what the culture should be to support the achievement of their goals)

beginning to develop action steps for managing their firm's culture more effectively

This type of workshop may be conducted on a stand-alone basis, or may be incorporated as part of the culture audit process or as a final step in the culture management process.

CONCLUSION
The future holds promise for companies that understand and nature their culture. Cultures are not only able to create an environment, but they also adapt to diverse and changing circumstances. As organizations begin to experience a revolution in structures, the study of culture and the implications for change will become more important.

REFERENCES
1. Management by Don Hellriegel, Suson E. Jackson to 10 Edition, pages no 512. 2. http://www.mgtsystems.com 3. http://www.caycon.com 4. http://www.sup.org

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TOPIC-4 INFORMATION SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Information is the basis for every decision taken in an organization. The efficiency of management depends upon the availability of regular and relevant information. Thus it is essential that an effective and efficient reporting system be developed as part of accounting system. The main object of management information is to obtain the required about the operating results of an organization regularly in order to use them for future planning and control. The old techniques like intuition, rule of thumb, personal whim and prestige, etc. are now considered useless in the process of decision taking. Modern management is constantly on look out for such quantitative and such information, which can help in analyzing the proposed alternative actions and choosing one as its decision. Thus, modern management functions are information-oriented more popularly known as management by information. And the system through which information is communicated to the management is known as management information system (MIS). The management needs full information before taking any decision. good decisions can minimize costs and optimize results. Management information system can be helpful to the management in undertaking management decisions smoothly and effectively. Management information system can be analyzed thus: 1. Management: management covers the planning, control, and administration of the operations of a concern. The top management handles planning; the middle management concentrates on controlling; and the lower management is concerned with actual administration.

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2. Information: information, in MIS, means the processed data that helps the management in planning, controlling and operations. Data means all the facts arising out of the operations of the concern. Data is processed i.e. recorded, summarized, compared and finally presented to the management in the form of MIS report. 3. System: data is processed into information with the help of a system. a system is made up of inputs, processing, output and feedback or control.

ADVANTAGES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM

Companies are able to highlight their strengths and weaknesses due to the presence of revenue reports, employees' performance record etc. The identification of these aspects can help the company improve their business processes and operations.

Giving an overall picture of the company and acting as a communication and planning tool.

The availability of the customer data and feedback can help the company to align their business processes according to the needs of the customers. The effective management of customer data can help the company to perform direct marketing and promotion activities.

Information is considered to be an important asset for any company in the modern competitive world. The consumer buying trends and behaviours can be predicted by the analysis of sales and revenue reports from each operating region of the company.

DATA VS. INFORMATION Data Information Data that have meaning within a context Data in relationships & Data after manipulation A given, or fact; a number, a statement, or a picture Represents something in the real world The raw materials in the production of information

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Generating Information

Computer-based ISs take data as raw material, pr produce information as output.

Figure 1.1 Input-process-output715 Eaton Fall 2001 MIS

ROLE OF THE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

The role of the MIS in an organization can be compared to the role of heart in the body. The information is the blood and MIS is the heart. In the body the heart plays the role of supplying pure blood to all the elements of the body including the brain.

The heart works faster and supplies more blood when needed. It regulates and controls the incoming impure blood, processes it and sends it to the destination in the quantity needed. It fulfills the needs of blood supply to human body in normal course and also in crisis. The MIS plays exactly the same role in the organization.

The system ensures that an appropriate data is collected from the various sources, processed, and sent further to all the needy destinations. The system is expected to fulfill the information needs of an individual, a group of individuals, the management functionaries: the managers
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and the top management.

The MIS satisfies the diverse needs through a variety of systems such as Query Systems, Analysis Systems, Modeling Systems and Decision Support Systems the MIS helps in Strategic Planning, Management Control, Operational Control and Transaction Processing.

The MIS helps the clerical personnel in the transaction processing and answers their queries on the data pertaining to the transaction, the status of a particular record and references on a variety of documents. The MIS helps the junior management personnel by providing the operational data for planning, scheduling and control, and helps them further in decision making at the operations level to correct an out of control situation. The MIS helps the middle management in short them planning, target setting and controlling the business functions. It is supported by the use of the management tools of planning and control. The MIS helps the top management in goal setting, strategic planning and evolving the business plans and their implementation. The MIS plays the role of information generation, communication, problem identification and helps in the process of decision making. The MIS, therefore, plays a vita role in the management, administration and operations of an organization.

IMPACT OF THE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Since the MIS plays a very important role in the organization, it creates an impacton the organizations functions, performance and productivity.

The impact of MIS on the functions is in its management. With a good support, the management of marking, finance, production and personnel become more efficient. The tracking and monitoring of the functional targets becomes easy. The functional, managers are informed about the progress, achievements and shortfalls in the probable trends in the various aspects of business.

This helps in forecasting and long- term perspective planning. The manager.s attention is brought to a situation which is exceptional in nature, inducing him to take an action or a decision in the matter. A disciplined information reporting system creates a structured data and a knowledge base for all the people in the organization. The information is available

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insuch a form that it can be used straight away or by blending analysis, saving the manager.s valuable time.

The MIS creates another impact in the organization which relates to the understanding of the business itself. The MIS begins with the definition of a data entity and its attributes. It uses a dictionary if data, entity and attributes, respectively, designed for information generation in the organization. Since all the information system use the dictionary, there is common understanding of terms and terminology in the organization brining clarity in the communication and a similar understanding an even of the organization.

The MIS calls for a systemization of the business operation for an affective system design.

A well designed system with a focus on the manger makes an impact on the managerial efficiency. The fund of information motivates an enlightened manger to use a variety of tools of the management. It helps him to resort to such exercises as experimentation and modeling. The use of computers enables him to use the tools techniques which are impossible to use manually. The ready-made packages make this task simpler. The impact is on the managerial ability to perform. It improves the decision making ability considerably.

Since the MIS works on the basic systems such as transaction processing and databases, the drudgery of the clerical work is transferred to the computerized system, relieving the human mind for better work. It will be observed that a lot of manpower is engaged in this activity in the organization. It you study the individual.s time utilization and its application; you will find that seventy per cent of the time is spent in recording, searching, processing and communication. This is a large overhead in the organization. The MIS has a direct impact on this overhead. It creates an information- based work culture in the organization.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM AND COMPTER

Translating the real concept of the MIS into reality is technically, an infeasible proposition unless computers are used. The MIS relies heavily on the hardware and software capacity of the computer and its ability to process, retrieve communicate with no serious limitations. The variety of the hardware having distinct capabilities makes it possible to design the MIS for a specific situation. For example, if the organization needs a large database and very little

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processing, a computer system is available for such a requirement. Suppose the organization has multiple business location at long distances and if the need is to bring the data at one place, process, and then send the information to various location, it is possible to have a computer system with a distributed data processing capability. If the distance is too long, then the computer system can be hooked through a satellite communication system.

The ability of the hardware to store data and process it at a very fast rate helps to deal with the data volumes, its storage and access effectively. The ability of the computer to sort and merge helps to organize the data in a particular manner and process it for complex lengthy computations. Since the computer is capable of digital, graphic, word image, voice and text processing, it is exploited to generate information and present it in the form which is easy to understand for the information user.

The ability of a computer system to provide security of data brings a confidence in the management in the storage o data on a magnetic media in an impersonal mode.

The computer system provides the facilities such as READ ONLY where you cannot delete to UPDATE. It provides an access to the selected information through a password and layered access facilities. The confidence nature of the data and information can be maintained in a computer system. With this ability, the MIS become a safe application in the organization.

The software, an integral part of a computer system, further enhances the hardware capability. The software is available to handle the procedural and nonprocedural data processing. For example, if you want to use a formula to calculate a certain result, an efficient language is available to handle the situation. If you are not use a formula but have to resort every time to a new procedure, the nonprocedural languages are available.

The software is available to transfer the data from one computer system to another. Hence, you can compute the results at one place and transfer them to a computer located at another place for some other use. The computer system being able to configure to the specific needs helps to design a flexible MIS. The advancement in computers and the communication technology has the distance, speed, volume and complex computing an easy task. Hence, designing the MIS for a specific need and simultaneously designing a flexible and open
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system becomes possible, thereby saving a lot of drudgery of development and maintenance and maintenance of the system. The concept of user . friendly systems and the end user computing is possible, making information processing a personalized function. However, the application of the management principles and practices in todays complex business world is possible only when the MIS is based on computer system support.

MIS AND THE USER

Every person in the organization is a user of the MIS. The people in the organization operate at all levels in the hierarchy. A typical user is a clerk, an assistant, an officer, an executive or a manager. Each of them has a specific task and a role to play in the management of business. The MIS caters to the needs of all persons. The main task of a clerk is to search the data, make a statement and submit it to the higher level.

A clerk can use the MIS for a quick search and reporting the same to higher level. An assistant has the task of collecting and organizing the data, and conducting a rudimentary analysis of integrating the data from different and disciplines to analyze it and make a critical comment if anything adverse is found.

The MIS offers the methods and facilities to integrate the data and report the same in a proper format. An executive plays the role of a decision maker. He is in of responsibility and accountability a position of a planner and a decision maker. He is responsible for achieving the target and goals of the organization. The MIS provides facilities to analyze the data and offers the decision support systems to perform the task of execution. The MIS provides an action oriented information.

The manager has a position of responsibility and accountability for the business results. His management role expands beyond his management function. He is a strategist and a longterm planner. He is a person with a foresight, an analytical ability and is expected to use these abilities in the functions of top management. The MIS provides information in a structured or unstructured format for him to react. The MIS caters to his constant changing needs of information. The user of the MIS is expected to be a rational person and the design of the MIS is based on this assumption.

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However, in reality the impact created on individuals by MIS is difficult to explain. The nature of the impact in a few cases is negative. However, this negative impact can be handled with proper training and counseling. It is observed that at lower level, is a sense of insecurity. As the MIS takes away the drudgery of search, collection, writing and reporting the data, the work vacuum, so created is not easily filled, thus creating a sense of insecurity.

CONCLUSION
Management Information System (MIS) is a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solving business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management Information Systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization. Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems. This is an emerging science which sets its the main task of it is to strengthen the information management of enterprises by taking advantage of modern computer and network communication technology to the largest extent, and set up the correct data based on the research of human resource, financial resource, equipments, technology, etc. owned by enterprises, and provide timely various of processed and systemized information data to the manager so as to make correct decisions and improve continuously the management level and economic benefits of enterprises. MIS is generally used for system decision-making. For instance, enterprise employee can make use of MIS to find out problems that need to be solved urgently and feedback in time to the upper managers in order to make them understand the current progress and its shortages.

REFERENCE 1. www.businfo.com 2. www.Wikipedia.com 3. www.misinformation.com 4. www.empowermgt.com

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