Quality Insulation and Business Storms

Many companies are facing storms because they still have not learned the lesson. For these slow learners quality is regarded as something they can add to a badly designed, poorly made product to help hold it together until the buyer gets its home. However the key to survival in today’s competitive climate is real quality through every step of production and service. It is essential to the work by the lowest paid individual on the payroll or the chairman of the board. Without quality, things don’t get sent out properly or on time, and huge service departments are working flat out to repair flaws that should never have been allowed into the products in the first place.

 My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Doughnut Structure

Although most organization charts are constructed in the shape of a pyramid, extending downward from the board of directors or president, some firms have doughnut structure—an organization chart made up of concentric circles that represent top management, staff personnel, and functional areas and that reflect a more flexible structure—people see themselves working in a circle as if around one table. One of the positions is designated chief executive officer, because somebody has to make all those tactical decisions that enable an organization to keep working. The doughnut design is made up of concentric circles, in which the center ring consists of top management. The second ring is composed of important staff personnel, such as legal, personnel, research and development, and electronic data processing, whose services are used by all departments. The third ring consists of managers of functional areas, while remaining rings comprise department and other supervisory managers

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Incorporated Business

When you incorporate, your business becomes its own separate legal entity. The business consists of shareholders who purchase shares in the business and who are responsible for its operation. You can incorporate a one-owner business and own all the shares of that company. The company has a president, and if more than one person is involved, a secretary-treasurer and directors. Stricter control can be maintained with a board of directors, who can make decisions. Outrageous suggestions by one person can be blocked if company policy stipulates that any significant changes must be approved by the board.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Employee-Employer Contract

Employees and employers are engaged in a stakeholder relationship that includes numerous expectations by both parties. The employer, for example, has assumed various duties and obligations. Some of these responsibilities are economic or legal, others are social or ethical in nature.

The relationship is clearly more than simply paying a worker for the labor provided. Cultural values and traditions also play a role. In most Western countries, employers feel they have a duty to include workers on the board of directors to assist in forming company policy. For many years, Japanese employers have offered their workers lifelong employment, although this practice has become less widespread in recent years.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The Chief Executive Officer

The chief executive officer (CEO) is the person ultimately responsible for setting organizational strategy and policy. Even though the CEO reports to the chair of the board (who has the most legal authority), in a real sense the CEO is the most powerful person in the corporation because he or she controls the allocation of resources. The board of directors gives the CEO the power to set the organization’s strategy and use its resources to create value. Often the same person is both chief executive officer and chair of the board. A person who occupies both positions wields considerable power and directly links the board to corporate management.

How does a CEO actually affect the way an organization operates? A CEO can influence organizational effectiveness and decision making in five principal ways:

1. The CEO is responsible foe setting the organization’s goals and designing its structure.
2. The CEO selects key executives to occupy the topmost levels of the managerial hierarchy.
3.  The CEO determines top management’s rewards and incentives.
4. The CEO controls the allocation of scarce resources such as money and decision making power among the organization’s functional areas or business divisions.
5. The CEO’s actions and reputation have a major impact on inside and outside stakeholders’ views of the organization and affect the organization’s ability to attract resources from its environment.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Getting a Corporate Charter

The first step of incorporation is to submit a formal application, usually to the secretary of state in the state in which you want to incorporate. This becomes the corporate charter, the document usually includes the name, address, and purpose of the business, a listing of the board of directors and the principal stockholders, the types of stocks to be used by the company, and the mechanism to be used for amending the charter. Incorporation usually takes place when this corporate charter is approved by the state.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

 

Corporate Governance

Corporate governance refers to the overall control of a company’s actions. Several key stakeholder groups are involved in governing the corporation.

• Managers occupy a strategic position because of their knowledge and day-to-day decision making.
• The board of directors exercises formal legal authority over company policy.
• Stockholders, whether individuals or institutions, have a vital stake in the company.
• Employees, particularly those represented by unions or who own stock in the company, can affect some policies.
• Government is involved through the laws and regulations.
• Creditors who hold corporate debt may also influence a company’s policies.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Codes of Ethics for Financial Executives

Financial Executives International (FEI) recommends that all senior financial professionals adhere to a strong ethical code of conduct, sign it annually, and deliver it to their company’s board of directors. Fr many years, members of FEI have signed such a code, in an effort to commit to its principles. Senior financial officers hold an important and elevated role in corporate governance. As members of the various management teams, they are uniquely capable and empowered to ensure that all stakeholders’ interests are appropriately balanced, protected, and preserved.

FEI’s code provides principles to which members are expected to adhere to and to advocate. It embodies rules regarding individual and peer responsibilities, as well as, responsibilities to employers, the public, and other stakeholders. Violations of EFI’s Code of Ethics may subject the member to ensure, suspension or expulsion under procedural rules adopted by FEI’s Board of Directors. The code states that all members of FEI will:

1. Act with honesty and integrity, avoiding actual or apparent conflicts of interest in personal and professional relationships.
2. Provide constituents with information that is accurate, complete, objective, relevant, timely, and understandable.
3. Comply with applicable rules and regulations of federal, state, provincial, and local governments, and other appropriate private and public regulatory agencies.
4. Act in good faith, responsibly, with due care, competence and diligence, without misrepresenting material facts or allowing one’s independent judgment to be substantiated.
5. Respect the confidentiality of information acquired in the course of one’s work except when authorized or otherwise legally obligated to disclose. Confidential information acquired in the course of one’s work will not be used for personal advantage.
6. Share knowledge and maintain skills important and relevant to constituents’ needs.
7. Proactively promote ethical behavior as a responsible partner among peers, in the work environment and the community.
8. Achieve responsible use of and control over all assets and resources employed or entrusted.
9. Report known or suspected violations of this Code in accordance with the FE Rules of Procedure.
10. Be accountable for adhering to the Code.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Disambiguating the Role of Managers

Managers are the employees who are responsible for coordinating organizational resources and ensuring that an organization’s goals are successfully met. Top managers are responsible for investing shareholder money in resources in order to maximize the future output of goods and services. Managers are, in effect, the agents or employees of shareholders and are appointed indirectly by shareholders through an organization’s board of directors to manage the organization’s business.

Managers’ contributions are the skills they use to direct the organization’s response to pressures from within and outside the organization. For example, a manager’s skills at opening up global markets, identifying new product markets, or solving transaction-cost and technological problems can greatly facilitate the achievements of the organization/s goals.

Various types of rewards induce managers to perform their activities well: monetary compensation (in the form of salaries, bonuses, and stock options) and the psychological satisfaction they get from controlling the corporation, exercising power, or taking risks with other people’s money. Managers who do not believe that the inducements meet or exceed their contributions are likely to withdraw their support by leaving the organization.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Do’s and Don’t’s in Brainstorming

Do’s

• Have warming up session prior to brainstorming in order to create a free environment.
• Allow people to make noise, shout, laugh, etc.
• Write ideas on a board or sheet so that everyone can see it.
• Encourage/appreciate all ideas.
• Allow wild and silly ideas
• Give them time to think.
• Number all ideas sequentially.
• Transmit ideas to get more ideas from it.
• Try to have as many youngsters as possible.
• Do end on the wildest idea.

Don’t’s

• Don’t allow non-members/non-participants.
• Don’t allow interruptions in any form.
• Don’t drag the session when ideas don’t come.
• Don’t spend too much of time for initial briefing.
• Don’t remove/wipe the ideas written on the board.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.