Модуль6. Основы управления. Менеджер и его роль. Виды управления. Управление на железнодорожном транспорте

Text1. About Management

Management is the process of coordinating material, financial, information and human resources to achieve the goals of the organisation. Material resources are physical resources used by the organisation. Financial resources are the funds the organisation uses to meet its obligations to investors and creditors. Information resources refer to information on what is changing and how it is changing. The most important resources are human resources. The way the employees are developed and managed may have even bigger impact on the organisation than other things such as marketing, sound financial decisions, production or technology.

The basic management functions are planning, organising, leading, motivating, and controlling. Let’s consider them in detail.

1. Planning is establishing the organisation's goals and deciding how to accomplish them. There are different kinds of planning. Strategic planning is the process of establishing major goals and objectives and allocating resources to achieve them.

A goal is an end result that the organisation is expected to achieve over a one- to ten-year period. An objective is a specific statement detailing what the organisation intends to accomplish over a shorter period of time. Goals and objectives may deal with such things as sales, company growth, costs, and customer satisfaction. Goals are set at every level of the organisation from the CEO down to the operation employees.

The company’s strategy is the broadest set of plans, developed as a guide for major policy settings and decision making.

A strategic plan is set by the Board of Directors and top management.

A tactical plan is a small-scale plan developed to implement a strategy. It is developed for a 1-3 year period, and updated as information becomes available or conditions change.

An operational plan is a type of plan designed for a year or less to implement tactical plans.

A contingency plan is a back-up plan that outlines alternative courses of action if the organisation’s original plans are disrupted or become ineffective.

2. Organising is grouping the resources and activities to accomplish some end result in an efficient and effective manner. The work of the entire organisation is divided into separate parts and these parts are assigned to the certain positions within the organisation. Various positions are grouped into departments, and responsibility and authority are distributed among them. Then it is necessary to determine the number of subordinates who will report to each manager and to establish the chain of command – who has direct authority and who is in a support role.

3. Leading is the process of influencing people to work towards a common goal.

4. Motivating is providing reasons for people to work: money, status, career development, and so on.

5. Directing is the combined process of leading and motivating.

6. Controlling is evaluating and regulating ongoing activities to ensure that goals are achieved. It includes three steps: setting standard performance, measuring actual performance and comparing it to the standards, and taking corrective action. These steps must be repeated periodically until the goal is achieved.

Answer the questions:

1. What is management?

2. What are the functions of management?

3. What is planning?

4. What kinds of plans do organisations develop?

5. What does the strategic plan refer to?

6. What does the tactical plan introduce?

7.Why are operational and contingency plans necessary for the organisation?

8. What does organising as a function of management mean?

9. Why is motivating important?

10. What steps does controlling include?

Text 2. Business Management and Public Administration

Every modern society is made up of business and public organisations such government departments, unions, hospitals, libraries and the like. They are essential to our existence and help to create the standards of living and to improve the quality of life. In all these organisations there are people carrying out the work of a manager though they may not have this title. Thus, the mayor of the town, the vice-chancellor of the university, the president of the local trade union or the chief librarian are all mangers. They have a responsibility to use the resources of their organisations effectively and economically to achieve the goals. Are there certain activities common to all managers? A French industrialist Henri Fayol gave a classic definition of a manager's role which is still actual. He said that to manage is to forecast and to plan, to organise and to command, to coordinate and to control.

Time has passed and people have collected a lot of data of how to carry out and manage routine operations to gain maximum productivity. The principals of scientific business management were taken as the model for the proper management of government. Nowadays public administration may be regarded as a field of business because management of all organisations in both private and public sectors involves planning the activities and establishing the goals, organising, staffing and training as well as directing, decision making and budgeting to assure that work activities fully correspond to fiscal planning, accounting and control.

As for the term administration it is much wider than management. Administration takes place at factories, schools, hospitals, insurance companies and welfare agencies whether these organisations are public or private. That is why researchers and scientists trend to use a new term of business and public administration.

However, the difference between administration of business and administration of public organisation is obvious. Thus, studying public administration one should take into account not only subjects equal for both private and public organisations but also those specific surroundings or the mix of administration, policy making and politics in which public servants have to work. Besides, public organisations are more dependant on government allocations, political influences and law. These differences should be taken into consideration as well applying business management techniques to government agencies and municipal organisations.

Answer the questions:

1. What is the modern society made up of?

2. Why are public and private organisations important to people?

3. What type of functions do public administrators usually carry out?

4. What activities are common to all managers and administrators?

5. Who gave the first definition of a manager's role ?

6. What principles were taken as a model for the proper management of government.

7. Why is the term administration wider than the term management?

8. What collocation defining administration functions do modern scientists use nowadays?

9. What should one take into consideration studying public administration?

10. Why is public administration more dependent than business management?

Text 3. Managers and their Responsibilities

Management is the art of getting things done through other people. It includes the personnel who has the right to make decisions that influence a company’s affairs. Decision making is the most important responsibility of any manager. It can be divided into recognizing the problem, defining and analysing the problem, evaluating alternative solutions, with choosing the most favourable ones and implementing the approach chosen.

Managers must carefully diagnose situations; use their abilities and knowledge to weigh all facts. Managers can’t give “maybe” answers. They usually have to say yes or no and then defend their response. It’s very important to remember that successful management is a skill of choosing from the alternatives and it is based on three basic elements: leadership, motivation and communication.

The main functions of management are planning, organising, directing, controlling, staffing and innovating. All these functions are implemented at three levels of the organisational structure. They are top managers, middle managers and first-line managers. At the basic level of this pyramid there are operating employees.

Top managers are upper-level executives who guide and control the overall activities of the organisation. They are Presidents, Vice Presidents, Chief Executive Officers and Members of the Board.

Middle managers develop tactical plans, policies and coordinate the activities of first-line managers. They are department managers, plant managers, etc.

First-line managers are managers who coordinate and supervise the activities of operating employees. They are supervises, foremen, etc.

Operating employees are not managers. They are qualified and non-qualified persons working for the organisation.

An organisational structure can also be divided horizontally into areas of management. The most common areas are finance, operations, human resources and administration. Also it may include research and development or risk management. A financial manager is primarily responsible for the organisation’s financial resources. An operating manager creates and manages the system that converts resources into goods and services. A marketing manager is responsible for the exchange of products between the organisation and its customers. A human resources manager is in charge of the organisation’s human resources programmes. An administrative manager provides overall administrative leadership and coordinates the activities of specialized managers in all these areas.

Managers of every level and area of the organisation should have management skills because effective management is the key to business success.

Answer the questions:

1. What is management?

2. What is the most important responsibility of any manage?

3. What management functions can you name?

4. What are the main levels of management?

5. What is top management responsible for?

6. What are the duties of first-line managers?

7.Who are operating employees?

8. What are the most common areas of management?

9. What is a financial manager responsible for?

10. What is a marketing manager responsible for?

Text 4 Production Management

Production or operations management includes planning, coordination and control of industrial processes. Modern industrial enterprises organise themselves either around different products or along product lines in which each division is responsible for a group of products. In this case the focus is always on the product and how it can be improved. Typical production operations are very complex. There are few number of changes that can be made during production cycle. To solve operations management problems there has been developed a body of quantitative methods. Most of these techniques have come from the fields of industrial engineering, operations research and systems engineering. Specialists in these fields are increasingly using innovative technology, computers and information processing to solve production problems. Now many mass production operations could be run without support of industrial engineers and technical specialists.

To improve productivity managers launch lean manufacturing. Its aim is to eliminate waste in every area of production that leads to less human effort, less inventory, less time to develop products and less factory spare.

The aim of production management is to ensure that goods are produced effectively to the satisfaction of customers. In manufacturing a production manager is responsible for a product, its quality and process design, for planning and control issues as well as for organisation and supervision of workers. In small private companies production managers make many of the decisions themselves while in big and public enterprises there are special planners, controllers, production engineers and supervisors who assist them. Much of the work involves full operational control including engineering, output, personnel, logistics and other activities such as sales and marketing.

Production supervisors known as shift managers or shift masters report to operations managers and are responsible for achieving immediate or short-term objectives such as output, quality, waste, yield, safety and overtime costs. Much of this work requires the ability to make immediate decisions.

To conclude, it is important to mention that production management can be formulated as the concept of the five Ms - men, machines, methods, materials and money.

Answer the questions:

1. How do industrial enterprises organise their work?

2. What stages are included into production management?

3. What fields of science did technological processes usually come from?

4. What innovations do industrial engineers use to solve production problems?

5. What is the aim of production management?

6. What is lean manufacturing?

7. How do production managers organise their work in small private companies?

8. What is a production supervisor?

9. What is a production supervisor responsible for?

10. How can the concept of production management be formulated?

Text 5. Railway Management

Railway management is more than just management. In railway management we should distinguish between the strategic and tactical levels of decision making. In other words, the strategic level refers to the fundamental orientations of the railway undertaking, while the tactical level introduces new technologies, organisational goals and changes in human resources.

As customers ask for new products, services and in time delivery of freight, time management has become one of the main sectors of the railway operation.

Consumer protection makes railways increase safety of passengers and compensate their clients in case of accidents and great delays. As railways must adjust their products and policy to external requirements, risk management is extremely acute today.

Project management for railways is the act of directing and administrating a project. It can be divided into four parts - organisation, development, sorting and execution. Management of infrastructure is another essential part of transport management. The primary task of the rail infrastructure managers is to ensure safe operation of rolling stock and to reduce costs. Infrastructure managers are also responsible for track maintenance and signalling equipment.

In the era of international railway cooperation managers should seek for collaboration with other railways. International management is extremely significant now.

The main task of the railway passenger management is to offer safe transportation of people and high quality of services. That is why railways should implement a new strategy combining competition, cooperation and alliances. Railways offer a new and global product to customers by making a railway trip and ticketing easier. Thus, some railways have established Web-sites with useful information and provide e-ticketing services.

As for the rail freight management, its task is safe transportation of goods without delays and damages, reduction of noise level and introduction of modern freight rolling stock. To achieve these goals it is necessary to integrate rail traffic into logistic chains.

The act of motivating people to work in switching yards and sorting stations is a serious problem nowadays. Railway managers should pay more attention to the working environment of their staff.

Answer the questions:

1. What levels of decision making should be distinguished in railway management ?

2. What level refers to the fundamental orientations of the railway undertaking?

3. Why is time management essential for the railway operation?

4. What factors make railways increase safety of passengers?

5. What are the main parts of the project management for railways?

6. Who seeks for collaboration with different railways?

7. What should railways implement in the passenger sector?

8. What did some railways establish to make ticketing easier?

9. Why should managers integrate rail traffic into logistic chains?

10. What should railway managers do to attract workers to switching yards and sorting stations?

Text 6. Information Management

Information management (IM) is collection and management of information from one or more sources with further distribution of that information to one or more audience. Management means organisation of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information. Throughout the 1970s it was largely limited to files, file maintenance, and the life cycle management of paper-based files, other media and records. However, with the proliferation of information technology, the job of the information management took on a new light, and began to include the field of data maintenance.

No longer was the information management a simple job that could be performed by almost anyone. As information storage shifted to electronic means, data processing demanded a deep understanding of theory and technology. As information was regularly disseminated across computer networks and other electronic means, by the late 1990s, network managers had become information managers. Those individuals found themselves faced with increasingly complex tasks, advanced hardware and sophisticated software. With the latest tools available, information management has become a powerful resource and a large expense for many organisations.

In short, information management includes organising, retrieving, acquiring and maintaining the information. Following the behavioural science theory of management, developed at Carnegie Mellon University, most of what is going on in service organisations is actually decision making and information processes. Thus, the crucial factor in the information and decision process analysis is the individual's limited ability to process information and to make decisions under these limitations.

Answer the questions:

1. What is information management?

2. What does the word “management” mean?

3. What happened with the proliferation of information technology?

4. What does the job of the information management include?

5. Why did it become necessary to have a deep understanding of theory and technology?

6. When did information management as a new profession appear?

7. What has become a powerful resource and a large expense for many organisations?

8. What does information management include?

9. What university developed the behavioural science theory of management?

10. What is the crucial factor in the information and decision process analysis?

Text 7. International Management

International companies compete with each other for global executives to manage their operations around the world. International management is becoming increasingly important as the modern global business requires a new breed of managers and leaders equipped with flexible, transferable business skills and a global vision. The leaders and operations of today’s multinationals are dispersed across the globe so it is necessary for them to be able to do business across time-zones, cultures and languages.

Companies can obtain management development services from internal departments or externally from professional associations, business schools, educational institutions and independent consultants.

Companies doing international business need to be particularly concerned with training their staff to prepare them for overseas assignments. As companies integrate their operations globally, national approaches can send conflicting messages to success-oriented managers. If managers are unfamiliar with the culture and work habits of local people this can result in making critical mistakes. Thus, subsidiaries in different countries operate differently and reward different behaviours based on their unique cultural aspects. The challenge for today's global companies is to recognise local differences and to create globally integrated career paths for their future senior executives.

Today’s business world is characterised by intense global competition, crises, financial uncertainties, protectionism, alliances and joint ventures. Managers are increasingly called upon to make decisions in high risk and crises situations. Risk and return tend to be related, especially at the international level where operations generate higher returns and correspondingly higher levels of risk.

International managers must have a rational outlook, and view the organisation as the co-ordinated network of individuals who make appropriate decisions based on their professional competence and knowledge.

There is no doubt that the new global environment demands more, not fewer, globally competent managers. Global experience is rapidly becoming the only route to the top. A big question for the future is whether global organisations will remain able to attract sufficient numbers of young managers to work internationally. Modern companies need to make plans for growth and survival in the global world of business competition. Some will choose to conduct business from home taking on competitors in the safety of their domestic market. Other companies will decide to go international operating from both domestic and foreign markets.

Answer the questions:

1. Why do international companies compete with each other?

2. What specialists are becoming increasingly important?

3. How can companies obtain management development services?

4. Why do multinationals have to train their staff for overseas assignments?

5. What may happen if managers do not know local culture?

6. What is the main challenge of today's multinationals?

7. How is today’s business world characterised?

8 What qualities must international managers possess?

9. What experience is the only route to the top?

10. What plans for growth and survival can companies work out?

Text 8. Project Management

Modern corporations are ideal for project management as they can organise business into several functional departments or project teams to carry out certain objectives. In such devisions conflicts are minimal as people work in small teams and it is easier to train and manage them. Working in team creates a sense of collective responsibility. Everyone shares in success, learns from mistakes, and works on the same project. There is more harmony, less competition, more support and less isolation. There is a better balance between time, cost and performance. Authority and responsibility are shared among the team. A project manager supervises the team engaged into the project and motivates team members to achieve the agreed goals. He is also responsible for summarizing the work of the team and reports directly to General Manager or CEO. No matter what project it is, project managers follow the same pattern: conceptualisation, definition, planning, execution, control, closure.

Conceptualisation is the first stage in the project life cycle. Conceptualisation is the idea, thought, initial plan, or the first stage of thinking a manager should make to work out a plan for solving the existing problems. The concept may be to set up a new project or to expand the existing operation or to replace it with new technologies.

Definition comprises refinements of the elements described in the conception phase. All sub-systems and elements of the proposed system are scrutinized and defined.

Planning is another important aspect in project management. It includes rendition of plans, identification and management of required resources, manifestation and determination of production.

The operational stage comprises the actual linking of project service to the system, evaluation of technical resources of the project and the adequacy of project supporting.

Feasibility study report is always prepared to support the investment proposal. It is the primary report for the formulation of the investment proposal. Risks have to be analysed at each stage of the project. The impact of risk at each stage of the project should be tracked. Continuous risk assessment is also necessary. Usually a special committee is formed to analyse, identify and track the risks involved in any project. The areas of the project that are identified as risks are reported and recorded.

Answer the questions:

1. How can modern corporations organise their business?

2. What positive factors of working in team can you name?

3. Why are conflicts minimal in project teams?

4. What is a project manager responsible for?

5. What pattern do project managers usually follow?

6. What does conceptualisation aspect comprise?

7. What problems are solved at the stage of definition the project?

8. Why is planning important for project management?

9. What happens at the operational stage of project making?

10. What type of report is prepared to support the investment proposal?

Text 9. Decision Making in Business and Public Administration

Carrying out management functions a manager is continually making decisions. However, whether small or solid, short or long-term, studied or impulsive, decision-making involves four major elements - problem definition, information search, choice and evaluation. The first step in defining a problem is recognizing that it exists. Selecting a problem for attention and putting it on the agenda are the most important parts of this stage.

If the problem really exists the next step is to learn more about it. Thus, information search can be defined as the nature of decision-making. Getting information has always been central to public administration, as government institutions are usually primary sponsors of scientific and humanitarian researches.

After the problem is defined and the information is examined, the time for taking the right choice comes. Weighing options and selecting are the most visible decision-making processes. Decisions do not end with taking choices. Decision-making involves evaluating effects and actions. Whether formal or informal, evaluation is another form of information gathered after the choice.

In fact there exist two main categories of models for decision-making - rational and non-rational. Rational decisions are choices based on judgment of performance and outcomes. They are not always perfect and do not eliminate the possibility of failure. In non-rational models choices do not result from deliberate balance of pros and cons. Most governmental decisions are within these models as the time required to take a decision is too sort and the finances are too thin to provide long researchers.

As for decision-making in public administration, it is a debated subject. Different roles of administrators add to the difficulty of understanding the problem. In most countries public administrators define their role in terms of implementing the laws and policies conducted by the Government. An elite also makes decisions. Thus, it can include persons inside or outside government. Technocrats make decisions based on some concept of utility. Complications grow when formal structures and informal channels for making decisions interact. Besides, some civil servants think that decision making is related to charismatic leaders or political and special organisations. They often view their work from the position of dealing with files or carrying out assigned tasks and enforcing rules. They just forget that all administrators are decision makers to varying extends and for different levels of issues.

Answer the questions:

1. What is a manager doing carrying out his management functions?

2. What elements of decision-making can you name?

3. What step is the first in decision-making?

4. What can be defined as the nature of decision-making?

5. When does the time for taking the right choice come?

6. What forms of decision-making do you know?

7. What principal are rational decisions based on?

8. What is the difference between rational and non-rational decisions?

9. Where are non-rational models usually applied?

10.How do public administrators often define their roles?

Text 10. Time and Risk Management

In any business it is important that management should be effective. Managers must be able to achieve their objectives and to get right things to do. Because of the nature of managers' work it is not easy for them to be effective. There exist certain difficulties in distinguishing between important and less important tasks. Effective managers have to manage their time effectively. Before being able to control his time the manager must find how he is actually using it. The best way to do it is to make records. The usual method is to log the task the manager performs. The manager should not rely on memory when logging time. Not many executives can rememberer at the end of the day, all things they did during the day - all those telephone calls, chats and interruptions, the work on the computer, the letter writing and so on. One way of logging time is to note down all the activities and indicate how long they took. Once the manager has an accurate picture of how he uses time, he can analyse the time log. This will help him to re-think and re-plan his work schedule. As the result of this analyses, the effective manager will start getting rid of unproductive time-wasting activities. He will also get rid of some activities which can be done just as well by someone else. Knowing how to delegate is an essential skill of a manager. This does not mean of course that he will be forever "passing the buck" to subordinates. But where possible, he will try to create more time so that he can attend to more important tasks.

As for the risk management, it is related to all the fields and is not confined to one particular field. People in different branches like statistics, economics, engineering, systems analysis have contributed to the task of risk management. There are many useful solutions of how to protect staff and working conditions from injury and damage. Special attention is paid to the so-called "common sense "cases. Thus, it is not recommended for top executives to travel together in the same jet or ship or to store valuable goods in one place.

Risk mitigation and accident prevention is a separate area that requires experienced personnel to identify the risks and prevent accidents. Risk is a condition that may lead to loss and managers have to know that clearly. The amount of loss that may occur as a result of that risk should be evaluated in advance to prevent such risks. Managers should always know the risks involved in any business or project before they take place.

In fact, there are special companies that have consultants for risk assessment. However, some big and rich organisations keep their own risk management department. Thus, fire, for example, is still the greatest potential risk. An experienced risk manager can save a company large sums in fire insurance if he recommends to install special firefighting and safety equipment. Industrial espionage is another increasingly growing risk. Only authorized persons should have access to the information stored in computers. The information security officer can suggest security programs and restrict access to business information.

Answer the questions:

1. Why should management be effective?

2. What steps must managers take to control time effectively?

3. Why should not managers rely on their memory?

4. How can managers improve their work schedule?

5. When should managers delegate some of their duties?

6. What is the term "risk management" related to?

7. Why should not top executives travel together?

8. What is risk according to the accident prevention?

9. How can a risk manager save a company large sums in fire insurance?

10. What should be done to prevent industrial espionage?

Text 11. Security Management

Today business and public administration broadly use computers and information technology to conduct business and perform duties by processing data and receiving information necessary for decision making. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing information databases to designing complex computer networks and sophisticated security management tools. Living in the digital world where blackmail, industrial and political espionage is becoming a norm, business and government have to protect their computer networks from hackers and other intruders. That is why security management is becoming indispensable today. Even apart from the IT industry, any company that uses many systems, devices, and computers would need proper security management. To conduct the business effectively, security managers need to know the users of the system properly and have to give them exclusively rights to some resources depending on the position they occupy in the company. Hence controlling the access rights is also very important. Moreover, if there is any threat to business resources or if there is any threat in the sort of violation of the rights given for a particular user, a security manager must know of that as soon as possible. It enables to take early remedies and to prevent such events in the future.

There are many IT companies that provide solutions for security management. Their security products allow business and government to act intelligently and quickly to the threats that can face them. Such products enable entrepreneurs to focus on their business while their network is secured. Security management can restrict the access to resources and services and provides logging and reporting. It can prevent threats from spyware, viruses, worms and spam as well as from other malicious content entering a corporate network. Security programs empower organisations to identify the weaknesses in their infrastructure and to take quick actions. These products enable companies to prevent the threats instead of rectifying the effects of a threat.

Thus, security information management products enable entrepreneurs to manage real time events and post event analysis to improve the efficiency and reduce costs. In the age of e-business the main challenges are identifying the users and managing security events. With efficient security tools companies can effectively control users, access rights and privacy policies. Entrepreneurs can monitor their network easily and quickly report to the IT security about the incidents in the network that does e-business.

Answer the questions:

1. What do business and public administration use in their work?

2. What type of duties do IT professionals perform?

3. Why is security management indispensable today?

4. What should security managers do to conduct the business effectively?

5. Who provides solutions for security management?

6. How can a company act using security management programs?

7. What service does security management offer?

8. What programs can never enter a corporate network?

9. How can security tools help to manage e-business?

10. Where should entrepreneurs report about the incidents in the network?

Text 12. Sales Management

Dealings in sales management are always connected with the market. The main responsibility of the sales managers is to meet and interact with a variety of customers including their own employees so as to understand the real needs of customers. Due to the varied market requirements and market opportunities, the engaged sales personnel need newer and sophisticated techniques and innovative computer programs to match the market trends. Sales management by itself is a very broad portfolio and it includes all levels and positions such as new business selling, technical selling, trade sales, and missionary sales.

Persons holding sales management positions are required to show a very strong and favourable performance and track record within a year or two. The team that is engaged in sales management has the direct opportunity to deal with the market. The personnel can make use of their expertise and experiences to deal with the human factor. The opportunities such as direct interaction with a variety of customers including their own colleagues make the sales management people very confident. They can do a very quality work by understanding the feel of the market. Any detailed knowledge about the product that they sell can certainly assist sales people in clarifying the doubts and explaining things to the prospective buyers. At the first instance, the personnel who sells the products should believe in the products they sell as without this understanding it will be a difficult task for them to sell. Few of other important factors that directly impact the sales figures are the motivation levels, initiatives shown by the sales team and effective supervision by the managerial group of the organisation.

Answer the questions:

1. What type of management is always connected with the market?

2. What is the main responsibility of the sales manager?

3. What techniques do sales personnel need nowadays?

4. What levels and positions does sales management include?

5. What is a sales manager required to show to get a position?

6. What makes sales management people confident?

7. Why must sales managers have detailed knowledge about the product they sell?

8. Why should sales managers believe in what they sell?

9. What factors can directly impact the sales figures ?

10. Who carries out supervision in sales management?

Text 13. Personnel Administration and Human

Resource Management

Employees must be organised in a special way so that the work to be done correctly. That is why personnel administration is an important task for any organisation - private or public. However, nowadays personnel administration is usually called human resource management (HR) as people are regarded as the most valuable assets that an organisation can posses. Companies pay more attention now to the well being of all employees and their safety at the work place. Human resource management or personnel administration deals with recruiting, selecting, promoting and training employees or making them redundant.

Once jobs have been created, the process of recruitment starts. It means finding people to fill these positions. Trying to attract competent applicants, both private and public companies are trying to make their openings highly publicised Examination is the second step in the personnel process. Examination does not refer only to a paper-pencil test. Some jobs call for an oral examination especially when communications skills are particularly important. In the sphere of public administration the candidates have to pass both professional and administration career examinations to see if they are valid for governmental careers in general.

A recruitment agency or a special civil service commission carefully examines the list with the highest examination scores and chooses the best candidate for the opened position. New employees have to serve for a definite period of time during which their removal is relatively easy. Assessment of the employee performance is the nest step personnel managers. To assess the work of employees companies and organisations work out special rating schemes. In jobs where it is not possible, supervisors are encouraged to judge the employee performance as accurately as possible using special methods and techniques.

As for the governmental structures, they are deeply involved with the further education and training of their employees. Universities and institutes in cooperation with government agencies are developing special programmes and courses for public employees which last usually for a week or two. They are usually conducted either at universities or in public agencies. Government employees can be given special leaves if they want to improve education and to get a degree of MPA or to take part in some other educating programmes.

Answer the questions:

1. Why is personnel administration necessary for organisations?

2. How is personnel administration called today?

3. Why do companies pay much attention to the well being of their employees?

4. What are the main directions in which HR managers work?

4. How does a recruitment agency choose the candidates?

5. What tests must the candidates take in the sphere of public administration ?

6. What does assessment of the employee performance mean?

7. What are supervisors responsible for?

8. What organisations usually work out training courses for public administration employees?

9. Where do training courses usually take place?

10. What benefit can government employees get to improve their education?

Text14. Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a strategy that puts awareness of quality at the heart of all organisational processes. It is a system that aims at a continual increase in customer satisfaction with continually lowering costs by eliminating wastes and defects. The basic goal of TQM is to ensure that the products, services, or processes provided meet specific requirements and are dependable, satisfactory, physically sound and aesthetically pleasant. To improve performance managers are trying to make processes visible, repeatable and measurable. They also examine the ways the customer actually uses the product in real life in order to improve it if it is necessary.

As for quality control, it involves the examination of a product, service, or process for a certain level of quality. The goal of a quality control team is to identify products or services that do not meet a company’s specified standards of quality. If a problem is identified, the job of a quality control team or professionals may involve stopping production temporarily. Depending on the particular service or product, as well as the type of problem identified, production or implementation may not cease entirely. Usually it is not the job of a quality control team or professionals to correct quality issues. Typically, other individuals are involved in the process of discovering the cause of quality issues and fixing them. Once such problems are overcome, the products, services, or processes continue production or implementation as usual.

Quality control can cover not just products services, and processes, but also people. Employees are an important part of any company. If a company has employees that don’t have adequate skills or training, have troubles understanding directions, or are misinformed, the quality of product may be severely diminished. When quality control is considered in terms of human beings, it concerns correctable issues. However, it should not be confused with human resource issues.

Often, quality control is confused with quality assurance. Though the two are very similar, there are some basic differences. Quality control is concerned with the product, while quality assurance is process–oriented. Even with such a clear-cut definition, identifying the differences between the two can be hard. Basically, quality control involves evaluating a product, activity, process, or service. By contrast, quality assurance is designed to make sure processes are sufficient to meet objectives. Simply put, quality assurance ensures a product or service is manufactured, implemented, created, or produced in the right way; while quality control evaluates whether or not the end result is satisfactory.

Answer the questions:

1. What is Total Quality Management?

2. What is the basic goal of TQM ?

3. How should managers act to improve performance?

4. How does a quality control team function?

5. Why can production of goods be stopped?

6. Does a quality control team correct quality issues?

7. Why can quality control be reffed to employees?

8. What can happen to quality of product is the staff has inadequate skills or training?

9. What is the difference between quality control and quality assurance?

10. What is the aim of quality assurance?