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What do you mean by business administration?Business administration can be termed as the way of managing a business or non-profit organization so as to both maintain the stability of the organization and develop it at the same time. It consists of various departments starting from the operations to management. Also, there are various roles related to business administration which include business support, office manager, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and most companies have a dedicated group of administrators.
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What are the roles played by a business administrator?Business Administrator is someone who handles all the financial management of a business. His specific role varies from one company to another.
A business administrator understands the business operations and processes. His roles may involve accounting, finance, marketing, economics, statistics, human resources, and decision-making. In small organizations, business administrator manages administrative support services but in large organizations there are several levels of managers who specialize in different areas from human resources to facilities management.
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What is the difference between administration and management?Management and administration are two different words but mean almost the same apart from some slight differences.
- 'Administration' deals with the setting up of objectives and crucial policies for every organization, whereas 'management' is the act of putting the policies and plans decided upon by the administration into practice.
- Administration is a decision making body, while management executes those decisions made by the administration.
- Administration works in the top level, whereas management operates in the middle level.
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How does business contribute to economic development?Economic growth is measured through the changes in the gross domestic product of a country over a year. Growth of the economy is related to business as business involves money. Real economic development can be seen from the major improvements in living standards, expansion of the existing market and the opening of new ones. Therefore, when a business enterprise is setting objectives and planning strategies for the future, economic growth is an important aspect to consider.
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Is management a profession? Give reasons.Yes, management is considered a profession as it has the following features:
Well defined body of knowledge: In management there is a systematic body of knowledge which is an important feature of any profession.
- Restricted Entry: You can enter any profession through an examination or degree. In case of management too companies prefer to appoint candidates only with an MBA degree.
- Presence of professional associations: In every profession you need to get registered to special associations that are established for that particular profession and very soon it will be mandatory for management also.
- Existence of ethical codes: For every profession there is a set of ethics fixed by professional organizations which is to be followed by all the employees and employers of that profession. In case of management there is a growing emphasis on the ethical behavior of managers.
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What do you understand by SWOT analysis?SWOT stands for 'Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats'. This is a method to analyze the environment and the company's standing in it.
SWOT consists of two parts. The strengths and weaknesses refer to the internal environment of a company while the opportunities and threats are related to the external environment.
Internal problems and issues are constantly dealt with. But external factors such as opportunities and threats are not in a company's control.
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How will you create flexibility in an organization?In order to create flexibility in any organization you need to analyze some areas that are mentioned below.
- Different kinds of problems - You need to categorize the kinds of problems you face and have to find answers accordingly as every problem cannot be solved in the same way.
- Employees' needs and wants - It is always important for you to keep a track of your employees' needs and wants as it will be a source of motivation for them.
- Organizational strategies - It is very important for an organization to make a position for itself in the market through its products. Various strategies are used for this purpose. These strategies can be according to the newest and the best products (differentiation strategy). All the strategies require a structure to reach the organizational goal.
- Competitiveness - The feeling of competition among your employees is reflected in the positive changes of the organization which is, in turn, related to the flexibility of an organization.
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How can one increase the longevity of an organization?Longevity of an organization depends on the implementation of new and improved techniques and technologies which holds the key to its survival and ultimate success. To survive for a long time you require long term profits in your business. One can increase the longevity through the following ways:
- Continuous development
- Keeping up with technology
- Retaining key employees
- Satisfying employees
- Offer training to the staff
- Offering excellent services
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Who are the stakeholders in an organization?A stakeholder can be a person, an organization, a social group or a society at large that has a stake in a business where stake is an essential interest in the business or its activities. It can include ownership and property interests, legal interests and obligations, and moral rights.
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Is management a science or an art?Management is considered as both a science and an art as sometimes it fulfills the features present in science and sometimes it does the same for arts.
Management as an art fulfills the following characters –
- Practical Knowledge: A manager should know how to apply various principles in practical situations.
- Personal Skill: When managers have their own way of managing things based on their own knowledge, experience and personality, they are considered able managers.
- Creativity: Managers should combine their creativity with their experience and knowledge to achieve the desired results.
Management is considered a soft science which consists of principles and theories proven by experiments. Science aims to give answers by prediction, taking into account the work to be performed.
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What do we mean by standard management functions?Below are the standard functions of management.
- Planning- Planning is something that is necessary for the working of every organization in order to avoid confusion, uncertainties, risks, wastage, etc.
- Organizing- Organizing is a process that includes identifying activities and classifying them into different categories like assigning duties, delegation of authorities and creating responsibility, and coordinating authorities.
- Staffing- Staffing involves the recruitment and selection of employees. It is an important process in an organization as selecting the right person for the right job is highly important.
Directing- Directing is the most important function for any organization as it puts the planning, organizing and staffing together in order to work efficiently for to achieve the organizational goals.
Controlling- Controlling is equally important as it looks over the working of all the other functions in order to make sure that the enterprise's objectives and plans are put together in an effective manner without making mistakes.
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What are the essential steps in the process of planning?- Analyzing the present structure – You can conduct a SWOT analysis and analyze your organization's external and internal environments.
- Decision-making for the future structure- Here, you make plans which decide the future of your organization, like where it wants to be, its essential values, and what it wants do.
- Determination of objectives and strategies- You need to decide your goals and the strategies to achieve those goals effectively.
- Implementation and evaluation- Implementation of plans is the last and the most important step as it leads to the achievement of your plans and objectives.
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What are short term and long term planning?Short-Term
Short-term planning is the type that looks over the present status of the company and accordingly plans are made and strategies are developed to implement them.
Long-Term
When any organization wants to solve some problems permanently, they look for long term plans. Long-term planning is done keeping in mind the social, economic, and political situations.
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Define Proactive decision. How is it different from reactive decision?Proactive Decision is about acting in advance for a future situation. It means taking measures in advance to control some situations rather than just waiting for something to happen.
Reactive business decisions are those that respond to some unexpected event only after it occurs, while proactive strategies are designed to handle expected possible challenges.
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Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative decisions.Qualitative
Qualitative decision making is concerned with the experiential knowledge of various factors involved in a decision. For example, if you are to use the qualitative approach to solve a dispute over resources between two departments of an organization, the manager must understand the complexity of the interaction, i.e. the interpersonal connections among the supervisors of all the departments, and the overall availability of resources for which the two departments are competing.
Quantitative
Managers lacking experience can opt for the quantitative approach as it uses mathematical methods to translate the problem. Accordingly, the quantitative approach works best for objectively measurable problems.
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Name a few techniques which assist in the decision making process?Techniques involved in the process of decision making:
- Gathering information- What are the factors that are responsible for a problem?
- Identifying the principles to judge the alternatives- What can be the alternatives to deal with an identified problem?
- Listing of different possible solutions- Generate ideas for possible solutions.
- Evaluating each choice on the basis of its consequences- Evaluating your standards and determining the cons and pros of each alternative.
- Determining the best alternative- You can choose the best from the predetermined alternatives.
- Putting the decision into action- Convert your plan into actions.
- Evaluating the outcome of your decisions and actions- This is an important step for further development of your decision making and judgment skills.
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What types of decisions are involved in management?Management decisions are dependent on various factors according to the level of management.
Board of Directors or Owners- A company’s board or owners create a mission and write a mission statement for the internal and external audiences that they will never compromise with their standards and values.
Top Management-The management at the top has to convert the mission and vision into real achievements over the time. Of all the management levels, top managers spend the most amount time making decisions and plans.
Middle Management- After the top management is done with the decision making, it is up to the middle management to choose smaller plans of action that are put together to fulfill strategic goals.
Operational Management- Also known as the first-line management, operational management is the level that is directly responsible to the employees as they choose their goals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. First-line management accomplishes the objectives of middle management
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What is the difference between centralization and decentralization?Centralization is said to be a process where decision making is in the hands of a few managers or authority is concentrated. Only one or a few people have the authority to make decisions.
On the other hand, decentralization is a systematic delegation of authority at all the levels of the management of an organization. In decentralization, authority is delegated to different levels of management according to their knowledge and experience and they have the power to take decisions at different stages.
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What is the main difference between Vertical and Horizontal Organizations?Vertical- The vertical organization's structure is in a descending order from the top to bottom where the chain of command is distributed and the person at the top has the maximum power.
Horizontal- A horizontal organization has a team of employees working in the same designation and each person has pre-defined duties. These set of employees have similar lines of work with less defined chain of command.
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What do you understand by the concept of departmentalization?Departmentalization can be understood as the dividing of an organization into different departments where the tasks are assigned according to the departments' specializations in the organization.
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What do you understand by Job enrichment?Job enrichment can be considered a motivational technique that every organization uses in order to boost the morale of its employees. It gives additional responsibilities to the employees so that they manage their duties more by themselves.
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What are the different types of management skills required?- People Skills- If you have the right people with the right skills, the output you will get from them will be more. So, managers have to give and receive constructive feedback to encourage continuous improvement.
- Time Management- A manager should have the quality of being able to distinguish between what is important and what can wait. He should, accordingly, get into the proactive mode and should not be reactive every time.
- Project Management- When managers have the skill of strategic thinking along with those of brainstorming and decision-making for any project, the end result that comes is always the best.
- Conflict Management- Conflicts are a very common part of any organization, but its management gets difficult at some point of time. So negotiating skills in managers are always helpful for keeping projects and people on the track of achieving goals and objectives.
- Other Skills- Stress-management skills are especially important during the times of conflicts. Office management skills such as procurement, reporting, hiring and budgeting can also help keep things operating smoothly.
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How do business policies help in business management?An effective business policy must have the following features.
- Specific- A business policy must always be specific in order to avoid difficulties in its implementation.
- Clear- Policies mentioned must be very clear so that there is no misunderstanding.
- Reliable- If the policies are reliable, they can be efficiently followed by the subordinates.
- Appropriate- Appropriate policies are always helpful in achieving the organization's goals.
- Simple- A policy must be simple and easy to be understood by all in the organization.
- Flexible- A policy should be flexible to apply so that it gets easier for the line managers to use them as per the scenario in a repetitive manner.
- Stable- If policies are not stable they will create uncertainties in the minds of those who look into it for guidance.
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What are the functionalities performed by lower level managers?- Lower level is also known as supervisory/operative level of management. Their activities include,
- Assigning jobs and tasks to various workers
- Guiding and instructing workers about the day to day activities
- They are responsible for the quality as well as the quantity of production
- They have to maintain good relations within the organization
- They need to tackle the workers' problems and act as a link between the higher authority and higher level goals and objectives, and the workers
- They solve the grievances of the workers
- They supervise and guide the sub-ordinates
- They are responsible for providing training to the workers
- They prepare periodical reports about the performance of the workers
- They ensure discipline in the enterprise and also act as a source of motivation for the workers.
- They are the image builders of the enterprise because they are in direct contact with the workers
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What is a BPM life-cycle?BPM stands for Business Process Management. BPM life-cycle is for continuous business process improvement. In this they capture the process in a structured way, then monitor and optimize the process. This cycle of process improvement repeats continuously throughout the life of the process.
This introduces a culture of continual process improvement into the organization in a structured but easy-to-use way.
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What are the different steps involved in the life-cycle?Here the common steps that are involved in the life-cycle are listed out.
Model- Acquiring the business processes at the top level, making sure that the top level detail is correct without being distracted by the details of how it is going to be implemented.
Execute- Instances of the process are launched and interacted with by the end users.
Monitor- Measure the key performance indicators and process performances to understand where the inefficiencies in the process are.
Optimize- Improve the business process and performance by reducing the inefficiencies identified during monitoring. Determine which changes will deliver the maximum benefit.
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What are the different lenses that are given in a BPM suite?There are three lenses that are given in a BPM suite:
- Human-centric BPM
- Integration-centric BPM (Enterprise Service Bus)
- Document-centric BPM (Dynamic Case Management)
However, standalone integration-centric and document-centric offerings have matured into separate, standalone markets.
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What is the difference between BPM and SOA?- BPM stands for Business Process Management and SOA stands for Service Oriented Architecture
- BPM is related to business process and SOA is technical.
- BPM provides managerial road map for the integration of human-driven process with IT business solution. SOA provides a flexible set of design principles for developers which are used during the systems development and integration phases.
- BPM defines processes and sets goals whereas SOA provides technological means to achieve those goals.
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Why is departmentalization needed in an organization? What are the different bases for departmentalization?Departmentalization is important for every organization as it helps in specialization, growth and expansion, fixing responsibility, bettering the customer service, Performance appraisal, Management development optimizing the utilization of resources and facilitating better control.
The bases for departmentalization are:
- Functional- It is commonly used as it offers certain advantages such as specialization, performance of activities, elimination of unnecessary activities, organization and control of important functional activities.
- Product- Product departmentalization is important for product expansion and diversification when the manufacturing and marketing characteristics of each product are of primary concern.
- Geographical- Territorial or geographical departmentalization is especially useful for large organizations such as banking, insurance, transportation, etc. as these are geographically spread.
- Process- In process departmentalization, processes involved in production or various types of equipments used are taken as the basis for departmentalization.
- Customer- The basic idea of this departmentalization is to provide services to clearly identified groups of customers.
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