KBAM_2 EFQM Connections

During this investigation and study days of asset management I found some interesting issues that I think that are relevant and important in business management. While studying Health and Safety asset management, I read that it is related with 4C component of EFQM. Nevertheless, within asset management and this particular subject I can say that there are many interrelated elements; It is part of buildings equipment and other resources management but at the same time when planning how to model this area, Partnership and suppliers on one side and Technology in the other side are also highly involved. If a company wants to plan a strategy in H&S issues, it can benchmark, work with suppliers and learn from them, it needs to measure accidents, health statistics it need technology tools to find out where the company is and where it wants to be, it needs information and knowledge management to support the decision making process. And also, environmental management and facility management can be also related with it!

This is really important because in real business life activities always have strong connections with different areas, I think an efficient strategy could be to combine them, to balance them and to group them in order to work together. Sharing information and knowledge could help. At the end a systematic view will arrive, and the essence of EFQM will appear and will be achieved.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 17 Apr 2013 12:31 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM 8

Finding alternatives is one of the steps inside a decision making process. As a related research (Lawson, 2005) comments, the research process of finding possible alternatives doesn't end at that point. In that manner, it is crucial to study the approach from different perspectives, from different angles and positions, and what it is needed here is to involve creativity and imagination.

What i find important from this fact is that possibilities are immense, are more than what the eye can see, there are hidden things that curiosity can help to discover. In real business, creativity might be a powerful tool to use, given that it demands ourselves to be critical to study more deeply everything and to go always beyond. This is not being casual or spontaneous is about involving a stronger research, about going far and understanding that in business decisions anything can happen and the more we can observe and study, the more we can achieve and prevent.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 17 Apr 2013 12:20 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM 7

Relevant things can be mentioned regarding one of the decision tools called PESTLE analysis. From my perspective this tools is one of the most complete ones given the wide coverage of factors that it includes (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental), having all of them analysed around different possibilities or options the scope could be narrowed and a clear picture of the scenario could have obtained.

I find interesting from this tool that it covers mostly issues that companies cannot control, and those factors are crucial given that organizations can be affected by external issues that are happening "outside" but at one point they will have an effect in many ways. Therefore, national and international issues are always going to be present and are affecting economies and industries, this tool is relevant given that it analyses those issues and implications on the different areas.

Nevertheless, this tools by itself is not perfect and has not the final word in a decision making process. Many different factors should be taken into account, but is definitively one of the most complete ones and brings a wide range of analysis.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 16 Apr 2013 17:41 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

KBAM_1

Asset management is in fact one of the most complete and complex subject in business, this issue covers a wide range of factors which are crucial and basic for organizations, that is to say from physical elements such as buildings, offices and machines to intangible elements like data, information systems, networks and so on. During this first steps of the assignment I have realized that this is a complete universe of elements and a big subject to study, what I find more relevant and would like to highlight is that asset management is all about managing vital things for organizations that without them work cannot be done, this "kind of management" is the base for a company's dynamic. On the other hand, I would say that it is also about providing quality in a transversal way within the functional area of organizations.

Therefore, what I find interesting and useful from this phase of management is that as a professional in any organization asset management will take place some when and in that case excellence models are totally appropriate. To bring quality and efficiency within asset management is the objective of any organization. And this issue can take part in any area of the organization, from my point of view this subject will be useful and will teach me a key tip: to be aware of assets. Opening our eyes to what exists arround us is the first step to realize that anything can happen and that the more we care about what we have, the more this will affect the work performance. Assets are everywhere and are easy to ignore (from my experience). As managers the content to be study during these weeks will help us to explore how things could be done better, how to exploit all the possibilities and how to be creative, linking assets, management and people could be a useful tool to satisfy the work duties and people's stability.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 16 Apr 2013 17:30 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM_6

Regarding different styles of decision-making, there are various ways to decide, authors suggest different styles and behaviours, but what I want to mention is that the final the style of decision-making depends on three main factors 1.The kind of issue to decide 2.The attitude of the one deciding and 3.The environment which rounds the situation.

For instance, if is something urgent, pressure, time and risks should cover the environment and affect the decision makers. At the end that process is going to be the result of multiple factors interacting at the same time. In this manner, procedural processes might be more convenient when projects have a time schedule, legal and organizational procedures might be followed carefully and there is a routine already known. Nevertheless, from my personal experience when time is crucial risk-averse and/or authoritarian styles might appear just as results of the circumstances, when is no time to consult other people, or when change must be operated those styles are more frequent to be observed.

The is no one type or style permanent in one person or company, factor affect them and time, I would say is one of the most relevant ones.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 15 Apr 2013 17:59 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM 5

Biases are fundamental issues in decision making processes; those are inherent to human mind and define perceptions affecting individual´s feelings. Given psychological issues, feeling are always connected to human behaviour and therefore to human thoughts. That theory and dynamic of brain, ideas and actions are always linked to what individuals tend to decide. In real business and professional environments, this kind of issues appear as well, therefore, is a professional attitude to apart from those perceptions and try to be as objective as possible.

In this manner, objectivity is a main point in decision making. Nevertheless, many decision tools can be used, but the selection of those could be affected as well by subjectivity, perceptions and biases. Therefore, to make an impartial selection is relevant for a business in order to have balanced decisions at the end of each process. Tools might cover many factors, internal and external ones to bear in mind as many things as possible, a diverse combination of them might agree with the information available, the interest of the organization and the established objectives.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 13 Apr 2013 21:54 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

RDM_4

One of the most important things when developing a decision making process in business, is to set objectives. Those, help individuals to have a clear picture of the situations and to know where to go. I would highlight this fact as one of the relevant areas for improvement of the WR simulation exercise, although we knew it was necessary to pick one location and an advertisement mix, it could have been better to decide whether it was relevant for the company to make profit or not, or to target one geographic area, or to create a new market for example. I found relevant this point given that established objectives can influence the tools, and therefore tools might agree with them and address the decision process towards a clear objective.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 11 Apr 2013 20:16 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

LE–Rewards

Within the learning process of leadership one of the things that attracted me in this area was the relationship between rewards and satisfaction. Commonly it is thought that both of them are the same thing or that the second one is directly produced by the first one. Honestly I was one of those that though in that way; nevertheless after reflecting about this topic I found interesting that it is really possible to cut that relationship and to separate both concepts. Satisfaction should be a complete state of mind, a constant sensation during work, although people cannot have the same enthusiasm all the time, it is important that this element is conceived as feeling good with what we do in our jobs and feeling good with our teammates.

At the end, when we look backwards we find that that entire context is the best reward ever. And this is a leader's important characteristic. Leaders work towards common benefit towards group results and satisfaction that is what makes good leaders. Rewards will probably come next, but surely they wouldn't have meaning without having collective action.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 01 Apr 2013 11:12 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

L&E

Reading about theories of leadership I found that Confidence is a common aspect transversal for many approaches, as followers are suposed to trust and have strong confidence on ther leaders. Regarding this issue I found remarkable that for many authors confidence is something to be achieved inside leadership contexts, which is true given that confidence is gained trhought time, but it could be said that in practice confidence more than an end is a mean, is a way to improve leadership is just a form of managing and modeling leaders and situations. Confidence is escential and is an important part of the relationship between followers and leaders, I would suggest to use confidence as a way to become better leaders and as a mean to improve relatonships more than an final end for leaders.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 17 Mar 2013 16:53 |  Tags: Confidence |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

L&E

During the development of PMA I have found something interesting about values and attitudes. Some authors suggest that those are relevant defining different types of leaders and model the way they act. Anyway, there are some trends that argue this idea saying that values and attitudes are part of a person but circumstances define the way people act making different styles appear depending on the external conditions.

Regarding this opinions it is important to highlight that values are inherent to human beings, and from an ethical perspective those definitively influence the way we act. But what about external circumstances? I can say, that what distinguishes leaders is the fact of knowing how to manage situations, values will always be part of our personalities, but the job of leaders is to use the values in order to find solutions, to manage situations and to perform better with his team. External situations affect people, affect leaders but values are always going to be there as building blocks of behaviour.

Luisa Rodriguez Qui?Ones : 07 Mar 2013 13:03 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem