HRM Assignment 9: Nature, Scope of HRM

{ Posted on 7:26 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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For this assignment we are tasked to interview Human Resource Manager personnel or manager regarding his concept on the nature, scope and role of human resource management.

Since our adopted company for our Human Resource Management Major Paper is the Department of Education region XI we also grabbed the opportunity to interview the HRM personnel in the above-stated matter. Our interviewee was Rosalaine Marangan, Administrative Officer V and also the HRM head of DepED.

Definition:

Human Resource Management has come to be recognized as an inherent part of management, which is concerned with the human resources of an organization. Its objective is the maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the development, application and evaluation of policies, procedures and programmes relating to human resources to optimize their contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives.

In other words, HRM is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people. It is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationships within the enterprise. HRM helps in attaining maximum individual development, desirable working relationship between employees and employers, employees and employees, and effective modeling of human resources as contrasted with physical resources. It is the recruitment, selection, development, utilization, compensation and motivation of human resources by the organization.

Evolution:

The early part of the century saw a concern for improved efficiency through careful design of work. During the middle part of the century emphasis shifted to the employee's productivity. Recent decades have focused on increased concern for the quality of working life, total quality management and worker's participation in management. These three phases may be termed as welfare, development and empowerment.
As for the group’s interview we have gathered the following answers:
Nature

1. Ogranisations is the people who manage.
2. HRM involves acquisitioning, developing, maintaining
3. Decisions relating to employees must be integrated.
4. Decisions made must influence the effectiveness of an organization.
5. HRM functions are confirmed to Non-business organization also.

Specifically, HRM has also these following nature:

Human Resource Management is a process of bringing people and organizations together so that the goals of each are met. The various features of HRM include:

• It is pervasive in nature as it is present in all enterprises.
• Its focus is on results rather than on rules.
• It tries to help employees develop their potential fully.
• It encourages employees to give their best to the organization.
• It is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups.
• It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results.
• It helps an organization meet its goals in the future by providing for competent and well-motivated employees.
• It tries to build and maintain cordial relations between people working at various levels in the organization.
• It is a multidisciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and inputs drawn from psychology, economics, etc.

Furthermore, concerned with the transactions on retirement, hiring and any human resource-related operations.

Scope

According to Ma’am Rosalaine that the operation as to hoe the personnel respond to a certain transaction is centralized. Meaning to say, all matters are mandated by the administrative office and beyond that is not entertained by their personnel. They are only up to what the center office is mandating.
The scope of HRM is very wide:

1. Personnel aspect-This is concerned with manpower planning, recruitment, selection, placement, transfer, promotion, training and development, layoff and retrenchment, remuneration, incentives, productivity etc.
2. Welfare aspect-It deals with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.
3. Industrial relations aspect-This covers union-management relations, joint consultation, collective bargaining, grievance and disciplinary procedures, settlement of disputes, etc. As for the industrial relations aspect, there has been no union-management relation existing within the firm.
HRM is one of the pillars of any organization. That is why they are very particular with the roles and functions of the personnel within the HRM division. Roles or functions are as follows:

1. Human resource or manpower planning.
2. Recruitment, selection and placement of personnel.
3. Training and development of employees.
4. Appraisal of performance of employees.
5. Taking corrective steps such as transfer from one job to another.
6. Remuneration of employees.
7. Social security and welfare of employees.
8. Setting general and specific management policy for organizational relationship.
9. Collective bargaining, contract negotiation and grievance handling.
10. Staffing the organization.
11. Aiding in the self-development of employees at all levels.
12. Developing and maintaining motivation for workers by providing incentives.
13. Reviewing and auditing manpower management in the organization
14. Potential Appraisal. Feedback Counseling.
15. Role Analysis for job occupants.
16. Job Rotation.
17. Quality Circle, Organization development and Quality of Working Life.

Human resource management is also in the process of change with regard to the nature of the role performed. In the past many functions were performed by HRM professionals themselves, the role they are taking on, is one of consultant to line management, where line managers perform many of the functions traditionally handled by HRM professionals. Similarly there is a trend in which businesses are shedding all functions that are not directly related to core business, and in the process many HRM functions are being outsourced. Hence the change in the nature of services provided.

The activity of generating unit standards and designing qualifications can be used as an opportunity to catapult HRM practices into the future. To do this, those issues which are going to shape the future for HRM need to be identified and analyzed, especially in relation to current roles that will still be required of HRM practitioners. These issues are central to the activity of generating unit standards (e.g. outsourcing, societal responsibility) and their impact on HRM roles (e.g. staffing, performance management).

To conclude Human Resource Management should be linked with strategic goals and objectives in order to improve business performance and develop organizational cultures that foster innovation and flexibility. All the above futuristic visions coupled with strategic goals and objectives should be based on 3 H's of Heart, Head and Hand i.e., we should feel by Heart, think by Head and implement by Hand.


Source:
http://www.citehr.com/79624-nature-scope-human-resource-management.html#post321558
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_nature_and_scope_of_human_resource_managemen

MIS Assignment 9: Information Environment

{ Posted on 7:06 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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For this assignment we are tasked to identify an Information Environment. Let us first be acquainted with what is Information Environment. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality of information is not lost amongst masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation an serving ‘quality’ information, there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the information environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment ails to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.

By knowing Information Environment, I have chosen the E-Infrastructure as an information environment. Actually, this kind of information environment is under The Research Infrastructures part of the FP7 Capacities Programme, this supports an innovative way of conducting scientific research (referred to as e-science) by the creation environment for academic and industrial research in which virtual communities share, federate and exploit the collective power of European scientific facilities.

The term e-infrastructure refers to this new research environment in which all researchers – whether working in the context of their home institutions or in national or multinational scientific initiatives – have shared access to unique or distributed scientific facilities (including data, instruments, computing and communications), regardless of their type and locations in the world. The e-infrastructure activity will extend and reinforce the high capacity communication infrastructure; strengthen multidisciplinary grid and supercomputing infrastructures; expand scientific data infrastructure; encourage the adoption of e-infrastructure by an increasing number of user communities; stimulate new organizational models; and support the construction of new computation and data treatment facilities. Specifically, e-infrastructure aims to improve the capacity of he sector to manage, discover the use of information resources. This will be achieved by delivering a range of benefits to the sector that align with the general benefits, these are the following:

  • Enhanced capacity, knowledge and skills to enable positive and informed change in the sector
  • Guidance to the sector on ‘best practice’ models for using technology that can be used at departmental, institutional, regional or national levels
  • Strategic leadership to the sector and the other bodies in specialist areas to influence national and international agendas
  • Knowledge and experience as a basis for future funding decisions
  • New or enhanced services, infrastructure, standards or applications that may be used at departmental, institutional, regional or national levels

If I’ll get myself involved in such environment, I’ll be doing my roles that I must bear to satisfy the aim of this environment. One role that I will be possessing is the role to improve information management practices, because this is a key focus for many organizations, across both the public and private sector. Information environment is, however, much more than just technology. Equally importantly, it is about the business processes and practices that underpin the creation and use of information. Another role is develop guidelines for description and build systems that do a better job of supporting the information-seeking tasks of users; to be aware complexity of certain organizations, thus provide some necessary actions to overcome challenges in terms of planning and implementing any projects. Of course, these roles I have mentioned will not be perfectly done by my intellectual properties only, I have to adheres some options, ways and means in order to satisfy these roles. With this demand, the principles of Information Organization and representation is of big help to realize the roles I must posses.

Now, as I go over the internet I have known the principles of information management, I think these are most likely similar with information organization. We all know that an information management encompasses people, process, technology and content. Each of these must be addresses if information organization projects are to succeed. Here are the principles:

  • Recognize (and manage) complexity
  • Focus on adoption
  • Deliver tangible and visible benefits
  • Prioritize according to business needs
  • Take the journey of a thousand steps
  • Provide a strong leadership
  • Mitigate risks
  • Communicate extensively
  • Aim to deliver a seamless user experience
  • Choose the first project very carefully

With the first one which is to recognize (and manage) complexity, we all know for the fact that organizations are very complex environment in which to deliver concrete solutions. With these principle it will help my role to be perform correctly by way of fully centralizing information management activities, to ensure that every activity is tightly controlled and by way of rolling out rigid, standardized solutions across whole organization, even though individual business areas may have different needs. In practice, however, there is no way of avoiding the inherent complexities within organizations. New approaches to information management must therefore be found that recognize (and manage) this complexity. Risks must then be identified and mitigated throughout the project, to ensure that organizational complexities do not prevent the delivery of effective solutions.

In practice, most information management systems need the active participation of staff throughout the organization, this is the implication of the second principle. Staff must save all the key files into the document/records management system; front-line staff must capture call details in the customer relationship management system. In all these cases, the challenges is to gain the sufficient adoption to ensure that the required information is captured by the system. Without a critical mass of usage, corporate repositories will not contain enough information to be useful. This may include:

  • Identifying the ‘what’s in it for me’ factors for end users of the system
  • Communicating clearly to all staff the purpose and benefits of the project
  • Carefully targeting initial projects to build momentum for the project
  • Conducting extensive change management and cultural change activities throughout the project.
  • Ensuring that the systems that are deployed are useful and usable for the staff.

Another principle implies that delivering tangible benefits involves identifying concrete Business needs that must be met. This allows meaningful measurement of the impact of the projects on the operation of the organization. As involved in an information environment such as e-infrastructure one’s implementations should target issues or needs that are very visible within the organization. When the solutions are delivered, the improvement should be obvious, and widely promoted throughout the organization. For example, improving the information available to call centre staff can have a very visible and tangible impact on customer service. Another principle that can help in possessing my role in the environment that I have chosen is to prioritize according to business needs. It can be difficult to where to start when planning information management projects. While some organization attempt to prioritize projects according to the ‘simplicity’ of the technology to de deployed, this is not a meaningful approach. In particular, this often doesn’t deliver short-term benefits that are tangible and visible. Instead of this technology-driven approach<>

Also, mitigate risks is also an important principle that help posses the role. Due to the inherent complexity of the environment within organizations, there are many risks in implementing information management solutions. These risks include:

  • Selecting an inappropriate technology solution
  • Time and budget overruns
  • Changing business requirements
  • Technical issues, particularly relating to integrating systems
  • Failure to gain adoption by staff

At the outset of planning an information management strategy, the risks should be clearly identified. An approach must then be identified for each risk, either avoiding or mitigating the risk. Risk management approaches should then be used to plan all aspects of the project, including the activities conducted and the budget spent. To communicate extensively is also a big help in possessing my roles in the information environment I have chosen. Extensive communication from the project team is critical for a successful information management initiative. This communication ensures that staffs have a clear understanding of the project, and the benefits it will deliver. This is a pre-requisite for achieving the required level of adoption.
For all these reasons, the first step in an information management project should be to develop a clear communications ‘message’. This should then be supported by a communications plan that describes target audiences, and methods of communication. Project teams should also consider establishing a ‘project site’ on the intranet as the outset, to provide a location for planning documents, news releases, and other updates. Above all, when one is engaging himself’/herself in an information environment, one must take into account the principle that would affect the entire engagement activities of the information environment. The principle I am talking about is choosing a project very carefully.

The choice of conduct projects is part of broader information management strategy is critical. This project must be selected carefully, to ensure that it:

• demonstrates the value of the information management strategy
• builds momentum for future activities
• generates interest and enthusiasm from both end-users and stakeholders
• delivers tangible and visible benefits
• addresses an important or urgent business need
• can be clearly communicated to staff and stakeholders
• assists the project team in gaining further resources and support

Actions speak louder than words. The project is the single best (and perhaps only) opportunity to set the organization on the right path towards better information management practices and technologies. Te project must therefore be chosen according to its ability to act as a ‘catalyst’ for further organizational and cultural changes. In practice, this often involves starting with one problem or one area of the business that the organization as a whole would be interested in, and cares about. For example, starting by restructuring the corporate policies and procedures will generate little interest or enthusiasm. In contrast, delivering a system that greatly assists salespeople in the field would be something that could be widely promoted throughout the organization.

In practice, challenges have never turned its way. Challenges encompass once facing the roles in an information environment. Organizations are confronted with many information management problems and issues. In many ways, the growth of electronic information (rather than paper) has only worsened these issues over the last decade or two.

Common challenges that might occur in performing such roles within the e-infrastructure as an information environment.

• Large number of disparate information management systems.
• Little integration or coordination between information systems.
• Range of legacy systems requiring upgrading or replacement.
• Direct competition between information management systems.
• No clear strategic direction for the overall technology environment.
• Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems by staff.
• Poor quality of information, including lack of consistency, duplication, and out-of-date information.
• Little recognition and support of information management by senior management.
• Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems.
• Lack of enterprise-wide definitions for information types and values (no corporate-wide taxonomy).
• Large number of diverse business needs and issues to be addressed.
• Lack of clarity around broader organizational strategies and directions.
• Difficulties in changing working practices and processes of staff.
• Internal politics impacting on the ability to coordinate activities enterprise-wide.


Source:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_effectiveim
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/






HRM Assignment 10 : HRM and Personnel Management

{ Posted on 7:53 PM by Ariel Serenado }
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In this context, let’s first review the differences and similarities of Personnel Management and Human Resource Management. Probably, the people behind personnel management and human resource management are the personnel manager and the human resource manager. By their functionalities we may be able to identify their differences and similarities.

The function of a personnel manager usually begins with the staffing process. The manager may be focused on screening and interviewing applicants, with an eye to placing individuals with the right skill sets in the right position within the company. Along with placement, the HR manager may also oversee, or at least be involved in, the creation of entry level training programs, as well as continuing education opportunities for existing employees. Determining company policies and procedures as they relate to personnel is another important aspect of the personnel management process. HR functions often include drafting vacation, sick leave, and bereavement policies that apply to all employees. The personnel management team is also often responsible for managing any healthcare program provided to the employees as well.

One aspect of company organization that needs the input of effective personnel management is the drafting of a company handbook. Establishing operation policies and procedures, requirements for employment, commendation and disciplinary procedures, and even something as simple as a dress code has to be compared with state and federal guidelines before the handbook is ready for release to the company at large. Personnel managers and the HR staff are ideal for drafting and reviewing the company handbook. Sometimes overlooked in the course of personnel management is the emotional welfare of the employees. Increasingly, more personnel managers understand that a well-adjusted employee is an asset to the company. To this end, many people in charge of personnel management try to provide opportunities for employees who are in need of counseling to receive support from the company.

This support often involves scheduling time during working hours for the counseling sessions, and perhaps picking up the cost if insurance does not cover counseling. As with continuing educational programs, counseling is seen as another way that the company invests in the future relationship between the employee and the employer. A good HR manager understands this and will strive to make sure this sort of support is available. Depending on the size of the organization, it may be possible for one person to handle all personnel management functions. As a company grows, it may be necessary to expand from a single personnel manager to a full-fledged personnel management, or Human Resources team. By understanding the needs of the company at each point in its growth, management can readily see to the addition to the Human Resources team over time.

Definitions of Personnel Management may somehow differ depending on a field it is concerned, and these are the following:

• Administrative discipline of hiring and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization. It includes (1) conducting job analyses, (2) planning personnel needs, and recruitment, (3) selecting the right people for the job, (4) orienting and training, (5) determining and managing wages and salaries, (6) providing benefits and incentives, (7) appraising performance, (8) resolving disputes, (9) communicating with all employees at all levels.

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/personnel-management.html

• The part of management that is concerned with people and their relationships at work. Personnel management is the responsibility of all those who manage people, as well as a description of the work of specialists. Personnel managers advise on, formulate, and implement personnel policies such as recruitment, conditions of employment, performance appraisal, training, industrial relations, and health and safety. There are various models of personnel management, of which human resource management is the most recent.

Source: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Personnel+Management.html

• Within organizations that employ people, this is the function with policy responsibility for the selection and recruitment of staff, training, performance assessment, career development, disciplinary proceedings, pre-retirement advisory work, equal opportunities policies, pay bargaining, and industrial relations. In small organizations these functions may be combined with other management responsibilities; in large organizations a substantial separate department may be involved in setting policy, its implementation, and in keeping up to date with developments in labor law. In recent years the newer alternative term 'human resource management' has come into use, reflecting the increased importance of this function in labor-intensive service-sector industries.

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Definition_of_personnel_management

• Planning, organizing, and administering all activities related to personnel.

Source: http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Personnel_management

• Skills in communicating effectively, developing teams, managing diversity, managing conflict, delegating responsibility, coaching and training, giving and receiving constructive feedback, and motivating and guiding either individuals or groups to achieve specific goals.

Source: http://www.cedanet.com/meta/personnel_management.htm

Definition of Human Resource Management

• Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.

Source: http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/f/hr_management.htm

• "Human resource management is responsible for how people are treated in organizations. It is responsible for bringing people into the organization, helping them perform their work, compensating them for their labors, and solving problems that arise" (Cherrington, 1995, p. 5). There are seven management functions of a human resources (HR) department that will be specifically addressed: staffing, performance appraisals, compensation and benefits, training and development, employee and labor relations, safety and health, and human resource research.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/human-resource-management

• A model of personnel management that focuses on the individual rather than taking a collective approach. Responsibility for human resource management is often devolved to line management. It is characterized by an emphasis on strategic integration, employee commitment, workforce flexibility, and quality of goods and services.

Source: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/human+resource+management.html

• Administrative activities associated with human resources planning, recruitment, selection, orientation, training, appraisal, motivation, remuneration, etc. HRM aims at developing people through work.

Source:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/human-resource-management-HRM.html

• Human Resource Management (HRM) involves all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence people, or human resources, who work for the organization

Source:http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=kUZx2l3atyAC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=definition+of+human+resource+management&source=bl&ots=4Dcr0CQMk7&sig=OL9CnYbD3ZVjQrCXZPFekW1pdm8&hl=tl&ei=hkLDSpuHAYrIsAO497DAAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAjge#v=onepage&q=definition%20of%20human%20resource%20management&f=false

• Term that is replacing personnel management and implying that personnel managers should not merely handle recruitment, pay, and discharging, but should maximize the use of an organization's human resources.

Source:http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/human-resources-management-hrm/4959860-1.html
• “HRM is a series of integrated decisions that form the employment relationships; their quality contributes to the ability of the organizations and the employees to achieve their objectives.”

• “HRM is concerned with the people dimensions in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization are essential to achieving organizational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of the organization government, business, education, health, recreational, or social action.”

• “HRM planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual, organizational and social objectives are accomplished.”

Source: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10373623/HUMAN-RESOURCE-MANAGEMENT

HRM Assignment 8: SONA

{ Posted on 1:54 PM by Ariel Serenado }
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For this assignment we tasked to identify at least three sections related to Human Resource being discussed by PGMA in her SONA last July this year. As we all know the Human Resource is mainly referring to the people that encompass a certain organization or simply the PEOPLE, therefore the sections that i will be mentioning are things that are of related to the development of the people in this fast changing environment. Perhaps, as I review over the full text of the SONA I have come to identify the following sections discussed by PGMA in her SONA:

Microfinance


Basically, this microfinance is engaged for the poor descendants of the country.

1. What is Microfinance?

"Microfinance is the supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services to the poor." (CGAP) In pursuant of this matter there microfinance institutions who are greatly involved in this financing. A microfinance institution (MFI) is an organization that provides microfinance services, ranging from small non-profit organizations to large commercial banks.

"Historical context can help explain how specialized MFIs developed over the last few decades. Between the 1950s and 1970s, governments and donors focused on providing subsidized agricultural credit to small and marginal farmers, in hopes of raising productivity and incomes. During the 1980s, microenterprise credit concentrated on providing loans to poor women to invest in tiny businesses, enabling them to accumulate assets and raise household income and welfare. These experiments resulted in the emergence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provided financial services for the poor. In the 1990s, many of these institutions transformed themselves into formal financial institutions in order to access and on-lend client savings, thus enhancing their outreach.

2. . Why there is a need for financial services by way of microfinance?

"Comprehensive impact studies have demonstrated that:

• Microfinance helps very poor households meet basic needs and protect against risks;
• The use of financial services by low-income households is associated with improvements in household economic welfare and enterprise stability or growth;
• By supporting women's economic participation, microfinance helps to empower women, thus promoting gender-equity and improving household well-being;
• For almost all significant impacts, the magnitude of impact is positively related to the length of time that clients have been in the programme." (UNCDF Microfinance)

"Poor people, with access to savings, credit, insurance, and other financial services, are more resilient and better able to cope with the everyday crises they face. Even the most rigorous econometric studies have proven that microfinance can smooth consumption levels and significantly reduce the need to sell assets to meet basic needs. With access to micro insurance, poor people can cope with sudden increased expenses associated with death, serious illness, and loss of assets.
Access to credit allows poor people to take advantage of economic opportunities. While increased earnings are by no means automatic, clients have overwhelmingly demonstrated that reliable sources of credit provide a fundamental basis for planning and expanding business activities. Many studies show that clients who join and stay in programs have better economic conditions than non-clients, suggesting that programs contribute to these improvements. A few studies have also shown that over a long period of time many clients do actually graduate out of poverty.
By reducing vulnerability and increasing earnings and savings, financial services allow poor households to make the transformation from "every-day survival" to "planning for the future." Households are able to send more children to school for longer periods and to make greater investments in their children's education. Increased earnings from financial services lead to better nutrition and better living conditions, which translates into a lower incidence of illness. Increased earnings also mean that clients may seek out and pay for health care services when needed, rather than go without or wait until their health seriously deteriorates." (CGAP) "Empirical evidence shows that, among the poor, those participating in microfinance programs who had access to financial services were able to improve their well-being—both at the individual and household level—much more than those who did not have access to financial services.

3. Is microfinance the solution to poverty?

My own view is that we have to approach extreme poverty a little like the way in which a doctor might approach a patient. Sometimes its terrible governance and the question is how to improve the governance and the hope for the kind of change that is needed. In other places it's the terrible burden of disease that may be addressable by good public health measures. In other places it is to show how to grow more food. In other places its how to get business going and microfinance has proven to be an incredibly powerful tool.

Once the basics are in place, the people are eating and can survive, then microfinance can play a huge role in helping a poor community find ways through the market to get new opportunities, to earn new income, to start saving, making investments and start the process of climbing the ladder of economic development in your children, in your business or your farm and continuing up the process of improving skills, specialization, new business ventures and so on. We've learnt that microfinance can be a wonderful tool for that." - Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Director

"In the last two decades, substantial progress has been made in developing techniques to deliver financial services to the poor on a sustainable basis. Most donor interventions have concentrated on one of these services, microcredit. For microcredit to be appropriate however, the clients must have the capacity to repay the loan under the terms by which it is provided. Otherwise, clients may not be able to benefit from credit and risk being pushed into debt problems. This sounds obvious, but microcredit is viewed by some as "one size fits all." Instead, microcredit should be carefully evaluated against the alternatives when choosing the most appropriate intervention tool for a specific situation.

Microcredit may be inappropriate where conditions pose severe challenges to standard microcredit methodologies. Populations that are geographically dispersed or nomadic may not be suitable microfinance candidates. Microfinance may not be appropriate for populations with a high incidence of debilitating illnesses (e.g., HIV/AIDS). Dependence on a single economic activity or single agricultural crop, or reliance on barter rather than cash transactions may pose problems. The presence of hyperinflation or absence of law and order may stress the ability of microfinance to operate. Microcredit is also much more difficult when laws and regulations create significant barriers to the sustainability of microfinance providers (for example, by mandating interest-rate caps).

Some points also were tackled by PGMA, it may not said verbally but it can be understood, these are the following:

? Grants can be used to help overcome the social isolation, lack of productive skills, and low self-confidence of the extreme poor, and to prepare them for eventual use of microcredit. Small grants and other financial entitlements can work well as first steps to "graduate" the poor from vulnerability to economic self-sufficiency.

? Investments in infrastructure, such as roads, communications, and education, provide a foundation for economic activities. Community-level investments in commercial or productive infrastructure (such as market centers or small-scale irrigation schemes) also facilitate business activity.

? Employment programs prepare the poor for self-employment. Food-for-work programs and public works projects fit this model. In many cases, these programs may be out of reach for cash-strapped local governments but within the purview of donors.

? Non-financial services range from literacy classes and community development to market-based business-development services. While non-financial services should be provided by separate institutional providers, there are clear, complementary links with the demand for and impact of microcredit.

? Legal and institutional reforms can create incentives for microfinance by improving the operating environment for both microfinance providers and their clients. For example, streamlining microenterprise registration, abolishing caps on interest rates, loosening regulations governing non-mortgage collateral, strengthening the judicial system, and reducing the cost and time of property and asset registration can foster a supportive climate for microfinance."

Resiliency plan


Depending on your requirements, our consultants can help you document cross-enterprise actions and appropriate responses to create a true resilience plan:

• Action steps to recover files before their loss causes a disaster
• Emergency and incident identification and escalation definitions
• Crisis response plans to mitigate human loss and mitigates impact
• Departmental plans that address localized systems and processes
• Data Center and facilities plans, including those for multivendor technologies and networks
• Workplace plans for your staff situated at local, remote or homework locations
• Corporate plans for HR, payroll and many cross-business unit applications
• Call center plans for both internal resources and third-party agencies that use your customer sales and support systems and databases
Resilience Plans and Procedures Development occurs in four primary areas:
• Crisis Management Plan Development - defines the preparatory actions taken prior to and immediately following an emergency to mitigate damage and loss of life and property
• IT Plan Development - defines the IT actions to adapt and respond following a declaration of disaster using recovery strategies and prioritization that supports the recovery requirements of the business
• Business Unit Plan Development - defines actions to support critical business units and their processes, goals and objectives following a declaration of disaster
• Technical Procedures Development - defines the procedures to recover the IT equipment, data and network that support critical business processes
• Business Procedures Development - defines the procedures to recover business processes in the event of
a disaster
IBM’s Business Resilience and Continuity consultants will:
• Predefine the conditions that may cause your plan to go into effect
• Create definitions that accurately portray your organization’s
disaster definition
• Identify decision-makers and their roles before, during and after
an incident
• Inventory the resources required to bring your business units and IT systems back online
• Identify backup technique, frequency and location for data retrieval
• Prioritize and sequence the restoration actions defined in your recovery plan into a detailed timeline and checklist
• Predefine an operations center
to coordinate status, issues
and assignments
• Develop communication strategies for keeping your employees and customers informed
• Organize your recovery plan into a flexible, easily maintained format
• Identify steps and precautions to maintain the same level of security that you have on a daily basis
• Validate your recovery plan using diverse recovery exercise approaches, such as conducting simulations based on real-life disaster declarations

Health insurance


Solution: Preventive, high-quality care for better health.

By ensuring that health plans cover free preventive services for everyone, investing in prevention and wellness, and promoting primary care, health insurance reform will work to create a system that prevents illness and disease instead of just treating it when it’s too late and costs more.
Health insurance reform legislation will establish medically driven priorities and standards on quality, require quality reporting by hospitals, and provide incentive payments for high-quality performance. As a result, older women will have better information to support their health care choices and will receive higher quality care.

Solution: Making high-quality, affordable long-term care a reality.

Health insurance reform will create a new voluntary long-term care insurance program to help cover the costs of support services for the millions who need them. Legislation will also establish new reporting, accountability, and oversight requirements for nursing homes, and impose stiffer penalties on nursing homes with serious quality deficiencies.

Health insurance reform will develop national priorities on quality, standardize quality measurement and reporting, invest in patient safety, and reward providers for high-quality care, especially related to patients discharged from a hospital. Investments in comparative effectiveness research will empower seniors and their doctors with information on which treatments work and which don’t, so that they can make more informed decisions. Health insurance reform will also invest in advanced primary care services that will better coordinate and integrate care for our nation’s seniors, to ensure that they get recommended treatments, particularly for chronic diseases.

Sources:

http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/seniorwomen/index.html
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/bcrs/pdf/ss_resilience-plans-and-procedures-development.pdf
http://www.kiva.org/about/microfinance/

MIS Assignment 8: Outsourcing and In-sourcing

{ Posted on 11:35 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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For this assignment we are tasked to stand as to whether we prefer outsourcing or in-sourcing.

In some point of my discussions during the group reporting in HRM, I have made mentioned about outsourcing of a certain company that we adopted. In the case of the company we visited some services are actually outsourced, like their activities on counseling they actually outsourced teams, organizations that could handle the said activity in behalf of the employees who has the authority to do that kind of service. However, this certain companies also held companies in which the service involved is referred “in-house”. For me both in-house and in-source actually have identical meaning but then in-source is somewhat technical that anyone would doubt at some point, but both really have the same implications.

Before making into a firm preference I would like to emphasize first the distinct definition of the two – outsourcing and in-sourcing.

Outsourcing – What is Outsourcing?

For companies looking for a competitive advantage, outsourcing is a hot topic. The reason is the promise that outsourcing will help a company focus on more on it’s core competencies.

Outsourcing is contracting with other company or person to do a particular function. Almost every organization outsource in some way. Typically, the function being outsourced is considered non-core to the business. All insurance company, for example, might outsource its janitorial and landscaping operations to firms that specialize in those types of work since they are not related to insurance or strategic to the business, outside firms that are providing the outsourcing services are third-party providers, or as they are more commonly called, service providers.

Although outsourcing has been around as long as work specialization has existed, in recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, bill and data entry. Those processes could be done more efficiently and therefore cost-effectively, by other companies with specialized tools and facilities and specially trained personnel.

Currently, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, such as benefits management. But some organizations outsource whole operations. In most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) a business process outsourcing (BPO). Business process outsourcing encompasses call center outsourcing, human resources outsourcing (HRO), finance and accounting outsourcing, and claims processing outsourcing. These outsourcing deals involve multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of client firm are transferred and become employees for the service providers. Dominant outsourcing service providers in the information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing fields include IBM, EDS, CSC, HP, ACS, Accenture and Capgemini.

Some nimble companies that are short on time and money, such as start-up software publishers, apply multisourcing – using both internal and service provider staff – in order to speed up the time to launch. They hire a multitude of outsourcing service providers to handle almost all aspects of a new project, from product design, to software coding, to testing, to localization, and even to marketing and sales. In the context of outsourcing it encompasses four stages, these are the following:

1.) Strategic thinking, to develop the organization’s philosophy about the role of outsourcing in the activities. This stage is really vital to an organizations for this kind of thinking commonly results to a centralize manner of giving due importance to the specific roles of outsourcing for the betterment of the organization.

2.) Evaluation and selection, to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it. This stage will asses the right and suited outsourcing activities for the organization to adapt.

3.) Contract development, to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement (SLA) terms; and

4.) Outsourcing management or governance, to refine the ongoing working relationship between the client and outsourcing service providers. This stage must be taken into account especially that due and effective supervision will really affect the current business process being involved by the client and the outsourcing service providers.

In all cases, outsourcing success depends on three factors: executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission; and ample communication to affected employees; and the clients’ ability to manage its service providers. The outsourcing professionals in charge of the work on both the client and provider sides need a combination of skills in such areas as negotiation, communication, project management, the ability to understand the terms and conditions of the contracts and service level agreements (SLAs), and, above all, the willingness to be flexible as business needs change. The challenges of outsourcing become especially acute when the work is being done in a different country (offshored), since having an offshore transaction would mean having constraints on language, cultural and time zone differences.

Organizations who are interested in outsourcing are often curious to know more about disadvantages and advantages of offshoring. By gaining insights about the good and bad of outsourcing, organizations can decide if outsourcing is right for them. Most organization jump headlong into outsourcing, without actually finding out if outsourcing is good for their business. Before outsourcing, ensure that you are aware about the pros and cons of outsourcing. The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing can help your organization decide if outsourcing is right for their business. The following are the advantages and disadvantages of “outsourcing”:

Advantages of Outsourcing

The benefits of outsourcing are:

Less capital expenditure – For example, by outsourcing information technology requirements, a company does not have to buy expensive hardware and software.

Less management headache – For example, by outsourcing business process such as accounting, company nom longer has to hire and manage accounting personnel.

Focus on core competencies – Outsourcing non – core related processes will allow a business to focus more on its core competencies and strengths, giving it a competitive advantage.

Specific advantages of outsourcing are as follow:

  • With outsourcing your organization can experience increased efficiency and productivity in non-core business processes
  • Outsourcing can help you streamline your business operations
  • Offshore outsourcing can help you save on time, effort, manpower, operating costs and training costs amongst others
  • Outsourcing can make your organization flexible to change
  • You can experience an increased control of your business with outsourcing
  • Your organization can save on investing in the latest technology, software and infrastructure as your outsourcing partner would be investing in these
  • Outsourcing can give you assurance that your business process are being carried out efficiently, proficiently and within a fast turnaround time.
  • By outsourcing, your company can save on management problems as your offshore partner will be managing the team who does your work
  • By outsourcing, you can crater to the new and challenging demands of your customers.
  • Outsourcing can help your organization to free up its cash flow
  • Outsourcing can give your business a competitive advantage as you will be able to increase productivity in all the areas of your business
  • Outsourcing can help your organization to cut is operational costs to more than half

If you want your organization to stay ahead of competition, concentrate on core competencies and make use of the latest technologies, then outsourcing can help your organization achieve all this and more. In outsourcing, the advantages of outsourcing are more than the disadvantages of outsourcing. The pros of outsourcing have driven more organization to step into offshoring and experience the benefits that it has to offer.

Furthermore, one of the biggest advantages can be lower personnel costs. By outsourcing job duties to non-employees, a business does not have to pay consistent wages or offer additional employee benefits. The company may pay lower taxes because independent contractors, the people who complete the outsourced projects, pay their own withholding, social security, and other taxes. This can add up to substantial savings. Some businesses choose to take their outsourcing one step further by choosing a vendor, located in another part of the world. Doing so typically saves them more money because they end up paying a much lower wage than would be necessary in their home country. The disadvantage is that these vendors may not understand English and communication is more difficult. Many times, outsourcing speeds up production time. Since the third-party vendor will only be concentrating on one specific task, instead of numerous office duties, actual production time can be greatly increased.

Some businesses choose to take their outsourcing one step further by choosing a vendor, located in another part of the world. Doing so typically saves them more money because they end up paying a much lower wage than would be necessary in their home country. The disadvantage is that these vendors may not understand English and communication is more difficult.

Many times, outsourcing speeds up production time. Since the third-party vendor will only be concentrating on one specific task, instead of numerous office duties, actual production time can be greatly increased. In turn, it can cause community uproar and even a decrease in business and profits. This happens when local consumers make the decision to shop elsewhere, as a way to voice their disdain. Outsourcing customer service jobs, to foreign countries, is on the rise. Many large corporations including credit card companies, shopping networks and computer manufacturers are making this change. The problem with this is a lack of communication. It can be very frustrating for a consumer who is calling in with a customer service issue. When this individual cannot understand the customer service representative they are speaking with, it just causes more frustration and does little to solve the problem.



Disadvantages of Outsourcing

Before deciding on outsourcing your company's business process, keep in mind the disadvantages of outsourcing:
Less managerial control - It may be harder to manage the outsourcing service provider as compared to managing your own employees.
Outsourcing company goes out of business - If your outsourcing service provide goes bankrupt or out of business, your company will have to quickly transition to a new service provider or take the process back in-house.
May be more expensive - Sometimes it is cheaper to keep a process in-house as compared to outsourcing.
Security and confidentiality issues - If your company is outsourcing business processes such as payroll, confidential information such as salary will be known to the outsourcing service provider.
Moreover, here are the list of the advantages of outsourcing:

  • At times, it is more cost-effective to conduct a particular business process, rather than outsourcing it
  • While outsourcing services such as payroll processing services and tax preparation services, your outsourcing provider will be able to see your company’s confidential information and hence there is a threat to security and confidentiality in outsourcing
  • When you begin to outsource your business processes, you might find it difficult to manage the offshore provider when compared to managing processes within your organization
  • In case, your offshore service provider becomes bankrupt or goes out of business, your organization will have to immediately move your business processes in-house or find another outsourcing provider
  • The employees in your organization might not like the idea of you outsourcing your processes and they might express lack of interest or lack of quality at work
  • Your outsourcing provider might not be only providing services for your organization. Since your provider might be catering to the needs of several companies, there might be not be complete devotion to you and your company
  • By outsourcing, you might forget to cater to the needs of your valuable customers as your focus will be on the business process that is outsourced
  • In outsourcing, you may lose your control over the process that is outsourced
  • Outsourcing, though cost-effective, might have hidden costs, such as the legal costs incurred while signing a contract between companies. You might also have to spend a lot of time and effort in getting the contract signed
  • With outsourcing, your organization might suffer from a lack of customer focus
  • There can be several disadvantages in outsourcing, such as, renewing contracts, misunderstanding of the contract, lack of communication.
Outsourcing occurs when a business secures (purchases) products and/or services from a third party, as opposed to producing them in-house. There are several advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing.

Now, let us discuss the advantages and disadvantages of In-sourcing.

What is In-sourcing?

In-sourcing

The opposite of outsourcing can be defined as in-sourcing. When an organization delegates its work to another entity, which is internal yet not a part of the organization, it is termed as in-sourcing. The internal entity will usually have a specialized team who will be proficient in the providing the required services. Organizations sometimes opt for in-sourcing because it enables them to maintain a better control of what they outsource. In-sourcing has also come to be defined as transferring work from one organization to another organization which is located within the same country. In-sourcing can also mean an organization building a new business centre or facility which would specialize in a particular service or product.

Organizations involved in production usually opt for in-sourcing in order to cut down the cost of labor and taxes amongst others. The trend towards in-sourcing has increased since the year 2006. Organizations who have been dissatisfied with outsourcing have moved towards in-sourcing. Some organizations feel that they can have better customer support and better control over the work outsourced by in-sourcing their work rather than outsourcing it. According to recent studies, there is more wok in-sourced than outsourced in the U.S and U.K. These countries are currently the largest outsourcers in the world. The U.S and U.K outsource and in-source work equally.

Moreover, In-sourcing is a business practice in which work that would otherwise have been contracted out is performed in house.
In-sourcing often involves bringing in specialists to fill temporary needs or training existing personnel to perform tasks that would otherwise have been outsourced. An example is the use of in-house engineers to write technical manuals for equipment they have designed, rather than sending the work to an outside technical writing firm. In this example, the engineers might have to take technical writing courses at a local college, university, or trade school before being able to complete the task successfully. Other challenges of in-sourcing include the possible purchase of additional hardware and/or software that is scalable and energy-efficient enough to deliver an adequate return on investment (ROI).

In-sourcing can be viewed as outsourcing as seen from the opposite side. For example, a company based in Japan might open a plant in the United States for the purpose of employing American workers to manufacture Japanese products. From the Japanese perspective this is outsourcing, but from the American perspective it is in-sourcing. Nissan, a Japanese automobile manufacturer, has in fact done this.

Some advantages and disadvantages that encompasses In-sourcing:

Advantages to In-sourcing:
  • Helps economy
  • More jobs become available to others
Disadvantages to In-sourcing
  • More expensive
  • Less chance for new companies to succeed
Despite some disadvantages, there are still instance which other people take in-source into account. Wherein they find in-source a way to transform business as usual into business as exceptional. All salt-worthy executives know that the name of the game is reinvention, and those who play best win. What many don’t realize is that they can play the game a lot better, and improve their company’s performance by growing a culture of innovators from within, not by continuing to acquire innovation resources from without. If pervasive innovation is what you want, there’s only one way to get it: in-source it, and make it part of everyone’s job.

In-sourcing Innovation provides a straightforward depiction of why leading organizations are making innovation more systematic and structured.

There are also firms and organizations supporting the in-sourcing – FAIR supports efforts to “in-source” but advises a deliberate and systematic approach based on facts and analysis. The Federal Acquisition Innovation and Reform Institute (FAIR) support efforts to “in-source” critical positions and personnel so that the government possesses adequate organic capability to address the challenging and daunting tasks ahead of us. However, we recommend that the administration, Congress, and agencies proceed with caution, through a deliberate and systematic approach to in-sourcing based on facts and analysis. Agencies should also adopt realistic timelines for recruiting and integrating new personnel as well as developing new business processes, if required... Rushing to undo what has been in the making for years, perhaps decades will be counterproductive.

Guidance for in-sourcing should address the critical question of ‘inherently
governmental’ and core competencies. As the Obama administration, Congress, and agency leadership lay out guidance and legislation regarding positions that should be in-sourced, the most important questions that we should be asking are:
  • What are ‘inherently governmental’ positions? Are there any currently beingperformed by contractors and if so, how can they in-sourced immediately?
  • What core competencies are critical to achieving agency and program missions?
  • Which positions are tied to core competencies?
  • What is the right balance between government versus contractor positions (in the short term and longer term)?
  • Beyond number of positions, does the government have the ability to create
  • Efficient business models to deliver capability and expertise being provided by
Contractors?
  • Where should government still continue to leverage government expertise and technical capabilities?? How and when should positions be in-sourced? What are critical processes and policies, such as the hiring process and the pay system, that need to be improved to attract the required number of staff?
Perhaps there are doubts turned into confusing thoughts between outsourcing and in-sourcing. In that way, we probably ask this question -- What is best for your organization?

If your organization has a number of non-core processes which are taking plenty of time, effort and resources to perform in-house, it would be wise to outsource these non-core functions. Outsourcing in this case, would help you save on time, effort, manpower and would also aid you in making quicker deliveries to your customers. If you require expertise services in areas which do not fall under your core competency, then outsourcing will be a good option as you can get access to expertise services. For reducing costs and making faster deliverable, outsourcing is again a good option.

If your work involves production, then it would be more ideal for your organization to opt for in-sourcing, as you can save on transportation costs and exercise a better control over your project.

It is not necessary to choose outsourcing over in-sourcing or vice versa. Your organization can outsource and in-source at the same time. By outsourcing and in-sourcing simultaneously, you can have the best of what both offers and your business can get a competitive advantage!

the use of in-house personnel or an internal department to meet an organization's need for specific services. In-sourcing is seen as a reaction to the growing popularity of outsourcing that has not always met expectations. An in-sourcing strategy is chosen where it appears that a better service can be provided from internal resources than from an external supplier. In some cases, organizations opt for a combination of outsourcing and in-sourcing, in which external service providers work in cooperation with in-house personnel.


Sources:

http://www.ictstandards.com/Advantages_And_Disadvantages_Of_Outsourcing.htm
http://www.webspacestation.com/it-outsourcing-news/articles/outsourcing.html
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_outsource/articles/advantages-disadvantages-outsourcing.asp
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/outsourcing-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-outsourcing-536182.html
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1185946,00.html
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1185946,00.html
http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_outsourcing.asp
http://www.thefairinstitute.org/downloads/The%20Move%20to%20Insourcing_June%202009.pdf





HRM Assignment 7: Reflection

{ Posted on 10:33 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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“Human beings are the most important, potent and critical resource of any organization, and yet the least understood and the worst managed of its resources”

When refer a person to be potent it simply means effective and efficient as to the field that one is involved. Human being involvement regardless of the position has been noted a vital resource of the success of a certain company. Human has been working hand-in-hand with the upper sectors on the community; they are the most reliable resource as far as labor is concerned. Despite some facts about the effectiveness, still there appear to have weaknesses that can be associated to a person, as the line above says, “… and yet the least understood and the worst managed of its resources”.

Actually, I had the hard time comprehending the line, for I cannot sight any possibilities why it is so. For me to be able to understand the line I divided the line into two. First half, I will have to discuss why human beings are the most important, potent and critical resource in any organization. Second, I will be discussing why human beings are referred to be the least understood and the worst managed of its resources. One of the implications of the first half is human being as the important resource in any organization. This is because there are certain things that human act which serves as contributing factors to the development of the organization. It is often referred as the Planning and Strategy Formation Role in which it has created the need for people to become aggressive. This is because the access to strong distribution channels is critical for their continued popularity. This planning and strategy formation comprises the following:

  1. Decision-making Role

Upon arriving at the correct decision or choice, human now gains confidence in his/her ability to make critical decisions or choices especially when his/her integrity is in the line. Thus, this human resource professional will now search fro even more challenges and opportunities where he/she could further enhance his/her decision-making abilities regarding current human resource issues.

  1. Analytical Role

Through the exposure to various puzzling human resource issues, human along the process is able to develop holistic mindset regarding the issues surrounding him/her. In this practice it enhances a healthy and holistic mindset which makes it difficult to the detractors to give influence. Because of this holistic approach, a person is able to effectively select the right choice and continue to maximize this potential for future use.

There are also innate characteristics of human beings that if managed and honed up effectively will really contribute positively to the organization. These include the following:

  1. Mental Stability

If a person has a stable mental aspect then he is effective in the pursuit of correct decision as well as the management and development of the process accompanying it. It is therefore important to a person to be as stable as he/she must be for he/she should remain updated with the latest developments in all issues.

  1. Performance and Credibility

The production of their best human resource outputs comes as a result of a well-funded research management and development activities. The strong performance of a person and their outputs could also be linked to the effective strategic planning and human resource mobilization. Thus, human’s credibility increases as his/he performance becomes better.

Those are the things that justify how important and how a human being can be an effective or potent resource in any of the organization. Besides, JUDGMENT still remain as human’s innate trait which cannot be replaced by any form of technology regardless how efficient the innovation is. Another implication is human being referred a critical resource of any organization, this is because, human is the most flexible. It is the least constrained among the various resources to which a company has access. If we are to compare human to machines as to the state of being critical, machine has limits. One of the most common things that can be associated with the situation is a calculator; a calculator calculates operations faster but can only do what someone precisely tells it to do. It has no autonomy, or the sense of having self-government. Another thins that makes human critical is that human is extremely adaptable and is extremely pliable. If this is so then human may encounter various challenges since being pliable would mean susceptible with any unwanted constraints that may occur as one adapt to a certain environment. Despite the constraints, by being pliant human will be capable for performing well-defined and predefined planned scales but also of something more important.

Furthermore, the human resource approach focuses on the relationship between organizations and people. In this framework, people are the most critical resource in an organization exists to serve human needs instead of human existing to serve organizational needs. Topic central to self-concept of an organization include motivation, attitudes, participation, and framework. As a result, an organization is a permanent arrangement of social elements with a formal structure. The organizational members do not only pursue factual goals but also personal interests (e.g. career, power, and continuous education). If we say, “the hospital is an organization” we emphasize the fact that people in organization try to satisfy different needs and motives however there are still cases that appear in which people in an organization encounters conflict in terms of their goals—organizational goals and personal goals. This scenario really makes human as critical for there appear to have conflicts of the goals for in cannot be denied that there are a number of people in an organization who are really pursuing their personal goals such as, having promotions.

Human as the least understood resource in the organization.

Some people of the higher office of any organization still find instances that human is the least understood in their environment. In cannot be denied that human are of different characteristics, some traits can be managed along the way but some are hard to cope with. There are really cases which mislead the understanding towards human which is really visible in an organization, because not all are aware of intrinsic differences. It should be taken into account that human think differently, make distinct decisions, and differ in dispositions. In short NO TWO PEOPLE THINK OF THE SAME IDEA AT THE SAME TIME. The worst thing is that this case is often time the cause of some conflicts on labor relations, that is why people must managed to express themselves in the way that they won’t be considered as the least understood resource of an organization.

Human as the worst managed of its resources.

As stated above, people do have different decisions, disposition; hence, people probably have distinct needs in accordance to their immediate demands. Because of this scenario management of resources are being affected. This scenario is also associated by the individual differences in terms of the organizational goals; though they belong to one organization but each of them defines a lot of resources in the worst thing is that not all these defined resources will be utilized for the realization of the organizational goals set by some employees.

MIS Assignment 7: SONA

{ Posted on 9:03 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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In the recent State of the Nation Address of Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, some portion of her speech was note worth noting. Some of those worth noting issues tackled the recent SONA was her take on Information and Communication Technology.

1. “Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now... ”

Good for the president that she was able to tackle a bit form this issue on her SONA. There has been a million people with access on mobile technology discussing and appealing their concerns and complains regarding this issue. The main issue was on a sudden load deduction without service being availed or used by the user. This problem was quite a big deal for the people hence, almost all the Filipino has an access and on the use of mobile technology. As far as the development of this issue is concern, the congress had made the action to investigate this issue with the telecommunications company. To date, the bill was made into reality; it is clear then with Telecommunications Company and to the people how there services will cope up and respond to the trend of the issue.

2. “Let us have a Department of ICT”

This means initiating another department which is Department of Information and Communication Technology that would take the chance to hold on the concerns with regards to ICT that associate’s additional growth engines. For me, it is good for a government to initiate this certain department because issues and concerns with ICT will be centralized and to that there will be an immediate organization that will respond to the issues.

3. “Today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity.”

BPO is distinct from information technology (IT) outsourcing, which focuses on hiring a third-party company or service provider to do IT-related activities, such as application management and application development, data center operations, or testing and quality assurance. Frequently, BPO is also referred to as ITES -- information technology-enabled services. Since most business processes include some form of automation, IT "enables" these services to be performed.

Activities that can be outsourced are seen as a cost-saving measure for the company. Payroll and call center operations are long considered as the main contributors to BPO but lately, the trend in outsourcing has moved a notch higher towards skill quality and competence. Here, legal services, software development and web designing, animation, medical transcription and shared services are now being outsourced as well. What this means to the Philippines is that this shift will contribute to strengthening the country's position as an emerging global leader in the BPO industry. This can be a resilient plan of the government in case of sudden negative break in the economy, moreover it helps the unemployment rate in the Philippines to decline hence, and outsourced services are really generating additional employment in the country.

PGMA’s SONA 2009 (full text): http://ikuwaderno.com/transcript-of-arroyos-sona-july-27-2009.html

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing

MIS Assignment 6: IT Consultant

{ Posted on 12:54 PM by Ariel Serenado }
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If I were asked by the University to be an IT Consultant, I would rather suggest to pursue with the Infrastructure, specifically Internet Infrastructure to enhance the internet connectivity.

One of the greatest things about the Internet is that nobody really owns it. It is a global collection of networks, both big and small. These networks connect together in many different ways to form the single entity that we know as the Internet. In fact, the very name comes from this idea of interconnected networks. With the growth of the Internet for personal use and business purposes, it would be useful to talk about what actually powers all these things. People all over the world are accessing the Internet and corporate intranets via multiple desktop PCs, laptops, handheld computers, and cell phones. Organizations are exchanging critical information via increasingly sophisticated collaborative systems, and consumers are demanding immediate access to richer and richer content, including applications, games, music, videos, and images. To serve this growing demand, enterprises, operators, publishing companies, and other organizations are relying on Internet Infrastructure such as cross-platform mobile-content delivery platforms, multiple-credential authentication solutions, and real-time publishing tools, to mitigate the complexities of delivering digital services while garnering the greatest possible returns. Internet Infrastructure enables important transactions, establishes connections, protects data, and safely distributes critical information across myriad protocols and devices.

What is Infrastructure?

Infrastructure is actually the he basic physical systems. These systems are considered essential for enabling productivity in the economy. Developing infrastructure often requires large initial investment, but the economies of scale tend to be significant.

What is Internet Infrastructure?

In information technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted.
In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.
Infrastructure companies play a significant part in evolving the Internet, both in terms of where the interconnections are placed and made accessible and in terms of how much information can be carried how quickly.

Internet Infrastructure consisting of a ‘Top 5′ areas :
• Data Centers
• Network Connectivity
• Computer Equipment
• Storage Services
• Server Applications

Data Centre


A Data Centre is basically a specialist building that has the ability to power (and cool) massive amounts of computer equipment. Typically a Data Centre would also have a very large amount of network bandwidth to accommodate data transfer in and out of it. Data Centers are built as highly redundant and resilient facilities. The Data Centre is the home for Internet Infrastructure. It is the central point of aggregation and distribution of data and network services. The unit of measurement for a Data Centre is space and power. How much space will the equipment require and how much power will it draw (which is effectively double that, as cooling a server takes about as much power as just having the device operating).

Network

Possibly to most important foundation block of Internet Infrastructure is the Network. Without a network connection no data can pass between Data Centers, over the Internet, and ultimately onto your Desktop, Laptop or Mobile Handset. For the purpose of this post, let’s talk about the network infrastructure in a Data Centre, where data passed in to computer equipment, is processed and/or stored, and passed back out of the DC.
Next you would expect redundant switch gear in the Data Centre in separate racks so again if the switch gear failed, the other set of it would simply take over and no service interruption would be experienced.

The unit of measurement for network connectivity is megabits per second and available megabits on the carrier connection. The ability to meet peak demand is important though, so Data Centres will have a lot more connectivity available than is required for daily operations.
Computer Equipment Now that the two basics of Internet Infrastructure are in place - the ability to power your equipment, and the ability to connect it to the Internet, the next thing is the computer hardware that uses this to process and store the applications and data.
Servers. A Server is a more complex and high-end version of a desktop PC. Servers are housed in Racks in a DC which are typically 42u in height. (1U is 1-unit and a low-end server takes up just 1 of these units, other servers scale within these racks to multiple ‘U’). Racks are normally powered by 2 PDU (Power Distribution Units) which connect to (if available) multiple power supply units in the server.

A low-end installation may be only a single server, which is the simplest form of Internet Infrastructure. The server would be connected to the DC Power, the Network, an OS and other required applications installed on it. Then it is ready to ‘power and push’ data on the Internet. More complex deployments would include pools of servers, with different applications on each one, or clusters of pools for multiple clusters with dedicated application requirements.
The unit of measure for Servers is Processor Power and RAM. Although there is a lot more to selecting a server such as expandability, reliability, network ports, BUS speed, Cache size and speed. Personally I would like the unit of measure in Servers to change, I think for buyers and users it should be rated in ‘MIPS’ - which is ‘Millions of Instructions Per Second’ which is effectively all that matters, and how today’s Mainframe computers (IBM BlueGene is a high end Mainframe) are measured.

Storage Services

Data Storage is a huge part of Internet Infrastructure. All those emails accessible online, all the web pages on your favorite web site are all stored on a hard drive in a DC somewhere. The basic level of storage is on-server storage, which means the hard drives in the computer server. This can cause not just performance and capacity issues, but also redundancy ones - local storage is inherently as prone to failure as the server it is in.

It is common to use specific storage devices - such as Direct Attached Storage (a dedicated and dumb storage appliance connected direct to your server), Network Attached Storage (a storage device that can be accessed by multiple machines over a network connection, and independent of the server itself) and Storage Area Networks, which are high-end, resilient and redundant set-ups that give high performance levels and are very scalable. A Storage Area Network may be shared among many services, applications, servers and customers. The unit of measure in storage is gigabytes (getting to be more commonly terabytes now) and IO’s per second (input-output read/writes the device can perform per second).

Server Applications

The final piece of underlying Internet Infrastructure is the server applications themselves. In order for an web application to be delivered from a server, that server requires an Operation System (typically Windows or Linux), a Web Server application (like Apache or Microsoft IIS), and a Database (such as MySQL, MS-SQL or Oracle). There any many more variations here, but the basic web server has these 3 things. From here you can install blog software, an ecommerce site, your new web 2.0 application, or any Internet capable piece of software (more include - Instant Messaging Server, File Storage Server, Message Board)

More complex applications tend to have dedicated servers, or pools or servers, for specific things - like a cluster of Database Servers, or a pool of Web Server to serve those ‘www.’ page requests. These may also have more complex network setup such as dedicated routers, load balancing and firewall devices (for traffic management and security respectively).

Billions of times each day, companies and consumers rely on our Internet Infrastructure to communicate and conduct commerce with confidence. With a strong heritage in operating Internet Infrastructure, providing industry-proven security services, and delivering a full spectrum of communications solutions. Moreover, it provides interoperability, scalability, and security to meet today’s unprecedented demand for
Information.

Internet Infrastructure Services

Businesses and consumers depend more than ever on the Internet to generate, consume and distribute content—boosting demand for hosted services. To manage increased data volumes and more complex applications amid rising energy costs, Internet infrastructure companies must operate with maximum efficiency while meeting customer expectations for capacity, performance and uninterrupted service availability.

This requires simplifying their own infrastructure to reduce power, boost performance and streamline operations. As strategic partners to Internet infrastructure customers, systems integrators can make storage a key enabler of success, thereby promoting lasting customer loyalty and strong growth for their own businesses.

sources:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm
http://edbyrnehq.com/what-is-internet-infrastructure/
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:2DZoO0RRZz8J:www.verisign.com/corporate/internet-infrastructure-overview.pdf+internet+infrastructure&cd=21&hl=tl&ct=clnk&gl=ph&client=firefox-a



MIS Assignment 5: IT/IS Barriers

{ Posted on 3:22 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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Assignment 5:


Based on your adopted organization(s), identify and discuss barriers in their IS/IT implementations....

Barriers are actually circumstances particular to a given industry that create disadvantages for new competitors attempting to enter the market. These may include government regulations, economic factors, and marketing conditions.

As I review over the internet I have come to this list of common IT/IS barriers:

  • Studying the problem too long without acting
  • Trying to get everyone's agreement first
  • Educating without changing structures or expectations
  • Tackling everything at once
  • Measuring nothing or everything
  • Failing to build support for replication

More Barriers to Change

  • Lack of such resources as time and commitment
  • Resistance to change
  • Lack of senior leadership support or physician champion
  • Lack of cooperation from other agencies, providers, departments, and facilities
  • Ineffective teams
  • Burdensome data collection

In our adopted company there were also barriers of IT/IS implementation that has been identified by Hubport Interactive. Two of these barriers are:

  • Risk of loosing records

Since Hubport cater services related to Information System, within the organization they can implement systems as the case may be. Since implementing systems needs migration from the older system to the newest system there is a risk on loosing data, thus record retention of the organization is greatly affected.

  • Personnel problems

By the time the organization will implement new systems, they have to take into account the task personnel being designated to the implemented system, and they consider expertise of the personnel. Meaning to say, by the time the company changes another system another person will be designated considering the expertise of the person. With this problem also it associates rejection of the employees which generates labor relations problems.

  • Cost

Since implementing company is cost generating, it is therefore a barrier to the company on implementing information systems.

In some other sources barriers are divided into four principal barriers:

1) Legal and institutional barriers

These include lack of legal powers to implement a particular instrument, and legal responsibilities which are split between agencies, limiting the ability of the city authority to implement the affected instrument

2) Financial barriers

These include budget restrictions limiting the overall expenditure on the strategy, financial restrictions on specific instruments, and limitations on the flexibility with which revenues can be used to finance the full range of instruments.

3) Political and cultural barriers

These involve lack of political or public acceptance of an instrument, restrictions imposed bypressure groups, and cultural attributes, such as attitudes to enforcement, which influence the effectiveness of instruments.

4) Practical and technological barriers
While cities view legal, financial and political barriers as the most serious which they face in implementing land use and transport policy instruments, there may also be practical limitations. For land use and infrastructure these may well include land acquisition. For management and pricing, enforcement and administration are key issues. For infrastructure, management and information systems, engineering design and availability of technology may limit progress. Generally, lack of key skills and expertise can be a significant barrier to progress, and is aggravated by the rapid changes in the types of policy being considered.


HRM Assignment 6: 21st Century Corporations

{ Posted on 12:46 AM by Ariel Serenado }
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Before discussing my thoughts on the subject matter, I would like to define some terms.

Corporation

- A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons who own it or the persons who manage or operate it. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole (an office held by an individual natural person, which is a legal entity separate from that person) or a corporation aggregate (involving more persons). In American and, increasingly, international usage, the term denotes a body corporate formed to conduct business. Corporations exist in a product of corporate law, and their rules balance the interests of the management w2ho operate the corporation. People work together in corporations to produce value and generate income. In modern times, corporations have become an increasingly dominant part of economic life. People rely on corporations for various reasons such as for employment, for their goods and services, for the value of the benefits that these people may acquire as they get involve in the corporations, for economic growth and academic advantage, and for social involvement and development.

The term 21st Century Corporation (21CC) refers to any corporate, professional service, an organization may be cultural, social or membership driven, or any type of organization that:

  1. Has a mission to fulfill.
  2. Must operate in the midst of a global economy, rapid technological changes, economic uncertainty, cultural and demographic transitions.
  3. Is impacted by external factors – social, technological, environmental, economics and technological. Specifically, increasing government regulations, social trends or competition.
  4. Is consistently seeking new innovative ideas to cultivate opportunities to increase market share, number of customers, profits or value for its stakeholders.
  5. Needs to learn how to learn and how to manage knowledge.

Though I am not really into that business but as a student I have those foresights on the status of the 21st century companies, and as to how they will look like. For me, with the 21st century corporations, Innovation is really the no. 1 priority especially that everyone is resorting to any least possible way just to fend for themselves.

Corporations today, no matter how they are structured and organized, must find ways to internalize and manage both sets of concerns simultaneously. In essence, they must simultaneously build internally contradictory and inconsistent structures, competencies and cultures: fostering more efficient and reliable processes while encouraging the experiments and explorations needed to re-create the future. The challenge is that such innovative activities are all too often seen by those running the organization as a threat to its current priorities, practices and basis of success.

Organizations have experienced a significant transformation in the last decade. Progressive organizations have led this change: others have reached to the change; and the remaining ones continue to do business as usual. The market will be dominated by organizations that lead change and are able to adapt to change. Those entities that function in a reactive state will become second tier players in the market. Organizations refusing or unable to rapidly adapt to change will cease to exist. The 21CC embodies a mindset that future growth will rely on being adept at identifying opportunities and thwarting threats. Organizational flexibility will be the objective for the 21CC allowing it to meet these challenges. Continuity will be achieved not from having a massive size of the traditional 20th Century organizational infrastructure, but on an infrastructure this is adaptable to the environment. Sustain growth and evolution will be realized by developing what TSC refers to as “pliable adaptability” which is the ability to change with change. The ability to change with change is fundamental to any evolutionary process. Pliable adaptability will be at the root of every winning organization’s competitive advantage. This ability to adapt primes an organization or identifying and exploiting opportunities for growth, finding new revenue the sources and creating value for customers and other stakeholders.

In a 21CC, corporations will shift from satisfying existing needs to anticipating needs, will not only serve customers but will lead them, will shift from a product-focus to a benefit or value-added-focus, and will shift from focusing on core businesses to focusing on core competencies.

The organizational areas that will experience major changes in this transformation are: leadership, the organization, assets and resources, operations, personnel, future creation, interpersonal. These characteristics are independent. Transformation in these areas is revolutionizing how businesses perform. It does not matter whether the business is a small retail outlet; all organizations will have to concentrate on these areas in order to effectively in the market. Creative strategies and tactics are essential to accessing new markets, amazing customers, inspiring employees, and ultimately delivering more value to all stakeholders.

What will drive that continuous organizational evolution allowing an organization to achieve pliable adaptability? Pliable adaptability will be achieved from having a well formulated and executable strategy; superior operational effectiveness; understanding of corporate competencies and capabilities; innovation framework for delivering breakthrough ideas and concepts, knowledge of customer needs – now and in the future; capable of learning; willingness to change.

An organization will not be able to succeed in the 21st century without being flexible and an organization cannot be flexible without focusing. Having a strategic management process is the core of being able to achieve pliable adaptability.

Since 21st century corporations will achieve pliable adaptability, this thing associates the following changes that will incorporate the global imperatives--economic, environmental, and social idea of how is the 21st century be look like:

  1. Satisfy existing needs to anticipating needs.
  1. Serving the people at the same time leading them.

Since leadership is being stressed out, there has been many reflections released on how the leadership needs of 21st century corporations be managed. Some of these reflections are as follows:

1. Listen to the Cry for Accountability.

Across the world of business, there is a blood cry for 'accountability'. With the most revered role models run aground--and more being bailed out--it is high time we open our windows to let the feedback in, even though we know it will not be pretty. Leadership is accountable to customers, investors, shareholders, regulators - but most of all, to our own people. As navigators, we are accountable for keeping the ship on course - more so in stormy weather. So rather than blot out the questions, we need to put into place systems and processes that foster transparency and make leaders more accountable.

2. Get into the trenches.

Emerging leaders are moving up to the top floors. To corner suites. Away from the shop floors and the real action. We need to roll up our sleeves and get back into the trenches. I cannot repeat myself often enough - we need to demolish the 'CEO office'. We need to break down the walls of hierarchy, for our future role as leaders is not about leading from the top, but co-innovating at the front lines.

3. Get emotional.

Have we perhaps forgotten the price of Marie Antoinette's statement "If they don't have bread, let them eat cake?" With the increasing commoditization of people as "resources selling time," we risk not seeing people as individuals any more. And these individuals - employees and customers alike - are hurting and wary of the future. As leaders, we need to feel their pain and find the right solution. Its no longer about improving the top-line by simply reminding our sales force to up sell and say: "Will you have fries with that?" We need to understand the real pain points of our customers and help them find real solutions to their business problems.

4. Chase the rainbow.

As everyone watches the thunder, emerging leaders are the ones who will look hard into the dark and spot the light at the end of the tunnel. There is a rainbow waiting to break out, and abundant opportunities beyond. The sooner you spot it the greater the advantage your organization can reap.

5. From Me to We.

Collaboration is the need of the hour. In the US, President-Elect Barack Obama has proven just that by co-opting the strength of his former arch rival, Hillary Clinton. History has shown us that, be it the thawing of the Cold War or the formation of the European Union, dealing with cross border terrorism or cross border recession, the power of collaboration is our only answer. The world needs the collective strength of all countries, organizations and individuals to pull together today.

6. Nimble feet.

The world will continue to flirt with unpredictability for a while ahead. As leaders, we need to stay agile, alert and nimble footed to change tactics mid-course with our eyes unwavering from the goal.

7. Keep it Simple.

The sub-prime crisis has made the world wary of complex financial instruments and foggy conditions. Somewhere along the way, complexity has gained respect in the world of business. It is time to wipe the mist off the glass and master the art of converting complexity into simplicity.

8. Ask the right questions.

Leadership today has changed from providing all the answers to asking the right questions. Keep an open mind and let fresh minds provide you with fresh ideas. The battle between grey hair and grey matter has never been fiercer, as Generation Y stakes its claim to leadership. Innovation is the passport to success and 'Green' might just be the color that pulls businesses out of the red.

9. Adapt to the new work order.

Business today works across geographical borders on the back of a cross-culture, cross-currency, cross-product, cross-time zones workforce. Markets too have transformed, with the West no longer the only or even predominant market. So in 2009, emerging leaders will have to adapt to the reality of time zones, to multiple cultures, multiple currencies, multiple pricing. We in India, and particularly in the IT services industry, have learned this lesson very quickly. In fact, insights into how to run a global corporation will come out of the Indian multinationals.

10. Yes we can I think we have all realized by now that there are no question marks about this.

Change comes to those who believe in it. As leaders, our greatest responsibility is to bring back confidence and the forward momentum and catalyze the positive energy of our people today to light the way to a brighter tomorrow.

  1. Shift from a product-focus to a benefit or value-added-focus.

Diverting the manner of giving much focus on the product as to its components to a manner of giving much importance on the values and positive response of the products towards consumers.

  1. Shift from focusing on core businesses to focusing on core competencies.

A business that sells investment consulting services didn't get into business because they were good at marketing, because they were good at sales, or because they knew how to write software. They got into business because they felt they had a compelling opportunity to offer investors. That's why the business might choose to outsource marketing to an agency, outsource sales, and call on a software development firm to set up their systems. This allows them to focus on what they are best at, and allow experts to handle the other functions of their business.

Sources:

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/50/corporations
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Becoming-Successful-21st-Century-Corporations&id=584009
http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/outsource-your-business-focus-on-core-competencies-783742.html
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=57552533176&topic=7310
http://www.jussemper.org/Resources/Corporate Activity/corporation2020.html

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