Sunday, November 3, 2013

INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION MANAGEMENT



Medical Council of India


The Medical Council of India (MCI) is the statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India. The Council grants recognition of medical qualifications, gives accreditation to medical colleges, grants registration to medical practitioners, and monitors medical practice in India.

Functions of the council

The main functions of the Medical Council of India are the following:
  • Establishment and maintenance of uniform standards for undergraduate medical education.
  • Regulation of postgraduate medical education in medical colleges accredited by it. (The National Board of Examinations is another statutory body for postgraduate medical education in India).
  • Recognition of medical qualifications granted by medical institutions in India.
  • Recognition of foreign medical qualifications in India.
  • Accreditation of medical colleges.
  • Registration of doctors with recognised medical qualifications.
  • Keeping a directory of all registered doctors (called the Indian Medical Register).
Registration of doctors and their qualifications is usually done by state medical councils.

 

Trade Unions


 Trade unions are organisations that represent people at work. Their purpose is to protect and improve people's pay and conditions of employment. They also campaign for laws and policies which will benefit working people.

Trade unions exist because an individual worker has very little power to influence decisions that are made about his or her job. By joining together with other workers, there is more chance of having a voice and influence.

The main reason people join trade unions is so that they can have better pay and working conditions and union protection if there is a problem at work.

Functions Of Trade Unions
It has already been stated that trade unions aim to further its members' interests, this could be done by some of the following
  • Obtaining satisfactory rates of pay.  Research has shown that workers belonging to unions have better levels of wages
  • Protecting workers jobs, as it has been shown that union members are less likely to be dismissed.
  • Securing adequate work facilities
  • Ensuring satisfactory work conditions, this can include areas such as health and safety and equal opportunities.
  • Negotiating bonuses for achieving targets
  • Negotiating employment conditions and job descriptions
The Role of Trade UnionsPolitical role, using collective power to influence decisions on behalf of members and the wider society;
  1. Market role, by intervention wage bargaining and thus impacting on the economy;
  2. Regulatory role by setting standards in relation to jobs and terms and conditions;
  3. Democratizing role, in creating industrial democracy at the workplace;
  4. Service role, in promoting the intervention of members;
  5. Enhancement role in helping to develop the human potential of members; and
  6. Welfare role in providing assistance to particular groups.

 

Duties and Responsibilities of a Secretary


In recent years, the secretarial responsibilities have undergone a vast change. Due to this reason, many people are opting for a career as a secretary.

Earlier, the role of the secretaries was limited to taking notes from their bosses, typing, etc. However, with the advent of technology in companies and offices, these duties have extended to things that were meant for the managerial staff.
The role of the Secretary is to support the Chair in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Management Committee.
In summary, the Secretary is responsible for:
  1. Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted
  2. Maintaining effective records and administration
  3. Upholding the legal requirements of governing documents, charity law, company law etc (where relevant).
  4. Communication and correspondence
It is important to note that although the Secretary ensures that these responsibilities are met, much of the work may be delegated to paid staff or volunteers.
Given these responsibilities, the Secretary often acts as an information and reference point for the Chair and other committee members: clarifying past practice and decisions; confirming legal requirements; and retrieving relevant documentation.

Main responsibilities of the Secretary

The responsibilities of the Secretary of a Management Committee are outlined below:

1. Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted

  • Liaising with the Chair to plan meetings
  • Receiving agenda items from committee members
  • Circulating agendas and reports
  • Taking minutes (unless there is a minutes secretary)
  • Circulating approved minutes
  • Checking that agreed actions are carried out.

2. Maintaining effective records and administration

  • Keeping up-to-date contact details (i.e. names, addresses and telephone numbers) for the management committee and (where relevant) ordinary members of the organisation.
  • Filing minutes and reports
  • Compiling lists of names and addresses that are useful to the organisation, including those of appropriate officials or officers of voluntary organisations.
  • Keeping a record of the organisation's activities
  • Keeping a diary of future activities

3. Upholding legal requirements

  • Acting as custodian of the organisation's governing documents 
  • Checking quorum is present at meetings
  • Ensuring elections are in line with stipulated procedures
  • Ensuring organisation's activities are in line with its objects
  • Ensuring charity and company law requirements are met (where relevant, unless there is a separate company secretary)
  • Sitting on appraisal, recruitment and disciplinary panels, as required.

4. Communication and correspondence

  • Responding to all committee correspondence
  • filing all committee correspondence received and copies of replies sent
  • keeping a record of any of the organisation's publications (e.g. leaflets or newsletters) and
  • reporting the activities of the organisation and future programmes to members, the press and the public (unless there is an Information or Publicity Officer).
  • Preparing a report of the organisation's activities for the year, for the Annual General Meeting. 

 

The Stages of a Project


Whether a project is large or small, the stages of a project are ultimately the same. Initiate the project, and then move into planning, followed by execution. Once the project is in the execution stage, you'll monitor and control it, which will continually influence changes that loop back to the planning stage as necessary. Once all project tasks are complete and approved, you will finally be ready to close the project.
Projects are divided into six stages:
  1. Definition.
  2. Initiation.
  3. Planning.
  4. Execution.
  5. Monitoring & Control.
  6. Closure.
Each project stage is characterised by a distinct set of activities that take the project from its first idea to its conclusion. Each stage is of equal importance and contributes to the overall success of the project.

1. Definition

Before a project starts the project manager must make sure the project goals, objectives, scope, risks, issues, budget, timescale and approach have been defined. This must be communicated to all the stakeholders to get their agreement. Any differences of opinion need to be resolved before work starts.

2. Initiation

This is perhaps the most important stage of any project as it sets the terms of reference within which the project will be run. If this is not done well, the project will have a high likelihood of failure. The initiation stage is where the business case is declared, scope of the project decided and stakeholder expectations set. Time spent on planning, refining the business case and communicating the expected benefits will help increase the likelihood of success. It is tempting to start working quickly, but a poor initiation stage often leads to problems and even failure.

3. Planning

The key to a successful project is in the planning. Creating a project plan is the first task you should do when undertaking any project. Often project planning is ignored in favour of getting on with the work. However, many people fail to realise the value of a project plan in saving time, money and many other problems.

4. Execution

Doing the work to deliver the product, service or wanted result. Most of the work related to the project is realised at this stage and needs complete attention from the project manager.

5. Monitoring & Control

Once the project is running it is important the project manager keeps control. This is achieved by regular reporting of issues, risks, progress and the constant checking of the business case to ensure that expected benefits will be delivered and are still valid. A project that is not controlled is out of control.

6. Closure

Often neglected, it is important to ensure a project is closed properly. Many projects never end because there is no formal sign-off. It is important to get the customers agreement that a project has ended and no more work will be carried out. Once closed, the project manager should review the project and record the good and bad points, so successes can be repeated and failures avoided. A project that is not closed will continue to consume resources.

 

Problems faced by Small Scale Industries in India


With India, small scale industries have played a really significant role. After freedom, small  scale industries had made their importance inside Indian economy. Since freedom, small scale units have been defined judging by Labor  force criteria and also investment criteria.

Role of small scale industries:
1. Contribution in industrial production
2.Employment creation
3. Contribution to export
4. The same distribution of income & prosperity.

Small-scale industries in India could not progress satisfactorily due to various problems that they are confronted with while running enterprises. In spite of having huge potentialities, the major problems, small industries face are given below.
1. Problem of skilled manpower:
The success of a small enterprise revolves around the entrepreneur and its employees, provided the employees are skilled and efficient. Because inefficient human factor and unskilled manpower create innumerable problems for the survival of small industries. Non-availability of adequate skilled manpower in the rural sector poses problem to small-scale industries.
2. Inadequate credit assistance:
Adequate and timely supply of credit facilities is an important problem faced by small-scale industries. This is partly due to scarcity of capital and partly due to weak creditworthiness of the small units in the country.
3. Irregular supply of raw material:
Small units face severe problems in procuring the raw materials whether they use locally available raw materials or imported raw materials. The problems arise due to faulty and irregular supply of raw materials. Non-availability of sufficient quantity of raw materials, sometimes poor quality of raw materials, increased cost of raw materials, foreign exchange crisis and above all lack of knowledge of entrepreneurs regarding government policy are other few hindrances for small-scale sector.
4. Absence of organised marketing:
Another important problem faced by small-scale units is the absence of organised marketing system. In the absence of organised marketing, their products compare unfavourably with the quality of the product of large- scale units. They also fail to get adequate information about consumer's choice, taste and preferences of the type of product. The above problems do not allow them to stay in the market.
5. Lack of machinery and equipment:
Small-scale units are striving hard to employ modern machineries and equipment in their process of production in order to compete with large industries. Most of the small units employ outdated and traditional technology and equipment. Lack of appropriate technology and equipment create a major stumbling block for the growth of small-scale industries.
6. Absence of adequate infrastructure:
Indian economy is characterized by inadequate infrastructure which is a major problems for small units to grow. Most of the small units and industrial estates found in towns and cities are having one or more problems like lack of of power supply, water and drainage problem, poor roads, raw materials and marketing problem.
7. Competition from large-scale units and imported articles:
Small-scale units find it very difficult to compete with the product of large-scale units and imported articles which are comparatively very cheap and of better quality than small units product.
8. Other problems:
Besides the above problems, small-scale units have been of constrained by a number of other problems also. They include poor project planning, managerial inadequacies, old and orthodox designs, high degree of obsolescence and huge number of bogus concerns. Due to all these problems the development of small-scale industries could not reach a prestigious stage.

 

Management


Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of coordinating the efforts of people to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.
Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a prerequisite to attempting to manage others.

Basic functions

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, staffing, leading/directing, controlling/monitoring and motivation.
  • Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next five years, etc.) and generating plans for action.
  • Organizing: (Implementation)pattern of relationships among workers, making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.
  • Staffing: Job analysis, recruitment and hiring for appropriate jobs.
  • Leading/directing: Determining what must be done in a situation and getting people to do it.
  • Controlling/monitoring: Checking progress against plans.
  • Motivation: Motivation is also a kind of basic function of management, because without motivation, employees cannot work effectively. If motivation does not take place in an organization, then employees may not contribute to the other functions (which are usually set by top-level management).
  • Communicating: is giving, receiving, or exchange information.
  • Creating: ability to produce original Idea,thought through the use of imagination

Basic roles

  • Interpersonal: roles that involve coordination and interaction with employees
  • Informational: roles that involve handling, sharing, and analyzing information
  • Decisional: roles that require decision-making

Management skills

  • Political: used to build a power base and establish connections
  • Conceptual: used to analyze complex situations.
  • Interpersonal: used to communicate, motivate, mentor and delegate
  • Diagnostic: ability to visualize most appropriate response to a situation
  • Technical: Expertise in one's particular functional area.[10]

Formation of the business policy

  • The mission of the business is the most obvious purpose—which may be, for example, to make soap.
  • The vision of the business reflects its aspirations and specifies its intended direction or future destination.
  • The objectives of the business refers to the ends or activity that is the goal of a certain task.
  • The business's policy is a guide that stipulates rules, regulations and objectives, and may be used in the managers' decision-making. It must be flexible and easily interpreted and understood by all employees.
  • The business's strategy refers to the coordinated plan of action it takes and resources it uses to realize its vision and long-term objectives. It is a guideline to managers, stipulating how they ought to allocate and use the factors of production to the business's advantage. Initially, it could help the managers decide on what type of business they want to form.

Implementation of policies and strategies

  • All policies and strategies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff.
  • Managers must understand where and how they can implement their policies and strategies.
  • A plan of action must be devised for each department.
  • Policies and strategies must be reviewed regularly.
  • Contingency plans must be devised in case the environment changes.
  • Top-level managers should carry out regular progress assessments.
  • The business requires team spirit and a good environment.
  • The missions, objectives, strengths and weaknesses of each department must be analysed to determine their roles in achieving the business's mission.
  • The forecasting method develops a reliable picture of the business's future environment.
  • A planning unit must be created to ensure that all plans are consistent and that policies and strategies are aimed at achieving the same mission and objectives.

Policies and strategies in the planning process

  • They give mid and lower-level managers a good idea of the future plans for each department in an organization.
  • A framework is created whereby plans and decisions are made.
  • Mid and lower-level management may add their own plans to the business's strategies.

 

The merits and demerits of different types of organisation


Organisation structure denotes the system of staff organisation or the relationship between the staff positions. Every staff of the organisation should know his position and status in the organisation and to whom he is accountable. Broadly, there are four forms of organisation like line organisation, functional organisation, line and staff organisation and committee organisation.

1. Line Organisation:

The oldest and simplest forms of organisation where authority flows directly from the topmost man to the lowest man in the organisation. In this form of organisation a superior exercises direct supervision over a subordinate. This form of organisation is adopted in charistian church and in Indian army. It is also called as military form of organisation.

Advantages of Line Organisation:
 (a) It is simple to operate and easy to understand.
(b) It facilitates unity of control and the presence of scalar principle.
(c) It enables clear cut definition of authority and responsibility. Each staff is clear about his authority and responsibility.
(d) It facilitates better discipline because of unified control. The subordinates know the person who commands them and they will do their best to satisfy his commands.
(e) This organisation is flexible as the executive enjoy freedom within the defined sphere.
Disadvantages of Line Organisation:
(a) No specialisation in work is possible, as line organisation does not give emphasis on appointment of specialists.
(b) The top executives are overburdened and as such, it becomes difficult to manage on the key areas of the operation.
(c) It developes favouritism as one man decides on the issue of efficiency of individuals. It develops nepotism and jobbery hi work.

2. Functional Organisation:

Functional organisation has been advocated by F.W. Taylor who is known as the father of scientific management. The business unit is divided into various parts on the basis of major functions. Similar functions are grouped into one organisational unit called department and this department is placed in the charge of an expert. Thus functional organisation refers to a system of organisation in which functional departments are created to deal with problems of the business at departmental level.
Advantages of Functional Organisation:
(a) It encourages and facilitates division of labour, which results in specialisation of activities. As the head of the functional department is entrusted with one kind of work, he becomes a specialist in course of time.
(b) It brings separation of manual and mental function and received the advantages of proper planning.
(c) Functional techniques are improved through intensive study and research because special attention is given to the departmental work.
(d) It develops co-operation & team spirit in work. This results elimination of autocratic management.
(e) It facilitates mass production because in this, organisation specialisation is coupled with standardisation.
Disadvantages of Functional Organisation:
 (a) It gives too much emphasis on specialisation. Too much specialisation is undesirable because it makes organisation confused.
(b) This system of organisation leads to conflict among the foreman and supervisor for equal status.
(c) In this organisation the disciplinary controls are weak as a worker is commanded by more than one person.

3. Line and Staff Organisation:

A system of organisation which strikes a balance between the line organisation and staff organisation is called line and staff organisation. The need for a balance between the two is needed because line organisation over concentrates on control and functional organisation
on divide. In this system, primarily line type of organisation is followed. But some common and important functions are placed under the experts called staff functions. In this organisation line authority acts as an executor and staff authority function as on advisor.
Advantages of Line and Staff Organisation:
(a) In this organisation line authorities concentrate on execution of work and are relieved from thinking function.
(b) Line authorities are not autocrats as they are to take the advice from the experts or staff position.
(c) This results greater efficiency as the line managers are to devote much of their time on line functions. The line managers function more efficiently as they get support from staff positions.
(d) This organisation ensures co-ordination automatically as the line managers work along with staff officers.
Disadvantages of Line and Staff Organisation:
(a) It creates friction between line executive and staff executive. The success of this organisation largely depends on the proper understanding of the two.
(b) Staff officers may not give proper advice, as they are not to be responsible for the accomplishment of the job.
(c) The line authorities are to depend on staff executive. This results in too much dependancy. Too much dependent on staff will lose the creative thinking and initiative.

4. Committee Organisation:

A committee is a group of people specially designated to perform some administrative act. A committee is formed to consult various managers and to secure co-operation of various departments. The organisation that emphasises on formation of committee is called committee form of organisation.
Advantages of Committee Organisation:
(a) It provides pooled knowledge and judgement and there-by helps in increasing the efficiency of the organisatioin.
(b) It avoids too much concentration of power and allows dispersal of authority.
(c) Committees motivate managers better since managers occupy position or status in the committee.
(d) The line officials are relieved of many intricate problems as these committees handle these.
Disadvantages of Committee Organisation:
(a) Decisions are delayed, as many persons are to take decision in committee organisation.
(b) No one is held responsible if any faulty decision is taken. Everybody's responsibility is nobody's responsibility.
(c) It develops minority tyranny as the leader of a small pressure group may force" a decision to be taken.



















































































Channels of Distribution


A channel of distribution or trade channel is defined as the path or route along which goods move from producers or manufacturers to ultimate consumers or industrial users. In other words, it is a distribution network through which producer puts his products in the market and passes it to the actual users. This channel consists of :- producers, consumers or users and the various middlemen like wholesalers,selling agents and retailers(dealers) who intervene between the producers and consumers. Therefore,the channel serves to bridge the gap between the point of production and the point of consumption thereby creating time, place and possession utilities.
A channel of distribution consists of three types of flows:-
  • Downward flow of goods from producers to consumers
  • Upward flow of cash payments for goods from consumers to producers
  • Flow of marketing information in both downward and upward direction i.e. Flow of information on new products, new uses of existing products,etc from producers to consumers. And flow of information in the form of feedback on the wants,suggestions,complaints,etc from consumers/users to producers.
An entrepreneur has a number of alternative channels available to him for distributing his products. These channels vary in the number and types of middlemen involved. Some channels are short and directly link producers with customers. Whereas other channels are long and indirectly link the two through one or more middlemen.

These channels of distribution are broadly divided into four types:-

  • Producer-Customer:- This is the simplest and shortest channel in which no middlemen is involved and producers directly sell their products to the consumers. It is fast and economical channel of distribution. Under it, the producer or entrepreneur performs all the marketing activities himself and has full control over distribution. A producer may sell directly to consumers through door-to-door salesmen, direct mail or through his own retail stores. Big firms adopt this channel to cut distribution costs and to sell industrial products of high value. Small producers and producers of perishable commodities also sell directly to local consumers.
  • Producer-Retailer-Customer:- This channel of distribution involves only one middlemen called 'retailer'. Under it, the producer sells his product to big retailers (or retailers who buy goods in large quantities) who in turn sell to the ultimate consumers.This channel relieves the manufacturer from burden of selling the goods himself and at the same time gives him control over the process of distribution. This is often suited for distribution of consumer durables and products of high value.
  • Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Customer:- This is the most common and traditional channel of distribution. Under it, two middlemen i.e. wholesalers and retailers are involved. Here, the producer sells his product to wholesalers, who in turn sell it to retailers. And retailers finally sell the product to the ultimate consumers. This channel is suitable for the producers having limited finance, narrow product line and who needed expert services and promotional support of wholesalers. This is mostly used for the products with widely scattered market.
  • Producer-Agent-Wholesaler-Retailer-Customer:- This is the longest channel of distribution in which three middlemen are involved. This is used when the producer wants to be fully relieved of the problem of distribution and thus hands over his entire output to the selling agents. The agents distribute the product among a few wholesalers. Each wholesaler distribute the product among a number of retailers who finally sell it to the ultimate consumers. This channel is suitable for wider distribution of various industrial products.

 

Management Information Systems


A management information system (MIS) is a computer-based system that provides the information necessary to manage an organization effectively.

A management information system (MIS) provides information that organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively.[1] Management information systems are typically computer systems used for managing five primary components: 1.) Hardware, 2.) Software, 3.) Data (information for decision making), 4.) Procedures (design,development and documentation), and 5.) People (individuals, groups, or organizations). Management information systems are distinct from other information systems, in that they are used to analyze and facilitate strategic and operational activities.[2] Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations evaluate, design, implement, manage, and utilize systems to generate information to improve efficiency and effectiveness of decision making, including systems termed decision support systems, expert systems, and executive information systems.[2] Most business schools (or colleges of business administration within universities) have an MIS department, alongside departments of accounting, finance, management, marketing, and sometimes others, and grant degrees (at undergrad, masters, and PhD levels) in MIS.

Most management information systems specialize in particular commercial and industrial sectors, aspects of the enterprise, or management substructure.
  • Management information systems (MIS), produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and summarized from the firm’s underlying transaction processing systems[5] to middle and operational level managers to identify and inform structured and semi-structured decision problems.
  • Decision Support Systems (DSS) are computer program applications used by middle management to compile information from a wide range of sources to support problem solving and decision making.
  • Executive Information Systems (EIS) is a reporting tool that provides quick access to summarized reports coming from all company levels and departments such as accounting, human resources and operations.
  • Marketing Information Systems (MIS) are Management Information Systems designed specifically for managing the marketing aspects of the business.
  • Office Automation Systems (OAS) support communication and productivity in the enterprise by automating work flow and eliminating bottlenecks. OAS may be implemented at any and all levels of management.
  • School Information Management Systems (SIMS) cover school administration,and often including teaching and learning materials.
  • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) facilitates the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

Advantages

  1. Improves personal efficiency
  2. Expedites problem solving(speed up the progress of problems solving in an organization)
  3. Facilitates interpersonal communication
  4. Promotes learning or training
  5. Increases organizational control
  6. Generates new evidence in support of a decision
  7. Creates a competitive advantage over competition
  8. Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker
  9. Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space
  10. Helps automate the Managerial processes.

Project

A project is a way of organizing resource. It is a group of individuals who are assembled to perform different tasks on a common set of objectives for a defined period of time. 1 Projects need a leader who can define the work objectives and criteria for success and recruit staff from all relevant areas of expertise. The need to organize a project is most apparent when more than two departments contribute resource at the same time.
Once a project is formed the participating departments often find it useful to organize data generated by its staff using project identifiers that have been created for the project.
There are many groups of people involved in both the project and project management lifecycles.
The Project Team is the group responsible for planning and executing the project. It consists of a Project Manager and a variable number of Project Team members, who are brought in to deliver their tasks according to the project schedule.
·         The Project Manager is the person responsible for ensuring that the Project Team completes the project. The Project Manager develops the Project Plan with the team and manages the team’s performance of project tasks. It is also the responsibility of the Project Manager to secure acceptance and approval of deliverables from the Project Sponsor and Stakeholders. The Project Manager is responsible for communication, including status reporting, risk management, escalation of issues that cannot be resolved in the team, and, in general, making sure the project is delivered in budget, on schedule, and within scope.
·         The Project Team Members are responsible for executing tasks and producing deliverables as outlined in the Project Plan and directed by the Project Manager, at whatever level of effort or participation has been defined for them.
·         On larger projects, some Project Team members may serve as Team Leads, providing task and technical leadership, and sometimes maintaining a portion of the project plan.

 Project managers

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, engineering, architecture, computing, and telecommunications. Many other fields in production engineering and design engineering and heavy industrial have project managers.
A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.
A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.

Project engineer

Project Engineering bridges the boundaries between engineering and project management, leading the technical workers who contribute to the building of structures or products. In some cases, the project engineer is the same as a project manager but in most cases these two professionals have joint responsibility for leading a project. It is generally not acceptable to use P.E. as an abbreviation for project engineer, as the P.E. designation refers to a licensed professional engineer.

Responsibilities

The role of the project engineer can often be described as that of a liaison between the project manager and the technical disciplines involved in a project. The project engineer is also often the primary technical point of contact for the consumer.
A project engineer's responsibilities include schedule preparation, pre-planning and resource forecasting for engineering and other technical activities relating to the project. They may also be in charge of performance management of vendors. They assure the accuracy of financial forecasts, which tie-in to project schedules. They ensure projects are completed according to project plans. Project engineers manage project team resources and training and develop extensive project management experience and expertise. When project teams are structured so that multiple specialty disciplines report to the project engineer, then two important responsibilities of the project engineer are inter-discipline coordination and overall quality control of the work.

 

Budget


A budget is a quantitative expression of a plan for a defined period of time. It may include planned sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets, liabilities and cash flows. It expresses strategic plans of business units, organizations, activities or events in measurable terms.

Budget types

  • Sales budget – an estimate of future sales, often broken down into both units and currency. It is used to create company sales goals.
  • Production budget – an estimate of the number of units that must be manufactured to meet the sales goals. The production budget also estimates the various costs involved with manufacturing those units, including labor and material. Created by product oriented companies.
  • Capital budget - used to determine whether an organization's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing.
  • Cash flow/cash budget – a prediction of future cash receipts and expenditures for a particular time period. It usually covers a period in the short term future. The cash flow budget helps the business determine when income will be sufficient to cover expenses and when the company will need to seek outside financing.
  • Marketing budget – an estimate of the funds needed for promotion, advertising, and public relations in order to market the product or service.
  • Project budget – a prediction of the costs associated with a particular company project. These costs include labour, materials, and other related expenses. The project budget is often broken down into specific tasks, with task budgets assigned to each. A cost estimate is used to establish a project budget.
  • Revenue budget – consists of revenue receipts of government and the expenditure met from these revenues. Tax revenues are made up of taxes and other duties that the government levies.
  • Expenditure budget – includes spending data items.

Purpose

Budget helps to aid the planning of actual operations by forcing managers to consider how the conditions might change and what steps should be taken now and by encouraging managers to consider problems before they arise. It also helps co-ordinate the activities of the organization by compelling managers to examine relationships between their own operation and those of other departments. Other essentials of budget include:
  • To control resources
  • To communicate plans to various responsibility center managers.
  • To motivate managers to strive to achieve budget goals.
  • To evaluate the performance of managers
  • To provide visibility into the company's performance
  • For accountability
In summary, the purpose of budgeting is tools:
  1. tools provide a forecast of revenues and expenditures, that is, construct a model of how a business might perform financially if certain strategies, events and plans are carried out.
  2. Tools enable the actual financial operation of the business to be measured against the forecast.
  3. Lastly,tools establish the cost constraint for a project, program, or operation.

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