QUALITY DISCUSSIONS
Right now in the middle of my studies I work at a restaurant. If improvements were needed in the organization I would feel a lot more comfortable if the management took a total quality management method rather than a business process reengineering method. Before I choose to go one way 100 percent it would be nice to see the mission that management had come up with to determine on how severe the improvements will be.
Starting with total quality management (TQM) and to my understanding of the lesson notes TQM builds off of what an organization already has as a system. TQM has a incremental approach and with this type of approach I think employees at least I would have less resistance to change because the management knows they are implementing something new and they are also willing to train the staff. TQM is a system that will not change how the business processes are necessarily accomplished but looks at a way to improve certain sectors and fix the problem to prevent errors in the future.
Even though TQM takes incremental steps and seems to be a good idea, but sometimes an organization will need to take a step back, have a radical change and start with a clean slate and go with the business process reengineering (BPR). Furthermore BPR knows that current procedures are not working and finds an alternate new way to complete the business objectives. In the BPR method I would think that it is more stressful on the employees which can cause resistance in the organization. This would all fall back on the managers to take control and coach the organization through the good and bad times. The organization would have to be creative and most likely stretch out to reach the final goal, also which could mean employees need to take a new perspective and attitude when starting the radical change.
Overall both situations will work depending on the organization. All organizations are unique and needs to be looked at different angles to understand the concept. I believe a key factor for both situations to be successful is the support and determination of management to follow through and guide the employees.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
XBRL
To my knowledge and research I believe implementing XBRL will benefit the company today and in the future. It is a large organization publicly traded and to provide the investor with the best information XBRL will be beneficial. “It is a language that is made for the electronic communication of business and financial data and is changing how the business reporting is done around the world.” ( http://www.xbrl.org/WhatIsXBRL/) Switching to XBRL it is said that the publishing expenses can be cut up to 46 percent. (http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used)
The business should use XBRL because it is already using ACCPAC which is compatible with XBRL, it would give a competitive advantage, and it cuts down on data manipulation. According to the Microsoft website, I believe it will give the competitive advantage because the time and cost that would have to be spent is no longer needed now that the data is copied into the XBRL format and by that the data is now easy to share to the outside market and the business can focus more on its services instead of presentation.
First of all the business can use XBRL to publish the financial reports on the market because it is publicly traded. These financial reports would include all financial statements needed and detailed financial and operational reporting information. The publishing of the reports are also good for regulatory reporting for tax agencies and industry regulations (http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used) Generally XBRL benefits the company because it eases the understanding of the reporting for anyone looking at the data.
To start using XBRL it is suggested that the company checks with the local jurisdiction depending on the nature and circumstances of the reporting. They way that XBRL use to be was to create the script yourself but today many software programs are compatible and will do it for you and just follow the steps.
As an accountant, to stay up-to-date on the latest information, benefits, and understanding of its implementation I would suggest joining a consortium. (http://www.tie.nl/docs/BDDocument.asp?Action=VIEW&ID=%7BB94C1CC3-0E42-4DDA-BE56-C155911044F3%7D) It seems XBRL is still very fresh in the market but is catching on fast so by joining new information will always be at your finger tips.
The business should use XBRL because it is already using ACCPAC which is compatible with XBRL, it would give a competitive advantage, and it cuts down on data manipulation. According to the Microsoft website, I believe it will give the competitive advantage because the time and cost that would have to be spent is no longer needed now that the data is copied into the XBRL format and by that the data is now easy to share to the outside market and the business can focus more on its services instead of presentation.
First of all the business can use XBRL to publish the financial reports on the market because it is publicly traded. These financial reports would include all financial statements needed and detailed financial and operational reporting information. The publishing of the reports are also good for regulatory reporting for tax agencies and industry regulations (http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/International/XBRL-How_Can_It_Be_Used) Generally XBRL benefits the company because it eases the understanding of the reporting for anyone looking at the data.
To start using XBRL it is suggested that the company checks with the local jurisdiction depending on the nature and circumstances of the reporting. They way that XBRL use to be was to create the script yourself but today many software programs are compatible and will do it for you and just follow the steps.
As an accountant, to stay up-to-date on the latest information, benefits, and understanding of its implementation I would suggest joining a consortium. (http://www.tie.nl/docs/BDDocument.asp?Action=VIEW&ID=%7BB94C1CC3-0E42-4DDA-BE56-C155911044F3%7D) It seems XBRL is still very fresh in the market but is catching on fast so by joining new information will always be at your finger tips.
Friday, October 5, 2007
PM1 - Week 2
ORGANIZATIONS AS SYSTEMS
To my surprise in project management and learning about systems, I figured we would be talking and learning about new and exciting methods of systems. Instead the systems approach has been around since the 1950s and there are different types of system approaches like holistic and analytical which are used to solve complex problems. (p.40, Information technology project management, fourth edition, Kathy Schwalbe)
In my understanding of reading “Thinking about organizations as systems” by Carter McNarma that organizations are being driven towards the direction of adopting the systems view even though it has been around for over a half a century. In the past decade a paradigm shift has occurred and the management of business organizations are either trying to catch up to the way of business because they were stuck in a paradigm or the management was able to read the paradigm at the time and now possible ahead of the game.
It seems that businesses are now relying on all sections of the business or subsystems to become the most effective and efficient by working together and this is what the paradigm shift is. With the force of a paradigm and other businesses wanting to do the same as there competitors because of pressure the systems view has a very strong driving force on organizations. Carter McNarma explains why systems are very important to the organization by saying that managers look at one section and perfect that and move on to the next section. Each of these sections is perfected but the problem is that the sections that were perfected never integrated well with each other creating another problem so the organization suffers as a whole. (http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/org_sytm.htm#anchor1122052)
The system it self is everything put together by a few or many subsystems. In other words each subsystem produces something unique to the business and they all interact with the other subsystems which make up the overall systems view of organizations. In definition a subsystem “is a set of elements, which is a system itself, and a part of the whole system.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsystem) In a organization it would be expected to see a human resources, accounting, and marketing department as a subsystem.
With the paradigm shift, managers of organizations are recognizing that the systems organization is a key factor to becoming successful as a business. The managers are starting to see the shift and adjusting to it accordingly which for some businesses meaning implementing a whole new ERP system or something similar like the best appoach way. This way the managers can now use the subsystems to the fullest and join the others that recognized the shift before it affected the organization.
To my surprise in project management and learning about systems, I figured we would be talking and learning about new and exciting methods of systems. Instead the systems approach has been around since the 1950s and there are different types of system approaches like holistic and analytical which are used to solve complex problems. (p.40, Information technology project management, fourth edition, Kathy Schwalbe)
In my understanding of reading “Thinking about organizations as systems” by Carter McNarma that organizations are being driven towards the direction of adopting the systems view even though it has been around for over a half a century. In the past decade a paradigm shift has occurred and the management of business organizations are either trying to catch up to the way of business because they were stuck in a paradigm or the management was able to read the paradigm at the time and now possible ahead of the game.
It seems that businesses are now relying on all sections of the business or subsystems to become the most effective and efficient by working together and this is what the paradigm shift is. With the force of a paradigm and other businesses wanting to do the same as there competitors because of pressure the systems view has a very strong driving force on organizations. Carter McNarma explains why systems are very important to the organization by saying that managers look at one section and perfect that and move on to the next section. Each of these sections is perfected but the problem is that the sections that were perfected never integrated well with each other creating another problem so the organization suffers as a whole. (http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/org_sytm.htm#anchor1122052)
The system it self is everything put together by a few or many subsystems. In other words each subsystem produces something unique to the business and they all interact with the other subsystems which make up the overall systems view of organizations. In definition a subsystem “is a set of elements, which is a system itself, and a part of the whole system.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsystem) In a organization it would be expected to see a human resources, accounting, and marketing department as a subsystem.
With the paradigm shift, managers of organizations are recognizing that the systems organization is a key factor to becoming successful as a business. The managers are starting to see the shift and adjusting to it accordingly which for some businesses meaning implementing a whole new ERP system or something similar like the best appoach way. This way the managers can now use the subsystems to the fullest and join the others that recognized the shift before it affected the organization.
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