AQA Applied general business Unit 4 complete notes

Applied Business- Unit 4: Managing and leading people

AO1: Role of managers and leaders in a changing environment

Managers:

Roles:

·       Planning- process of outlining and scheduling all the tasks. It involves :

o   Assessing current performance

o   Collecting data to inform future decisions

o   Setting objectives

o   Producing plans (workforce; marketing; finance; operations management)

·       Organising-  The process of coordinating all the resources required to achieve an outcome:

o   Managers are responsible for efficient organisation of resources

o   Resources must be organised to meet the correct quantity/quality

o   Inefficient organisation of resources can result in the inability to meet supply and demand, and poor reputation

Resources include:

·       Finance

·       Employees

·       Stock

·       Administration

·       Assets

·       Production process

·       Deliveries

 

 

·       Monitoring and Evaluating- The process of reviewing and assessing progress

o   Process of assessing actual performance against targets

o   Forming a judgement on how well functions, products or individuals are performing

·       Reporting- The process of providing a detailed description of an event or outcome

o   Managers will be responsible for providing feedback on performance

o   Reports will identify performance against objectives

o   Can be verbal/written, Formal/informal, Group/individual

Managers will be involved in Decision making and Problem solving:

Decision Making

Problem Solving

·       How to allocate resources

·       Setting budgets

·       How to motivate staff

·       Responding to competitor’s actions

·       Customer complaints

·       Resolving disputes

FOCUS

·       FOCUS helps all employees “focus” on making continual improvements. Everyone is involved in problem solving

·       Find a problem

·       Organise resources

·       Clarify exactly what the problem is from a number of viewpoints

·       Understand the possible variations in the problem and the factors contributing

·       Select and test a solution

Example:

·       F- Sales downfall

·       O-marketing team work together

·       C- external issues and internal issues

·       U- Customers not having the money etc

·       S- Lower prices/ sale

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaders

Leadership Is the ability to influence and direct people in order to meet the goals of a group

(people who can inspire and motivate people to meet objectives)

Roles:

·       Creating an inspiring business vision- A business vision is what it wants to achieve overall     

o   Normally presented in a mission statement

o   The vision must be carried out by the leader to be successful

·       Motivating and Inspiring people to believe in vision- Motivating is a key factor in influencing the way people behave

o   Includes leading by example; setting a corporate culture; ambassadors to promote the vision

·       Delivering the vision- sharing and communicating with all stakeholders (everyone focused on achieving the same goals)

Managers and Leaders aren’t that different. In essence,…