PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

Principles of Management

Principles of Management

Introduction

Research indicates that endogenous factors are viewed as more critical to survival. This includes factors such as; strategic thinking, understanding of the business (Ewushi-Mensah 1991, 67-85l) and communication. An organisation without these attributes is considerably more likely to fail. The ability to think strategically is crucial to remaining competitive in an increasingly turbulent and global environment(Elangovan, 2000, 319-328). The average life expectancy of a US Fortune 500 company is between forty and fifty years.

Strategy cannot be effectively envisioned without an in-depth understanding of the organisation. Villanueva (2003) believes the time has come to get back to real business basics. Businesses need to understand, take to heart their best practices and know the qualities of their organisation. Businesses without this understanding are doomed to fail. Unless management has an understanding of the business, any decision made will possibly have a negative effect on the organisation.

Lack of effective communication within a company can lead to business failure. Johnson (2007, pp.3-5) states “companies that communicate transparently, facilitating a frequent flow of information, enable their employees to know the strategy and purpose of a decision and to understand the role they need to play. Many employees have experienced anger, confusion and fear where changes have occurred in their workplaces and they have not received prior, clear communications regarding these decisions.” (Johnson 2007, 3-5). Organisations with angry, confused or fearful employees, unless the situation is rectified, will eventually have no employees to manage. The greatest asset of an organisation is its people(Banutu-Gomez 2007, 69-90), without them failure is inevitable.

Evaluation

The business environment is becoming increasingly competitive. Market boundaries have become larger and barriers to entry have diminished. In the current turbulent economic environment today's modern organisations must closely examine the way they currently do business not only to remain competitive and profitable but also to simply remain in business (Bartol 2001, 295). Information technology is now providing business entities with basic as well as progressive business tools that will enable them to improve their financial performance, efficiency, and its use of the organisation central operational resource and staff members. Adoption of computerised system is vital to the businesses entities that want to improve their efficiency and performance by using computerised systems to facilitate their day-to-day transactions.

Critical Success Factors

There are many factors that affect the Company's business and the results of its operations, some of which are beyond the control of the Company. The following is a description of some of the important factors that may cause the actual results of the Company's operations in future periods to differ materially from those currently expected or desired.

Implementations of computerised systems including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in construction industry can help with succeeding in the business. Implementations are usually large and complex projects. Although the adoption of small businesses would be simple and easy, we focus on the adoptions of computerised systems by medium or large construction organisations here, especially ERP implementations. Because ERP systems seek to integrate all department ...