Monday, 13 May 2019

Steps in Employee Selection Procedure

Do you aspire to become an HR manager? If so, then you should pursue a course in Human Resource Management and master your skills for the job role. However, before opting for the course, you should have an idea of duties you’ll be expected to perform as an HR manager.
The task of an HR manager is multi-faceted. It involves selecting the employees, training them, getting them accustomed with the rules and regulations of the organisation, motivating them, carrying out performance appraisal & rewarding the best performers, and taking care of the grievances of the employees.  Out of these, the most crucial task of a manager is to select suitable candidates to fill up various positions in the organisation.
Various steps are involved in the process of selection which finally leads to the selection of the best employees.  The key steps in the employee selection procedure are mentioned below:
Preliminary Screening
This primary step in selection is to check whether the candidate who has applied for the job post is physically as well as mentally suitable for it. This step is basically performed to see whether the candidate is competent to fulfill all the minimum qualifications and to eliminate those who fail. The preliminary screening is mostly performed by the receptionist or subordinates, just to check whether the candidate is creditable to go to the next round.
Application Blank
In this application blank, the candidates need to fill their personal information such as their age, marital status, experience, interests and many more in the application form. This is considered to be the candidate’s written record.  When the forms are filled by all the candidates, these are scrutinised and the suitable ones are short-listed for the written test. However, there are different application forms depending upon the jobs.
Employment or Selection Test
Every individual has a different mental capacity and physical quality so there are different tests to test different traits. Employment tests are performed to determine the candidate’s skills and aptitude since it is assumed that human behaviour and its traits can be measured through sampling. Through this test, the most suitable candidates are identified and sent to the next round.
Selection or Employment Interview
This involves face-to-face interview of the candidate with the panel of judges which includes HR managers, employer and members of top management. In the interview, various questions are put in front of the interviewee. Some questions are asked pertaining to the field of operation while some are general questions that are put up just to gauge the suitability of the interviewee as well as his/her persona. Moreover, the information given by the candidate in the application blank is also cross-checked and the candidate is given a complete picture about his job role and the company’s background.
Medical or Physical Examination
After the interview, suitable candidates go through a physical test or medical test to check their physical fitness for the job. This is also done to check whether the candidate is not suffering from any serious disease which in the future may cause the problem to him as well as the enterprise.
Checking References or Background
Every candidate is required to fill the reference column in the application blank. In the final step of selection, the HR managers contact those references to verify the information provided by the candidate.
Final Approval
At last, the most suitable candidate who clears all rounds is selected and is asked to join the organisation in the specified date. The offer letter is given to the candidate with all the details.
Closing notes
These were the steps involved in the process of selection. Every HR of a reputed organisation follows these steps. You can also learn to effectively carry out the process of staffing and other skills that are essential to become successful HR managers by pursuing our Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) course in HR management. 

Friday, 26 April 2019

Steps in Strategic Marketing Management

Marketing is a process whereby the company promotes its products & services and spreads brand awareness. Marketing plays a key role in introducing a company’s product among the consumers and in elevating the business. However, it isn’t a child’s play to advertise one’s brand. Sometimes, one strategy works for a brand while it is a total flop for another brand. Furthermore, a strategy that was successful three years ago may not garner the same results today. So, the marketing strategies should be based on the type of business and various other factors.
Businesses need to have an action plan in place and they need to formulate strategies that can effectively promote the brand’s offerings. That is why businesses seek for professionals who can understand the market and exploit their knowledge in marketing management to create stellar marketing campaigns. In general, strategic marketing management consists of three steps:
Market Learning
The consumer trends keep on changing from time to time. So, the first step should be  understanding of customer preferences. The firms should conduct surveys and research to understand consumer preferences over time. Thus, it is the task of marketing managers to formulate a survey questionnaire that can help in interacting with the customers directly and understanding their perspective. The firms should try to understand why consumers prefer a brand/product over its adversaries. The survey findings and feedback received from the customers are then combined together to formulate strategies. Market learning is an essential process as it assists the marketing managers to fine-tune their strategies according to consumer trends.
Market Sensing
Basically, marketing sensing is a process of judging the mood of the market. It is an indirect method of finding trends in the market. It refers to a process where the managers combine consumer preference data with their market knowledge and experience to comprehend the way the market is moving. Thus, the marketing managers collect market data, analyse it and then put it together with a strategic model of marketing in order to sense the consumer behavior. In this way, they come to know what will work in the market and what will not.
Market Intuiting
Market intuiting is the third step in strategic marketing that takes forward the concept of market sensing and market learning. It refers to the process where the marketing managers comprehend the ‘mind and soul of the market’ and accordingly make future predictions. Here the managers get an intuitive understanding of the way the market is moving. The managers can find out whether consumers will flock towards a brand or abandon it completely by having an intuitive understanding of the market. This approach helps in finding out how the consumers would behave in the future. In this way, the businesses can fine-tune their marketing strategies to cater to the consumers.
Closing Thoughts
The business landscape is evolving rapidly. So, it isn’t enough to simply measure the data and create marketing campaigns. But, the marketing managers should consider consumer trends, consumer behavior and future trends to create effective marketing strategies. The marketing managers need to adopt strategic marketing to learn and sense how the market moves. They should know the best ways to gain insights into the mind and soul of the customers. But no college or institute emphasise on teaching these strategic steps to the marketing managers. However, when you pursue a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) course in the specialization of Marketing Management from MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE), you are taught to master these skills. So, what are you waiting for? Enroll for a course in MIT-SDE right away!

Friday, 5 April 2019

Different roles played by the managers in an organisation

Be it a large, medium-sized or small organisation, managers with sound communication and managerial skills are indispensable for its seamless functioning and sustainable growth. However, an organisation has several managers, each playing a distinct role than others. It is the combined efforts of all the managers that garner success for the organisation.
In an organisation,a manger’s role depends upon the organisation’s size, nature, goals, as well as its processes. Usually, the managerial positions are divided into various segments according to the skill, awareness,and roles of the managers. These include:
  1. The Top Management: Also known as the ‘think-tank’ of the organisation, the top management consists of the board of directors. The top management has the role of creating an action plan to achieve organisational They also oversee the processes and operations carried out in the organisation.
  2. Senior Management: This segment includes senior managers who ensure the financial stability of the organisation. An organisation can determine its yearly financial stability only when it has maintained an accurate financial statement, which is ensured by general managers. Moreover, it is important that every department achieves its goals, which is managed by the functional manager who is assisted by a team of managers.
  3. Line and Staff Managers: Line managers manage individual employee and follow unity of command with their subordinates. The staff manager provides information to the line managers for proficient management.
  4. Project Managers: A project manager is in charge of an individual He manages the entire project from its commencement to the completion. His task involves planning and organizing the resources and defining the goals of that project.
Diverse roles that a manager is expected to play in an organisation
A manager represents the organisation and it is his task to sustain interpersonal relationships in every way. A top-level manager has to represent the organisation socially as well as legally among various companies and the public. A senior manager has to represent his team to the top managers but at the same time, he has to keep a proper relationship with his teammates as well as seniors. Similarly, line and staff members report to their seniors and the chain of hierarchy continues in every organisation.
In general, every manager is bound to perform different roles in an organisation to fulfill the set goals. These roles were found by Professor Henry Mintzberg after research of several weeks. These roles fall under three categories as listed below:
1.      INTERPERSONAL ROLE
  • Figurehead: A manager acts as a figurehead and undertakes various responsibilities like ceremonial, social as well as legal.
  • Liaison: It is the manager’s task to foster a strong bond between the employees and employers and to facilitate both internal as well as external communication.
  • Leader: A manager should exhibit leadership qualities and direct the employees.
2.      DECISIONAL ROLE
  • Disturbance Handler: A manager should deal with any unforeseen issue or complication in the organisation.
  • Negotiator: He should participate in various decisions or agreements with different departments.
  • Entrepreneur: The business environment is ever-changing, so a manager should adapt the changes, solves the issues, bring new ideas and implement them for the organisation’s benefit.
  • Resource Allocator: He should allocate all the basic resources of the organisation such as natural resources, staff, funds, etc appropriately in order to optimize their use.
3.      INFORMATIONAL ROLE
  • Disseminator: A manager serves as a disseminator as he communicates all the vital information to the team and ensures that the employees, employers and the organisation work efficiently.
  • Monitor: A manager regularly checks and improves the performance of the workforce as well as the organisation.
  • Spokesperson: He maintains public relations and communicates the messages,objectives and information to the people on behalf of the organisation.
These were diverse roles that a manager is expected to play. In order to do full justice to the position of a manager, one must be knowledgeable, aware, adaptive, responsive, communicative, result-oriented, decision-maker, risk-taker and a leader. That is why at MIT School of Distance Education, we formulate the study material in such a way that the candidates master these skills. We also organised webinars and personality development classes to prepare the candidates to become efficient managers. So, you should definitely enroll for our job-oriented distance management courses.

Monday, 18 March 2019

Different marketing environment that affects marketing management

Marketing management is the art to advertise the products and services ultimately spreading the words in such a way that the customers are accustomed to the products and they are convinced to buy the products. There are several factors that the Different marketing environment that affects marketing Management as well as the firm’s functioning. These factors come under the marketing environment. In general, marketing environment includes various factors that affect the firm’s operations internally as well as externally and restrict the firm to serve or maintain a healthy relationship with targeted customers.
1. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Internal environment consists of the internal factors of the firm affecting the marketing environment such as employees, assets (like plant and machinery), products served, policies, as well as the structure of the organisation. Such factors are easily controllable by the firm.
2. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
The factors that affect the firm externally and which are uncontrollable especially when preparing the marketing strategies come under the external environment. The external environment is further divided into two parts:
a)   Micro Environment
The factors which affect the decision making and the firm’s performance fall under the micro environment. Listed below are the factors under the micro environment which affect the marketing:
  • Customers
Customers are at the heart of an organisation. Without the customers, marketing strategies will remain incomplete since they play quite an imperative role in b2b as well as in b2c trade. The customers define the reasons why they should procure the products and how the product serves their wants.
  • Competition
There are various competitors in the market that sell homogeneous products.  The marketing strategy of the company is prepared after understanding how the customers approach the competitors or they approach their customers, at what price do they vend the product and any product differentiation if present.
  • Suppliers
Suppliers are quite important for any organisation because they provide the firm with the required goods. The firm’s success depends upon the quality of goods. Both the quality and quantity of goods is the key to the success of the firm that is provided by the supplier and the supplier’s power depends upon his reputation in the market.
b)     Macro Environment
The demographic, technological or physical factors or forces which affect the decision making and the firm’s performance fall under macro environment. Listed below are the factors under micro environment which affect the marketing environment:
  • Demographic Factors
Marketing strategies are affected by various demographic factors such as country, lifestyle, ethnicity, didactic levels. It is mainly dependent on the nature and volume of the population, per capita income of the people as well as the migration of the people in urban areas.
  • Technology Factors
Gradually, enhanced technology is changing the business environment. People are becoming more addicted to the internet and are adopting online businesses. Since competition is growing, the main challenge for a company is to stop selling obsolete products and continuously bringing novelty in their technology.
  • Political Environment
The political environment is bringing changes as more and more companies are leaving behind the socialistic system and going after the market-based system. However, before starting its business in a particular country, a company must clearly investigate its tax policy, competition policy as well as speculation policy to continue its successful and uninterrupted run.
Closing Notes
So, these were the factors that the marketing manager must consider before formulating any marketing strategy. At MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE), we train our students to create effective marketing strategies by considering all the essential factors that are a part of the marketing environment. We offer Distance MBA course in Marketing Management whereby the managerial skills and knowledge of candidates is enhanced so that they can immediately get absorbed in the industry after the completion of course.  So, what are you waiting for? Enhance your employ ability skills with MIT-SDE’s distance learning course.

Friday, 8 March 2019

10 business ethics every manager should possess

A manager is the biggest asset of any organisation as he is the real decision maker for the organisation and he can make or break an organisation. Apart from exploiting his knowledge and expertise, a manager needs to exhibit business ethics at all times to close the deals, get the work done effectively and to ensure a long-term relationship with the clients, which in turn, ensures a success fulrun of the business. Here are 10 business ethics/ values that every manager must possess to succeed in his tasks.
1.     Integrity
It is integrity that lays the foundation of a long-term relationship. A manager is a leader for his team members, so he should exhibit honesty and integrity at all times. The team members must have complete faith and trust in the dedication, honesty, commitment,actions of their manager and follow him without a doubt. So, the managers must be honest, open and consistent in their actions in order to win the trust of their subordinates.
2.     Willingness to take the risk
The managers must be risk takers. They should have the ability to analyse all the options carefully and be bold enough to take calculated risks. In fact, the managers must be ready to take risks, learn from their mistakes and take on the impending challenges audaciously.
3.     Optimism and Enthusiasm
The task of a team leader is to inspire his team members. He should be enthusiastic enough then only he can motivate his team members. Furthermore, he should have a positive attitude. A manager should know how to get things done and he should be solution-oriented. Maintaining a positive attitude in the workplace keeps everyone inspired.
4.     Commitment to Growth
The process of learning is never-ending. So, a manager should always be in the process of learning in order to grow both professionally and personally. A manager should be well acquainted with the ongoing trends in the market and should get himself as well as his team accustomed to cutting-edge tools and techniques.
5.     Vision and Pragmatism
Setting goals is the key task of a manager. A manager must create a detailed plan and avoid ambiguous and vague vision. It is the task of a manager to ensure that he sets realistic goals. A manager must have the ability to articulate his vision clearlyto all his team members. He should be practical in all the decisions that he makes.
6.     Responsibility
A leader at all times should take full responsibility for all the actions performed by the team. He should stand firmly beside the commitments that he makes and never let his team down. A manager should also refrain from putting the blame on any team member and rather be accountable for the team.
7.     Law Abiding
There are certain laws and regulations that need to be followed while performing business activities. Thus, the managers must be accustomed to all the laws pertaining to the business and they should abide by them.
8.     Fairness
A manager should carry out all the dealings with the utmost level of fairness. Neither he should use indecent means to gain advantage nor should he take undue advantage of other’s flaws. He should treat everyone in the team equally and never be biased towards any team member. At all times, a manager must be just, open-minded and ready to accept his faults.
9.     Respect for others
A manager must respect the thoughts, rights, privacy, interests, perspectives of all the team members and the people who have a share in his decision. He should treat everyone equally irrespective of their cast, creed, race or origin.
10. Commitment to Excellence
Organisational efficiency should be the prime aim of a manager. He should perform all his duties with excellence and ensure that he is prepared and well informed at all times. A manager should constantly end eavour to enhance his skills.
Merely completing a managerial course is not sufficient to do full justice with the job of a manager. You need to master business ethics to seal the deal and shine in the field. These were some of the ethics that are exhibited by successful managers. At MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE), we instill these business ethics in all our candidates so that they are immediately absorbed in the industry after course completion.

Thursday, 7 February 2019

All about Controlling: An essential component of management

Controlling is a significant component of management that is mandatory to corroborate that the business is going in the right direction. Controlling is a process whereby it is ensured that any work or activity performed by the employees is carried out in accordance with the set targets or standards. Since controlling is performed at all levels of management, it leads to decentralization of authority and better achievement of end goals. In the process of controlling, An essential component of management all the errors or deficiencies in the project are identified and rectified in the earliest so that the business faces minimal losses and similar errors can be mitigated in the near future.
The Features of Controlling
  1. Pervasive in Nature: Controlling is performed at all levels of management but at different levels, its nature may differ.
  2. Improvement in future results: Controlling is based on a forward-looking approach, i.e. it has its relation to the future. One cannot change any past situation but any happening in the future can be controlled.
  3. Motivation to employees: Controlling leads to regulation in an organisation. The employees understand what their managers expect from them and they are also accustomed to the anticipated standards thereby leading to the improvement in their self-esteem. Performing work against the set standards motivates the employees to work hard and gain more rewards.
  4. Achievement of organisational goals: Healthy controlling and best implementation of the desired plan accomplishes the organisational goals in the best way.
Process of Controlling
  1. Establishment of desired results: To facilitate controlling in the best way, setting the standards against which the work or activities will be performed is the very first step.
  2. Measuring the actual performance: After the establishment of standards, the actual performance of the employees is to be measured in the same terms in which the standards were established.
  3. Comparing the performance with the standards: Once the performance is measured, it is compared with the set standards to identify whether everything is under control. If not, then the extent of deviation from the established standards is figured out.
  4. Detecting any errors: Errors are to be expected in every performance, but it is not possible to correct all of them. Hence, the acceptable range of these errors is determined.
Types of Control
Controlling is of three types:
  1. Concurrent Control: Since the business environment is dynamic, it becomes important to control the activities from time to time. When the work performance is audited in regular intervals and the actions are also taken before it causes any inconvenience, then this is termed as concurrent c
  2. Feedback Control: When some information is taken about any finished task and it is utilised in improvising or controlling the same type of task in near future, then this is termed as feedback control.
  3. Predictive Control: Future is unpredictable but some assumptions regarding the errors can be made in the present so that corrective actions can be taken much before the occurrence of such a situation. This is called predictive control.
So, these were the fundamentals of controlling which is one of the key processes in management. At MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE), we familiarise all our students to these concepts of controlling so that they can practice these in their respective domains. MIT-SDE aims at creating skilled managers and entrepreneurs through its MBA-equivalent courses, so each specialization course includes a unit on controlling.  You can enroll for any of our distance education courses and enhance your managerial skills.

Sunday, 13 January 2019

Seven Principles for Effective Energy Management

With the passage of time, the cost of energy has shot up to a great extent. This change has resulted in making energy management a priority for all the facility managers and commercial building owners.
Nowadays, a number of cutting-edge technologies are being exploited in the field including the latest automated management systems. These technologies when used in conjunction with certain principles of energy management exhibit potentials to create a successful energy program which is quite efficient. The basic principles of energy management so employed are as follows:
  1. Identification and tracking of Energy Pattern: The first step of any program is identifying and tracking the energy pattern of that program. If we do not have the knowledge of when and where the energy is used, then there is no way to estimate the relative importance of any Energy Management Project.
  2. Controlled energy system’s use: To obtain more amount of energy saving, it is not important to install more and more efficient components like electronic ballasts or T-8 lamps, etc. Instead, what is more important is that we must keep a check on the system’s use and ensure that the resources are aptly used.
  3. Properly maintained and managed facilities: A program with effectively maintained and managed facilities is the only program that offers effectual Energy Management. The quantity of technological equipment has nothing to do with the success of energy management program.
  4. Good Maintenance practices: To attain the highest rates of return on Energy Conservation, it is important to keep in mind the maintenance practices in the program. We know that Great Maintenance and Successful Energy Management go hand in hand, so simply by performing maintenance, we can achieve success in any energy management programs.
  5. Preventive and Reactive Maintenance: Despite the funding limitations, we know that waiting for any crisis to take place is a waste of time, i.e., reactive maintenance is imprudence. On the contrary, preventive maintenance is critical for the program’s success. It can be ignored when systems are new, heat exchange systems are clean, seals are tight and calibrations are precise. However, as the system ages, these items need care or preventive maintenance.
  6. Distinction between Maintenance and energy Management: One should know the clear distinction between Maintenance and Energy Management. Cleaning and fixing of equipment for better use come under good maintenance while installation of more efficient equipment comes under good energy management. Both of these serve different purposes. It is very important to remember their difference whenever a budget is being prepared for any program.
  7. Automated Energy Management Systems: Even the most overrated technologies of automated energy management systems cannot recompense for a poor HVAC system design. No automation can bring more performance out of any system components if heating and cooling of loads is incorrectly calculated or if the set of equipment is inappropriate.
Thus, to create an effective energy management program, it is imperative to keep these basic principles of energy management in mind. Furthermore, the global scenario is changing at a rapid phase. Hence,  it demands for innovative as well as effective energy management solutions every single day.  So, organisations are hiring professionals to take care of this. These professionals have in-depth knowledge of the technicalities, economics, legal requirements and entrepreneurial concepts of the energy sector and so they are paid well.
If you wish to shape your career in the field of energy management, then you should pursue Management-equivalent Post Graduate Diploma in Management in Energy Management offered by MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE). This course imparts fundamental and thorough knowledge of the field so that the candidates are immediately absorbed in the industry.