Business Ethics Problems - A Part And Parcel Of Business Organization

August 19th, 2008 by Biz | Posted in General, Management | No Comments »

One of the serious problems that businesses face these days is business ethics problems. When put simply, these problems are conflicts between the interest of a business and that of the employees/customer or the society in general.

No matter how hard the management of a business tries to set and maintain high standards of professional ethics, these conflicts do surface at some point of time or the other. One does not have to dig deep to find the reasons for these conflicts either, as they are inherent in the very nature of business.

Any person joining a job wishes to be paid as highly as possible. In contrast, cost minimization is always high on the priority list of the employer(s). An employee wishes to have the minimum work hours whereas the management is always striving to reach the peak of productivity.

When it comes to the customers, they want to have the best possible products on the least possible prices. At the same time, the manufacturer tries to produce an item at the lowest possible cost and put as high a price as possible.

The society expects the corporate world to bear their social responsibilities - being environment conscious, making investments in sports and education, maintaining clean surroundings, etc. For a business entity all these will mean additional expenditure.

The million dollar question, in the face of all these demands, is how do you overcome this situation, if at all these can be overcome?

The answer lies in ‘balance’. No one can argue with the fact that businesses are established to maximize returns for its owner(s) and, in some cases, shareholders. Still, the business establishments can achieve this goal while behaving ethically - helping its employees, giving to the customers’ products worth their money and serving the community in general.

By following ethical norms and investing in social sectors, the business will earn the respect and confidence of the customer. This way the business may not make fast bucks or what is termed ‘go for kill’ but the results will start to show with time. In long term, it will be a boon for the brand and will enable the business to get to high profitability rates.

Similarly, if a business takes care of its employees, it will have happier and more productive workers. This, in turn, will make very positive effect on the productivity of the company.

If a business takes care to reduce waste, encourage recycling and preserving energy, it will not only aid the environment but will also help itself. Using these means, a considerable amount can be saved which can then be put to better use.

There is no denying that even a responsible business outfit will face business ethics problems. However, they can be countered using business ethics acumen and insight.

About the Author

Kip D Goldhammer owns and operates http://www.businessethicseducation.com Business Ethics

How to prepare for Business Analyst interview

August 8th, 2008 by Biz | Posted in General, Management | No Comments »

Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you’ve got~ Theodore Roosevelt

A business analysis is essentially solving problems by identifying the stated and implicit needs, understanding requirements and facilitating the solution development.

The business analyst is the bridge between various stake holders including the client teams, the solution teams and other stakeholders such as third party vendors. The analyst must facilitate gathering and understanding of requirements and ensure the communication is clear and unambiguous.

A business analyst role is applicable across industry and technology domains. The essence of the analyst is to bring a rational thought process and an understanding of the underlying industry (e.g. financial, retail, telecommunication, banking, manufacturing etc.) is an asset.

Sample Interview Questions - General:

1. What are your strength and weaknesses? 2. What are your future plans? 3. Why do you want to join us?

Business analyst interview would also include questions of interviewee’s understanding of what business analysis means and the process thereof.

Typical Topics of discussion:

1. Software development life cycle (SDLC). 2. Some methodologies like Rational unified process (RUP), Agile modeling etc, their definition and comparison. 3. Unified modeling language (UML) 4. Tools like rational rose, ClearCase, Poseidon etc 5. Traceability matrix ��” Definition and how to create it. 6. Joint application development (JAD) session

Notes:

It is very important to go through the company’s website before going for the interview and do a detailed analysis. Try to understand their corporate style and culture. A reasonable understanding of the relevant industry domain is always an asset in an interview and can mean the difference in the success in an interview. Internet is a good source of basic understanding of terms related to specific domains. Here I am listing some terms and topics I think you should know, at least the definitions, related to finance and retail domain.

Finance domain:

1. Mergers and acquisitions 2. Capital markets 3. Money markets 4. Financial ratios such as P/E, IRR, ROI, EPS 5. Equity 6. Dividend 7. Budgeting

Retail domain:

1. Merchandising 2. Procurement 3. Shipping and Logistics 4. Inventory 5. Supply chain 6. Consumer and Consumer behavior 7. Point of sales-POS 8. Customer relation management(CRM)

About the Author

The author is the owner of http://how-to-things.blogspot.com