Sunday 6 October 2024

A Teacher and Comforter

 Iesu the Christ speaking;

John 16.5 - 16 NKJV

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 

 



Wednesday 14 July 2021

The Perfect Revelation of the Lord

The heavens declare the Glory of God and firmament shows His handy work. Day unto day utter speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. NKJV Psalm 19.1-3

The glory of God is displayed in His handiwork. Here are mysteries that the mind will become strong in searching out. Minds that have been amused and abused by reading fiction may in nature have an open book, and read truth in the works of God around them. All may find themes for study in the simple leaf of the forest tree, the spires of grass covering the earth with their green velvet carpet, the plants and flowers, the stately trees of the forest, the lofty mountains, the granite rocks, the restless ocean, the precious gems of light studding the heavens to make the night beautiful, the exhaustless riches of the sunlight, the solemn glories of the moon, the winter’s cold, the summer heat, the changing recurring seasons, in perfect order and harmony, controlled by infinite power; here are subjects which call for deep thought, for the stretch of the imagination. (Revival plan p.579-588) 



Monday 12 July 2021

Office Management

 

Office Management comprises two words; “Office and Management”. What does the words Office and Management means? The word “Office” can be perceived or explained differently by people or individuals. Office is understood to be a physical building where certain activities are performed for an organization. The Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary defined Office as; “a room, set of rooms or building where people work, usually sitting at desks.” Office from the dictionary definition refers to room/s and desks. Thus without any person sitting at the desk, the office is just a physical structure. A small or larger building without any human occupation and human activity is just a physical structure or space. Such a physical structure may be given names to suit the activity that would be taking place inside this space. Once a name is given and attached to the physical building infrastructure, the building space takes meaning. For example; a building named a classroom can be immediately identified as a space that will housed students. Students make the building come alive due to the learning activities that take place in the classroom building. Similarly an office space will only come alive when it is occupied by people or individuals who are involved with certain activities.

Roles and Purpose of an Office

Offices have personalities of its own and are a reflection of the purpose for which an office is created. Most offices spaces are set up for different activities and purposes and reflect the nature of work being carried out with the aim of achieving organizational goals and objectives. In organizing a new office, the person in charge of the office known as the Office Manager must add the necessary ingredients to bring about an efficient operating entity to achieve predetermine results. Most activities within an office are almost the same such as processing of income mails and outgoing mail to ensure that the income mails are being recorded and who is responsible in auctioning the mail. Such activity is done to ensure mails are action and processed by the right person. Dictation, typing and printing require people who are able to carry out such activities effectively and efficiently. Communication, answering telephone calls and ensuring appointment are made for managers. Record keeping and record disposal, filing and many other important activities. It can be said that an office is the engine room of any organization. Without an office space, all the office activities cannot be coordinated and processed effectively. Office space or office buildings are important for the following purpose; it is a place where records of the business are preserved and safely kept. It is a place where all mails both income and outgoing are processed. It is a place where the organization’s policies are formulated, discussed and implemented. The purpose of having an office is also to direct and coordinate the activities of various departments and to maintain accounts, statutory and non-statutory books and files of the organization. Given all the activities that are being conducted within an office, businesses and organization may realize that without an office, an organization cannot operate effectively and efficiently.

Office spaces that are set up within a building takes into considerations the various roles played by various individuals and here are few examples.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest ranking officer within an organization. As such he or she will have an office that reflects the role they play in the organization. The CEO role or primary activities is the management of the overall operations, making major corporate decisions, provides the important communication link between Board of Directors and other corporate stakeholders. Understanding the CEO important roles his or her office would be set up differently from other offices within the organization.

Administration, Finance and Personal Department - The office of the Administration and Personal department have an important role to play in ensuring that the human resources of the organization and all its departments are occupied by skilled and qualified people. The personal department ensures that employees record are well maintained, recruitment and training take place and the wellbeing of employees are taken care of in term of working conditions, wages and salaries and other important issues. The office is also where employees bring their grievances. In most cases the personal department is also the main communication point on staff matters to the management team of the organization.

Production Department - The office of the Production department will have individuals whose activities are concerned with the production of goods and services produced by the organization. The workers working in the production department depend on the production office for their required resources to continue the activities. The department is to ensure their clients and customers satisfied and happy. Individuals who works in the production department provides services such as purchase orders, meeting the supplier demands on time and making sure correspondences, filing and records, market research and many other activities are maintained and functioning as expected.   

Sales and Marketing Department - The office of the Sales and Marketing department have individuals whose main activities deals with sales and marketing, logistics, promotions and distributions and individual working within the office ensure resources is available to carry out activities within their department.  

Definition of MANAGEMENT

There are various definitions provided by different authors. Mary Parker Follett defined management as: “as the art of getting things done through people”. Pearce and Robinson Management, McGraw-Hill 1984 p.4 provided the following definition: “management is the process of optimizing human, material and financial contributions for the achievement of organizational goals.” The Oxford Advanced Learner’ Dictionary defined management as follows: ‘the act of running and controlling a business or similar organization.” From the given definition, the following aspects of management are noted;

Management deals with external and internal environment of an organization. Management is also concerned with all kind of resources such as human resources, financial resources, materials, and assets. Management is ensuring that organizational goals and objectives are achieved through the use of people. Management is making sure plans and strategies are executed and carried out through activities performed by various departments, business units of the organization as determined by managers. Management is providing directions and controls of the people activities within the organization. By analyzing the term management, students may be able to understand the management functions and how individuals in management position perform their roles. Management functions includes; planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

Planning involves the following; is the determination of a course of action to achieve a desired result. Planning concentrates on setting and achieving. Planning is an intellectual process and is the process of thinking before doing. Planning precedes all other managerial functions and deciding in advance what is to be done. Planning involves projecting the future course of action for the business and is essentially choosing, depends upon the availability of alternatives.

Organizing involves the following; bringing together the human and material resources for the achievement of certain objectives. Organizing is the foundation upon which the whole structure of management is built. Organizing is determining, grouping and arranging activities necessary for achieving the objectives and assigning of people to these activities. Organizing is providing suitable environmental situation and indicating the relative authority delegated for the execution of the activity. 

Staffing Is concerned with recruitment, selection, placement and training and development. Staffing is a function that deals with human resource needs of the organization and ensuring qualified and skilled individuals are recruited to perform the required activities of the organization. Staffing is now in a new a function of Personnel Management which is currently Human Resource Management.

Directing is the managerial function of guiding, inspiring, instructing and harnessing people towards the accomplishment of desired results. It is the process which actuates the members of an organization to work efficiently and effectively for achievement of desired goals.

Office Management

The two terms “Office Management” means the method of controlling an office to enable it achieve its objective. In modern society, all kinds of business are performed by a group of knowledgeable people working for a common goal and is guided and control by a leader or authority. Management is a technique of leadership or control to achieve an objective through the efforts of other people. The office must be organized in a way to achieve the objective of the business. 




 

Sunday 11 July 2021

The Humble and Exalted Christ


NKJV Philippians 2.5-10

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ, Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself and become obedient to the point of death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and those under the earth.



Thursday 8 July 2021

Business Ethics and Cultural Issues

 

Organizations and business houses today are faced with the important issue of Ethics. What is Ethics? Different authors have given various definitions to the term Ethics. The Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary defined ethics as; “the moral principles that control or influence a person’s behavior.” Crane and Matten (2007) p.8 Business Ethics 2nd Edition, Oxford; provided the following definition, “Ethics is concerned with the study of morality and the application of reason to elucidate specific rules and principles that determine right and wrong for a given situation. These rules and principles are called ethical theories.” In another word, ethics can be seen as moral principles or rules of behavior. For this article, ethics is discussed within the context of Business Ethics and how ethics may have an influence on business activities and decisions which may infringe on cultural issues. The term business can be referred to as a set of human activities such as production and supply of goods and services by various organizations or individuals. When ethics is discussed within the context of business activities, you are looking at organizations and individuals that are involved with human activities and these individuals has to consider how ethical considerations influence the business activities, decisions and outcomes. Business situations involve activities and business activities involve decision making. In making decisions, individuals and business people are faced with issues of right or wrong decisions. Faced with such situation, business houses and organization establishes code of ethics or Ethics standard to guide an organization and its workforce to carry out the organization activities in a correct and acceptable way. Cultural issues in relations to business activities may be a challenge to any organization or business entity when activities carried out touches on cultural issues which relates to cultural norms and values.

With changes in business trends and the technological impacts of the 21st Century, business across international boundaries especially international and multi-national corporations are faced with situations where there is a growing and wider territorial base for social, economic and political activities, process and relation. How are these factors impacting businesses today?

This article focuses on business ethics and cultural issues while intending to do business in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Papua New Guinea is a country with a population of approximately 8.5 million. PNG is located several miles north of Australia and comprises 20 provinces with the large island divided into two parts, New Guinea to the north and Papua to the south. There are few main islands comprising the islands of New Britain, Bougainville, New Ireland and Manus. The capital city is Port Moresby. The country shares land border with Indonesia and sea border with Australia.  The majority or eighty percent of the population lives in the rural areas. PNG has over one thousand tribes with over eight hundred living languages. As a high-context cultured society, the one thousand tribes come with their cultural norms and values and doing business with Papua New Guinean can be a challenge to outsiders who have to an  extent have to navigate and try to understand the culture’s unwritten rules, norms and values.

There are many various factors that may have implications to business activities and cultural issues. Two of the challenging factors that are noted here are;

Communication and connectivity – Papua New Guinea as a country is faced with communication and connectivity problem due to its infrastructure and geographical landscape. Carrying out business activities in such a challenging environment, businesses are faced with many challenges that result in increasing costs in term of connectivity and difficulties in business operation. How does communication and connectivity impact cultural issues within a country such as Papua New Guinea. With over 800 languages, there are words and images that may infringe on cultural norms and values. While images portrayed and displayed in the print media, electronic media, WEB and television may be taken for granted in the market place through promotional activities, such images and sentences/words used may impact business operation and success as well.

Promotion and Advertising are seen as a means to communicate and persuade target customers to buy certain products or services. These two activities may be carried out through various communication modes. From advertising in any medium, through personal selling, direct marketing and other electronic marketing. Why do businesses advertise and promote products and services? Lea (2009) p.85 Introduction to the Ethics of Business, UPNG Press, quoted; “Advertising is devoted to making people believe that certain products and services are essential for their wellbeing and health when this often is far from true.” In advertising there is persuasion and convincing taking place. Depending on where these activities are being carried out, customers may sometimes be caught in situations of what is being valued in terms of their beliefs and acceptable norms.   Example; PNG has some beautiful beaches and landscapes it can boast about however, promoting such a beautiful location to the world with half naked and topless ladies in bikinis to some extent may not be successful due to the fact that it goes against certain values and beliefs. Words use as part of promotional statements may or can be interpreted or perceived differently.  To avoid cultural issues that may impact business success, ethics and the understanding of certain cultures, norms and values need to be embraced as part of any organization’s processes to avoid conflicts.

Challenges in business ethics and cultural issue may touch on the issue of trusts, confidentiality and other factors. With the age of connectivity and the expansion of operations both locally and globally, national and Multi-national Corporation need to rethink and relook on how to embrace business ethics as part of the organization’s processes. Business ethics brings with it many benefits such as enhancing reputation and good will, sustained long term growth as well as success and profit.

 

Reference:

Crane and Matten (2007) Business Ethics 2nd Edition, Oxford

Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7th Edition PEARSON

Lea (2009) Introduction to the Ethics of Business UPNG Press

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Concept of Market and Marketing

 

The terms Market and Marketing may bring into mind different concept views or ideas on how it relates to people. Let us look at these two terms in the eyes of ordinary Papua New Guineans. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country located just north of Australia. PNG as a country comprises 20 provinces with the large island divided into New Guinea to the north and Papua to the south. There are several main islands of New Britain, Bougainville, New Ireland and Manus. The capital city is Port Moresby and the country has a population of approximately 8.5 million and share land border with Indonesia and sea border with Australia.  The majority or eighty percent of the population lives in the rural areas. Papua New Guinean living in the 21st Century has ventured into business operations such small trade stores or convenience stores in urban centers and small rural towns, Public Motor Vehicle (PNV) operations, taxi services, as well as many other business activities. There are success stories in PNG on how Papua New Guinean has become successful businessmen and business women. PNG also has a vibrant informal sector.

Market to an ordinary villager or subsistent farmer may be seen as a location where people come together to trade and exchange their wares and produce for cash. To a local villager, the market is a place where he or she may be able to earn cash from their ware and produces which in turn enable them to buy other products either at the same place or to use the cash earned at the local market to buy products from shops and from other business houses. Money earned from the sales of market produces also help families to be able to pay for other goods and services from larger shops, super markets and department shops that sells other non-durable and durable products. Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7th Edition, explained Markets as a concept of exchange. It is a set of all actual and potential buyers of a product.” If an exchange is taking place then there are two or more people involved in the market activities. There is a potential buyer and there is a seller. The seller is selling something that the buyer may want or need and does the exchange to get it. In most cases the medium of exchange is cash. In most PNG communities, cash is not only the form of exchange that may be found in a market place. Exchange can be made with other things, such as the traditional form of payment in term of shells, or exchange with other goods.

Marketing according to Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7th Edition is defined as; “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” The marketing definition has a few words that require further explanation to help students understand the role marketing plays in the success and failures of business activities. The term organizational function refers to core activities that business have within its operational activities. For example the Marketing department within an organization would have core activities that are carried out in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Marketing activities involves the maximum use of the 4Ps or the marketing mix. Activities such as communication, promotion, distribution and pricing mechanism are activities that the marketing department deals with in its daily operational activities.

Reference

Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7th Edition, PEARSON

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Home

Semester 2 Courses - Business Management

Ethical Practices In Business

This Course aims to lay the foundations for future business managers/owners and professionals to make good informed business ethical decisions. This course would look at introducing students to the importance of business ethics and its importance to business practices. The course will also teach students to be able to frame ethical guidelines, evaluating the business ethics and making important ethical decisions. Global and local case studies will also be used to enhance student understanding of the subject.

- Topic 1 - Why Study Business Ethics?
- Topic 2 - Organizations and Its Environment
- Topic 3 - How Organization Adapt to their Environment
- Topic 4 - Ethical and Social Context of Management
- Topic 5 - Social Responsibility and Organization
- Topic 6 - The Nature of Diversity
- Topic 7 - Contextualizing Business Ethics
- Topic 8 - Suppliers, Competitors and Business Ethics
- Topic 9 - Civil Society, Government, Regulation and Business Ethics



International Business Management

- Topic 1 - Introduction to Business Management
- Topic 2 - Theory of International Trade
- Topic 3 - International Economic Institutions
- Topic 4 - International Trade, Conflicts and Negotiations
- Topic 5 - Global Strategic Management
- Topic 6 - International Accounting, Finance and Foreign Exchange
- Topic 7 - International Marketing
- Topic 8 - Foreign Trade Procedures & International Logistics Management

 


Sales Management

The course deals with Sales Management Decision Making and topics covered will discuss basic concepts, identifying critical decision areas, and presenting analytical approaches for improved sales management decision making supplemented by case studies. A management application for theories on Selling Functions, Strategic Role and the Evaluation of Sales Management will enable students to look at Sales management and decision making trends, issues and innovative skills needed in a challenging 21st century business environment.

- Topic 1 -Introduction Sales Management

- Topic 2- Describing the Personal Selling Function
- Topic 3 - Defining Strategic Role for Sales Management
- Topic 4 - Sales Organization Structure and Salesforce Deployment
- Topic 5 - Developing the Salesforce
- Topic 6 - Developing the Salesforce -Training
- Topic 7 - Directing the Salesforce
- Topic 8 - Motivation and Reward Management System




Office Management

The course is about Office Management. It is about office management and administration, office space and layout and above all it’s about the functions of management which is the requirements of the success of businesses and organizations. The topics covered will discuss the importance of office organization, office accommodation and layout, office environment, office supervision, collection of data, presentation of data, cost education and cost saving. The course will enable you to understand the basic concepts of managing an office in a business environment and the importance of good office management.

- Topic 1 - Introduction to Office Management
- Topic 2 - Office Management
- Topic 3 - Office Organization
- Topic 4 - Office Accommodation and Layout
- Topic 5 - Office Environment
- Topic 6 - Record Administration
- Topic 7 - Correspondences and Mails
- Topic 8 - Office Stationary, Forms and Appliances





Semester 1 Courses - Business Management

Corporate Project Appraisals and Management

This Course Aims to provide students with the ability to distinguish between project and routine business operations as well as looking at business project management as a means to bring beneficial changes to business organization. Students would be looking at project identification, formulation and implementation as well as appraisal, planning and scheduling and cost control. Students would also look at project organization, evaluation and post evaluation.


- Topic 1- Project Characteristics and Project Types
- Topic 2 - Project Identification, Formulation and Implementation
- Topic 3 - Project Appraisal
- Topic 4 - Project Cost Estimation
- Topic 5 - Project Financing
- Topic 6 - Financing Appraisal and Project Analysis
- Topic 7 - Project Planning and Scheduling
- Topic 8 - Project Cost Control
- Topic 9 - Project Organization
- Topic 10 - Project Evaluation
- Case Study 1 - Community Project

 

Consumer Behaviour

This course is designed to provide a sound understanding and applications of consumer behaviour trends, to train higly qualified and competent marketing managers and to develop people with updated knowledge to man the jobs in the marketing department of corporate and public sectors in the growing PNG modern economy. The course also looks at preferences and tastes of consumer world wide, cross-cultural influences on consumer behaviour and the different marketing strategies and decisions adopted by business managers.

Pre-Requisits - Principals of Marketing


- Topic 1- Consumer Behaviour A Managerial Perspective
- Tutorial 1.2016
- Tutorial 1
- Topic 2 - Complex Decision Making
- Topic 3 - Consumer Learning, Habit and Brand Loyalty
- Topic 4 - Low Involvement Consumer Decision Making
- Topic 5 - Consumer Perception
- Topic 6 - Situational Influences in Decision Making
- Topic 8 - Attitude Development and Changes
- Topic 9 - Demographics and Social Class
- Topic 7 - Consumer Information Acquisition and Processing
- Topic 10 - Lifestyle and Personality



Global and Asian Marketing

The aim of the course Global and Asian Marketing is to enable students to develop an understanding on the impact of Globalization on different economies and the differnt marketing strategies organizations can employ to meet the changes. The importance of this course cannot be underestimated as increasingly economies now depend on how much foreign exchange one can earn. This course seeks to fill this void by grounding students in the intricacies of Global and Asian Marketing. It undertakes a review of the 4Ps approach ( Product, Place, Promotion, Price) and considers the importance of relationship marketing. The course also look at the global impact on the different environment businesses have to operate in as well as undertakes a review of the strengths and weaknesses of developing countries in penetrating the export markets using the global commodity chain approach.

Pre-Requisits - Principals of Marketing


- Topic 1- Introduction to Globalization
- Topic 2 - The Global Environment
- Topic 3 - The Global Economic Environment
- Topic 4 - The Global Political Environment
- Topic 5 - The Global Cultural Environment
- Topic 6 - The Global Financial Environment
- Topic 7 - The Export Process - Motivation to Internationalization
- Topic 8, 9 and 10 Selected Asian Countries
- Tutorial 1
- Tutorial 2


Principles of Marketing

- Topic 1 - Defining Marketing for the 21st Century
- Topic 2 - Adopting Marketing to the New Economy
- Topic 3 - Building Customer Satisfaction Value and Retention
- Topic 4 - Winning Markets through Market Oriented Strategic Planning
- Topic 5 - Analyzing Consumer Markets and Buyers
- Topic 6 - Dealing with and Understanding Competition
- Topic 7 - Identifying Market Segments and Selecting Target Markets
- Topic 8 - Positioning and Differentiating the Market Offering through the Product Life Cycle
- Topic 9 - Developing New Market Offering
- Topic 10 - Designing Global Market Offerings