Marketing and Management Solution

Team Creation and Management  team creation and management is a crucial matter in marketing and management. A team is relatively permanent work group whose members must co-ordinate their activities to achieve one or more common objectives. As achievement of team‘s objectives requires co-ordination, team members depend on one another and must interact regularly. A work team generates positive synergy through co-ordinate effort. Teams have far-reaching impact in the today‘s work place. They have become an essential part of the way business is being done. A team is a group, but only some groups have the high degree of interdependence and commitment to success we associate with a team. Types of Teams  On the basis of its objectives team can be classified as follows 1. Problem solving teams:  Problem solving teams consist of groups of five to ten employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving qualit...

Group Process:   Group is combine process which helps to achieve predefine goal. It is the process that goes on within a group. A process can be defined as the method used by the leaders to convert the inputs int finished goods.  Method of Group Process: A group process consists of the following five stages those are 1. Forming   Forming is the first steps of group formation. when a group is initially formed, its members cannot accomplish much until they agree on what their purpose is, how they will work together and so on. In this stage, the focus is on the interpersonal relations among the members. The members assess one another with regard to trustworthiness, emotional comfort and evaluative acceptance. Thus this stage is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group‘s purpose, structure and leadership.  2. Storming    The storming stage is one of inter group conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but ...

Work Group  A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each member to perform within his area of responsibility. Characteristics of a work group   According to Rensis Likert, the important characteristics of an effective work group are as follows 1. The members are skilled in all leadership and membership roles. 2. The members of the group are attracted to it and are loyal to its members including the leader. 3. The members and leaders have a high degree of confidence and trust in each other. 4. The values and goals of the group are a satisfactory combination and expression of the relevant values and needs of its members. 5. The group is eager to help each member to develop to his full potential. 6. All the interaction, problem solving, decision making activities of the group occur in a supportive atmosphere. 7. Each member accepts willingly and without dislike the goals and expectations that th...

1.  Performance based conversations   Managers get busy with day-to-day responsibilities and often neglect the necessary interactions with staff that provide the opportunity to coach and offer performance feedback.  A performance management process forces managers to discuss performance issues.  It is this consistent coaching that affects changed behaviors. 2. Targeted Staff Development   If done well, a good performance management system can be a positive way to identify developmental opportunities and can be an important part of a succession planning process. 3. Encouragement to staff  Performance  Appraisals should be a celebration of all the wonderful things an employee does over the course of a year and should be an encouragement to staff. There should be no surprises if issues are addressed as they arise and not held until the annual review. 4. Rewards staff for a job well done   If pay increases and/or bonuses are tied to th...

Process of MBO The following are the stages involved in the MBO process 1. Setting of organizational objectives The first step in MBO is the definition of organizational objectives and purpose. Usually the objective setting starts at the top level of organization and moves downward to the lowest managerial levels. The setting objective include defining the purpose of organization, long range and short range organizational objectives, divisional or departmental objective an d individual manager‘s objectives. 2. Identification of Key Result Areas  Organizational o0bjectves provide the basis for the identification of Key Result Areas(KRAs). KRAs are derived from thr expectations of various stakeholders and they indicate the priorities for organizational performance such as profitability, market standing, innovation, productivity, social responsibility etc 3. Setting subordinates‘ objectives  The achievement of organizational goals is only possible through individu...

Management By Objectives (MBO)   MBO Can be defined as a process whereby the performance goals and objectives are set by each subordinate in collaboration with his superior at the start of the appraisal period. MBO is both a philosophy and approach of management. It isa process whereby superiors and subordinates jointly identify the common objectives, set the results that should be achieved by the subordinates, assess the contribution of each individuals, and integrate individuals with the organization so as to make he best use of organizational resources. Thus MBO is a system for integrating managerial activities. According to Koontz and O‘ Donnel, ―MBO is a comprehensive managerial system that integrates many key managerial activities in a systematic manner, consciously directed towards the effective and efficient achievement of organizational objectives. Features of MBO   Like other part of management some of important features of MBO are given below, MBO is a...

Mc Clelland’s Achievement or Need Theory    David C Mc Clelland  was an American psychologist, noted for his work on Need Theory, a Harvard psychologist, has proposed that there are three major relevant motives, most needs in work place situations. According to him, the motives are 1. The Need for Achievement. Like- strives to succeed. Some characteristics of those person who need achievement motivation Has a strong need to set and accomplish challenging goals. Takes calculated risks to accomplish their goals. Likes to receive regular feedback on their progress and achievements. Often likes to work alone. 2. The Need for Affiliation. Like- warm relationship with others. Characteristics of those person who need affiliation motivation Wants to belong to the group. Wants to be liked, and will often go along with whatever the rest of the group wants to do. Favors collaboration over competition. Doesn't like high risk or uncertainty. 3. The Need fo...

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory   Abraham Harold Maslow, an eminent US psychologist, gave a general theory of motivation known as Need Hierarchy Theory in 1943. According to him, there seems to be a hierarchy into which human needs are arranged. The needs are as follows 1. Physiological Needs –  These needs are related to the survival and maintenance of life. These include hunger, thirst, shelter, sex and other bodily needs. 2. Safety or Security Needs – These consist of physical safety against murder, fire accident, security against unemployment etc. 3. Social or Love Needs –  These needs are also called as affiliation needs. These consist of need for love, affection, belonging or association with family, friends and other social groups. 4. Esteem or Ego Needs – The esteem needs are concerned with self respect, self confidence, feeling of personal worth, feeling of being unique and recognition. Satisfaction of these needs produces feeling of self confi...

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory  - The motivation – hygiene theory was proposed by Fredrick Herzberg, a well known psychologist, in 1959. According to Herzberg, there are two separate factors that influence motivation. They are (i) Hygiene or maintenance factors and (ii) Motivational factors. Hygiene Factors  - They are also called as dissatisfiers. The presence of these factors will not motivate people in an organization. Otherwise dissatisfaction will arise. Herzberg called these factors as maintenance factors because they are necessary to maintain a reasonable level of satisfaction in the employees. Any increase beyond this level will not provide any satisfaction to the employees; however, any cut below this level will dissatisfy them.  Hygiene or maintenance factors like Company policy Supervision Relationship with boss Work condition Salary Relationship with peers Motivation Factors  - These factors are satisfiers. These are a set of job co...

Theories of Motivation  There are many internal and external variables that affect the motivation to work. Behavioral scientists started to search new facts and techniques for motivation. These are called as motivation theories. The most important theories are 1. Mc Gregor‘s Theory X and Theory Y 2. Herzberg‘s Two Factor Theory 3. Maslow‘s Need Hierarchy Theory 4. Mc Clelland‘s Achievement Theory Mc Gregor’s Theory X and Theory Y:  The style adopted by a manager in managing his subordinates is basically dependent upon his assumption about human behavior. Theory X is negative, traditional and autocratic style while theory Y is positive, participatory and democratic. Thus these two theories are contrasting set of assumptions about human behavior.   Theory X – This is the traditional theory of human behavior which makes the following assumptions 1. The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can. 2. He lacks ambition, disli...

Importance and benefits of Motivation:   Motivation is an effective device in the hands of a manager for inspiring the work force and creating confidence in it. By motivating the work force, management can achieve the organizational goals. The various benefits of motivation are A manager directs or guides the workers‘ actions in the desired direction for accomplishing the goals of the organization by motivating the workers. Workers will try to be efficient as possible by improving upon their skills and knowledge so that they are able to contribute to the progress of the organization.  Ability to work and willingness to work are necessary for performing any task. These two things can be created only by motivation.  Motivation contributes to good industrial relations in the organization.  Motivation is the best remedy for resistance to changes. If the workers of an organization are motivated, they will accept any change whole-heartily for the organ...

MOTIVATION    Motivation is a Latin word which means to move‘. Motivation is a force or a mental process that helps to increase workforce willingly and develop quality of output. Motivation is the process of channeling a person‘s inner drives so that he wants to accomplish the goals of the organization. Motivation concerns itself with the will to work. It seeks to know the incentives for the work and tries to find out the ways and means whereby their realization can be helped and encouraged. According to William G Scott, ―motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goals  Thus motivation is a process by which a need or desire is aroused and a psychological force within our mind sets us in motion to fulfill our needs and desires. According to Louis Allen, ―motivation is the work of a manager performs to inspire, encourage and impel people to take required action Characteristics of Motivation:  The following are the...

Leadership Styles  The term leadership styles can be defined as a leader‘s behavior towards group members. It refer to the pattern of behavior which a leader adopts in influencing the behavior of his subordinates in the organizational context. Different leadership styles can be categorized as follows. 1. Autocratic Leadership   Autocratic leadership is also known as authoritarian, directive, leader centered or monothetic style. Under this style, leader concentrates all authority in himself, instructs a subordinate as to what to do, how to do it, when to do it etc. He also exercises close supervision and control over his subordinates. There are three categories of autocratic leaders, Strict Autocrat – A strict autocrat relies on negative influence and gives orders which the subordinates must accept. He may also use his powers to disperse rewards to his group. Benevolent Autocrat – The benevolent is effected in getting high productivity in many situ...

Leadership: Leadership is an activity on the part of the managers to get something done by others, willingly and not by compulsion. Functions of a Leadership: The functions of a leader can be detailed as follows,  1. Taking the initiative – A leader initiates all the measures which are necessary for the purpose of ensuring the health and progress of the undertaking in a competitive economy.  2. To guide and direct the organization  3. he represents the organization  4. He acts as an arbitrator  5. To assign reasons for his actions  6. To interpret the objectives of organization  7.  He identifies group goals 8. To encourage team work 9. He manages the organization Importance of Leadership: Without a good leader, organization cannot function efficiently and effectively. The leader guides the action of others in accomplishing the organizational goals. A good leader motivates his subordinates, creates confide...

leadership:   Leadership is a process of influence on a group. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence Leadership is an activity on the part of the managers to get something done by others, willingly and not by compulsion. According to Chester I Bernard, ―leadership refers to the quality of the behavior of individual whereby they guide people on their activities in organized efforts. According to Luis A Allen, ―a leader is one who guides and directs other people. He gives the efforts to his followers a direction and purpose by influencing their behavior. Thus leadership is a psychological process of influencing followers and providing guidance, directing and leading the people in an organization towards attainment of the objectives of the enterprise.  Nature or Characteristics of Leadership: 1. leadership is a process of influence. 2. A leader ensures absolute justice. 3. leadership involves a ...

Values  The word value is derived from French word “valoir” which means worth, merit, usefulness or importance of a thing. Values are traits or qualities that are considered valuable. They represent an individual‘s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. Values are reference points for evaluating something as positive or negative. Values are rationally and emotionally binding and they give long-term orientation and motivation for action. A broad definition of values, derived from an insight into ancient India‘s psycho philosophical wisdom literature is -Values are states of feelings that underpin the content of a decision and determine the manner of using the reason for justifying and implementing that decision. Characteristics of Values:  1. Values represent an individual‘s highest priorities and deeply held driving forces 2. Values are the hub of personality and is powerful force affecting behavior 3. Value varies according to time 4. Many values ...

Ethics Ethics is not recent phenomenon. Ethical codes have been prepared along with the development of human civilization. In olden days, people might have found some of their actions was wrong and others right. The question what is right and what is wrong gave birth to ethical and unethical codes.   The word ethics is derived from the Greek word "Ethikos" and Latin word 'Ethicus' mean custom or character. The concept of ethics deals with human beings. So it is a social science. Ethics is a branch of philosophy and is considered as normative science because it is concerned with norms of human beings.  In the words of Peter.F.Drucker, ―Ethics deals with right actions of individuals‖  Ethics includes the following         1. Well based standards: Ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe                what humans ought to do        ...

Business Ethics Business Ethics or Ethical standards are the principles, practices and philosophies that guide the business people in the day today business decisions. It relates to the behavior of a businessman in a business situation. They are concerned primarily with the impacts of decisions of the society within and outside the business organizations or other groups who keep interest in the business activities.  Business ethics can be said to begin where the law ends. Business ethics is primarily concerned with those issues not covered by the law, or where there is no definite consensus on whether something is right or wrong. According to Rogene. A. Buchholz, ―Business ethics refers to right or wrong behavior in business decisions. According to Wheeler Business Ethics is an art and science for maintaining harmonious relationship with society, its various groups and institutions as well as reorganizing the moral responsibility for the rightness and wrongnes...

Needs - Needs are the basic requirements of a human being, like food, cloth, shelter etc. humans cannot survive lace of those requirements. education and health care are the extend part of needs in this modern world. according to marketing language, human needs are state of felt deprivation. It is the basic underlying of marketing. Different people have different needs some of them are as follows physical needs- Food, cloth, house, safety etc. personal needs- self expression, discuss feeling etc. Social needs- love, affection etc. Ego needs: status, recognition and self-esteem Wants – Wants are the satisfiers of needs. Specific products has the ability of satisfy specific wants. Wants are a form of needs and which are greatly dependent on the human needs. Wants are unlimited. Customers want high value and satisfaction for money. For example , you need to write, for this your choice will be the best pen. For write is your needs but the best brand of pen is your ...

Market share: The percentage that a company has of the total sales for a particular product or service The way of increase market share: Obviously, quality – both quality of product and service – is paramount. But there are a number of tactics you can use to increase your market share, and each involves increasing your company's relative power, uniqueness, or indispensability in the customer relationship. In our experience, you should concentrate on tactics that fall into any or all of these four general categories: 1. Customization of services or products -- When you build a high-end, custom-built service round the additional commodity-like product or services you're commerce, then you'll produce shift prices that increase the customer's temperament to still modify you instead of bidding out the contract at each chance. Ideally, you'll lock the client into a "learning relationship," however typically terribly price-oriented customers are cautious ...

How to Make Management Decisions Managers are required to make hard decisions that support a company's short and long-term goals. Management decisions are usually made after employees' proposals and preferences have been heard. They must be made with a team, department or company in mind. The best management decisions are made with evidence, examination and input from other leaders. However, managers must keep a balance between receiving input and being decisive. Be prepared to make difficult decisions and review them for accuracy in the future. Learn how to make management decisions. Identify the purpose of your decision.  What is exactly the problem to be solved? Why it should be solved? Gather information.  What factors does the problem involve? Identify the principles to judge the alternatives.  What standards and judgment criteria should the solution meet? Brainstorm and list different possible choices.  Generate ideas for possible solutions....

Strategy  “A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim” Strategy in Business World, “Strategy consists of the combination of Competitive moves and business approaches that managers employ to please customers, compete successfully, conduct operations and achieve organizational objectives” Strategic Management  “It consists of analyses, decisions and actions of an organization undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantages” Strategic management can also be defined as a bundle of decisions and acts which a manager undertakes and which decides the result of the firm’s performance Key Characteristics of Strategic Management: There are 4 key attributes in strategic management: 1.Directs the organisation towards overall goals and objectives 2.Includes multiple stakeholders in decision making 3. Needs to incorporate short term and long term perspectives 4. Recognises difference between efficiency and effectiveness

Market segmentation & Bases for segmentation of customer market Market segmentation: Normally market segmentation means divide the entire market based on different characteristics. Like Demographic Geographic Psychographic etc. Market segments can be characterized in different ways on way is to characterize the preferences of the target customers; homogeneous preferences, referring to customers that roughly have the same preferences. Secondly there are diffused preferences which mean that the customers vary in their preferences and finally clustered preferences which mean that the natural market segments emerge from groups of consumers with shared preferences (Kotler and Keller). Bases for segmentation of customer market: The group who consume product or service for final consumption from customer market. The bases for segmenting customer market are as follows: 1. Demographic segmentation: The demographic segmentation is often used in market segmentation...

Ø Analyzing customer needs Lot size Waiting and delivery time Spatial convenience  Product variety Service backup Ø      Establishing channel objectives Channel objectives should be stated in terms of targeted service output levels. Channel design must take into account the strengths and weaknesses of different types of intermediaries. Ø      Identifying major channel alternatives A channel alternative is described by three elements : (a)the types of available business intermediaries, (b) the number of intermediaries needed, (c) and the terms and responsibilities of each channel member.   Evaluating major channel alternatives Analyzing customer needs (a)     Lot size  : q    In buying cars for its fleet, Hertz  prefers a channel from which it can buy a large lot size. q   A Household wants a channel that permits buying a lot size of one. b) Waiting and delivery time...

A company’s overall marketing communication strategy is called promotion mix. Promotion mix is the combination of 5 major promotional tools like advertising publicity personal selling sales promotion and direct marketing. Philip Kotler and Gray Armstrong define, The promotion mix is the specific blend of advertising, public relations, personal selling, and direct-marketing tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships. Tools of promotion mix: There are 5 major tools of promotion mix those are- Advertising Public Relations,  Personal selling Direct-marketing Advertising: According to Philip Kotler and Gray Armstrong, Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. For providing specific and clear concept and idea of a product or service to a community or a group of people, advertising is used by a short way. Advertising may be- B...

Scopes are the opportunity where marketing strategy can be used. There are a lot of scope in the field of marketing which are given below, Goods: The main element of production is goods. The tangible things which have the ability to fulfill a human needs is called goods. Goods may be physical produces, consumer products, consumer durables etc. According to Stanton, Etzel and Walker “Goods is a set of tangible physical attributes assembled in an identifiable form to provide want satisfaction to customers.” Service:  Service is any intangible activity or benefit which can be present at market for sell but doesn’t create single ownership. Service may be Transport, repair and maintenance, legal, financial, consultancy, hotel, specialized skill, professionals etc. According to Philip Kotler Service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another party that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anyone. Experience: For achieving a s...