Posted: June 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: business, client, functions, group, improvement, individual, make, manager, opportunity, organisation, support, time, work, working, year | No Comments »
A lot of the business our organisation manages is concentrated on the product generation aspects of our clients business. For a manufacturer this means the shop floor procedures where parts are put together in a sequence to build a saleable product. When we talk to a potential client concerning improvement programs or processes the client instantly assumes we are talking of improvement within the manufacturing area, and that improvement – we are told – needs to be centred on workforce concerns, which are centred on pay and benefits!
This is in no sense an overstatement of the way company managers view their employees.
While improvements are clearly possible inside such an environment, it’s also true that a significant percentage of the staff isn’t directly involved with producing saleable products, but with administrative service support. These employees are frequently seen in a different light to the manufacturing group, and it is apparent to us that any improvement process that bypasses administrative functions also misses the opportunity to achieve significant efficiency savings for the employer. However, an improvement program has to capture the imagination of the participants, while providing a mechanism for individuals and work groups to participate and be successful. It is also necessary for managers to encourage individual contributions and contribute their managerial ‘weight’ to the achievement of any improvement. All of this while not seeking to highjack the credit for any performance gain.
While considering the differences of work pattern and culture that is the norm for the administrative and support functions in these businesses, the similarity of work to staff working in service industries became apparent, where much of the activity is clerical and administrative. Whatever solution could be found to enable us to engage with these people would probably work regardless of the nature of the business. We were clear in our minds that long term improvement programs typical of manufacturing facilities would not be appropriate for administrative functions.
For many years we were attracted by the pragmatic teachings of the late Philip Crosby, author of Quality is Free and many similar books. The program defined in that book has been adapted world-wide to the benefit of countless organisations and individuals. Less well know within the same tome is a program he chose to call ‘Make Certain.’ With some effort we adapted Make Certain to a 21st century European culture and sought an opportunity to trial the outcome.
A current client allowed us the opportunity to show its worth within an administrative workforce of 120 staff. Working with groups of around 20 individuals, each with a mixture of skills and department affiliation, we spent time explaining the process and encouraging their involvement and contribution to improve both overall and specific efficiencies and effectiveness. We too learned from this experience and were able to develop the program further.
For our client’s organisation the trial run was a success because for possibly the first time each person understood the nature of their own individual work process, and how this related to – and effected, all of the surrounding processes. This understanding led to a desire to improve, and because local managers and supervisors were participants measurable performance improvements were achived. This initial trial of the ‘Make Certain’ program was a phenomenal success. An estimated 10% increase in efficiency, as measured by the ‘work units’ produced by the staff involved, only 9 months from program implementation.
The up-front cost to the organisation – for training – was equivalent to a loss of 360 hours employed time – probably somewhat less working time! This along with a support expense estimated to be around 20 man-days of management time.
Overall it cost the organisation 65 days of lost time to achieve a saving in the first year of 2700 hours ( 10% of 27000 hours, based on 120 staff and 230 working days per year.) What to do with 10% additional work capacity is a problem that would delight any business manager.
The entire process was initiated with minimum investment, employed no high profile specialists or techniques, and succeeded because the participants had the freedom to believe in themselves and test their own solutions.
Truly, as Phil Crosby said, Quality is Free.
Excerpt from: How to Kickstart Improvement in Service
Posted: June 20th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: business, certification, company, directives, independent, iso, make, manage, partner, quality, risk, set, standard, system | No Comments »
What is commonly known as ISO 27001 is an information security management system. This is an expansion of ISMS standard. Its full name is ISO 27001. It was introduced in 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in collaboration with the International Electro Technical Commission (IEC). There are various features and benefit available to organization by getting the ISO 27001. Organizations can apply for independent certifications of their ISMS. The standard covers all types of organizations (like commercial enterprises, government agencies and non-profit organizations) and all sizes from micro-businesses to huge multinationals.
ISO 27001 generally plays a very important role in monitoring, review, maintenance and improvement of an information security management system. It works like an overall management and control framework for managing an organization’s information security risks. There is no specific code or condition is available to stop the management function using this certificate. Bringing information security under management control is a necessity for sustainable, directed and continuous improvement of an information security management system. In doing so, it generates greater interest in and awareness of information security that seeks an independent certification of its ISMS. Every organization should try to get such kind of quality certificate, this help the organization to gain more profit in business as well as to get brand name in society.
It is released public on Oct 2005 but is based heavily upon the British Standard, bs7799-2. Bs7799 itself was also released in same year. This contains some set of rules and regulation followed by the organization. Around more than ten thousand institution applied and obtained this certificate.
ISO 27001 is not only an advanced version of BS7799-2 and also inherit other international standard also there are various certification released by government and well so international local bodies to make sure organization is running properly. Organization can apply for this kind of certificate and show their code of conduct to public. ISO 27001 is often considered to be the most important and more reliable in the society hence many organizations like to get the ISO 27001 certificate. The ISO 27000 is also partnered with the many ISO certificates like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc. ISO 27001 is applied by organization to show that they are very good in ethics and following all the rules and regulation properly put forward by their government.
The prime objective of this standard normally supports to establish, design, implement and manage an effective information management system which protects information of an organization from any risks. Decision adoption of this standard should be followed in every organization. The certificate also keen in valuing the people which were working in company as well as how company treating employee.
There are various sub standards also present in the ISO 27001. Each sub section denotes some specific quality and specification should be followed by the organization. There also a standard called plan to check, this help the organization to plan their quality and they can check whether they attained or not. ISO 27001 also help the organization to maintain ethic rules in as well as help the organization in business by getting new order. Organization also gain more profit by using this ISO 27001 certificate. The benefits of ISO 27001 are not only numerous but also diverse.
Design and manage an independent information management system. ISO 27001 can be used within any organization to design and formulate its specific set of security requirements and desired objectives. It can also help in seeing that the plans are implemented and the desired security objectives are met. This standard makes the implementation process of security management system more formal and rigorous apart from diminishing the risks considerably.
Minimize and manage security risk. ISO 27001 helps to make sure that unacceptable information security risks are avoided. It further helps in managing any risk in the most cost effective manner.
Win the confidence of business partner. Certification improves the organizations marketing potential by causing its business partners to be convinced of the stable state of the organization’s information security. It also relieves the business associates of the necessity of carrying out its own research on the organization’s information security management.
Organizations can use this standard to provide relevant information about information security policies, directives, standards and procedures to its trading partners as well as any other organization that they interact with for operational or commercial purposes.
Analyze existing information security management process. ISO 27001 helps in identifying, understanding and analyzing the status of the current information security management processes. It is utilized by internal as well as external auditors of organizations to explain the information security policies of the organization and also the directives and standards that it adopts and to what extent the organization complies with those policies, directives and standards.
Interpretability. If the partner organizations both follow ISO 27001 standardization, then they can achieve a comfortable level of interoperability even though they may belong to very different backgrounds because of the common set of standardization guidelines that they follow.
Quality assurance. Whether it is the organization or the business partners, there should be some quality in the information security system and hence of the organization in general since a clearly defined standardization process is applied.
Bench marking. An organization can use the ISO 27001to measure its status against that of its competitors. They can emphasize on their current rank and the developments that they make as opposed to their rivals.
General security awareness. The ISO 27001 is a formal set of specifications that establishes, manages and controls and implements a security management system and hence avoids any possible information security risks. In doing so, it generates greater interest in and awareness of information security that seeks an independent certification of its ISMS.
Alignment of staff. Implementation of this standard generally demands the involvement of both the business management staff and the technical staff. Hence, as a consequence, communication and information technology coordination is achieved easily in greater measure.
This is a good certification standard for a company to reach a new quality goal for raising the bar to the next level.
Follow this link: About ISO27001 Benefits And Features
Posted: June 17th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: business, commons, copyright, cospas, creative, information, license, make, mission, online, provide, technical | No Comments »
Online businesses do best with online marketing. Online opportunity and online work is, at the moment, at its zenith. Online communities help me connect Defining Collaboration Communities and Collaboration Web 2. Perhaps a better way of stating the issue is: What should you do to make online work successful in your work area. Most people manage by deadlines, and making decisions based on the online input keeps it real. People need to know what they are expected to do when they come to the online work area.
Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the license. Creative Commons licenses are expressed in three different formats: the Commons Deed (human-readable code), the Legal Code (lawyer-readable code); and the metadata (machine readable code). Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights–such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work.
You will want to check to see that the online program you are interested in provides solid, standards-based content, is an accredited program, and the instructors are licensed by the state certification agency in the subject area of the course. (There are some strong and mixed views about whether that would fly in a court if one is licensed as a counselor or therapist. The issue of license portability also was raised, specifically in the context of forensic evaluation as an expert, but of course the notion of having cooperation between states would have greater implications for the profession as more consultation of all varieties becomes easier to do through the use of technology. The license is a statement as to what others may do with your work, so you should select a license that matches what you are happy for others to do with your work. Finally, you can also consult with a lawyer to obtain advice on the best license for your needs.
What information should your organization know, but you don’t. This information will get you started as you explore the online learning opportunity. If you want to see how this online endeavor works, check out some of the information for the other “audiences,” like the online teacher. The manager needs intelligent courseware and user interfaces, tailored to his level, without commercial `fuzzy information but with opportunities for in-depth study. For example, keep a backup copy of files on a home computer so you can e-mail important information to students.
The contractor shall provide technical and analysis support to the government in support of the USMCC mission and COSPAS-SARSAT. -provide technical support for the analysis of false alarms and interferers, the definition of service areas, the addition of new [Search and Rescue Point of Contacts], the evaluation of new COSPAS-SARSAT related technology, and the commissioning of new MCCs. In support of its contention that the work is beyond the scope of SSAI’s contract, the protester points to the language in the SOW that expressly provides that SSAI is not responsible for maintaining any proprietary software, the fact that no express language covering the work is contained in the contract, the fact that when SSAI’s contract was let Techno-Sciences was responsible for maintaining the proprietary online software, and the fact that costs under the contract have exceeded the estimated price of the work.
NOAA responds that the work being performed by SSAI under these task orders is within the scope of SSAI’s contract because of the broad language of the technical support section of the SOW, which was said to cover support of the entire COSPAS-SARSAT mission as well as the USMCC effort–both online and offline functions–with the sole exception of maintaining Techno-Sciences’s proprietary software. The record shows that the express purpose of the SSAI contract is to provide NOAA with the required support necessary to operate and maintain the USMCC. Consistent with this purpose, the language in the scope of work broadly defines technical support to include, among other things, analysis of new or changing Cospas-Sarsat requirements, and other support as required by the Cospas-Sarsat mission. C of the SOW specifically requires SSAI to provide technical and analysis support to the government in support of the USMCC mission and Cospas-Sarsat, without any stated restrictions.
The Open University Business School (UK) is a pioneer in identifying competencies of online coaches. An advisory committee of business, government, and educational leaders was formed and met annually to provide input to the hubsite managers. In fact, many companies have used patents to protect novel ways of doing business on the Web. However, it’s advisable to officially register the copyright for Web content that has high business value, since official registration provides irrefutable proof of authorship. Creating and Managing Information Security Policies Survey: Companies disregard data security breach risks Blogging on corporate laptops is risky business Convergence of security and network management has pros and cons Embarking on the ISO 17799 certification trail How can a CSO take ownership of a security program. The goal of any online business is to sell something, be it a product, service, or information. Your web site should reflect how you want customers to feel about your business. One of the top Internet business strategies is to choose relevant keywords for the most efficient search engine optimization.
“The article includes research on tipping points and a review of issues involved in building successful networks. Online work is organized according to workshop topics. Each workshop has its own folder with work related to that workshop in the folder. Also make sure to follow these rules of “Netiquette” to make sure your work is the best it can be: Give credit in your works cited list to anyone whose work you use. This overview focuses on copyright, which explicitly protects “original works of authorship. For online works created after 1977, copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of author. For online works, you apply a Creative Commons license to a work by selecting the license that suits your preferences. For offline works, you should identify which Creative Commons license you wish to apply to your work and then mark your work either: (a) with a statement such as “This work is licensed under the Creative Commons [insert description] License. The only difference between applying a Creative Commons license to an offline work and applying it to an online work is that offline works will not include the metadata and, consequently, will not be identified via Creative Commons-customized search engines. So they apply to all works that are protected by copyright law.
One of the largest benefits in working online is that the work is immediately archived — that is, it is available to everyone, anytime they want to access it. Working online is also, in some ways, more secure. Does online working save time because people do not have to meet anymore. Best practice human resource strategies would give particular attention not only to better job design and different working conditions associated with online work, but also to sophisticated strategies for building and sustaining work and knowledge networks. The online work uses the World Wide Web and we are working to develop an increasingly user-friendly environment for this networking.
Read more: Online Business Copyrights and Disciplines