Human Resource Management-Btechnd

Human Resource Management-Btechnd

Literature Review

In this chapter an overview of the field of Human Resource Management is presented. According to Armstrong and Taylor (2014), Human Resource Management (HRM) is concerned with all the aspects of how people are employed and managed in organizations.In this study, equal employment opportunities, diversity workforce and employee relations are explained. In this chapter a description will be given of emotional well-being. Also, cultural diversity in the Netherlands will be explained. Furthermore, educational attainment regarding immigrant people will be described.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource (HR) management deals with the design of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish organizational goals (Aziri, Veseli & Ibraimi, 2005). One way to use human talent effectively and efficiently is to divide the activities into Human Resource Management practices (Noe et al., 2006).

These practices are described below:

• HR planning: forecasting labour supply and labour demand to ensure the balance between employees and jobs within an organization.
• Equal employee opportunity: the process of treating employees fairly by providing equal opportunities for employment, promotion and operating an equitable payment system regardless of race, colour, sex or religion.
• Diversity workforce:this process is concerned with creating an organizational culture that values diversity.
• Employee recruitment: this process is concerned with recruiting the best-qualified candidates for vacancies within an organization. This can be done by either recruiting candidates internal or external.

• Job analysis and design: this process is concerned about gathering detailed information about the content of jobs and how to design these jobs. This includes job specification and job description.
• Selection: the selection method and the requested criteria of the job are relevant for finding the right candidate for the right job.
• Employee training and development: the process of improving the skills of the employee to perform their jobs better.
• Performance management: ensuring the goals of the employee are aligned with the goals of the organization by reviewing the contribution of the employee to the organization.
• Compensation: the process concerned about salary, rewards and benefits provided to the employee. In order to determine what compensation fits best, a reward system needs to be developed.
• Employee relations: this practice is concerned about the collaboration and relation between the employee and employer.

In this study the focus will be on the Employee Relations, Diversity Workforce and Equal Employee Opportunity. Human Resource practices tend to have a positive impact on employee well-being (Renee Baptiste, 2008). Employee well-being can reduce costs, which is relevant for organizations. It is essential for organizations to pay attention to HR practices as it plays a vital role for holding down costs and increasing revenues. It also is a source of competitive advantage (Barney & Wright, 1998).

Emotional Well-Being

Garvey (2008) refers emotional well-being to mental health, whereby mental health is referred to “a state of emotional and social well-being in which individuals can cope with the normal stresses of life and achieve their potential”. In the study of Lawson, Noblet and Rodwell (2009) well-being was measured by psychological health and job satisfaction.

Research shows there are more cases of employees with symptoms of burnouts concerning immigrants in the Netherlands.Maslach and Leiter (2008) uses a three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy when describing burnout. Exhaustion relates to the feeling the employee has of being overextended and depleted of one’s emotional and physical resources. Cynicism or depersonalization is referred to the interpersonal context dimension of burnout and is related to negative or excessively detached response to various aspects of the job. The last dimension inefficacy can be described as the perception of lack of achievement, low self-evaluation and the feeling of being incompetent and unproductive.

 In the Netherlands, first generation immigrants experience more often symptoms of a burnout than second generation immigrants and the dominant Dutch. An explanation for the numbers is because first generation immigrant often have minimal education and therefore their position in the labour market is less favourable and the workload is heavier. Also cultural differences, language, traumas and discrimination can play a role (Appendix figure 1, Minister of Health, 2014). According to the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS, 2015) (Appendix table 2), statistics show the percentage of burnouts of second generation immigrants are lower compared to the first generation immigrants. An explanation for this can be that second generation immigrants have a higher educational level (table 3). For organizations, it is relevant to pay attention to the psychological contract, as violation of the psychological contract can influence the emotional well-being of the employee. Violation of the psychological contract increases cynicism, which is one of the dimensions of burnouts (Cartwright & Holmes, 2006).

In this study well-being is about the mental health of the employee. For organizations it is important to give attention to the well-being of the employee. When organizations ignore the well-being of the employee, this could have consequences such as employees being absent for an unknown period of time. Also, employee absence can cost the organization a large amount of money.

Cultural Diversity in the Netherlands

Cultural diversity is defined by Cox and Blake (1991) as “people from different gender, nationality, and racioethnic groups”. Cultural diversity has visible and observable elements such as accents and religious apparel, but also invisible elements such as norms and values (Shore et al., 2009). According to Shore et al. (2009), organizations should integrate cultural diversity for three reasons. The first reason is because cultural diversity gives the organization access to markets of the national group. The second reason is that organizations can adopt cultural diversity as a moral end to correct historic discrimination. The last reason is that organizations can use cultural diversity as a learning resource.

Diversification of the workplace is mainly due to two factors: the changing composition of national populations and secondly globalization. In the late 1950’s, the Netherlands started with immigrants. The latest statistics of Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek show thatin 2015,  there are firstand second generationimmigrants in the Netherlands and together they make up almost 21,69% of the total population.Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek defines first generation immigrants as: “a person who was born abroad with at least one parent who also was born abroad” and defines second generation immigrants as: “a person who was born in the Netherlands with at least one parent who was born abroad”(cbs.nl).

Immigrant workers are not the only aspect of diversity. The composition of male and female workers has also changed in the last decade as emancipation of females has played a vital role within many organizations. This can be seen in the net-labour participation, which is defined by the total number of working population in the potential population (CBS Statline). Table 5 (Appendix) shows that on the one side there has been a decrease in the net-labour participation of males from 2003 (74.0%) to 2014 (71.8%), whereas on the other side there has been an increase in the net-labour participation of females in the same period (52.1% in 2003 and 58.1% in 2014), which can be explained by emancipation.

Another aspect of diversity is education. People are becoming more educated nowadays. Figure 6 (Appendix) confirms this motion. Here can be seen that males and females are becoming more educated. Next to the degree of education, figure 6 (Appendix) also shows the percentage of females who has a university degree has increased over the years. This can be related to the emancipation aspect of diversity.Order Now

Health Care Management Assignment Help

Health care is the priority of every person in the whole world and people spend large amount on health care for their well being. In this assignment help paper, impact of increase in the cost of health care on the well being of American families has been analyzed.

Impact of Health Care Cost on American Families

It is analyzed that in United States, cost of health care is growing more rapidly than the income of American families. Rising cost of health care has threatened the well being of American families. People are threatened because employers in the organization have shifted the health care cost to the employees. Government budgets have also dominated by the need to finance Medicare benefits. These changes in the overall environment have created problem in the living standard of the people in United States.

Further, health care is necessary for every person in the country in order to live better and healthy life. Therefore, spending on healthcare is growing faster than national income. American families are threatened because people have to spend more in health care in comparison to their income for Medicare benefits. Over-budget expenditure on health care has reduced the other expenditures of people. It is analyzed that around 60 percent workers are receiving some form of healthcare facilities from their employers. After the rise in health care cost, out-of-pocket expenses of these workers have increased. American families are not able to afford the regular health care checkups.

It is also analyzed that by our assignment helper, rise in the quantity of care do not improve the quality of care. Out-of-pocket healthcare expenses have consumed the fixed sources of income and reduce their consumption on other goods and services. Threats of high health care cost are greater to those people, who have lower income and highest medical expenditures. Due to increased cost of health care benefits, employers have reduced the cash wages and retirement benefits for the people. These changes in the strategies of employers have created threat among the families of United States. People are not able to make reserves for the future contingencies this in turn has created threats for the well being of future generation.

It is analyzed that more than half American families have started cutting back on medical care because of cost concerns. People have started relying on home remedies and using over the counter drugs instead of going to doctors. In addition to this, people are also not going for regular checkups and started skipping dental cares. These activities have threatened the well being of American families. Avoidance of medical test and doses of medicine by the people has raised the health problems among people (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2009). Due to high cost of health care, people have to take care of health by themselves in order to reduce out-of-pocket cost.

Out of whole population in United States, around 35 percent people prefer to use home remedies in order to reduce the cost of health care. Skyrocketing costs has made impossible for the families of United States to afford healthcare facilities. It is identified that if health care costs continue to rise then, taxes will need to be raised in order to fund these programs. Recent health reform in United States has raised Medicare taxes on the workers with high income. Government of America has to adopt some measures in order to provide better and healthy living standard to the people (The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012). Providing health care benefits to the lower level people helps in protecting their well being.

Further, health promotions and cost effective use of medical care help in reducing the spending on health care. People are now focused towards the health insurance, which is helpful for the people in reducing out-of-pocket costs. In order to overcome the problem of rising cost in health care, people should reduce spending on high cost medical care that provides no benefits and make spending on high cost care that yield some benefits. This strategy helps in maintaining the balance between overall expenditure of American families. Individuals are able to incur their income on other goods and services.

It is identified that hospitals and physicians are accounted for majority of cost increases. Private hospitals charge high prices from the people for their own benefit. Due to rise in technologies and innovations, patients have to pay high prices for the services offered. Health care facilities are important for every people in the whole world. Thus, if person is ill then he/she cannot avoid taking medical treatment. Inability to afford high prices of healthcare treatment will force the people to avoid medical treatment. This phenomenon has threatened the well being of people in US.

Reason of increases in healthcare cost is that, most of the insured and uninsured people are using the emergency rooms for primary care. It is measured that people are wasting around $14 billion on health care spending. Such behavior of people has put negative impact on the well being of middle level American families. Therefore, it is analyzed that every people in United States are responsible for the increases in cost of health care facilities. Further, high cost has created problem for the workers, employees and families of the United States.

Conclusion

From the above discussion by assignment help experts, it is concluded that high cost of healthcare has forced American families to avoid regular medical treatments, which in turn threatened the well being of them. Around 35 percent people are started using home remedies in order to save their out-of-pocket cost.

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Educational Attainment-Btechnd Assignment

Educational Attainment-Btechnd Assignment

Immigrant People’s Educational Attainment

A study of Algan et al. (2010) shows that there is an important improvement made between the first and the second generation in terms of educational attainment. Algan’s study was conducted in three countries in Europe, namely France, Germany and the United Kingdom. In all three the countries there was a narrowing gap in the existing education level between the first and second generation immigrants. Another study of Taylor, Cohn and Gonzalez-Barrera (2013) confirms the motion that second generation immigrants are doing better compared with the first generation immigrants with respect to educational attainment. This study was conducted in the United States of America (USA) and shows that 36% of the second generation Americans had a college degree compared to 29% of the first generation Americans. In Table 3, statistics of the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS,2015) in the Netherlands show that the number of second generation immigrantsgraduates from University has increased in the period of 2001-2010. This means second generation immigrants are becoming more educated. Many believe being highly educated can lead to an improved well-being.

Analysis

The purpose of this study is to facilitate awareness for organizations about employee well-being, especially immigrant employees. This study provides an overview of the well-being and the educational level of  employees in the Netherlands. In this chapter, the supermarket Albert Heijn will be used and a suggestion will be given on how to improve the well-being of immigrant employees.

Albert Heijn

Albert Heijn is a company which is one of the largest supermarkets in the Netherlands. Table 7 shows that in 2014 Albert Heijn dominates 34.1% of the market share and therefore owns the largest market share in the Netherlands. In this study Albert Heijn was used to compare and identify whether the theory can be applied in practice. Therefore, data was gathered from the departments ‘verkoopafhandeling’ and ‘counter’, which stands for the cash register department. Team ‘verkoopafhandeling’consists of cashiers and team ‘counter’consist of ‘teamleiders’. Two stores are used in this study, one store which is located in the city centre of Amsterdam and one in a village which is located in Driebergen-Rijsenburg. The data is included in the appendix in Figure 8. Due to privacy reasons the birthdate and first name of the employees are censored.
In Amsterdam, 100% of the ‘teamleiders’ are second generation immigrants, compared to Driebergen-Rijsenburg where only 25% of the ‘teamleiders’ are second generation immigrants and 75% are dominant Dutch. The composition of the cashiers in Amsterdam is as follows: 78.13% of the cashiers are second generation immigrants, 12.50% is dominant Dutch and 6.25% is first generation immigrants. In Driebergen there are no first generations immigrants employed, 32% is second generation immigrants and 68% isdominant Dutch. An overview of the employee composition
According to the Multicultural Model of Cox and Blake (1991), Albert Heijn in Driebergen-Rijsenburg can be considered as a plural organization and Amsterdam is rather a multicultural organization.

Burnout at Albert Heijn

In Albert Heijn there were four cases of burnouts known in 1) Driebergen-Rijsenburg where there were two cases of burnouts; one manager and one ‘teamleider’ and 2) in Amsterdam where there were also two cases known in which both of the cases were ‘teamleiders’; one with an “almost” burnout and one with a depression. What is remarkable is that all ‘teamleiders’ are second generation immigrants with a college degree and there are no cases known of cashiers showing symptoms of burnouts in either Driebergen-Rijsenburg or in Amsterdam.
What can be concluded here is that the information obtained by Albert Heijn is partly consistent with the CBS statistics and the letter of the Minister of Health (2014) (Appendix figure 1). There are indeed burnouts regarding immigrants, but surprisingly it is not the first generation immigrants, but with second generation immigrants. This can be explained by culturally-based internal conflicts (Giguère, Lalonde, and Lou, 2010). Second generation immigrants can have the feeling of being ‘caught between two cultures’. They can experience difficulties with their heritage culture which is learned through family and the mainstream culture which is learned through peers, school and the broader social context(Giguère, Lalonde, and Lou, 2010). Another explanation for this could be that in the Albert Heijn in Amsterdam as well as in Driebergen there are almost no first generation immigrants, because one of the requirements when working for Albert Heijn is that the individual has to speak Dutch at a certain level, and has to possess a certain degree of intellectual capacity as defined by the Dutch.

Educational Level at Albert Heijn

It seems at Albert Heijn, there is a highly educated second generation immigrant employees. In the centre of Amsterdam the team ‘counter’ consists of five ‘teamleiders’. Two have a university college degree and the other three are studying for a university college degree. In Driebergen-Rijsenburg the team ‘counter’ consists of four ‘teamleiders’, where two ‘teamleiders’ have a college degree and two are still studying. In Amsterdam, as well as, in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, all employees have at least finished high school.

Improving Employee Well-Being

This section explains how to improve the well-being of employees, special attention is given to second generation immigrants. Human Resource practices tend to have a positive impact on employee well-being (Renee Baptiste, 2008). A managers’ support at all levels is vital as is the engagement of employees (Renee Baptiste, 2008).This is also reflected in the Psychological Contract. First, managers need to accept and embrace cultural diversity for the sake of the organization and the well-being of the employee. Organizations can do this by having for example a network of relationships that are supportive and nurturing. Also managers should not underestimate physical complaints, which could be symptoms of a burnout or other mental dysfunctions. Organizations can counteract this by enhancing the psychological contract.By developing relationships between manager and employees, symptoms may be identified earlier so an employee burnout could even be prevented. In the long term this could have advantages as well as disadvantages. An advantage, regarding the organization is saving costs. By developing relationships health costs could be saved, because illness of an employee results in organizational costs such as healthcare.Also, by enhancing the psychological contract, mutual understanding and expectations are created.Additionally, managers should make it possible for employees to discuss personal problems and to make it easy approachable, either with each other or in groups.A disadvantage could be for a manager being too involved with employees, which could produce problems in the future when instances occur which merits employment termination.Another method to ensure functional employee labour relations is for organizations to give consideration to the work design. In other words, burnout could indicate there is an underlying problem causing mental dysfunction. It could indicate that employee workload is too high and needs to be addressed, or perhaps reduced.

Conclusion

In this chapter the conclusion is presented. The purpose of this study is to facilitate awareness for organizations about employee well-being, especially immigrant employees. Therefore,Cox and Blake’s Multicultural model (1991) and the Psychological Contract were presented in the theoretical framework. The Psychological Contract can be a useful to tool for managers to improve employee well-being. The importance of the well-being of the immigrant employee is explained. Based on the literature used for this study the following research questions were addressed:

• How does cultural diversity influence second generation immigrants’ well-being in the workplace?
• To what extent does educational level play a role in the employee well-being?

Each organization should consider the well-being of employees, especially immigrant employees, as in today’s society, cultural diversity cannot be ignored. Based on the literature, in case of cities in the Netherlands, it can be concludedthere is more cultural diversity than in small villages. According to Cox and Blake’s Multicultural model (1991) in case of Albert Heijn, the supermarkets in cities  such as Amsterdam can be considered as a multicultural organization, but in the villages such as Driebergen-Rijsenburg Albert Heijn is more a plural organization. Although the composition of employees in both cities differs from each other, there were in both cities two cases of burnouts. Therefore, it appears that cultural diversity in the workplace does not influence the well-being of second generation immigrants, because the composition of employees differs in both cities.
In the Netherlands, it appears second generation immigrants’ educational status has improved when compared with the first generation immigrants. The position of second generation immigrants in the labour market has improved. According to the Minister of Health (2014), first generation immigrants experience more symptoms of burnouts, than second generation immigrants. However, in the case study of Albert Heijn, data did not support this statement. The employees with symptoms of burnouts in Amsterdam, as well as, in Driebergen-Rijsenburg were second generation immigrants and all were highly educated and most hold a university degree or are presently studying. Therefore, it appears that education does improve the position in the labour market, but it does not necessarily improve the well-being of second generation immigrants.
Therefore,managers must become aware of the relevance of employee well-being, because it could have consequences for organizations as well as for the employee itself, when an employee has a burnout and must be absent. Based on the literature, managers can do several things to improve the well-being of immigrant employees. Firstly, managers need toembrace cultural diversity. Secondly, is reinforcing the psychological contract. This can be done by creating relationships with their employees, so the symptoms of burnout can be identified earlier. Another way to improve the employee well-being is to ensure burnouts and any other personal problems are discussable on the workplace. Lastly, organizations and managers should reconsider the work design and research if there is an underlying problem if burnouts happen frequently, because it can be an indication that the workload is too high and needs to be addressed or perhaps reduced.

Limitations and Recommendations

This study has limitations. The main one being that there were no participants in this study.Second, only a few Albert Heijn supermarkets were investigated in this study. There are a lot of studies of burnouts in organizations. However, there are fewer studies about burnouts regarding immigrants, especially second generation immigrants.Therefore, further research could be done in the future to investigate the underlying causes of burnouts for second generation immigrants in the Netherlands.

References

Algan, Y., Dustmann, C., Glitz, A., & Manning, A. (2010). The Economic Situation of First and     Second-Generation Immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Economic Journal, 120(542), pp.F4-F30.
Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th edition), London: KoganPage.Order Now

Business Decision Making-Btechnd

Business Decision Making-Btechnd

INTRODUCTION

In business, good decision making requires the effective use of information. This unit gives learners the opportunity to examine a variety of sources and develop techniques in relation to four aspects of information: data gathering, data storage, and the tools available to create and present useful information.
ICT is used in business to carry out much of this work and an appreciation and use of appropriate ICT software is central to completion of this unit. Specifically, learners will be made aware of how to use spreadsheets and other software for data analysis and the preparation of information. The use of spreadsheets to manipulate of numbers, and understanding how to apply the results, are seen as more important than the mathematical derivation of formulae used.
Learners will gain an appreciation of information systems currently used at all levels in an organisation as aids to decision making. Organizational data is a collection of raw facts relating to the enterprise and its environment. It can be classified in a number of ways eg, quantitative / qualitative, discrete/ continuous, internal, external formal informal primary and secondary.
Much of a manager’s work will involve the use of data and information, collected and stored internally or externally. Decisions regarding the future plans and operations of the organization will incorporate information about past performance, future market potential, industry and company statistics etc—all of which need to be gathered processed and analysed.

Aim

The aim of this unit is to give learners the opportunity to develop techniques for data gathering and storage, an understanding of the tools available to create and present useful information, in order to make business decisions.

Key Objectives

• Use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary.
• Evaluate a range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes.
• Produce information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organisational context
• Use software-generated information to make decisions in an organisation the factors which impact on individual and group decision making.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Be able to use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary
• Understand a range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes
• Be able to produce information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organisational context
• Be able to use software-generated information to make decisions in an organisation

LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

LO1   Be able to use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary.
1.1 Create a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data for a given business problem
1.2 Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used
1.3 Design a questionnaire for a given business problem
LO2   Understand a range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes
2.1 Create information for decision making by summarising data using representative values
2.2 Analyse the results to draw valid conclusions in a business context
2.3 Analyse data using measures of dispersion to inform a given business scenario
2.4 Explain how quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient are used to draw useful conclusions in business context
LO3
Be able to produce information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organisational context. 
3.1 Produce graphs using spreadsheets and draw valid conclusions based on the information derived
3.2 Create trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information
3.3 Prepare a business presentation using suitable software and techniques to disseminate information effectively
3.4 Produce a formal business report
LO4 Be able to use software-generated information to make decisions in an organisation
4.1 Use appropriate information processing tools
4.2 Prepare a project plan for an activity and determine the critical path
4.3 Use financial tools for decision making

Key Knowledge and Understanding

• Create a plan for primary and secondary data collection.
• Usea range of techniques for the collection of data
• Analyse the data collected using statistical techniques to estimate the measure of location such as the arithmetic mean, the mode and the median.
• Analyse the result and use the outcome to make effective decision.
• Calculate the measure of dispersion using the data collected.
• Analyse the data to make informed and effective strategic decision for the organisation used in the case study.
• Produce different graphs using spreadsheets and make a case for the organisation in question.
• Produce a trend line for a given data and explain the practical implication with respect to the organisation in question.
• Produce a formal business report.
• Prepare a project plan for a given scenario.
• Prepare a project plan for a given set of data.
• Use financial tools such as PBP, ARR and NPV to appraise a project.Order Now

Analyse Data Effectively For Business Purposes

Analyse Data Effectively For Business Purposes

Unit content:

LO1. Be able to use a variety of sources for the collection of data both Primary and Secondary

 Primary sources: survey methodology; questionnaire design; sample frame; sampling methods; sample error
Secondary sources: internet research; government and other published data; by-product data
Storage: security of information; data protection issues; ethical issues

LO2. Be Understand a range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes

 Representative values: Mean median, mode; calculation from raw data and frequency distributions using appropriate software; using the results to draw valid conclusions
Measures of dispersion: standard deviation for small and large samples; typical uses(statistical processes eg control buffer stock levels)
Calculation: use of quartiles, percentiles, correlation coefficient

LO3. Be able to produce information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organisational context

 Creation and interpretation of graphs using spreadsheets: line, pie, bar charts and histograms
Scatter (XY) graphs and linear trend lines: extrapolation for forecasting (reliability)
Presentations and report writing: use of appropriate formats; presentation software and techniques

LO4. Be able to use software generated information to make decisions in an Organisation

 Management information systems: computers and information processing tools for operational,tactical and strategic levels of the organisation
Project management: networking and critical path analysis, Gantt and Pert charts
Financial tools: net present value; discounted cash flow; internal rates of return

Teaching Plan

BUSINESS DECISION MAKING

Wk	Lecture Schedule	Outcome of session After completing each session learners will be able to:	Activity/seminar and formative assessment	Resources
1	Introduction to the module Address the mode of assessment Primary data, secondary data collection. Address how to create a plan for collection of date for the chosen scenario.	Create a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data for a given business problem (1.1)	Learners create a data collection plan	Module outline PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities
2	Survey methodology and different sampling methods used in survey.	Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used. (1.2)	Quiz learners about identifying the correct sampling methods for different scenarios	PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities
3	Questionnaire design and the different question forms and discuss when and how they can be used most effectively.	Design a questionnaire for a given business problem. (1.3)	Learners design a questionnaire for a given problem	PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities
4	Using range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes- Measures of Central Tendency	Understand and be able to calculate Mode, Median and Mean (2.1, 2.2)	Class Exercises	PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities
5	Lab session	Calculate Mode, Median, Mean and Range on Excel. (2.1, 2.2)	Solving problems on excel	Video demonstration
6	Analyse data using measures of dispersion and explain how quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient are used to draw useful conclusions in  business context	Analyse data using measures of dispersion to inform a given business scenario. (2.3, 2.4)	Activities,  sample, case study, mock sampling addressing the assignment	PowerPoint slides, Question bank and activities.
7	Lab session	Calculate Standard Deviation, quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient. (2.3, 2.4)	Solving problems on excel	Video demonstration
8	Be able to produce information in appropriate formats for decisions making in an organizational context.	Produce graphs using spreadsheets and draw valid conclusions based on the information derived. (3.1) Create trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information. (3.2)	Problems and activities	Computer lab
9	Challenges for preparing presentation using suitable software and techniques to disseminate information effectively. presentation	Prepare a business presentation using suitable software and techniques to disseminate information effectively. (3.3)	Class group activities	PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities.
10	Challenges for producing a business report and styles and modes of	Produce a formal business report. (3.4)	Class group activities	PowerPoint slides, supporting materials and activities.
11	Use appropriate information processing tools	Use computers and information processing tools for operational, tactical and strategic levels of the organisation. (4.1)	Class activities	Computer lab
12	Prepare a project plan for an activity and determine the critical path	Create a project plan using networking, critical path analysis, Gantt and Pert charts. (4.2)	Class  activities	Computer lab
13	Use financial tools for decision making	Use net present value; discounted cash flow; internal rates of return for decision making. (4.3)	Class activities
14	Revision Class: A review of assessment criteria 1.1 to 2.4	Addressing learning outcome 1-2
15	Revision Class: A review of assessment criteria 1.1 to 2.4	Addressing learning outcome 3-4
16	Assignment support	Assignment support and guidance		Module booklet
17	Assignment support	Assignment support and guidance		Module booklet
18	Assignment support	Assignment support and guidance		Module booklet
19	Assessment and feedback	Feedback given to the learner
20	Assessment and feedback	Feedback given to the learner
21	Assessment and feedback	Feedback given to the learner

Recommended text and links:
BPP Learning Media; Business essentials (supporting HND/HNC and foundation) Business Decision making Supporting texts and books

1. Anderson, Sweeney, Williams, Thomas A.–Modern business statistics with Microsoft Office Excel (Cengage Learning, 2008) ISBN 68665, 9780324568660

2. Trevor Wegner–Applied Business Statistics: Methods and Excel-Based Applications (Juta and Company Ltd, 2010, Edition 2nd, illustrated) ISBN 0702172863, 9780702172861

3. Teale, John, David-Management Decision Making: Towards an Integrative Approach Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 1 edition (31 Oct 2002) ISBN-10: 0201619229

Journals and newspapers
The financial and mainstream press can be a useful source of information, both in terms of data for case studies and background understanding.
Videos
A variety of videos is available covering financial topics.
Websites
www.bized.ac.uk provides case studies appropriate for educational purposes
www.iasb.org.uk International Accounting Standards Board.Order Now