Tag: University of Mumbai BMS Notes

Any skill that is useful in your life can be considered a life skill. Tying your shoe laces, swimming, driving a car and using a computer are, for most people, useful life skills. Broadly speaking, the term ‘life skills’ is usually used for any of the skills needed to deal well and effectively with the challenges of life.

Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norms and community expectations but skills that function for well-being and aid individuals to develop into active and productive members of their communities are considered as life skills.

Certain skills may be more or less relevant to you depending on your life circumstances, your culture, beliefs, age, geographic location, etc. However, in 1999, the World Health Organization identified six key areas of life skills:

• Communication and interpersonal skills. This broadly describes the skills needed to get on and work with other people, and particularly to transfer and receive messages either in writing or verbally.
• Decision-making and problem-solving. This describes the skills required to understand problems, find solutions to them, alone or with others, and then take action to address them.
• Creative thinking and critical thinking. This describes the ability to think in different and unusual ways about problems, and find new solutions, or generate new ideas, coupled with the ability to assess information carefully and understand its relevance.
• Self-awareness and empathy, which are two key parts of emotional intelligence. They describe understanding yourself and being able to feel for other people as if their experiences were happening to you.
• Assertiveness and equanimity, or self-control. These describe the skills needed to stand up for yourself and other people, and remain calm even in the face of considerable provocation.
• Resilience and ability to cope with problems, which describes the ability to recover from setbacks, and treat them as opportunities to learn, or simply experiences.

Behavior

Behavior is the actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

Taking a behavior informatics perspective, a behavior consists of behavior actor, operation, interactions, and their properties. A behavior can be represented as a behavior vector.

Attitude

Attitude refers to feelings, beliefs, and behavior predispositions directed towards people, groups, ideas, or objects. It influences the behavior of the individuals. It decides how to act or behave in a particular situation. Attitude is a kind of habit. It is the usual way of doing things.

Everything in an organization will get better if the attitude of everyone gets better. Successes and failures in life depend upon the attitude of the individuals. If attitudes are positive, then human relations will be positive. It is internal and challenging to change.

Mannerism

Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century.

Manners

A person with good manners shows respects towards feelings and sentiments of others living in the surroundings. He/she never differentiates people and shows equal regard to everyone. Modesty, humbleness, kindness, and courtesy are the essential traits of a well-behaving person. Hence, a well-behaved person never feels proud or arrogant and always take care of the feelings of others. Practicing good manners and following them all through the day will definitely bring sunshine and add qualities to life.

Etiquette

Etiquette in simpler words is defined as good behaviour which distinguishes human beings from animals. Human Being is a social animal and it is really important for him to behave in an appropriate way. Etiquette refers to behaving in a socially responsible way.

Ethos

Ethos in Management refers to the values and practices that the culture of India can contribute to service, leadership and management. These values and practices are rooted in Sanathana Dharma, and have been influenced by various strands of Indian philosophy.

Morality

Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with “goodness” or “rightness“.

Moral philosophy includes meta-ethics, which studies abstract issues such as moral ontology and moral epistemology, and normative ethics, which studies more concrete systems of moral decision-making such as deontological ethics and consequentialism. An example of normative ethical philosophy is the Golden Rule, which states that: “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.”

Immorality is the active opposition to morality while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or disbelief in any particular set of moral standards or principles.

Determination commitment, Perseverance

Entrepreneurs are married to their ideas. They are passionate about these ideas and are ready to do anything to make things happen. When they face rough weather, entrepreneurs are willing to go to extreme lengths such as mortgaging their house, taking a cut in pay, ignoring their families and walking a stressful, lonely and deserted path. They are usually at their best when challenged by circumstances.

They are fired by situations that truly burn their candle of energies. In the face of heavy odds, they show tremendous amount of grit, determination, and perseverance. They are not prepared to come back empty handed and so they hang on to what they believe is right. They exhibit unwavering commitment to a cause that they believe to be beneficial to the company, as well as the society.

Courageousness

Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss.

The classical virtue of fortitude is also translated “courage”, but includes the aspects of perseverance and patience.

By attitudes, we mean the beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of an individual or group of individuals towards objects, ideas, and people.

Factors influencing attitude are beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of an individual or group of individuals towards objects, ideas, and people.

Quite often persons and objects or ideas become associated in the minds of individuals and as a result, attitudes become multidimensional and complex.

the essential aspect, of the attitude is found in the fact that some characteristic feeling or emotion is experienced and, as we would accordingly expect, some definite tendency to action is associated.

These are the factors influencing attitude:

• Social Factors.
• Direct Instruction.
• Personal Experience.
• Educational and Religious Institutions.
• Physical Factors.
• Economic Status and Occupations.

Social Factors

Every society has the majority of people who prefer to lead a harmonious life. They try to avoid unnecessary friction of conflicts with people.

Naturally, they are inclined to develop positive attitudes towards most of the people and issues.

Our attitudes may facilitate and maintain our relationships with members of positively valued groups. Social roles and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes.

Social roles relate to how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context. Social norms involve society’s rules for what behaviors are considered appropriate.

Direct Instruction

In general, the individual being conformist or the direction of the attitude of the people it deems important. Sometimes direct instruction can influence attitude formation.

For example, somebody gives information about the usefulness of some fruit.

On the basis of this information, we can develop a positive or negative attitude about that fruit.

Family

The family is the most powerful source for the formation of attitudes. The parents, elder brother or sister provide information about various things.

Attitudes developed by an individual, whether positive or negative are the result of family influence, which is very powerful and difficult to change.

Prejudices

An attitude may involve a prejudice, in which we prejudge an issue without giving unbiased consideration to all the evidence.

Prejudices are preconceived ideas or judgments where one develops some attitudes toward other people, objects, etc.

If we are prejudiced against a person, who is, accused of a crime, we may regard him as guilty regardless of the evidence. We can also be prejudiced in favor of something.

Personal Experience

In order to be the basis of attitudes, personal experiences have left a strong impression.

Therefore, the attitude will be more easily formed when personal experience involves emotional factors.

In situations involving emotions, appreciation will be more in-depth experience and longer trace.

Media

As a means of communication, mass media such as television, radio, has a major influence in shaping people’s opinions and beliefs.

There is new information on something that provides the foundation for the emergence of new cognitive attitudes towards it.

Educational and Religious Institutions

As a system, educational and religious institutions have a strong influence in shaping attitudes because they lay the foundation of understanding and moral concepts within the individual.

Understanding the good and the bad, the dividing line between something that can and cannot do is obtained from the center of the educational and religious institutions.

Physical Factors

Clinical psychologists have generally recognized that physical, health and vitality are important factors in determining adjustment, and frequently it has been found that malnutrition or disease or accidents have interfered so seriously with normal development that serious behavioral disturbances have followed.

Economic Status and Occupations

Our economic and occupational positions also contribute to attitude formation. They determine, in part, our attitudes towards unions and management and our belief that certain laws are ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Our socio-economic background influences our present and future attitudes.

Attitudes reflect more than just positive or negative evaluations: they include other characteristics, such as importance, certainty, accessibility, and associated knowledge.

Attitudes are important in the study of social psychology because they influence the amount of attention and the type of judgment an individual may give to a specific subject.

Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism is being practical, emotionally distant, and believing that ends justify means.

Machiavellians are always wanting to win and are great persuaders. Here are the significant features of a high-mach individuals:

• High-Machs prefer precise interactions rather than beating about the bush.
• High-Machs tend to improvise; they do not necessarily abide by rules and regulations all the time.
• High-Machs get distracted by emotional details that are irrelevant to the outcome of a project.

Locus of Control

Locus of control is the center of control of an individual’s code of conduct. People can be grouped into two categories i.e., internals and externals respectively.

People who consider themselves as the masters of their own fates are known as internals, while, those who affirm that their lives are controlled by outside forces known as externals.

Before making any decision, internals actively search for information, they are achievement driven, and want to command their environment. Thus, internals do well on jobs that craves complex information processing, taking initiative and independent action.

Externals, on the other hand, are more compliant, more willing to follow instructions, so, they do well in structured, routine jobs.

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring is the capability of regulating one’s behavior according to social situations. Individuals with high self-monitoring skill easily adjust their behavior according to external, situational factors. Their impulsive talents allow them to present public personae which are completely different from their private personalities.

However, people with low self-monitoring skills cannot cover themselves. Regardless of any situation, they are always themselves. They have an attitude of, “what you see is what you get.”

Self-esteem

It is the extent up to which people either like or dislike themselves. Self-Esteem is directly related to the expectations of success and on-the-job satisfaction.

Individuals with high self-esteem think that they have what it takes to succeed. So, they take more challenges while selecting a job.

On the other hand, individuals with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external distractions. So, they are more likely to seek the approval of others and to adapt the beliefs and behaviors of those they respect.

Risk taking

Generally, managers are reluctant on taking risks. However, individual risk-taking inclination affects the bulk of information required by the managers and how long it takes them to make decisions.

Thus, it is very important to recognize these differences and align risk-taking propensity with precise job demands that can make sense.

Communication is defined as transferring information to produce greater understanding. It can be done vocally (through verbal exchanges), through written media (books, websites, and magazines), visually (using graphs, charts, and maps) or non-verbally (body language, gestures, pitch of voice, and tone). All of these means of communication are essential Soft Skills that are vital for a successful Career.

How to Improve Your Communication Skills

Here are some pointers to look out for when looking to improve your ability to effectively communicate with others:

1. Listening

To become a good communicator, it is important to be a good listener. It is important to practice active listening pay close attention to what others are saying and clarify ambiguities by rephrasing their questions for greater understanding.

2. Conciseness

Convey your message in as few words as possible. Do not use filler words and get straight to the point. Rambling will cause the listener to tune out or be unsure of what you are talking about. Avoid speaking excessively and do not use words that may confuse the audience.

3. Body language

It is important to practice good body language, use eye contact, utilize hand gestures, and watch the tone of the voice when communicating with others. A relaxed body stance with a friendly tone will aid in making you look approachable by others.

Eye contact is important in communication look the person in the eye to indicate that you are focused on the conversation. But make sure to not stare at the person as it can make him or her uncomfortable.

4. Confidence

Be confident in what you say and in your communication interactions with others. Being confident can be as easy as maintaining eye contact, maintaining a relaxed body stance, and talking with concision. Try not to make statements sound like questions and avoid trying to sound aggressive or demeaning.

5. Open-mindedness

In situations where you disagree with what someone else has to say, whether it be with an employer, a co-worker, or a friend, it is important to sympathize with their point of view rather than simply try to get your message across. Respect the opinion of others and never resort to demeaning those who do not agree with you.

6. Respect

Respecting what others have to say and acknowledging them is an important aspect of communication. Being respectful can be as simple as paying attention to what they have to say, using the person’s name, and not being distracted. By respecting others, the other person will feel appreciated, which will lead to a more honest and productive conversation.

7. Using the correct medium

There are several different forms of communication to use it is important to choose the right one. For example, communicating in person about serious matters (layoffs, salary changes, etc.) is more appropriate than sending an email regarding the matter.

Importance

Smooth and Efficient Working of an Organisation:

In the words of George R. Terry, “It serves as the lubricant, fostering for the smooth operations of management process.” Communication makes possible the smooth and efficient working of an enterprise. It is only through communication that the management changes and regulates the actions of the subordinates in the desired direction.

Increases Managerial Efficiency:

Effective communication increases managerial efficiency. It is rightly said that nothing happens in management until communication takes place. The efficiency of manager depends upon his ability to communicate effectively with the members of his organisation. It is only through communication that management conveys its goals and desires, issues instructions and orders, allocates jobs and responsibility and evaluates performance of subordinates.

Promotes Co-operation and Industrial Peace:

Effective communication creates mutual understanding and trust among the members of the organisation. It promotes co-operation between the employer and the employees. Without communication, there cannot be sound industrial relations and industrial peace. It is only through communication that workers can put in their grievances, problems and suggestions to the management.

Motivation and Morale:

Communication is the means by which the behaviour of the subordinates is modified and change is effected in their actions. Through communication workers are motivated to achieve the goals of the enterprise and their morale is boosted. Although motivation comes from within yet the manager can also motivate people by effective communication, e.g., proper drafting of message, proper timing of communication and the way of communication, etc.

Basis of Decision-Making and Planning:

Communication is essential for decision-making and planning. It enables the management to secure information without which it may not be possible to take any decision. The quality of managerial decisions depends upon the quality of communication. Further, the decisions and plans of the management need to be communicated to the subordinates. Without effective communication, it may not be possible to issue instructions to others. Effective communication helps in proper implementation of plans and policies of the management.

Simplify and stay on message.

Use simple, straightforward language. Remember that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was 286 words, about two minutes long.

Make communication a priority.

Take classes, read books, magazine articles or learn from successful communicators around you. Seek a mentor or coach.

Be brief, yet specific.

For written and verbal communication, practice being brief yet specific enough, that you provide enough information for the other person to understand what you are trying to say. And if you are responding to an email, make sure that you read the entire email before crafting your response. With enough practice, you will learn not to ramble, or give way too much information.

Engage your listeners or readers.

Draw your listeners and readers into the conversation. Ask questions and invite opinions. Solicit their feedback.

Think before you speak.

Always pause before you speak, not saying the first thing that comes to mind. Take a moment and pay close attention to what you say and how you say it. This one habit will allow you to avoid embarrassments.

Make sure you are understood.

Don’t blame the other person for not understanding. Instead, look for ways to clarify or rephrase what you are trying to say so it can be understood.

Take time to respond.

After you’ve listened (and understood) take time to “draft” in your head what you want to say.

Develop your listening skills, too.

The best communicators are almost always the best listeners. Listen without judgment and don’t be distracted by thinking about what you want to say next. Then, respond, not react.

Respect your audience.

Recognize your message is not just about you or what you want. You should sincerely care about the needs and the unique perspectives of those to whom you are communicating. One of the best ways to show your respect is simply by paying attention to what they say.

Body language is important.

Studies show that 65% of all communication is non-verbal. Watch for visual signs that your listener understands, agrees or disagrees with your message. And be aware that your body is sending signals, too.

Maintain eye contact.

Whether speaking to a crowd or one-on-one, maintaining eye contact builds credibility and demonstrates you care about your listeners.

The Administration is a set of procedures for administering Management in a company. It consists of a number of steps and ways in order to build efficient programs, policies, and systems within an organization that will be followed to manage operations.

The fundamental role of the Administration is to lay the framework for the Organization. This framework is used by the Management to build plans and execute orders. Administration represents the top level of management professionals in a company. Usually, these are the business owners or the CEO of a company.

Simply put, management can be understood as the skill of getting the work done from others. It is not exactly same as administration, which alludes to a process of effectively administering the entire organization. The most important point that differs management from the administration is that the former is concerned with directing or guiding the operations of the organization, whereas the latter stresses on laying down the policies and establishing the objectives of the organization.

Broadly speaking, management takes into account the directing and controlling functions of the organization, whereas administration is related to planning and organizing function.

With the passage of time, the distinction between these two terms is getting blurred, as management includes planning, policy formulation, and implementation as well, thus covering the functions of administration. In this article, you will find all the substantial differences between management and administration.

The administration is a systematic process of administering the management of a business organization, an educational institution like school or college, government office or any nonprofit organization. The main function of administration is the formation of plans, policies, and procedures, setting up of goals and objectives, enforcing rules and regulations, etc.

Administration lays down the fundamental framework of an organization, within which the management of the organization functions.

The nature of administration is bureaucratic. It is a broader term as it involves forecasting, planning, organizing and decision-making functions at the highest level of the enterprise. Administration represents the top layer of the management hierarchy of the organization. These top-level authorities are the either owners or business partners who invest their capital in starting the business. They get their returns in the form of profits or as a dividend.

Constituents of Administration are:

• Formations of all company policies.
• Framing the plan of actions for various objectives of a company.
• Setting the goals for all departments in the Organization.
• Enforcing the rules and regulations within the Organization.

The capital market encompasses the trade in both stocks and bonds. These are long-term assets bought by financial institutions, professional brokers, and individual investors.

The capital market is where stocks and bonds are traded. Its movements from hour to hour are constantly monitored and analyzed for clues to the health of the economy at large, the status of every industry in it, and the consensus for the short-term future.

The overriding goal of the companies institutions that enter into the capital markets is to raise money for their long-term purposes, which usually come down to expanding their businesses and increasing their revenues. They do this by issuing stock shares and by selling corporate bonds.

Money Market

The money market is the trade in short-term debt. It is a constant flow of cash between governments, corporations, banks, and financial institutions, borrowing and lending for a term as short as overnight and no longer than a year.

The money market is a good place for individuals, banks, other companies, and governments to park cash for a short period of time, usually one year or less. It exists so that businesses and governments that need cash to operate can get it quickly at a reasonable cost, and so that businesses that have more cash than they need can put it to use.

The organised sector of the money market con­sists of the Reserve Bank of India, commercial banks, companies lending money, financial inter­mediaries such as the Life Insurance, Credit and Investments Corporation of India, Unit Trust of India, Land Mortgage Banks, Cooperative Banks, Insurance Companies etc. and call loan brokers, and stock brokers.

The unorganised sector of the money market is largely made up of indigenous bankers, money lenders, traders, commission agents etc., some of whom combine money lending with trade and other activities.

Generally speaking, these two sec­tors of the Indian money market — those institu­tions which come directly or indirectly under the broad regulations of the Reserve Bank constitute the organised sector, while the others which fall completely outside the purview of the central bank­ing regulations, make up the unorganised sector.

The organised sector is mainly composed of the commercial banks, cooperative banks and dis­count houses, acceptance houses and land mort­gage banks. The unorganised sector is largely outside the control of the Central Bank and is characterised by lack of uniformity in their business dealings. In India, the indigenous bankers and money lend­ers, traders, are important segment of unorgan­ised money market.

Features of the Indian money market:

First, a major characteristic of the Indian money market is that the seasonality of demand for credit broadly follows the course of the agricultural sea­sons. The implication is that during the busy sea­son the commercial banks have to borrow from the RBI, while the level of such borrowings declines during the slack season. This provides a very use­ful lever to the RBI in controlling the volume of credit.

Secondly, Indian money market consists of organised and unorganised sectors. As already pointed out, the organised sector is composed of the RBI, Commercial banks, Co-operative banks, Land mortgage banks. Considering the continen­tal character of the country, the banking develop­ment is most inadequate for the needs of trade and industry largely because of the hoarding habit of the people.

Thirdly, with a view to strengthening the or­ganised money market in India, new institutions have been established and consolidated to either lend on long-term basis or regulate credit in a pre­scribed manner. The new institutions which have come up after independence are IFC (1948), NIDC (1954), ICIC (1955), SFC (1951), NSIC (1955), UTI (1964) and the IDBI (1964).

Fourthly, the Indian money market is domi­nated by the unorganised sector. The only link that exists between the organised and unorganised sec­tors is through commercial banks. Indigenous bank­ers carry on their activities through the media of these commercial banks.

In rural areas, they do so through cooperative credit societies. However, a number of credit socie­ties are under the control of money lenders. It seems that a growing number of spurious cooperative so­cieties have been organised solely to enable these money lenders to take advantage of the concessions they offer.

Fifthly, unorganised market has of late been strengthened with the addition of unaccounted or black money. A conservative estimate places this amount at between Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 10,000 crores. As a result of the income velocity of money, con­siderable savings will be accruing in the unaccounted income sector. These sectors seek out­lets which again escape from the tax net and thus enlarge the un-accounted sector. Unaccounted money is used in smuggling of goods, drugs, and precious metals and in real estates. These high re­turn activities are invariably financed by the black money.

The impact of unaccounted money on the money market is very significant. With its growth in the country a number of mushroom indigenous bankers have sprang up, who are quite different from the traditional bankers and it reported that they lend money at very high rate of interest.

The indigenous money market has itself become a law­less market. The unaccounted money as part of the unorganised money market is invested in property, smuggling, trade and real estate. This fact has fur­ther limited the effectiveness of monetary policy.

Sixthly, there is no direct link between the un­organised and organised money markets. It is es­sential to establish a link between the two markets.

The above figure shows the unorganised money market with the growth of unaccounted money.

Seventhly, the bill market system is yet to de­velop fully. The bill market is one of the important sub-markets of the money market. The bill market or discount market refers to the market where short dated bills are bought and sold. The treasury bills are the most important instrument used in the bill market. The Bill Market scheme was introduced in 1952 and in 1970 but is only partially successful.

Lastly, a well-developed money market will have close links with the leading money markets of the world and will be sensitive to the develop­ments in these foreign markets. But the Indian money market is an insular one with little contract with foreign markets.

Partly due to the exchange control restrictions on capital movements there is no movement of funds between the Indian money market and the foreign market. The Indian money market does not attract any foreign funds.

Money market is the place or mechanism where short-term instruments that mature within a year are traded. Money market meets the work­ing capital requirements of industry, trade and commerce. Long-term requirements of industries are not met by money market instruments.

The cen­tral bank occupies a pivotal position in money market. It is regarded as ‘presiding deity’ of money markets. Its function is not only that of a watch dog of the monetary system but also of a promo­tional and development banker.

On the other hand, capital market is a market in which lenders or investors provide long-term funds in exchange for financial assets offered by borrowers and holders. The primary purpose of capital market is to direct the flow of savings into the long-term investments. The distinction between the money market and capital market is based on the difference in the period of the financial assets.

Though the terms money market and capital market are used interchangeably, they differ in a number of ways. Money market primarily exists as a means of liquidity adjustment. But a capital market’s main function is to serve as a link between long-term in­vestors and long-term borrowers.

Secondly, money market and capital market instruments also differ in terms of risk. Money market instruments generally carry low credit risk and low market risk. Capital market instruments include bonds, debentures, equity shares and pref­erence shares.

Thirdly, money market is dominated by one set of financial institutions commercial banks and the central bank. But in the capital market, no sin­gle institution dominates the market.

However, there is no fundamental difference between capital market and money market regard­ing transferring of resources. There is no close nexus in money and capital markets.

Commercial banks are active in money mar­ket while non-banking financial institutions and public financial institutions are active in capital market. There is a considerable degree of overlap in the function of different financial institutions.