Course: Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)

Assignment-02
Q.1 Elaborate that the scientific approach of organizational
change?
Answer
Prior to the early 1900s, there was no management theory as we think of it
today. Work happened as it always had—those with the skills did the work in
the way they thought best (usually the way it had always been done). The
concept that work could be studied and the work process improved did not
formally exist before the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor.

The scientific management movement produced revolutionary ideas for the time
—ideas such as employee training and implementing standardized best practices
to improve productivity. Taylor’s theory was called scientific because to
develop it, he employed techniques borrowed from botanists and chemists, such
as analysis, observation, synthesis, rationality, and logic. You may decide as
you read more about Taylor that by today’s criteria he was not the worker’s
“friend.” However, Taylor must be given credit for creating the concept of an
organization being run “as a business” or in a “businesslike manner,” meaning
efficiently and productively.

Frederick W. Taylor
Before the Industrial Revolution, most businesses were small operations,
averaging three or four people. Owners frequently labored next to employees,
knew what they were capable of, and closely directed their work. The dynamics
of the workplace changed dramatically in the United States with the Industrial
Revolution. Factory owners and managers did not possess close relationships
with their employees. The workers “on the floor” controlled the work process
and generally worked only hard enough to make sure they would not be fired.
There was little or no incentive to work harder than the next man (or woman).

Taylor was a mechanical engineer who was primarily interested in the type of
work done in factories and mechanical shops. He observed that the owners and
managers of the factories knew little about what actually took place in the
workshops. Taylor believed that the system could be improved, and he looked
around for an incentive. He settled on money. He believed a worker should get
“a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”—no more, no less. If the worker
couldn’t
Work to the target, then the person shouldn’t be working at all. Taylor also
believed that management and labor should cooperate and work together to
meet goals. He was the first to suggest that the primary functions of managers
should be planning and training.

In 1909, Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management. In this

book, he suggested that productivity would increase if jobs were optimized and
simplified. He also proposed matching a worker to a particular job that suited
the person’s skill level and then training the worker to do that job in a specific
way. Taylor first developed the idea of breaking down each job into component
parts and timing each part to determine the most efficient method of working.
Soon afterward, two management theorists, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, came up
with the idea of filming workers to analyze their motions. Their ideas have
since been combined into one process (called time and motion studies) for
analyzing the most productive way to complete a task.

Scientific management has at its heart four core principles that also apply
to organizations today. They include the following:
  Look at each job or task scientifically to determine the “one best way” to
perform the job. This is a change from the previous “rule of thumb”
method where workers devised their own ways to do the job.
 Hire the right workers for each job, and train them to work at maximum
efficiency.
 Monitor worker performance, and provide instruction and training when
needed.
 Divide the work between management and labor so that management can
plan and train, and workers can execute the task efficiently.

Taylor designed his approach for use in places where the work could be
quantified, systemized, and standardized, such as in factories. In scientific
management, there is one right way to do a task; workers were not encouraged
(in fact, they were forbidden) to make decisions or evaluate actions that might
produce a better result.

Taylor was concerned about the output more than worker satisfaction or
motivation. Taylor’s work introduced for the first time the idea of systematic
training and selection, and it encouraged business owners to work with
employees to increase productivity and efficiency. And he introduced a “first-
class worker” concept to set the standard for what a worker should be able to
produce in a set period of time. Scientific management grew in popularity
among big businesses because productivity rose, proving that it worked.

Today, an updated version of his original theory is used by such companies as

FedEx and Amazon. Digital Taylorism is based on maximizing efficiency by
standardizing the tools and techniques for completing each task involved with a
given job. Every task is broken down to the smallest motion and translated into
an exact procedure that must be followed to complete that task. Because
everyone is operating in the same mechanistic way, it increases predictability
and consistency while reducing errors. It is relatively easy for managers to
replace workers and retain the same productivity. The criticism of this type of
management approach is similar to that of Taylor’s original theory: It reduces
worker creativity; it requires management to monitor all aspects of employee
behavior; and it is unforgiving to workers who don’t meet the standard.

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

Two more pioneers in the field of management theory were Frank and Lillian
Gilbreth, who conducted research about the same time as Taylor. Like Taylor,
the Gilbreths were interested in worker productivity, specifically how
movement and motion affected efficiency.

As stated above, the Gilbreths used films to analyze worker activity. They
would break the tasks into discrete elements and movements and record the time
it took to complete one element. In this way, they were able to predict the most
efficient workflow for a particular job. The films the Gilbreths made were also
useful for creating training videos to instruct employees in how to work
productively.

Taylor and the Gilbreths belonged to the classical school of management, which
emphasized increasing worker productivity by scientific analysis. They differed,
however, on the importance of the worker. Taylor’s emphasis was on
profitability and productivity; the Gilbreths were also focused on worker
welfare and motivation. They believed that by reducing the amount of motions
associated with a particular task, they could also increase the worker’s
wellbeing. Their research, along with Taylor’s, provided many important
principles later incorporated into quality assurance and quality control programs
begun in the 1920s and 1930s. Eventually, their work led to the science of
ergonomics and industrial psychology. (Ergonomics is the study of people in
their operating environment, with the goal of increasing productivity and
reducing risk of work-related injury.)

Q.2 Analyze role of different indicators for quality management of

educational institutions.
Answer
Quality management systems (QMSs) abound in literature with much of it
focusing on describing them and the contexts of their inceptions. Performed
research indicates that a number of scholars have described social imageries of
World Class Universities (WCU), Better Schools Programs (BSP), Star Schools
Projects (SSP) and other versions of the imageries of types of best-performing
education institutions. Literature has however, reported on numerous
ingredients for high quality performance but remained ambivalent about
whether there is a singular methodology of accomplishing high-level customer
satisfaction in education.

This chapter uses a synthetic-evaluative approach to critique the capability of

the various QMSs used in education. It also explores how institutional quality
performance can be bettered by paying attention to the context in which the
model is adopted. The next section starts by dissecting the concept of QMS,
detailing the three constituent elements: quality, management and system.
Understanding each component of a QMS in its individuality should help in
building a picture of how a QMS can be at the service of a student-focused and
market-oriented education delivery system.
The chapter presents a comparative structural analysis of the various quality
management models and critically analyses the meanings and implications in
each category.

2. Quality management systems

There are three perspectives to QMS which will be discussed below so as to
appreciate the scope of what a QMS should sound like in its philosophical
perspective, methodological outlay and performativity implications. The
perspectives are quality, management and system. Each acts as a gear engaging
with the others and yet powered each by an overarching question about its
purpose in a QMS infrastructure.

1. Quality—What is the institution’s conception of quality and the methodology

of doing ‘quality’?

2. Management—Is the institution’s strategy plan on quality integrated and

aligned with its vision of quality?

3. System—How does the institution’s strategy, culture, structure, rewards,

behavior, etc. support its own model of quality?

A QMS is as useful as its ability to serve as a coherent framework for

systematically integrating, aligning and focusing institutional and business
processes. The focusing of business processes should help the institution in
accomplishing its network of objectives and infrastructure of goals effectively
and efficiently. Effectiveness and efficiency of processes ensure maximization
of customer satisfaction. Such a scope of QMS has intriguing implications on
the structure of the organization, its culture, knowledge management practices
and customs. It has further implications on the technological co-efficiency of
the organization at all levels of the processes deployed across the institution.

2.1. Quality
Literature variably refers to quality as ‘slippery’, ‘mobile’, ‘elastic’ and
‘elusive’. Notwithstanding, the chapter conceives quality as referring to an
expression of satisfaction with the constitution, form and performance of a good
based on the beholders’ conditionality of time and space. The value or worthy a
person assigns to a good can appreciate or depreciate dependent on time and
environment or space in which one finds himself. Nonetheless, quality is
generally perceived as a representation of complex mix-and-match of qualities
and variables embodied in products and services. The functional relationship
has been captured by in Eq.
EduQuali=∑kj=i(Pij=Eij)EduQuali=∑j=ikPij=Eij E1
where EduQUAL is perceived education quality of student ‘i’, k is the number
of education attributes/items, P is perception of student ‘i’ with respect to
performance of an attribute ‘j’ of institution, E is the education quality
expectations of student ‘i’ for an attribute ‘j’.

It should be noted that customers do not always assign the same importance to
any characteristic or feature permanently. The ever increase in the numbers and
peculiarity of substitute and complimentary products/services and even features
complicates the Education system’s comprehension of the package of features
that would best meet customer needs and wants. Thus, the measure of quality
education depends on the skill with which the various stakeholder voices are
integrated, processed and escalated into features of the institution and its related
deliverables such as courses and programs. Such features include, but are not
limited to:
1. Institutional structure,
2. Institutional facilities,
3. Program and course content,
4. Delivery modes and
5. Instructional interaction at the student-teacher interface.

Defining quality in terms of the integration of different ‘voices’ disarms higher

education institutions (HEIs) of the prerogative to define quality in their ‘own
terms’ and the quality assurance agencies from single-handedly imposing the
yardsticks of quality assurance (QA)

2.2. Management
Management has been focused through the lenses of a planning process,
provision of leadership, staffing, organizing, monitoring and controlling, all
with the aim of achieving effectiveness and efficiency across the institution.
Good management is about boundary spanning and gluing people of same and
different dispositions around the institution’s vision, mission and operations.
The proclivity for turf-warring, group-think and de-generation into clinches is
high in multi-stakeholder and multi-layered institutions.

In such contexts, management needs to be good at dealing with political game-

playing and the emergence of power-seeking mates. It therefore must be
effective and efficient on two main strategies: encouraging and resourcing
favorable ideas and actions and weeding elements of negative monolithic
politics. Balancing the two strategies creates the space for maturation of quality
management infrastructures. QMSs are more effective and efficient in the hands
of experts and those willing to become better by de-learning, (re)learning and
supporting alternatives to their own proposals as long as such alternatives are
more sound and productive.
The personal quality of allowing personal positions to be contested and fecund
by others (constructive vulnerability) is a critical success factor in consulting for
and co-creating institutional values, missions and visions. This disposition to
defenselessly and proactively feel at ease with ‘constructive vulnerability’
however takes long to develop. There are some 14 Best Practice Principles
(BPPs) that [7] argue that they smoothen the management for quality in
institutions:

1. Being disciplined: this BPP refers to the application of a strong systems

perspective in all structural, functional and behavioral aspects of the institution.
The systems perspective must be vision-driven and buttressed by policy and
standards.

2. Being time-based: this BPP means the institution values time as a competitive
tool and resource of critical developmental value. Therefore time should not be
wasted, for instance, in pursuing non-value creating ideas and activities.

3. being up-front: a BPP that expresses employees’ high moral probity in their
valuing of honesty, humility and sincerity in all their interactions and relations.

4. Creating customer value: a BPP expressing the strength of the institution’s

mental model of customer needs and wants, and how management, products and
services delivery should be derived therefrom. The implication is that
management, teachers and everyone in the institution must treat the other as
their customer and understand what the other treats as value at their role level.

5. Creating strategic capabilities: a BPP that expresses how institution business

capabilities are defined, understood and shared as key determinants of
continuous improvement (CI) and customer satisfaction performance plans.
6. Embracing change: this BPP defines the institution’s disposition to evolve
and generate new ideas and built resources for continually pursuing customer
satisfaction performance. The implication is that individuals, teams and roles
need to be open, vulnerable and malleable in order to change from within their
hearts and souls.

7. Ensuring integration of effort: a BPP expressing the institution’s focus on

value creation, management and delivery over functional needs and hierarchies.

8. Establishing a learning culture: this BPP expresses the robustness of the

institution’s developmental orientation as focusing on knowledge and skills
updating through a shared customer satisfaction performance driven knowledge
management infrastructure.

9. Gaining alignment: a BPP that seeks vertical and horizontal congruence

among strategy plan, key performance indicators and critical success factors.

10. Having the desire to be out front: a BPP that describes the institution’s
structural, functional and behavioral disposition to live well above and ahead of
industry-business standards, norms and practices.

11. Linking the micro to the macro: a BPP, an expression of how employees
manage their personal mastery in the understanding of how their individual
efforts contribute to the wholesome business success.

12. Measuring, reporting and learning; a BPP that exhorts institutional sectors to
measure, report on performance so that teams learn and better perceive the
institution’s atlas of improvement.
13. Resourcing for the medium-term measures the institution’s ability to excel
at accomplishing short-term objectives and turning them into resources for
medium- and long-term goals.

14. Supporting distributed leadership: in this BPP employees take up roles with
commitments to make careful decisions that fecund their own and others
operational effectiveness and efficiency.

Good as they are, these BPPs need to be in vinculum with quality excellence
principles upon which education is premised. In fact the BPPs must help in
creating a context for optimization of policies, procedures and standards used to
deliver high quality education in institutions.

2.3. System
A system is an organized, purposive structure consisting of interdependent
components that perpetually, but variably influence one another. Education and
QM infrastructures are both deliberate purpose-driven systems. Any education
is bestowed with a number of goals and objectives just as any quality
management model is charged with a number of goals and objectives.

A QMS applied to education should consist of a corpus of integrated, aligned,

complex elements that relate in some sophisticated way. Educational systems
consist of personal or human elements and impersonal or non-human
components like buildings, machines, etc. While the ‘hard elements’ dealing
exclusively with impersonal categories of systems are easy to measure, the
personal issues or soft elements of a system (sociological, behavioral and
relational aspects) are somewhat not measureable in simple quantitative terms.
Because of this shortcoming, whatever standards are assigned in attempting to
measure them will remain subjective, relative and therefore highly prone to
contestations. Elements of a system can be further dichotomized into either
quantitative or qualitative. The critical issue is that a systems perspective sees
education as a collection of institutional-business processes focused on
achieving quality policy and quality objectives designed to meet customer
requirements and needs.

3. Making a quality management system serve education

A meta-synthetic analysis of research in both the private and public sectors
indicate that the generic focus of QMSs is on the planning, directing,
organizing, monitoring and controlling of the education provision system or
processes. At the input stages, the focus is on the selection of input factors of
the highest quality. At the throughput stages, the focus is on the correct match-
and-mixes that will provide the highest quality processes aligned with
producing the correct and accurate outputs and outcomes.

The throughputs routes and their inherent transformative activities must show
concerns on wastage, increasing business opportunities, effectiveness and
efficiency. At the output stages, the focus is on outputting products and services
that satisfy and delights the customer. A clear institutional paradigm on quality
education should determine the quality of inputs selected and how they get
transformed in ways that approximates hypothesized quality as close to
perceived quality as possible.

It is the author’s view that the route to high quality education should be
designed down from the institution’s vision which must be explicitly clear on
quality objectives and metrics. Subjecting educational outputs to the scrutiny
and validation of the customers helps in setting and sharing meaning and
standards against which to design a corpus of criteria for success. Modern
industry-based QMSs like Six Sigma, Total Quality Management and quality
function deployment among others have, since the 1980s, become widely used
in education.

The success of such adoptions depends partly on the ability of protagonists to

make the focus of the QMS overlap with the focus of their education.
Examining the alignment of the assumptions of a quality model with the key
performance indicators in education would tell whether a model suits the
expected array of results. The quality management model must embody the sub-
systemic issues that matter to quality education. Thus, an encompassing QMS
must be hinged on a system-based mental model in which individuals accept
responsibility to learn with others and to partake in a shared vision about how to
create, manage and deliver quality. Models previously used in education are
now stunted as they focus on small-scale aspects of the education system:

 The four-level model and the goal-free evaluation model both focus on
measurement.
 The behavioral objectives approach focus on results.
 The responsive evaluation model, the consumer-oriented approach and
the empowerment evaluation model focus on the customer.
 The organizational learning model focus on knowledge management
while.
 The participatory/collaborative approach focus on partnerships.

The author acknowledges that there is something of each model or approach in

every other model but what matters is a clear mental model of how they
integrate and sustain the effort for quality education. Because educational
institutions are complex interactions of sub-systems, a model that improves a
singular part of the entity will not accomplish the goal of overall institutional
quality performance. The meaning and implications in managing the various
aspects of educational delivery will be discussed in much greater profundity in
the following sections.

3.1. Management of educational assessment: meaning and implications

There is need for a focused strategic approach to choosing assessment methods
and in implementing them. This is because the mix-and-match of assessment
techniques should respond to the age, curriculum contexts and teacher qualities
among other factors.

The assessment methods need to be the most appropriate and be accurately

operationalized. An array of assessment methods, exemplified below, can be
used on the same students, same programme and within same or staggered
periods. An educational institution’s assessment methodology should
encompass direct and indirect strategies, techniques, tools and instruments for
the collection of information that strategists use to measure the level, scope and
depth of learning experienced by the student. The concurrent use of multiple
data gathering and processing techniques in assessment of teaching and learning
improves the quality of information assessors will gather from the students and
other sources.

The triangulation approach strengthens the relevance, validity and reliability of

strategies derived from such data. Among direct assessment methods are:
1. Capstone course (projects)
2. Certification exam
3. Comprehensive test
4. Embedded techniques
5. Entrance interviews, etc.
Among the indirect assessment methods are:
1. Focus group
2. Institutional data
3. Reflective student essays
4. SWOT analysis
5. Syllabus review

Q.3 Define the Change process in detail. What are the basic
strategies for managing the change?
Answer
Businesses must constantly evolve and adapt to meet a variety of challenges—
from changes in technology, to the rise of new competitors, to a shift in laws,
regulations, or underlying economic trends. Failure to do so could lead to
stagnation or, worse, failure.

Approximately 50 percent of all organizational change initiatives are

unsuccessful, highlighting why knowing how to plan for, coordinate, and carry
out change is a valuable skill for managers and business leaders alike.

Have you been tasked with managing a significant change initiative for your
organization? Would you like to demonstrate that you’re capable of
spearheading such an initiative the next time one arises? Here’s an overview of
what change management is, the key steps in the process, and actions you can
take to develop your managerial skills and become more effective in your role.

WHAT IS CHANGE MANAGEMENT?

Organizational change refers broadly to the actions a business takes to change
or adjust a significant component of its organization. This may include company
culture, internal processes, underlying technology or infrastructure, corporate
hierarchy, or another critical aspect.

Organizational change can be either adaptive or transformational:

 Adaptive changes are small, gradual, iterative changes that an
organization undertakes to evolve its products, processes, workflows, and
strategies over time. Hiring a new team member to address increased
demand or implementing a new work-from-home policy to attract more
qualified job applicants are both examples of adaptive changes.
 Transformational changes are larger in scale and scope and often signify
a dramatic and, occasionally sudden, departure from the status quo.
Launching a new product or business division, or deciding to expand
internationally, are examples of transformational change.

Change management is the process of guiding organizational change to fruition,

from the earliest stages of conception and preparation, through implementation
and, finally, to resolution. An effective management strategy is crucial to ensure
businesses successfully transition and adapt to any changes that may occur.

Change processes have a set of starting conditions (point A) and a functional

endpoint (point B). The process in between is dynamic and unfolds in stages.
Here’s a summary of the key steps in the change management process.

5 STEPS IN THE CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

1. Prepare the Organization for Change
For an organization to successfully pursue and implement change, it must be
prepared both logistically and culturally. Before delving into logistics, cultural
preparation must first take place to achieve the best business outcome.
In the preparation phase, the manager is focused on helping employees
recognize and understand the need for change. They raise awareness of the
various challenges or problems facing the organization that are acting as forces
of change and generating dissatisfaction with the status quo. Gaining this initial
buy-in from employees who will help implement the change can remove
friction and resistance later on.

2. Craft a Vision and Plan for Change

Once the organization is ready to embrace change, managers must develop a
thorough and realistic plan for bringing it about. The plan should detail:

 Strategic goals: What goals does this change help the organization work
toward?
 Key performance indicators: How will success be measured? What
metrics need to be moved? What’s the baseline for how things currently
stand?
 Project stakeholders and team: Who will oversee the task of
implementing change? Who needs to sign off at each critical stage? Who
will be responsible for implementation?
 Project scope: What discrete steps and actions will the project include?
What falls outside of the project scope?

While it’s important to have a structured approach, the plan should also account
for any unknowns or roadblocks that could arise during the implementation
process and would require agility and flexibility to overcome.

3. Implement the Changes

After the plan has been created, all that remains is to follow the steps outlined
within it to implement the required change. Whether that involves changes to
the company’s structure, strategy, systems, processes, employee behaviors, or
other aspects will depend on the specifics of the initiative.
During the implementation process, change managers must be focused on
empowering their employees to take the necessary steps to achieve the goals of
the initiative and celebrate any short-term wins. They should also do their best
to anticipate roadblocks and prevent, remove, or mitigate them once identified.
Repeated communication of the organization’s vision is critical throughout the
implementation process to remind team members why change is being pursued.

4. Embed Changes within Company Culture and Practices

Once the change initiative has been completed, change managers must prevent a
reversion to the prior state or status quo. This is particularly important for
organizational change related to business processes such as workflows, culture,
and strategy formulation. Without an adequate plan, employees may backslide
into the “old way” of doing things, particularly during the transitory period.

By embedding changes within the company’s culture and practices, it becomes

more difficult for backsliding to occur. New organizational structures, controls,
and reward systems should all be considered as tools to help change stick.

5. Review Progress and Analyze Results

Just because a change initiative is complete doesn’t mean it was successful.
Conducting analysis and review, or a “project post mortem,” can help business
leaders understand whether a change initiative was a success, failure, or mixed
Result. It can also offer valuable insights and lessons that can be leveraged in
future change efforts.

Ask yourself questions like: Were project goals met? If yes, can this success be
replicated elsewhere? If not, what went wrong?
HOW TO MANAGE CHANGE EFFECTIVELY
While no two change initiatives are the same, they typically follow a similar
process. To effectively manage change, managers and business leaders must
thoroughly understand the steps involved.

Some other tips for managing organizational change include asking yourself
questions like:
 Do you understand the forces making change necessary? Without this
understanding, it can be difficult to effectively address the underlying
causes that have necessitated change, hampering your ability to succeed.
 Do you have a plan? Without a detailed plan and defined strategy, it can
be difficult to usher a change initiative through to completion.
 How will you communicate? Successful change management requires
effective communication with both your team members and key
stakeholders. Designing a communication strategy that acknowledges this
reality is critical.
 Have you identified potential roadblocks? While it’s impossible to predict
everything that might potentially go wrong with a project, taking the time
to anticipate potential barriers and devise mitigation strategies before you
get started is generally a good idea.

Q.4 Discuss the different ways of data collection, its analysis and
decision making.
Answer
The process of gathering and analyzing accurate data from various sources to
find answers to research problems, trends and probabilities, etc., to evaluate
possible outcomes is Known as Data Collection. Keep scrolling to know more.

Knowledge is power, information is knowledge, and data is information in

digitized form, at least as defined in IT. Hence, data is power. But before you
can leverage that data into a successful strategy for your organization or
business, you need to gather it. That’s your first step.

So, to help you get the process started, we shine a spotlight on data collection.
What exactly is it? Believe it or not, it’s more than just doing a Google search!
Furthermore, what are the different types of data collection? And what kinds of
data collection tools and data collection techniques exist?
If you want to get up to speed about what is data collection process, you’ve
come to the right place.

What is Data Collection: A DEFINITION?

Before we define what data collection is, it’s essential to ask the question,
“What is data?” The abridged answer is, data is various kinds of information
formatted in a particular way. Therefore, data collection is the process of
gathering, measuring, and analyzing accurate data from a variety of relevant
sources to find answers to research problems, answer questions, evaluate
outcomes, and forecast trends and probabilities.

Our society is highly dependent on data, which underscores the importance of

collecting it. Accurate data collection is necessary to make informed business
decisions, ensure quality assurance, and keep research integrity.
During data collection, the researchers must identify the data types, the sources
of data, and what methods are being used. We will soon see that there are many
different data collection methods. There is heavy reliance on data collection in
research, commercial, and government fields.

Before an analyst begins collecting data, they must answer three questions first:
 what’s the goal or purpose of this research?
 What kinds of data are they planning on gathering?
 What methods and procedures will be used to collect, store, and process
the information?

Additionally, we can break up data into qualitative and quantitative types.

Qualitative data covers descriptions such as color, size, quality, and appearance.
Quantitative data, unsurprisingly, deals with numbers, such as statistics, poll
numbers, percentages, etc.

Why Do We Need Data Collection?

Before a judge makes a ruling in a court case or a general creates a plan of
attack, they must have as many relevant facts as possible. The best courses of
action come from informed decisions, and information and data are
synonymous.

The concept of data collection isn’t a new one, as we’ll see later, but the world
has changed. There is far more data available today, and it exists in forms that
were unheard of a century ago. The data collection process has had to change
and grow with the times, keeping pace with technology.
Whether you’re in the world of academia, trying to conduct research, or part of
the commercial sector, thinking of how to promote a new product, you need
data collection to help you make better choices.

Now that you know what data collection is and why we need it, let's take a look
at the different methods of data collection. While the phrase “data collection”
may sound all high-tech and digital, it doesn’t necessarily entail things like
computers, big data, and the internet. Data collection could mean a telephone
survey, a mail-in comment card, or even some guy with a clipboard asking
passersby some questions. But let’s see if we can sort the different data
collection methods into a semblance of organized categories.

What Are the Different Methods of Data Collection?

The following are seven primary methods of collecting data in business
analytics.
 Surveys
 Transactional Tracking
 Interviews and Focus Groups
 Observation
 Online Tracking
 Forms
 Social Media Monitoring

Data collection breaks down into two methods. As a side note, many terms,
such as techniques, methods, and types, are interchangeable and depending on
who uses them. One source may call data collection techniques “methods,” for
instance. But whatever labels we use, the general concepts and breakdowns
apply across the board whether we’re talking about marketing analysis or a
scientific research project.
The two methods are:
∙ Primary
As the name implies, this is original, first-hand data collected by the data
researchers. This process is the initial information gathering step, performed
before anyone carries out any further or related research. Primary data results
Are highly accurate provided the researcher collects the information. However,
there’s a downside, as first-hand research is potentially time-consuming and
expensive.

∙ Secondary
Secondary data is second-hand data collected by other parties and already
having undergone statistical analysis. This data is either information that the
researcher has tasked other people to collect or information the researcher has
looked up. Simply put, its second-hand information. Although it’s easier and
cheaper to obtain than primary information, secondary information raises
concerns regarding accuracy and authenticity. Quantitative data makes up a
majority of secondary data.

Specific Data Collection Techniques

Let’s get into specifics. Using the primary/secondary methods mentioned above,
here is a breakdown of specific techniques.

Primary Data Collection

∙ Interviews
The researcher asks questions of a large sampling of people, either by direct
interviews or means of mass communication such as by phone or mail. This
method is by far the most common means of data gathering.
∙ Projective Data Gathering
Projective data gathering is an indirect interview, used when potential
respondents know why they're being asked questions and hesitate to answer.
For instance, someone may be reluctant to answer questions about their phone
service if a cell phone carrier representative poses the questions. With projective
data gathering, the interviewees get an incomplete question, and they must fill
in the rest, using their opinions, feelings, and attitudes.

∙ Delphi Technique
The Oracle at Delphi, according to Greek mythology, was the high priestess of
Apollo’s temple, who gave advice, prophecies, and counsel. In the realm of data
collection, researchers use the Delphi technique by gathering information from
a panel of experts. Each expert answers questions in their field of specialty, and
the replies are consolidated into a single opinion.

∙ Focus Groups
Focus groups, like interviews, are a commonly used technique. The group
consists of anywhere from a half-dozen to a dozen people, led by a moderator,
brought together to discuss the issue.

∙ Questionnaires
Questionnaires are a simple, straightforward data collection method.
Respondents get a series of questions, either open or close-ended, related to the
matter at hand.

Secondary Data Collection

Unlike primary data collection, there are no specific collection methods.
Instead, since the information has already been collected, the researcher
consults various data sources, such as:
  Financial Statements
 Sales Reports
 Retailer/Distributor/Deal Feedback
 Customer Personal Information (e.g., name, address, age, contact info)
 Business Journals
 Government Records (e.g., census, tax records, Social Security info) ∙
Trade/Business Magazines
 The internet

Data Collection Tools

Now that we’ve explained the various techniques, let’s narrow our focus even
further by looking at some specific tools. For example, we mentioned
interviews as a technique, but we can further break that down into different
interview types (or “tools”).

∙ Word Association
The researcher gives the respondent a set of words and asks them what comes to
mind when they hear each word.

∙ Sentence Completion
Researchers use sentence completion to understand what kind of ideas the
respondent has. This tool involves giving an incomplete sentence and seeing
how the interviewee finishes it.

∙ Role-Playing
Respondents are presented with an imaginary situation and asked how they
would act or react if it was real.

∙ In-Person Surveys
The researcher asks questions in person.

∙ Online/Web Surveys
These surveys are easy to accomplish, but some users may be unwilling to
answer truthfully, if at all.

∙ Mobile Surveys
These surveys take advantage of the increasing proliferation of mobile
technology. Mobile collection surveys rely on mobile devices like tablets or
smartphones to conduct surveys via SMS or mobile apps.

∙ Phone Surveys
No researcher can call thousands of people at once, so they need a third party to
handle the chore. However, many people have call screening and won’t answer.

∙ Observation
Sometimes, the simplest method is the best. Researchers who make direct
observations collect data quickly and easily, with little intrusion or third-party
bias. Naturally, it’s only effective in small-scale situations.

The Importance of Ensuring Accurate and Appropriate Data Collection

Accurate data collecting is crucial to preserving the integrity of research,
regardless of the subject of study or preferred method for defining data
(quantitative, qualitative). Errors are less likely to occur when the right data
gathering tools are used (whether they are brand-new ones, updated versions of
them, or already available).

Among the effects of data collection done incorrectly, include the following
-
∙ Erroneous conclusions that squander resources
∙ Decisions that compromise public policy
∙ Incapacity to correctly respond to research inquiries
∙ Bringing harm to participants who are humans or animals
∙ deceiving other researchers into pursuing futile research avenues ∙ the study's
inability to be replicated and validated when these study findings are used to
support recommendations for public policy, there is the potential to result in
disproportionate harm, even if the degree of influence from flawed data
collecting may vary by discipline and the type of investigation.

Issues Related to Maintaining the Integrity of Data Collection

In order to assist the errors detection process in the data gathering process,
whether they were done purposefully (deliberate falsifications) or not,
maintaining data integrity is the main justification (systematic or random
errors).
Quality assurance and quality control are two strategies that help protect data
integrity and guarantee the scientific validity of study results.

Each strategy is used at various stages of the research timeline:

∙ Quality control - tasks that are performed both after and during data collecting
∙ Quality assurance - events that happen before data gathering starts.

Quality Assurance
As data collecting comes before quality assurance, its primary goal is
“prevention" (i.e., forestalling problems with data collection). The best way to
protect the accuracy of data collection is through prevention. The uniformity of
Protocol created in the thorough and exhaustive procedures manual for data
collecting serves as the best example of this proactive step.
The likelihood of failing to spot issues and mistakes early in the research
attempt increases when guides are written poorly. There are several ways to
show these shortcomings:

 Failure to determine the precise subjects and methods for retraining or

training staff employees in data collecting
 List of goods to be collected, in part
 There isn't a system in place to track modifications to processes that may
occur as the investigation continues.
 Instead of detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to deliver tests, there
is a vague description of the data gathering tools that will be employed.
 Uncertainty regarding the date, procedure, and identity of the person or
people in charge of examining the data.
 Incomprehensible guidelines for using, adjusting, and calibrating the data
collection equipment.

Quality Control
Despite the fact that quality control actions (detection/monitoring and
intervention) take place both after and during data collection, the specifics
should be meticulously detailed in the procedures manual. Establishing
monitoring systems requires a specific communication structure, which is a
prerequisite. Following the discovery of data collection problems, there should
be no ambiguity regarding the information flow between the primary
investigators and staff personnel. A poorly designed communication system
promotes slack oversight and reduces opportunities for error detection.

Direct staff observation conference calls, during site visits, or frequent or

routine assessments of data reports to spot discrepancies, excessive numbers, or
invalid codes can all be used as forms of detection or monitoring. Site visits
might not be appropriate for all disciplines. Still, without routine auditing of
records, whether qualitative or quantitative, it will be challenging for
investigators to confirm that data gathering is taking place in accordance with
the manual's defined methods.
Additionally, quality control determines the appropriate solutions, or "actions,”
to fix flawed data gathering procedures and reduce recurrences.

Problems with data collection, for instance, that call for immediate action
include:
 Fraud or misbehavior
 Systematic mistakes, procedure violations
 Individual data items with errors
 Issues with certain staff members or a site's performance

Researchers are trained to include one or more secondary measures that can be
used to verify the quality of information being obtained from the human subject
in the social and behavioral sciences where primary data collection entails using
human subjects.

For instance, a researcher conducting a survey would be interested in learning

more about the prevalence of risky behaviors among young adults as well as
the social factors that influence these risky behaviors' propensity for and
frequency.

Q.5 Explain accounting and budgeting System with prospective of

education.
Answer

Budget
A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future
period of time and is usually compiled and re-evaluated on a periodic basis.
Budgets can be made for a person, a group of people, a business, a government,
or just about anything else that makes and spends money.

To manage your monthly expenses, prepare for life's unpredictable events, and
be able to afford big-ticket items without going into debt, budgeting is
important. Keeping track of how much you earn and spend doesn't have to be
drudgery, doesn't require you to be good at math, and doesn't mean you can’t
buy the things you want. It just means that you'll know where your money goes,
you'll have greater control over your finances.

Understanding Budgeting
A budget is a microeconomic concept that shows the trade-off made when one
good is exchanged for another. In terms of the bottom line—or the end result of
this trade-off—a surplus budget means profits are anticipated, a balanced
budget means revenues are expected to equal expenses, and a deficit budget
means expenses will exceed revenues.

How to Budget in 7 Steps

The specifics of your budget will depend on your personal financial situation
and goals. In most cases, though, the steps for creating a budget are the same.
You can make a budget by following seven simple steps.

1. Add up your total income. This should include all sources, such as a
paycheck, tips, Social Security, disability, alimony, or investment income.
2. Track your spending. Spend a month keeping track of everything you spend,
whether you pay with a credit card or cash, to find what your real expenses are.
Be sure to include automatic payments, subscriptions, and utilities.

3. Set financial goals. Do you want to save money? Pay off debt? Stop
overspending? Decide on realistic goals. Remember, you can adjust these over
time. Pick the most pressing goals, such as paying off debt or creating an
emergency fund, first.

4. Calculate mandatory expenses. These are expenses you must pay each month,
such as rent, insurance premiums, taxes, childcare, or your cell phone bill.
Subtract these from your total income.

5. Identify debt payments. If you are paying off debt, such as student loans or a
credit card bill, find the minimum payment for each debt. Subtract that from
your income as well.

6. Make a spending plan. The amount of income you have left is what you can
spend on discretionary expenses. These can include your goals, such as debt
payment or savings. It should also include things like groceries, entertainment,
gas, or surprise expenses. Give every dollar a job, based on your goals and what
you discovered when you tracked your spending.

7. Adjust each month. Each month, look at your spending and goals, Reevaluate
and adjust where you assign your discretionary spending. A flexible budget will
help you avoid overspending.

Corporate Budgets
Budgets are an integral part of running any business efficiently and effectively.

Budget Development Process

The process begins by establishing assumptions for the upcoming budget
period. These assumptions are related to project sales trends, cost trends, and
the overall economic outlook of the market, industry, or sector. Specific factors
affecting potential expenses are addressed and monitored.

The budget is published in a packet that outlines the standards and procedures
used to develop it, including the assumptions about the markets, key
relationships with vendors that provide discounts, and explanations of how
certain calculations were made.

The sales budget is often the first to be developed, as subsequent expense

budgets cannot be established without knowing future cash flows. Budgets are
developed for all the different subsidiaries, divisions, and departments within an
organization. For a manufacturer, a separate budget is often developed for direct
materials, labor, and overhead.

All budgets get rolled up into the master budget, which also includes budgeted
financial statements, forecasts of cash inflows and outflows, and an overall
financing plan. At a corporation, the top management reviews the budget and
submits it for approval to the board of directors.

Static vs. Flexible Budgets

There are two major types of budgets: static budgets and flexible budgets. A
static budget remains unchanged over the life of the budget. Regardless of
changes that occur during the budgeting period, all accounts and figures
originally calculated remain the same.
A flexible budget has a relational value to certain variables. The dollar amounts
listed on a flexible budget change based on sales levels, production levels, or
other external economic factors.

Both types of budgets are useful for management. A static budget evaluates the
effectiveness of the original budgeting process, while a flexible budget provides
deeper insight into business operations.

Personal Budgets
Individuals and families can have budgets, too. Creating and using a budget is
not just for those who need to closely monitor their cash flows from month to
month because "money is tight." Almost everyone—even people with large
paychecks and plenty of money in the bank—can benefit from budgeting.

The importance of budgeting cannot be understated. A budget, also known as

cash flow, is arguably more important than the actual cash that you have in your
bank and investment accounts. Your cash flow is what allows you to pay for
everything (or not).

Without knowing your cash flow, you could be putting yourself into a bad
financial situation and not even know it. You can only get by without knowing
your cash flow for so long before you get into financial trouble, so make the
time you know the flow of your cash. Budgeting should be something that
everyone does, regardless of their financial situation.

Budgeting is a wonderful tool for managing your finances, but many people
think it's not for them. Below is a list of budget myths—the erroneous logic that
stops people from keeping track of their finances and allocating money in the
best way.

1. I Don't Need to Budget

Having a handle on your monthly income and expenses allows you to make sure
your hard-earned money is being put to its highest and best purpose. For those
who enjoy an income that covers all bills with money left over, a budget can
help maximize savings and investments.

If one's monthly expenses typically consume the lion's share of net income, any
budget should focus on identifying and classifying all the expenses that occur
during the month, quarter, and year. And for people whose cash flow is tight, it
can be crucial for identifying expenses that could be reduced or cut, and
minimizing any wasteful interest being paid on credit cards or other debt.

2. I'm Not Good at Math

Thanks to budgeting software, you don't have to be good at math; you simply
have to be able to follow instructions. Many of these programs are free and
legitimate. If you know how to use spreadsheet software, you can make your
own ledger. It's as simple as creating one column for your income, another
column for your expenses, and then keeping a running tab on the difference
between the two.

3. My Job Is Secure
No one's job is truly safe. If you work for a corporation, being laid off due to
downsizing or a takeover always is a possibility. If you work for a small
company, it could die with its owner, be bought out, or just fold.
You should always be prepared for a job loss by having at least three months’
worth of living expenses in the bank. It's easier to accumulate this financial
cushion if you know the amount you're bringing in and spending each month,
which can be monitored with a budget.

4. Unemployment Insurance Will Tide Me Over

Unemployment compensation is not a sure thing. Let's say a bad situation at
work leaves you with no choice but to quit your job. Unless you can prove
constructive discharge (that is, you were virtually forced to resign), your
departure will be considered voluntary, making you ineligible for
unemployment insurance. Besides, the benefits may fall well short of the wages
you're used to: for most states, they average between $300 and $500 per week.

5. I Don't Want to Deprive Myself

Budgeting is not synonymous with spending as little money as possible or
making yourself feel guilty about every purchase. The aim of budgeting is to
make sure you're able to save a little each month, ideally at least 10% of your
income, or at the very least, to make sure that you aren't spending more than
you earn.

Unless you're on a very tight budget, you should be able to buy baseball tickets
and go out to eat. Tracking your expenses does not change the amount of money
you have available to spend every month; it just tells you where that money is
going.

6. I Don't Want Anything Big

If you don't have any major savings goals (buying a house, starting your own
business), it's hard to drum up the motivation to stash away extra cash each
month. However, your situation and your attitudes likely will change over time.
Perhaps you don't want to save up for a house because you live in New York
City and expect that renting will be the most affordable option for the rest of
your life. But in five years, you might be sick of the Big Apple and decide to
move to rural Vermont. Suddenly, buying a home becomes more affordable and
you might wish you had five years' worth of savings in the bank for a down
payment.

7. I Won't Qualify for Student Financial Aid

Yes, the catch-22 of student financial aid is that the more money you have, the
less aid you'll be eligible for. That's enough to make anyone wonder if it isn’t
better to just spend it all and have no savings in order to qualify for the
maximum amount of grants and loans.

But that catch mainly applies to earn income. Whether you are an adult student
going back to school or the parent of a student headed to college, the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form (used for Stafford Loans,
Perkins Loans, or Pell Grants), does not require you to report the value of your
primary residence (if you own a home) or the value of your retirement
accounts.1
So if you want to save money without compromising your financial aid
eligibility, you can do so by using your savings to buy a house, prepay your
mortgage, or contribute more money to your retirement accounts. The savings
you put into these assets can still be accessed if you face an emergency, but you
won't be penalized for it.

Even if you employ all the available legal strategies to maximize your financial
aid eligibility, you still won't always qualify for as much aid as you need, so it's
not a bad idea to have your own source of funds to make up for any shortfall.
8. I'm Debt-Free
Good for you! But being debt-free without any savings won't pay your bills in
an emergency. A zero balance can quickly become a negative balance if you
don’t have a safety net.

9. I Always Get a Raise or Tax Refund

It's never a good idea to count on unpredictable sources of income. This may be
the year your company may not have enough money to give you a raise or as
much of a raise as you'd hoped for. The same is true of bonus money. Tax
refunds are more reliable, but this depends in part on how good you are at
calculating your own tax liability.

Some people know how to figure how much they'll get in a refund (or how
much they will owe) as well as how to adjust this figure through changes in
payroll withholding throughout the year. However, changes in tax deductions,
IRS regulations, or other life events can mean a nasty surprise on your tax
return.

10. I Just Don't Have the Discipline

If you're still not convinced that budgeting is for you, here's a way to protect
yourself from your own spending habits. Set up an automatic transfer from your
checking account to a savings account you won't see (i.e., at a different bank),
scheduled to happen right after you get paid.

If you are saving for retirement, you may have the option of contributing a set
amount regularly to a 401(k) or other retirement savings plan. This way, you
can pay yourself first, have enough money for the transfer, and pay yourself the
same predetermined amount that you know will help you meet your savings
goals.

Building a Budget
In general, traditional budgeting starts with tracking expenses, eliminating debt,
and once the budget is balanced, building an emergency fund. But to speed up
the process, you could start by building a partial emergency fund.

This emergency fund acts as a buffer as the rest of the budget is put in place and
should replace the use of credit cards for emergency situations.

The key is to build the fund at regular intervals, consistently devoting a certain
percentage of each paycheck toward it, and if possible, putting in whatever you
can spare on top. This will get you to think about your spending, too.