Continuous improvement and quality assurance approaches

¶ … Barriers and Gateways to Management Cooperation and Teamwork

Competitive advantage is that which is sought by "Organizational America" according to the work under current review and the subject matter of this work entitled, "Barriers and Gateways to Management Cooperation and Teamwork." It seems that the focus is on improving, planning, devising and the implementation of specific ways of doing tasks that propel toward constant bettering the method or approach within the organization of the work environment. A manager will generally spend the largest part of the workday seeking methods of bringing graduation upward in terms of the employee job performance while being in the position, more often than not, of needing to gain more work for less resources and all under the heading of "maximizing competitive advantage." The part played by low, mid, and top-level managers is discussed by this work as well and particularly as it relates to 'teamwork'. This work reports a study in which three questions were asked: (1) What specific factors prevent management personnel from working together as a team? (2) What specific problems emerge when managers do not work together or cooperate with each other? (3) What are the keys to getting managers to cooperate and work together as a team? Findings include that when managers don't act as a team the entire organization suffers through communication breakdowns, decreased performance and productivity, wasted resources and effort, decreased morale, loss of coordination, failure to fix problems/improve processes, loss of focus on customer and profits, increased workplace conflict, increased job-related work stress and setting a poor example for the workforce. Several solutions are offered in this work to address what can be implemented among members of management within an organization to implement effective management practices within the organization.

"The Changing AuditNew Approaches, Technology and Attitude Can Tap Into a Consulting Gold Mine"

- Abstract

The work entitled "The Changing AuditNew approaches, technology, and attitude can tap into a consulting gold Mine" reminds the reader that the audit industry although appearing to be smooth and changeless on the surface is experiencing growth and shifts in the method used to perform audits. According to this work, AuditNew, a Herndon Virginia firm that trains, consults and makes as its specialty the promotion of an audit that is properly performed. Tom Houck, President of AuditNew, focuses that understanding the business of the client is that which is required to be understood in the profess in terms of authoritative standards. Cited by this work as being the biggest factor auditing generally misses is the need to implement more efficient processes. Data extraction manipulation software is stated within the work to be important in the new technology so useful in the audit. The use of the Internet is cited as well to be one element in new technology having a positive effect in the auditing industry in today's business world. One example given is an instance of benchmarking a company during which the auditor finds that this company has an excess of inventory compared to other like companies thereby saving the company the carrying costs upon the suggestion that the company not carry such a large inventory.