Case Analysis Format

I. Problem Statement
A problem statement is a short, clear explanation of an issue
or challenge that sums up what you want to change. It helps
you, team members, and other stakeholders to focus on the
problem, why it's important, and who it impacts.

Example of a problem statement:

Significant decrease of sales in the last 3 years in Mindanao

while those in Luzon and Visaya continue to see increase

II. Background

What * Where * When * Who * Why * How * of the problem

Describe the history of the problem, including the events that

led to it, the plans, implementation, monitoring, feedback,
corrective actions.

III. Objective
IV. Analyses / Audit
a. Internal
1. Strengths and Weaknesses
 Accounting / Finance
 Marketing – customers’ demographics –
Economic classes, geographics
(market[aces), customer service, advertising

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 and promotions, packaging, pricing,
distribution, etc.
 MIS – Technology
 Production / Operations
 Research and Development (R & D)
 Total Quality Management (T Q M)
 Others
b. External – gather competitive intelligence about :
2. Opportunities and Threats
 Economic
Depression (sustained - 1 year- GDP
decline,
Recession - prolonged downturn in
economic activity
 Social – peace and order
 Cultural
 Demographic
 Political
 Macro-business environment, like war, trade
barriers
 Legal
 Technological
 Others
V. Alternative Courses of Action (ACA)

ACA 1

ACA 2

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VI. Recommendation

Five (5) important sections business case analysis:

 Present background information

This provides of the case and establishes its
significance
 Present Findings
 Discuss risks
 Predict results
 Make recommendation

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PROBLEM
Business problems are obstacles that a business might
encounter in it conducts its operation.

Business problems or long-term challenges and issues

faced by a business firm executing strategy. These may prevent
a business from executing strategy and achieving goals. In
some cases, business problems threaten the long-term survival
of the firm.

Key steps to problem analysis:

1. Problem: Is there a deviation from expectation?
First, clearly define the problem. (A problem is a deviation from
expectation or goal.) For example: We want a strong product portfolio
innovation process to drive future growth. A problem statement could
be: Our portfolio innovation process is not driving adequate market
success.
2. Evidence: What’s the proof that the problem is real?
How do you really know that the problem exists? It’s important to
present evidence that proves the problem is real. In this case, we
would cite specific examples of established competitors and startups
that were first to market, leaving our firm behind. We would also cite
customer feedback that demonstrates a failure to meet their emerging
market needs or the organization’s lateness to market.
3. Impacts: Why do we care?
4. How does the stated problem pass the “so what?” test? Here we
state the impact the problem is having on our business or
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 department. Using our innovation example, loss in market share,
missed growth opportunities, and missed revenue and
profitability targets are all relevant and significantly impact the
business.
5. Causes: What’s driving the problem? It’s important to analyze
the systemic causes of the problem. In this case, the causes
could be:
a. Product development activities are based on incremental
improvements to existing products vs. disruptive or major
innovations based on market needs.
b. Lack of a consistent process to determine and vet high-
priority customer needs.
c. Unclear roles, responsibility or accountability for product
development processes.
6. Recommendations: Simple; just reverse the causes! As long as
the first four pieces are done properly, the recommendations are
obvious and simple – just reverse the causes. In our example: a.
a. Revise the product development orientation to take market
needs into account, including disruptive innovations – not
just incremental improvements to current products and
services. B
b. Define and implement a standard enterprise innovation
process to consistently determine and act on customer
needs.
c. . Clarify roles, responsibilities and accountability for the
product portfolio innovation process.

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 If the causes are stated accurately and solved with the
corresponding recommendations, the problem should be
solved, or at least mitigated. Note that some causes could be
problems in themselves, worthy of their own problem analysis.
Any of the above causes could be problems with their own
deeper causes and impacts. In this way, a logical argument can
be constructed – an extremely useful and compelling way to
solve the problems placed before us on a day-to-day basis. This
approach to problem solving is highly actionable and ties back
to my lesson of “less is more,” and it provides access to critical
information when and where you need it.

The types of business problems often relate to certain

components of a business:

1. Strategy
2. Service or products
3. People
4. Processes
5. Applications
6. Information
7. Infrastructures

Business Problems
1. Uncertain Purpose / objective.
Some companies experience loss of purpose or
uncertainty. This happens if an organization participates
in multiple/different industries or frequently changes its

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 mission statement. Having an uncertain purpose can
affect sales, employee motivation or other processes in
business.
To help find purpose it is a good business idea to
come

together and collaborate om what they want (0bjective)

for the company. The discussion helps stakeholders
voice what they want

for the future of the company and provide direction for

the company’s operations

2. Weak Brand Identity

Companies which have weak brand identity may
experience low profit margins or low sales. If a company
wants to grow it is may need to develop brand identity.
To improve brand identity a company might establish its
core values, mission and goal to help employees and
consumers understand more about the organization and
its objective. Advertising and promotional campaigns
may help individuals educate about the company
3. Low Customer Value
Creating products that customers want is important
for company sales and loyalty. Some companies that
attribute shrinking profit to market performance might
miss valuable improvement opportunities to enhance
their products or services. When a company does not

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 create products that customers want might lose
customers to competitors.
Conducting market research, analyzing competitors’
products can help the ompany find opportunities to
make its products or services unique in the industry.

Some companies may conduct consumer surveys to get

needed feedback

4. Minimal Future Planning

Companies that focus on short-term performance

might experience long-term losses. Lack of future
planning can hinder a company from navigating market
changes. A business plan can help the company for
future growth changes. A massive action plan can
agilely respond to changing market.

5. No Exit Strategy

Sometimes companies want to exit one market and

enter another consumer market. Companies that
develop an exit strategy might struggle with
transitioning to new consumer market. Some companies
may experience a buy-out, merger, or acquisition. An
exit strategy can help s company take care of its
employees and customers

6. Minimal Use of Technology

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 Technology is continuously evolving in the workplace
and society. Companies that don’t use technology in
their processes may experience productivity losses
which can affect sales and profits

7. Static Skill Sets

Companies that hire employees with a set number of
skills or don’t invest in employee development can
suffer reduced production capabilities or experience
high employee turnover. Investing in employees who
have dynamic skill sets or want to learn can develop
innovative products or improve its production
capabilities. Some companies might help its employees
develop unique skill sets:
 Conducting training sessions
 Supplying tuition assistance
 Encouraging internal career
 Creating new training positions.

8. Not Using Resources

Networking with other business and industry experts
can help a company grow and perform better in its
market. Not using key resources can limit the potential
of a company. Bringing in consultants can help a
company improve its standing in the market and gain
new customer

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9. Short on Supplies
Companies rely on supplies to create products and
maintain positive consumer relationship. New
companies starting production services might
experience supply shortages if they don’t have effective
purchasing system in place.
Supply shortages can result in reduced production
capabilities, delayed delivery and increased consumer
frustration.
Establishing inventory procedures, negotiating long-
term supply contracts with different suppliers and
analyzing production performance can help a company
ensure ample supply to maintain production operations.
10. Low Employee Performance
Employees can help a company develop its products
and create stronger customer relationship. Low
employee performance can negatively impact
production and customer satisfaction eventually
resulting in reduced profit. margins and sales.
Performance review reports can help the company
identify potential employee performance concerns.
Conducting feedback sessions, performance evaluation
can improve employee performance and morale.
11. High Employee Churn Rates
High employee turnover can negatively impact
productivity and profits. High turnover can affect
employee morale.
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 Understanding the root causes of high employee
turnover can mitigate the problem.

Examples of business problems:

1. Adverse geopolitical events

2. Exchange rate volatility
3. Anti-competitive practices of large competitors
4. Inaccurate forecasting
5. Failing products
6. Competitive pressures
7. Changing customer needs
8. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities
9. Declining sales
10. Cost of capital increases
11. Economic downturns
12. Environmental concerns
13. Intellectual property infringement
14. International compatitors
15. Legal disputes
16. Loss of key customers
17. Market saturation
18. Negative publicity
19. New competition
20. Outdated technology
21. Excess enventory
22. Poor customer relationship
23. Product positioning issues

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24. Production incidents
25. Quality issues
26. Social instability and disruptions
27. Social responsibility concerns
28. Stockouts
29. Supply chain disruptions
30. Trade barriers
31. Workplace tensions and negative politics
32. Unfavorable media coverage
33. Team culture issues
34. Financial – financial issues like inability to
refinance debt due to tight credit condition
35. Business Model – a business model that has
been disrupted by a new way of doing things. For
eample an energy company based on products that
pollute the environment when cleaner and cheaper
alternatives emerge.
36. Reputation – issues such as poor customer
service that receives media attention.
37. Branding – brand issues such as a small
business that has difficulty establishing brand
recognition in a market dominated by widely
recognized brands.
38. Positioning – such as an organic coffee that
looks much the same as the other products on the
shelf except that it is more expensive than the
competition.
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 39. Demand – changing customer needs
preferences that reduce demand for your products
and services, example – cultural shift towards
healthier foods may negatively impact brands that
produce junk foods.
40. Supply – increased supply by your competition
or a substitute product.
41. Customer relationship – customers who are
unhappy with your products or services are likely to
generate negative word of mouth.
42. Promotion – promotional problems like inability
to generate demand or interest in a new product
lunch.
43. Quality – a firm that can not achieve its target
level of quality.
44. Distribution – problems reaching customers
with your products and services like a restaurant
runs out of critical ingriedients across an entire
region due to supply chain disruption.

Objective
Business objectives are the specific and measurable results
companies hope to maintain as their organization grows.
Entrepreneurs and business leaders must track performance in
every part of their business to make sure they're moving in the
right direction.

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 Strategic Objective Examples

Use these examples of objectives to brainstorm what’s most

important for your industry and your specific strategy. Then,
build a set of objectives that best represents your organization.

Financial Objectives

Financial objectives are typically written as financial goals. When

selecting and creating your financial objectives, consider what you’re
trying to accomplish financially within the time span of your strategic
plan. Examples of strategic goals for this perspective include:

1. Grow shareholder value: The top goal of your organization may

be to increase the value of your organization for your
shareholders, stakeholders, or owners. Value can be defined in
many ways, so this would need to be clearly defined.
2. Grow earnings per share: This objective implies your
organization is trying to increase its earnings or profits. For
publicly traded companies, a common way to look at this is
through “earnings per share.” This can be measured quarterly
and/or annually.
3. Increase revenue: Revenue represents growth in your
organization, so increasing revenue is a sign of company health.
You can make this more specific by defining revenue from a key
area in your organization.
4. Manage cost: On the other side of revenue is the costs or
expenses in your business. As you grow (or shrink) you need to

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 carefully manage cost—so this may be an important objective
for you.
5. Maintain appropriate financial leverage: Many organizations use
debt—another word for financial leverage—as a key financial
tool. There may be an optimal amount of debt you’d like to stay
within.
6. Ensure favorable bond ratings: For some organizations, bond
ratings are a sign of healthy finances. This is a regularly
occurring objective for a public sector scorecard.
7. Balance the budget: A balanced budget reflects the discipline of
good planning, budgeting, and management. It is also one that
is typically seen in the public sector—or within divisions or
departments of other organizations.
8. Ensure financial sustainability: If your organization is in growth
mode or has an uncertain economic environment, you need to
be sure you remain financially stable. Sometimes this means
seeking outside sources of revenue or managing costs that are
appropriate to your operations.
9. Maintain profitability: This is a solid top-level objective that
shows balance between revenue and expenses. If your
organization is investing in order to grow, you may look to an
objective like this to govern how much you are able to invest.
10. Diversify and grow revenue streams: Some organizations
receive revenue from multiple sources or products and services.
They set an objective to grow revenue in different areas to
ensure that the organization is stable and not subject to risk
associated with only one revenue stream.
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While all of the above objectives are valuable for maintaining a stable
financial base for your organization, the most obvious strategic levers
are:

 Increase revenue
 Manage costs
 Maintain profitability
However, other objectives may be more applicable, particularly if your
organization is not driven by the need to be profitable but simply
looking to improve its financial position. Consider your needs
carefully; do you want to become more financially self-sufficient or
maybe maximize your resources? These motivations should drive the
financial objectives you choose.

Customer Objectives

Examples of a business’s customer objectives

11. Best value for the cost: This means that your customers
know they are not purchasing the most expensive product or
service—or even the highest quality—but that they are getting
the best deal. This may mean your customers are paying less
than average and getting an average or above-average product.
12. Broad product offering: This objective works if your
strategy is to be able to offer the customer the best product in
its class, regardless of price. In the hotel industry, for example,
this could reflect the strategy of the Four Seasons.

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13. Reliable products/services: If your organization takes pride
in the reliability of your product or service, this objective—which
reflects that you are targeting customers that also value this
reliability—may be right for you. This could indicate the on-time
reliability of an airline or the dependable reliability of a printer
that generates high-quality output.
14. Cross-sell more products: Some organizations—like banks
or office product companies—focus on selling more products to
the same customers. This strategy acknowledges that you
already have the customer but can make money by selling them
more.
15. Increase share of market: This customer strategy focuses
on selling to more customers, thus increasing the market share.
For example, if your organization is a landscape company, you
are likely trying to reach more households—or if your
organization is a hospital, you likely want more of the local
population to use your services.
16. Increase share of wallet: This customer strategy focuses
on gaining more purchases from the same customers. If you sell
fertilizer, for example, you want each customer to purchase a
larger percentage of their fertilizer spend with your organization
rather than with your competitors.
17. Partner with customers to provide solutions: This strategy
reflects customer intimacy. As part of this strategy, you may
deliver service-oriented solutions or have customers participate
in research and development with your organization. Partnering

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 comes at a cost but tends to foster more customer loyalty
across your organization.
18. Best service: This strategy indicates you want your
customers to consider your organization easy to deal with.
Customers may choose to work with you even if you have a
product similar to your competitors—simply because your
service is better.
19. Understands my needs: This objective also reflects a
customer intimacy strategy. The customer feels like you
understand their needs, so they choose your organization's
products and services because they are targeted for their
specific problem or situation.
These three objectives indicate the most basic needs customers
want an organization to fulfill:

 Partner with customers to provide solutions

 Best value for cost
However, you have to understand your own customers in order
to make them happy. So, to choose your customer objectives,
think about what your customers are looking for specifically and
set your objectives accordingly.

Internal Objectives

The internal perspective is typically focused on processes that

your organization must excel in.

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 These examples of business strategy processes can be divided
into three areas:

 Innovation,
 customer intimacy and
 operational excellence.

Innovation

20. Most innovative products/services: This objective is for

organizations that pride themselves on constant and cutting-
edge innovation. You would first need to define what you mean
by “innovation” and how you’re innovating in each particular
area.
21. Differentiate the product: Your organization might use this
objective if you are in an environment where the customer
cannot tell the difference between your organization and another
organization’s product. You are asking your organization to
either develop new services around the product or new
differentiating features of the product or service.
22. Invest a certain amount in innovation: Sometimes
organizations use an objective like this to drive investment in
research and development or other innovative activities. This
objective may be used in a strategy when you are signaling a
shift in investments in the innovation category.
23. Grow percentage of sales from new products: Similar to
investing in innovation, this objective focuses on the outcome

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 your organization is hoping to achieve. It forces you to
constantly innovate, even on your most successful products.
24. Improve or focus research and development (R&D): This
objective focuses on specific innovation. If you are an
organization with multiple product lines, you might want to
focus your innovation on one product line over another; calling
out the specific direction can be quite helpful in your objective.
25. Acquire new customers from innovative offerings: This
26. objective focuses on the reason you put focus on
innovation. For example, you may be innovating in order to enter
a new market or attract customers you might not be able to
reach with your current offerings.
All of the objectives from the above list help measure innovation
in a general sense. However, there are countless ways to
innovate; your objectives should reflect your specific approach.
Maybe you’re trying to hit a performance target with your
product or improve the quality of a particular product or service,
for example. Express your desired innovation goal in whatever
way is best for you.

Customer Service

27. Great customer service: Defining what great customer

service means in your organization is a way to set the standard
and communicate internally. For example, hone in on whether
you want to provide one-touch resolution or proactive support,
or whether you’re focused on phone support or on-site support.

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28. Improve customer service: When your organization has a
problem with good customer service, you may want an objective
to focus on improvement therein. The problem your company
has is likely in a specific area, so this objective should be
focused on that particular call center or the reactive support that
you provide.
29. Invest in customer management: This objective is typically
used when your strategy is to focus more on your customer
management processes than you have in the past.
30. Partner with customers to design solutions: Some
organizations focus on forming close partnerships with their
clients. If your business is an architectural firm or a custom
software developer company, this could be a good objective to
ensure you are working with your customers to design critical
solutions.
31. Improve customer satisfaction: If customer satisfaction is
critical in your company, this may be a good objective to hone in
on. Because it’s generic, the definition for your organization
needs to be more focused around particular areas of satisfaction
you place focus on.
32. Improve customer retention: If your organization wants to
focus on retaining current customers, this objective may work
for you. You’d likely want to set measures and projects around
certain activities to help retain customers.
33. Develop and use a customer database: This is a specific
objective focused on implementing a large project like a

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 customer relationship management (CRM) system, that could
take years to implement.
Creating customer service objectives is a way to ensure your
organization continuously maintains focus on this crucial area.
In addition to the objectives listed above, consider which
aspects of customer service are most relevant to your
organization. You may want to improve your customer chat
functionality, or, if you sell a software product, improve your
customer onboarding process. The smoother your internal
processes, the happier your customers.

Operational Excellence

33. Reduce cost by a certain amount annually: This objective

focuses on reducing costs—typically costs within a product or
service that is an offering (to make that particular product or
service more effective). It could also focus on reducing
overhead costs across your organization.
34. Reduce waste by a certain amount: If your organization
uses a lot of raw materials, a typical objective is to reduce waste
from that process. This usually results in significant cost
savings.
35. Invest in Total Quality Management: Total Quality
Management (TQM) reflects a process around quality
improvement, which can mean doing things more efficiently or
effectively. This objective is used in organizations that have
implemented (or are implementing) TQM.

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36. Reduce error rates: This objective applies for organizations
that have many repeatable processes. Sometimes this results in
Six Sigma projects, and other times the result is just a focus on
defining processes so that staff can adhere to these processes.
37. Improve and maintain workplace safety: If your
organization uses heavy equipment, chemicals, mechanical
parts, or machinery, focusing on workplace safety is a good
objective. Improving it can reduce costs and improve job
satisfaction.
38. Reduce energy usage per unit of production: If your
organization uses a significant amount of energy, making a goal
to reduce this can be an effective and important strategy.
39. Capitalize on physical facilities: In retail organizations, this
could mean focusing on an appropriate storefront location. Or it
could mean finding underutilized assets and either using them
or selling/leasing them to others for use.
40. Streamline core business processes: Many complex
organizations have very long, drawn-out processes that have
developed over many years. If your organization is looking at
these processes, this could be a key objective for you.
41. Increase reliability of operations: If your organization has
poor reliability, having an objective like this will encourage
management to look at investments and changes in processes
that could increase this reliability.
Sometimes, objectives for operational excellence can be too
vague, referring to “excellent” or “world-class” processes or
“high-performing” teams. All of the above goals are specific and
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 tied to various aspects of performance. And while you might be
tempted to skip over operational excellence goals altogether, it’s
important to invest time and resources in this area! Efficiency
and cost-effectiveness are key to staying competitive, and
achieving these objectives can have a positive impact on your
company’s growth.

Regulatory (Optional)

42. Ensure compliance: In a regulated environment, there may

be a lot of rules that you need to follow, even if they don’t seem
strategic. They are often called “strategic objectives” to ensure
no one cuts corners.
43. Increase recycling: This is a self-explanatory objective, but
can sometimes apply to all aspects of waste. Depending on the
organization, there are compliance rules around making this
happen.
44. Improve reporting and transparency: Organizations just
entering a regulatory environment or that are trying to change
their business model to meet contract needs may find that they
need to improve or change the way they report in order to do
better cost accounting or just be more clear about their actions.
45. Increase community outreach: For some organizations, it
is important to be seen as part of the community. This is
especially true for organizations that are either selling a
necessity in the community or are creating any kind of negative
externality (like pollution).

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46. Optimize control framework: If you’re a regulated
organization in an incentive environment, you may need to make
sure you have the proper controls in place to avoid one-off or
systematic cheating.
If your organization is part of an industry where regulations
apply, creating regulatory-related objectives not only helps you
stay in compliance but can also help you grow. (Finding a better
way to stay informed about new regulations could be an
objective itself!) Goals in this area could apply to anything from
increasing accountability to implementing risk management
plans to streamlining compliance processes.

Learning & Growth (L&G) Objectives

Learning and growth objectives focus on skills, culture, and

organizational capacity.

47. Improve technical and analytical skills: With the increasing

advance of computers and technical innovations affecting all
industries, this is a common objective for some organizations.
Specific technical skills—or a more specific definition—may be
included in the objective name.
48. Improve a certain skill: This is seen in a goal if an
organization is either affected by a new competitive environment
or is trying to address a new market. The particular skill would
be specific to the organization. This is also seen in

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 organizations with an aging workforce without a clear means to
replace highly technical skills.
49. Create a performance-focused culture: This objective can
be used if your organization is trying to change its culture to one
that focuses more on performance management or incentives.
This objective shows up a lot in government and nonprofit
organizations.
50. Improve productivity with cross-functional teams: Large
companies see synergies from working together but want to
encourage staff to help with this. For example, a bank with
multiple products or a multinational company with multiple lines
of business may use this objective.
51. Invest in tools to make staff more productive: If your
organization has the right staff, but the staff does not have the
right tools for the job, this may be a critical objective.
52. Improve employee retention: This objective is common in
learning and growth and may focus on skills, culture, pay, and
the overall work environment.
53. Attract and retain the best people: This is a good “beginner
objective” if your organization is just starting to use the
Balanced Scorecard. Ultimately, you’ll need a good plan
regarding who you need to hire, how many hires you need, and
what the biggest challenges with regard to retention are. You
can then become more specific in this objective by addressing
those challenges.
54. Build high-performing teams: If teamwork is critical in your
organization, consider this objective. It can be hard to measure,
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 so you should think about whether you
are encouraging teams or mandating teamwork.
55. Maintain alignment across the organization: Some
companies demand an extensive amount of alignment across
the organization, which can be seen through having common
objectives or common incentive programs where alignment is
important.
56. Develop leadership abilities and potential of the team:
Many organizations realize that they are good at hiring people
but not developing them into good leaders. If this is something
your company wants to change, this objective is important.

How to Achieve Business Goals and Objectives: 10 best

practices

 Set realistic objectives for your team to complete. ...

 Leverage asynchronous communication. ...
 Document relevant information. ...
 Keep information up to date. ...
 Assess and prioritize tasks. ...
 Stay flexible. ...
 Monitor progress. ...

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How to Achieve Business Goals and Objectives: 10 best
practices

Now that we know the difference between company objectives and

goals, let’s dive into some 'how-tos'. From defining clear goals to
fostering a culture of accountability, these strategies will serve as
your roadmap to success.

1. Set realistic objectives for youbr team to complete

Every good objective has two components: a target date and

a measurable achievement.

For example, "Increase our sales revenue" and “Boost our profits”
are not practical objectives. They don’t indicate when or how
much. Instead, "Increase sales revenue by 30% by June 30th."
would be a more effective statement.

Another way to make sure a main objective is realistic is to break

it down into smaller tasks that team members can complete within
a specific time frame. These smaller tasks are typically called
milestones.

For example, if your objective is to hire five new employees by the

end of the year; what are challenges and timelines for each role?
Creating a milestone for each hire might help team members
tackle the objective more effectively.

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2. Leverage asynchronous communication

Asynchronous work is a collaboration style that does not require

the presence of all participants at the same time. Instead,
individuals complete their tasks independently of others'
schedules. This enablies flexibility and enhances productivity.

/Asynchronous work offers several key benefits that support the

achievement of company goals and objectives:

 Increased Productivity: Asynchronous work allows team

members to focus on tasks without constant interruptions.
Teams create an environment focused on deep work and more
intentional interactions.

 Flexibility: People in asynchronous teams work when they are

most productive. Team members can optimize their work
routines around other responsibilities and keep a better work-
life balance.

 Global Teams: For teams distributed across time zones,

asynchronous work minimizes the need for overlap. This allows
organizations to hire talent regardless of their geographic
location.

 Reduced Pressure: Without the need for immediate responses,

team members can take the time to thoughtfully respond to
queries and produce high-quality work.

 Efficient Use of Time: Asynchronous communication tools allow

for tracking of tasks and conversations. Documentation can be

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 referred to later, reducing the need for repeating information and
saving time in the long run.

3.Document relevant information

Documentation refers to the process of providing written

evidence or records. Think about work progress, processes,
policies, instructions, decisions, or events within an
organization.

Prioritizing effective documentation is essential to ensure

smooth operations, safeguard knowledge, and continuously
improve as a team.

Documentation helps teams with objectives and goal

management through the following:

 Knowledge Management: Documentation serves as a repository

of information that can be referred to when needed. It prevents
loss of knowledge due to staff turnover and helps new
employees get up to speed.

 Accountability: When tasks, decisions, and processes are

documented, it's clear who is responsible for what. This
promotes accountability, which can drive progress towards
goals.

 Efficiency: Well-documented processes can lead to increased

efficiency by reducing the need for repeated explanations and
minimizing the risk of making mistakes.

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4. Keep information up to date

Tasks should be continuously updated as new relevant work gets

completed. This way team members can stay up to date with
progress and seamlessly access information.

Provide updates when relevant. Task management systems allow

you to update the assignee status, change lists, or leave a
comment. This way, everyone else knows that you made changes
to the task. Similarly, you can keep your team informed by using
the task comments.

You can use comments to note what you did on a task or how it's
progressing. For example, you just updated a bug report and want
to let someone know.

Then, change the list of the task or update your assignee status.
This way, team members know that you finished the task, and they
can move on to other tasks. If you want to update the status of an
assignee (e.g., change them from "to do" to "In Progress"):

1. Check out "Assignees" at the top of a task. You'll see a list of all
people in that project or conversation.

2. After selecting, click on their name and "Change Status."

3. Select "In Progress" or the status that best fits that task.

5. Assess and prioritize tasks

It’s important to continuously assess the importance of activities

to achieve short-term business goals. First, you need to prioritize
31
tasks based on their impact on the company. Next, assess what
needs to be done right now and what can wait until later.

Determine the importance of each activity by asking yourself,

"What's the impact of this activity on our company's success?"
Assign a score from lowest to highest based on how it will affect
your company goals (e.g., lowest, low, medium, high, urgent).
Then prioritize the tasks accordingly so that the essential
activities are always at the top of your list.

Assessing the importance of activities is a continuous

process that involves three steps:

1. Identify key performance indicators (KPI’s) for your department

or team

2. Measure progress toward these KPI’s every day

3. Use this data to adjust how you spend your time

This will help team members that wonder how to improve work
performance. By focusing on what is urgent and has a high
impact, they can spend their time effectively.

4. ‍Stay flexible

Staying flexible in the pursuit of company objectives and goals

means being open to change and ready to adapt when
circumstances shift. Adjust strategies, reallocate resources, or
even alter goals as necessary to respond to unpredictable
events or new information.
32
 To stay flexible, it's important to regularly review and revise
plans as necessary. Open communication and feedback loops
can help identify when changes might be needed.

While flexibility is important, it's also crucial to keep a clear

vision and strategic direction to prevent becoming unfocused
or reactive. A balance between flexibility and stability can help
you adapt to change without losing sight of long-term goals.

5. Monitor progress

Monitoring progress is an essential step in achieving company

goals and objectives. It involves regularly tracking and
evaluating the performance of tasks and projects against
established benchmarks or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Here's how it can contribute to the success of your

organization:

1. Identify progress and successes: Monitoring allows you to

see what's working well. Identify which strategies are
driving success and focus on maximizing impact.

2. Detect problems early: Regular monitoring can help spot

issues or bottlenecks early on. Intervene early to prevent
small issues from becoming major obstacles.

3. Accountability: Hold each team and individual accountable

for their tasks. Monitoring progress ensures everyone is

33
 contributing effectively towards achieving the company's
goals.

It's important to have clear, measurable objectives and a

reliable system for tracking performance. This could be
a project management software , a custom dashboard, or
regular reports.

Regular check-ins or reviews should be scheduled to

discuss progress, address issues, and adjust plans as
necessary. Remember, the goal of monitoring isn't to
micromanage. Provide support and guidance to ensure the
company's objectives are being met.

4. Learn from mistakes

When setbacks occur, use them as learning opportunities

instead of focusing on the negatives. Acknowledge when
things go wrong, analyze the situation and then implement
changes to prevent the mistake from happening again.

5.Employee Development: When mistakes are treated as

learning opportunities, it reduces the fear of failure. Employees
become more willing to take on challenges and learn new skills,
which increases their contribution to the company's goals.

6. Risk Management: Understanding past mistakes can help in

predicting and mitigating future risks. Proactively devise
strategies or backup plans to handle similar situations,
minimizing setbacks.5.. Use the right tools
34
 The right tools can streamline processes, improve
communication, enable better decision-making, and generally
increase efficiency and productivity:

1. Efficiency: Tools like project management software can

automate routine tasks, streamline workflows, and help track
progress, significantly increasing efficiency.

2. Collaboration: Collaboration tools allow teams to communicate,

share documents, and work together.

3. Task Management: Task management tools can help organize

work, set priorities, and ensure that everyone knows what they
need to do and when. Keep projects on track and ensure that
company objectives are met.

4. Remote Work: For companies with remote teams, tools for video
conferencing, instant messaging, file sharing, and more are
essential for enabling effective remote work.

Choosing the right tools requires understanding your

company's needs and goals. It's also important to provide
adequate training to ensure that all team members can use the
tools effectively.

Remember, tools are meant to support your work, not make it

more complicated. The best tools will fit seamlessly into your
workflows and enhance your team's ability to reach the goal.

10. Celebrate achieving company goals and objectives

35
 Team members who feel valued and appreciated are much
more likely to keep hitting their objectives. Celebrating
your team's success is an effective way to boost mora
land encourage future success while preventing a toxic
work culture.

How can you celebrate employee achievements? Here are

some for celebrating team victories large and small:

 Virtual events: A virtual cooking course, team-building

exercise, board game, escape room, and movie night are
all ways to connect remotely. Ensure all team members
receive an invitation to the event, even those unable to
attend because of conflicts or other commitments.

 Themed celebrations: For example, if you're celebrating a

significant contract win with a travel agency, you might host
an online event with a tropical theme where guests receive
gift boxes or care packages delivered to their homes.

 Bonuses: Celebrate achievements that are measured in

dollars or percentages. For example, if your team has
increased sales by 20% over the last year, celebrate that
achievement with bonuses.

 Awards ceremonies: Create a set of awards based on

different values and achievements throughout the year. To
keep things light, you can also present awards such as "Best
Dressed" or "Best Smile."!

36
 Organizational goals are the desired outcomes that
an organization to achieve. They are the heart and soul of
any company, regardless of its size and domain. They drive
success and provide a clear direction for employees.
Well-defined goals can help organizations to:

 Improve Performance and Productivity: When employees know what

they are working towards, they are more likely to be motivated and
engaged. This can lead to improved performance and productivity.
 Increase Employee Engagement and Motivation: Employees are more
likely to be engaged and motivated when they feel their work is
meaningful and contributes to achieving organizational goals.
 Make Better Decisions: When organizations have clear goals, they are
better equipped to make informed decisions about resource allocation,
strategic planning, and other important matters.
 Allocate Resources More Effectively: With clear goals in mind,
organizations can make more effective decisions about allocating
resources. This can lead to improved efficiency and profitability.
 Gain a Competitive Advantage: By setting and achieving ambitious
goals, organizations can gain a competitive advantage in their
industry.

37
 7 Ways to Achieve Organizational Goals and Objectives

1. Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-

bound) Goals

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-

bound. Setting SMART goals helps the companies to ensure that
goals are well-defined, realistic, and achievable.

Specific: Be specific as possible whenever you are defining your

goals. A specific goal answers questions like:

 What exactly do you want to achieve?

 Who's the responsible person/team for it?
 What steps needed to be taken to achieve it?

These questions help you to get to the heart of your company's aim.

Measurable: Quantifying the company's goals makes it easier for you

to track progress and know when you've reached the finish line.

For example, instead of saying "Increase sales," say "Increase sales

by 8% in the next quarter."

Achievable: Goals should be realistic. It should stretch your abilities

but still remain possible.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the organization have the resources and capabilities to achieve

the desired goal? If not, what are we missing?

38
2. Have other organizations done it successfully before?

Realistic: A SMART goal should be realistic. It can be realistically

achieved, given the available resources and time. It is likely realistic if
you believe it can be successfully achieved.

The following questions will help you:

1. Is the goal realistic and within reach of our organization?

2. Is the goal achievable, given the resources and time?
3. Are we able to commit to achieving the goal?

Time-Bound: A SMART goal must be time-bound because it has a

start and finish date. If the goal is not constrained by time, there will
be no urgency and, therefore, the motivation will be less to achieve
the goal.

Answer these questions

 Does the goal have a deadline?

 When do we want to achieve our goal?

Craft a Clear Plan of Action.

Once you have set SMART goals, you need to develop a clear plan of
action to achieve them. This plan should identify the steps that need
to be taken, the resources that will be needed, and the timeline for
completion. It is important to involve key stakeholders in the planning
process to ensure everyone is aligned on the goals and how they will
be achieved.

39
 Here are some tips for crafting a clear plan of action:

 Identify the Steps That Need to Be Taken: Break down your goals into
smaller, more manageable tasks. This will make the process seem less
daunting and help you to stay on track.
 Determine the Resources That Will Be Needed: What resources will
you need to achieve your goals? This could include people,
equipment, funding, and other resources.
 Set a Timeline for Completion: When do you want to achieve your
goals? Set realistic deadlines for each task and monitor your progress
closely.
 Involve Key Stakeholders: Get input from key stakeholders and ensure
everyone is aligned on the goals and how they will be achieved.

3. Mitigate Distractions

In today's fast-paced world, staying focused and avoiding distractions

can be difficult. However, it is essential to eliminate distractions as
much as possible when working towards important goals.

Here are some tips for mitigating distractions:

 Set aside Time to Work on Your Goals Without Distractions: This could
mean turning off your phone, closing your email, and finding a quiet
place to work.
 Take Breaks Regularly: Getting up and moving around will help you to
stay refreshed and focused.
 Use Productivity Tools: There are many productivity tools available
that can help you to stay focused and avoid distractions. For example,

40
 you could use a timer to block out time for work or a website blocker
to block distracting websites.

4. Employ Efficient Time Management

Time management is essential for achieving organizational goals.

Here are some tips for efficient time management:

 Prioritize Your Tasks: Not all tasks are created equal. Focus on the
most important tasks first and delegate or postpone less important
tasks.
 Set Deadlines for Yourself: This will help you to stay on track and
avoid procrastination.
 Break Down Large Tasks in to Smaller Ones: This will make them seem
more manageable and help you to make progress.
 Avoid Multitasking: Multitasking is less efficient than focusing on one
task at a time.
 Take Breaks: It is important to take breaks throughout the day to avoid
burnout. Get up and move around, or do something that you enjoy.

5. Use The "Eat That Frog" Technique

The "Eat That Frog" technique is a time management strategy that

encourages you to tackle the most difficult task first thing in the day.
This will help you to get the most challenging task out of the way and
free up your time and energy for other tasks.

Here are some tips for using the "Eat That Frog" technique:

41
 Identify Your Frog: Identify the most important and difficult task you
must complete at the beginning of each day. This is your frog.
 Tackle Your Frog First Thing in the Morning: Before working on other
tasks, focus on completing your frog.
 Break down Your Frog into Smaller Tasks: If your frog is too large and
daunting, break it into smaller, more manageable tasks.
 Set Deadlines for Yourself: Set deadlines for each of the smaller tasks
that make up your frog. This will help you to stay on track and avoid
procrastination.

6. Apply The Pareto Principle

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of
outputs come from 20% of inputs. This means you can achieve
significant results by focusing on the most important 20% of your
tasks.

Here are some tips for applying the Pareto principle to your work:

 Identify Your Most Important Tasks: What 20% of your tasks are
generating 80% of your results? Focus on these tasks first.
 Delegate or Eliminate Less Important Tasks: If possible, delegate or
eliminate less important tasks. This will free up your time and energy
to focus on the most important tasks.
 Automate Tasks: Automate repetitive tasks. This will free up your time
to focus on more important tasks.

7. Always Track Progress

42
 It is important to track your progress toward your goals so that you
can stay on track and make adjustments as needed.

Here are some tips for tracking progress:

 Set Milestones for Yourself: Break down your goals into smaller, more
manageable steps. This will help you to track your progress more
easily.
 Track your Progress Regularly: Depending on the goal, this could be
daily, weekly, or monthly.
 Celebrate your Successes: When you reach a milestone or achieve a
goal, celebrate your success! This will help you to stay motivated and
on track.

In addition to the seven tips above, organizations can increase their

chances of success by communicating their goals to their team,
providing regular feedback and support, and celebrating successes
together

43
ALTERNATIVE COURSE OF ACTION

Alternative Courses of Action (ACA) These are the possible solutions

to the problem identified. Each ACA must stand alone and must be
able to solve the stated problem and achieve the objectives.Okt 15,
2014

The purpose of evaluating the alternatives courses of action is to

select the most suitable course of action, which will achieve
organisational objectives. Techniques of decision-making are applied
to choose a particular course of action. Some factors should be taken
into account.

What is evaluating alternative courses?

Evaluating alternative courses: After identifying different alternatives

the next step is to evaluate each alternative. Evaluation means the
study of the performance of various actions. All the possible
alternatives should be evaluated keeping in mind their expected cost
and benefit to the organization.

DETERMINING ALTERNATIVE COURSES

Steps in Planning for any Purpose or Business

1. Being Aware of Opportunities

Although its precedes actual planning and it therefore not strictly a

part of the planning process, an awareness of opportunity in external
environment as well as within the organization is the real starting
point of planning. All managers should takes a primary look at

44
possible future opportunities and see them clearly and completely,
know where they stand in light of their strength and weaknesses.

2. Establishing objectives

The second step in planning is to establish objectives for entire

enterprise and then the each subordinate work unit. This has to be
done for a long term or a short term too. Objectives specifies the
expected results and indicate the end point of what is to be done,
where the primary emphasis is to be placed, and what is to be
accomplished by the network of strategies, policies, procedures,
rules, budgets and programs

3. Developing Premises

The third logical step in planning is to establish, circulate and obtain

agreement to utilize critical planning premises such as forecasts,
applicable basic policies and existing company plans.

4. Determining alternative courses

The fourth step in planning is to search for and examine alternative

courses of action, especially those not immediately apparent. There is
seldom a plan for which reasonable alternative do not exist and quit
often an alternative that is not obvious proves to be best.

5. Evaluation of alternative courses

After seeking out alternative courses and examining their strong and
weak points, the next step is to be evaluating the alternatives by

45
weighing them in light of premises and goals. One course may appear
to be most profitable, but it may require a large cash outlay and slow
playback; another may look less profitable but may involve less risk;
still another may suit company’s long term objectives.

6. Select a Course

This is a point at which the plan is adopted – the real point of decision
making. Occasionally an analysis and evaluation of alternative
courses will disclose that two or more are advisable, and the manager
will decide to follow several courses rather that the one best course.

7. Formulating Derivative Plans

When a decision is made, planning is seldom complete without

derivate plans Derivative plans are almost invariably require
supporting the basic plan.

8. Numerating Plans by Budgeting

After decision are made and plans are set, the final step in giving
them meaning as was indicated in discussion of types of plans, is to
numerate them by converting them into budgets.

A decision involves choosing a course of action among several

alternatives

A decision can be defined as a commitment to a course of action

with the intention of serving the interests and values of the
organization.

46
A decision is usually described as a choice between alternative
courses of action. According to Samuel Eilon several
characteristics define decisions:

 Multiple alternatives are identified

 The alternatives are compared
 The outcomes of the alternatives are evaluated
 A choice is made about the course of action in a certain
situation

When considering decisions one could focus on the final point — the
psychological moment in which the decision is made — or the
process that led up to making that decision.

Traditionally broken down into three phases:

 Assessment of the situation

 Determination of viable courses of action
 Commitment to a course of action (final point)

Decision making is a rich process of addressing several cardinal

decision issues or fundamental questions such as the underlying
need, defining the options, value judgments, the cost of the decision,
predicted outcomes, the authority of the decision maker, trade-offs,
the acceptability of the decision for stakeholders and considerations
for implementation.

47
Steps in Planning for any Purpose or Business

1. Being Aware of Opportunities

Although its precedes actual planning and it therefore not

strictly a part of the planning process, an awareness of
opportunity in external environment as well as within the
organization is the real starting point of planning. All managers
should takes a primary look at possible future opportunities and
see them clearly and completely, know where they stand in light
of their strength and weaknesses.

2. Establishing objectives

The second step in planning is to establish objectives for entire

enterprise and then the each subordinate work unit. This has to
be done for a long term or a short term too. Objectives specifies
the expected results and indicate the end point of what is to be
done, where the primary emphasis is to be placed, and what is
to be accomplished by the network of strategies, policies,
procedures, rules, budgets and programs

3. Developing Premises

The third logical step in planning is to establish, circulate and

obtain agreement to utilize critical planning premises such as
forecasts, applicable basic policies and existing company plans.

4. Determining alternative courses

48
The fourth step in planning is to search for and examine
alternative courses of action, especially those not immediately
apparent. There is seldom a plan for which reasonable
alternative do not exist and quit often an alternative that is not
obvious proves to be best.

5. Evaluation of alternative courses

After seeking out alternative courses and examining their strong

and weak points, the next step is to be evaluating the
alternatives by weighing them in light of premises and goals.
One course may appear to be most profitable, but it may require
a large cash outlay and slow playback; another may look less
profitable but may involve less risk; still another may suit
company’s long term objectives.

6. Select a Courses

This is a point at which the plan is adopted – the real point of

decision making. Occasionally an analysis and evaluation of
alternative courses will disclose that two or more are advisable,
and the manager will decide to follow several courses rather that
the one best course.

7. Formulating Derivative Plans

When a decision is made, planning is seldom complete without

derivate plans Derivative plans are almost invariably require
supporting the basic plan.

49
8. Numerating Plans by Budgeting

After decision are made and plans are set, the final step in
giving them meaning as was indi

Recommendation
Recommendation or view determined and communicated to
investors by the Management Committee (MANCOM)

Management Committee is a group of people who are chosen or

elected to make decisions about how a club or charity is run, and
to make sure that particular jobs are done:

Committee Management: Roles & Responsibilities for

Successful Leadership

Committee management benefits the function of the committee

and the board as a whole. Well-managed committees are
informed of meeting agendas well in advance so that they come
prepared to the meeting, having read the previous meeting’s
minutes, and are ready to discuss the agenda items. They also
remain focused and on-task for the duration of the meeting.
Providing committee members with the support and solutions
they need to enable this preparedness level takes intentional
planning and structure.

Committee management can happen in a variety of ways. One of

the most common solutions is a paper and electronic
50
 communication combo. Paper agendas are mailed out prior to
the meeting, are available on-sight, and the committee is
reminded of the time, date, t9and agenda via email. While this
enhances communication, this approach also places a lot of
burden on the committee member to keep track of pertinent
information. Papers are frequently misplaced, and emails can
also get lost in inboxes full of other information.

Board committees can be composed of all sorts of individuals,

each with varying strengths and bandwidth for participation. Not
every committee is a great fit for every board member. When
determining a committee structure or assigning/volunteering for
a committee, one should ask themselves what are typical board
committees responsible for.

Types Of Management Committee

What are the 4 types of committees? Although individual

committees have many different names, there are four different
types of board committees in general:

 An ad hoc committee is usually temporary and created for a very

specific purpose. For instance, decorating or bake sale
committees are common examples of ad hoc committees. These
are short-term opportunities, however, they are very common
and still important.

 A constitutional committee is meant to advise the board of

directors on issues related to the policies and procedures of an

51
 organization, as well as other ‘constitutional’ issues otherwise
known as governance.

 An advisory committee is comprised of individuals who bring

their expertise on a specific topic and advise the board based on
their experience.

 A joint committee may include members of the community or

members of a board in a different organization that have come
together for a common purpose or to advance a relationship.

Although there may be many different names for types of board

committees in corporate governance and types of committees in
nonprofit organizations, all committees fall into one type from the
above categories. Types of management committees could be
constitutional or advisory, however, it is likely to vary from board
to board.

Management CommIttee Roles And Responsibilities

Management committees can often work directly with the CEO of

an organization..

Management committee members and management committee

roles and responsibilities are vast. It can be helpful to develop a
document of working committee roles and responsibilities if they
tend to evolve and shift over time. There are many different types
of committee members.

52
Common management committee roles and responsibilities may
look like this:

 Organizing board responsibilities as a whole

 Creating organizational reports to determine priority

 Upholding the overall values of an organization and remaining

focused on the mission

 Managing other aspects of the board, such as board operations

and other committee functions

Role And Responsibilities Of Committee Members

The role and responsibilities of committee members can vary by

committee. It is usually dependent on the committee’s role within
the organization. For example, the planning committee roles and
responsibilities would likely be different from the budget
committee’s roles and responsibilities. It can be beneficial to create
a “Roles & Responsibilities of Committee Members” pdf to help
keep everyone on track.

In general, here are a few common roles of members in a meeting:

 Read and understand the agenda. The agenda is what

determines the course of a meeting and is often crafted with the
intention of priority and what time allows.

53
 Take action on agenda items. Committees are created to
accomplish tasks. It is the responsibility of committee members
to read the agenda, understand it, make motions, and then
follow through with the resolutions of their actions.

 Appointing new committee members. It is common for

committee members to serve “terms” and have a term limit. It’s
important to always have new committee members in place to
preserve the committee’s purpose.

 Support the action and efforts of the committee overall. As

previously stated, the committee exists for a reason. It is the
responsibility of that committee to oversee and advance the
organization’s overall mission.

Management Committee Vs Executive Committee

What are the differences between a management committee and

an executive committee? There can appear to be quite a bit of
overlap between the two. In the simplest definition, the role of an
executive committee meeting is to function in the absence of the
full board. Sometimes it is not always possible for a full board to
gather and make decisions as a consensus. Instead, a list of
executive committee members is gathered to act on behalf of the
board.

54
The responsibilities of committee members fall into two
categories:

 those of the committee acting as a group and

 those held by its members as individuals.

Depending on the size and nature of the association other areas of

responsibility may include staff management, development and
implementation of policies and procedures and provision of quality
services to members and/or clients.

Individual committee members’ responsibilities

Complying with the rules

The management committee is responsible for implementing the

association’s rules and ensuring it meets its obligations under the
Act. Committee members must comply with the rules at all times
and be familiar with the main provisions. A copy of the rules
should also be on hand at each committee meeting for easy
reference.

Conflicts of interest

Committee members must not put themselves in a position

where there is a conflict between their duties and
responsibilities to the association and their personal interests.

The Act requires committee members to disclose any material

personal interest they may have in any matter being considered
55
 by the committee. A committee member has a material personal
interest when that member has a personal interest in a matter
which could be seen to influence their decision. The interest
may be financial or non-financial. For example:

 the committee member owns a business that contracts with the

association; and
 a committee member’s spouse applies for employment with the
association.

It must be remembered that not all personal interests are

‘material’ in the context of the decision being made and common
sense should apply. For example: in a junior sports club,
committee members are likely to have children who participate
and as a result have an interest in matters such as team
selection, coaching and scheduling of matches. These
situations would not ordinarily require declaration of an interest,
but should a committee member have a child who has been
singled out for disciplinary action or to receive a substantial
prize, then it would be appropriate for the committee member to
declare a conflict of interest with regard to any consideration of
that matter.

Disclosures must be made as soon as the member becomes

aware of their conflict. If a committee member declares an
interest in a matter being considered, the Act requires that:

56
1. the disclosure must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting
and include the nature and extent of the interest;
2. the committee member with the conflict of interest must not
discuss or vote on the contract and must leave the meeting
while the matter is being considered.

If there are not enough members remaining to form a quorum, a

special general meeting must be called and a resolution on the
matter passed by the members.

3. the member with the conflict of interest must then disclose the
nature and extent of their interest in the matter at the next
general meeting of the association.

A useful way to help committee members comply with these

requirements is to make ‘disclosures of interest’ a standard agenda
item for committee meetings. In most cases there will be nothing to
note, and will serve as a reminder to members of the need to
remain aware of conflicts of interest.

The executive committee or board of an organization is a

committee within that organization which has the authority to make
decisions and ensures that these decisions are carried out.

What is an Executive Committee?

An executive committee is a governing body composed of key

leaders and executives within an organization. It serves as a
central decision-making and oversight body responsible for
57
shaping the organization’s strategic direction, policies, and
operations.

The composition of an executive committee may vary

depending on the organization’s structure and purpose, but it
typically includes top-level executives such as the CEO, CFO,
COO, and other senior leaders.

Executive committees play a crucial role in organizations’

success and sustainable growth. They act as a forum for
discussing important issues, setting priorities, and aligning an
organization’s objectives with its overall mission and vision.

Roles and Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of an executive committee vary

depending on the specific organization and its objectives.
However, the following are common areas where executive
committees typically have significant involvement and
responsibility:

 Strategic planning: They are responsible for formulating and

refining the organization’s strategic plans. They assess
market trends, evaluate opportunities and risks, and set long-
term goals and objectives.
 Decision-making: The committee makes important decisions
on matters such as mergers, acquisitions, and investments.

58
 Performance monitoring: They monitor the performance of
the executive team and the organization in general, reviewing
financial reports and key performance indicators (KPIs) to
assess progress toward strategic goals.
 Governance and compliance: Executive committees establish
and review policies and procedures, oversee compliance with
legal and regulatory requirements, and promote ethical
behavior and responsible corporate citizenship.

The composition of an executive committee may vary

depending on the organization’s structure and purpose, but it
typically includes top-level executives such as the CEO, CFO,
COO, and other senior leaders.

Executive committees play a crucial role in organizations’

success and sustainable growth. They act as a forum for
discussing important issues, setting priorities, and aligning
an organization’s objectives with its overall mission and
vision.

Steering Committee

a committee that decides on the priorities or order of business

of an organization and manages the general course of its
operations.

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Steering Committees: What Are They?

A steering committee is an advisory body that's part of IT—or

other—governance. The members include experts, authority
figures, and senior stakeholders in an organization or project.
Because of this, steering committees have a significant stake in
how projects are managed. Their main concerns are the
direction, scope, budget, timeliness, and methods. Each of these
aspects is discussed on a regular basis by steering committees,
and the committees help set or reset the direction of the project.

Steering Committee Members

Typically, the roles and responsibilities of a steering committee

do not involve actively carrying out prescribed tasks. Rather, it
is typically comprised of senior managers or executives, key
external stakeholders, and subject matter experts. The
composition of a steering committee can vary depending on its
purpose. For instance, a project steering committee might
consist of the project manager and relevant external
stakeholders such as customers. In contrast, an organizational
steering committee may be composed of executives, select
board members, and department heads.

While the composition of each steering committee may vary

slightly, there are certain factors to consider. First and foremost,
a chairperson should be selected through election rather than
being the owner of the project being steered. This promotes
impartiality in leading the committee. Additionally, the members
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 should represent a diverse range of perspectives and equally
cover all functions under its purview. This ensures the exchange
of varied viewpoints and concepts. Simultaneously, open
dialogue should be encouraged to allow for the consideration of
all opinions. Lastly, it is crucial for the committee to have well-
defined objectives and an organized agenda in order to
effectively guide its direction.

How Does It Work?

The steering committee makes directional decisions on various

organizational projects. Members of the committee assist
project managers in achieving strategic company goals.

Steering committees also perform the following tasks:

Advocate for initiatives and projects across the organization

 Ensure that projects are headed in the right direction
 Advice or input on budgeting, including assets (such as people),
money, facilities, time, hiring, and marketing
 Determine the scope and goals of the project as well as how
success will be measured
 Approve or reject project plans and changes
 To support projects, select project managers and experts
 The deliverables of the project should be prioritized and
reprioritized
 Plan and monitor project processes
 Resolve disputes between parties
 Develop strategy and problem-solving ideas
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 Assist with concerns and issues related to projects or the
company as a whole
 Establish policies and procedures for governance
 Risk identification, monitoring, and elimination
 Keep an eye on project quality and make adjustments as
necessary

The value of a steering committee

Considering the range of functions steering committees provide, it

might seem quite clear that they can increase the value of a
business or project. By keeping projects on track, managing
budgets, mitigating risks, and resolving conflicts, steering
committees increase value when they work properly. As a result of
all of this happening independently of day-to-day operations, the
value gain is heightened.

The line between successful governance that increases value and

bureaucratic governance that wastes time and leads to poor
decisions is a fine one. If a steering committee follows the
guidelines of having a chairperson, diverse members, and
openness and clear goals, what goes in determines what comes
out. Consequently, data is arguably the biggest contributor to
value gain.

Using the right data to make the right decisions

In order to gain the most value from a steering committee, the data
must be meaningful and understandable. Bad or incomprehensible

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data can make it hard for the steering committee to make informed
and timely decisions. On the other hand, usable data facilitates
clear communication and accurately reflects current conditions.

How do you ensure the steering committee receives the

right data?
BI stands for business intelligence.

Generally speaking, business intelligence refers to the process of

collecting, storing, and analyzing organizational data in order to
generate reports, identify trends, and measure performance.
Business intelligence serves the sole purpose of improving
management decisions

Implementing business intelligence practices in companies is a

match made in heaven. By automating or scheduling report and
dashboard generation, steering committees gain access to
meaningful data that aligns with their defined metrics. This enables
a better understanding of project progress and facilitates clear
communication for steering committees to make timely decisions.
What is a Steering Committee?

A steering committee is a group of main stakeholders that decides

on an organization’s priorities or order of business, and manages its
operations general counsel. The goal of a steering committee is to
oversee and support a project from the management level.

A steering committee provides guidance, recommendations, and

leadership to drive successful outcomes from acquisitions. A
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 steering committee is less formal than a board, and can operate
within whatever practices work best for the specific company.

The purpose of steering committee is to provide an objective

standpoint when making large decisions about a project, regarding
how companies run processes and how teams work together, that
cannot be taken on by the project team.

This is due to the fact that project teams are, first of all, occupied by
the workings of the project itself, and second, have a personal take
in the matter. A steering committee can also resolve issues quickly
when the project team has not been successful in fixing a problem.
They are also able to solve issues and settle conflicts quickly.

Steering committees increase value on both the business and

project level by keeping projects on track, budgets in check, risks
mitigated, and conflicts resolved.

How does a Steering Committee Work?

The roles and responsibilities of a steering committee are outlined as

follows.

Roles

1. Project level

On a project level, the role of the steering committee is to provide

advice, ensure delivery of project outputs, and the achievement of
project outcomes.

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2. Organizational level

On an organizational level, the role of the steering committee is to

focus on the direction, scope, budget, timeline, and methods used by
an organization.

Steering Committee Responsibilities:

1. Strategic direction and governance for projects. The steering

committee works to provide guidance on project resource
utilization, deadlines, staff hiring, and marketing needs.
2. Inter-unit coordination. This involves fostering positive and
timely communication about project progress to senior
leadership, investors, and relevant stakeholders. Also, they
oversee project collaboration and resolve conflicts amongst
teams.
3. Setting policies.
4. Allocating resources.
5. An initial budget is planned by the steering committee, and
funds are disbursed to the project following that determination.
If additional funds are needed, requests must be verified by the
committee.
6. Monitoring progress. The steering committee finalizes project
monitoring KPIs to measure successful performance. They
periodically review projects, and support in minimizing
obstacles that can threaten project outcomes.

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 7. Determine overall project scope and strategic project direction.
The steering committee sees the end result, and communicates
that with those working on the project.
8. Advocate for existing and new project initiatives within the
company.
9. Identify the right staff, project managers, and subject matter
experts to work on projects.
10. Brainstorm project strategy and innovative ideas to solve
end-user problems.

Who Makes Up a Steering Committee?

Steering committee structure is made up of a variety of people

including:

 Board officers. This is an executive position that supervises the

activities of an organization.
 Senior stakeholders. These are the key decision makers on a
project, and consist of sponsors and clients in executive or
senior management positions.
 Experts. These are people who are among the most
knowledgeable in their fields.
 Executives. These are the people responsible for running an
organization.
 Department employees. These are individuals directly employed
by the department of the company in question.
 Client representatives. These are people responsible for
managing the project on behalf of the client.

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  Head of Integration. This is a corporate executive in charge of
ensuring the coordination of all interacting systems within the
enterprise and its extended environments.
 Acquisition Executive Sponsor. This is a person who oversees a
business unit and is responsible for meeting deadlines having to
do with acquisitions, while keeping them aligned with the
organization’s strategy and direction.
 Acquisition Market Sponsor. This is a person in charge of
raising funds to support the project and reaching out to others
in the market and acting as a champion for the organization.
 Corporate Development lead. This position represents someone
responsible for executing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures,
and capital raising in-house for an organization or project.
The steering committee is composed of a group of experts inside and
associated closely with the company or project. That differs from an
advisory committee, which is is solely constructed of people outside
of the board. They function as an expert opinion, and may consist of
former board members, prospective board members, or subject-
specific experts.

How to Run an Effective Steering Committee?

Here are some tips to keep in mind to ensure that your steering
committee is functioning to its highest potential.

1. Ensure that your steering committee is an adequate size, but not

too big for fast decision-making. A steering committee too small
may be viewed as a dictatorship, and as not representing the

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 whole. With a multitude of opinions, dissent may form, and
deliberation may be a longer process. According to Don
Harrison, the developer of the AIM change management
framework, the ideal number of members of a steering
committee is 6.
2. Ensure that the steering committee is focused on fast decision-
making, and not just listening to reports from project team
members. Their role is not just to be present and a passive part
of the process, but to be an active part of the process and
contribute their own opinions to enhance project management.
3. Don’t overlook resistance. Listening to the viewpoints of those
who are resistant to change can help to build commitment and
readiness, as well as building confidence in the project at hand.
4. Include various levels of managers and executives on the
steering committee. This includes a variety of voices and
interests so that multiple perspectives can be taken into account
throughout the course of the project.
5. Define roles clearly. It is necessary that leaders of the steering
committee clearly define what the role of each member is, in
order for efficient functioning.
6. Pick the right people, considering personalities, ability to work
in teams, and organizational representation.
7. Inform them of the project. Regardless of prior experience, each
member should understand the plan, description, purpose, and
current scope of the project.

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 8. Set clear rules and goals. Leaders should provide steering
committee members with the right tools to perform their duties
by establishing guidelines and parameters.
9. Schedule follow-up meetings as necessary, but only when there
is something to discuss to avoid any interruptions inefficiency
and effectiveness.
10. Make communication and debriefing a priority. This can
happen through developing a mechanism for committee
members to communicate with each other and the project
manager, and gain insight into the process and any problems
that occurred.

What Makes Steering Committees successful?

There are some specific features that ensure success of a steering

committee, outside of its members.

1. Focus on collaboration, cooperation, and communication.

Leadership should act to promote member communication,
collaboration, and cooperation while creating a positive, open,
trusting environment.
2. Plan meetings ahead and decide ahead of time how to handle
decision making between meetings.
3. Show demonstrations, rather than describing what has been
done and what is to come. This promotes better understanding
and awareness of the project and its issues.
4. Be honest and transparent. Tell it like it is, and indicate issues
when they arise, not when it is too late to react.

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 5. Make decisions and communicate those decisions.
6. Ensure that the project manager is the one who is actually
managing the project, rather than the steering committee; their
role is to “steer,” not manage.
7. Ensure a good working relationship between the project
manager and sponsor.
8. The steering committee members should help a project by
providing active support and providing the necessary resources.
9. The steering committee should establish how project success
will be defined and measured. Generally, success should be
based on project delivery, product or service, and business.
10. The steering committee should take responsibility for business
success by directing, controlling, and managing the required changes
in the business.

11. The sterling committee should be a strong advocate for the

project, actively supporting it and acting as an advocate for its
outcomes. This boosts organization morale.

12. The steering committee should provide some governance. This

means approving the project approach and methodologies;
establishing delegation authorities and limits for project
management; defining the acceptable risk profile; overseeing
stakeholder management and change management programs;
overseeing the project quality assurance programs; reviewing and
approving or rejecting project plans; monitoring project progress;
and approving project sure.

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A steering committee is an advisory committee made up of various
stakeholders and firm officials. They assist in making choices on
various initiatives, with members directly interacting with project
managers. Here are some of the key functions of the Steering
Committee:

1. Advocacy

A steering committee advocates for the organization's varied goals

and programs. Remember that it is generally composed of top
management and specialists.

2. Setting strategies and goals

Steering committees develop strategic directions for initiatives. They

also provide advice and opinions on budgeting, assets, money, time,
facilities, marketing, and hiring. Goals and project scope are
established as part of their employment.

3. Coming up with ways of measuring success

There are several metrics for measuring performance. The steering

committee is in charge of establishing how a product's success is
measured.

4. Monitoring

The steering committee serves as an advisory body as well as a

monitoring body. It ensures that projects fulfill the necessary quality
standards and monitors any changes. It also keeps track of project
processes and plans, which is critical to project success. The committee
also analyzes and monitors project or company hazards before
devising solutions to mitigate them.

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5. Offering expert opinion

The steering committee comprises experts who provide expert

opinions on various issues concerning projects or the entire business.
Their involvement is generally required, especially while working on a
complex project.

6. Conflict resolution

Disagreements are normal, mainly while working on a specific project.

However, to ensure that issues do not disrupt the overall project, these
committees resolve disputes between stakeholders, giving them more
time to focus on what is best.

7. Problem-solving

One of the functions of any advisory body is to discover solutions to

problems the organization may be experiencing. It can generate
various problem-solving ideas due to the experts on the strategy
committee.
8. Decision making

Although the steering committee's primary function is to provide

counsel, it also participates in decision-making. For example, it can
analyze, accept, or reject project plans or recommend revisions to the
supplied plans based on the members' feedback.

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