Business Acumen Flashcards

Question

Formula based budget

Answer 1

Different business units receive different percentages of the budget. General funding changed by specific amount and different business units' budgets are adjusted proportionally. Ex. A government agency could experience a system-wide 5% budget decrease, which would be spread among its units according to different percentages.

Answer 2

one-time investments in physical assets such as buildings, land, equipment, software.

Answer 3

Ongoing operational costs - directly related to staffing and expenses One-time project costs

Answer 4

Compare previous/current activities and budget allocations with what will be needed to support the proposed organizational strategy.

Answer 5

Statement of need. This is the condition or change impelling the function’s action. Recommended solution. Risks and opportunities Estimated costs and timeframe

Answer 6

statement of the organization’s financial position—its assets, liabilities, and equity—at a particular time

Answer 7

``` Assets = Liability + Equity Assets = what you own Liability = what you owe Equity = what you owe to owners/shareholders ```

Answer 8

indicates an organization’s net income, which is often referred to as the “bottom line” and provides key information about the organization’s performance. Also known as P & L (profit and loss)

Answer 9

Net income = Revenues – Expenses

Answer 10

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - agree on a numerical value for each Strengths and weaknesses: come from internal environment Opportunities and threats: come from external environment

Answer 11

For any initiative, a team determines critical characteristics/elements for it to be successful, as well as alternatives to that element. Matrix created to assign a point rating to each alternative, and from there prioritize results.

Answer 12

Group discussion is critical to identifying all relevant costs and benefits. Create a benefit/cost ratio (divide) for each idea, and selecting highest

Answer 13

identifies and weights factors that could influence an outcome in either a negative or positive manner according to their possible impact. The group then uses these factors to score different opportunities. group can decide to pursue opportunities with scores showing favorability for change or avoid changes that face very strong resistance. Diagram: planned change/opportunity in the middle, forces for/against change are on left/right side and assigned a point value.

Answer 14

refers to examining an idea, a process, or an event with an open, objective, and inquiring mind. Includes: data advocacy data gathering data analysis evidence-based decision making (EBDM)

Answer 15

Ask - phrase the problem as a question Acquire - gather info from varied sources Appraise - determine validity, reliability Aggregate - combine and organize Apply - use data to draw conclusions Assess - monitor implemented solution

Answer 16

Gather data on continuous basis Use evidence when communicating with stakeholders Institutionalize the competency in the HR function Ensure all HR activities are measured!!

Answer 17

Positives: Rarely sole form of gathering data Useful to ID topics to use in surveys/focus groups Confidential environment, intimate conversation Opportunities for follow-up questions Negatives: Can be time consuming Require consistency and vigilance to avoid bias

Answer 18

Positives: Need to have skilled facilitator Provides flexible format Allow for group brainstorming and decision making Negatives: Can be difficult to control Data can be less reliable if participants don't contribute equally/are not included equally

Answer 19

Focus group technique Mind mapping begins with generating core ideas (sometimes generated w/ sticky notes) followed by Affinity diagramming - group categorizes and subcategorizes the ideas found in mind mapping to make connections

Answer 20

Group goes around suggesting ideas until there are no new ideas. Then use process of elimination and agree on remaining items. Ex. employee council

Answer 21

Meant to avoid groupthink - performed individually but anonymously and is therefore not performed face to face. Participants anonymously suggest ideas and then build off of previous ideas

Answer 22

Positive: efficient way to gather data from large group Easier to quantify data for analysis Negative: Can be difficult to obtain response rate Relies on self reporting Difficult to follow up on

Answer 23

Positives: Provides firsthand and immediate data rather than self-reported data Is time-efficient for subjects. Negatives: Requires skill to be unseen, remove personal bias, experience noting significant behaviors

Answer 24

Positives: Eliminates the effects of observation and involvement and possible bias of facilitator Rich, multi-perspective source of data Negatives: Can be time-intensive Requires experience to extract key data May require ingenuity to find data

Answer 25

Positives: Provides additional insight into cultural issues Can be observed without the help of those being observed Negatives: Requires researcher to understand the principles of culture Can create misunderstandings if the researcher is not familiar with the culture

Answer 26

ability of an instrument or tool to provide consistent results Ex. all testing is done at the same time with the same questions each day

Answer 27

ability of an instrument to measure intended attributes ex. A checklist used to rate suppliers' proposals results in selection of suppliers who meet expectations

Answer 28

Used when sample size is very large or data cannot be obtained from the entire population. Sample must be representative- it must accurately reflect the key characteristics of the entire population being studied.

Answer 29

a sample may not represent an entire population Ex.: a sample contains a higher proportion of older workers than what truly exists in the organization

Answer 30

Participants are not randomly assigned to control/variable groups, or only certain types of participants are selected Ex.: only enrolling high performing employees in a study

Answer 31

A representative group of participants is invited to a study, but the participants who volunteer are not representative. ex. all employees are sent a survey, but only young parents respond

Answer 32

people know they are being watched so they perform differently Ex. measuring the effect of factory conditions on worker productivity, and team only increases in productivity due to the design of the experiment. The workers appreciated the increased attention to their welfare.

Answer 33

Raters are measuring incorrectly whether due to lack of training or personal bias

Answer 34

takes into consideration how frequently each number comes up used when some data in the dataset have more significance or effect than other data. Useful where there are significant outliers in the spread of data HR could use weighting in assessing job candidates when some of the requirements—like certain degrees or credentials—are considered to be more important than others

Answer 35

All values added together useful when all the values are relatively close together and when they represent volume, as opposed to numerical order or numerical preference

Answer 36

Used to sort data into groups according to some factor, such as years of employment.

Answer 37

describe dispersion across a group of ranked data. Quartiles divide a data set into quarters. A percentile indicates the proportion of the dataset at a certain percentage.

Answer 38

The interquartile range applies the concept of quartiles to measures of central tendency. It includes all of the data values in Q2 and Q3, OR 25% of the values above the midpoint and 25% of the values below the midpoint. used to indicate a range of confidence in an estimate.

Answer 39

represents the distance of any data point from the center of a distribution when data is distributed in a “normal” or expected pattern (often shown as a bell curve)

Answer 40

identifies the degree of difference between planned and actual performance Usually used for objective baselines like schedules and budgets Once the variance is identified, would want to use another data analysis tool to understand the variance

Answer 41

comparing the change in a ratio over time - yields a percentage turnover rate (comparing the number of terminations or resignations in a time period with the average number of employees in that period).

Answer 42

examines data from different points in time to determine if a variance is an isolated event or if it is part of a longer trend Trend analyses are important tools in discovering recurring peaks or troughs in an activity.

Answer 43

used to determine whether a relationship exists between variables and the strength of the relationship. Data points are plotted on a scattergram - shape of the line formed by the data suggests if there is a correlation might help determine the most significant indicators of success in a given job, testing variables such as recruitment source, education, job experience, personality type, and so on against job performance ratings.

Answer 44

The outcome of a particular situation is projected, using different inputs to see what changes have the most profound effects. This analysis is greatly aided with software applications and models. This can be helpful when analysts fear that historical patterns may not hold in the future.

Answer 45

Start at the end with what actually happened, and keep asking "why" to get back to the root cause

Answer 46

High level information about data distribution

Answer 47

Bar graph Shows data as relative sizes, supports rapid comparison

Answer 48

plots data points over time, connect points to show tend Plots data points on two axes. The horizontal axis usually represents time, while the vertical axis represents volume.

Answer 49

80% of problems come from 20% of causes | Looks like a fish - one end goes up while other goes down - always adds up to 100%

Answer 50

Plots data points against variables. Used to show relationships between two variables (regression analysis)

Answer 51

Allows the analyst to sort data quickly in different ways, according to different and multiple variables.