June 2021: What is meant by Situational Leadership? There are several leadership styles that could differ according to the individual leader's character, or the overall prevailing organizational culture towards leadership. However, it may be intuitive to adapt your leadership style based on several factors in each situation, instead of monotonous tone. In situational leadership model, the leader will change their approach of leadership depending on the task in hand as well as the individual or group being led. The ultimate objective of adopting this model is to increase effectiveness of results, since there are situations that call for autocratic leadership, while other situations will require engagement and participation from teams, so that the task is completed successfully, and teams are developed and directed correctly. To be able to adopt this model of leadership, the leader will need to possess a set of skills, including emotional intelligence, decision making, communication, etc.
May 2021: Do you pay attention to opportunity cost? Most decisions, especially investment decisions, involve selection between alternatives. These alternatives are evaluated and scored based on defined criteria, so that best option is selected. Part of the costs associated with alternatives evaluation is opportunity cost, which is the expected return on other alternatives that have been denied in favor of the selected alternative, since this return is considered missed opportunity in case other alternatives are pursued. Neglecting opportunity costs during the evaluation and selection process could be misleading and results in selection of a sub-optimal alternative. Calculation of opportunity costs should be on comparable basis, for example by taking in consideration time value for money and the time span of the cash flow, in addition to non-monetary returns that should be valuated as well.
April 2021: What is the meaning of Crisis Management? A crisis bears the connotation of a sudden unexpected and undesirable event at large scale with disastrous impact. It could be natural event, or emerging from economic and social sources, internal or external to the scope under consideration. Responding to such events would usually require previous preparations and readiness of disaster recovery action plans, with backup locations, operation lines, support centers, etc. Given the fact that crises events are rarely expectable up front, a detailed execution plan may barely be possible to develop in advance so that it is invoked upon strike. Thus, such plans will be generic and high level, with broad line responsibilities under urgency. Consequently, handling a crisis upon occurrence requires, in addition to the planned actions, the professional judgment of people in charge.
March 2021: What is Resource Leveling? Resource Leveling refers to the techniques used during project planning, and throughout project execution and monitoring, to review and re-balance resource allocation in the project. Some resources could be over-allocated with tasks, and others could be under-utilized. To resolve resource allocation issues, the maximum availability level of each resource is defined, and tasks are re-distributed and rescheduled and / or resources are increased / decreased according to task requirements in order to keep resource utilization to optimum level, taking in consideration cost implications of resource usage time. Resource leveling can be challenging in complex projects where diverse resources from many suppliers are in use, or when resources are being shared with other projects where resource time and usage schedules need to be synchronized among projects.
February 2021: How to keep your project portfolio balanced? An organization could possess one or more project portfolios that include all initiatives within scope of each portfolio. The purpose of managing all initiatives together as a portfolio is to keep investments and efforts directed to activities that fulfill the organization's strategic objectives, to maximize return and achieve goals. To this end, the portfolio composition is reviewed regularly to reassess alignment of initiatives with objectives, viability of currently running initiatives in light of their status, and re-prioritizing initiatives in terms of resource allocation, taking in consideration newly approved initiatives, and completed or terminated ones. The portfolio is said to be balanced as long as component initiatives are proportionally distributed along categories and goals, with proper tradeoff between risk, cost, and return, and distribution of resources. Bubble charts and scoring sheets are most common tools used in portfolio reviews.
January 2021: How to raise security awareness for your staff? Various studies show that more than 50% of security breaches are traced back to human error. Insiders can be the biggest security threat facing your organization, intentionally or unintentionally. Mistakes like abusing authorities to allow for externals to access the facility or confidential information and intellectual property, or not abiding by procedures and mandates of the security policy set by the organization, can all lead to leak of information, malicious access and manipulation, or direct attack and loss of service. External attacks can be mitigated by applying proper security measures and tools at entry points, contrary to internally initiated attacks. Staff awareness can be raised by regular updates of security practices they should follow, and providing security awareness and training sessions to all staff as suitable for their positions and corresponding potential threats.
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