Investigate and analyse operating problems

[Midfielder]

Fuller details ... Investigate and analyse operating problems to establish causes and implement changes as required as part of the business quality system.

Post your tho's on this element on this thread.

[ashrafun]

Businesses want to create and deliver value to its customers and stakeholders. But not always things go as per plan. Operational issues and problems often derail many a plan and affect business performance. They render a business less profitable. The effectiveness of organization is a function of how well the individuals and groups within the organization analyse, document, communicate and solve problems.
As a result business owners need to investigate and analyse operating problems to establish causes and implement changes as required as part of the business quality system. This allows them to make a more significant contribution to the business. The investigation and analysis must be coordinated with each other component plan of the business plan to find out the root cause problem. This in turn is supported by quality management practices which can include a number of business systems and which are usually specific to the activities of the business unit concerned. After identifying the business problem if the cause can be established and necessary changes or amendments can be taken place only then the business can achieve good performance and generate profit thereby.

[nirmala]

Small business owners should deal with conflict or grievances promptly. Avoiding the matter creates anxiety. Initiate discussions quickly, investigate and double-check all the facts. Ensure all staff know about the grievance procedure and understand how it works. As a business owner, it is a good idea to know your rights and responsibilities as well as those of anyone you are in conflict with (customer, employee, supplier or member of the public).
Businesses want to create and deliver value to its customers and stakeholders. But not always things go as per plan. Operational issues and problems often derail many a plan and affect business performance. They render a business less profitable. The effectiveness of organization is a function of how well the individuals and groups within the organization analyse, document, communicate and solve problems.
As a result business owners need to investigate and analyse operating problems to establish causes and implement changes as required as part of the business quality system. This allows them to make a more significant contribution to the business. The investigation and analysis must be coordinated with each other component plan of the business plan to find out the root cause problem. This in turn is supported by quality management practices which can include a number of business systems and which are usually specific to the activities of the business unit concerned. After identifying the business problem if the cause can be established and necessary changes or amendments can be taken place only then the business can achieve good performance and generate profit thereby.

[rosebud]

The operating plan describes the physical necessities of your business' operation and includes information on staffing, systems and processes, equipment, facilities and general risk management.
People: There are many points that require consideration when employing people to assist with the operation of your business. These relate to the hiring of staff, your legal obligations to employees, staff management and the termination of employment.
Systems and processes: Planning and designing systems and processes for business operations involve the arrangement of management and staff, their roles and functions and business administration requirements. It also takes into account business facilities and equipment, inventory management and policies and procedures for other business functions.
Equipment: To ensure a smooth and effective business operations start-up, it is important to have the right equipment in place at the outset. This includes not only production equipment but also administration and communication equipment. The equipment you require for your business to become fully operational is dependent on your particular situation. After determining the equipment you require, you will also need to finance the costs.
Facilities: Choosing business premises requires careful planning and consideration. An inappropriate or poor location can be damaging to your business, particularly where the business relies on ease of access or exposure to consumers. In order to make an informed decision when selecting a facility from which to conduct business, you should keep in mind the needs of your employees, customers and general operations.
Risk management strategies: Risk management involves identifying unfavourable events that could negatively affect your business if they happen to occur and developing strategies to overcome them. Risk events that could potentially occur range from minor to serious and likely to unlikely. This range includes:
• Natural Disaster
• Key business staff leaving
• Key suppliers relocating or closing down, or a change in their credit policies
• Litigation
• Poor cash flow
• Family emergency
• A breakdown in occupational health and safety
• Bad debts
There are five key strategies that you can implement to cope with business risk:
• Risk Prevention
• Risk Reduction
• Risk Avoidance
• Risk Retention
• Risk Transfer
toolkit.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/part/24/120/541

[anilla]

There's an old joke that a consultant is someone who listens to the employees, tells management what they are saying and takes a fee for it. This is truer than most consultants would like to admit. If you want to solve a problem without paying a big consulting fee, learn to do three things:

•Listen to yourself
•Listen to your team
•Do what makes sense
Yes, it's really that simple--90 percent of advanced tools like process reengineering, project management and quality management are just common sense. My mom once asked me what I did for a living. When I explained it to her, she said, "but that's just common sense." I replied, "It's because you call it common sense that I'm so good at it." Good old mom!

The Common Sense Approach
1. Fix what you can, instead of blaming others. Sure the economy sucks, suppliers mess up, and customers are a royal pain. That is as true for your competitors as it is for you. What makes winners different is what we do about the problems we can solve, and how we inspire our team to take a can-do attitude and do good work.

2. Fix the right problem. Think like a doctor. You wouldn't be happy if your doctor gave you stomach medicine for a heart condition. In business, though, we often fix the wrong problem. For example, when sales are low, we push the salespeople. Most likely, they're already doing a good job, and the problem is in marketing. Remember: The cause of a problem is almost never where the symptom shows up. Find the cause and fix it; you can't fix a symptom.

3. If the problem comes back, find out why, and fix it. Say you have some defective parts in your products. Getting rid of them isn't enough. How do you know more defects won't arrive with the next order? Instead:

•Check with your supplier: How can they confirm that there will be no future defects?
•Change your contract: Add a penalty for defective parts.
•Change the way you choose suppliers: Go for quality, and prevent the problem.
Now that you know how to fix problems, you just need to find the problems that need fixing.

4. Find problems by complaining. I recommend complaining. There's a great technique for finding your problems--and blowing off some stress--from Barbara Sher's book WishCraft. She calls it the power of negative thinking. Stand in front of a friend and deliver a standup comedy routine titled What's Wrong With My Business? Complain about everything. Be specific. Rant, rave and get it out of your system. Have your friend write down every complaint. There's your list of problems. Now start solving them.

Which problem do you solve first? It doesn't matter. If you have time and energy, fix the one that will be the biggest boost to your bottom line. If you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, then fix the one that is bugging you the most.

5. Listen to your team. Go to your team, and tell them you want to make a fresh start. Tell them you want them to enjoy their jobs more and get more done. Ask each person on the team for three problems that you can fix to make their lives easier. If you haven't done this before, it may take a while before they take you seriously, but you'll get there. And when you do, you'll find that after you help them, they'll be ready to help you.

6. Your business works best once you've fixed the pipes. Be the plumber for your business. When you fix all big leaks, things start to flow. When you fix all the small problems, profits shoot through the roof. What flows in a business? Products, services, and solutions flow to your customers and money flows to you.

I hope you're not in business just to make money. The purpose of a business should be to do what we love, love what we do, make our customers happier and better off, and the world a better place. But money is the measure of a business. Track money--gross revenue, expenses and net revenue--to find what is working, and what is not.

Then fix your business.

www.entrepreneur.com/article/201986

[poonam]

Operating system performance issues commonly involve process management, memory management, and scheduling. If you have tuned the Oracle instance and still need to improve performance, verify your work or try to reduce system time. Ensure that there is enough I/O bandwidth, CPU power, and swap space. Do not expect, however, that further tuning of the operating system will have a significant effect on application performance. Changes in the Oracle configuration or in the application are likely to result in a more significant difference in operating system efficiency than simply tuning the operating system.For example, if an application experiences excessive buffer busy waits, then the number of system calls increases. If you reduce the buffer busy waits by tuning the application, then the number of system calls decreases.This section covers the following topics related to operating system performance issues:
•Using Operating System Caches
•Memory Usage
•Using Operating System Resource Managers

Operational issues and problems often derail many a plan and affect business performance. They render a business less profitable. The effectiveness of organization is a function of how well the individuals and groups within the organization analyse, document, communicate and solve problems