Accountant In Business F1 Models

Stakeholder mapping: power and interest

Mendelow suggests that stakeholders may be positioned on a matrix whose axes are power
held and likelihood of showing an interest in the organisation's activities.
These factors will help define the type of relationship the organisation should seek with its
stakeholders.

LOW HIGH
LOW LOW

A B

Power
Held

C D

HIGH HIGH

LOW Level of interest HIGH

Key players---- are found in segment D: strategy must be acceptable to them, at least.
An example would be a major customer.
These stakeholders may even participate in decision-making.

Stakeholders in segment C must be treated with care.

While often passive, they are capable of moving to segment D.
They should therefore be kept satisfied.
Large institutional shareholders might fall into segment C.

Stakeholders in segment B do not have great ability to influence strategy, but their
views can be important in influencing more powerful stakeholders, perhaps by lobbying.
They should therefore be kept informed.
Community representatives and charities might fall into segment B.

Minimal effort is expended on segment A.

A single stakeholder map is unlikely to be appropriate for all circumstances.
In particular, stakeholders may move from quadrant to quadrant when different potential future
strategies are considered.
Stakeholder mapping is used to assess the significance of stakeholder groups.
 Implications for the organisation.

The framework of corporate governance should recognise stakeholders' levels of

interest and power.

It may be appropriate to seek to reposition certain stakeholders and discourage others

from repositioning themselves, depending on their attitudes.

Key blockers and facilitators of change must be identified.

Each of these groups has three basic choices.

Loyalty. They can do as they are told.
Exit. For example by selling their shares, or getting a new job.
Voice. They can stay and try to change the system.
Those who choose voice are those who can, to varying degrees, influence the organisation.
Influence implies a degree of power and willingness to exercise it.

The Data Protection Act 1998

The (UK) Data Protection Act 1998 protects individuals about whom data is held.
Both manual and computerised information must comply with the Act.
The Data Protection Act 1998 is an attempt to protect the individual.
The terms of the Act cover data about individuals not data about corporate bodies.
(Remember that you will not be examined on the details of the UK's Data Protection Act but the
syllabus states that you must be able to identify the principles of data protection and security).

Personal data is information about a living individual, including expressions of opinion

about them.
Data about organisations is not personal data.

Data users are organisations or individuals who control personal data and the use of personal
data.
A data subject is an individual who is the subject of personal data.

The data protection principles

The UK Data Protection Act includes eight Data Protection Principles with which data users
must comply.

DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

Schedule 1 of the Act contains the data protection principles.

Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with the Act.
Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful
purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with
that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the
purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
 Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer
than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects
under this Act.
Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against
unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss
or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the
European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate
level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the
processing of personal data.

The Act has two main aims:

To protect individual privacy. Previous UK law only applied to computer-based
information.
The 1998 Act applies to all personal data, in any form.
To harmonise data protection legislation so that, in the interests of improving the
operation of the single European market, there can be a free flow of personal data
between the member states of the EU.

The rights of data subjects

The Act establishes the following rights for data subjects.
A data subject may seek compensation through the courts for damage and any
associated distress caused by the loss, destruction or unauthorised disclosure of
data about themselves or by inaccurate data about themselves.
A data subject may apply to the courts for inaccurate data to be put right or even
wiped off the data user's files altogether.
Such applications may also be made to the Registrar.
A data subject may obtain access to personal data of which they are the subject.
(This is known as the 'subject access' provision.) In other words, a data subject
can ask to see their personal data that the data user is holding.
A data subject can sue a data user for any damage or distress caused to him by
personal data about them which is incorrect or misleading as to matter of fact
(rather than opinion).

Moreover, the third party director or associate, and any director who authorised the transaction,
is then liable to compensate the company for any profit made or to indemnify
the company for any loss or damage arising, whether the company chooses to avoid the
contract or not.
 SWOT analysis
The SWOT analysis can be used in one of two ways.

The organisation can develop resource-based strategies which enable the

organisation to extend the use of its strengths.
This is common in retailing, for example, as supermarket chains extend their own brands from
food to other areas.

The business can develop positioning-based strategies. In other words, identifying

what opportunities are available and what the firm has to do exploit them.
Useful for achieving detrimental for achieving

achieving objectives objectives

Broad S W

Narrow O T

The value chain

Porter (in Competitive Advantage) grouped the various activities of an organisation into a value
chain.
Value chain analysis is based on the principle that organisations exist to create value for their customers.
In the analysis, the organisations activities are divided into separate sets of activities that add value.

The organisation can more effectively evaluate its internal capabilities by identifying and examining each
of these activities.

Each value-adding activity is considered to be a potential source of competitive advantage.

Henry Mintzberg(1992, 2009)
suggests that organizations can be differentiated along three
basic dimensions:
(1) the key part of the organization, that is, the part of the organization that
plays the major role in determining its success or failure;
(2) the prime coordinating mechanism, that is, the major method the
organization uses to coordinate its activities; and

(3) the type of decentralization used,that is, the extent to which the
organization involves subordinates in the decision-making process.

The key parts of an organization are shown in Figure 1and include the
following.

The key parts of an organization.

The strategic apexis top management and its support staff. In school
districts, this is the superintendent of schools and the administrative
cabinet.
The operative coreare the workers who actually carry out the
organizations tasks.
Teachers constitute the operative core in school districts.
The middle lineis middle-and lower-level management. Principals are the
middle-level managers in school districts.

The strategic apex is top management and its support staff. In

school districts, this is the superintendent of schools and the
administrative cabinet.

The operative core are the workers who actually carry out the
organizations tasks.
Teachers constitute the operative core in school districts.

The middle line is middle-and lower level management.

Principals are the middle level managers in school districts.

The techno-structure are analysts such as engineers, accountants,

planners, researchers, and personnel managers.
In school districts, divisions such as instruction, business, personnel, public
relations, research and development, and the like constitute the techno
structure.

The support staff are the people who provide indirect services.
In school districts, similar services include maintenance, clerical, food
service, busing, legal counsel, and consulting to provide support.