Business acumen

By:
Mohammed Saad
Jan,2019
 What is business acumen?
O What is business?
Any activity results in profit
O What is business acumen?
Keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing
with a "business situation" (risks and opportunities) in
a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome.

An individual who possesses business acumen

views the business with an "executive mentality”.
Five characters can describe an individual with
business acumen:
 What is business acumen?
1. See the “big picture” of the organization
O How the key drivers of the business relate to each other,
work together to produce profitable growth.
O How the organization affects and affected by the
environment it operates within.
2. Understand important company data,
including financial statements
3. Use knowledge to make good decisions
4. Understand how actions and decisions impact key
company measures and leadership objectives
5. Effectively communicate ideas to other employees,
managers, executives, and the public
 The big picture
O How organizations affect the environment?
O Employment: direct and indirect
O Goods and services
O Competition
O Revenues and taxes
O Community welfare
O International relationships
O How organizations are affected by the
environment?
O Political factors
O Economic factors
O Social factors
O Technological factors
 on s
c ti
ss f un
i n e
Bu s
Organizational Behavior-OB
 Organizational Behavior OB
O Organization:
O  An entity comprising multiple people and has a particular
purpose.
O Behavior:
O Any action or activity done by a person.

O OB:
O The studying of attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups
within the organization.
O Many sciences contribute to OB:
O Psychology
O Sociology
O Social psychology
O Political sciences
O Anthropology
 Organizational components
1. People 4. Assets
2. Strategy 5. Product/service
3. Money 6. Technology
7. Process
 Organizational Behavior OB
Challenges facing the work place (the basic
model of OB)

Organizational level
(productivity, profitability, human assets,
competition…)

Group level
(work force diversity, team works, org.
structures..)

Individual level
(job satisfaction, motivation,
empowerment, ethical behavior)
 The scope of OB
1. Individual behavior, 9. Change management
attitude and learning 10. Employee motivation
2. Group behavior, power
11. Leadership
and politics
12. Team building
3. The studying of emotions
4. Perception 13. Stress management
5. Impact of personality on 14. Conflict management
performance 15. Time management
6. Organizational culture
7. Organizational structures
8. Job design
 Organization culture
O Culture refers to a shared value system.
O Organizational culture is the shared value system
reflecting the level of relations between individuals and
groups within the organization and the relation of the
organization to external environment.
O Organizational culture is cumulative. It is built over time
and it takes years and years to be created.
O Only exceptional leader can make revolutionary changes
in culture.
 Values
O What are values?
O Values are assumptions that trigger specific
behaviors.
O It is related to what is considered good and what is
considered bad.
O Values are completely learned
O Values are subject to change throughout time
 Organization culture
O Components of culture:
1. How employees will be managed (the predominant
management style)
2. How managers treat each others
3. How customers are being treated
4. How organization interacts with other organization
5. How organization views the external environment
6. Ethics and social responsibility
 Learning organization
1. Able to collect data and share it along all internal
departments to be used in achieving goals
2. Able to do systematic problem solving
3. Able to create new approaches
4. Able to focus on the intellectual capital:
O Motivation
O Empowerment.
O Team works
THANK YOU