Physical and technological resources of a selected organisation Essay

Describe the main physical and technological resources required in the operation of a selected organisation. M1 – explain how the management of human, physical and technological resources can improve the performance of a selected organisation. In this assignment I will describe the main physical and technological resources required in an organisation, and how the management of human, physical and technological resources can improve the performance of Tesco. Physical resources Some of the main physical resources for Tesco are; their premises, machinery, equipment, materials and their stock. I have listed these as the main resources required as they are huge factoring reasons as to why and how Tesco makes such huge amounts of profit. A business can’t carry out its day to day activities without having a system in place which manages physical resources. Physical resources can include; buildings and premises, machinery, materials (and even waste) and equipment. Businesses should manage its premises according to size, the environment and location of the organisation and even according to its customer needs, wants and requirements as it needs premises to operate. The management of the businesses machinery greatly helps increase performance of Tesco as it means they can produce products faster, deliver and receive products faster, and serve customers faster and more efficiently. Lack of equipment or bad management in Tesco could mean production of products and customer service in some aspects of the business running couldn’t be carried out as efficiently or at all. Things classified as equipment could be IT hardware and software that must both be managed extremely carefully. No one unauthorised to do so should be able to access the IT hardware, this can be enforced with physical barriers and surveillance. The software should also be protected with adequate security and firewalls etc. to prevent people from accessing Tesco’s databases of customers and products, which could cause a huge loss of reputation and money if it was accessed by unauthorised  personnel. Technological resources Tesco’s’ main technological resources include their intellectual property, their copyrights/patents, and their experience and skill. Their intellectual property is, put simply, their ideas; things that make them unique. This would include things such as their logo, their ‘Tesco value’ range, and schemes such as the clubcard and the point reward scheme. The management of these resources can greatly improve Tesco’s performance. If the IP is kept up to date and fully modernised this will give them a competitive advantage, as long as the ideas are original and not different versions of competitor’s ideas. The IP of Tesco is what makes them Tesco, and will be how consumers recognise the brand; if this is kept in good light customers will trust the business and feel connected and familiar with it. By recruiting successful and experienced staff into the management, they can guarantee themselves to make the best decisions possible, and of course, the experience of the business as a whole also makes them what they are today. Human resources The management of human resources is crucial for an organisation. The management should ensure their employees are managed correctly and professionally. If employees perform efficiently and effectively then the customer service and therefore profitability of a business will be maximised. A business can manage its human resources through many methods, including; employee motivation/rewarding, training, appraisal and personal development planning. One of the most important aspects of managing HR is employing individuals with the right skills, qualifications and even personality for a particular job or task they will be required to do. In relation to Tesco, from experience working there, they could provide greater training in the products they sell so staff are able to provide a better, more personal feeling customer service. D1 – Evaluate how managing resources and controlling budget costs can improve  the performance of a business. Budgets must be closely monitored (and stuck to) in order to fully achieve to the businesses maximum potential. The processes and internal techniques must be managed and all resources must be effectively used. It is very important for a business such as Tesco to manage their resources and control their costs in order to budget. Managing resources and controlling costs to a budget is very beneficial for Tesco as it involves a lot of different resources and money is always flowing in and out of the business, which, if managed well, will improve the performance of Tesco. Managing physical resources is very important as they are essential for the day to day running of the business. Tescos management should do things such as check their machinery, equipment and premises regularly to make sure that everything is efficiently working and also to help Tesco improve their overall performance. It is also very important that Tesco provides employees with suitable induction and training programmes on how to operate new machinery so they are up to date in the knowledge of use and know how it can be used most effectively. If an employee isn’t familiar with how to use a piece of machinery, the efficiency of the business will be decreased. Tesco has many physical resources that should be effectively managed; such as their entrance and reception (customer services), which should be kept tidy, organised, and any damages (such as the fire damage as a recent example in Newbury) should be fixed as soon as possible. As this would be the first thing a customer would see when entering the store. Other physical resources used by Tesco could be the bakery and cleaning equipment; such as Hoovers, floor cleaners and ovens; all this equipment should be regularly checked as physical resources like these have a high chance of needing replacement, and subsequently, affecting the budget of Tesco. Premises is the most important physical resource of Tesco. If the premises and main equipment used within are managed well, then customers will be satisfied with their shopping experience and feel comfortable to return, increasing the chance of them being long term customers. Human resources are also a big aspect of the running of Tesco. This must be managed  effectively and successfully as the employee performance directly affects the success of Tesco. HR can be managed through training and regular appraisals, which will develop new skills and improve performance in the work place, which will affect the performance of the whole business. If HR is not effectively managed, employees job skills may go ‘off track’ and employees with the wrong skills will be in the wrong job, holding back the productivity of the area they work in, also, affecting the whole business. Keeping all employees motivated is a key aspect when managing employees. If they are not motivated, the working environment will be bad and staff will perform under their potential. Tesco could (and do) motivate their staff through reward systems, where they pay staff for successfully completed tasks, or offer them incentives to succeed. Regular appraisals have been proved to be a successful way of managing HR. this can be carried out whenever seen fit by management, so it is therefore not overly time consuming. It also costs nothing, meaning no monetary cost is placed on the business expenses. This can also relate to costs to budget as appraisals will create a better relationship between the management and the staff and therefore encourage long term employment, cancelling out recruitment costs. It will also, more simply, mean staff are happier to save the companies money, as they have a better view of it. Technological resources are intangible but are managed similarly to physical resources. The management of technological resources will massively improve the performance of a business. Budget management, may sound simple – controlling what the business spends, but it isn’t, nor is it just this. Budgeting can come under all categories of resources, for example; HR. HR can help a business budget by the amount of people they recruit, and keep in a job, for example, if Tesco were over-staffed they may consider laying off some staff. However, this could go either way. If too many members of staff are laid off, then the over all productivity of Tesco could be negatively affected. The staff left could lose respect for the business and therefore motivation to work within it. Less staff, if done in the right was, could be positive however, if those who are laid off have the reasons and regrets fully explained to them then  they may be less bitter about it. They should also ideally be offered some kind of benefit pack for staying employed in the business for as long as they have. If the staff left at the business are also explained what benefits have been given to the employees who have left, they will also be less bitter about the budget cuts, and may remain just as motivated as before, as long as they feel secure in their job.

Crisis Communication Essay

A crisis is any event that triggers a level of public interest and media inquiry that requires a significant increase in staffing and/or resources to make a reasonable media response. Crises include such things as disease outbreaks, disasters and other health matters. Crises also may include fires, breakdowns in communications, disruptions in services and even rumors. A major example in the one focusing on the San Fransisco Bay which was struck by an earthquake. This was referred to as the Loma Prieta earthquake. It was measuring 6. 9 on the moment magnitude scale. It lasted approximately 15 seconds. This quake injured 3,757 people, left more than 12,000 people homeless and killed 67 people throughout northern California (Betteke Van Ruler, Dejan Vercis, 2004). A crisis situation is defined as any situation or event identified that has a major impact on the community. This plan describes the role of the Office of Public Relations (PR) in collecting and conveying information to the public during or immediately following a crisis or emergency situation. Risk communications can be viewed from two major aspects. First, they may be viewed from public relations profession as its subspecialty and are designed to perform various disciplines among them protecting and defending an individual, an organization facing public challenge in regards to its reputation, or even a company at large. Some of these challenges will mainly come from government agencies as investigations, media inquiries and violation of environmental regulations, criminal allegations, or financial, ethical or legal standing of the entity. Reputation of an organization is always held as its most important or rather valuable asset. Incase of any attack that comes as a threat to a company’s reputation, then protection and defense must be valued as the highest priority. In the current world, 21st century, technology has permitted access to a news cycle that will operate 24 hours, and is also full of investigations from the government. Some other sources of information will include parliamentary hearings,†gotcha’journalism and lawsuits. The result of these is that the media might decide to quickly overwhelm the capability of an entity to effectively respond to the demand of a crisis. For an organization to maintain its reputation therefore, it must watch clearly every move and respond effectively and timely with much confidence. Such moves by a company call for more than just the typical skills from the profession of public relations. It requires keen experience from fields such as politics and investigative reporting. Also, crisis communication can be done through research of compelling statements. The capability of a rapid response entails an essential element during crisis communication. Additional tactics applied may include; recruitment of third party allies who are capable and credible, and will give the good side of the company’s story. The company or organization might also decide to create procreative media that will outreach to get message and also context to the media. One of the major tactics of these is the tradition of striking first and not waiting to be hit. It is important to note that there is need for development of a crisis communication plan, need for creation of a crisis management team team and a crisis communication team that inclusive of the spokesperson James (E. Lukaszewski, 2005). The crisis management team may consist of the library leader and the main librarians and its staff the trustee’s representatives as well as the so called volunteers’ representatives. Communication is also important when designing the management team as well as the legal counsel. Ensure that you are ready to get in touch with the key friends and those directly involved with the library. The communication goals should be set in advance. These must be the goal s that is achievable. These goals must greatly contribute to the ending of the crisis at hand, be able to protect the library picture to the public, minimize tension, show commitment and willingness to meet the values and pass a clear message to the public to maintain good flow of information (Alison Asbury, Ros Jay, 2001). The primary objectives that should be kept in mind for an effective crisis communication solution strategy include a quick, effective, and efficient response. The following are the main objectives that I would wish to discuss in my communication crisis plan: 1. To maintain connectivity 2. To streamline communication process 3. To ensure uninterrupted audit trials 4. To allow distributed access Creating awareness to the community about the ongoing crisis has in the modern world grown significantly. Introduced regulations and standards require high levels of resilience through all aspects of operations within an organization. A good organization therefore must seek effective solutions that will allow them to prepare, plan and test their ability in communication when a crisis strikes. For effective communication, the following key drivers should be kept in mind: ? Protection of relationships ? Strengthening competitive advantage ? Reducing the operating risk and potential losses ? Assuring that there is regulatory compliance. ? Meeting community responsibilities. ? Deterring terrorism When preparing the plan, keep in mind that the business at risk may continue normally or may reach a situation where you will not be able to access all the tools that you used to perform your work. Therefore, your risk communication kit should have the capability of giving a picture of normality as much as possible in situations that are abnormal. It should therefore include all the information such as the computer files, the disks, graphics, and photos among others. The kit should include a list of those in the crisis management team, contact information of the spokes persons, main officers, those involved in the management team. It should also have important fact sheets of the organization, the entire physical location, each division and all the products that it deals with. The profiles and biographies for the main managers in camera and on disk should be made available in crisis kit (Mathew W. Seeger, Timothy L. Sellow, Robert R. Ulmer, 2003). The kit should have in formation on the copies o f the organization, product logos, scanned signatures workers on disk and the press format as well. The scripts that have been prewritten answering the main questions that have been gathered through the scenario of the crisis should also be made available in the kit. Finally, the contact information for all the main media both locally and internationally should be availed in the kit and if in position include the major financial press and analysts. Crisis mobile is a feature of communication that provides levels of communication that is unprecedented . It ensures communication is always on and always available. It also allows instant multichanneled communications from any communication device. This feature also simplifies processes to save time, therefore reducing costs and mitigating optional risks. When a situation arises, you not only have to be prepared to act swiftly, you also have to make timely and informed decisions. That’s why beyond email, voice communications and organizer applications, an organized streamline communication process for the Public Sector allow mobile access to case files and associated records, emergency operating procedures, alert notifications and incident reports – all at the point of need (Brent W. Ritchie, Darly Adair, 2004). The secret to an effective risk communication is to be ready before the crisis occurs. That is, be ready for any emergency. Therefore you will have little time to plan for the direction to take rather than thinking then, which might lead to making wrong decisions. There, to handle any crisis, there must be a proper crisis plan to facilitate it. A perfect risk communication relies on the available systems in that particular place. According to Fitzwater, one should tighten a crisis that is available and make it better. This is not the time to design a system that is ne2w since it won’t be of any help. At this time, one should to be forthcoming and trustworthy at the same time work to facilitate stories. In the presence of a crisis, try to put together all the major players into a common place and get the correct information. One should not give information of which he is not sure about or give what he thinks is right. This may be reported as rumors. Before a crisis, ensure that trustworthy is maintained as well as credible relationships with the part concerned that is the media as they will be no suspicion and they will cooperate as you handle the crisis. Those in charge of crisis management should have a chance of collecting information on the issues that are troublesome (Ricardo Tartaglia, 2005). After gathering the information, they should evaluate, get detailed data on them and look for ways of communicating to prevent their course. Train the chosen spokespersons in handling the media and ensure that you have the target, the message and important media outlets that could be used in different crisis plans. During a crisis, make efforts to reach the word of the press lest they find it through different means. Let the entire public be aware that you are dealing with the problem at hand. Avoid speculations and give information that you know instead (Dan Pyle Millar, Robert Lawrence Health, 2003). With up-to-date information right at their fingertips, the appropriate people coercive proactive notification of evolving situations, verify the issues with colleagues and take action quickly before they escalate into more serious problems. At times when making informed decisions has never been more important, you can be assured of streamline communication for the Public Sector features, the same proven technology used by the world’s leading enterprises to improve their responsiveness (W. Timothy Coombs, 2007). In a world that is as fast-paced as it is unpredictable, it’s more important than ever to find ways to keep all branches of the organization on top of the most current and critical information to continue delivering top notch service to public constituents. After all, things can change in an instant. And we’re living in a time when instant just isn’t fast enough. It goes without saying that there’s no higher priority during emergencies than protecting public safety while minimizing loss of life and property damage. The truth is, you have to be innovative if you want to stay ahead. And ideally, that means making sure everyone in the public sector from executives and officials to legislators – are always connected to the information, communications and applications they need (Dan Pyle Millar, Robert Lawrence Health, 2003). Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have come out as the technology that ensures secure remote access. VPNs is clientless. This type of sourcing gives access to security breaches in a company. When a user connects to the VPN, after valid authentication, he/she gets access to applications and resources for which he/she has access priviledges. Since VPNs work at the application layer hence there is no direct connection to the network, the users will only connect to resources. VPNs also facilitate fionel grained access controls so the entire data stream is encrypted by a security protocol for the internet traffic. With this, remote access for communication continuity achieves the following: Secure connections for employees to corporate data and applications and, importantly, only to approved resources based on policy. Access controls in VPNs let the right people in and keep the wrong ones out, which is critical during a disaster event. Business as usual for customers, suppliers, and partners, even if their own operations are disrupted and they must get access from remote locations. IT departments can handle other problems during a disaster recovery without having to manage an influx of calls from users or troubleshoot an inefficient remote access system. There is compliance to regulatory requirements, as VPNs provides continuous monitoring, auditing, and data privacy under a business continuity scenario. For compliance regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA or Gramm- Leach-Bliley. Data Protection mandates stiff protection of personal data for companies. Information Protection Act, which applies strict regulations to government or private entities that collect, handle, or use personal information. Block remote connections from untrusted systems that could infect the corporate network with harmful computer viruses or other malicious software. Keep mission-critical applications available such as CRM, ERP, and e-mail applications. Newer applications, such as voice over Internet protocol and Web conferencing, may also become more important during a disaster due to potential telephone service outages and your increased need to stay in touch with customers. Accommodate a spike in network traffic resulting from an emergency. Just as many people call to check on friends or family who may be in harm’s way, a disaster may cause customers, partners, and suppliers to seek assurance that their business will not be disrupted by a disaster event. Scalability matters (Robert R. Ulmer, Timothy L. Sell now, Mathew W. Seeger, 2007). Plan ahead to ensure remote access doesn’t crash due to high demand. After the crisis has been handled, inform all the individuals involved of the lesson learnt making the review of the important steps taken and look for failures to be corrected. Give credit to any good efforts made and ensure that proper documentation is done. Always, be ready to be part of the decision making process as you seek to get a solution. Be honest in whatever that you handle or any informationthatn you deliver or receive (J A. Cappy Surrette, 2003). Be ready always because you never know what is on the way coming. REFERENCES Robert R. Ulmer, Timothy L. Sell now, Mathew W. Seeger (2007) Effective Crisis Communication: Moving fro Crisis to Opportunity. SAGE, ISBN142914183 Dan Pyle Millar, Robert Lawrence Health (2003) Responding to Crisis: A Rhetorical Approach to Crisis Communication. Lawrence Associates, ISBN0805840605 W. Timothy Coombs (2007). Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, managing, and Responding. SAGE Publication, ISBN1412949920. Mathew W. Seeger, Timothy L. Sellow, Robert R. Ulmer (2003). Communication and Organizational Crisis. Greenwood Publishers, ISBN0763747769 Ricardo Tartaglia (2005). Healthcare Systems Ergonomics and Patient Safety. Taylor and Francis, ISBN041537782. Brent W. Ritchie, Darly Adair (2004). Interrelationships, Impacts and issues ISBN1873150652 Betteke Van Ruler, Dejan Vercis (2004). Public Relation and Communication Management in Europe. Walter de Gruyter, ISBN3110176114 Alison Asbury, Ros Jay (2001). Quick Answers to Marketing Questions. Prentice Hall, ISBN07273653253. James E. Lukaszewski (2005). Crisis Communication Plan Components and Models: Crisis Communication. Lukaszewski Group, ISBN1883291402. J A Cappy Surrette (2003). The USS Greenville Collision: A discussion of Crisis Communication

Early childhood - Philosophy and newsletter Assignment

Early childhood - Philosophy and newsletter - Assignment Example (Ornstein, 1998) Early Childhood Education . . . . 1. Should be about making discoveries 2. Should show experience is important in learning 3. Experiences that builds upon other skills learned 4. Should teach about the community 5. Should show how we fit into that community 6. Should be challenging 7. Should be engaging 8. Should show that making relationships is important 9. Is a time that we learn about and work towards explanations and reasons and find solutions 10. Will teach how to make decisions 11. Will give children a chance to make choices â€Å"According to Shileod and Bergson Early childhood education is to try and create an ideal adult by making reasoned choices and decisions to reach our goals and society’s goals. We will learn to see things in different ways, and to make connections that we need to learn. We will also not criticize or learn to criticize to speak our minds. We will learn and be able to observe, question, challenge, invent, speculate and explore.à ¢â‚¬ (Cromwell, 2000) Activities for Learning Early Childhood Education must also develop positive self-esteem, show how to be nurturing and to use our natural resources to improve our survival in the community and the world and to be able to solve their own problems and children and adults will continue to always keep learning. Early childhood education should also show that learning never stops it just keeps happening. This field of education has children learn by Specific Skills or in increment. Children learn by training, practice and motivation. They will learn that failures are still learning and through failing we learn how to make our lives and relationships better. Early childhood education is a beginning and teaches that we want balance to what we can do and what we want to do. In my philosophy I want my teaching to be based on Discovery learning and Mastery learning. (Ornstein, 1998) Play is also important in the early childhood education. In a child care center for two to five year olds the teacher will have learning centers for the various content areas. In our center we will be using Science, Social Studies units along with Language activities to teach our children about the community around them. The activities will involve growing plants from seeds, then trying to figure out how these plants can help the community and the world around them. Play is another way that the children will learn in this child care center. The children will learn through play activities that are age appropriate that will teach them about cooperation and how to self-initiate ideas of their own. Play can be used in the content areas and the children can learn the necessary skill of learning how to question what is going on around them. Through play children will become aware and be sensitive to the happenings around them and make friends with the children of other cultures. Early childhood education also allows the children to make many choices and this will help them t o improve their thinking skills and also to improve their persuasive skills. The children will also learn and use decision-making skills. This early childhood center will always be aware of the safety needs of the children for healthy living. The center will also be flexible and creative in our ways of teaching academics and social interactions.

Recruitment & Staffing Proposal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Recruitment & Staffing Proposal - Assignment Example One of the recruitment approaches that can be used is gamification. Top companies increasingly use this method, and it can help obtain quality and talented individuals into the company. It is the approach involving developing enjoyable, engaging and fun components to test skills by striking into a competitive spirit always like a game (Smith & Mazin, 2011). HSS interest is recruitment of top level employees and through gamification models, the company can benefit since there is a provision to the employer with a preview of how the senior applicant may perform or manage when doing that particular job. This is a positive outcome should the HSS company consider this recruitment approach. There are occasions when the organization hired a candidate only to find once in the job that he wasn’t okay. This approach helps solve such problems. The second approach of recruitment that human resource can adopt to help the company is employee referral programs. Reward can be used to entice w illing employees in assisting the human resource achieve its aim. The final approach that the HSS human resource will apply is mobile recruitments and social networks this is another current trend in recruitment. Human resource at HSS may explore this option. It involves sourcing for suitable applicants from company’s social sites (Smith & Mazin, 2011). The company through the human resource will observe and identify events across your social networks. They will monitor responses, questions, comments and other various interactions. This can provide indications where to focus and channel social media recruitment efforts. The approach also involves engaging top candidate and identifying where your social networks are very active; involve the best applicants with valuable content such as videos, webinars and blog posts There is three recruitment approaches that could be considered by HSS human

Judgment of Auditors Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Judgment of Auditors - Research Paper Example The auditor has to be independent and objective during all the instances that he has to rely upon his judgment to assess the impact of any evidence and should be careful that his independence and objectivity is not impaired. In the start of the audit, the auditor plans his course of work that has to be performed during the audit of any client. During the planning, the auditor accounts for the client business risk, operations, position of the client, financial health and other audit determiners. The level of work that is to be performed by the auditor provides the auditor to plan the work and allocate the working hours of the audit for which the previous year’s hours are taken as a base and a time budget is prepared for the audit to be conducted in a timely manner.   During the preparation of the budget, the managers, as well as the seniors, lay emphasis on the cost control because of the fact that their motivation is provided through the evaluation of their performance. The firm also communicates it to the seniors as well as the managers regarding the fees that the firm will obtain from a particular client and this is communicated well before the preparation of the time budgets so that the short term profitability can be kept in mind. This approach of the auditors impairs the judgment and therefore the independence and the objectivity of the audit as the auditors pay less attention to the audit and exercise lesser judgment and expertise due to lack of time and pressure to complete the work on time. The increased fee pressure tends to decrease the positive impact on the risk assessment of the auditor and that has a direct consequence on the auditor’s judgment which may later impair the objectivity of the audit.

E-Business In Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E-Business In Practice - Essay Example This paper begins with conducting market analysis of e-books and e-readers. It then proceeds to evaluate the needs of customers with regards to e-books and e-readers. Further, the paper continues to analyse the disruptive effect of this technology to the publishing industry’s value chain. Finally, the paper conducts a strategic analysis of the future direction of this market and makes recommendations for conventional publishers to undertake in order to remain competitive in future.   This paper highlights that books are big business. According to PwC in 2009 people globally spent $108 billion on books. Already, readers in the twenty-first century use an increasing amount of electronic texts in the form of e-mails, web pages, text-messages, online catalogues, databases and e-newspapers. E-books are a natural extension to this move towards electronic text. In the United States the Association of American publishers reported revenues of   $969.9 million in 2011 for e-books excluding the religious category and sales from smaller, independent publishers. In Europe, the e-book and e-reader market is still in its infancy though it holds promise, especially in the UK, which stands to benefit from the extensive range of English-language e-books available.  The growth of e-books in the UK is expected to be driven by two factors: the proliferation of multifunctional devices, such as tablets and smartphones that can be used to access e-books, and the rising importance of the electronic special interest book market.  

Managerial Control Systems (Take home exam) Essay

Managerial Control Systems (Take home exam) - Essay Example to significantly reduce these emissions (p. 81). The choice of approach depends upon the nature of the business, its motivations and objectives, and the environment it functions in. As a result, there is no one best way by which organizations may achieve their carbon emission targets. The advantages to the firm in the second to the fourth approaches are self-evident, in that energy savings which reduce emissions reduce costs, and the positive publicity enhances the firm’s standing among its consumers. The first approach has to do with the trading of emissions certificates, wherein businesses whose operations require higher emissions purchase pollution permits from other firms who do not need theirs. In this manner, firms who reduce their emission levels have no need for their emission certificates, and may sell them to other firms and therefore earn revenue. Answer to Question No. ... Future-oriented routinely generated information for MCA refers to monetary carbon operational budgeting for short-term decision-making and carbon long-term financial planning long term decision making. Physical carbon accounting (PCA). For PCA, the past oriented routinely generated information includes carbon flow accounting for short-term decision making and carbon capital impact accounting for long-term decision making. The future-oriented routinely generated information for PCA refers to physical carbon budgeting in the short-term and long-term physical carbon planning for the long term. Both MCA and PCA are essentially interrelated. For instance, past-oriented monetary EMA relies on physical information regarding the flow of materials and energy made available by materials flow accounting approaches. On its own, however, past-oriented information is limited. It helps management discern sources of inefficiencies; thereafter, future-oriented information becomes necessary to forecas t the future effects of changes adopted at present (Abdel-Kader, 2011, p. 62). As for short-term information, this is useful where financial data is less volatile. When the data is characterised by high volatility, the long-term focus on carbon-related information becomes more suitable and reliable (Rajapakse & Wang, 2004). Answer to Question No. 3 Various factors influence the volume and type of information that an environmental management accounting (EMA) system provides. Among these are the number, type and functions of managers seeking information from the EMA system and the kind of decisions supported by this information. The structure of the organization and the manner in which its units relate to each other