Text 10. Time and Risk Management

In any business it is important that management should be effective. Managers must be able to achieve their objectives and to get right things to do. Because of the nature of managers' work it is not easy for them to be effective. There exist certain difficulties in distinguishing between important and less important tasks. Effective managers have to manage their time effectively. Before being able to control his time the manager must find how he is actually using it. The best way to do it is to make records. The usual method is to log the task the manager performs. The manager should not rely on memory when logging time. Not many executives can rememberer at the end of the day, all things they did during the day - all those telephone calls, chats and interruptions, the work on the computer, the letter writing and so on. One way of logging time is to note down all the activities and indicate how long they took. Once the manager has an accurate picture of how he uses time, he can analyse the time log. This will help him to re-think and re-plan his work schedule. As the result of this analyses, the effective manager will start getting rid of unproductive time-wasting activities. He will also get rid of some activities which can be done just as well by someone else. Knowing how to delegate is an essential skill of a manager. This does not mean of course that he will be forever "passing the buck" to subordinates. But where possible, he will try to create more time so that he can attend to more important tasks.

As for the risk management, it is related to all the fields and is not confined to one particular field. People in different branches like statistics, economics, engineering, systems analysis have contributed to the task of risk management. There are many useful solutions of how to protect staff and working conditions from injury and damage. Special attention is paid to the so-called "common sense "cases. Thus, it is not recommended for top executives to travel together in the same jet or ship or to store valuable goods in one place.

Risk mitigation and accident prevention is a separate area that requires experienced personnel to identify the risks and prevent accidents. Risk is a condition that may lead to loss and managers have to know that clearly. The amount of loss that may occur as a result of that risk should be evaluated in advance to prevent such risks. Managers should always know the risks involved in any business or project before they take place.

In fact, there are special companies that have consultants for risk assessment. However, some big and rich organisations keep their own risk management department. Thus, fire, for example, is still the greatest potential risk. An experienced risk manager can save a company large sums in fire insurance if he recommends to install special firefighting and safety equipment. Industrial espionage is another increasingly growing risk. Only authorized persons should have access to the information stored in computers. The information security officer can suggest security programs and restrict access to business information.

Answer the questions:

1. Why should management be effective?

2. What steps must managers take to control time effectively?

3. Why should not managers rely on their memory?

4. How can managers improve their work schedule?

5. When should managers delegate some of their duties?

6. What is the term "risk management" related to?

7. Why should not top executives travel together?

8. What is risk according to the accident prevention?

9. How can a risk manager save a company large sums in fire insurance?

10. What should be done to prevent industrial espionage?

Text 11. Security Management

Today business and public administration broadly use computers and information technology to conduct business and perform duties by processing data and receiving information necessary for decision making. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing information databases to designing complex computer networks and sophisticated security management tools. Living in the digital world where blackmail, industrial and political espionage is becoming a norm, business and government have to protect their computer networks from hackers and other intruders. That is why s ecurity management is becoming indispensable today. Even apart from the IT industry, any company that uses many systems, devices, and computers would need proper security management. To conduct the business effectively, security managers need to know the users of the system properly and have to give them exclusively rights to some resources depending on the position they occupy in the company. Hence controlling the access rights is also very important. Moreover, if there is any threat to business resources or if there is any threat in the sort of violation of the rights given for a particular user, a security manager must know of that as soon as possible. It enables to take early remedies and to prevent such events in the future.

There are many IT companies that provide solutions for security management. Their security products allow business and government to act intelligently and quickly to the threats that can face them. Such products enable entrepreneurs to focus on their business while their network is secured. Security management can restrict the access to resources and services and provides logging and reporting. It can prevent threats from spyware, viruses, worms and spam as well as from other malicious content entering a corporate network. Security programs empower organisations to identify the weaknesses in their infrastructure and to take quick actions. These products enable companies to prevent the threats instead of rectifying the effects of a threat.

Thus, security information management products enable entrepreneurs to manage real time events and post event analysis to improve the efficiency and reduce costs. In the age of e-business the main challenges are identifying the users and managing security events. With efficient security tools companies can effectively control users, access rights and privacy policies. Entrepreneurs can monitor their network easily and quickly report to the IT security about the incidents in the network that does e-business.

Answer the questions:

1. What do business and public administration use in their work?

2. What type of duties do IT professionals perform?

3. Why is security management indispensable today?

4. What should security managers do to conduct the business effectively?

5. Who provides solutions for security management?

6. How can a company act using security management programs?

7. What service does security management offer?

8. What programs can never enter a corporate network?

9. How can security tools help to manage e-business?

10. Where should entrepreneurs report about the incidents in the network?