Comprehensive Analysis: Business Decision Making at Ann's College

This report provides an in-depth analysis of business decision-making within Ann's College, focusing on challenges such as declining student numbers and revenue. It begins with an introduction to the importance of effective decision-making and outlines a research plan that incorporates both primary and secondary data collection methods, including surveys and analysis of financial records. The report details the use of quota sampling for primary research and presents calculations of mean, median, mode, and standard deviation from student mark data. Furthermore, it examines the correlation between training expenditures and student grades, using graphs and trend lines to illustrate the relationships. The report concludes with a discussion of information processing tools suitable for the college, such as transaction processing systems and management information systems, to improve decision-making processes.

An in-depth study into business decision
making in a selected organization.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1................................................................................................................................................3
1.2................................................................................................................................................3
1.3................................................................................................................................................4
1.4................................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1................................................................................................................................................6
2.2................................................................................................................................................8
2.3................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1................................................................................................................................................8
3.2..............................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1..............................................................................................................................................10
4.2..............................................................................................................................................11
4.3..............................................................................................................................................11
4.4..............................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Decision making is an integral part of any business unit, it is the process to opt the
suitable option from the available resources so that effective decision can be made by the firm.
For impressive judgement it is necessary to forecast the outcome of each available option. BDM
assists in solving problems of workplace and support in improving quality of work of the
organizations (Resende and de Sousa, 2013). For the present report Ann's College is being taken
into account, currently college is facing the issue of poor student numbers and decrease in the
revenues. For resolving these problems, a research plan will be discussed which collect primary
and secondary data to identify the level of problems in the college. Study will illustrate the range
of techniques to analyses the data effectively. Project plan will be prepared to describe the
important activities with the use of software.
TASK 1
1.1
Problems are integral part of every organization. Some have sales issue or other have
poor management problems. Ann's college is being taken into account which is facing the issue
of poor performance presently (Wang and Zhang, 2013). Earlier college was known of its
progressive outlook. Lecturers are highly talented and having great knowledge. It is the
constituent educational institute of the university of Oxford in England. Business problems
which is attached with the college is that, it has lack of students. And due to this educational
institute is unable to give quality performance to its students. Its revenues are decreasing
continuously and currently it is unable to run business significantly. As people are not taking
interest now to take admission in such college because of poor performance. It is the major
problems and due to this it will have to close the college soon. To overcome from this situation is
very important for Ann's college.
1.2
Decisions of any business unit decides growth of the company (Kacprzyk and Fedrizzi,
2012). To make effective judgement it is necessary to collect several informations with the use of
several techniques. According to given scenario Ann's college is facing the problem of declining
performance due to poor students number, which decreases revenues of the college. Therefore, it

is required to conduct proper research so that number of learners can get increased in the
educational institution. To collect vital informations two main sources can be used by researcher: Primary sources: It is the source of collecting information, researcher own self gather all
relevant data by using several techniques. By using this source scholar will be able to
collect specific information which can give benefit to the college (Croskerry, 2013).
Survey is the great method which can give authentic data to the researcher. For survey,
scholar will choose online mediums such as social sites, emails to communicate with
mass audience. In addition to this, Ann's college will opt the option of questionnaire, so
that students can fill these questions and management can identify the root of the
problem.
 Secondary sources: It is the source which is already available and is scrutinized by the
researcher so that individual can take effective decision for the business. Scholar will
identify its financial statements, annual reports, students records of previous years so that
actual risk and potential opportunities can be identified by Ann's College. These data can
be gathered through journals, online articles, books, college website etc (Studer and et. al,
2015).
1.3
For conducting primary research sample size is 20.
1. Name: ___________
2. Gender: ______
3. Age: __________
4. Are you satisfied with the teaching methods of lectures?
 Highly satisfied
 Satisfied
 Dissatisfied
 Highly dissatisfied
5. Why students bunk classes?
 Poor learning in classroom
 Feeling board in lecturers

 Improper attention of teachers
 Teachers teach at their direction
6. What is the major reason of poor performance of students of the Ann's college?
 Not interested in study
 Lecturers do not cover practical aspects
 Poor study environment
 Poor administration
7. What is the reason behind decreasing revenue of the educational institute?
 Poor participation in extra curricular activities of college
 Disciplinary issues
 Incompetencies of lecturer
8. What modification required to be made by management team of Ann's college?
 Hiring of competent lecturers
 High involvement in extra curricular activities
 Set up learner's grievance cell
9. Give your valuable suggestion for improvement of performance of college
1.4
To select appropriate sample form many, sampling is the great technique. To collect
relevant data learner has many options such as simple random sampling, quota, stratified
sampling etc. All these methods are used for the different purposes. Ann's is facing the issue of
poor performance because of lack of students (Xia, Xu and Chen, 2013). Thus, revenue of the
college is getting down. Researcher will have to choose appropriate option through which he can
collect good informations. Ann's college has to deal with number of students those ho are
studying in different classes. So quota sampling will be the best suitable technique for the scholar
in this respect. With the use of his sampling method, individual will be able to gather effective
and good data which can help to analyse he root of the problem thus management will be able to
resolve these problems effectively.

TASK 2
2.1
On the bases of secondary data regarding received marks of students of Ann's college
which is between 20-100 (Martin and Parmar, 2012). Calculation of Mean, Median, Mode and
Standard deviation are as below:
Calculation of Mean:
Marks Mid point Frequency F*M
Less than 20 10 6 60
20-30 25 17 425
30-40 35 38 1330
40-50 45 53 2385
50-60 55 79 4345
60-70 65 94 6110
70-80 75 53 3975
80-100 90 25 2250
Summation 365 20880
Mean 57.21
Calculation for Median:
Marks Frequency CF
Less than 20 6 6
20-30 17 23
30-40 38 61
40-50 53 114
50-60 79 193

60-70 94 287
70-80 53 340
80-100 25 365
365
Median 48.6708860759
Calculation for Mode:
Marks Frequency CF
Less than 20 6 6
20-30 17 23
30-40 38 61
40-50 53 114
50-60 79 193
60-70 94 287
70- 80 53 340
80-100 25 365
365
Mode 62.67
Standard deviation:
Marks M.P F MP-
Mean
D/10 D*2 F*D F*G
Less than
20
10 6 -47.2 -4.72 22.27 -28.32 133.62
20-30 25 17 25 2.5 6.25 42.5 106.25
30-40 35 38 35 3.5 12.25 133 465.5

40-50 45 53 45 4.5 20.25 238.5 1073.2
5
50-60 55 79 55 5.5 30.25 434.5 2389.7
5
60-70 65 94 65 6.5 42.25 611 3971.5
70- 80 75 53 75 7.5 56.25 397.5 2981.2
5
80-100 90 25 90 9 81 225 2025
365 342.8 2053.68 13146.
12
Standard
deviation
55.127
2.2  Mean: Mean can be calculated with the formula of; Mean = sum of element in a set/
number of elements (Merigó and Gil-Lafuente, 2012). As per the calculation it if found
that average students score marks in the range of 50-60. Average score of students are
around 57. Median: It can be defined as middle number in the list of numbers. It is used in the place
of mean when asymmetric informations have been given. Variables are divided into two
groups, one part which covers greater values and other which covers all values less than
median. From the above calculation value of median was 48.67 which means only 50%
students got more than 50 marks.
 Mode: It is the number which appears most frequently in the set of numbers are called as
mode. From the calculation it is resulted that value of mode is 62.67 which describes that
most of the students got marks nearby 62 (Challagalla, Murtha and Jaworski, 2014).

2.3
Marks Frequency CF
Less than 20 6 6
20-30 17 23
30- 40 38 61
40-50 53 114
50- 60 79 193
60-70 94 287
70- 80 53 340
80-100 25 365
365
Q1 91.5
Q2 183
Q3 274.5
Correlation:
Marks Frequency Attendance
0- 20 6 2
20 and less than 30 17 4
30 and less than 40 38 6
40 and less than 50 53 10
50 and less than 60 79 13
60and less than 70 94 14
70 and less than 80 53 15
80 and less than 100 25 15
Correlation 0.67
Interpretation: As attendance will increase, correlation will also increase.
Rang:
100-0 = 100

TASK 3
3.1
Graphs and data are as following:
Months Training Expenditures Student Grades %
1 1700 40
2 3300 45
3 3400 50
4 4200 55
5 4500 60
31/12/1899 01/01/1900 02/01/1900 03/01/1900 04/01/1900
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1700
3300 3400
4200
4500
40 45 50 55 60
Training Expenditures
Student Grades %

31/12/1899
01/01/1900
02/01/1900
03/01/1900
04/01/1900
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
1700
3300
3400
4200
4500
40
45
50
55
60
Student Grades %
Training Expenditures

Interpretation: From the graphs and tables it is found that training expenditures are increasing
rapidly in the Ann's college but with the increment in expenses grades of students are also
increasing gradually. But after so many expenses some students have not increased their grades.
So it is required by management of Ann's college that they should analyse the reason behind it.
Even it has been seen that increment in grades is very minute after improving educational
facilities as well in the college (Herrera and et. al, 2014). Ann's college is needed to take
feedback of its students for identifying the root cause of this problem. So that management can
make new plan for the improvement in the educational institute. By this way management team
will get to know what actually needs of students from the college. So that it will be able to
implement necessary required changes, which can give improvement in the grades (Vázquez,
and et. al, 2013).
3.2
Trade line diagram of secondary data:
Months Training Expenditures Student Grades %
1 1700 40
2 3300 45
31/12/1899 01/01/1900 02/01/1900 03/01/1900 04/01/1900
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1700
3300 3400
4200
4500
40 45 50 55 60
Training Expenditures
Student Grades %

3 3400 50
4 4200 55
5 4500 60
Interpretation: from the above the graphs it can be concluded that Ann's college is
spending more in training programs so grades will be higher.
TASK 4
4.1
There are many informations processing tools which can be used by Ann's college for
getting suitable results. Transaction processing system: It is the best suitable information processing system for
business transactions. It includes collection, modification and retrieval etc. All details
related to several departmental transactions are available on single computer (Bharadwaj
and et.al, 2013). Management information system: This system supports management to get valuable
informations so that they can make appropriate decisions for the improvement of the
35 40 45 50 55 60 65
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
f(x) = x
R² = 1
Series1
Linear (Series1)

college performance. MIS is the techniques which is used by top management for making
critical and efficient decisions. These informations can be used by operational, tactical
and strategic level of managers. With the help of computerized tool, management can
identify the issue and can make suitable judgement. Decision support system: It is the computerized information system which supports
management to take effective decisions. It is used by operational, management and
planning level persons so that they can analyse the problem and can modify the activities
to resolve the specific problem (Newell, Lagnado and Shanks, 2015).
 Electronic point sale: It is used by most of the retailers in modern era. It is the electronic
system in which products have unique codes which is scanned by machine. This
information processing tool support in maintaining transparency in the records. With the
help of this company can prepare records of daily selling (Masini and Menichetti, 2012).
4.2
Project plan for activities and determine the critical path.
Description Activities Predecessor Duration
(Weeks)
1 Primary research A - 3
2 Teacher Training B 5
3 Equipment installation C A 2
4 Resource Preparation D A 3
5 Class tests E D,B 3
6 Analysis of results F E,C 5
7 Quality control supervisor G C 1
8 Student feedback H F,G 2
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Early
Start
Late
Finish Total Slack
Primary
research 3 wks Thu
11/17/16
Wed
12/7/16
Thu
11/17/16
Wed
12/7/16 0 wks
teacher training 5 wks Thu Wed Thu Wed 1 wk

11/17/16 12/21/16 11/17/16 12/28/16
Equipment
installation 2 wks Thu
12/8/16
Wed
12/21/16 1 Thu
12/8/16
Wed
1/18/17 4 wks
resource
preparation 3 wks Thu
12/8/16
Wed
12/28/16 1 Thu
12/8/16
Wed
12/28/16 0 wks
Class tests 3 wks Thu
12/29/16
Wed
1/18/17 2,4 Thu
12/29/16
Wed
1/18/17 0 wks
Analysis of
results 5 wks Thu
1/19/17
Wed
2/22/17 3,5 Thu
1/19/17
Wed
2/22/17 0 wks
Quality control
supervisors 1 wk Thu
12/22/16
Wed
12/28/16 3 Thu
12/22/16
Wed
2/22/17 8 wks
Student
feedback 2 wks Thu
2/23/17
Wed
3/8/17 6,7 Thu
2/23/17
Wed
3/8/17 0 wks
Gantt chart
Network diagram

Critical path: 1 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 8
= 3+3+3+5+2
= 16 days
4.3
Years CASH FLOW
0 £ (80,000)
1 £ 15,000
2 £ 25,000
3 £ 35,000
4 £ 30,000
Calculation of NPV: Difference between present value of cash inflow and ouflow can be
termend as net present value.
Years CASH FLOW P.V Factor Present value
0 -£80,000.00
1 £15,000.00 0.909 £13,635.00
2 £25,000.00 0.826 £20,650.00
3 £35,000.00 0.752 £26,320.00
4 £30,000.00 0.683 £20,490.00
Cost 80000 £81,095.00
NPV £1,095.00

Interpretation: It is found that present NPV value is £1,095. So this investment will be
worthwhile for the Ann's college, with the help of hi it will be able to improve its drawbacks and
will be able to gain good results (Levine, Thompson and Messick, 2013).
Payback period: It is the value which defines the suitable project for the organization. It defines
which project can give good returns in less time duration.
Years CASH FLOW
1 £15,000.00
2 £25,000.00
3 £35,000.00
4 £30,000.00
Cash inflow £105,000.00
Initial investment 80000
Pay back period 0.7619047619
Interpretation: From the above calculation it is found that Ann's will be able to recover its
invested amount with in a year. So this investment will be profitable for the college (Cao, Duan
and Li, 2015). Pay back period is resulted 0.76.
Average rate of return (ARR): It is the estimated profit of a project on average investment.
Formula of calculating ARR:
ARR= Average accounting profit / Average investment
Years CASH FLOW
1 £15,000.00
2 £25,000.00
3 £35,000.00
4 £30,000.00
ARR £262.50

Interpretation: The value of ARR is resulted £262.50. It defines that Ann's college will get
average return of £262.50 amount per year. It is showed that if ARR is greater than required rate
of return then project will not be accepted by management because it will give profit to the
company. But if value of ARR is below than required rate of return then it will not be accepted
by the management team as it will give huge lose to college (Keršulienė and Turskis, 2014).
Results totally depends upon the decisions of management. If they chose suitable option then
college will be able to overcome from its issue and will be able to improve its performance.
4.4
For collecting the relevant data researcher has choose primary and secondary data in the
workplace. These informations have given valuable finding about poor performance of the
college. From the research it is found that students do not like the environment of the class
because they feel boar in the classroom. Students of Ann's college wanted to get some practical
knowledge with the bookish knowledge. They think that bookish informations are not that much
enough for learning (Milis, 2009). They want practical implication of books in the college for
better understanding. For instance, if lecturers teach about pricing decisions then student wants
that teachers include some relevant case studies of some businesses so that better practical
knowledge can be gained by them. The another reason of poor performance is that teachers teach
them as per their own discretion which creates negative image of lecturers in front of students.
They feel that teachers are not that much skilled and having no knowledge about the topic.
Reason of grievances in the college is that teacher do not give appropriate answers to students
thus they feel dissatisfy with the teaching techniques and avoid classes. They feel boar in the
classroom thus, do not come in the classes or take admission in other college next year. Poor
administration is another reason of lack of students because they think that administrative staff
do not pay attention on students and do not listen them properly. They always do mistakes in
paper work due to poor technical skills. And due to these students have to suffer a lot. Discussion on outcome: It is required that management of Ann's college pay attention the
issues of students to improve performance of the educational institute. College have
started training programs for he lectures so that they can enhance their knowledge and
can be able to give satisfactory answers to students (Keršulienė and Turskis, 2014). But it

is found that this programs have not given good results, grades of students increased but
by minor percentage. Therefore, college is required to adopt new methods to give training
to its staff members. They should train them in such manner so that lecturers can involve
practical implications in their teaching methods. They need to make teaching more
interesting so that students do not feel board in the class and attend classes regularly.
Another issue raised by students that teacher are teaching as per their own discretion so it
is required that lecturers should keep an eye on them. By this way they will feel class
interesting. Management team need to tackle administrative staff effectively so that they
listen quarries of students carefully and provide them suitable solutions. Administrative
staff needs to take quick decisions on grievances. They should establish a cell for
students in which students can raise their voice and management takes immediate action
for resolving their queries. Another issue was raised by students that they are not getting
suitable answers from teachers. So for that management is required to take feedback from
the students. They should rank the lecturers from 1 to 5. By this way management team
of Ann's college will get to know about performance of individual teachers. Thus, they
will be able to take strict action if any teacher is not giving proper answers (Milis, 2009). Conclusion: From the research it can be concluded that reason behind poor performance
and lack of students are that teachers are not paying attention on students and
administrative staff are not doing their jobs properly. Management have conducted
training programmes but that did not give good results, gradual increment in grades have
taken place after so much investment on training programs. Management needs to
prepare rules and regulation so that staff members perform their responsibility
effectively. Teacher need to make their teaching pattern more interesting by involving
some practical knowledge. Management team of Ann's college should ensure that
teachers take timely classes and regularly students gain something new from the class.
 Recommendation: Management should make training program more effective. They
should make a committee who can work for the improvement in trainings. Strict rules and
regulations must be made by top management and close monitoring should be there. So
that all department employees perform their responsibility impressively. Immediate
action should be taken by authorities to resolve quarries of students so that they feel
satisfy.

On the bases of project evaluation it can be recommended that Ann's College will
be able to recover its investment within one year so it will be good for the firm. NPV and ARR is
quit well so it is viable project for Ann's College. College should pay focus on its below 62
marks students more, so that they can get high marks. And also it should promote its good scorer
persons so that more students will get attracted towards the college. For paying attention on
average student, Ann's College needs to arrange extra classes for them so that they can get more
knowledge. By this way teacher will be able to pay individual attention on poor students.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that Business decision play important role in
the success of organization. Trends lines, graphs can help to identify the actual execution and
drawbacks of the workplace. By this way management will be able to make such plans which
can help in improving the performance of the college. Report has used many techniques but NPV
was the effective method because with the assistance of this tool time value of money can be
identified by management.