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Focusing on priorities

“A complex decision is like a great river, drawing from its many tributaries the innumerable premises of which it is constituted.” (Herbert A. Simon)

A management audit is a practical, systematic analysis of an organization’s strategies, policies and processes. Audits identify problems and potential difficulties at an early stage, highlighting strengths that can be developed further.

Management audits can be broken down into functional audits such as personnel, production, finance and marketing audits. However, the most popular and valuable type of functional audit is an analysis of the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to its external opportunities and threats: a SWOT analysis.

The advantages of regular (although not excessive) audits and SWOT analyses are clear: they help to focus the organization so that resources can be efficiently allocated; they enable the organization to stay in touch with reality – what people actually think, how and why things are really working. They highlight the areas of greatest success and the causes of profitability, not just at a superficial level but, when done thoroughly, at a level of detail that is often invaluable for the future.

This toolkit explains how to succeed with audits and SWOT analysis.

Length: 11 pages

Contents

The Benefits

Action Checklist: Undertaking Management Audits

Consider the relevant issues

Decide timing

Follow the auditing process

Best Practice: Conducting a SWOT Analysis

Avoiding Problems – this section includes techniques to avoid potential pitfalls and problems with audits and SWOT analyses.

Dos and Don’ts

Key Questions

Things You Can Do

Discuss which resources (people, physical, technological, financial) are most important to achieving business goals

Understand how resources interrelate

Prepare and implement a plan outlining how you will build the resources you need

Adopt a market sensing approach

Further Action

Further Information