Elvin Mahmudov

Innovation is the willingness and ability to take a creative approach to problems or issues, to “think outside the box”, to go beyond the conventional, and to explore creative uses of resources (e.g., doing more with less). It involves the ability to develop, adopt and apply new and unique approaches and ideas with clear impact on improving business outcomes. It also includes using intuition, experimentation and fresh perspectives to enhance performance by developing or promoting new processes, services and/or programs. The main elements of innovation are: 1. Is open to new ideas - Is open minded when presented with a new perspective. - Applies new information to work problems and situations. - Recognizes when a situation calls for or can be improved by an approach different from the usual. 2. Questions conventional work methods - Questions/challenges conventional approaches and/or current thinking. - Uses new information to offer realistic alternatives. - Is prepared to “try out” diff

Business acumen is the ability to understand the business implications of opportunities and decisions, and to implement successful business strategies to improve organizational performance. It requires an ability to see the big picture by combining an awareness of business issues, processes and outcomes, and the impact they have on the community and organization’s strategic direction. The main elements of business acumen are: 1. Possesses basic knowledge of business - Understands how own job fits in relationship to results / outcomes / performance. - Appropriately applies existing policies to address business needs. - Improves one’s understanding of the business. - Demonstrates a basic understanding of business fundamentals. 2. Incorporates business fundamentals - Understands tactical business fundamentals and incorporates them into decision making and setting and measuring outcomes against critical performance indicators (e.g., financial, productivity, etc.). - Builds the business cas

"The optimal span of control for managers is the extent to which they can assess and manage the individual effectiveness of employees" - Elliott Jaques Span of control refers to the number of employees who report directly to the manager. In the first half of the last century, the maximum number of employees directly subordinated to the manager was 6 people, or even less. But since the 1980s, with the development of industry and information technology, organizational leaders have flattened their organizational structure, and the upper limit of this range has been increased to 10 or more people. The main reason for this was the development of information technologies and the availability of these technologies. Information technologies have gradually replaced middle management functions such as collecting, processing, and presenting operational data, and organizations have been able to reduce the number of middle managers and employ more employees with fewer managers. It is no c

Since the end of 2014, as a result of the rapid drop in oil prices, there has been a decrease in the gross domestic product of our country, and the GDP of 2014, which was 75.2 billion dollars, has decreased in the following years to the level of 37.49 billion dollars in 2016. At the end of 2016, a 3.8% decrease in GDP was observed compared to last year. (see chart 1) Chart 1 According to the information provided by the Statistics Committee, 66% of the GDP was formed by the non-oil and gas sector, and 34% by the oil and gas sector. A 27.6% decline in the construction sector was noted as the biggest impact on the decline of GDP. The analysis of GDP by sector structure shows that the growth rates of the oil and gas industry are weakening and the share of the oil sector in GDP is decreasing year by year. This is mainly due to two reasons. The main reason is the decrease in oil production from 2011 to the present. The second is related to the price movement of oil in world markets. Due to t

Internal control is a management system consisting of financial and other control systems intended for effective and efficient implementation of activities, protection of assets and resources, correct and complete accounting, timely and reliable processing of financial data. Within the framework of the COSO model, which is the best accepted model of this system, internal control is designed to ensure the conformity of work and activities in the organization to the norms, the reliability of financial and management reports, the effectiveness of activities and the protection of assets. According to the methodology, there are 5 main components of the internal control system, and the first of these components is the "CONTROL ENVIRONMENT". Other components are risk assessment, control activities, information and communication and monitoring. According to the COSO methodology, the control environment creates the basis for other components of internal control by ensuring the formati

Organizations today are under increasing pressure to protect their reputation and maintain compliance with laws and regulations. An effective compliance and ethics program can help organizations achieve these goals while also protecting their employees and customers An effective compliance and ethics program helps an organization ensure adherence to applicable laws, regulations and standards. It also helps create an ethical culture among employees by establishing clear expectations of ethical behavior and providing training and support to ensure those expectations are met. A well designed compliance and ethics program will include a code of conduct, a system of reporting, and an effective monitoring and enforcement system. The code of conduct should clearly articulate the expected ethical standards for employees and should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the organization. The reporting system should provide employees with an easy way to report violations or unet

Corporate governance is a crucial aspect of modern business that plays a significant role in ensuring the integrity, transparency, and accountability of organizations. It encompasses a set of principles, processes, and practices that guide the way corporations are directed and controlled. This short blog post aims to provide a descriptive exploration of corporate governance by examining its definition, historical background, key components, and mechanisms. By delving into these aspects, we can gain a deeper understanding of the importance and relevance of corporate governance in today's business landscape. An overview of corporate governance reveals its fundamental nature and its evolution over time. Corporate governance can be defined as the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. It encompasses the relationships between the various stakeholders involved, including shareholders, management, and the board of directors. The concept of

Diversity in counsel, unity in obedience to command The most important task of management is decision-making. As it is known, organizations are faced with the need to make decisions to solve the various problems they face from the day of their formation. Decisions made by organizations to solve their problems are called management decisions. Effective organizations outperform their competitors in terms of decision-making in 3 ways: - they make correct and reasoned decisions; - they make decisions faster; - they implement the adopted decisions more quickly and successfully. As can be seen, the decision-making process is considered very important in terms of the effectiveness and competitiveness of organizations and constitutes the core of the management process. The decision-making process in management is the selection of the best among the alternatives for the organization or individual individuals to achieve their goals within the scope of their duties and powers. The most import

Although the sharp drop in oil prices seems to be a big problem for the country's economy, it is actually a great advantage because it gives us great signals to prepare for the future. The end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 were marked by failures for oil exporting countries, including Azerbaijan. So, while the price of oil exceeded $110 in June 2014, it lost enough value and approached $40 at the end of the year. Currently, the price of oil varies between $50-60. There are a number of conspiracy theories about the drop in oil prices. According to some, the main reason for the drop in oil prices is the desire of the United States to punish Russia. According to some, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter, is deliberately lowering the price of oil to drive US shale oil out of the market. According to other theories, the increase in the use of alternative energy and shale oil indirectly had a negative impact on oil consumption and oil prices. Against the backdrop of a s

Practicing once is better than reading a hundred times. Recently, I was having an interesting conversation with a young, but very potential and promising HR friend of mine. During the conversation, my young friend told an incident. I thought this event would be useful and wanted to share it with you. According to my young friend, there is a vacancy in the company where he works as HR. He also applies to his former university to fill the vacancy and asks the university to send some potential candidates who have recently graduated. The university, in turn, sends several potential graduates it deems suitable to an interview with our friend. During the interview process, young and inexperienced candidates try to show inappropriate sincerity, they prefer to talk about their shared values and mutual acquaintances, which they can have with our HR friend, rather than their personal professional qualities. This approach annoys our HR friend and decides not to hire candidates referred from the

A company that learns faster than its competitors can take a step ahead of the competition. In my article "Mastery System", I shared my thoughts about what this system is and what risks it has for the company. In this article, I will try to express my opinion on what steps should be taken to prevent such a situation in the management system. The reason for the existence of the mastery system is that the management system is not fully regulated. The lack of regulation of the management system means the absence or insufficiency of regulatory documents regulating the activities of the company. In unregulated systems, due to the fact that the problems that will arise related to the system op eration are not determined in advance, uncertainties and stops can occur in the process flow. In addition, one of the most affected systems within the company's overall management system is the company's human resources system. So, as I mentioned in the previous article, the maste