Note Making – BCR CA Foundation Study Material

This Note Making – BCR CA Foundation Study Material is designed strictly as per the latest syllabus and exam pattern.

Note Making – BCR CA Foundation Study Material

Question 1.
Stress is a body reaction to any demands or changes in its internal and external environment. Whenever there is a change in the external environment such as temperature, pollutants, humidity, and working conditions, it leads to stress. In these days of competition when a person makes up his mind to surpass what has been achieved by others, leading to an imbalance between demands and resources, it causes psycho-social stress. It is a part and parcel of everyday life. Stress has a different meaning, depending on the stage of life you are in. The loss of a toy or a reprimand from the parents might create a stress shock in a child. An adolescent who fails an examination may feel as if everything has been lost and life has no further meaning.

In an adult, the loss of his or her companion, job, or professional failure may appear as if there is nothing more to be achieved. Such signs appear in the attitude and behavior of the individual as muscle tension in various parts of the body, palpitation and high blood pressure, indigestion, and hyperacidity. Ultimately the result is self-destructive behavior such as eating and drinking too much, smoking excessively, relying on tranquilizers. There are other signs of stress such as trembling, shaking nervous blinking, dryness of throat and mouth, and difficulty in swallowing. The professional under stress behaves as if he is a perfectionist. It leads to depression, lethargy, and weakness. Periodic mood shifts also indicate the stress status of the students, executives, and professionals.
Answer:
STRESS
1. Change in environment
1.1 Temperature
1.2 Pollution
1.3 Humidity

2. Competition
2.1 Imbalance between demand and supply

3. Impact of stress
3.1 High blood pressure
3.2 Indigestion
3.3 Hyperacidity
3.4 Depression

4. Signs of stress
4.1 Trembling
4.2 Dry mouth

Question 2.
Read the passage & make notes, using headings, sub-headings & abbreviations wherever necessary.
Anything printed and bound in a book size can be called a book, but the quality of mind distinguishes the value of it.

What is a book? This is’ how Anatole France describes it: “A series of little printed signs essentially only that. It is for the reader to supply himself the forms and colors and sentiments to which these signs correspond. It will depend on him whether the book is dull or brilliant, hot with passion or cold as ice. Or if you prefer to put it otherwise each word in a book is a magic finger that sets a fiber of our brain vibrating like a hard string and so evokes a note from the sounding board of our soul No matter how skillful, how inspired the artist’s hand, the sound it makes depends on the quality of the strings within ourselves”

Until recently books were the preserve of a small section of the urban upper classes. Some, even today, make it a point to call themselves intellectuals. It would be a pity if books were meant only for intellectuals and not for housewives, farmers, factory workers, artisans and, so on.

In India, there are first-generation learners, whose parents might have been illiterate. This poses special challenges to our authors and to those who are entrusted with the task of disseminating knowledge. We need much more research in the use of language and the development of techniques by which knowledge can be transferred to these people without transmission loss. Publishers should initiate campaigns to persuade people that a good book makes a beautiful present and that reading a good book can be the most relaxing as well as absorbing of pastimes. We should aim at books of quality no less than at quantitative expansion in production and sale. Unless one is constantly exposed to the best, one cannot develop a taste for the good.
Answer:
Value of Books

(A) Value of Books as per Anatole France
(1) series of printed signs
(2) reader fills in
(i) colors
(it) forms
(m) senti.
(a) bks. inter or boring
(b) impression on soul depends on reader

(B) Bks. target which sec. of society
(1) until recently Books were read by intell.
(2) must also be meant for hws. farmers etc.

(C) Bks. for 1st gen. learners (whose parents are illiterate)
(1) challenge for authors
(2) research in the use of lang. req.
(3) devel. of teaching tech, to ensure trans. of knowledge w/o loss

(D) Publisher’s duty to
(1) run campaigns
(0 to promote bks. as gd. presents
(n) reading – relax pt.

(2) make efforts for qual. & quant, exp. in prod. & sale.
Key:

1. bks. = books
2. senti. = sentiments
3. inter. – interesting
4. sec. = section
5. hws. = housewives
6. gen. = generation
7. lang. = language
8. req. = required
9. intell. = intellectuals
10. devel. = development
11. tech. = techniques
12. trans. = transmission
13. w/o = without
14. gd. = good
15. relax = relaxing
16. pt. = pastime
17. qual. = qualitative
18. quant. = quantitative
19. exp. = expansion
20. prod. = production

Question 3.
Read the passage & make notes, using headings, sub-headings & abbreviations wherever necessary.
A good business letter is one that gets results. The best way to get results is to develop a letter that in its appearance, style and content, conveys information efficiently. To perform this function, a business, the letter should be concise, clear, and courteous. The business letter must be concise, don’t waste words.

Little introduction or preliminary chat is necessary. Gel to the point, make the point and leave it. It is safe to assume that your letter is being read by a very busy person with all kinds of papers to deal with. Re-read and revise your message until the words and sentences you have used are precise. This takes time but is a necessary part of a good business letter.

A short business letter that makes its point quickly has much more impact on a reader than a long-winded, rambling exercise in creative writing. This does not mean that there is no place for style and even, on occasion, humor in the business letter. While it conveys a message in its contents, the letter also provides the reader with an impression of you, its author, the medium is part of the message. The business letter must be clear. You should have a very firm idea of what you want to say, and you should let the reader know it. Use the structure of the letter – the paragraphs, topic sentences, introduction, and conclusion- to guide the reader point by point from your thesis, through your reasoning, to your conclusion.

Paragraph often, to break up the page and to lend an air of organization to the letter. Use an accepted business letter format. Re-read what you have written from the point of view of someone who is seeing it for the first time, and be sure that all explanations are adequate, all information provided (including reference numbers, dates, and other identification). A clear message, clearly delivered, is the essence of business communication.

The business letter must be courteous. Sarcasm and insults are ineffective and can often work against you. If you are sure you are right, point that out as politely as possible, explain why you are right, and outline what the reader is expected to do about it. Another form of courtesy is taking care of your writing and typing of a business letter. Grammatical and spelling errors (even if you call them typing errors) tell a reader that you don’t think enough of him or can lower the reader’s opinion of your personality faster than anything you say, no matter how idiotic. There are excuses for ignorance; there are no excuses for sloppiness. The business letter is your custom-made representative. It speaks for you and is a permanent record of your message. It can pay big dividends on the time you invest in giving it a concise message, a clear structure, and a courteous tone.
Answer:
Writing a Good Business Letter
(A) A gd. bus. letter
(1) gets results
(2) conveys info, efficiently if:
(i) concise

• brief intro.
• to the point
• read & revise until the precise
• short letter has more impact on the reader

(it) clear

• clarity of idea to be commu.
• proper use of stru./format of letter
• guide the reader point by point from thesis, thru, a reason to concl.
• re-read from point of view of the reader
• all adeq. info, to be present

(Hi) courteous

• Polite expr. of msg.
• explain reason for your position
• avoid gramm. & spel. errors
• tk. care in writing & typing

(B) Bus. letter also
(1) provides a reader with impr. about author
(2) letter is author’s custom-made repre.
(3) is a perma. record of msg.
(4) rewardg. if time invest, in writing bus. letters.

Key :

1. gd. = good
2. info. = information
3. bus. = business
4. intro. = introduction
5. commu. = communication
6. stru. = structure
7. thru. = through
8. reason. = reasoning
9. concl. = conclusion
10. adeq. = adequate
11. expr. = expression
12. msg. = message
13. gramm. = grammatical
14. spel. = spelling
15. tk. = take
16. impr. = impression
17. repre. = representative
18. perma. = permanent
19. rewardg. = rewarding
20. invest. = invested

Question 4.
Read the passage, make notes, using headings, sub-headings and abbreviations wherever necessary In most sectors of the economy, it is the seller who attempts to attract a potential buyer with various inducements of price, quality arid utility and it is the buyer who makes the decision. Where circumstances permit the buyer no choice because there is effectively only one seller and the product is relatively essential, the government usually asserts monopoly and places the industry under price and other regulations. Neither of these conditions prevails in most of the healthcare industry; In the healthcare industry, the doctor-patient relationship is the mirror image of the ordinary relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician and even then there may be real choice-it is the physician who usually makes all significant purchasing decisions whether the patient should return “next Wednesday;” whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is a rare and sophisticated patient who will challenge such professional decisions or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the ailment is regarded as serious.

This is particularly significant in relation to hospital care. The physician must certify the need for hospitalization, determine what procedures will be performed, and announce when the patient may be discharged. The patient may be consulted about some of these decisions; but in the main it is the doctor’s judgment that are final Little wonder then that in the eyes of the hospital it is the physician who is the real “consumer.” As a consequence, the medical staff represents the “power centre” in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration;

Although usually there are in this situation four identifiable participants the physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer the physician makes the essential decisions for all of them. The hospital becomes a extension of the physician; the payer generally meets most of the bona fide, a bill generated by the physician/hospital; and for the most part the patient plays a passive role. In routine or minor illnesses, or just plain worries, the patient’s options are, of course, much greater with respect to use and price. In illnesses that are of some significance, however such choices tend to evaporate or away: DISAPPEAR “my despair evaporated J F. Wharton”, and it is for these illnesses that the bulk of the healthcare dollar, is spent. We estimate that about 75-80 per cent of health-care expenditures are determined by physicians, not patients; For this reason, economy measures directed at patients or the general publics are relatively ineffective.
Answer:
Economic challenges in health care industry
(A) Buyer and Seller’s relatshp. in diff. sectors.

1. usually seller attempts to attract buyer
2. buyer decision – maker
3. in circum. of monopoly govt, imposes regu.
4. health care indu. unique

(B) Relatshp. in Health-care indu.

1. Dr. – Pt. = producer – consumer
2. After Pt. chooses Dr., all pur. decisions made by Dr.
3. Pt. rarely challenges decisions of Dr.
4. Even in hosp. – care, Dr. makes all signi. decisions, pt. may only be infod. or consult.
5. Dr. decision final

(C) Part.in HC indu.

1. Dr., Hosp., Pt. & Payer — 4 players
2. Dr. makes all decisions regarding procedures, duration of hospzton., discharge etc.
3. Hosp. – ext. of Dr.; Dr. – power centre
4. Pt. – passive role
5. Payer – pays bills

(D) Role/Power of Pt.

1. in minor illnesses – Pt.’s options are greater
2. in major illnesses – Pt.’s choices insig.
3. 75-8096 of exp. on HC indu. on account of major illnesses.
4. these exp. deter, by Dr. thus any relief measures directed at Pt. are in-effective.

Key :

1. Relatshp. — relationship
2. diff. = different
3. circum. = circumstances
4. govt. = government
5. regu. = regulations
6. indu. = industry
7. Dr. = Doctor
8. Pt. = Patient
9. pur. = purchasing
10. hosp. = hospital
11. signi. = significant
12. infod. = informed
13. consult. = consulted
14. parti. = participants.
15. hospzton. = hospitalization
16. ext. = extension
17. HC = Health – Care
18. insig. = insignificant
19. exp. = expenditure
20. deter. = determined

PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Question 1
Knowledge can be of different kinds—tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is highly invisible and confined in the mind of a person. It is hard to formulate and, therefore, difficult to communicate to others. Tacit knowledge is essentially personal in nature. It is difficult to explain with the help of language. Individual skills, intuition, intelligence, and knowledge constitute tacit knowledge. On the other hand, explicit knowledge is visible information available in the form of literature, reports, etc. It can be embedded in objects, rules, systems, etc. It can be communicated through language and other forms of communication.

As it is difficult to articulate tacit knowledge owned by an individual, organizations have to find ways to get it shared by others in the organization. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in words and numbers and easily shared but tacit knowledge is hard to formalize and communicate. Thus, organizational knowledge is available at both the physical level and intellectual level. Personal knowledge and organizational knowledge need to be merged seamlessly to ensure success in organizations. This happens only when knowledge is driven through a learning organization.

Knowledge management involves both tactical and strategic processes. The day-to-day use of knowledge to meet customer expectations or opportunities in the marketplace can be called the tactical process. The more long-range process of matching organizational knowledge assets to strategic requirements can be called the strategic process. The tactical process involves the get, use, learn and contribute phases of knowledge management. The assess, build and sustain phases constitute the strategic process of knowledge management.

Question 2
A crisis is a turning point and a time of danger. In this turbulent era, turning points and dangerous moments arise quite frequently. An organizational crisis may be defined as an event that threatens the viability of the organization. A crisis is an unexpected problem that can lead to disaster if not resolved quickly and appropriately. A crisis means something that will extract a major financial or medical cost from a company. It may wreck its reputation or may even cause the company to go out of existence as happened in the case of Enron. It may be sabotage, a terrorist attack, executive kidnappings, industrial disasters and the like. Normal crisis or accidents happen due to complex technologies. Many things can go wrong with their design, operation or maintenance. Major catastrophes like Bhopal Gas Tragedy are literally built into technologies. In a normal crisis there is a breakdown of a complex system. However, Enron, Anderson like crises are due to intentional breakup of systems. In other words,

breakdowns arc normal accidents and breakups are abnormal accidents. There are seven types of crisis economic, physical, personal, criminal, informational, reputation and natural disasters. As companies are made up of human beings, crisis will continue to occur.

Each crisis is different and needs to be handled in its own way. Managers waste a lot of time denying that something went wrong. Man-made factors (human errors and cussedness) are more common causes of the crisis. In an ideal world, there should be no crisis. All problems could be foreseen and steps taken to deal with them. But in real life, Murphy’s Law holds good. According to this law, “If anything can go wrong it will.”

A company cannot prevent a crisis but it can experience fewer crisis, recover faster and gain a competitive advantage if it is crisis prepared. At best 10 to 15 percent of companies are crisis prepared. The rest are merely reactive. Generally, companies do not accept a crisis unless there is pressure from outside. There are three biggest blocks to crisis prevention strategies fear, anxiety and denial. People do not like thinking about planes crashing into tall buildings before 9/11? A good company integrates crisis management with total quality management and environmental management because there is a lot of overlap between these programs. For example, when Cadbury was hit by the worms-in-the-chocolate controversy in 2003, the company addressed the problem directly where the infestation might have come from and invested substantially in new packaging. A company has to control the crisis and not be overwhelmed by it.

There are three parts to crisis management. What the company does before a crisis, which is proactive; how it acts when the crisis actually happens, which is reactive; and then, what it learns at the end of the crisis.