Discover how time management, accounting, business law, organizational behavior, and management affect administrative assistant responsibilities and activities. Learn the basics of accounting, including the general ledger and key accounting terms, and see how financial statements and controls help keep your organization moving in a positive direction. Understand the fundamentals of business law, contracts, and the principal-agency relationship; discover ethics and organizational politics; and understand the basics of human resources management.
Also, discover key management functions such as planning, control, motivation, and organization, discover how to increase creativity. Plus, find out how marketing differs from sales and learn the basics of operations management. This course may help you prepare for the internationally-recognized Certified Administrative Professional® (CAP®) exam offered by the International Association of Administrative Professionals® (IAAP®).
Becky Swaim has taught since 2000, focusing on Administrative Assistant Fundamentals, Administrative Assistant Applications, and Individual Excellence. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from California State University, Long Beach. Her experience includes managing large staff in medical billing and collections and as a program manager to various medical practices.
Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI)® and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)® from the American Society for Quality (ASQ)®.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
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Lesson 1
Since many organizations are going global, you can increase your value by knowing what's taking place in the world economy. In our opening lesson, we'll define the phrase "world economy" and then present the concepts of business cycles and economic growth. You'll learn the differences between gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP) and macro and microeconomics. At the end of the lesson, you'll discover the importance of economies of scale and the experience curve, and you'll see how econometric forecasting helps you determine the future.
Lesson 2
In this lesson and the one that follows, we'll emphasize accounting and financial concepts and fundamentals to help you increase your readiness to use financial information. You'll gain a strong foundation by learning about the general ledger, by seeing the difference between accounting and bookkeeping, and by investigating the different types of accounting. We'll demystify debits and credits and present the accounting equation as a cornerstone of all modern accounting systems.
Lesson 3
Now that you've absorbed the basics of accounting, it's time to learn how to apply financial information. We'll start off by reviewing two vital financial statements that you will find at nearly every organization--the balance sheet and the income statement. Next, you'll find out how to account for inventories and then discover the significance of cash flow. By the end of the lesson, you'll clearly understand how sound cash management helps companies stay on the right path.
Lesson 4
Administrative assistants need to know the basics of business law. While we don't expect any of you to become lawyers, we do want to make sure you have a good grasp of key legal concepts, such as the principal-agency relationship and the basics of contracts. We'll start things off by looking at the idea of law, going through an overview of the legal system, and discussing the essence of commercial law. We'll tackle the essentials of contracts, such as the elements and the various types, and finish up by discussing Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Lesson 5
In today's lesson, we'll examine the four most popular organizational forms: sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, and corporation. You'll learn all about organizational politics, and see that wherever people work together, you'll find politics. We'll also touch on business ethics, a critical concept that has received much attention in recent years.
Lesson 6
Firms are pursuing international business at rapid rates. After you complete today's lesson, you'll know where to look to help your company meet their international business objectives. We'll explore the origins, characteristics, and definition of international business. You'll learn of the various ways to get started with international operations, including exporting and joint ventures. We'll conclude by exploring how international business varies by key area, including economic, political, legal, culture, technology, and demographic considerations.
Lesson 7
Life is filled with opportunities, problems, and choices. When you effectively plan and control your activities, and also make timely decisions and solve problems, you become a valued asset. We'll look at the ins and outs of planning because just about everything you do begins with a plan. We'll help you learn about the counterpart of planning: control. By the time you finish Lesson 7, you'll know all about problem solving and be able to apply a model of decision making.
Lesson 8
Organizing is a critical topic that many companies struggle with. In this lesson, you'll discover how resources are organized so employees can productively perform job duties and complete tasks. We'll begin by studying the purpose of organization and examining several coordinating principles, including authority, power, and span of control. You'll learn the purpose of the staffing function and how to evaluate such key elements as recruitment, selection, appraisal, and development. We'll conclude this lesson by looking at six different forms of organizational charts.
Lesson 9
It's often said that motivation and leadership are two sides of the same coin. It's difficult to have one and not the other. Today, we'll begin by defining motivation and exploring four theories of motivation, and then we'll move into leadership. You'll learn about the different types of leadership and discover the difference between delegation and empowerment. We'll also examine creativity and help you see how you can increase your creativity levels.
Lesson 10
We find that most people believe marketing is either advertising or selling. Our primary objective in today's lesson is to make sure that you clearly understand the distinction between marketing, advertising, and sales. You'll discover what it means to be consumer oriented. Also, you'll learn how to apply the four Ps (product, place, price, promotion) and see how these variables work together to form marketing strategies.
Lesson 11
Operations management is one of the unheralded activities at a company. The folks that work in this area don't receive much credit and don't lead a glamorous life. They're the behind-the-scenes people that keep the ball rolling so that customers are happy and the company makes profits. Today, we'll explore the diverse nature of operations management and see how selecting, designing, operating, controlling, and updating play an important role in all operating systems. We'll explore such key concepts as forecasting, capacity, and make-or-buy analysis, as well as discussing their importance.
Lesson 12
In our final lesson, we'll discuss why change is so important, review why people are reluctant to change, and explore strategies that can help you overcome resistance to change. We'll help you establish a winning team and lead you through the stages of recruiting, evaluating, and selecting team members. We'll explore the concepts of a core team, extended team, and the overly important team. We'll finish up by discussing the complete performance planning process, including how to address performance problems and how to make reviews more meaningful.
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