The external forces for change in an organisation include economic conditions, technological developments, competitor's activities, societal and demographic shifts, and legal/political developments. The internal forces include managerial decisions, employee preferences and suggestions. The focus of organisational changes include technology, shared values and culture, strategy, structure, systems and staff.

The control function in management is the regulation of activities and behaviours within organisations, adjustment and conformity to specifications and objectives. There is a control feedback loop which recognises changes in planning and organising. The basic control principles are 1. Establish standards, 2. Measure performance, 3. Compare performance against standards and 4., Evaluate results and take necessary corrective action.

The link between Human Resource Management and competitive advantage is about getting the right people and maximising their performance and potential. Planning for HR involves forecasting demand; working out how many and what type of people a firm needs at a particular point in time, assessing the supply of such people, and formulating fulfillment plans. JOb analysis is the determination of the scope and depth of jobs and the requisite skills, abilities and knowledge that people need to perform their jobs successfuly.

Communication is the process of transferring information, meaning and understanding from sender to receiver. The basic model of communication involves encoding, the act of constructing a message, the medium, the mode or form of transmission, decoding, the act of interpreting and noise, potential interference with the transmission or decoding of a message [nota bene: noise can also occur with the encoding, consider the confused mind]. Verbal modes can be oral, written and non-verbal modes can include dress, intonation, gestures, expressions and body language.

There is a continuum between individuals, groups and teams with degrees of independence and collaboration. A group is defined here as a small set of people, from three to twenty, who have some degree of mutual interaction and shared objectives. A team is type of group which is highly interdependent, coordinated and with a strong sense of menbers' personal responsibility for achieving group outcomes. The basic types of groups include a set of formal groups (command/supervisory groups, project/task forces and committees) and informal groups.

Motivation is a set of forces that energise, direct and sustains behaviour. The source of motivations depends on characteristics of the individual, the job and the work situation. Examples of the individual includes needs, attitudes, and goals. Examples of the job include feedback, workload, tasks and discretion. Characteristics of the work situation include the immediate environment and organisational actions.

Blake and Mouton's managerial grid is a method that measures the degree that managers are task-orientated and people-orientated.

Leadership is a process of influence that can occur potentially anywhere in an organisation. It is not a set of behaviour limited to any role. Organisational leadership is defined as an interpersonal process involving attempts to influence other people in attaining some goal. Effective leadership is that which assists a group or an organisation to meet its goals and objectives and person successfully.

Decision making is a process of specifying the nature of a particular problem or opportunity and selecting between available alternatives to solve a problem or capture an opportunity. Decision making has two aspects; the act and the process. The act involves choosing between alternatives. The processes consists of formulating, identification of the problem or opportunity and acquiring relevant information and the solution being the desired course of action.

Objectives are end states or targets that an organisation's managers aim for. Plans are the means by which managers hope to reach the desired state. Planning is a decision making process that focuses on the future of an organisation andhow it will achieve its goals. Strategic plans focus on the broad future of the organisation and incorporate both external environmental demands and internal resources into managers' actions. They are typically 3-5 years in scale, and the most complex with high levels of interdependence.