Assignment Method
Categories: Accounting, Board of Directors
In larger companies, there is an internal competition for resources. (Things can get downright Darwinian in the boardroom.) No matter how big a company gets, it only has so many people and so much money at its disposable. So the managers of various departments and projects have to fight over available resources in order to get what they need.
The assignment method is a way of deciding how to divvy up these resources. The top executives figure out the best mix among the competing parts of the companies, assigning manpower and financial resources in the best way possible.
Imagine you and three friends are sharing a pizza. There are four of you, but the pizza has six slices. You need an assignment method to decide who gets the extra two slices. You can just cut them in half. Or you can have a rotating system (Chuck and Suzy got the extra lo mein last time, so maybe you and Tommy get the extra pieces now.) Or you can devise some hunger measurement algorithm to determine who's actually most in need of extra pizza. Whatever you eventually decide, that's the assignment method for your pizza party.
