Task: Management Case Study 1

The internal environment includes corporate culture, production technology, organization structure, and physical facilities. Most people don't think about culture; it's just 'how we do things around here" or "the way things are here." A corporate culture is an important part of the internal organizational environment and includes he key values, beliefs, understandings and norms that organization members share. Managers can use symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and cultural leadership to engage adaptable values that will help the company to move fast in response to new opportunities. 1. What can you do now as a student - both inside and outside the classroom - to train yourself to be a more effective manager in an increasingly global business environment? Answer: 2. Consider the chairs you have seen in an office. How does he assistant's chair, the manager's chair, and executive's chair differ? What do the difference mean? Answer: 3. What do you think are the most important forces in the external environment creating uncertainty for organizations today? Do the forces you identified typically arise in the task environment or the general environment? Answer: 4. Contemporary best-selling management books often argue that customers are the most important element in the external environment. Do you agree? In what company situations might this statement be untrue? Answer:Let's Think About This The External Environment. The tremendous and far-reaching changes occurring in today's world can be understood by defining and examining components of the external environment. 1. External organizational environment includes all elements existing outside the organization's boundaries that have the potential to affect the organization. The environment includes competitors, resources, technology, and economic conditions that influence the organization. 2. The general environment is the outer layer that is widely dispersed and affects organizations indirectly. It includes social, demographic, and economic factors that influence all organizations about equally. 3. The task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance. It is generally considered to include competitors, suppliers, and customers. 4. The internal environment which includes the elements within the organization's boundaries. The internal environment is composed of current employees, management, and especially corporate culture, which defines employee behavior in the internal environment and how well the organizations will adapt to the external environment. The general environment includes international, technological, sociocultural, economic, and legal-political. 1. International dimension - portion of the external environment that represents events originating in foreign countries as well as opportunities for U.S. companies in other countries. 2. Technological dimension - the dimension of the general environment that includes scientific and technological advancements in the industry and society at large. 3. Sociocultural dimension - the dimension of the general environment representing demographic characteristics, norms, customs, and values of the population within which the organization operates. 4. Economic dimension - the dimension of the general environment representing he overall economic health of the country or region in which the organization operates. 5. Legal-political dimension - the dimension of the general environment that includes federal, state, and local government regulations and political activities designed to influence company behavior. The task environment includes those sectors that that have direct working relationship with the organization, among them customers, competitors, suppliers, and the labor market. 1. Customers - people and organization in the environment who acquire goods and services from the organization. 2. Competitors - other organization in the same industry or type of business that provide goods and services to the same set of customers. 3. Suppliers - people and organizations who provide the raw materials the organization uses to produce its output. 4. Labor market - the people available for hire by the organization