Scribd
Upload
28 views4 pages

Environmental Influence

Uploaded by

olmezest
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views4 pages

Environmental Influence

Uploaded by

olmezest
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Management and Society

Environmental influences on Management.


Management is influenced by a number of different factors. Some are related to the nature of the
organization (organizational influences) and others to outside sources (external environmental
influences). In both cases, the environmental influences are the context within which specific
personnel decisions are made.
1. Organizational influences: Define as all element inside an organizations that are relevant
to its operations which control is beyond the management such as:
 Nature of the organization
 Nature of the industry
 Level of the technology of an organization
 Long-range strategy of organizations
2. External influences: Define as all elements outside an organization that are relevant to its
operations. Organization take inputs (raw materials, money, labour and energy) from the
external environment, transform them into products or services and then send them back as
outputs to the external environment. The elements of external environmental factors are :
 Economical
 Technological
 Social
 Political and legal and
 Ethical
1. Economical Factors: Some economical factors influence on organization. They are:
Capital: Almost every kind of organization needs capital-machinery, buildings,
inventories of goods, office equipment, tools of all kinds, and cash. Some of this may be
produced by the organization itself, as when a business build its own machinery or a church
group prepares a church super. Capital is one of the most important prerequisites to establish an
enterprise. Availability of capital facilities the organization to bring together the land of one,
machine and raw material etc. This results in increase in profit, which ultimately goes to capital
formation.
Labour: Another important input from the economic environment is the availability,
quality and price of labour. In some societies, untrained common labour may by plentiful while
highly trained labour may be in short supply. The price of labour is also an important economic
factor for an enterprise, although automation mitigates high labour cost. The relatively high
wages in the United States and many European countries often create cost problems for
producers in these countries. Many items can be produced at a lower cost in countries such as
Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.
Price Level: The input side of an enterprise is clearly affect by price-level changes. Is
price go up fairly rapidly, as happened in most parts of the world in 1970s and early1980s, the
turbulence created in the economic environment on both the input and output sides can be severe.
Inflation not only upsets businesses but also has disturbing influences on every kind of
organization through its effects on the costs of labour, materials and other items.

1
Government Fiscal and Tax Policies: Another important input to the enterprise is the
nature of government fiscal and tax policies. Although these are, strictly speaking, aspect of the
political environment, their economic impact on all enterprises is tremendous. If taxes are levied
on sales, price will rise and people will tend to buy less. If heavy taxes are placed on real estate,
people may find it too expensive to own a house and may go to cheaper and less comfortable
living quarters.
Customers: One of the most important factors for the success of an enterprise is a
customer. Without them, a business cannot exist. But to capture customers, a business must try to
find out what people want and will buy.

2. Technological: One of the most pervasive factors in the environment is technology. It is


science that provides knowledge, and it is technology that uses it. The impact of technology
is seen in new products, new machines, new tools, new materials, and new services. A few of
the benefits of technology are grater productivity, higher living standards, more leisure time,
and a greater variety of products. But the benefit of technology must be weighed against the
problems associated with the technological developments, such as traffic jams, polluted air
and water.
Categories of Technological Change
a. Increase ability to master time
b. Increase ability to generate, store, and transport.
c. Increase ability to design new materials
d. Mechanization or automation of physical process
e. Mechanization or automation of certain mental process.
f. Extension of the human ability to store.
g. Increased understanding of individual and group behavior.
h. Increased understanding of diseases and their treatment.

3. Social: In any classification of environment elements having an impact on a manager, it is


extremely difficult to separate the social, political and ethical environments. The social
environment is made up of the attitudes, desire, expectations, degrees of intelligence and
education, beliefs, and customers of people in a given group or society.
4. Political and legal: As was pointed out earlier, the political and legal environment of
managers is closely intertwined with the social environment. Laws are ordinarily passed as
the result of social pressure and problems.
5. Ethics in Management: All persons, whether in business, government, a university, or any
other enterprises are concerned with ethics. Ethics is defined as “the discipline dealing with
what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation.” Business ethics is concerned with
truth and justice and has a variety of aspects such as the expectations of society, fair
competition, advertising, public relations, social responsibilities, consumer autonomy, and
corporate behavior in the home country as well as abroad.

2
Challenges for Todays’ Management
A number of critical changes and challenges faced by managers today. Let’s compare
today’s work environment with that of ten years ago. Prepare a list of six to eight items,
and include a rationale for your choices.
When Your List Is Complete:
There are numerous items that you might have identified from your own work experience
and your knowledge of organizational issues. Let’s review some of the possibilities.
1. Globalization : Certainly the emergence of a ‘borderless’ world has had a tremendous impact
on the way organisations behave. They are no longer insulated from foreign competition, and this
has forced organisations to examine cost efficiencies, structure, job design, human capital, and
many other sources of effectiveness and competitiveness.
2. Technology : We have seen tremendous technological advances in the last decade, and this
has had a significant impact on the way organisations behave. The Internet has enabled small,
start-up companies to become global organisations (even from one’s home). We have access to
much more information, and we can access it much more quickly. This has a number of effects
on organizational behaviour: it has given organisations access to larger, more diverse markets; it
enables organisations to market their products and services electronically, it has helped many
organisations reduce costs.

3. Mergers and acquisitions: The last numbers of years have been a time of merging and
acquiring for many organizations, seeking to increase market share and profitability. But the
complexity of these integrations has had a tremendous impact on employees in newly merged
organization; they often have great difficulty adjusting to potentially conflicted cultures. This has
contributed to many failed mergers and acquisitions.

3
4. Workplace diversity: The workforce in today’s new economy is much more diverse, as a
result of changing demographics. This necessitates a better understanding of needs and values in
the workforce, and careful planning in an effort to provide a work environment that is welcoming
and comfortable for all employees.

5. Organizational structures: In response to increased competition, many organizations have


focussed on cost efficiencies and increased effectiveness. Management has argued that the
members must ‘get closer to the customer’ and focus almost exclusively on ‘value-added’
services in an effort to distinguish themselves from the competition.

6. Work-life balances: There was a time when managers (who were mostly men) would not
consider turning down a promotion. But today, many members in organizations do just that,
because they place a much greater priority on personal time – time for themselves, travel time,
time for their families. Organisations have responded in a number of ways: allowing flexible
work hours, providing day care in an effort to allow parents to be close to their children,
encouraging at home offices, and providing for extended vacations and paid sabbaticals.
Employee loyalty is critical in establishing a productive and dedicated workforce, and if these
needs are ignored, organizations risk losing these employees.

7. The rate of change: Some managers have identified the pace of change in today’s
environment as their number one management challenge. Historically, change appeared to be the
exception, while stability in organizations was the norm. We could plan change and progress
using historical performance as our guide. That is no longer possible, and in fact potentially
dangerous. Our ability to rely on a sense of permanence has been eroded, and this necessitates
flexibility, an astute understanding of our markets and our customers, and a tolerance for
ambiguity moving forward. Globalization and technological advances have provided
organizations with a guarantee that change is ubiquitous and cannot be ignored.

8. Increased competition: Competition has intensified for many organizations over the last
decade, primarily as a result of the issues discussed above. Globalization and technology have
facilitated entry into some industries by some organizations, and organizations must compete
within a much larger arena. This has resulted in some radical changes, some of which include
strategic, structural, and operational.

9. Increased ethical and social responsibility : Consumers have access to more information
now than ever before, and some would argue that they are more knowledgeable in general about
the values and behaviour of the organisations in which they invest. Increased competition has
provided consumers with more choices in terms of purchasing products or services. As such,
many organisations face an increased need to behave ethically and demonstrate appropriate
social behaviour. Unfortunately, not all organisations feel compelled to behave in ethical or
moral ways. But they risk being exposed for their negligence, by a whistleblower from within the
organisation who wishes to expose the wrongdoing.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy