CHAPTER 2: THE MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT
OBJECTIVES
When you finish studying this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain what the external environment is and why it’s important.
• Discuss how the external environment affects managers.
• Define what organizational culture is and explain why it’s important.
• Describe how organizational culture affects managers.
One of the biggest mistakes managers make today is failing to adapt to the changing world. No
successful organization, or its managers, can operate without understanding and dealing with the
dynamic environment—external and internal—that surrounds it.
The term “external environment” refers to factors, forces, situations, and events outside the
organization that affect its performance.
Because of today’s global society, a volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010 prevented delivery of auto parts
that led to a shutdown at a BMW plant in South Carolina and a Nissan Motor facility in Japan.
COMPONENTS OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
As shown here in Exhibit 2-1, the external environment includes six components:
• The economic component encompasses factors such as interest rates, inflation, changes in
disposable income, stock market fluctuations, and business cycle stages.
• The demographic component includes trends in population characteristics such as age, race,
gender, education level, geographic location, income, and family composition.
• The technological component focuses on scientific and industrial innovations.
• The sociocultural component is concerned with societal and cultural factors such as values,
attitudes, trends, traditions, lifestyles, beliefs, tastes, and patterns of behavior.
• The political/legal component looks at federal, state, and local laws, as well as other countries’
laws and global laws. It also includes a country’s political conditions and stability.
• The global component encompasses issues associated with globalization and a world economy.
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HOW HAS THE ECONOMY CHANGED?
The current U.S. economic crisis, which began with turmoil in mortgage markets and spread to
businesses when broader credit markets collapsed, has been called the “Great Recession” by some
analysts. Due to our global society, economic troubles in the United States spread to other countries.
With rising numbers of foreclosures and bankruptcies, a huge public debt, a U.S. unemployment rate
over nine percent, 25 million unemployed globally, and widespread social problems from job losses, it’s
clear that the U.S. and global economic environments are changing.
What led to the massive problems? Experts cite a long list of factors including excessively low interest
rates for an extended time, flaws in the U.S. housing market, and massive global liquidity. These factors
led businesses and consumers to become highly leveraged until credit dried up and the worldwide
economic system nearly collapsed.
HOW HAS BUSINESS CHANGE?
Experts believe that as the U.S. economy emerges from recession, the way businesses operate will
change. The biggest shift is likely to be the role of government, especially in financial markets and in
consumer protection.
Managers should stay informed about developments not only in the economic component but also in all
the other components of the external environment.
WHAT ROLE DO DEMOGRAPHICS PLAY
Demographics refers to the characteristics of a population used for purposes of social studies. It has a
significant impact on how managers manage and include such factors as age, income, sex, race,
education level, ethnic makeup, employment status, geographic location, and more.
Age is a particularly important demographic for managers because the workplace often encompasses
different age groups.
Additionally, the size and characteristics of a country’s population can have a significant effect on what
it can achieve. For example, experts say that by 2050, “emerging economies led by India and China will
collectively be larger than the developed economies.” Also, small European nations with low birth rates,
such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, are expected to drop off the list of the 30
biggest economies.
HOW DOES EXTERNAL ENVIRONEMNET AFFECTS MANAGERS?
There are three ways that the external environment affects managers:
1. Its impact on jobs and employment
2. The amount of environmental uncertainty, and
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3. The nature of stakeholder relationships.
As external environmental conditions change, managers face the impact of these changes on jobs and
employment. Economists predict that about one quarter of the 8.4 million U.S. jobs eliminated during
the most recent economic downturn won’t be reinstated.
Such readjustments create challenges for managers who must balance work demands with having
enough people with the right skills to do the organization’s work.
Changes in external conditions not only affect the types of jobs available but they also affect how the
jobs are created and managed. For example, many employers use flexible work arrangements and
contract freelancers or temporary workers.
ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY
Another constraint posed by external environments is the amount of uncertainty that exists, which can
affect organizational outcomes. Environmental uncertainty refers to the degree of change and
complexity in an organization’s environment.
Let’s look at the matrix shown here, where each of the four cells represents different combinations of
complexity and change.
• The first dimension of uncertainty is the degree of unpredictable change; that is, a stable
environment experiences minimal change and a dynamic environment experiences frequent
change. For example, a stable environment might have no new competitors, few technological
breakthroughs by current competitors, little pressure from groups trying to influence the
organization, and so on.
• The other dimension of uncertainty describes the degree of environmental complexity, which
looks at the number of components in an organization’s environment and the knowledge that
the organization has about those components.
• That means we consider the six components of the external environment we discussed earlier:
economic, demographic, technical, sociocultural, political/legal, and global.
• Therefore, an organization with few competitors, customers, suppliers, or government agencies
to deal with, or an organization that needs little information about its environment, has a less
complex and more certain, stable environment, as seen in Cell 1.
So how does the concept of environmental uncertainty influence managers? As illustrated here, each of
the four cells represents different combinations of degree of complexity and degree of change.
• Cell 1 (a stable-simple environment) represents the lowest level of environmental
uncertainty and Cell 4 (a dynamic and complex environment) represents the highest
level of environmental uncertainty.
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• Not surprisingly, managers have the greatest influence on organizational outcomes in
Cell 1 and the least influence in Cell 4.
• Because uncertainty is a threat to an organization’s effectiveness, managers try to
minimize it.
• Most industries today face more dynamic change, and consequently, their environments
are more uncertain.
MANAGING STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIP
The nature of stakeholder relationships is another way in which the environment influences managers.
The more obvious and secure these relationships, the more influence managers will have over
organizational outcomes.
Stakeholders are any constituencies in an organization’s environment that are affected by that
organization’s decisions and actions. These groups have a stake in, or are significantly influenced by,
what the organization does. In turn, these groups can influence the organization.
WHY MANAGE STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIP?
There are a number of benefits to managing external stakeholder relationships.
• According to management researchers, good stakeholder management improves organizational
performance.
• The organization is perceived as “doing the right thing,” which demonstrates corporate social
responsibility and creates a positive image of the organization.
Because an organization depends on external groups for resources (such as vendors) and as outlets for
goods and services (such as customers), decisions that consider stakeholders’ interests can pay off.
In the years ahead, it’s not going to be “business as usual” for either organizations or managers.
Managers will make difficult decisions about how they do business and about their people. It’s
important to understand how changes in the external environment will affect your future organizational
and management experiences.
ORGANIZATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS
Here in Exhibit 2-3, we see the most common stakeholders in an organization.
Note that these stakeholders include both internal and external groups because both groups can affect
what an organization does and how it operates.
Managers benefit from good management of stakeholder relationships because stronger relationships
can improve the predictability of environmental changes, lead to more successful innovations, foster a
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greater degree of trust among stakeholders, and increase organizational flexibility to reduce the impact
of change.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Here in Exhibit 2-3, we see the most common stakeholders in an organization.
Note that these stakeholders include both internal and external groups because both groups can affect
what an organization does and how it operates.
Managers benefit from good management of stakeholder relationships because stronger relationships
can improve the predictability of environmental changes, lead to more successful innovations, foster a
greater degree of trust among stakeholders, and increase organizational flexibility to reduce the impact
of change.
Note that our definition of “culture” implies three things:
1. Culture is a perception that cannot be physically touched or seen, but is perceived based on
what employees experience within the organization.
2. Organizational culture is concerned with how members perceive or describe the culture, not
with whether they like it.
3. Employees tend to describe the organization’s culture in similar terms, regardless of their
backgrounds or their work at different organizational levels.
Organizational culture is important because of the impact it has on decisions, behaviors, and actions of
organizational employees.
STRONG CORPORATE = SUCCESS
Note that our definition of “culture” implies three things:
1. Culture is a perception that cannot be physically touched or seen, but is perceived based on
what employees experience within the organization.
2. Organizational culture is concerned with how members perceive or describe the culture, not
with whether they like it.
3. Employees tend to describe the organization’s culture in similar terms, regardless of their
backgrounds or their work at different organizational levels.
Organizational culture is important because of the impact it has on decisions, behaviors, and actions of
organizational employees.
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HOW CAN CULTURE BE ASSESSED?
Research suggests that an organization’s culture can be described using the seven dimensions shown
here in Exhibit 2-4: Attention to Detail, Outcome Orientation, People Orientation, Team Orientation,
Aggressiveness, Stability, and Innovation and Risk Taking.
These dimensions range from low (meaning not typical of the culture) to high (meaning especially typical
of the culture).
In many organizations, one cultural dimension is emphasized more than the others and essentially
shapes both the organization’s personality and the way organizational members work.
• For instance, Sony Corporation focuses on product innovation, identified in this graphic
as “innovation and risk taking.”
• In contrast, Southwest Airlines has made its employees a central part of its culture,
illustrated in this graphic as “people orientation,” which the company shows by how it
treats its employees.
HOW DO EMPLOYEES LEARN THE CULTURE?
Employees most commonly learn an organization’s culture through its stories, rituals, material symbols,
and language.
• Organizational stories recount significant events or people, such as a popular Nike story that
tells how its cofounder, the late Bill Bowerman, poured rubber into his wife’s waffle iron to
create a better running shoe.
• Corporate rituals are repetitive activities that express and reinforce the important values and
goals of the organization. For example, “Passing of the Pillars” at Boston Scientific is a ritual that
acknowledges a challenging assignment by awarding the employee who completes the
assignment with a two-foot high plaster-of-Paris pillar to show that this person has the support
of all his or her colleagues.
• Material symbols, such as the layout of organizations facilities, how employees dress, employee
perks, and so on, give a sense of whether the work environment is formal or casual, fun or
serious, and the kinds of behavior that are rewarded, such as risk taking, conservative,
participative, and so on.
• Many organizations use language to identify and unite members of a culture by developing
unique terms to describe equipment, key personnel, customers, processes, or products related
to its business.
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WHERE DOES THE ORGANISATION’S CULTURE COME FROM?
An organization’s culture generally reflects the vision or mission of its founders, who establish the early
culture by projecting an image of what the organization should be and what its values are.
The small size of most new organizations helps the founders impose their vision on all organization
members. An organization’s culture, then, results from the interaction between:
1. The founders’ biases and assumptions, and
2. What the first employees subsequently learn from their own experiences.
HOW DOES ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AFFECTS MANAGER?
Organizational culture affects managers in two primary ways:
• Through its effect on what employees do and how they behave, and
• Through its effect on what managers do as they plan, organize, lead, and control.
Marjorie Kaplan, president of the Animal Planet and Science television networks, describes how the
power of organizational culture affects her as a manager. She says that one of her company’s stated
goals is “to make it the place where, when you come to work, you feel like you have the opportunity to
bring your best self—and you’re also challenged to bring your best self.”
HOW DOES CULTURE AFFECT EMPLLOYEES?
An organization’s culture has an effect on what employees do, depending on how strong or weak it is.
Strong cultures—those in which the key values are deeply held and widely shared—have a greater
influence on employees than weaker cultures do.
• The more employees accept and commit to the organization’s key values, the stronger
the culture is, based on high agreement on what’s important, what defines good
employee behavior, what it takes to get ahead, and so on.
• The stronger a culture becomes, the more it affects what employees do and the way
managers plan, organize, lead, and control.
Strong cultures can create predictability, orderliness, and consistency without the need for written rules
and regulations because employees internalize these behaviors when they accept the organization’s
culture.
HOW DOES CULTURE AFFECT MANAGERS
An organization’s culture constrains what managers can and cannot do, and how they manage. Such
constraints are rarely explicit and all managers must quickly learn how to respond in their organization.
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For instance, the following values are unwritten, but each comes from a real organization:
• Look busy even if you’re not.
• If you take risks and fail around here, you’ll pay dearly for it.
• Before you make a decision, run it by your boss so that he or she is never surprised.
• We make our product only as good as the competition forces us to.
• What made us successful in the past will make us successful in the future.
• If you want to get to the top here, you have to be a team player.
The link between values such as these and managerial behavior is clear.
• If an organization’s culture supports the belief that profits can be increased by cost cutting and
that the company’s best interests are served by achieving slow but steady increases in quarterly
earnings, managers are unlikely to pursue innovative, risky, long-term, or expansionary
programs.
• In an organization whose culture conveys a basic distrust of employees, managers are more
likely to use an authoritarian leadership style rather than a democratic one because the culture
establishes appropriate and expected behavior for managers.
MANAGERIAL DECISIONS AFFECT BY CULTURE
As shown here in Exhibit 2-5, a manager’s decisions are influenced by the culture in which he or she
operates. An organization’s culture, especially a strong one, influences and constrains the way managers
plan, organize, lead, and control.
For example, the culture influences managerial planning about the degree of risk that plans should
contain, whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams, or the amount of environmental
scanning in which management will engage.
With organizing activities, culture influences how much autonomy should be designed into employees’
jobs, whether tasks should be done by individuals or in teams, and the degree to which department
managers interact with each other
When it comes to leading, organization culture helps determine the degree to which managers try to
increase employee job satisfaction, appropriate leadership styles, and whether all disagreements—even
constructive ones—should be eliminated.
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Finally, the culture influences managers’ controlling activities: for example, whether they impose
external controls or to allow employees to control their own actions, which criteria should be
emphasized in employee performance evaluations, and the repercussions for exceeding one’s budget.
CASE STUDT
The strong culture of Honest Tea Company is, as the name implies, all about honesty. Seth Goldman,
cofounder and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea, started the company with a mission to create truly healthy,
organic beverages. In growing his company, Goldman used the same authenticity, integrity, and purity in
crafting his products as he conducted business and his relationships with employees, suppliers, and
customers.
Key values of Honest Tea include:
• Communicating with openness and trust, and
• Engaging employees in all aspects of the business, focusing on corporate social responsibility,
and committing to high environmental standards.