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ES034 Courseware Week 34
ES034 Courseware Week 34
University
N. Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
Department of Industrial Engineering
COURSEWARE
ES034 | ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
Week 3-4
Adapted by:
Engr. Aries M. Rivero
For Week 2, we will delve into the environment of organizations (including the global
environment) - Organizational Culture & Environment, Global Dimension of Management, and
Small Business Management & Entrepreneurship.
Sharing to you an ideal study guide that will guide you through the week.
Again, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me!
I hope you will enjoy and learn so much for this week!
ENVIRONMENT
VERSION 01: JMHMontegrande
PART TWO
Watch this video before starting the module and answer the discussion questions:
INTRODUCTORY Our People, Our Culture of Equality
VIDEO https://youtu.be/iUY8Lv96Scw
Organizational culture is a system of shared values, assumptions, beliefs, and norms that unite the
members of an organization. Organizational culture reflects employees’ views about “the way things are
done around here.” Culture gives meaning to actions and procedures within an organization and may be
considered to be the personality of the organization. The culture specific to each firm affects how employees
feel and act as well as the type of employee hired and retained by the company.
There are three aspects of an organization’s culture, as shown in Figure 2.1. The most obvious is the visible
culture that an observer can hear, feel, or see. Aspects of visible culture include how people dress, how
fast people walk and talk, whether there is an open floor plan
without office doors or managers have private offices, and the
extent to which status and power symbols are conspicuous.
Assigned parking spots based on rank, differing cafeteria or
eating arrangements based on organizational level, and the
degree to which furnishings are plush and conservative
versus simple and modern indicate the nature of power and
status differentials.
At a deeper level, espoused values are not readily observed but instead are the ways managers and
employees explain and justify actions and decisions. For example, managers may justify layoffs primarily
on the basis of a need to cut costs or to expedite decision making and improve response time by
streamlining organizational levels. Other managers may say they tolerate mistakes because employees
need to be encouraged to take risks or because it is better to treat workers with respect and provide them
with second chances when necessary. Espoused values are those values that are expressed on behalf of
an organization or that are expressed as explanations for policies or actions.
Espoused values may vary substantially across organizations and this variability in expressed values can
reflect real and important differences in these organizations. For organizations that have merged or been
acquired it has been found that organizational performance after the merger is better for firms that had
more closely matched espoused values to begin with. This effect on postmerger financial performance
illustrates the importance of espoused values.
Espoused values are generally consciously and explicitly communicated. At the center of organizational
culture are core values that are widely shared, operate unconsciously, and are considered nonnegotiable.
In some organizations, a basic assumption may be that stability and commitment of the workforce are
critical for success. Consequently, employees are well treated and receive liberal fringe benefits. At the
other extreme, a basic assumption may be that employees are commodities and an expense that should
be minimized in the business process, rather than an investment. Thus employees are tightly controlled,
exceptions to established policy are kept to a minimum, there are detailed rules and procedures about what
employees can and cannot do, and managers believe it is their duty to prevent deviations from the norms.
Employees may be watching one another to ensure that no one breaks the rules, and people are trained to
check with their superiors before making most decisions.
The basic underlying cultural assumptions create the lenses through which people perceive and interpret
events. Someone sitting motionless may be seen as loafing in some firms, while at others, the employee
would be perceived as pondering an important problem. When employees are absent from work, the
organization’s culture may lead managers to conclude they are shirking, and if an employee requests
permission to perform some tasks at home, the request will probably be denied because the supervisor
expects the employee will “goof off” rather than work.
Why is having a strong culture important? For one thing, in organizations with strong cultures, employees
are more loyal than are employees in organizations with weak cultures. Research also suggests that strong
cultures are associated with high organizational performance. And it’s easy to understand why. After all,
if values are clear and widely accepted, employees know what they’re supposed to do and what’s
expected of them, so they can act quickly to take care of problems. However, the drawback is that a strong
culture also might prevent employees from trying new approaches especially when conditions are
changing rapidly.
1. From the video Coolest Office Ever? (Google Office Tour) - Hype Hunt: EP18, give at least 3 visible
cultures of Google.
https://www.google.com/about/philosophy.html
Comparing the Working at Google video and the Google’s Core Values, how did Google concretely apply
their Core Values to the actual working environment? Give at least 3.
Example:
Core Value: There’s always more information out there.
Application to Work Environment: There is already an answer to a lot of questions and are answered
by all of the resources and the other teams at Google.
The decade from 2000 to 2009 was a challenging one for organizations. For instance, some well-known
stand-alone businesses at the beginning of the decade were acquired by other companies during this time,
including Compaq (now a part of Hewlett-Packard), Gillette (now a part of Procter & Gamble) and Merrill
Lynch (now a part of Bank of America); others disappeared altogether, including Lehman Brothers, Circuit
City, and Steve & Barry’s (all now bankrupt). Anyone who doubts the impact the external environment has
on managing just needs to look at what’s happened during the last decade.
1. Identify at least 2 external factors and 2 internal factors that the companies need to reimagine given
the changes than the pandemic created. Include a brief explanation/description of the factor.
This is the age of the global economy in which resource supplies, product markets, and business
competition are worldwide rather than local or national in scope. It is also a time heavily influenced by the
forces of globalization, defined as the growing interdependence among the components in the global
economy.
There is no better way to illustrate the global economy than with the clothes we wear. Where did you buy
your favorite t-shirt? Where was it made? Where will it end up? In a fascinating book called The Travels of
a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, economist Pietra Rivoli tracks the origins and disposition of a t-shirt that
she bought while on vacation in Florida.
As shown here, Rivoli’s t-shirt lived a complicated and very global life. That life began with cotton grown in
Texas. It moved to China where the cotton was processed and white t-shirts were manufactured. The t-
shirts were then sold to a firm in the United States that silk-screened and sold them to retail shops for resale
to American customers. These customers eventually donated the used t-shirts to a charity that sold them
to a recycler. The recycler sold them to a vendor in Africa who distributed them to local markets to be sold
yet again to local customers.
It’s quite a story, this t-shirt that travels the commercial highways and byways of the world. Thus;
globalization can be described as “one of the most powerful and pervasive influences on nations,
businesses, workplaces, communities, and lives.”
Global Management
The term used to describe management in businesses and organizations with interests in more than one
country is global management. Procter & Gamble, for example, pursues a global strategy with customers
in over 180 countries. Toyota has 14 plants in North America and employs over 35,000 locals. The success
of firms like these depends on being able to attract and hire truly global managers who have strong global
perspectives, are culturally aware, and always stay informed about international developments.
The two firms follow somewhat different strategies, but each is actively pursuing these common reasons
for doing international business.
Today you can add another reason to this list, economic development—where a global firm does business
in foreign countries with direct intent to help the local economy. Coffee giants Green Mountain Coffee
Roasters, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and Starbucks, for example, are helping Rwandan farmers improve
production and marketing methods. They send advisers to teach coffee growers how to meet high
standards so that their products can be sold worldwide. It’s a win–win: The global coffee firm gets a quality
product at a good price, the local coffee growers gain skills and market opportunities, and the domestic
economy improves.
In this example, the Australian parent company uses natives of India to manage operations at the Indian
subsidiary. Natives of Australia manage the home office.
“The collective strength of experiences, skills, talents, perspectives, and cultures that each agent and
employee brings to the workplace”
- State Farm, the number one provider of auto insurance in the United States
“Diversity is often used to refer to differences based on ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, national
origin and sexual orientation,” but it also encompasses an “infinite range of unique characteristics and
experiences, including communication styles, physical characteristics such as height and weight, and
speed of learning and comprehension.”
- The Society for Human Resource Management
One important thing to note about these diversity definitions is that they focus on all the ways in which
people can differ. And that’s significant because diversity is no longer viewed as simply specific categories
like race, gender, age, or disability but has broadened to a more inclusive recognition of the spectrum of
differences.
On the other hand, workforce diversity is the ways in which people in an organization are different from
and similar to one another. The demographic characteristics that we tend to think of when we think of
diversity—age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.—are just the tip of the iceberg. These demographic differences
reflect surface-level diversity, which are easily perceived differences that may trigger certain stereotypes,
but that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel. Such surface-level differences in
characteristics can affect the way people perceive others, especially when it comes to assumptions or
stereotyping. However, as people get to know one another, these surface-level differences become less
important and deep-level diversity—differences in values, personality, and work preferences—becomes
more important. These deep-level differences can affect the way people view organizational work rewards,
communicate, react to leaders, negotiate, and generally behave at work.
2. Promote Innovation
Age
The aging population is a major critical shift taking place in the workforce. With many of the nearly 85 million
baby boomers still employed and active in the workforce, managers must ensure that those employees are
not discriminated against because of age. One issue
with older workers is the perception that people have
of those workers. Perceptions such as they’re sick
more often and they can’t work as hard or as fast as
younger employees—perceptions that are inaccurate.
Employers have mixed feelings about older workers.
On the positive side, they believe that older workers
bring a number of good qualities to the job including
experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and a
commitment to doing quality work. However, they also
view older workers as not being flexible or adaptable
and being more resistant to new technology. The
challenge for managers is overcoming those
misperceptions of older workers and the widespread
belief that work performance and work quality decline
with age. Managers need to ensure that these
Exhibit 2.5 Types of Diversity Found in Workplaces workers, regardless of age, also are treated fairly and
as valuable assets. Effectively managing an
organization’s diverse age groups can lead to their working well with each other, learning from each other,
and taking advantage of the different perspectives and experiences that each has to offer. It can be a win-
win situation for all.
Gender
Women (49.8%) and men (50.2 %) now each make up almost half of the workforce. Yet, gender diversity
issues are still quite prevalent in organizations. So what do we know about differences between men and
women in the workplace?
Another area where we also see differences between genders is in preference for work schedules,
especially when the employee has preschool-age children. To accommodate their family responsibilities,
working mothers are more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting. They
also prefer jobs that encourage work–life balance.
Not that either women or men are the superior employees, but a better appreciation for why it’s important
for organizations to explore the strengths that both women and men bring to an organization and the barriers
they face in contributing fully to organizational efforts.
FEAR REALITY
Hiring people with disabilities leads to higher Absentee rates for sick time are virtually equal between employees
employment costs and lower profit margins with and without disabilities; workers’ disabilities are not a factor in
formulas calculating insurance costs for workers’ compensation
Workers with disabilities lack job skills and Commonplace technologies such as the Internet and voice-
experience necessary to perform as well as recognition software have eliminated many of the obstacles for
their abled counterparts workers with disabilities; many individuals with disabilities have
great problem-solving skills from finding creative ways to perform
tasks that others may take for granted
Uncertainty over how to take potential A person with a disability for whom workplace accommodations
disciplinary action with a worker with have been provided has the same obligations and rights as far as
disabilities job performance
High costs associated with accommodating Most workers with disabilities require no accommodation but for
disabled employees those who do, more than half of the workplace modifications cost
$500 or less
In effectively managing a workforce with disabled employees, managers need to create and maintain an
environment in which employees feel comfortable disclosing their need for accommodation. Those
accommodations, by law, need to enable individuals with disabilities to perform their jobs but they also need
to be perceived as equitable by those not disabled. That’s the balancing act that managers face.
Religion
An increasing number of large companies are implementing policies and practices to protect the rights of
GLBT employees in the workplace. For instance, Ernst & Young, S. C. Johnson & Sons, Inc., and Kodak,
among others, all provide training to managers on ways to prevent sexual orientation discrimination. A
diversity manager at IBM says, “We believe that having strong transgender and gender identification
policies is a natural extension of IBM’s corporate culture.” Managers need to look at how best to meet the
needs of their GLBT employees. They need to respond to employees’ concerns while also creating a safe
and productive work environment for all.
As said earlier, diversity refers to any dissimilarities or differences that might be present in a workplace.
Other types of workplace diversity that managers might confront and have to deal with include
socioeconomic background (social class and income-related factors), team members from different
functional areas or organizational units, physical attractiveness, obesity/thinness, job seniority, or
intellectual abilities. Each of these types of diversity also can affect how employees are treated in the
workplace. Again, managers need to ensure that all employees—no matter the similarities or
dissimilarities—are treated fairly and given the opportunity and support to do their jobs to the best of their
abilities.
Federal laws have contributed to some of the social change over the last 50-plus years and have evolved
to the level of diversity that currently exists. Failure to do so can be costly and damaging to an
organization’s bottom line and reputation. It’s important that managers know what they can and cannot
do legally and ensure that all employees understand as well. However, effectively managing workplace
diversity needs to be more than understanding and complying with federal laws.
Today’s increasingly competitive marketplace underscores the reality that creating a diverse workplace has
never been more important. It’s equally important to make diversity and inclusion an integral part of the
organization’s culture. “A sustainable diversity and inclusion strategy must play a central role in decision
making at the highest leadership level and filter down to every level of the company.”
1. Make sure that diversity and inclusion are part of the organization’s purpose, goals, and
strategies. Even during economically challenging times, an organization needs a strong
commitment to diversity and inclusion programs.
2. Diversity needs to be integrated into every aspect of the business—from the workforce,
customers, and suppliers to products, services, and the communities served.
3. Policies and procedures must be in place to ensure that grievances and concerns are
addressed immediately.
4. Finally, the organizational culture needs to be one where diversity and inclusion are valued,
even to the point where, like Marriott International, individual performance is measured and
rewarded on diversity accomplishments.
Mentoring
Nature of Entrepreneurship
The term entrepreneurship describes strategic thinking and risk-taking behavior that results in the creation
of new opportunities.
Who are Entrepreneurs?
A classic entrepreneur is a risk-taking individual who takes action to pursue
opportunities others fail to recognize, or even view as problems or threats.
Some people become serial entrepreneurs that start and run new ventures
over and over again, moving from one interest and opportunity to the next.
We find such entrepreneurs both in business and nonprofit settings.
A common pattern among successful entrepreneurs is first-mover
advantage. They move quickly to spot, exploit, and deliver a product or
service to a new market or an unrecognized niche in an existing one.
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
Attitudes and Personal Interests
● Internal locus of control: Entrepreneurs believe that they are in control of their own destiny; they
are self-directing and like autonomy.
● High energy level: Entrepreneurs are persistent, hardworking, and willing to exert extraordinary eff
orts to succeed.
● High need for achievement: Entrepreneurs are motivated to accomplish challenging goals; they
thrive on performance feedback.
● Tolerance for ambiguity: Entrepreneurs are risk takers; they tolerate situations with high degrees
of uncertainty.
● Self-confidence: Entrepreneurs feel competent, believe in themselves, and are willing to make
decisions.
● Passion and action orientation: Entrepreneurs try to act ahead of problems; they want to get things
done and not waste valuable time.
● Self-reliance and desire for independence: Entrepreneurs want independence; they are self-reliant;
they want to be their own bosses, not work for others.
● Flexibility: Entrepreneurs are willing to admit problems and errors, and are willing to change a
course of action when plans aren’t working.
● Childhood experiences and family environment – some entrepreneurs are with parents who were
entrepreneurial and self-employed. And entrepreneurs are often raised in families that encourage
responsibility, initiative, and independence
● Career or work history - entrepreneurs who try one venture often go on to others. Prior work
experience in the business area or industry being entered is helpful.
● Deeply embedded life interest - entrepreneurs as having strong interests in starting things. They
enjoy creative production—things like project initiation, working with the unknown, and finding
unconventional solutions. Entrepreneurs also have strong interests in running things. They enjoy
enterprise control—being in charge, being held accountable, and making decisions while moving
others toward a goal.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business as one that has 500 or fewer
employees, is independently owned and operated, and does not dominate its industry. The most common
small business areas are restaurants, skilled professions such as craftspeople and doctors, general
services such as hairdressers and repair shops, and independent retailers. The vast majority of small
businesses employ fewer than 20 persons and over half are home based.
Any business—large or small, franchise or startup, needs a solid underlying business model. Think of this
as a plan for making a profit by generating revenues that are greater than the costs of doing business.
Serial entrepreneur Steven Blank calls business startups temporary organizations that are trying “to
discover a profitable, scalable business model.” In other words, a startup is just that—a “start”; it’s a new
venture that the entrepreneur is hoping will take shape and prove successful as things move forward.
END OF WEEK 2