Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Environmental Uncertainty
Environmental Uncertainty
to Accompany Chapter 4 of
Management
Canadian Edition
Schermerhorn Wright
Management - Chapter 4 3
Study Question 1: What is the external
environment of organizations?
Management - Chapter 4 5
Study Question 1: What is the external
environment of organizations?
The specific (task) environment — actual
organizations, groups, and persons with whom an
organization interacts and conducts business.
Includes important stakeholders such as:
– Customers
– Suppliers
– Competitors
– Regulators
– Investors/owners
Management - Chapter 4 6
Figure 4.1 Stakeholder analysis of value creation for key
constituencies of a business firm: an open-systems approach.
Management - Chapter 4 7
Study Question 1: What is the external
environment of organizations?
Management - Chapter 4 9
Study Question 2: What is a customer-driven
organization?
Management - Chapter 4 11
Study Question 2: What is a customer-driven
organization?
Customers want:
– High quality.
– Low price.
– On-time delivery.
Key customer service lessons:
– Protect reputation for quality products.
– Treat customers right.
Management - Chapter 4 12
Study Question 2: What is a customer-driven
organization?
Management - Chapter 4 14
Study Question 3: What is a quality-driven
organization?
Management - Chapter 4 16
Study Question 3: What is a quality-driven
organization?
Management - Chapter 4 17
Study Question 3: What is a quality-driven
organization?
Management - Chapter 4 19
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
Management - Chapter 4 21
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
Strong cultures:
– Commit members to do things that are in the best
interests of the organization.
– Discourage dysfunctional work behavior.
– Encourage functional work behavior.
The best organizations have strong cultures that:
– Are performance-oriented.
– Emphasize teamwork.
– Allow for risk taking.
– Encourage innovation.
– Value the well being of people.
Management - Chapter 4 22
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
What is observable culture?
– What one sees and hears when walking around an
organization.
Elements of observable culture:
– Stories
– Heroes
– Rites and rituals
– Symbols
Management - Chapter 4 23
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
What is the core culture?
– Underlying assumptions and beliefs that
influence behavior and contribute to the
observable culture.
Core culture and values:
– Strong cultures have a small but enduring set of
core values.
– Commitment to core values is a key to long-
term success.
Management - Chapter 4 24
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
Important cultural values include:
– Performance excellence
– Innovation
– Social responsibility
– Integrity
– Worker involvement
– Customer service
– Teamwork
Management - Chapter 4 25
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
Value-based management:
– Describes managers who actively help to
develop, communicate, and enact shared values.
– Criteria for evaluating core values:
• Relevance
• Integrity
• Pervasiveness
• Strength
Management - Chapter 4 26
Study Question 4: What is organizational
culture?
Symbolic leadership
– Symbolic leaders use symbols well to establish and
maintain a desired organizational culture.
– Symbolic leaders behave in ways that espouse
organization’s values.
– Symbolic leaders:
• Use language metaphors.
• Highlight and dramatize core values and observable culture.
• Use rites and rituals to glorify performance.
Management - Chapter 4 27
Study Question 5: How is diversity managed
in a multicultural organization?
Diversity:
– Describes differences among people at work.
– How diversity is handled in the workplace
reflects the organization’s culture.
• Respect and inclusion.
• Disrespect and exclusion.
– A potential source of competitive advantage.
Management - Chapter 4 28
Study Question 5: How is diversity managed
in a multicultural organization?
Characteristics of multicultural
organizations:
– Pluralism
– Structural integration
– Informal network integration
– Absence of prejudice and discrimination
– Minimum intergroup conflict
Management - Chapter 4 29
Study Question 5: How is diversity managed
in a multicultural organization?
Organizational subcultures
– Cultures based on shared work responsibilities and/or
personal characteristics.
Common subcultures include:
– Occupational
– Functional
– Ethnic or national
– Racial
– Generational
– Gender
Management - Chapter 4 30
Study Question 5: How is diversity managed
in a multicultural organization?
Management - Chapter 4 31
Figure 4.5 Glass ceilings as barriers to women and minority
cultures in traditional organizations.
Management - Chapter 4 32
Study Question 5: How is diversity managed
in a multicultural organization?
Management - Chapter 4 33
Figure 4.6 Leadership approaches to diversity—from
affirmative action to managing diversity.
Source: Developed from R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., Beyond Race and Gender (New York:
AMACOM, 1991), p. 28.
Management - Chapter 4 34
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