CONSTRAINTS AND

CHALLENGES FOR THE GLOBAL

MANAGER
 LEARNING OUTCOME

• Contrast the actions of managers according to the

omnipotent and symbolic views.
• Describe the constraints and challenges facing
managers in today’s external environment.
• Discuss the characteristics and importance of
organizational culture.
• Describe current issues in organizational culture.
 The Manager:
Omnipotent or Symbolic?
 The Omnipotent View

 Omnipotent View of Management - the view that

managers are directly responsible for an organization’s
success or failure.
 This view of managers as omnipotent is consistent with
the stereotypical picture of the take-charge business
executive who overcomes any obstacle in seeing that
the organization achieves its goals.
 The Symbolic View

 Symbolic View of Management – the view that much

of an organization’s success or failure is due to
external forces outside manager’s control.
 In reality, managers are neither all-powerful nor
helpless. But their decisions and actions are
constrained.
 Constraints on Managerial
Discretion
Exhibit:

Organizational Managerial Organizational

Environment Discretion Culture
 The External Environment:
Constraints and Challenges
 External Environment
• The forces and institutions outside the organization that
potentially can affect the organization’s performance.
• Components of the External Environment:
- Specific environment: external forces that have a
direct and immediate impact on the organization.
- General environment: broad economic, socio-cultural,
political/legal, demographic technological, and global
conditions that may affect the organization.
The External Environment:
Constraints and Challenges
 The External Environment:
Constraints and Challenges
 Components of External Environment
1. Economic Environment
- is a set of external economic conditions that impact all
businesses and consumers in a market.
2. Demographic Environment
- refers to the characteristics of the population in a
specific area and it includes multiple factors like age, race,
income, etc.
 The External Environment:
Constraints and Challenges
 Components of External Environment
3. Political/Legal Environment
- state and local laws, political conditions and stability.
4. Sociocultural Environment
- values, attitudes, trends, traditions, lifestyles, beliefs
and pattern of behaviors.
 The External Environment:
Constraints and Challenges
 Components of External Environment
5. Technological Environment
- scientific and industrial innovations.
6. Global Environment
- issues associated with globalization and world economy
 How the External Environment
affects Managers

1. Assessing environmental uncertainty.

2. Managing stakeholders relationships.

 How the External Environment
affects Managers

 Environmental Uncertainty

• Complexity of the environment:

- the number of components in an organization’s external
environment.
• Degree of change in environmental components:
- how dynamic or stable the external environment is.
 Environmental Uncertainty
Exhibit: Matrix
 Stakeholders Relationships

 Stakeholders
- any constituents in the organization’s environment
that are affected by the organization’s decisions and
actions.
- someone who has a vested interest, financial,
social or otherwise in action or organization.
Stakeholders Relationships
 Organizational Stakeholders

 Internal Stakeholders:
- employees, manager, owners, etc.

 External Stakeholders:
- customers, shareholders, creditors, government,
society, suppliers, etc.
 Organizational Culture
Internal Constraints and Challenges

 Organizational Culture
 It has been described as the shared values, principles,
traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way
organizational members act.
 Implications:
1. Perception
2. Shared
3. Descriptive
 Strong versus Weak Cultures
• Strong Cultures
- cultures in which key values are deeply held and widely
shared.
• Factors Influencing the strength of Culture
- Size of the organization
- Age of the organization
- Rate of employee turnover
- Strength of the original culture
- Clarity of cultural values and beliefs
Strong versus Weak Cultures
 Benefits of a Strong Culture

• Creates a stronger employee commitment to the organization.

• Aids in the recruitment and socialization of new employees.

• Fosters higher organizational performance by instilling and

promoting employee initiative.
 Organizational Culture
• Sources of Organizational Culture
- the organization’s founder.
- past practices of the organization.
- the behavior of top management.
- Socialization.
Dimensions of Organizational Culture
• Attention to detail
• Outcome orientation
• People orientation
• Team orientation
• Aggressiveness
• Stability
• Innovation and risk taking
 How Employees Learn Culture
• Stories
• Rituals
• Material Symbols
• Language
 How Culture Affects Managers
• Managerial decisions affected by culture: (POLC Framework)
- Planning
- Organizing
- Leading
- Controlling
• Cultural Constraints on Managers
- Whatever managerial actions the organization recognizes as
proper or improper.
- The overall strength or weakness in an organization.
Current issues in Organizational Culture

1. Creating an Innovative Culture.

2. Creating a customer-responsive culture.
3. Nurturing workplace spirituality.
 Creating an Innovative Culture
Goran Ekvall:
1. Challenge and involvement
2. Freedom
3. Trust an openness
4. Idea time
5. Playfulness/humor
6. Conflict resolution
7. Debates
8. Risk-taking
Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture
 Spirituality and Organization Culture

WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY
- It is a culture in which organization values promote a
sense of purpose through meaningful work taking place in
the context of community.
 Five Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization

1. Strong sense of purpose

2. Focus on individual development
3. Trust and openness
4. Employee empowerment
5. Toleration of employees’ expression
 Benefits of Spirituality
• Improved employee productivity
• Stronger organizational performance
• Increased creativity
• Increased employee satisfaction
• Increased team performance
• Increased organizational performance
 Terms to Know

• Omnipotent view of • Stakeholders

management • Organizational Culture
• Symbolic view of • Strong Cultures
management
• Socialization
• External Environment
• Workplace Spirituality
• Specific Environment
• General Environment
• Environmental Uncertainty
 Thank You
and
God Bless You!!!!