Principles of management ch.3

Which of the following refers to an organization's ability to notice and respond to changes in the organization's environment?

Adaptability

Under the _____, if an employee is sexually harassed by anyone at work, the company and the harasser are potentially liable for damages, attorneys' fees, and back pay.

1991 Civil Rights Act

_____ summarize the perceived relationships between environmental factors and possible organizational actions.

Cognitive maps

_____ refers to the number and the intensity of external factors in the environment that affect organizations.

Environmental complexity

_____ refers to the extent to which managers can understand or predict which environmental changes and trends will affect their businesses.

Environmental uncertainty

complex environment

Includes many factors

Identify a true statement about the specific environment of an organization.

It directly affects the way the firm conducts day-to-day business.

Which of the following is included in the surface level of an organization's culture?

Managers' behaviors

_____ involves identifying and addressing client trends and problems after they occur.

Reactive customer monitoring

_____ are a component of the general environment that indirectly affects all organizations.

Sociocultural trends

Which of the following examples falls in the level immediately below the surface level of an organization's culture?

Values expressed by the employees

resource scarcity

abundance or shortage of organizational resources in external environment

consistent organizational culture

actively defines and teaches values beliefs and attitudes

keys to an organizational culture that fosters success

adaptability clear mission consistency employee involvment

ways of changing organizational culture

behavioral addition behavioral subsitution changing visible artifacts selection

company mission

business's purpose or reason for existing helps guide decisions

Edward Potts, the chief executive officer of an advertising agency, learns that the level of employee interaction in the company is low and that it is adversely affecting the quality of work. He decides to convert the company's workspace into an open-plan office without any individual cubicle partitions. In this scenario, the new office layout is an example of a(n) _____.

c. visible artifact

opportunistic behavior

caused by a high degree of buyer or seller dependence one party benefits at the expense of other

competitors

companies in the same industry that sell similar products or services

suppliers

companies that provide material, human, financial , and informational resources

Parts of specific environment

customer competitor supplier industry regulation advocacy group

competitive analysis

deciding who competitors are anticipating their moves determining strengths weakness

sociocultural part of general environment

demographic characteristics general behavior attitudes beliefs of people

In the context of organizational environments, the sociocultural component of the general environment consists of:

demographic characteristics of the people.

A competitive analysis involves:

determining a rival firm's strengths and weaknesses.

Interpreting Environmental Factors

determining whether factors are threats or opportunities

what influences environmental uncertainty

environmental change, environmental complexity, and resource scarcity

Environmental uncertainty in an organization is highest when:

environmental complexity is extensive.

3 step process to understanding external environments

environmental scanning interpreting environmental factors acting on threats/opportunities

organizational stories

events or stories told to emphasize culturally consistent decisions, actions etc

media advocacy approach

exposing creating controversy framing their concerns as public issues

Simple environments

few environmental factors

external environment

forces outside of a company that influence or affect it

selection

gathering information about job applicants to decide who should be offered a job hiring people with desired values and beliefs

organizational ceremonies

gatherings to celebrate or commemorate notable changes or achievements

2 types of external organizational environment

general and specific

cognitive maps

graphic representation of relationship between environmental factors and organizational actions

advocacy groups

groups of citizens who try to influence the business practices of specific organizations

In a _____, consumers have relatively more money to spend.

growing economy

In a shrinking economy, _____.

growth for individual businesses is difficult

Expressed values and beliefs

how decisions are made and explained

supplier dependence

how much a company depends on a supplier

buyer dependence

how much a supplier relies on a buyer

environmental uncertainty

how well managers understand or predict the external changes affecting their businesses

proactive monitoring of customers

identifying and addressing customer problems before they occur

reactive customer monitoring

identifying and addressing customer trends and problems after they occur

technology

knowledge, tools, and techniques used to transform inputs into outputs

political/legal component of general environment

legislation regulations court decisions

punctuated equilibrium theory

long periods of stability followed by short periods of dynamic change then returns to stability

behavioral addition

managers and employees perform a new behavior

behavioral substitution

managers and employees perform a new behavior in place of another

In comparison to a static economy, in a growing economy, _____.

more products are bought and sold

relationship behavior

mutually benefical long term relationship between buyers and suppliers

environmental complexity

number and intensity of external factors that affect organizations

visible artifacts

office design dress code personal parking spaces

organizational heroes

people admired for their qualities and achievements within the organization

The _____ component of the general environment includes the legislation, regulations, and court decisions that govern and regulate business behavior.

political/legal

In the context of advocacy group tactics, the _____ approach relies on voluntary participation by the news media and the advertising industry to send out an advocacy group's message.

public communications

advocacy group techniques

public communications media advocacy product boycott

environmental change

rate at which a company's general and specific environments change

two strategies for monitoring customers

reactive and proactive

industry regulation

regulations and rules that control practices or procedures of specific organizations

When high-definition television sets (HDTVs) were first introduced in the market, one reason they were much more expensive than other types of television sets was that there were not enough factories manufacturing the sets to keep up with the demand. This led to a mismatch between the demand and supply. This scenario illustrates the external environmental characteristic of _____.

resource scarcity

In an organization, environmental uncertainty is lowest when:

resources are plentiful.

environmental scanning

searching the environment for events or issues that might affect the organization

Environmental scanning involves:

searching the surroundings for important events or issues that might affect an organization.

Business confidence indices

show how confident managers are about future business growth

how are values and beliefs sustained in organizational culture

stories heroes celebrations

In the context of specific environment of organizations, _____ are companies that provide material, human, financial, and informational resources to other companies.

suppliers

three levels of organizational cultures

surface (seen) expressed values & beliefs(heard) unconscious beliefs (Believed)

seen level

symbolic artifacts what people say workers behaviors

Genevieve is a newly joined Electrical Engineer Officer on board a ship. She struggles to fix the ship's faulty alarm system. The Ship's Chief Engineer explains to her the issues with the alarm system and teaches her how to fix it. In this case, the knowledge of the crew members represents the _____ of the general environment.

technological component

parts of general environment

the economic technological sociocultural political/legal trends

dynamic environments

the rate of environmental change is fast

stable environments

the rate of environmental change is slow

internal environment

trends and events within an organization that affect management, employees and organizational culture

product boycott

try to persuade consumers not to buy a product or service

Specific Environment

unique to that firms industry that affects the way it conducts day to day business

organizational culture

values, beliefs and attitudes shared by members key component of internal environment

public communications

voluntary participation by the news media

unconscious assumptions and beliefs

widely shared beliefs rarely thought about