MNGT301 Chp3
Strategic Issues
"events or forces either inside or outside an organization that are likely to alter its ability to achieve its objectives." As environmental turbulence increases, strategic issues emerge more frequently
Which type of organizational culture supports a rational and orderly way of doing business?
Consistency Culture
The set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms that are shared by employees of an organization are called the organization's:
Culture
BP stock prices falling 25% during the first month after the oil spill
Economic Dimension
Feng owns a restaurant chain that has recently opened locations in several areas. He wants his company to succeed and realizes that, in a rapidly changing world, he needs to pay careful attention to business performance and to cultural values. Relate how Feng, as a cultural leader, can demonstrate the importance of both business performance and cultural value.
Feng can over communicate the company's values by use of symbols and signals, and reinforce the values by his own examples.
A worldwide recession
General environment
Devon owns a realty company. He is conscious of a decline in the housing market and realizes the need to encourage the realtors working for him to adapt to this change in their external environment. Devon decides that bimonthly he will meet with all his employees to discuss their concerns and ideas, showing how highly he values their needs. Identify which type of corporate culture Devon is using.
He is using involvement culture that focuses on employee participation to adapt to change.
At US Airways, people talk about Captain "Sully" Stullenberger and how his dedication to being the best at his job should be copied by all employees.
Hero
Joint Venture
involves a strategic alliance or program by two or more organizations; typically occurs when a project is too complex, expensive, or uncertain for one firm to handle alone
Boundary Spanning
links to and coordinates the organization with key elements in the external environment
Uncertainty
managers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors to understand and predict environmental needs and changes
Rapid changes in technology and other environmental issues force a manager to pay ____ attention to external issues.
more
Story
narrative based on true events that is repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees
Supply Chain
network of multiple businesses and individuals that are connected through the flow of products or services
Merger
occurs when two or more organizations combine to become one
Customers
people and organizations in the environment that acquire goods or services from the organization
Slogan
phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value
Ceremony
planned activity at a special event that is conducted for the benefit of an audience; typically held by managers
Suppliers
provide the raw materials that the organization uses to produce its output
Labor Market
represents people in the environment who can be hired to work for the organization
Economic Dimension
represents the general economic health of the country or region in which the organization operates; Consumer purchasing power, the unemployment rate, and interest rates
Culture
set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization
Achievement Culture
suited to organizations concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment, but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change
In an ______ culture, an emphasis on winning and reaching specific ambitious goals is the glue that holds the organization together.
Achievement
Four Types of Corporate Culture
Adaptability (Flexible and External), Achievement (Stable and External), Involvement (Flexible and Internal), and Consistency (Stable and Internal)
The relationship between the task environment and the general environment is best described as:
An open system: Changes in the task environment affect the general environment, and changes in the general environment affect the task environment.
Visa has an employee who searches the Internet for two hours each day for insights on MasterCard and other competitors.
Boundary-Spanning Roles
Constantine's jewelry shop has just hired a comparative shopper to visit other local jewelry stores to gain product pricing information. What strategy is this describing?
Boundary-spanning roles
This information is gained by scanning both internal and external environmental trends with sophisticated software to find relationships that might influence a company's performance.
Business Intelligence
A __________ is a planned activity at a special event that is conducted for the benefit of an audience.
Ceremony
Every Friday afternoon around 4pm, Nerf darts start flying around the office at Aplia, where both work and play are highly valued.
Ceremony
Burger King offers toys and drinking glasses tied into movies from Paramount pictures.
Inter-organizational Partnership
The current employees of a company are part of what type of environment for the organization?
Internal Environment
Lack of oil in the US causing other countries to increase the number of wells they drill
International Dimension
Originating in other countries, this dimension can influence all other dimensions in the general environment.
International dimension
Based on previous research regarding the impact of values on business performance, you would expect that ____ mangers would have higher-performing companies.
Japanese
Delaco Steel, a US steelmaker, and ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg steelmaker, work together to run two new laser welding plants.
Joint Venture
This term refers to all of the people that the company can hire at any given time.
Labor market
President Barack Obama placing a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling
Legal-politcal Dimension
When government regulates the way industries do business, this dimension is at play.
Legal-political dimension
Wells Fargo combined with Wachovia to form the nation's fourth largest banking corporation.
Merger
Competitors
Organizations in the same industry or type of business that provide goods or services to the same set of customers
Menlo Innovations creates custom software for organizations. The company's founders wanted to create a unique environment that embraced teamwork, learning, and fun to infusehappiness into what is often lonely, grueling work. Identify how Alejandra can use this same type of culture in the programming department she manages.
She can encourage her employees to pull together and help bring out the best in one another
Stanford University tells students that they will "Grasp the forces driving the change," while students at Ryerson University are attracted by "Wisdom. Applied."
Slogan
Starbucks expanded into the European market with packed stores in Germany and the U.K., but its sales and profits in French stores were disappointing. Some of the reasons for this were a sluggish economy, more expensive rent, and higher labor costs in France; furthermore, instead of grabbing a coffee to go, the French prefer to linger over coffee. Relate what was affecting Starbucks ability to thrive in France.
Starbucks did not consider their competitors when opening stores throughout France.
For Caterpillar, a heavy equipment company, an unanticipated jump in the price their suppliers charge for steel.
Task environmnet
Which of the following statements are true about organization culture?
The actions managers take can change a company's culture; Employees may be unaware of the underlying assumptions that guide an organization's culture' Culture can create a competitive advantage for a company
The hotel chain Ritz-Carlton advertises that they are "Ladies and gentlemen taking care of ladies and gentleman" as a way to convey special meaning to its employees. This is said to demonstrate the cultural commitment to take care of both employees and customers. What tool is Ritz-Carlton demonstrating to express its corporate culture?
The company is expressing a key corporate value with a slogan.
Johnson & Johnson, makers of a wide range of consumer, health, and prescription products are considered a high-performance workplace while also cultivating a culture that encourages employees to work in teams and remain open to change. At Aadrika's company the focus is on business performance and employees frequently complain about long hours and aggressive deadlines. Analyze how Aadrika's company can follow the example of Johnson & Johnson's internal environment.
They can shift some of the focus to building a positive culture and binding people together.
Companies that are successful in a turbulent world have managers who pay attention to cultural values and business performance.
True
The cultural leader articulates a vision for the organizational culture that the employees can believe in.
True
Managers at Nintendo are faced with uncertainty due to the large amount of downloadable, inexpensive games for smartphones and tablets. Nintendo is traditionally a console game maker and is confronting changes in technologies and consumer tastes. In 2012, Nintendo posted the first loss in its history. Which of the strategies below would help Nintendo modify its operation to increase sales?
Using business intelligence to be aware of what is going on externally
General Environment
affects organizations indirectly; social, economic, legal-political, international, natural, and technological factors that influence all organizations about equally
Natural Dimension
all elements that occur naturally on Earth, including plants, animals, rocks, and resources such as air, water, and climate
Symbol
an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others
Internal Environment
includes the elements within the organization's boundaries; composed of current employees, management, and especially corporate culture, which defines employee behavior in the internal environment and how well the organization will adapt to the external environment
High-performance Culture
based on solid organizational mission or purpose; embodies shared adaptive values that guide decisions and business practices; encourages individual employee ownership of both bottom-line results and the organization's cultural backbone
Task Environment
closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance
Cultural Leader
defines and uses signals and symbols to influence corporate culture. The leader clarifies what the new culture should be and crafts a story that inspires people to change. A cultural leader is the "chief marketing officer" for the desired cultural values; cultural leader articulates a vision for the organizational culture that employees can believe in; heeds the day-to-day activities that reinforce the cultural vision
Adaptability Culture
emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making
Involvement Culture
emphasizes an internal focus on the participation of employees to adapt rapidly to changing needs from the environment
International Dimension
external environment; events originating in foreign countries; provides new competitors, customers, and suppliers and shapes social, technological, and economic trends as well
Hero
figure who exemplifies the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong culture; role model
Technological Dimension
general environment includes scientific and technological advancements in a specific industry, as well as in society at large
Sociocultural Dimension
general environment represents the demographic characteristics, norms, customs, and values of the general population
Legal-poliitical Dimension
government regulations at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as political activities designed to influence company behavior
When Eric Hudson says that he wants to "develop systems and run an efficient business, but let go of the basic stiff culture that (he) saw in business," it indicates that the culture at Recycline is likely to be ____ on attention to business performance and ____ on attention to values. This type of culture is known as ________ culture.
high, high, a high-performance
Organization Environmnet
includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization; competitors, resources, technology, and economic conditions
Organizational Ecosystem
system formed by the interaction among a community of organizations in the environment; organizations in all the sectors of the task and general environments that provide the resource and information transactions, flows, and linkages necessary for an organization to thrive
Consistency Culture
uses an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment
Business Intelligence
which results from using sophisticated software to search through internal and external data to spot patterns, trends, and relationships that might be significant