Understanding Management's Context:: Constraints and Challenges

Understanding
Management’s
Context:
Constraints and
Challenges
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Pearson©Education,
2012 Pearson Education,
Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 2-1
Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
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.
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 © Education,
Pearson 2012 Pearson
Inc.Education,
publishingInc.
as Prentice Hall 2-2
Publishing as Prentice Hall
The Manager:
Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Omnipotent View of Management - the
view that managers are directly
responsible for an organization’s success
or failure.
• Symbolic view of Management - the
view that much of an organization’s
success or failure is due to external forces
outside managers’ control.
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Exhibit 2-1
Constraints on Managerial Discretion
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Exhibit 2-2
Components of External Environment
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How the External Environment
Affects Managers
• Jobs and employment - As external
environmental conditions one of the most
powerful constraints managers face is the
impact of such changes on jobs and
employment
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Environmental Uncertainty and
Complexity
• Environmental Uncertainty - the degree
of change and complexity in an
organization’s environment.
• Environmental Complexity - the number
of components in an organization’s
environment and the extent of the
organization’s knowledge about those
components.
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Exhibit 2-3
Environmental Uncertainty Matrix
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Managing Stakeholder
Relationships
• Stakeholders - any constituencies in the
organization’s environment that are
affected by an organization’s decisions
and actions.
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Exhibit 2-4 Organizational Stakeholders
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What Is Organizational Culture?
• Organizational Culture - The shared

values, principles, traditions, and ways of
doing things that influence the way
organizational members act.
• Strong Cultures - Organizational cultures
in which key values are intensely held and
widely shared.
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Exhibit 2-5
Dimensions of Organizational Culture
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Exhibit 2-6
Contrasting Organizational Cultures
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Exhibit 2-7
Strong Versus Weak Cultures
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Where Does Culture Come From?
• Organization founder
• Vision and mission
• Past practices
• Top management
behavior
• Socialization - The
process that helps
employees adapt to the
organization’s culture.
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Exhibit 2-8
Establishing and Maintaining Culture
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How Do Employees Learn Culture?
• Stories - Narratives of significant events

or people, e.g. organization founders, rule
breaking, reaction to past mistakes etc.
• Rituals - Sequences of activities that
express and reinforce the important values
and goals of the organization
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How Employees Learn Culture
(cont.)
• Material Artifacts and Symbols - Convey
the kinds of behavior that are expected,
e.g. risk taking, participation, authority, etc.
• Language - Acts as a common
denominator that bonds members
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How Does Culture Affect Managers?
• Cultural Constraints on Managers

– Whatever managerial actions the organization
recognizes as proper or improper on its behalf
– Whatever organizational activities the
organization values and encourages
– The overall strength or weakness of the
organizational culture
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Exhibit 2-9
Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture
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Creating an Innovative Culture
• What does an innovative culture look like?

– Challenge and involvement
– Freedom
– Trust and openness
– Idea time
– Playfulness/humor
– Conflict resolution
– Debates
– Risk-taking
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Exhibit 2-10
Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture
• How Do You Create a Customer

Responsive Culture?
– Hire the right type of employees (those with a
strong interest in serving customers)
– Have few rigid rules, procedures, and
regulations
– Use widespread empowerment of employees
– Have good listening skills in relating to
customers’ messages
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Understanding

• Organizational Culture - The shared

• Stories - Narratives of significant events

• Cultural Constraints on Managers

• What does an innovative culture look like?

• How Do You Create a Customer

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