3. The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Omnipotent View of Management
Differences in an organizations 'performance are assumed to be
due to decisions and actions of managers
Good managers anticipate change, exploit opportunities correct
poor performance and lead their organization
Managers are directly responsible for an organization’s success
or failure.
The quality of the organization is determined by the quality of its
managers.
Managers are held accountable
for an organization’s performance
yet it is difficult to attribute
good or poor performance
directly to their influence
on the organization.
4. The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Symbolic View of Management
Much of an organization’s success or failure is due to
external forces outside of managers’ control
The ability of managers to affect outcomes is influenced and
constrained by external factors
The economy, customers, governmental policies, competitors,
industry conditions,
technology, and the actions of
previous managers
Managers symbolize control and influence through their
action
In this view managers develop plans, make decisions and
engage in other organizational activities to make sense out of
random, confusing, and ambiguous situations
5. Exhibit 3–1 Parameters of Managerial Discretion
Reality Suggests A Synthesis
In reality, managers are neither powerful nor helpless and
their decisions and action options are constrained
Internal constraints come from the organization’s culture
and external constraints come from the organization's
environment
6. The Organizational Environment
In an organization as an Open System----- An organization
interacts with its environment as it takes inputs and distributes
outputs for absorption
External environment has the following impacts worldwide,
For Example
Skyrocketing in costs of food around the world is the biggest factor
in runway demand
Many Governments are trying to save megawatts of energy
through renewable energy productions
Systems are being automatic and they are now interconnected for
exchanging information and data
As these examples show, environmental forces play a major
role in shaping a manager’s actions
7. Defining the External Environment
• External Environment
Those factors and forces outside the organization that
affect the organization’s performance.
• Components of the External Environment
(1) Specific environment: external forces that have a
direct and immediate impact on the organization.
(2) General environment: broad economic, socio-
cultural, political/legal, demographic, technological,
and global conditions that may affect the
organization
8. The Organizational Environment
1. Specific Environment
“External forces that have a direct impact on manager’s
decisions and actions and are directly relevant to the achievement of
an organization’s goals”.
An organization’s specific environment is unique to it
Forces That Make Up A Specific Environment:
1. Customers
An organization exists to meet needs and wants of its customers
and they represent a potential uncertainty to an organization
because their tastes are continuously changed
2. Suppliers
Managers seek to ensure a constant flow of needed inputs at
the lowest possible price and a limitation and delay in supply can
constrain a manager’s decisions
9. The Organizational Environment
3. Competitors
All organizations either NPOs, NGOs and POs ------ have
competitors
Managers cannot afford to avoid or ignore competition
For Example: PTV has completion with digital cable, satellite,
DVDs and the internet----provide customers a broader choice
4. Pressure Groups
Managers must recognize special-interest groups that attempt to
influence the actions of organizations
A manager should have information about environmental and
human rights activists picketing, boycotting and threatening some
organizations in order to managers to get change decisions
For Example: Pressure by PETA on McDonalds
Pressure by PALPA on PIA for improvements in incentives
10. The Organizational Environment
2. The General Environment
“It includes the broad economic, political/legal, sociocultural,
demographic and global conditions that affect an organization”.
This environment does not impact very much but a manger must
consider them as they plan, organize, lead and control
Forces That Make Up A Specific Environment:
1. Economic Conditions
Interest rates, inflation, changes in disposable income, stock
market fluctuations and the stage of the general business cycle are
some economic factors that affect management practices
When consumers income fall or when their confidence about job
security declines, they will postpone purchasing anything that isn’t a
necessity
11. The Organizational Environment
2. Political/Legal Conditions
Federal, State, Provincial and local laws, as well as global and
other country laws and regulations, influence what organizations
can and cannot do
Organizations spend a great deal of time and money to meet
such Governmental demands and these reduce managerial
discretion by limiting the available choices
For Example: Quota for disables and minorities, principles of
good faith and dealings with employees by employers
Besides this, political conditions and stability of a country where
an organization operates and the attitudes that elected
Governmental officials hold towards business also influences a
manager’s decisions
12. The Organizational Environment
3. Sociocultural Conditions
Managers must adapt their practices to the chaining expectations of
the society in which they operate
As values, customs and tastes change, managers must also change
For Example: The demand of more balanced life by the workers,
organizations have had to adjust by offering family leave policies,
flexible work hours and on-site child care facilities
4. Technological Conditions
The most rapid change in general environment
Technology has introduced the automated offices, electronic meetings,
robotic manufacturing, lasers, integrated circuits, faster and more
powerful microprocessors, synthetic fuels and new models of business
Companies that have invested in technology have higher ROI such as
google, GE, e-bay and Wal-Mart
13. The Organizational Environment
5. Demographic Conditions
Demographic conditions encompass trends in population
characteristics such as gender, age, level of education, geographic
location, income and family composition
Changes in these conditions may constrain how managers plan,
organize, lead and control
Specific Age Cohorts in United States
Depression Group (born 1912-1921)
World War-II Group (born 1922-1927)
Postwar Group (born 1928-1945)
Baby Boomers Group (1946-1964)
Generation X (born 1965-1977)
Generation Y (born 1978-1994)
Generation Y is of popular interest because its members are
learning, working, shopping and playing in different ways
14. The Organizational Environment
6. Global Conditions
Managers are challenged by an increasing number of global
competitors and markets as part of the external environment
Globalization has impacted the way as mangers plan, organize,
lead and control
For Example
By the end of this decade Nigeria will have larger population than
that of Russia, Ethiopia than that if Germany and Morocco will have
more people than Canada
16. How the Environment Affects Managers
There are two ways the environment affects managers
(1) Through the degree of Environmental
Uncertainty
(2) Thorough managing stakeholders
relationships
17. How the Environment Affects Managers
1. Assessing Environmental Uncertainty
“The degree of change and complexity in an organization's
environment is called Environmental Uncertainty”.
Hence Environmental Uncertainty has two dimensions
(a) Degree of Change
(b) Degree of Complexity
(a) Degree of Change
Stable Environment: If components in an origination's
environment change infrequently, its called Stable Environment
A stable environment might be one in which there are no new competitors,
few technological breakthroughs by current competitors, little activity by
pressure groups to influence the organization and so forth e.g. Zippo
Lighters have stable environment
18. How the Environment Affects Managers
Dynamic Environment: If components in an origination's environment
change frequently, its called Stable Environment
A dynamic environment is highly uncertain and unpredictable
E.g. The recorded music industry faces a dynamic environment due to
digital formats and music-downloading websites
When we talk about degree of change, we mean change that is
unpredictable and if change can be accurately anticipated, it’s not
uncertainty that mangers must confront
(b) Environmental Complexity
The number of components in an organization's environment and
the extent of the organization’s knowledge about those components
When an organization has fewer competitors, customers, suppliers,
government agencies and so forth, the less complex and uncertain
it’s environment is
20. How the Environment Affects Managers
(2) Managing Stakeholder's Relationships
Stakeholders: Any constituencies in the organization’s environment
that are affected by the organization’s decisions and actions
The more obvious and secure the relationships among
stakeholders, the more influence the managers will have over
organizational outcomes
Hence Stakeholders are influenced by an organization and
influence on an organization in return
These stakeholders include both internal and eternal
stakeholders
Mangers take inputs (resources) from External Stakeholders and
as outlets for outputs (goods and services)
21. Managing Stakeholder Relationships
Why Manage Stakeholder Relationships?
It can lead to improved organizational performance
It’s the “right” thing to do given the interdependence of the
organization and its external stakeholders
Managers can manage Stakeholders relationships in following
ways
(a) Identify the organization’s external stakeholders
(b) Determine the particular interests and concerns of the
external stakeholders
(c) Decide how critical each external stakeholder is to the
organization
(d) Determine how to manage each individual external
stakeholder relationship