Contemporary Management Concepts

Contemporary Management Concepts

• This section covers the environment of organizations and managers.

• The organization's environments are categorized into general, task, and internal environments.

• The general environment encompasses outside forces (economic, legal, political, socio-cultural, international, and technological.) that influence an organization.

• The task environment includes specific groups and organizations that directly affect the organization (competitors, customers, suppliers, regulators, and strategic partners.)

• The internal environment refers to factors within the organization, including owners, board of directors, employees, and the physical work environment.

• Organization culture involves shared values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes within an organization.

  • Organizational culture shapes overall effectiveness and long-term success, often varying within different organizational segments.
  • Key determinants include the founder's personal values, organizational symbols and stories (heroes, slogans, ceremonies), corporate successes, and shared experiences.
  • Ways to manage organizational culture include; understanding the current culture and deciding whether to maintain or change it, articulating the culture through slogans, ceremonies, and shared experiences, rewarding behaviors consistent with desired values.
  • Changing organizational culture requires developing a clear vision, bringing in outsiders to important managerial positions, and adopting new symbols in place of old traditions.

• Cultural differences affect language (e.g. "hai" in Japanese) and color perceptions (e.g., green signifying death in some cultures, pink as feminine in the U.S.).

Individual Differences Across Cultures

• Individualism (individual interests) vs. collectivism (group interests)
• Power respect versus power tolerance
• Uncertainty acceptance versus uncertainty avoidance
• Aggressive versus passive goal behavior
• Long-term versus short-term outlook.

The (Multi-) Cultural Environment

• Changing demographics in the labor force necessitate greater awareness of diversity, as diversity improves workforce quality.
• Increasing diversity and multiculturalism in organizations is partly driven by legislation, legal action, and the globalization movement.

The Increasing Diversity of the Workforce and the Environment

• Diversity encompasses differences in age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, education, physical appearance, capabilities, and disabilities.

Five-Forces Analysis (Porter)

• This model analyzes industry competitiveness by examining:
  • The level of rivalry among existing competitors
  • The power of suppliers
  • The power of buyers
  • The threat of new entrants
  • The threat of substitute products.