Post on 29-Jul-2015
CHAPTER 2:THE ENVIRONMENT: CULTURE, ETHICS,
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
CH 2© 2015 SAGE Publications
Five Internal Environmental Factors• Mission
• The organization’s reason for being• Management & Culture
• Values, beliefs and assumptions the members of an organization share
• Resources• Human, Financial, Physical and Informational
• Structure• The way an organization groups its resources to accomplish its
mission• Systems Process
• How an organization structures resources to transforms inputs into outputs
Systems Process Components• Inputs
• Organizations resources: human, financial, physical, and informational
• Transformation• Turning inputs into outputs
• Outputs• The products or services offered to customers
• Feedback• Means of control to ensure that the inputs and
transformation process are producing the desired results
Total Quality Management• Stressing quality within an organization
• Focus on the customer to continually improve product value
• Continually improving the system and its processes
Organizational Culture• Core values and principles of leaders• Behaviors, practices and attitudes of employees
• Culture can be learned but it must be understood first
Learning the Organizational Culture• Organizational Culture can be learned through
observing people and events in the organization• Artifacts are physically observable elements of
culture• Heroes• Stories• Slogan• Symbols• Ceremonies
Three Levels of Culture• Behavior
• What people do and say• Values and Beliefs
• Guide decision making and shape behavior• Assumptions
• Values and beliefs that are so deeply ingrained that they are considered unquestionably true and taken for granted
Strong & Weak Cultures• Strong Cultures
• Employees subconsciously know the shared assumptions as well as the values and beliefs
• Behave as expected• Results in easier communication and cooperation
• Weak Cultures• Employees do not behave as expected
The External Environment• The factors outside an organization’s boundaries that
affect its performance
The Nine Major External Factors• Customers• Competition• Suppliers• Labor force/unions• Shareholders• Society• Technology• The economy• Government
Task Factors
General Factors
Ethics• Standards of right and wrong that influence behavior
• Ethical: Right behaviors• Unethical: Wrong behaviors
• Ethical standards are closely tide to cultural values
Moral Development• Developing ability to distinguish right from wrong and
choosing the right thing• Three Levels of Moral Development
• Pre-conventional• Conventional• Post-conventional
Three Levels of Moral Development• Pre-conventional Level:
• Choose behavior based on self interest and the likely consequences of the behavior (reward or punishment)
• Conventional Level:• Seek to maintain expected standards and live up to
the expectations of others• Post-conventional Level:
• Make an effort to define moral principles for themselves regardless of leaders or the groups ethics
Pre-conventional and Conventional Moral Justifications• Displacement of Responsibility: blaming ones unethical
behavior on others• Diffusion of Responsibility: behaving unethically and no
one person is held responsible• Advantageous Comparison: comparing oneself to others
who are worse
Pre-conventional and Conventional Moral Justifications• Disregard or Distortion of Consequences: minimizing the
harm caused by the unethical behavior• Attribution of blame: claiming the unethical behavior
was caused by someone else's behavior• Euphemistic Labeling: using “cosmetic” words to make
the behavior sound acceptable
Enforcing Ethical Behavior• Whistle blowing: encouraging employees to expose
unethical or illegal behaviors within the organization.
Corporate Social Responsibility• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): exploring the
responsibilities of business and its role in society• Environment• Society• Customers• Suppliers• Employees
Sustainability• Meeting the needs of the present world without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs