Ch 3 - Organizational Environments and Cultures Flashcards
all events outside a company that have the potential to influence or affect it
External environments
the rate at which a company’s general and specific environments change
Environmental change
an environment in which the rate of change is slow
Stable environment
an environment in which the rate of change is fast
Dynamic environment
the theory that companies go through long periods of stability (equilibrium), followed by short periods of dynamic, fundamental change (revolutionary periods), and then a new equilibrium
Punctuated equilibrium theory
the number and the intensity of external factors in the environment that affect organizations
Environmental complexity
an environment with few environmental factors
Simple environment
an environment with many environmental factors
Complex environment
the abundance or shortage of critical organizational resources in an organization’s external environment
Resource scarcity
extent to which managers can understand or predict which environmental changes and trends will affect their businesses
Uncertainty
the economic, technological, sociocultural, and political/legal trends that indirectly affect all organizations
General environment
the customers, competitors, suppliers, industry regulations, and advocacy groups that are unique to an industry and directly affect how a company does business
Specific environment
indices that show managers’ level of confidence about future business growth
Business confidence indices
the knowledge, tools, and techniques used to transform inputs into outputs
Technology
companies in the same industry that sell similar products or services to customers
Competitors
a process for monitoring the competition that involves identifying competition, anticipating their moves, and determining their strengths and weaknesses
Competitive analysis
companies that provide material, human, financial, and informational resources to other companies
Suppliers
the degree to which a company relies on a supplier because of the importance of the supplier’s product to the company and the difficulty of finding other sources of that product
Supplier dependence
the degree to which a supplier relies on a buyer because of the importance of that buyer to the supplier and the difficulty of finding other buyers for its products
Buyer dependence
a transaction in which one party in the relationship benefits at the expense of the other
Opportunistic behavior
the establishment of mutually beneficial, long-term exchanges between buyers and suppliers
Relationship behavior
regulations and rules that govern the business practices and procedures of specific industries, businesses, and professions
Industry regulation
concerned citizens who band together to try to influence the business practices of specific industries, businesses, and professions
Advocacy groups
an advocacy group tactic that relies on voluntary participation by the news media and the advertising industry to get the advocacy group’s message out
Public communications
an advocacy group tactic that involves framing issues as public issues; exposing questionable, exploitative, or unethical practices; and forcing media coverage by buying media time or creating controversy that is likely to receive extensive news coverage
Media advocacy
an advocacy group tactic that involves protesting a company’s actions by persuading consumers not to purchase its product or service
Product boycott
searching the environment for important events or issues that might affect an organization
Environmental scanning
graphic depictions of how managers believe environmental factors relate to possible organizational actions
Cognitive maps
the events and trends inside an organization that affect management, employees, and organizational culture
Internal environment
the events and trends inside an organization that affect management, employees, and organizational culture
Organizational culture
stories told by organizational members to make sense of organizational events and changes and to emphasize culturally consistent assumptions, decisions, and actions
Organizational stories
people celebrated for their qualities and achievements within an organization
Organizational heroes
a company’s purpose or reason for existing
Company mission
a company culture in which the company actively defines and teaches organizational values, beliefs, and attitudes
Consistent organizational culture
the process of having managers and employees perform new behaviors that are central to and symbolic of the new organizational culture that a company wants to create
Behavioral addition
the process of having managers and employees perform new behaviors central to the new organizational culture in place of behaviors that were central to the old organizational culture
Behavioral substitution
visible signs of an organization’s culture, such as the office design and layout, company dress code, and company benefits and perks, like stock options, personal parking spaces, or the private company dining room
Visible artifacts
