Chpt 3 - Organisational Environments & Cultures Flashcards
external environments
all events outside a company that have the potential to influence or affect it. There is no control over this
Four characteristics of changing external environments
- environmental change
- environmental complexity
- resource scarcity
- environmental uncertainty for organisational managers created by environmental change, environmental complexity and resource scarcity.
Environmental change
the rate at which a company’s general and specific environments change
Environmental change - Stable environment
an environment in which the rate of change is slow
Environmental change - Dynamic environment
an environment in which the rate of change is fast
Environmental change - Punctuated Equilibrium theory
a theory that holds that companies go through long, simple periods of stability (equilibrium) followed by short periods of dynamic, fundamental change (revolution) finishing with a return to stability, reaching a new equilibrium
Environmental Complexity
the number of external factors in the environment that affect organisations
Environmental Complexity - Simple Environment
an environment with few environmental factors
Environmental Complexity - Complex environment
an environment with many environmental factors
Environmental change - resource scarcity
the abundance or shortage of critical organisational resources in an organisations external environment
Environmental change - environmental uncertainty
the extent to which managers can understand or predict which environmental changes and trends will affect their businesses
Two kinds of external environments which influence organisations
- General Environment
- Specific Environment
1 external environment, General
the economic, technological, sociocultural and political trends that indirectly affect ALL organisations
2 external environment, Specific
the customers, competitors, suppliers, industry regulations and advocacy groups that are unique to an industry and directly affect how a company does business
Four components of the General Environment
The economy
Technological trends
Sociocultural trends
Political/Legal trends