Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
The Environments of
Business
❚ Environment
❙ factors that affect an organization, and the
situations within which the organization
functions
❚ External Environment
❙ all factors such as laws, competition,
technology, social-cultural norms and trends,
and ecology, that are outside the organization
and that may affect it
2
The Internal
Environment
❚ Multiple Cultures
❙ Dominant culture
❘ an organization’s core values that are shared by a
majority of its members 4
❘ Subcultures
• may develop because of common problems or situations
• likely to occur in separate units, groups or departments
❘ Strong and weak dominant cultures
• depends on the organization
5
❚ Building Culture
❙ requires selecting, motivating, rewarding and
retaining high-performance employees
❙ Commitment, Competence, and Consistency
❙ Organizational Socialization
❘ transform a newcomer into an accepted member
of the team
❘ mostly occurs inadvertently
6
❚ Values as a Source of Organizational
Culture
❙ Values
❘ convictions about what is good or desirable
❘ beliefs that a specific mode of conduct is
personally or socially preferable to other modes of
conduct
❘ can be common or individual
• fundamental to personality, lifestyle, and reactions to a
situation
7
❙ Beliefs
❘ conscious or subconscious convictions or
expectations that something is true
❙ Attitudes
❘ a manner of thinking, feeling, or holding an
opinion
❘ shape behaviour
❙ Values - Beliefs - Attitudes - Behaviour
8
❚ Emphases in Values
❙ values established early in life
❘ by parents, teachers, relatives, friends, and other
peers
❙ national, cultural, economic, and religious
backgrounds shape values
❙ managers must look at values as a whole, but
treat employees individually based on
individual values
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The External Environment
❚ Workforce Diversity
❙ Canadian workforce structure and
composition changing
❘ more women, aging, increased education levels,
wider range of cultures
❘ managers must adapt to diversity
❚ Family Responsibilities of Employees
❙ maternity and paternity leaves, day care,
flexible scheduling, and job sharing
❘ assisted by computers (telecommuting) 11
❚ The Nature of Work
❙ employers want workers with:
❘ solid basic education
❘ skills in human relationships and self-management
❚ Employees’ Health
❙ Canada an increasingly sedentary society
❘ organizations have responded with in-house
fitness facilities, quit smoking campaigns, etc
❙ attention to employee safety
❘ design accident prevention plans 12
❚ Government Intervention
❙ taxes
❙ organization must be willing to be socially
responsible and comply with laws and
regulations
13
The Economic
Environment
❚ Productivity
❙ decreasing productivity worsens inflation
❙ an estimate of output per hour of labour
worked, or per unit of cost applied
❙ if productivity is flat, wage gains have to be
reflected in price increases
❘ this may spark a downward spiral
❙ may be split between blue and white collar
14
❚ The Global Economy
❙ other countries influence domestic businesses
❙ three main economic regions
❘ the European Union
❘ North America
❘ Southeast and East Asia (including Japan)
15
The Technological
Environment
17
The Political-Legal
Environment
19
The Ecological
Environment
20
❚ Ecological Dilemmas
❙ protective equipment and measures are
expensive in money and time
❙ even solutions may pose problems
❘ e.g. DDT
❙ no easy solutions
21
Social Responsibility
22
❙ A view espoused by economist Milton
Friedman
❘ businesses are first accountable to shareholders,
and owners
• must make a profit
❘ government is best equipped to determine the
nature of social improvements and to realize those
improvements in society
• businesses contribute by paying taxes
❘ if management allocates profits to social
improvements, it is an abuse of authority
• there is no return in social improvements 23
❘ These actions by management may hurt society
• spending on social improvements will lead to higher
prices
25
❙ Social responsiveness
❘ actions that exceed social obligation and social
reaction
• taking stands on issues, accounting for actions,
anticipating society’s future needs and moving towards
satisfying them, and communicating with governments
about existing and potential legislation that is desirable
❘ actively seeks solutions to social problems
❘ importance of social responsibility has increased
attention paid to ethics and ethical dilemmas
26
Ethics
27
❚ Modern versions
❙ justice and fairness, non-discrimination,
utmost honesty and integrity, an ability to
keep confidences, respect and caring for
others, the courage to pursue the right path
❙ how we are viewed - our character and
reputation
❙ some responses to situations may be more
ethical than others
❘ in the eye of the beholder 28
❙ for many companies, ethical issues are not a
top priority
❘ others develop codes of conduct and ethics
• but few have training programs in ethical behaviour or a
hotline to report unethical behaviour
❙ Code of ethics
❘ specific direction in dealing with ethical dilemmas
❘ clarify the organization’s position regarding areas
of ethical uncertainty
❘ help achieve and maintain ongoing conduct that
the organization views as ethical and proper
29
❙ Codes are often ineffective because
management doesn’t follow through and
proactively implement them
❘ written codes become little more than public
relations tools
❙ for successful implementation:
❘ involve people at several levels in discussing and
formulating values and ethical standards
❘ translate the values and beliefs into specific ethical
standards of behaviour
• both in general and specific terms
30
❘ offer all members of the organization the
opportunity to comment on the draft policy
❘ distribute throughout the company
• hold seminars to discuss how the principles embodied
are to be applied in day-to-day activities
❘ make provisions for periodic review and possible
amendments
❘ the final test is whether everyone in the company,
from top down, accepts and lives by the code
31
❚ Reporting Unethical Behaviour
❙ General reluctance to report
❘ many feel that little, if anything is done
❘ fear retribution
❘ confidentiality issues
❙ Common cases: lying to supervisors,
falsifying reports, sexual harassment
32
❚ Application of Ethical Standards
❙ uncertainty, ambiguity, and anxiety
❙ managers must be clear about their stance,
and follow up
❘ set an example
❙ “The Newspaper Test”
❘ if my actions were published on the front page of
tomorrow’s newspaper, would I be comfortable
dealing with friends, family, and spouse?
❙ have a plan for dealing with ethical questions
33
The Workplace of
Tomorrow
34