|
a) Overview
b) Objectives
c) Reading
d) Lecture
e) Activities/Assignments
|
Overview |
To be effective using the systems and contingency
approaches a manager must possess a strong understanding of the
environmental, a willingness to constantly scan the environment,
and the ability to adapt decisions to fit the environment. The
purpose of this module is to introduce you to the common
environmental factors that affect management decisions.
|
|
Objectives |
After completing this module, you should be able to:
1. identify and describe the macro-environmental factors
2. identify and describe the industry-environmental factors
3. understand the roles that the environment plays in management
decisions and organizational performance
4. discuss the importance of scanning the environment and
“staying current” with the changing environment.
|
|
Readings |
Read:
-
Revisit the systems and the
contingency approaches to management (pp. 33-36)
-
Chapter 2: The Management
Environment
|
|
Lecture |
|
Note:
The following lectures will open in separate windows. Please make sure you have
the speakers volume turned 'on' to listen to the lecture. Once
the page has finished loading you can start the lecture by
hitting 'Play'. |
The systems and contingency approaches to management highlight two basic
facts about management today. First, to be successful it is clear that
managers must understand the complex and dynamic nature of the business
environment. Because factors in the environment are interrelated and
interdependent, and because they change over time, planning, organizing,
leading and controlling are not simple tasks. For example, as in sports,
the effectiveness of a firm’s actions (e.g., United Airlines raising
ticket prices) is contingent, in part, upon the actions and reactions of
the firm’s competitors (e.g., whether or not American Airlines also
raises ticket prices). Second, it is also clear that because a manager
must adapt his or her decisions to fit the situation, and because the
situation is constantly changing, a manager must possess the ability and
the desire to consistently scan the environment. Performing systematic
analyses of the environment (e.g., Porter’s Five Forces Model, SWOT
Analysis) as well as more informal methods of environmental scanning
(e.g., networking, participating in professional organizations, reading
the Wall Street Journal) are behaviors that managers must perform and
implement.
|
|
Activities/Assignments |
|
|
|
|
