CONSTRAINTS

ON MANAGERS

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Contrast the actions of managers according to the omnipotent and
symbolic views.
2 Describe the constraints and challenges facing managers in today’s
external environment.
• Develop your skill at scanning the environment so you can anticipate
and interpret changes taking place.
3 Discuss the characteristics and importance of organizational culture.
• Know how to read and assess an organization’s culture.

4 Describe current issues in organizational culture.

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 THE MANAGER: OMNIPOTENT OR
SYMBOLIC?
• Omnipotent view of management: The view that managers are directly
responsible for an organization’s success or failure

• Symbolic view of management :The view that much of an organization’s

success or failure is due to external forces outside managers’ control

• In reality, managers are neither all-powerful nor helpless. But their decisions and
actions are constrained. External constraints come from the organization’s
environment and internal constraints come from the organization’s culture.

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THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT:
CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES
 External environment: Those factors and forces outside the organization
that affect its performance

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HOW THE EXTERNAL
ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS
MANAGERS
 JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT
 ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY.
Environmental uncertainty refers to the degree
of change and complexity in an organization’s environment
Environmental complexity the number of components in an
organization’s environment and the extent of the organization’s
knowledge about those components
 MANAGING STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS

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ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY
MATRIX

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:
CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES
 Organizational culture has been described as the shared values,
principles, traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way
organizational members act and that distinguish the organization from
other organizations
 Strong cultures: Organizational cultures in which the key values are
intensely held and widely shared

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DIMENSIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

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STRONG VERSUS WEAK CULTURES

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HOW EMPLOYEES LEARN CULTURE

 STORIES : Organizational “stories” typically contain a narrative of

significant events or people, including such things as the organization’s
founders, rule breaking, reactions to past mistakes, and so forth
 RITUALS : Corporate rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that
express and reinforce the important values and goals of the
organization
 MATERIAL ARTIFACTS AND SYMBOLS : Material symbols
convey to employees who is important and the kinds of behavior (for
example, risk taking, conservative, authoritarian, participative,
individualistic, and so forth) that are expected and appropriate
 LANGUAGE : Over time, organizations often develop unique terms to
describe equipment, key personnel, suppliers, customers, processes, or
products related to its business

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HOW CULTURE AFFECTS
MANAGERS

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CURRENT ISSUES IN
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
 Creating an Innovative Culture
 Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture
 Creating a Sustainability Culture

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2014 Pearson
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Ltd 8-12