Environment & Diversity

Planning Ahead  What is the environment of the organization?  What is a customer-driven organization?  What is the quality commitment in operations?  Why is organizational culture important?  What are current directions in organizational cultures?

External Environments of Organizations What is Competitive Advantage?  Utilization of a core competency that clearly sets an organization apart from its competitors and gives it an advantage over them in the marketplace  Companies may achieve it in many ways including products pricing customer service cost efficiency quality

External Environments of Organizations The General Environment - all of the background conditions of the organization including:  Economic  Social-cultural  Legal-political  Technological  Natural environment

External Environments of Organizations The Specific (Task) Environment - actual organizations, groups, persons with whom an organization must interact in order to survive and prosper  stakeholders customers suppliers competitors regulators

Typical Stakeholders Stockholders Employees Labour Unions Customers Suppliers Political parties Courts Public Interest Groups Banks Educational Institutions Competitors Business Government

External Environments of Organizations Environmental Uncertainty  lack of complete information regarding what developments will occur in the external environment two dimensions complexity rate of change

Customer-Driven Organizations Why Do Customers Count?  Important source of competitive advantage

Customer-Driven Organizations External and Internal Customers  External purchase the goods or services produced  Internal individuals who depend on the results of others' work to do their own jobs

Internal Customer/Client Service Points Customer-Driven Organizations Who Are the Customers? Resource Inputs Suppliers Job Product outputs Customers Transformation Processes & Workflows External Customer/Client Service Points

Customer-Driven Organizations Customers and Operations Management  Operations activities and decisions through which organizations transform resource inputs into product outputs product output can be goods or services  Transformation process actual set of operations used to produce finished goods or services

Commitment to Quality Operations Total Quality Management  quality principles as an integral part of organization's strategic objectives applying them to all aspects of operations committing to continuous improvement striving to meet customers’ needs correctly the first time

Commitment to Quality Operations Quality and Continuous Improvement  Continuous Improvement Always looking for new ways to improve upon current performance

Commitment to Quality Operations Quality Circles  group of workers who meet regularly to discuss ways of improving quality of products or services assume responsibility for quality  can result in cost savings from improved quality and increased customer satisfaction

Commitment to Quality Operations Cycle time  elapsed time between receipt of an order and delivery of the finished product objective is to reduce the amount of time and costs

Commitment to Quality Operations Quality and Operations Management  Lean production uses new technologies to streamline systems  Flexible manufacturing processes can be changed quickly to produce different products  Agile manufacturing/Mass customization allow individualized products quickly

Commitment to Quality Operations Quality and Operations Management  Design for Manufacturing products designed by taking into account how components will be recycled

The Nature of Organizational Culture Organizational Culture is a system of shared beliefs and values that develop within an organization and guide the behavior of its members

Thinking and Inquiry Two business women, former classmates in university, are discussing their careers over lunch. You overhear one saying to another, “I work for a large corporation, while you own a small retail business. In my company there is a strong corporate culture and everyone feels the influence. In fact, we are always expected to act in ways that support the culture and serve as role models for others to do so as well. This includes commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. Because of the small size of your business, things like corporate culture, diversity, and multiculturalism are not so important.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?

The Nature of Organizational Culture What Strong Cultures Can Do  Strong cultures are clear, well defined widely shared among members encourage positive work behaviors performance oriented emphasize teamwork

The Nature of Organizational Culture Levels of Organizational Culture  Observable culture Stories Told and retold among members Heroes Singling out workers for special attention; role models Rites and rituals Ceremonies and meetings Symbols Special use of language or non-verbal expressions

The Nature of Organizational Culture Leadership and Organizational Culture  Criteria of core values relevance pervasiveness strength Tribal Leadership – TED TalksLeadership

The Nature of Organizational Culture Symbolic Managers  someone who uses symbols well to establish and maintain desired organizational culture use language metaphors tell key stories and encourage others to tell them tell about organizational heroes use symbolic rites and rituals

Directions in Organizational Culture Culture and Empowerment  best organizational cultures value talents and creative potential of all members allow human resources to to utilized to fullest potential allow people involved to feel good about work

Directions in Organizational Culture Characteristics of Multi-cultural Organizations  pluralism  structural integration  informal network integration  absence of prejudice and discrimination  minimum intergroup conflict  Exercise - LenovoLenovo

Directions in Organizational Culture Organizational Subcultures  cultures based on shared work responsibilities and personal characteristics occupational functional ethnic and racial generational gender Group Exercise – What Do You Value in WorkWhat Do You Value in Work

Directions in Organizational Culture Ethical Cultures  top management has important role  managers at every level set ethical tone in their immediate area  greatly expand impact of organizational culture on performance

Summative Assignment #1 Using the Internet, prepare responses to the following questions: 1.What is the “glass ceiling”? 2.How does the “glass ceiling” act to disadvantage certain groups of people? 3.Read the article found at little-progress-in-corporate-ladder-over-last-22-years-report What does the article suggest in terms of disadvantaged groups? Are you surprised by these findings? If you were given the responsibility to hire your next manager, list the personal qualifications you would look for in the ideal candidate