Organizational Response to Internal and External Challenges - Research Paper Example

? Organizational Response to Internal and External Challenges College This paper explains how an organization can respond to challengesthat either faces it from inside or externally. The challenges are dependent on the nature of operations of an organization. In some cases these challenges render organizations useless and obsolete or distort their functionality. Managing challenges has become an important part in the management of most organizations; the managers should therefore make proactive changes that avoid the future threat of such challenges and to capitalize on future opportunities. This is important because it protects the image and importance of the organization in its respective industry. Institutionalizing crises also helps in anticipating, preparing and mitigating an impending crisis. Organizational Response to Internal and External Challenges There are many challenges that are experienced by various organizations and each challenge needs its own solution - each challenge is handled differently and uniquely from others. Some of the challenges might include technological advancement, change in customers’ preference, inflation, fraud, increasing local and international competition, globalization, reducing cost structures and economic crisis among others (Cathy and Tim, 2008). Many organizations find it difficult to survive in the current business environment with its technological advancement. This means that every part of organization has to keep up the pace at which technology advances for sustainable growth and competitiveness. Although modern technology is generally considered good enough to go for, it always presents a challenge to organizations in that it comes at a higher cost of adoption and sophistication. Daft and Willmott (2010) explain that not only is the initial cost expensive but also the maintenance and running costs that make it difficult to adopt and maintain. The short lifespan of technological innovations also means that companies and organizations have to invest a great deal in updating of current technology to the most current for relevance purposes. The main reason for going the modern technological way is to offer relevant services which are compatible with the societal needs and to be cost effective in the long run. An organization should always monitor the external environment for any emerging technology that has the potential of changing the way it operates hence the basis for competition. This can help in identification of the most challenges that emerge everyday with Information Technology. Some of these technologies when adapted might mean loss of jobs for individuals for instance when the desktop came, many typists who did not update their skills lost their jobs. Ragg (2011) contends that recipients or consumers of the organizations’ goods and services also offer challenge to the organizations in terms of their change in preferences, likes and dislikes, lifestyles and opinions. For instance, consumers can prefer a product to be wrapped using a polythene material while on the other hand the cost of polythene is higher than that of paper to discourage its use due to environmental concerns. The options left for the business is using the polythene wrapper then increase the price of their product or to continue using non polythene materials and maintain the commodity price while risking loss of customers. In case such an organization responds by adopting the first option, then the external environment will surfer by receiving non-biodegradable materials. Consumers will also experience high cost of the product which can mean that the organization may lose some of them to its rivals because of inability to cope with the increased cost. Local and international competition also presents a challenge to many organizations. Organizations with the same mission and aim and which offer the same goods and services are likely to compete with one another because each believes in itself and that it is the best or it can be the best among the pack. Once one organization realizes that another offers a competition challenge, it will respond by offering the same through various tactics e.g. better promotional activities and pricing strategies among others. Competition almost always causes commercial organizations to offer better products and services and even to embrace new technologies. It is also healthy because consumers benefit from reduced prices of goods and services in relation to what the prices would be if there existed no competition. It also provides opportunities for creative thinking and innovation (Daft & Marcic, 2010). With globalization, it means that local companies and organizations have to compete with international organizations. Due to globalization a great deal of goods and services are being consumed across boarders because of the merged markets and similarities in tastes, preferences and fashion among other aspects. A better plan and strategy therefore needs to be put in place to meet global consumer needs. Despite the globalization benefits, competition at this level can result into loss of jobs. In the process of trying to stay competitive some organizations prefer offshore outsourcing whereby an organization from another country is hired to perform some of the organization’s duties. At the same time as the prices of the products reduce, some firms are likely to move offshore for cheaper labor in order to maintain their competitiveness. This can translate into slavery, exploitation and child labor especially in less developed countries. Poor Internal organizational communication system can also be a challenge. An organization works like a system with various parts that are interrelated. Therefore, good communication skills are quite important in conveying relevant information at any level. In most cases the management will see the need for better communication after realizing lack of it. Daft and Marcic (2010) assert that an organization needs to value communication as it will assist in better management. There are a number of approaches that can be taken in trying to deal with the problem. One of the approaches is to change the leadership style. Different kinds of leadership can hinder the flow of communication in an organization for instance the leadership style where the manager is the sole decision maker. The first step is to value the basic skills in listening, questioning, observation and sharing feedback. Each and every party needs to understand that communication is not a matter of an individual but rather for both or all parties involved. Secondly, an organization may need to change its form of communication. Communication can mainly be in three different forms; downward, upward and lateral. Downward communication involves communication from the senior people such as directors and managers within an organization downwards through the hierarchy down to the junior most staff. In this case it is the managers who decide on issues then pass the information down to their junior staff members. Although it realizes some extent of efficiency in running an organization, some have adopted the upward way of communication. Upward communication involves passing of information from the subordinates through the hierarchy to the senior staff members of an organization such as the managers. The advantage of this kind of communication is that the manager gives the juniors an opportunity to give information as they listen to them instead of just becoming the only person to give orders within the organization (Daft & Marcic, 2010). Lateral communication on the other hand involves communication within the same level in the hierarchy. People of the same level communicate with each other. The advantage of this type of communication is that even juniors have an opportunity to discuss and make some decisions on some issues without consulting the manager or director. But caution must be taken as it can lead to conflict between the manager and other staff members. Organizational crisis has also become quite complex and prevalent in the modern times. The crisis can be in the form of fraud, industrial, attack natural disaster and terrorism. Some of these can not be adequately prevented but can be well prepared for. For instance, natural calamities such as earthquakes or lightening can not be prevented but an organization can decide to insure its property against such occurrences as a response to such a challenge. Many organizations are only left with an option of preparing for the worse as they hope for the best. Fraud on the other hand has put not only organizations but also governments in a tight spot as they are being challenged to seal loopholes that fraudsters use to look funds (Ragg, 2011). The response to this problem is to identify resolution technology that drills down into entities and associated relationships with a high level of confidence. It is the technology that is able to identify who the organization is dealing with. It helps organizations to transfer from a pattern-centric to an entity-centric fraud analytic model. Drafting crisis management policy to provide definitions for the terms used for different levels of crises in organizations is also another response. The manager can also bring together a crisis management team and offer them training so as to be able to mitigate such (Ina, 2005). The manager can also establish partnership with other agencies with an aim of getting relevant knowledge and skills and physical resources for crisis preparedness. In conclusion, organizations face a number of internal and external challenges some of which can be easily overcome while others appear more difficult to overcome. Some of the internal challenges include communication problems and leadership styles adopted. The external challenges are technological advancement, crisis, inflation and competition from other organizations. Dealing with these challenges requires well laid out strategies, better planning and excellent leadership skills. Collaboration with other organizations also helps in overcoming some of the challenges such as natural calamities. This is important because of the high prevalence of the latter e.g. earthquakes in some areas that in most cases lead to huge losses. Good communication skills either upward or horizontal play an important role in overcoming some of the challenges that affect the normal operations of an organization. The leaders in an organization should also give a listening ear to their juniors and this helps in solving critical problems as well as boosting the moral of the staff members across different ranks. References Cathy, M. & Tim, P. (2008). The quantum leader: Applications for the new world of work. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Daft, J. & Willmott, H. (2010). Organization theory and design. Hampshire: Cengage Learning EMEA. Daft, R. L. & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding management. Hampshire: Cengage Learning. Ina, B. (2005). Organizational challenges: a Caribbean perspective: Management cases with issues Peculiar to developing countries. Kingston: Arawak Publication. Ragg, D. (2011). Developing practice competencies: A foundation for generalist practice. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Read More