Impact of Changing Environment on Organisations - Report Example

Introduction Environment has great effects on the organisation structure and success. Any change in the external environment causes prompt changes in the internal environment. The organisations tend to be flexible with the environment in order to get the definite success and vice versa. A manager has a great role to play in such situations. This is the duty of managers to manage the organisational structure with respect to its environment. They have to respond to the environmental changes and needs to know the capacity and ability that how much environment affects the organisation and to what extend the environment can be influenced effectively. The organisations are always open to the environmental changes. Environmental changes deeply affect the profits and outcomes of the organisation. The organisations that adapt with the environment are most likely to make the most out of changing situations. This paper demonstrates the effects of environment on the organisation and the organisation that adapts with environment attains better result and has bright chances to be successful. It also shows the role that the managers need to play in order to help the organisation achieve its strategic goals in changing environmental conditions. Impact of Changing Environment on Organisations There are a number of internal and external factors that might affect the organisational structure and success i.e. economical, social, cultural and technological factors etc. Economic factors affect the organisation through change in interest rate, inflationary and deflationary pressures, labour and monetary policy etc. Socio-Cultural factors influence the organisation through the complex social and cultural environment in which level of thinking of various people are different and following of contradictory customs. Technological change may also affect through innovations and introduction of new machines and equipments in the market. The organisation tends to adapt with changes taking place within and outside the organisation (Mehta, 1998). An organisation should be flexible enough in order to meet environmental challenges. Flexibility in the organisation decides whether it is able to survive or not, most of the organisations get failed because they did not adapt with the changes this is the reason why many organisations are getting bankrupt these days. A manager of an organisation should know how to tackle the problems and what is requirement of the organisation in the current environment. The management of an organisation is required to fulfil the needs of environment. It is also the duty of the manager to change his strategy and plans as per the environmental change which means a manager is required to instigate changes within the organisation when ever he feels the need of it. The role of a manager does not finish here but he also needs to respond to the external fluctuations to remain less affected by the environment like when an organisation is facing shortage of workers, appoint irregular workers to keep the work continue and to manage the material when ever it is needed excessively etc. Volberda also says that “internal flexibility is defined as management’s capability to adapt the demands of environment. External flexibility is defined as management’s capability to influence the environment so that the firms become less vulnerable to environmental changes”(1996, p362). The organisations are always opened to any environmental change therefore it needs to be flexible to compete in the market. The environment affects the organisation, in the same manner organisation also influence the environment by shaper the new strategies and policies to adapt the environmental changes. There is a fundamental interaction between the internal culture of an organisation and the external elements as they are keenly connected with each other. The change in one directly affects the other. In short we can say that they are reciprocal to each other to some extent as the changes caused by environment to organisation is not the same as the organisation puts on environment. The internal policies will not be successful and would not be able to accomplish the desired results without the proper judgement on the part of management and adaptation with external environment. The structure of an organisation is indeed highly dependent on external issues but to some extent its success as well. Internal and external differences may also lead towards conflicts. A manager’s topmost priority in such situations is to prevent any conflicts from arising among employees and facilitate communication. Organisations need to be extremely adaptive with the environment, as in business, environment determines the ways and direction on which an organisation can run successfully and actively achieve its targets. It would not be wrong to say that these are not managers who make polices and decisions but it is the environment, which force them to do accordingly. The organisations ignoring the environmental factors have to face barriers in the success or may quit the business. Differences such as cultural within and outside the environment have a great impact on making an organisation successful or, on the contrary, hampering its success. For example, several multinational organisations like Microsoft, Walt Disney etc confront with cultural issues while dealing with foreign countries with respect to internal and external environment. Foreign organisations having subsidiaries in countries with conservative cultural environment such as Saudi Arabia etc face difficulties in collaborating and communicating not only outside the organisation but also within the organisation. In such situations, it is up to the management to decide the best composition of people and expertise that would lead an organisation towards its strategic goals. It is also a responsibility of a manager to create and maintain an internal environment that enhances communication and team efforts among employees. A marketing manager’s duty may be to market the company’s product to national as well as international market. In order to do so first what he needs to do is to see the environmental conditions of the area in which the company is going to market the product. If the conditions are dynamic or vulnerable to changes, the manager will make the strategies and policies according to the requirement because the conditions lies in one place may be different from others. The manager needs to acquire the complete knowledge of the market trends, people’s culture, social values, religion, political conditions and about the technological change that may have occurred during the period of time. Managers must be flexible to any unforeseen mishap and would remain in contact with subordinates working under me and involve them in decision making because in my opinion a manager should be democrat rather than being autocrat as there is no one man show any more in the work environment. Organisational structure would depend on the environmental changes taking place with in and outside the organisation. The role of manager in the organisation can be defined as the leader or captain of a ship. With his interference nothing can be done. When ever he sees conflict among the employees he is responsible to resolve it using his authority. Environment has an essential role in organisation to play. A manager needs to know related to power and command over the environment, how far he can influence the environment and how much he is influenced by environment. He should know about his powers and weaknesses and having the capabilities to organise the things whether they are going in favour not. A manager is completely aware of the competition being going on in the market and knows the techniques to over come it as to beat the competition the organisation can have better place in the market. Conclusion This paper illuminates the impact of environment on the structure and success of an organisation. There is a strong relationship between internal and external environment as when there is a change in external environment, rationally it affects internal environment of an organisation. Environment has its affect on whole organisation structure and success because if an organisation does not adapt with the external environment, it can achieve its strategic goals. An organisation having sound strategies to cope with changes can survive in the competitive arena of business because it knows the requirements of changing environment. The role of management, in all respects, is very crucial in dealing with changing environments. A manager needs to play the role of a leader to instigate change within the organisation because every organisation has to deal with environmental pressures and the ones that are able to survive in the long run happen to be those that learn to change with changing environments. References Mehta, V. (1998) “Management Information System”, Anmol Publications Pvt. Limited: New Delhi Volberda, H.W. (1996), “Toward the Flexible Form: How to Remain Vital in Hypercompetitive Environment”, Organisation Science, 7(4), p. 362. Read More