External and Internal Environment Analysis - Essay Example

?External and Internal Environment Analysis Introduction An organization survives due to its powerful external and internal environment because it guarantees its productivity and competitive integrity in all leaps and bounds. Organizational environment consists of many such elements which have a direct and indirect influence upon the performance and reputation of whole of or some parts of the organization. This paper tends to identify and analyze important environmental factors and strengths and weaknesses of organizational environment of Human-Care Organization located in (insert name of your city) which is a social welfare organization. The objective of this organization is to listen to, record, and solve the problems and complaints of citizens. Its different branches serve their respective localities. I will discuss the environment of the branch that serves my community. External Environmental Analysis External environment of Human-Care Organization consists of all those elements in the remote, industrial and external operating environment that impact upon the design of its strategic plans and define its competitive position in the market. The environmental variables or these elements are important to identify here. In the remote environment, most important are the technological and legal forces that must be dealt with quite efficiently and changes in whom must be kept track of to reach effective strategic options to a problem. Changes in the technological world define the competitive situation of this organization thus it places great stress upon learning and implementing new technologies that help the organization bring together its clients and legal service providers on a collaborative platform. In the industrial environment, the most important factors affecting this organization are the competitors and the potential entrants in this business. The organization has to keep constant check on the changes occurring in the competitive market so that such decisions should be made that keep the organization at par with its competitors. The operational external environment involves the clients most importantly who come to the branch and report their complaints about any unfair treatment they may be receiving from other citizens or from the government. Their satisfaction is vital for the sustainability of this organization and hence they are one of the most important external environmental factors affecting its integrity. Effective communication with clients and regular contact with them until the problem is resolved is one of the main objectives if this organization. Internal Environment Analysis Just like external environment, the organization gives great importance to its internal environment and lays out such strategic plans that guarantee that all internal factors are working properly and in nice coordination. Internal environment is defined as “the conditions, entities, events, and factors within an organization that influence its activities and choices, particularly the behavior of the employees” (WebFinance, Inc, 2011). Internal factors mainly include the mission statement, leadership, organizational culture comprising of employees and management, and resources. Strengths Although all of these factors are very important for the sustainability of the internal organizational culture; yet, the leadership and the employees are the most significant factors that drive the organization. The leadership of Human-Care Organization is provided by Henry Steve who is known to be a proficient and ethical leader. His leadership has provided the company with such a motivational platform where the whole management and labor works in harmony to achieve the organizational mission and the objective of the mission statement. Moreover, the employees work in collaboration and are kept happy and satisfied with their jobs. This has improved the workplace culture and job satisfaction. Employees are given their due rewards and regular bonuses to motivate them to do hard work. Their problems are listened to and solved. Salaries are paid on time. They are granted holidays and their families are valued. A proper communication system consisting of most modern technology is offered to them so that they can collaborate with each other and with the officials. This inspires them to bring out their best qualities in their work. Weaknesses There are also some weaknesses that this organization has to encounter and work out. The company much too often undergoes conflicts that occur between the management and the employees, and among employees. The major causes of conflicts in this organization are stress, reduced budget, short deadlines and heavy workload. Fewer conflicts occur due to clashes between points of view and behaviors. Sometimes, these conflicts get so big that a third party mediator from another company is hired to resolve them. Mediation becomes necessary because interpersonal conflicts between the staff can lower down their morale which eventually affects their overall performance across the business (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007). This demands extra time, energy and financial resources. The main reason for this is that the company has not devised any such policy that addresses the needs of the times when conflicts arise. There is no mediation plan or conflict resolution strategy that the company works upon. Conflict resolution is either delayed so much so that the employees get distressed, or a mediator is arranged. Whatever the cause, since it is necessary for the managers of the organization to deal with the conflicts efficiently to improve teamwork and productivity (Dana, 2001; Weinstein, 2001); hence, the officials need to consider this issue very seriously. Also, I feel that the officials of this company need to get training related to impartial mediation because they are reported by the employees to sometimes developing biased opinions which is usually non-favorable for the involved parties. Organization’s Competitive Position and Possibilities The SWOT analysis is not complete without analyzing opportunities and threats that define the organization’s competitive position and possibilities with respect to its external environment. The Human-Care Organization significantly focuses on new opportunities like advent of new technological tools, changes in legal regulations, removal of any legal barriers, new clients, etcetera. These changes, on one hand, create new opportunities to the organization and, on the other, also pose some threats. Negative changes like strict reinforcement of rules and regulations, addition of legal barriers, unsatisfied clientele, and the like, pose tremendous threats which, if catered with strategic planning, can be dealt with much efficiently. One of the most important threats that this company has ever seen was the emergence of a new entrant, that is, a new organization whose branches started working in the same localities as Human-Care’s. This distributed the clientele for some time which was a major setback for Human-Care, but due to the inefficient customer service of the other firm, the threat could not survive more than a year and Human-Care regained its clientele. Human-Care records all market changes and lays out its strategic plans accordingly. It takes care of its opportunities and threats properly so that its competitive position is improved and more possibilities of progress are sought. The competent leadership that this organization enjoys enables it to stand at a reputable position among its competitors. Threats are continually resolved through so that the organization can come at par with the ever changing market. Conclusion This paper was a brief SWOT analysis of Human-Care Organization and identified and discussed its internal and external environmental factors affecting its performance. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of this organization have been discussed along with an overview of how this organization has been able to sustain its competitive position in the market. Human-Care has been able to use its strengths to seek more opportunities in the market, and has used these opportunities to overcome its weaknesses. Likewise, it has used its internal strengths to encounter all external threats and has been able to lay out such defensive plans that help it to overcome its weaknesses that may make the firm more prone to external threats. References Dana, D. (2001). Conflict Resolution: Mediation Tools for Everyday Worklife. USA: McGraw-Hill Professional. WebFinance, Inc. (2011). Internal environment. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/internal-environment.html Weinstein, R.J. (2001). Mediation in the Workplace: A Guide for Training, Practice, and Administration. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. Wilmot, W., & Hocker, J. (2007) Interpersonal conflict (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More