Managers today must be able to manage change so that organisation can respond to the influences from external environments
Introduction
Business organization cannot run alone because the current world is globalized and thus one event in Asia will affect the business of Walmart in USA. Business organizations are affected by many factors and managers today must be able to manage change to manage the changes so that organization can cope with the changing environment. Managers are responsible for making the expected changes in the business so that it can effectively take actions to manage the changes from the external factors.
Workforce learning and development of an organization is important because they operate the organization. The managers are the main decision maker of a business organization and thus they take the prime decision. They should have the capability to take appropriate decision depending on the competitive environment and external forces. Appropriate approaches to the external forces will help the company as well as the managers to take proper steps that will help the company to cope with the changing competitive environment.
Managers today able to respond to new technologies
Changes in the technological field are the most significant because technology change the landscape of a business (Burns & Scapens, 2000). Every day, there has been significant number of researches to innovate new ways of technologies, new ways of doing the activities and new ways of communication and production. All these technologies are taking place in different countries and these technologies are being transferred to other countries.
This is very much significant that a company will be able to adopt the new technologies. In the world of globalization, companies get the technologies as soon as it is developed. Therefore, a manager must be capable to manage the technological change. In response to the technological change, managers may adopt the new technology or may change the existing one. If they fail to make such required change, the business will fail to cope with the competitive environment because other competitors will be more efficient due to advanced technologies (Calantone et al., 2006).
On the other hand, it the company becomes able to adopt the newly developed technology, then it will be able to cope with the changing environment and it will be more efficient in terms of production or delivery services. For example, in the global automobile industry, Toyota is the leader and it has lean manufacturing technology.
As this was a new technology in 1990s, thus the most prominent competitor: Ford, also adopts the new technology and in this case Toyota helped the company to adopt the Lean Manufacturing technology. This adoption of new technology has helped the company to improve the quality and to reduce wastages. Therefore, managers must be capable to effectively manage such technological changes.
Managers should be capable to handle global competition
Globalization and free trade have posed many challenges for companies. In this case managers must be able to make changes in the business (Hamel, 2008). In this globalized world, the companies should be able to respond quickly to the changes in the competitive landscape because if the managers fail to make strategies in response to the changing environment, competitors will come and capture the whole market; as a result the organization will lose the market share.
As the world has become freer to expand the business in the global market and as the free flow of information has made it possible to get any information about the business in another country, global companies are entering the business in different countries where there are market opportunities. These expansion of the global companies has posed threat to the new companies in the market where global companies have expanded business (Kennerley & Neely, 2002).
As a result the national companies have felt it difficult to compete with the global companies because national companies have less capability than those of the global companies. In these cases, managers both in the home country and the managers at the global companies must be capable to manage the possible changes due to extensive competition.
The managers at the home company should be concerned and apply competitive strategies to compete with the global companies, on the other hand the managers at the global companies will also be careful because thus should be informed that the competitors will be aggressive to capture the market share.
For example, IKEA, a Swedish company, found that China is a very potential market for the household products, as a result the company entered the business in China, on the other hand the domestic companies in China has faced difficulty in dealing with a global competitors like IKEA. In this case carefulness of both of the companies will help them to efficiently compete in the business. The above analysis shows that managers must be careful and adopt new strategies so that their companies can successfully compete with the other companies.
Managers should manage the threats from cultural differences
One of the significant impact from the external forces is the impact of the culture of another country on the preferences and taste of the customers. Due to the invasion of culture of one country into another country, the tastes and preferences are being changed and the impact is very much significant on the business organization and its activities.
Changes in customers’ preferences have also risks for the companies. Managers must be able to make positive responses to such changes in the product offering and product development (McIvor & McHugh, 2000). Because, if the managers fail to effectively manage such changes, the company will fail to make the customers satisfied.
The concerned manager may analyse the pattern of changes in demand and needs to predict the future changes in the demand, this will enable the company to correctly forecast the future demand. Therefore, managers must be capable to effectively manage such changes so that organizations can respond accurately to the changes in the external environment.
If the manager becomes able to make the changes in the product offerings and new product development then the company will be able to deliver the products and services that are expected by the company. For example, coffee was not largely consumed in the developing countries such as in India, Bangladesh or Myanmar. But due to the impact of western culture to these developing countries through the satellite channels, the people of these countries are drinking coffee.
This changed of culture has forced the managers of tea producing companies to produce coffee too as the customers have become known with coffee. It shows that the changing environment has been efficiently managed by the managers and thus the company has become able to compete in the new industry.
Managers must be able to retain talented employees
Talent employees are asset for any company, therefore, other companies will try to attract the talent and efficient employees of another company. When the employees are really attracted by the offers and opportunities at the other organization, high employee turnover occurs.
High employee turnover due the attractive offers by other organization is another fact that poses threat to a business (Sturdy & Grey, 2003). Because talent and experienced employees are valuable asset to any company, the company will loss the valuable asset when they leave to other organizations.
On the other hand, when the managers are capable to retain the talent employees in an efficient manner, the company will get more and more experienced employees. This is very significant for a company to retain the experienced employees. Thus managers of the company must be able to attract and retain the employees of the organization because if there is high employee turnover, company will lose valuable and experienced employees. Thus, managers should be able to take steps so that it can retain employees.
The above analysis shows that managers of an organization must be able to manage the external forces relating to employee turnover so that it becomes able to retain the experienced employees for the sustainable development of the company. For example, employee turnover was very much high in Google because the employees of the company are very much attracted by other technological companies.
Therefore, the managers of Google understood the importance of the external factors in affecting the employees, thus they took extensive employee retention strategies to retain the employees. Finally the company was able to reduce the high employee turnover.
Managers should be informed about the global changes
As the global business grows all around the world, there has been increasing number of rules and regulations to conduct the global business. Changes in the rules of business are another fact that poses threat for a business (Peterson, Rhoads & Vaught, 2001).
This is very important for the managers as well as for the company to manage the forces and the factors that affect the business. If the managers fail to manage these forces, the company will fail to cope with the changing environment and thus the business will fall behind the competitive environment. For example, WTO works as a global organization in implementing rules for business, in this case if Unilever wants to expand the business to Nigeria, it must follow the business expansion rules imposed by WTO.
It explains that the managers of Unilever must be concerned about the new rules of the global organization. Knowing the information will help the managers and thus Unilever to expand the business.
Managers should design proper training for employees
It has already been discussed that the business environment is being changed continuously and the new forces are affecting the business environment and the new technologies are being adapted by the potential competitors (Reich & Benbasat, 2000). When a new technology is invented and when the competitive position changes, training and development of the employees become very much vital because the employees must be adapted with the new technologies and the employees should be taught the new approaches of doing business.
On the other hand, if the employees are not known with the new technologies and with the new approaches to business, they will fail to accomplish the duties of the company and as a result the company will fail to cope with the competitive environment because in this competitive business environment, competitors are very much aggressive and adopt and train the employees as soon as possible.
In contrast, if the organization trains the employees about the use of the technology and about the new approaches to business then the company will be able to compete with the competitors. This is the responsibility of the managers to take the training and development programs for the employees of the company.
The above analysis shows that managers have extensive responsibilities to train the employees about the ways of accomplishing the activities. For example, Unilever has extensive training and development program for its employees, both online and personal training, as a result the company is making tremendous growth in the business world and the company has become able to response to the competitive environment.
Managers should know the legal environment
The new employment laws, employee rights, minimum salaries and workplace safety has been pressing the companies increasing pressure because the companies are bound to cope with the new rules and regulations of the country (Walker & Brown, 2004).
When the managers and the business organizations are not careful about the imposed business rules, then the companies face legal case due to the violation of rights of the employees or due to the violation of environmental rules. In this case this is one of the most significant responsibilities of the company is to be informed about the employee rights, minimum salary, workplace safety and to adopt all the rules in the business environment.
Following the above rules of business will make the company a good corporate citizen on the area where the company conducts its business. For example, in the garments industry in the developing countries, it is forbidden by the United Nations that no company can use child labours and there is a minimum salary at the industry. A garments company operating business at the industry must be informed about these external forces and act accordingly.
Managers should respond to economic conditions properly
The economic condition of the countries are sometimes booming and sometimes in economic recession. A company that maintains the same strategies and product offerings will fail to attract the customers because this is vital to offer cheap and efficient product at the time of economic recession.
The managers are responsible to make such decisions about product offerings, they should offer those products that will be accepted by the customers given the economic condition (Everett & Watson, 1998). If the managers are able to understand the economic condition and acts accordingly, the company will be able to sell its products even at the economic recession. If the company fails to do so, it will fail to sell the products in the market. As a result the managers of the company must be capable to understand the economic condition.
Final thoughts
From the above analysis, this is seen that there are numerous factors and forces that affect the business environment and the business competitiveness. Managers of an organization are responsible to react with the changing environment. Managers play a vital role to effectively manage the forces from the external environment. The success of the organization depends on the capability of the employees to manage the external factors. If the managers are able to cope with the changing environment then it is very possible that the company itself will be able to cope with the changing environment.
Conclusion
Managers of an organization should be able to make the required steps so that the organization can positively approach to the changes in the external factors of the business. Managers of an organization should be aware to develop the quality of the organization because developed employees will contribute to the growth of the company.
The managers of a company should regularly analyse the changing environment of the business competitiveness and they should take steps accordingly. It will help the company to offer the products that are expected by the customers, thus the company will be able to manage the changes that affect the business organization.