Running head: THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Research Question: In a global environment how important is it to understand the external
environment to promote quality management and a thriving organization?
Research Topic: The External Environment and Quality Management
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Management 610-Organizational Theory (Section 9045)
October 23 2015
Turnitin Score: 17% Similarity
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THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT
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The key to quality management and a thriving organization is to understand the interplay
between the internal and external environments. On its part, the external environment is more
diverse and complex due to the many components that it has. For a business to be fully
competitive on the global scale, it must derive a set of strategic principles to aid in the leveraging
of the opportunities and advantages that come with the competition. The following is a look at
the most important components of the external environment and how they can be demystified to
enable the organization utilizes its resources and strengths to the maximum (Moss, McGrath,
Tonge and Harris, 2012).
The environment in which current organizations operate is very dynamic. The only way
they can adapt to it is through the management’s diversification of their strategic orientations.
The probability of a firm surviving in a highly competitive and thriving market depends on the
suitability of its strategies. An organization that is able to match its situation to its immediate
environment has high chances of thriving. Two dimensions guide the relationship between an
organization and its environment in the context of strategy-making.
The first is found in the scope or the mission, which must be in agreement with the needs
of the environment. Second and most importantly, the organization must thrive in order to attain
a competitive edge with other similar organizations that are competing in the same match. The
global market is comprised of influential variables that are complex, interrelated and
interconnected, which make it imperative for segmenting to be done so as to be fully up to the
task. Scholarly findings by Pagell, Krumwiede and Sheu, (2007) suggest that macro-
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environmental uncertainty pertains to factors like statutory, political, economic and regulatory
conditions.
In general, the government plays a central role in this type of risk. A firm that wishes to
thrive must have the capacity to identify and explore the government policies and practices. This
will help it to deal with the set of problems, including some internal issues, thus helping the
management to remain in control of the activities of the organization. According to Filatotchev
and Najikama (2010) a firm that conveys a harmonized view of the two different streams finds it
easy to advance with a more global outlook for productivity and success. What’s more, such a
firm is likely to benefit from many future explorations presented by its strength in uniting the
two types of environments. However, if not handled carefully, uncertainty can drastically reduce
the capacity of an organization to map out and pursue its strategic choices. The general effect of
this is that it hampers the functionality of the management, and consequently, the growth and
expansion of the organization becomes limited.
The global business environment also demands that an organization handles its public
affairs in a manner that portrays the managerial capabilities of the firm. The main argument
behind this is that competitors are likely to take advantage of the leakages in the public affairs of
another company. Technological advancement is yet another aspect that must be factored in when
valuing the capacity of a firm to thrive in a highly competitive global market.
The author Su-Hyun agrees that the macro-environment and technology are somehow
intertwined, and it calls for collaborative efforts by the management to link the success of one to
the other. For instance, Su-Hyun, and Im-Yeong, (2015) demonstrates the use of cloud
computing environments in scenarios where there is an encoding of the consumer figures. In
such a case, there is abundant consumption of the dispersed servers that were formerly applied to
THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT
the loading of such records. The authors suggest that this information can be encrypted to
prevent it from reaching unauthorized hands. A major issue in the current global business
perspective is the emergence of high capacity distributed management. This issue is primarily
prominent in the area of diverse data services where the privacy and security vulnerability are at
risk of invasion by malicious hackers and some internal users. Ones the information leaks out to
the wrong hands, efforts to restore the organization to its initial path become futile. The only
approach out of this is to have a total overhaul of the firm’s strategies. This, however, is still
undesirable as it leads to loss of precious time that could have otherwise been utilized in
increasing the company’s competitiveness. The best way to address this issue is to “to play it
safe” by sealing all the existing and potential loopholes that could aggravate the conditions
(Pheysey, 1977).
In conclusion, the external environment constitutes the biggest percentage of the
business. Therefore, a safe and conducive environment on a global scale means good tidings for
the organization. Management plays a tacit role play in all this by ensuring that the quality
approaches taken by the firm will eventually lead to consistent quality assurance in the products
and services of the company. There must be systematic testing and control so that it is easy to
detect in the first instance when there is a variation. The cause of this change has to be
established and then addressed using appropriate mechanism.
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THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT
References
Filatotchev, I., & Nakajima, C. (2010). Internal and external corporate governance: An interface
between an organization and its environment. British Journal of Management, 21(3),
591-606. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00712.x
Moss, D., McGrath, C., Tonge, J., & Harris, P. (2012). Exploring the management of the
corporate public affairs function in a dynamic global environment. Journal of Public
Affairs
Pagell, M., Krumwiede, D. W., & Sheu, C. (2007). Efficacy of environmental and supplier
relationship investments – moderating effects of external environment. International
Journal of Production Research, 45(9), 2005-2028. doi:10.1080/00207540600634931
Pheysey, D. C. (1977). Managers’ occupational histories, organizational environments, and
climates for management development. Journal of Management Studies, 14(1), 58-79.
doi/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1977.tb00617.x/abstract
Su-Hyun, K., & Im-Yeong, L. (2015). Study on user authority management for safe data
protection in cloud computing environments. Symmetry (20738994), 7(1), 269-283.
doi:10.3390/sym7010269
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