CHAPTER 4 THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Chapter 4 – Activity solutions
Activity 4.1
Refers to the saying ‘pass the buck’ – meaning to pass on responsibility in order to avoid
being blamed. ‘The buck stops here’ means that in a bureaucratic structure, with its
centralised authority, responsibility and accountability, the person at the top of the chain of
command is the person ultimately responsible for all the actions/outcomes of the
organisation. Harry Truman, being the President of the United States, was that person.
Activity 4.2
Learmonth’s, a market leader in the catering business, has recently decided that to increase
workplace flexibility the company must undergo an organisational restructure. CEO, Carla
Snobbins, has decided that the old-style bureaucratic structures must be replaced with a
more flexible structure. This will allow the business to reduce its wages bill as a consequence
of outsourcing non-core functions, such as marketing and finance.
Under the old bureaucratic structure many employees had started working for the company
straight out of school, and worked their way up the hierarchy. All employees were under the
direct control of a line manager who had direct authority over all employees under them
and was held responsible for the performance of their department.
Employees in recent years have begun to demand greater autonomy in their own work areas
and have been calling for decentralised decision making processes as a consequence.
Carla and her executive management team have therefore decided that the company is to
adopt a network structure with workers to be placed in work teams responsible for their own
work areas.
This will involve redundancies, with several layers of middle management no longer
necessary due to work teams taking over the decision making functions previously done by
them.
Employees working in the marketing, finance and legal departments will lose their jobs in the
restructure. These functions will all now be outsourced.
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Activity 4.3
1 Set out below are some examples of indicators that students could include in their
explanation.
a
Relaxed
b
Formal
c
Positive, appreciative of contribution of staff to organisation’s performance
d
Caring and recognising staff as having responsibilities outside the workplace
e
Formal and unapproachable
f
Value staff input and worth, open to variety of ideas
g
Rigid and all things must be performed to a specific pattern/way
h
Lacks diversity, not demonstrating tolerance
i
It demonstrates ethical and socially responsible values and beliefs
j
Appreciate their employees for their competency and trust and believe they will do
the right thing to get the work done.
2 Students’ answers may vary as this task requires personal research. However, their
responses should address areas such as:
•
uniforms – do they wear them or not?
•
colour scheme – what do the colours indicate?
•
website design – is it easy to find out information about the organisation or are they
guarded in their approach and difficult to find out information?
•
management structure – do they adopt a bureaucratic or flatter structure?
•
employees – how diverse are they, e.g. age, ethnic background, gender?
Activity 4.4
1 Students’ answers may vary as this task requires personal research.
2 Students’ answers may vary as this task requires personal research. However, students
need to describe key aspects of culture of their school and then make comparisons to
another school – this could be another secondary college or their primary school.
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Activity 4.5
1 From the list below, students are to choose four and then explain how they assist in the
learning process.
•
Stories and narratives
•
Rituals
•
Material symbols
•
Behaviour of management
•
Recognition and reward systems
•
Communication
2 a
Using the word ‘Sir’ when addressing a manager indicates a high degree of formality
and that the organisation is not very egalitarian in its approach. It would appear that
there is a definite hierarchy and there will possibly be many material symbols
indicating the level of hierarchy at which the ‘manager’ sits, e.g. relative office space,
company car.
b
That staff are not appreciated or management has the expectation that staff will work
autonomously but must be highly regulated and supervised in everything they do.
c
A formal dress code indicates a level of control and conformity.
Activity 4.6
1 a
Corporate culture is the shared values and beliefs shared by people within an
organisation. It can act to influence the actions and decision making style of both
managers and employees.
b
Policies are written statements detailing processes, procedures, rules and regulations.
They reflect the organisation’s mission and objectives and should provide the guiding
or governing principles that mandate or constrain the actions of people within the
organisation.
2 Gender discrimination that unfairly favours men in both pay and promotion. They are
seeking damages for emotional distress resulting from discrimination and loss of income.
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3 The corporate culture acts to discriminate against female employees because the culture is
embedded into company-wide policies and practices that result in unchecked gender bias.
4 Evidence of discrimination – they claim that female employees are paid less and
promoted less often than their male colleagues with equivalent experience and abilities.
5 a
Affirmative action laws – this will impact on their ratio of females/males in senior
management positions, which at the moment is low, e.g. 29% vice-presidents, 17%
managing directors.
b
Negative publicity and poor public image resulting from lawsuit – Goldman Sachs
will find that they may have difficulty recruiting females to their staff at the lower
levels as potential female employees would feel that their advancement and pay
would not be as well recognised as their male colleagues.
c
Resignation of high-profile employees from the company – Vice President, MD and
an associate – this would hopefully cause Goldman Sachs to review their current
corporate culture and to make it more equal for both male and female employees.
Activity 4.7
1 City of Greater Geelong and the Geelong Football Club established a smoke-free policy
for Skilled Stadium.
2 Reasons for introduction – recognition that passive smoking is hazardous to health;
protection for non-smokers; create a healthy, safe and clean environment for patrons, staff
and visitors; preference of patrons to view games in a smoke-free environment;
compliance with legislation and protecting themselves from negligence litigation.
3 Stakeholder groups
•
Patrons and visitors want to visit the venue to see the game without having to put up
with the effects of passive smoking.
•
Players want a smoke-free environment so they are able to keep healthy.
•
Staff want a clean and healthy workplace.
•
City of Greater Geelong and Geelong Football Club want to provide a venue for sport
that is healthy and safe and compliant with legislative requirements.
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4 Internal pressure coming from staff, players and management of Geelong Football Club
and external pressures from visitors, patrons, City of Greater Geelong and Federal
legislation have all led to the change in policy. Responding to these pressures has made
the Geelong Football Club legally, ethically and socially responsible.
5 Procedures for offenders
•
Assume patron is unaware of policy, advise them to extinguish cigarette or move to
area outside the venue.
•
If patron lights up again and refuses to move outside the venue, immediately contact
your supervisor or security staff.
•
Even if the offender has stopped smoking when security arrives, because they have
received two warnings, security will remove them from the premises.
•
Police assistance should be sought if any physical intervention is required.
6 It is important to have such a detailed procedure so that staff know what to do and feel
they are supported.
7 Staff training about the policy and how the procedures are to be implemented. This is
important as it empowers the employees to act on the policy and to administer it fairly
and consistently.
8 If the policy was not introduced, the City of Greater Geelong and the Geelong Football
Club would be in breach of legislative requirements, leaving themselves open to
litigation, and also would not be acting in a socially responsible manner.
Activity 4.8
1 Students are to visit the website and then write their description of Honda Australia.
2 Social responsibility is a priority indicated by ‘we acknowledge our responsibilities to the
community and the environment in which we work and will always seek to improve the
areas in which we work for the benefit of future generations’.
3 Environmental objectives
•
Compliance with ISO14001 and adherence with statutory regulations.
•
Efficient use of energy from non-renewable sources and minimisation of greenhouse
gas emissions.
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•
In operations – minimal waste, pollution and maintaining effective recycling
programs.
•
Ensuring franchised dealers are adopting CSR principles.
•
Working with suppliers to achieve sound environment practices.
•
Promoting awareness of and training in environmental issues.
•
Reviewing, evaluating and striving for continuous improvement in environmental
issues.
4 Examples of pressures likely to have led to Honda Australia adopting its environmental
policy:
External
Globalisation – ensuring the company is meeting global standards/approaches to
environmental issues.
Customers – wanting to purchase cars from an environmentally responsible and
sustainable company.
Competitors – what are other car companies doing in this area?
Government – compliance with standards.
Internal
Board of directors and management – wanting Honda Australia to be setting the
standard/benchmark for environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
5 a
Image – positive both for the broader community and also for current and potential
customers.
b
Compliance – meet their compliance needs, therefore protecting the organisation from
prosecution.
c
Market share – not guaranteed to increase, especially if they are not the only car
company to adopt this policy approach.
6 a
Employees should have a feeling of pride working for an environmentally and
socially responsible employer and should be willing to engage in new work practices.
b
Customers may be interested in buying a new car that is based on environmental
construction methods, with its construction having a reduced environmental footprint.
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c
Shareholders should receive a higher dividend if Honda is more efficient in what it
does – has more customers buying cars and, as a result, increasing profits.
Shareholders who have an interest in investing in a ‘green’ company would also be
satisfied.
Activity 4.9
1 Aim of the campaign of Oxfam is to be part of a global push to persuade sports brands to
respect workers’ rights.
2 Targeted organisations are Nike, FILA, Adidas, Puma, New Balance and Asics. Oxfam is
trying to pressure them to increase pay, reduce working hours, stop workplace violence,
create safe working conditions for employees and allow trade union representation.
3 Oxfam is highlighting these issues through the media, and joining with other interest
groups in East Asia and South Asia that are educating workers about their rights, helping
them to organise trade unions and pressuring governments and companies to respect
labour rights.
4 Students undertake own research.
5 Students describe what they believe are the possible impacts on Nike’s policy.
Activity 4.10
Students’ answers may vary as this task requires personal research and students need to
access the websites listed in the activity.
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