Principles of Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Principles of Management - Essay Example ASDA's values are to keep daily prices low, for which it also has a label for itself which is ASDA Smart Price. They boast that all the products under the ASDA Smart Price are the cheapest price available anywhere. Environment consists of the surroundings within which every organization operates. The world is going through tremendous changes, such changes whose impact is very far-reaching and powerful. And thus, organizations cannot operate in isolation. The environment has made them interdependent with other factors and dependent on other units within the environment. (Rayner, 2005) The external environment is that environment which is outside the boundaries of the organization. But nevertheless, it affects the organization through its activities and happenings. The external environment can be further sub divides into the general environment and the task environment. The general environment is that part which affects the organization indirectly. Whereas, the task environment is that part which affects the organizations workings and productivity in a direct way. The general environment has various dimensions, like that of international, technological, socio-cultural, economic, and legal-political. Various changes in these dimensions are highly likely to affect how the company operates. (Buchanan, 2007) When it comes to recession, a lot of changes have resulted in the above mentioned dimensions. In the international dimension, the financial crisis has hit the whole globe, thus leading to a shortage of funds all around the world. The technological dimension has not been affected much since it has become more of a necessity than a luxury and thus cutting down on technology has not been made much due to recession. The socio-cultural dimension has altered since people are now cutting down on luxury items, holiday trips and other extravaganzas of life that they used to enjoy. Simple living is the talk of the day. The economic dimension is in a very messy position since the financial crisis has strained the economies of almost every country in the world, especially the big giants. And lastly, the legal-political dimension has changed so as to inculcate the financial crisis. Tax laws have changed; labor unions are concerned about getting laid off. Thus, recession has affected almost every dimension of the general environment. (Watson, 2005) The task environment consists of the groups of people with whom the organization is interacting on a regular basis. This includes the customers, the competitors, the suppliers, as well as the labor market. A common mistake is to assume that the labor market is equivalent to the employees who are working at the organization. This is not so. The labor market consists of those people whom the organization can hire, they are the potential employees. Recession has also affected these groups of people. The customers are now choosier about what to buy and want the greatest value for their money. Employees have a fear of getting laid off by the company. And suppliers now have less bargaining power as compared to their clients since clients are cutting down on production