Required:

Research the external and internal business environments for the business you have chosen.  You should use your text book or another reputable Management text book to identify the environmental factors that affect any business organisation.  You then should use this knowledge to investigate the business environment of the specific business you have chosen.  The businesses operate in different industries having a Specific Environment for each.  The General Environment impacts on all businesses and any changes will have a mixture of good, bad or indifferent outcomes on the business you choose.  Your objective is to understand how managers' behaviours adapt the business operations to changes in the external and internal environments.

Part One - The Specific Environment

The Specific Environment (has four (4) components - see pages 83 to 85 of the course textbook) for more information about them.  These factors influence directly managers' behaviours: read chapter 3 of your textbook.

One (a)Referring to the four (4) components of the Specific Environment as they relate to the business you have chosen from the list above identify and describe two (2) examples for each component that have changed significantly over the last five (5) years.(220 words) 

 You must explain why this change is relevant to the business and describe the impact it has had on the business. (8 examples required:  total 300 words).

One (b) Choose only one (1) example of a change out of the Specific Environment components and suggest one suitable response by a business manager that would ensure the business adapts successfully to that change.  Your answer should be realistic and explained sufficiently. 

Part Two - The General Environment

The General Environment (six components) - see pages 85-89 of the course text book:

Two (a) Research the components of the general environment as they relate to the business chosen and describe one example, for each component, of a change that has had an impact on the business within the last five (5) years. 

Two (b) Describe the actions of a manager that could help the business successfully adapt to each of the changes you have described in Two (a) above.

Part Three - The Internal Environment of the Organisation (Organisational Culture)

"Organisational culture - the shared values, principles, traditions and ways of doing things that influence the way organisational members act."   Robbins et al, page 94

Three (a)   Describe the following two (2) terms taken from the above explanation and give an example to illustrate how each could occur in the business you have studied:

• "a shared value"
• " a tradition"

Three (b) Managers use the internal culture of the organisation to communicate to staff how staff should do their job at the business.

Describe how you, the manager of the business, would use two (2) different forms of visible organisationl culture to encourage staff to learn to be "innovative" and expect, and cope with change.  (Look in your text book to see how managers encourage innovation). (1120 words approx)

Three (c) Describe how you, the manager of the business chosen would use two (2) aspects of the invisible internal culture to ensure staff learn to be "innovative" and expect changes, and cope with those changes at the business you have chosen.  (Look in your text book for how managers encourage innovation).