A management environment within an organization is composed of the elements like its current employees, management, and especially corporate culture, which defines employee behavior. Although some elements affect the organization as a whole, others singularly affect the manager.
A manager's philosophical or leadership style directly impacts the employees. Traditional managers give explicit instructions to employees, while progressive managers empower employees to make most of their own decisions. Changes in philosophy and/or leadership style are under the control of the manager. Let us look at some of the important components of a management environment.
Mission and vision are both foundations of an organization’s purpose. These are the objectives of the organization that are communicated in written. Mission and vision are statements from the organization that bring out what an organization is set for, what is its purpose, its value and its future. A popular study by a consulting firm reports that 90% of the Fortune 500 firms surveyed issue some form of mission and vision.
A Mission Statement defines the company's goals, ethics, culture, and norms for decision-making. They are often longer than vision statements. Sometimes mission statements also include a summation of the firm’s values. Values are the beliefs of an individual or group, and in this case the organization, in which they are emotionally invested.
Company policies are formal guidelines and procedures that direct how certain organizational situations are addressed. Companies establish policies to provide guidance to employees so that they act in accordance to certain circumstances that occur frequently within their organization. Company policies are an indication of an organization's personality and should coincide with its mission statement.
Organizational culture is an organization's believes and values that represent its personality. Just as each person has a distinct personality, so does each organization. The culture of an organization distinguishes it from others and shapes the actions of its members.
Values are the basic beliefs that define employees' successes in an organization. A hero is an exemplary person who reflects the image, attitudes, or values of the organization and serves as a role model to other employees. A hero is sometimes the founder of the organization (think Bill Gates of Microsoft).
Rites and rituals are routines or ceremonies that the company uses to recognize high‐performing employees. Awards banquets, company gatherings, and quarterly meetings can acknowledge distinguished employees for outstanding service. The honorees are meant to exemplify and inspire all employees of the company during the rest of the year.
Resources are the people, information, facilities, infrastructure, machinery, equipment, supplies, and finances at the organization's disposal. People are the most important resource of an organization. Information, facilities, machinery equipment, materials, supplies, and finances are supporting, nonhuman resources that complement workers in their quest to accomplish the organization's mission statement. The availability of resources and the way that managers value the human and nonhuman resources impact the organization's environment.