An organization’s internal environment is composed of the elements within the organization, including current employees, management, and especially corporate culture, which defines employee behavior. Although some elements affect the organization as a whole, others affect only the manager. A manager’s philosophical or leadership style directly impacts employees. Traditional managers give explicit instructions to employees, while progressive managers empower employees to make many of their own decisions. Changes in philosophy and/or leadership style are under the control of the manager. The following sections describe some of the elements that make up the internal environment.
VALUE SYSTEM
The value system of an organization means the ethical beliefs that guide the organization in achieving its mission and objective. The value system of a business organization also determines its behaviour towards its employees, customers and society at large. The value system of the promoters of a business firm has an important bearing on the choice of business and the adoption of business policies and practices. Due to its value system a business firm may refuse to produce or distribute liquor for it may think morally wrong to promote the consumption of liquor.
The value system of a business organization makes an important contribution to its success and its prestige in the world of business. For instance, the value system of J.R.D. Tata, the founder of Tata group of industries, was its self-imposed moral obligation to adopt morally just and fair business policies and practices which promote the interests of consumers, employees, shareholders and society at large. This value system of J.R.D. Tata was voluntarily incorporated in the articles of association of TISCO, a premier Tata company.
Infosys Technologies which won the first national corporate governance award in 1999 attributes its success to its high value system which guides its corporate culture. To quote one of its reports, “our corporate culture is to achieve our objectives in environment of fairness, honesty, transparency and courtesy towards our customers, employees, vendors and society at large” Thus value system of a business firm has an important bearing on its corporate culture and determines its behaviour towards its employees, shareholders and society as a whole.
MISSION
mission statement describes what the organization stands for and why it exists. It explains the overall purpose of the organization and includes the attributes that distinguish it from other organizations of its type.
A mission statement should be more than words on a piece of paper; it should reveal a company’s philosophy, as well as its purpose. This declaration should be a living, breathing document that provides information and inspiration for the members of the organization. A mission statement should answer the questions, “What are our values?” and “What do we stand for?” This statement provides focus for an organization by rallying its members to work together to achieve its common goals.
But not all mission statements are effective in America’s businesses. Effective mission statements lead to effective efforts. In today’s quality‐conscious and highly competitive environments, an effective mission statement’s purpose is centered on serving the needs of customers. A good mission statement is precise in identifying the following intents of a company:
- Customers: who will be served
- Products/services: what will be produced
- Location: where the products/services will be produced
- Philosophy: what ideology will be followed
Objectives
The objective of all firms is assumed to be maximization of long-run profits. But mission is different from this narrow objective of profit maximization. Mission is defined as the overall purpose or reason for its existence which guides and influences its business decision and economic activities.
The-choice of a business domain, direction of its development, choice of a business strategy and policies are all guided by the overall mission of the company. For example, “to become a world-class company and to achieve global dominance has been the mission of ‘Reliance Industries of India’. Similarly “to become a research based international pharma company” has been stated as mission of Ranbaxy Laboratories of India.
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