Temporal Environment Essay Example

Temporal Environment Essay Example Temporal Environment Paper Temporal Environment Paper Corus is a big company that is influenced by the tree types of environment. The new technology, customer expectations, competition and sales which are external factors influenced the development of new product and improved staff turnover which are internal factors. In order to develop a new product, Corus needed new expertise and knowledge; these are factors in the Temporal Environment. According to Burnes (2004) there are two kinds of changes: incremental and continuous. The incremental change includes continuous improvement as a quality management process or implementation of new computer system to increase efficiencies. The continuous change is constant, evolving and cumulative; it is a pattern of endless modifications in work processes and social practice. Corus needs to development of new expertise and new products. The company used continuous improvement to achieve these objectives, therefore the change that Corus done is an incremental. Crundy (1993) and Senior (2002) distinguish other two types of change: smooth incremental, bumpy incremental and discontinuous change. From what we know in our case study, I think that Corus made a discontinuous change. The company was doing great until loses an essential contract with a customer. Before the contract there was a smooth atmosphere after the contract they had to response to customer expectation. Discontinuous change can be seen in the Oticon Spaghetti organisation, too. Oticon is a large, hearing instrument company with a long history. When the market grew, Oticons managers understood that the company is too traditional, departmentalized and slow-moving. In order to change that, they created the spaghetti organisation. Oticon changed the whole structure of its organisation. That is a discontinuous change, rapid change. When it comes to change, Dunphy and Stace (1993) identifies change by scale can be divided into four different characteristics: Fine-tuning Describes organizational change as an ongoing process to match the organisations strategy, processes, people and structure (Senior 2002). The purpose is to develop personnel suited to the present strategy, linking mechanisms and create special units to increase volume and attention to cost and quality, and refine policies, methods and procedures. Fosters both individual and group commitment to the excellence of departments and organisations mission, clarify established roles. Incremental adjustments According to Senior (2002) incremental adjustment involves distinct modifications to management processes and organizational strategies, but does not include radical change. Modular transformation It is a change identified by major shifts of one or several departments or divisions. It can be radical but it focuses on a part of an organisation rather than on the organisation as a whole. Corporate transformation It is characterized by radical alterations in the business strategy it is described as corporate transformation. According to Dunphy and Stace (1993) examples of this type of change can be reorganization, revision of interaction patterns, reformed organizational mission and core values, and altered power and status. Corus used continuous improvements to support its new product. The company invested in research and development in order to meet the new customers expectation. Therefore I think that Coruss change is a modular transformation. According to Greiner (1972) organisations grow through five evolutionary stages, separated by brief periods of revolution, or dramatic organizational change. Phase 1 Phase2 Phase3 Phase4 Phase 5 Size of Evolution stages Organisation Revolution stages Age of organisation * Phase 1- Growth through creativity eventually leads to a crisis of leadership. More sophisticated and more formalized management practices must be adopted. * Phase 2- Growth through direction eventually leads to a crisis of autonomy. Lower level managers must be given more authority if the organisation is to continue to grow. The crisis involves top-level managers reluctance to delegate authority. Phase 3- Growth through delegation eventually leads to a crisis of control. This occurs when autonomous employees who prefer to operate without interference from the rest of the organisation clash with the business owners and managers who perceive that they are losing control of a diversified company.   Phase 4- Growth through coordination eventually leads to a crisis of red tape. Coordination techniques like product groups, formal planning processes, and corporate staff become, over time, a bureaucratic system that causes delays in decision making and a reduction in innovation. Phase 5- Growth through collaboration, is characterized by the use of teams, a reduction in corporate staff, matrix-type structures, the simplification of formal systems, an increase in conference and educational programs, and more sophisticated information systems. I think that Corus is in the middle of Greiners Phase 1. The company lost one contract; therefore now it is trying to answer to customers expectation. That is growth through creativity. If Greiner is right, in the future Corus will experience leadership crisis. In order to escape from this crisis I have mentioned below the most popular leadership styles. The managerial grid model is developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton (1964). This model originally identified five different leadership styles based on the concern for people and concern for production.