SOME POINTS ON COMPLEX ORGANISATIONS FIRST ASSIGNMENT

To continue with, I’m going to discuss the interrelationships between business organizations

and the corporate environment, that is, the social institutions business organizations deal

with. Examples of factors in the corporate environment are the political factors, economic

factors, socio-cultural factors, technological factors and legal factors. With the corporate

environment (business environment), it is classified into two main categories namely the

internal and external environment. The internal environment is defined as the forces and

conditions within an organization that influence organizational behavior. Examples of

internal factors are employees, board of directors, shareholders, culture and labor unions.

The external environment refers to the conditions outside the organization that are relevant to the

organization’s operation and influences the organizational activities. The external environment

of an organization is also grouped into two categories, namely the general environment and

specific environment. My subsequent points for discussion of the view that there is an

interlocking nexus between the environment and any organization will be based on the general

business environment. The general environment consists of those forces that put direct pressure

on organizational activities. They include the economic factors, political factors, socio-cultural

factors, technological factors, demographic factor as well as legal factors.

Thirdly, I’m looking at the interrelationship between the economy (economic factors) and

business organizations. General economic conditions are critical to the success of any

organization in Ghana and around the world. Economic factors are defined as the nature and

direction of the economic system of a country and their impacts on the functions of any

organizations. Some of examples of economic factors are national income, savings, investment,

monetary policy, and economic policy, the nature of economic systems, allocation of resources,
purchasing power of consumers, imports and exports policy, interest rate, and employment rate

and consumption patterns. In these case, the better the prevailing economic condition in a

country, greater the entry, establishment and smooth administration of any organization. For

instance, if the interest rate of a country is very high, any organization, whether local or

international may find difficulty in accessing financial loans, mortgages and other financial

credit to expand its business processes. This is because the irrespective of the principal amount,

the organization in question has to pay a huge sum of money on the principal as interest and this

when it happens, affects the day-to-day running of any organization. In Ghana, our prevailing

interest rate is about 14.50% which makes it more favorable for any organization to run in the

country. Therefore, it very necessary for any organization to take into accounts the economic

environment it is dealing with for efficiency and organizational growth. From this point, it could

be seen that the prevailing economic condition in a country plays a very vital role in any

organization in that country, thus establishing the relationship between the economy and any

organization.

In addition to the economic environment, there is also the interconnectedness between the

political environment and any business organization. The political environment refers to the

influence from government institutions, strategies of political parties, policies of state and

government as well as the relationship between the government and any organization in a

country. The political environment is very important to any organization because the political

environment imposes certain legal constraint on the organization, and the political environment

has the potential to provide stability needed for long term business planning and growth.

Therefore, it is necessary for any organization to have an in-depth knowledge about the political-

legal environment it wants to deal with since the political-legal environment decides on all the
fiscal policies and monetary policies, taxation modules, company laws, royalty laws, patent laws

as well as enhancing political stability which promote the long-term sustainability, growth and

success of any organization.

Moreover on the external environment, there is also interconnectedness between technology and

any organization in Ghana. Technology is the practical application of scientific knowledge. Prior

to the emergence of technology in our world, organizations such as schools, hospitals, religion,

family, political organizations and even the economy relied on man- power for the usual

administration of affairs in their work space. This is to say that due to the emergence of

technology in society of which organizations operate, there has been a radical development in

terms of communication, information, transport, health delivery and even robotics (artificial

intelligence). For instance, in most educational institutions in Ghana including the major public

and private schools, technology in the form of projectors, computers, mobile phones, just to

mention a few has made the impart of knowledge more accessible and faster. Moreover, due to

technology, schools are able to hold online sessions between administrative staff, teaching staff

and students. In the case of transport, major economic organizations in the past used to transport

their goods and deliver services by using rafts, canoes, and horses and to greater extent, walk

several kilometers to areas in need of their service. Thanks to major technological inventions

such as airplanes, high speed train, sea vessels, high speed vehicles, etc. that has bridge the gap

between organizations and its clients. In the nut shell, technology has made it possible for

organizations to streamline their processes, reduce paperwork, update their payment systems,

manage finances, enhance research development reduce production cost and also embrace new

opportunities from new technological innovations.

Furthermore, there is an interrelationship between socio-cultural factors of an environment and

any organization. The social and cultural environment in which a firm operates can be a major

source of success or failure of an organization. The social environment consist of many dynamic

factors such as social traditions, social structure, education and literacy level, cultural influences,

values, norms and beliefs prevailing in a society as well as the social stratification that exist in

the social environment. It is very important for business organizations to always carry out a

socio-cultural study of a country before entering into the market. It is also important that the

goods and services being produced by an organization are in the tandem with the social

environment of the country. Other than that, any organization that fails to carry out socio-cultural

environmental studies might face a backlash and run into losses in the future since their products

or even the entire brand may not meet the social and cultural practices of the population.

To conclude, it is evident that the environment of any organization has a great impact on the

functioning of an organization. The environment whether, the natural or corporate environment

offers opportunities as well as threats along with some limitations that influence the structure and

the functions of an organization