Organization, Business Environment and Information Technology

Organization
- A social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis. All organizations have a managementstructure that determines relation ships between functions and positions, and subdivides and delegates roles , responsibilities, and authority to carry out defined tasks. Organizations are open systems in that they affect and are affected by the environment beyond their boundaries.

Organizational structures
Pyramids or hierarchies Committees or juries Matrix organizations Ecologies

Pyramids or hierarchies
A hierarchy exemplifies an arrangement with a leader who leads other individual members of the organization. This arrangement is often associated with bureaucracy. These structures are formed on the basis that there are enough people under the leader to give him support. Just as one would imagine a real pyramid, if there are not enough stone blocks to hold up the higher ones, gravity would irrevocably bring down the monumental structure.

Hierarchical Organisation

Committees or juries
These consist of a group of peers who decide as a group, perhaps by voting. The difference between a jury and a committee is that the members of the committee are usually assigned to perform or lead further actions after the group comes to a decision, whereas members of a jury come to a decision. In common law countries legal juries render decisions of guilt, liability and quantify damages; juries are also used in athletic contests, book awards and similar activities. Sometimes a selection committee functions like a jury. In the Middle Ages juries in continental Europe were used to determine the law according to consensus amongst local notables. Committees are often the most reliable way to make decisions. Condorcet's jury theorem proved that if the average member votes better than a roll of dice, then adding more members increases the number of majorities that can come to a correct vote (however correctness is defined). The problem is that if the average member is subsequently worse than a roll of dice, the committee's decisions grow worse, not better: Staffing is crucial.

Matrix organization
This organizational type assigns each worker two bosses in two different hierarchies. One hierarchy is "functional" and assures that each type of expert in the organization is welltrained, and measured by a boss who is super-expert in the same field. The other direction is "executive" and tries to get projects completed using the experts. Projects might be organized by products, regions, customer types, or some other schema. As an example,(this is not reliable) a company might have separate individuals with overall responsibility for Product X and Product Y, and different individuals with overall responsibility for Engineering, Quality Control, etc. Individuals responsible for quality control of project X with therefore have two reporting lines.

Ecologies
This organization has intense competition. Bad parts of the organization starve. Good ones get more work. Everybody is paid for what they actually do, and runs a tiny business that has to show a profit, or they are fired. Companies who utilize this organization type reflect a rather one-sided view of what goes on in ecology. It is also the case that a natural ecosystem has a natural border - ecoregions do not in general compete with one another in any way, but are very autonomous.

Business Environment?
The term Business Environment is composed of two words Business and Environment . In simple terms, the state in which a person remains busy is known as Business. The word Business in itseconomic sense means human activities like production, extraction or purchase or sales of goods that are performed for earning profits. On the other hand, the word Environment refers to the aspects of surroundings. Therefore, Business Environment may be defined as a set of condition

Business Environment has two components:

Internal Environment: It includes 5 Ms i.e. man, material, money, machinery and management, usually within the control of business. Business can make changes in these factors according to the change in the functioning of enterprise. External Environment: Those factors which are beyond the control of business enterprise are included in external environment. These factors are: Government and Legal factors, Geo-Physical Factors, Political Factors, Socio-Cultural

 Two types of External Environment: 1. Micro/Operating Environment 2. Macro/General Environment

Micro/Operating Environment:
The environment which is close to business and affects its capacity to work is known as Micro or Operating Environment. It consists of Suppliers, Customers, Market Intermediaries, Competitors and Public.
1. Suppliers: They are the persons who supply raw material and required components to the company. They must be reliable and business must have multiple suppliers i.e. they should not depend upon only one supplier. Customers: - Customers are regarded as the king of the market. Success of every business depends upon the level of their customer s satisfaction. Types of Customers: (i) Wholesalers (ii) Retailers (iii) Industries (iv) Government and Other Institutions (v) Foreigners

2.

3. Market Intermediaries: - They work as a link between business and final consumers. Types:(i) Middleman (ii) Marketing Agencies (iii) Financial Intermediaries (iv) Physical Intermediaries 4. Competitors: - Every move of the competitors affects the business. Business has to adjust itself according to the strategies of the Competitors. 5. Public: - Any group who has actual interest in business enterprise is termed as public e.g. media and local public. They may be the users or non-users of the product.

Macro/General Environment:
It includes factors that create opportunities and threats to business units. Following are the elements of Macro Environment: (1) Economic Environment: - It is very complex and dynamic in nature that keeps on changing with the change in policies or political situations. It has three elements: (i) Economic Conditions of Public (ii) Economic Policies of the country (iii)Economic System (iv) Other Economic Factors: Infrastructural Facilities, Banking, Insurance companies, money markets, capital markets etc. (2) Non-Economic Environment: - Following are included in noneconomic environment:-

 (i) Political Environment: - It affects different business units extensively. Components: (a) Political Belief of Government (b) Political Strength of the Country (c) Relation with other countries (d) Defense and Military Policies (e) Centre State Relationship in the Country (f) Thinking Opposition Parties towards Business Unit system, caste system, religion, education, marriage etc. (ii) Socio-Cultural Environment: - Influence exercised by social and cultural factors, not within the control of business, is known as Socio-Cultural Environment. These factors include: attitude of people to work, family (iii) Technological Environment: - A systematic application of scientific knowledge to practical task is known as technology. Everyday there has been vast changes in products, services, lifestyles and living conditions, these changes must be analysed by every business unit and should adapt these changes.

 (iv) Natural Environment: - It includes natural resources, weather, climatic conditions, port facilities, topographical factors such as soil, sea, rivers, rainfall etc. Every business unit must look for these factors before choosing the location for their business. (v) Demographic Environment :- It is a study of perspective of population i.e. its size, standard of living, growth rate, age-sex composition, family size, income level (upper level, middle level and lower level), education level etc. Every business unit must see these features of population and recongnise their various need and produce accordingly. (vi) International Environment: - It is particularly important for industries directly depending on import or exports. The factors that affect the business are: Globalisation, Liberalisation

Information technology (IT)

We use the term information technology or IT to refer to an entire industry. In actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS). The information technology department of a large company would be responsible for storing information, protecting information, processing the information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary.

Basic Elements of Information Technology Software and Applications Software is an important part of information technology which relates to computer applications that enable a company to generate, store, program, and retrieve data as and when needed. There are many softwares developed for different purposes. All operations in the business sector are carried out by software that are assigned for executing specific tasks. Without these computer applications the businesses wouldn't have been able to carry out their functions in a proper and efficient manner. Operating systems, ERPs, special purpose applications, and web browsers are some examples of different softwares. Hardware Devices These are various computer equipments that house the softwares. Devices like microcomputers, mid-size servers, and huge mainframe systems are some examples of hardware. Businesses have to maintain a huge collection of important data. For this purpose, they employ these devices which are responsible for storing confidential company data and retrieving it back when required. Other hardware devices include network devices that are used for providing Internet access to the businesses to work and communicate expeditiously. There are even devices which enable manufacturing tools and equipments to work accurately in the industrial sector.

Running Businesses with Information Technology Small scale businesses need to buy software packages that would cater to their specific management, operational, and functional needs. For this purpose, they need to approach firms and IT manufacturers who deal in such software applications. Other IT services include Internet marketing and email marketing, web hosting and promotions, and maintaining client networks. Larger businesses on the other hand have their own operational and functional employees who develop software applications and work on several IT needs of the businesses. They usually purchase ERP softwares to coordinate different processes and functions into a single application, which is actually more convenient. Manufacturing businesses may make use of servers and databases to store their vast data regarding inventory, B2B, B2C, FMCG (in the retail business sector), etc. Automobile manufacturers use computers to guide manufacturing and designing tools to function in a precise manner, ruling out the possibilities of any human error. Businesses all around the globe have to take the aid of information technology in some way or the other to keep themselves in sync with the market and the world. There are several departments in business organizations such as HR and recruitment, finance and payroll, administration, and security. All these departments utilize IT to carry out their respective operations in a productive manner and efficient manner.