University of Phoenix
MGT 330 Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility
David Mallory
September 3, 2009
The Factors That Affect Management Functions
Introduction
There are many things that have an effect on the four functions of management; planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Defined as Enterprise Environmental Factors, or any or all external environmental factors and internal organizational environmental factors that surround or influence the project’s success (PMBOK, 2004), or the overall success of an organization, these factors, which are in many cases beyond the control of managers, create the need for effective managers who can think and perform outside the box. Target Corporation for example addresses these factors and how they affect the four functions of management in specific ways. This paper will identify external and internal factors, what they are and how they are managed through the four functions placing added emphasis on globalization, ethics, technology, and innovation within Target Corporation. Then detailing how delegation is used to lessen the affects of these factors on the functions of management.
Internal and External Factors As noted previously, all factors affecting the functions of management can be categorized as either internal or external. These two categories can be further broken down into tangible and intangible for internal factors and external factors as microenvironment, otherwise known as competitive environment, and macroenvironment (Bateman & Snell, 2009). On the external side, under the competitive environment falls things such as suppliers, customers, and competitors; other organizations with which the company may interact. Under the macroenvironment there is economy, laws and regulations, demographics, technology, and even social influences. Target Corporation has taken a proactive stance on all external factors. One external factor in the competitive
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