Environmental Pressures Essay Example for Free

Environmental Pressures Essay All companies have moments of growth and decline. As companies age, change in the form of growth is brought about (Palmer, 2009, p.65). Companies look for the increases in revenue and ways to create more revenue. When money is being made growth happens, new jobs are created, expansions begin and technology is heightened. Last week Time Warner Cable announced that there will be a new CEO, as the current CEO, Glenn Britt will be retiring. The new CEO, Rob Marcus talked about the growth pressures concerning Time Warner Cable. Mr. Marcus emphasized the growth potential of selling data services to businesses, which is the fastest-growing sector of the cable industry. He also said Time Warner Cable is working to improve pricing and packaging and is hoping to retain customers by improving products like outdoor Wi-Fi. Identity Pressures Identity Pressures basically deals with the way a company brands themselves. Time Warner Cable brands themselves as a reputable and customer based oriented company. Time Warner Cable is dedicated to making their brand number one in the fields of cable, high speed data and telephony services. A commitment is given to customers to provide them with the best products and services they have to offer. Dish, satellite and ATT U-Verse attempt to compete, but when it comes to quality service, products and the commitment given to the consumers there is no better way to for the company’s identity to be missed. New Broom Pressures Time Warner Cable’s adds new members to the team that attempt to make changes bit it is not necessarily for the better. In the HR Department this past year a new VP was hired and due Environmental PressuresPage 3 to some of her background being shared before she arrived, people began looking for other jobs, all the supervisors that were in place when I was promoted a year and a half ago, have left the company in order not to work under her. There are many people that are not ready for change. Under the new VP, a lot of changes have taken place when the department all for the better of the department. Everything is a work in progress however, the  necessary changes that were needed have been implemented and work has become a great deal easier. Market Decline Pressures Time Warner and AOL were once partnered to together, it appeared that AOL was in a trend of continuous growth, however AOL began to suffer a decline in 2002 due to the pricing of broadband services being charged at $50.00 per month and consumers not wanting to pay that much for broadband services. A need for strategic changes by AOL, including partnering with cable companies and other options that move it away from overreliance on dial-up services, (Palmer, 2009). AOL eventually began providing free services there are still some customers that pay for AOL services plus the benefits they receive for using the technical department of AOL if needed. Hyper-competition Pressures Within my company, hyper-competition forced them to move quickly and audaciously to test their policies and theories. Time Warner Cable decided to change the way they did business when they branched out on their own from Time Warner Cable, Inc. Hyper-competitive can have dynamic and unpredictable environments which requires flexibility, innovation and a creative organization, which can easily adapt quickly to the changing rules of competition. Therefore, Time Warner Cable needed to change and management was pertinent to that change. What was Environmental PressuresPage 4 Challenging to management was how they would combine the need for long-term sustainability with continuous flexibility in terms of how the organization technology would change if at all. Time Warner Cable needed to develop a high degree of dynamic capabilities, which was the center of meeting the tensions of the capability and structural challenge. The organizational aspects and capabilities goes hand in hand as enabler and at the same time facilitate a successful emergent change process in hypercompetitive industries. Flexibility Flexibility can be a reason for changes in the competitive environment in an appropriate and timely way. Flexibility comes from managerial capabilities  (management challenge) and the responsiveness of the organization (organization design challenge).Flexibility requires a constructive discord between change and preservation. Strategic flexibility is an increasingly sought-after competitive element in today’s fast-paced and changing world. (Englehardt, 2002) Reputation and Credibility Pressures Time Warner Cable has pride in their reputation. A company’s reputation can be damaged at the drop of a dime. All it takes is an unsatisfied customer to speak negatively about a company or bring up a potential law suit against a company. Time Warner Cable has a team legal team staffed in house at Corporate however, all attempts are made on the lower levels to diffuse the situation before it gets that far. It a company’s reputation is ruined, there is serious backlash from it, the company loses customers, hence revenue, potential job loss can occur and worst of all the company doors can close. Reputation can be in formation of customer loyalty (Nguyen, 2001). Credibility is major, if consumer cannot count on a company to do what it is Environmental PressuresPage 5 they say they are going to do, consumers will go else and not mind paying a higher rate to get what they want. Customers want to know that the companies / organizations are trustworthy and they can count on them to be there and provide them with the services and products they want. Environmental and Organizational Pressures that exist Time Warner Cable has and does face environmental pressures on a daily basis. There is constant pressure to change strategies. Time Warner Cable is continuing to engage in new markets, corrections of internal issues are made. Basically everything is controllable it may take a little while but things are normally resolved in a 24-48 time period at the latest a 5 day period. One thing that Time Warner Cable has learned as a company is that with organizational change, there may or may not be an innovational change. Financial Perspective From a financial perspective concerning environmental and organizational pressures, things could go either way, we try to predict the way things will work out from a financial view point but the economy plays a major role. Consumers are becoming very careful with their spending. If thing begin to look bleak the finances go down. When the market is going well and profits are in the upswing then finance is great. Environmental and Organizational Pressures Impact The environmental and organizational pressures have impacted me personally as it affected my bonus this past year. I have received bonuses a great deal higher than what I received this year. I was slightly disappointed but still happy to receive a bonus all the same. Part of the bonus is based upon 80% what the company does and 20% is based upon performance. My performance was great, the company did well be not as well as in previous years. Environmental Pressures Page 6 Assessing how the organization has reacted to the organizational and environmental pressures Time Warner Cable’s reaction to organizational and environmental pressures are to regroup, see what we can change and do it better and how can we as an organization best serve our customers. By going back to the drawing board, great emphasis is placed on training, management strategizes on how to best retain current customer and how to gain new customers and customers and providing customers with the latest and greatest products, services and technology available. Time Warner is focusing on customer satisfaction. Reducing Environmental and Organizational Pressures One way Time Warner Cable can reduce their risk is by nurturing their responses when it becomes a little chaotic the pressure may appear to be small but it is all in the way the company decides to handle things. Reduction can be made concerning with organizational pressures by paying close attention to growth pressures. The potential growth of a company can helpful but it is necessary to hire smart. Strategies One strategy I would propose is for Time Warner Cable would be to listen to their customers and their employees. By listening to their customers better  offers and campaigns can be built in order to give them customers what they are asking for. Listening to the employees will help to bring about better services for their employees health and welfare. Environmental PressuresPage 7 Reference Charles S. Englehardt, Peter R. Simmons, (2002) Organizational flexibility for a changing world, Leadership Organization Development Journal, Vol. 23 Iss: 3, pp.113 121 Nha Nguyen, Gaston LeBlanc, (2001) Image and reputation of higher education institutions in students’ retention decisions, International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 6, pp.303 – 311 Palmer, I., Dunford, R., Akin, G. (2009). Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.