Environmental Scanning in Business - Coursework Example

Environmental Scanning (Student Name) (University Name) (Date) Introduction Environmental scanning is without a doubt one of the major factors to be considered when it comes to the analysis of the global environment (Davis, 2008). Some of the other elements that complete global analysis are environmental forecasting, assessment and monitoring. By way of definition, environmental scanning refers to a macro environment that comprises of companies, competitors, clients, and industries among others. The competitors, customers and suppliers are often analyzed and represented within an analysis of industry. Additionally, as explained by Kroon (1995), Environmental scanning can also be defined as the interpretation and study of social, economic, technological and political activities which influence an industry, market or a business. Nevertheless, there are factors which need to be considered when it comes to the scanning of the environment. For instance, issues, events, trends and expectations of a variety of groups who are interested. Either way, this trend would break from technological knowhow or a shift in a certain society to what might become permanent. Therefore, issues which are seen to be deep-seated are said to be short-lived by a social occurrence. There are three modes of scanning in an environment, one being systematic scanning where information that is concerned with customers and markets, changes in regulation, legislation which is said to have an impact on group activities as well as the concerned policy of the government. Secondly, there is Ad-hoc scanning where unique studies and surveys are conducted to deal with issues of the environment from time to time. The third and last is the form of scanning that is processed whereby individuals use information that is retrieved from different outside and inside sources within an organization. Environmental scanning being the use and acquisition of information about relationships and events, particularly in the external environment of an organization, Chien and Moutinho (2007) argue that this information or knowledge helps an institution in planning ahead of its next action line. Nonetheless, institutions scan the environment so that they can get to know the kind of external forces of transforms in order to improve or come up with an effective response to improve or secure their future position. Additionally, organizations scan the environment so that they can avoid unplanned for surprises, as well as to identify opportunities and threats so as to have advantage in competition and improve short-term and long-term planning. Since an organizations capability to adapt to the outside environment depends on interpreting and knowing the exterior changes which take place, environmental scanning is effectively the primary method of that an organization uses to learn. It also includes viewing and searching for information which ranges from a simple conversation to a formal exercise of planning. Some of the factors which influence the scanning behavior are external factors like resource dependency and environmental turmoil. In addition, other factors that weigh in include the kind of business an organization carries out; the strategy used by an organization; the quality and availability of knowledge as well as personal factors such as the cognitive and scanner’s knowledge. Ledlow (2010) points out that organizational strategy also influence the scanning, for example, the organizational patterns which are outside the environment and the dimension at which an organization is situated. The managerial traits are also seen to have an influence on the environment because scanning is a form of knowledge behavior that managers study in both cognitive and hierarchical style. It comprises of information use, seeking and needs. Moreover, in environmental context, information scanning refers to the environmental sector that is said to be tensed. When it comes to knowledge needs, it is examined in some of the sources that can be used to scan the environment in addition to the methods and systems of organization that are meant to monitor the environment. Undoubtedly, environmental scanning helps managers improve their organizational planning and performance in a number of ways. Firstly, according to Mathis and Jackson (2010), many businesses have been successful because of environmental scanning. Studies show that due to the rationality and intelligence factors, the scanning helps an organization to communicate, control, and integrates analysis, and industry experience, which is the most essential factor that ultimately helps organizations to separate unsuccessful companies from successful ones. A firm which scans the environment has a higher economic performance than those who do not practice it. The studies also show that an organization which scans generally outperforms those which do not, thus making the annual average performance to be better than non-scanning institutions. Its performance is also consistently better, and therefore, environmental assessment and scanning is said to have a positive influence on the institutions performance. Additionally, the scanning helps the managers improve the organization planning and performance by helping improve the financial performance of an institution. This boils down to the fact that, during the environmental scanning the concerned spanning is measured by a variety of people with other people who are outside the community like government officials, customers, and competitors among others. In addition, it has also a tangible impact on an organization’s return on sales and assets making it easier for the managers to effectively improve their organization planning and performance. Davis (2008) explains that those firms which engage in environment scanning tend to have a high performance than those which do engage on it significantly giving an example of a hospital. In health institutions, when managers undertake environmental scanning they tend to perform better than those hospitals which do not. This stemmed from the fact that they were able to get advanced methods to monitor their immediate environment in order to acquire knowledge and ability to use information based on scanning in their strategic planning. By so doing, the managers were able to get good results following the improved performance due to increased bed occupancy and resultantly, bed expenditures. Further to all this, scanning likewise helps the managers improve their firms in relation to overall implementation because when an organization undergoes this process, it is able to effectively react to changes in terms of the external factors. Additionally, communication also increases among the staff and other individuals in the organization making it easier when it comes down to implementing what has been agreed upon. Tie to this is the fact that there is also greater involvement in employee decision process and (Zepeda, 2004), expounds on this, noting that the managers have an advantage of having a vision that is shared by every member in an organization thereby easing the process of communication, management, strategic planning and even at times future orientation. The scanning helps them encourage their employees to participate in face-to-face negotiations based on planning matters. Therefore, the firm is able to develop different strategic decisions which are used in coping with external challenges and ultimately makes implementation much faster and effective. However, despite all these benefits, the picture is not always rosy as there are factors which undermine the value of environmental scanning. To start with is the information or knowledge consciousness. This basically refers to the fact that the attitude is directed towards information activities, which denotes the exact value that is attributed to knowledge. This factor is seen to come out during the process of analysis, which results to a group of events and those concepts which describes them, judged by categories of environmental events. For example, such concepts are included in a person’s responsibility for the scanning where a communication model is developed. Managers in large companies tend to refer to environmental scanning as a mix of personal dissemination and monitoring of knowledge among colleagues. Managers from bigger companies can also undermine the value of scanning where they minimize their responsibilities as monitors but emphasize their work as disseminators. This becomes a big issue in large organizations where composite structures and efficient diversification are central features. On the contrary, managers from small organizations assume that the scanning is an individual responsibility (Kroon, 1995). Secondly, another undermining factor affecting Environmental scanning is information exposure. Stokes (2008) points out that this is the number of opportunities in terms of frequency where well-informed individuals come into contact with other knowledge rich contexts. Managers access such important knowledge that is reached through the appointment of other significant places within industrial and sectoral local or international associations. Organizational factors are also seen to affect the environmental scanning activities where climate and the information outward are the main concerns. For example, information climate sets the conditions which are meant to determine the use and access of knowledge within an organization. It is normally assessed through infrastructure information implemented. The outwardness of an organization is when an organization becomes opens to its external environment and exterior influences. This is well explained by medium and large companies who enjoy the economic engagement in joint actions, in the sense of influencing regulatory and legislative plans. Lastly, are the relationships among information climate and consciousness, where they all emerge individually in an organization but with specific intersection of company activities, as well as individual behavior. Therefore, it is clear that environmental scanning activities can be adversely affected by organization or institution cultures (Zepeda, 2004). Conclusion In an organization, the environment normally consists of internal and external factors. The environment should also be scanned to determine the forecasts and development factors that will influence a business success. Environmental scanning therefore is the utilization and possession of knowledge about trends, patterns, relationships and occasion within an organization external and internal environment. This helps the managers in making a decision on the future of an organization. Also, it helps in identifying opportunities and threats which exist in an environment, because, as Kroon (1995) explains, a threat for a business is an opportunity for another. Bibliography Chien, S and Moutinho, L. (2007). Problems in marketing: applying Key Concepts and Techniques. New Jersey: Sage Davis, R. (2008). Does environmental scanning by systems integration firms improve their Business development performance? New York: Proquest Kroon, J. (1995). General Management. South Africa: Pearson South Africa Ledlow, G. (2010). Leadership for health professionals: theory, skills, and applications. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Barlett Mathis, R. L and Jackson, H. (2010). Human resource management. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Westerns Stokes, D. (2008). Principles and practice of variable pressure/Environmental Scanning electron Microscopy. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Zepeda, S.J. (2004). Instructional Leadership for School Improvement. Larchmont, N.Y, Eye on Education Read More