Page 67 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

66 Part 1 • Introduction
Watch It 1!
If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of www.mymanagementlab.com
to complete the video exercise titled Rudi’s Bakery: Organizational Culture.

Starbucks’ managers. The idea that organizations have stakeholders is now widely accepted
by both management academics and practicing managers. 30
Exhibit 2–3 identifies the most common stakeholders that an organization might have to
deal with. Note that these stakeholders include internal and external groups. Why? Because
both can affect what an organization does and how it operates.
Why should managers even care about managing stakeholder relationships? For one thing, it
can lead to desirable organizational outcomes such as improved predictability of environmental
changes, more successful innovations, greater degree of trust among stakeholders, and greater
organizational flexibility to reduce the impact of change. For instance, social media company
Facebook is spending more on lobbying and meeting with government officials as lawmakers
and regulators look at sweeping changes to online privacy law. The company is “working to
shape its image on Capitol Hill and avert measures potentially damaging to its information-
sharing business.” 31
Can stakeholder management affect organizational performance? The answer is yes!
Management researchers who have looked at this issue are finding that managers of high-
performing companies tend to consider the interests of all major stakeholder groups as they
make decisions. 32
Another reason for managing external stakeholder relationships is that it’s the “right”
thing to do. Because an organization depends on these external groups as sources of inputs
(resources) and as outlets for outputs (goods and services), managers should consider the
interests of stakeholders as they make decisions. We’ll address this issue in more detail in the
next chapter when we look at corporate social responsibility.
As we’ve tried to make clear throughout this section, it’s not going to be “business as
usual” for organizations or for managers. Managers will always have hard decisions to make
about how they do business and about their people. It’s important that you understand how
changes in the external environment will affect your organizational and management experi-
ences. Now, we need to switch gears and look at the internal aspects of the organization—
specifically, its culture.

Exhibit 2–3 organizational stakeholders

Employees Customers

Unions Social and Political
Action Groups

Shareholders Competitors
Organization

Trade and Industry
Communities
Associations
Suppliers Governments

Media