Marketing Mix

Organizational Behavior Forces Paper

Gidget Waters

University of Phoenix

MGT 331 Organizational Behavior

Professor Douglas Schwartz

April 9, 2007

Organizational Behavior Forces Paper

Introduction

Individuals are influenced everyday by both external and internal forces. These forces influence how one would structure his or her personal and professional lives. What expenses do we have? How can we stay within our budget? How can we remain competitive in today's marketplace? These are the same type of questions that organizations have to assess and find answers to, in order to remain effective and efficient. Various internal and external forces are restructuring, an organizations mission, fiscal policies, competition, economy, customer demands, and globalization to name a few. We will examine how various companies plan and adapt to the changes that occur as a result of both internal and external forces.

W hotels

Starwood launched the W brand in 1998 and wanted to find a way to set their new brand apart from everyone else in the marketplace. They did this by creating a mission statement that offers the customer service of Whatever/Whenever. This idea evolved into an entire Whatever/Whenever department to meet customer needs. The concept is simple:

At W hotels your wish truly is our command with our Whatever/Whenever service.

We'll make your special moment magical, and transform your dreams into reality.

Whatever you want. Whenever you want it (as long as it's legal!). (W hotels, 2007)

Customers have responded to this idea in so many ways, that it has become a tremendous tool for the organization to use in meeting and exceeding customer demands. Guests have requested certain items ranging from hair gel to better lighting in their rooms. Realizing these needs has allowed the W brand to better service the guests, not just immediately (going out to buy them hair gel) but for the future by creating rooms with better lighting. By taking the external forces of customer demands they are able to adapt their organizational mission of Whatever/Whenever internally to exceed the expectations of their guests.

The W hotel brand has become the fastest growing luxury hotel brand in the world. The organization was initially expanding within the United States, but soon realized it had a unique product to offer globally. They have expanded into many places that are still relatively new and undiscovered to many travelers- The Maldives, Vieques, Doha, Shanghai, and Istanbul. The world is becoming smaller and smaller because of technology and globalization. The W has realized this and has expanded into different markets to meet these changes and remain competitive. They see their innovative brand image as a way to encourage guests to explore other places through the W hotels.

The Bank of New York

Our firm provides clearing services to many financial institutions throughout the world. We are the largest of our kind with over 1100 customer organizations, and 4500 employees in over 16 locations around the globe. Many external and internal factors impact our organizational behavior. External factors include our competition, regulators like the NYSE and NASD, the economy, customers, and operating in a global environment. We are always on guard and looking to be first to market with new technology and other products as to beat our competition. We need to be aware of happenings in the market so we can be one step ahead. Providing quality service to our existing customers is key, as we do not want to lose existing customers to our competition and we would like to have others view us well so we can add new customers to our platform also. Having a workforce in-tune with meeting customer expectations is crucial to keeping the company agile and flexible.

Keeping up with regulatory and legal compliance is a huge part of our business. Increased regulatory oversight and changes driving higher legal and compliance costs for us has been a big factor impacting us. We have seen quite many changes in our behavior due to it. For one, our associates take classes and tests in compliance and legal rules we must follow. The company from the top down is always campaigning about "Doing the Right Thing" and provides a hotline number to call if any associate would like anonymously to point out any suspicious activity. Recently they passed a rule that all employees who deal in any customer account activities, or have any financial impact at the firm must take two week vacation. This is a way for the firm to catch any wrong doings done by that individual.

The economy and market also impact us greatly. Major market declines impacts asset values, trading activity, margin balances, and interest rates. In turn these affect our behavior, we go into a mode of lowering expenses and possible staff cuts. This can affect our culture by bringing about low moral with the existing workers as they fear they will lose their jobs.

Operating in such a multicultural environment has created a change in our organizational behavior. In the last 10 years we have placed a great deal of emphasis on treating people with respect no matter their culture, age, sex, or sexual preference. There has been a big push from the top to include diversity programs into our company's plans.

Internally we are impacted in a number of ways, one being the push to hold on to our greatest resource which is our staff. Many programs have been started to allow people to work from home or work a partial work week in order to take care of children or a sick parent. This creates an atmosphere where the staff sees that the company cares. They also offer many opportunities to further ones education by paying for classes and MBA programs as well. This has a huge effect on the company's behavior.

Our company is serious about the conduct of there employees, when one log's into our website the message appears "In all of the decisions you make and actions you take on behalf of the Company, you must adhere to the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior, and you must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies" (Sorrentino, 2006). Sinai Hospital

Many internal and external forces influence organizational behavior. One may ask themselves