1. Do you think Zeitland’s desire for changes in culture are related to
changes in the external environment? Explain.
With a constantly changing business environment, companies must be agile and
prepared to shift gears when new challenges and opportunities arise. Companies
that survive and thrive in an erratic environment are those that take measures in
anticipating the impacts of externalities to the organization. Ronald Zeitland, CEO
of RTZ Corporation, acknowledges the changes in the external environment and
sees it as a challenge for the Company to cope up by assuring continuous
improvements that would make such changes beneficial to the Company. As
stated by Daft (2012) in his book, competitors, suppliers, customers, and the labor
market are part of the task environment component of the external organizational
environment. In the case, it was mentioned that the company’s desire of changing
the culture was due to several factors. One such factor is the change in consumer
tastes and preferences (trends). This affects the conduct of day–to-day
transactions and therefore directly affects its operations and company
performance. Other factors are the significant increase of younger workforce (age)
and fast-changing technology. The increase of younger workforce is part of the
task environment. Technology changes in the industry is part of the general
environment as it influences all companies belonging in the same industry. These
are factors that pushed Zeitland to administer measures that would improve the
organization’s culture. Adapting to the evolving environment is crucial for every
