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Self-Assessment
CHECK YOUR TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY
This assessment is meant to establish your students tolerance for ambiguity. Even though many strategists
liken business to chess, in that game, both players can see all the pieces and anticipate an opponents moves. In
reality, business is more like poker, where no player really knows what cards the other players are holding;
they can only assume and make decisions based on internal information and assumptions or interpretations
about their opponents behavior.
In-Class Use
Give students 5 7 minutes to complete the inventory. Remind your students that the business
environment is complex and uncertain, and managers must learn to adapt to environmental shifts and new
developments sometimes on a daily basis. For some managers, however, this can be a challenging task
because everyones comfort level is different when it comes to ambiguity. For some, not knowing all the
Scoring
Scoring instructions are included in the Self-Assessment at the end of the chapter. But students will want
to know what their raw score means. Heres what you can tell them:
There are three ways to understand your tolerance of ambiguity. First, think of ambiguity as novelty,
or the extent to which you are tolerant of new, unfamiliar information or situations. You can also
think of your response to ambiguity as a function of complexity, or the extent to which you are
tolerant of multiple, distinctive, or unrelated information. Lastly, ambiguity can be thought of as
insolubility, or the extent to which you are tolerant of problems that are difficult to solve because
alternative solutions are not evident.
Scores range from 16 to 112, and a score from 40 to 48 is average. Higher scores indicate a higher
tolerance for ambiguity; lower scores indicate a low tolerance for ambiguity, or the desire to have
everything clearly, simply, and easily mapped out. If your score is low, it does not necessarily mean
Management Workplace
Management Workplace videos can support several in-class uses. In most cases you can build an entire
50-minute class around them. Alternatively, they can provide a springboard into a group lesson plan. The
Management Workplace video for Chapter 2 would be a nice companion to your introduction to the
course on the first day teaching this chapter.
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VIDEO: CAMP BOW WOW
The Environment and Corporate Culture
Summary:
In ten years, Camp Bow Wow has grown from a single kennel in Denver, Colorado to a $40 million
business, with more than 150 locations. The transition from a small family business to a national chain,
Discussion Questions:
1. What aspects of Camp Bow Wows corporate culture reflect the surface level of the organizational
culture? What aspects reflect the values and beliefs? What aspects reflect the unconsciously held
assumptions and beliefs.
Visible aspects of Camp Bow Wows culture include the company logo, the presence of dogs in
workspaces, the dress code, the camp imagery, and Heidi Ganahls life story, which is told and retold
during franchisee meetings. Founder Heidi Ganahl says that one of the unique things about working
2. Why did Camp Bow Wow have to change its culture when it became a national franchise?
3. What impact does Heidi Ganahls personal story have on employees at Camp Bow Wow?
The story of Heidi Ganahl is famous at all levels of the Camp Bow Wow organization. Consumers
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Management Workplace Video Quiz
Students are able to take the following video quiz on CourseMate. The video is broken into segments, and
each segment has related questions to make sure students understand how the clip connects to the chapter
concepts.
Video Segment 1
Video segment title Environment and Culture of Organizations
Start time (in sec) 0:00
Stop time (in sec) 1:50
Quiz Question 1 Heidi Ganahls personal example of triumph over tragedy can be expected
to have a strong influence on Camp Bow Wows:
a. Organizational control
Quiz Question 2 Which part of Camp Bow Wows organizational environment is likely to
be affected and shaped by the inspirational biography of founder Heidi
Ganahl?
a. General environment
b. Specific (task) environment
Quiz Question 3 Heidi Ganahls account of how she founded Camp Bow Wow through
great adversity is best characterized as a:
a. Slogan
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Video Segment 2
Video segment title Environment and Culture of Organizations
Start time (in sec) 1:50
Stop time (in sec) 4:03
Quiz Question 1 Logos, shirts, branded signage, and websites that help shape peoples
perceptions of Camp Bow Wow are known as:
a. Ceremonies
Quiz Question 2 Camp Bow Wows organizational culture will strongly promote business
success if:
a. Franchisees like Sue Ryan are free to establish a culture counter to the
one established by Camp Bow Wow corporate headquarters.
b. It possesses a caring family-like atmosphere.
Quiz Question 3 According to CEO Heidi Ganahl, Camp Bow Wow requires a strong and
consistent corporate culture to keep all local franchise owners on the same
page and following a common template for the business and brand. This
culture could become detrimental over time because:
a. Strong consistent cultures are inflexible and incapable of adapting to
d. The passing of time provides stability and predictability for businesses
Correct option a: Strong consistent cultures are inflexible and incapable of adapting to
environmental change
Feedback A strong culture doesnt guarantee success because it makes change very
difficult.
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Video Segment 3
Video segment title Environment and Culture of Organizations
Start time (in sec) 4:03
Stop time (in sec) 5:13
Quiz Question 1 At Camp Bow Wow, all employees, franchisees, and recruits learn the
inspirational story of how Heidi Ganahl founded the doggie day care
company. This is important because:
a. The story helps convey Camp Bow Wows shared values, attitudes,
beliefs, and mission
Quiz Question 2 Heidi Ganahl says Camp Bow Wow promotes a scrappy we-can-conquer-
all work attitude that helps individuals overcome challenges. This attitude
is especially useful for businesses that exist within:
a. A task environment
b. A general environment
c. Complex environments
Quiz Question 3 According to leaders at Camp Bow Wow, Heidi Ganahls life story helps
to ________ individuals throughout the organization.
a. Promote
b. Reward
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Additional Assignments and Activities
Review Questions
1. Describe the four basic characteristics of changing external environments.
The four basic characteristics of changing external environments are environmental change,
environmental complexity, resource scarcity, and uncertainty.
Environmental change is the rate at which a companys general and specific environments
change. If the environment is stable, this means that the rate of change is slow; if the
environment is dynamic, this means that the rate of change is fast.
2. How do environmental change, environmental complexity, and resource scarcity affect uncertainty?
Environmental change, environmental complexity, and resource scarcity affect environmental
uncertainty, which is how well managers can understand or predict the external changes and trends
3. What is the difference between the general and specific business environments?
4. List the components of the general environment.
The general environment consists of economic, technological, sociocultural, and political/legal events
and trends that affect all organizations. Because the economy influences basic business decisions,
managers often use economic statistics and business confidence indices to predict future economic
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5. How do the elements of the specific business environment affect businesses?
Each organization also has a specific environment that is unique to that firms industry and directly
affects the way it conducts day-to-day business. The specific environment of any company can be
divided in to five sectors:
Customers influence the products and services a company offers, the prices charged for those
offerings, the companys reputation, and the sales generated by business operations.
Competitors also influence the products and services a company offers and the prices charged
for those offerings. Competitors also influence how a company conducts business in a certain
6. Describe the three-step process that managers use to make sense of their changing environments.
Environmental scanning: Managers search the environment for important events or issues
that might affect an organization. This allows managers to stay up-to-date on important
7. How are organizational cultures created and maintained?
8. What are the characteristics of successful organizational cultures?
Organizational cultures create a successful internal environment by binding all employees together in
a were- in-this-together attitude. When employee attitudes are congruous with the culture,
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9. Identify the three levels of organizational culture and give examples of each.
Three levels of organizational culture are: 1) the surface, where reflections of culture can be heard,
seen, or otherwise observed (examples of such artifacts include dress codes, office layouts, and
10. How can managers change organizational cultures?
Develop Your Career Potential
DEALING WITH THE PRESS
Purpose
This exercise is designed to introduce students to some basic rules about dealing with the press in a crisis.
There are several ways to structure this exercise. One way is to have students prepare written answers to
the questions before coming to class. Another is to have students answer the questions during class. If
Setting It Up
Begin by rereading the scenario. Then pose the first question and give the student an opportunity to
respond. At this point, you could stop to discuss what students liked or disliked about each answer. I
prefer to simulate a press environment, by beginning with the initial question as stated in the case and
then allowing the rest of the class, who has assumed the reporter role, to ask follow-up questions as they
Chapter 2: Organizational Environments and Cultures P a g e | 20
Rats Take Over Manhattan Taco Bell
1. Yesterdays filming of rats at an ADF-owned Taco Bell has caused consumers to question the
cleanliness of the restaurants where they eat. This restaurant is also owned by ADF Companies. Do
you also have problems with rodents?
Take the initiative: If you dont answer reporters questions, theyll find someone who will,
someone who is likely to answer from a different perspective. Company spokespeople need
to take the initiative to share the companys perspective on what has occurred.
2. Recent outbreaks of E. coli at other Taco Bells in the Northeast were finally attributed to
contaminated lettuce, so Taco Bell changed suppliers. To the cameraman: Get the camera in close
here [camera zooms into the kitchen area, the slop sink, and the handwashing station] because I want
our viewers to see the kitchen. Back to you: How can consumers be sure that contamination
occurred at the produce supplier and not inside filthy restaurants?
Stick to the facts dont wing it: If you dont have a cleanliness policy or practice, dont
make one up on the spot. Reporters will smell a rat. If there are sanitation procedures,
describe them. But dont guess the answers to questions.
If you dont know, offer to find out: Reporters dont give exams. You dont have to know
Chapter 2: Organizational Environments and Cultures P a g e | 21
3. The health inspectors gave a passing grade to the rat-infested Taco Bell just a day before television
crews filmed the rats running all over the restaurant. That doesnt instill our viewers with great
confidence in the system. Would you be willing to let our camera crews accompany the health
inspector during a full inspection of your restaurant so that viewers can see what an inspection
entails?
If possible, cooperate with reporters: Reporters work under short deadlines. Reporters need
information. Reporters want a good story. And if they dont get these things from you, theyll get
them from someone else. Its possible to cultivate a good relationship with the press by helping them
do their jobs. What do they need? Print reporters (magazines and newspapers) want facts and details.
Additional Activities
Out-of-Class Activity: Environmental Scanning. Have students research the most recent annual
report of a well-known company and list all the factors in the external environment that have affected the
company. Students should focus on both the general and specific environments. Inform students that most
companies post their annual reports online in the Investor Relations section of their website. Require
either a few paragraphs explaining what they found or an oral summary a few sentences long at the
beginning of the next class session.
Out-of-Class Project: Competitive Analysis. Divide the class into groups of four to five students.
Assign each group to represent one of the following companies: IBM, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Daimler-
Chrysler, Procter & Gamble, Nike, McDonalds, Walmart, United Airlines, or General Electric. Have
each group do a thorough analysis of the companys top three or four competitors, including the