Week Two: Checkpoint – Environmental Factors

In order for an organization to achieve optimal function, they want to make the most of their surrounds and environments. Four external environmental factors are the economy, the government, the legal aspects and technological advances that are being made. The six internal environmental factors are the employees, distributors, shareholders, suppliers, partners and labor supply. All of these factors complement each other into a “well oiled machine” or a successful function of an organization. Obviously, the external factors can be either negative or positive on the organization’s functionality. The economy seems to be a major factor today. Because of the current economic problems, many organizations are having difficulty succeeding. This is when you must rely on every other environmental factors, internal and external, to make up for it. The government can help with this because of their control of the political climates. This in turn, brings us to the legal side of things. The laws that are in place can prevent businesses and companies from doing certain things. Technology, of course, is vital to the organization’s success and optimal function. It is something that is continually changing and organizations must be in constant competition with other organizations around them. The internal environmental factors can make or break a company. If you have all the external factors going for you, but don’t have the right customer service or people in place – the organization can be doomed for failure. Employees are so very important, especially in a human service organization. The distributors, shareholders, suppliers, partners and supplies are all important to the successful functioning of an organization, but again in my eyes – the employees are most important.