Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
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External cooperation<br />
A relevant or meaningful environment <strong>for</strong> an organization does not consist of customers <strong>and</strong><br />
competitors only. An organization is rarely able to produce its product or service independently<br />
from other players in the market. It needs suppliers of many kinds, sub-contractors, <strong>and</strong> other<br />
partners.<br />
When the development of partnerships extends to organizations outside, the organization<br />
becomes broader <strong>and</strong> much more capable. The emergent features of synergy create great<br />
advantages, <strong>and</strong> organizational borders became conditional – up to the appearance of a virtual<br />
organization, an entity that actually operates <strong>and</strong> per<strong>for</strong>ms certain tasks but does not exist <strong>for</strong>mally<br />
as a juridical body.<br />
What an organization is able or chooses to do depend on what others can do <strong>and</strong> how well they do<br />
it. Suppliers may do part of the job of processing materials, <strong>and</strong> may leave part <strong>for</strong> the<br />
organization; sub-contractors may per<strong>for</strong>m some functions or processes better <strong>and</strong> cheaper than<br />
the organization, etc. Generally, partnership networks are much more capable – more flexible <strong>and</strong><br />
responsive - than big <strong>for</strong>mal establishments.<br />
In many areas of business, the scale of cooperation conditions the scale of competitiveness. How<br />
an organization is included in external networks determines to a great extent what the organization<br />
will do itself, - which functions, technologies, processes <strong>and</strong> structures should be employed in or<br />
by it. It is impossible to say how an organization should look without considering its possible<br />
cooperation with others.<br />
Product development<br />
Any organization offers the external world a certain range of products, or a range of products with<br />
certain characteristics. Let’s call it the space of actual products. This space of already developed<br />
<strong>and</strong> existing products, of course, corresponds with the space of possible products related to the<br />
organization’s capability <strong>and</strong> capacity. The space of possible products is always wider; it is never<br />
covered by the space of actually existing products. Thus, what an organization is actually doing is<br />
the result of choice, rational or not.<br />
On the other h<strong>and</strong>, not everything that an organization offers to the external world (to the market or<br />
to the local community) is equally appreciated by this world. Some products (or product features)<br />
are in dem<strong>and</strong>, others not. The space of dem<strong>and</strong>ed products should correspond somehow to the<br />
customers’ needs. However, it never covers all existing needs, because some needs may not be<br />
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