$1.$ General, task, and internal environments $($Connect$,$ Perform$)$

For each example in the following table, choose whether it belongs in the general, task, or internal environment.

Example

Environment

The increasing number of elderly people in the United States, Japan, Italy, and Germany

For a public university, the pool of new PhD graduates seeking jobs as professors

A reminder to employees that business$-$casual attire is permitted only on Fridays

Shifts in economic and political power between countries

A manager$$s policy of letting employees have Friday afternoons off during the summer

Read this case and then answer the questions that follow about the general environment and the task environment.

$$ Shutterstock Images

Management in the News

The April $2010$ explosion of British Petroleum$$s $($BP$)$ Deepwater Horizon oil$-$drilling rig, and the accompanying oil spill, dramatically changed the external environment in which all oil companies operate. The explosion released more oil than any other accidental spill in history and had a huge impact on the waters and surrounding communities of the Gulf Coast. The conditions that led to the spill, the attempts to stop the spill, and the cleanup and aftermath of the spill prompted debates in the United States Senate, concern on Wall Street, and attention from companies throughout the world.

Match each event in the following table with a specific dimension of the general environment.

Event

General Environment Dimension

Courts setting a precedent that $80\%$ of civil penalties paid in connection with the oil spill be used for economic and environmental activities benefiting the Gulf Coast

Nervousness of investors about putting money into energy company stocks

Identifying new ways to measure the pressure with which oil was flowing from the deep$-$sea well

Match each event in the following table with a specific dimension of the task environment.

Event

Task Environment Dimension

Companies that generate energy from alternatives to oil$$such as from solar, wind, and wave power$$gaining customers and investor support

BP$$s offering biofuels, such as ethanol$$gasoline blends, at its service stations

A potential BP vendor documenting that it meets BP$$s environmental and ethical standards

BP providing funding and data to companies developing new technologies for deepwater drilling

The Environmental Protection Agency $($EPA$)$ monitoring the level of oil contamination in the Gulf Coast region