Please answer the discussion questions on the last image. please give more explanation. I have provided more information.

The first dimension of uncertainty is the degree of change. If the components in an organization's environment change frequently, it's a dynamic environment. If change is minimal, it's a stable one. A stable environment might be one with no new competitors, few technological breakthroughs by current competitors, little activity by pressure groups to influence the organization, and so forth. For instance, Zippo Manufacturing, best known for its Zippo lighters, faces a relatively stable environment, with few competitors and little technological change. The main external concern for the company is probably the declining numbers of tobacco smokers and the increased popularity of e-cigarettes, which rely on lithium batteries rather than fire. In contrast, the recorded music industry faces a dynamic (highly uncertain and unpredictable) environment. Digital formats and music-downloading sites turned the industry upside down and brought high levels of uncertainty. And now, music streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora have added doubt to the equation. If change is predictable, is that considered dynamic? No. Think of department stores that typically make one-quarter to one-third of their sales in November and December. The drop-off from December to January is significant. But because the change is predictable, the environment isn't considered dynamic. When we talk about degree of change, we mean change that's unpredictable. If change can be accurately anticipated, it's not an uncertainty for managers. customers' needs and desires, or perhaps you need to know what your competitors are doing. Once you know the type of information you'd like to have, you can look at the best ways to get that information. - REGULARLY READ AND MONITOR PERTINENT INFORMATION. There is no scarcity of information to scan, but what you need to do is read pertinent information sources. How do you know which information sources are pertinent? They're pertinent if they provide you with the information you identified as important. - INCORPORATE THE INFORMATION YOU GET FROM YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING INTO YOUR DECISIONS AND ACTIONS. Unless you use the information you're getting, you're wasting your time getting it. Also, the more you use information from your environmental scanning, the more likely it is that you'll want to continue to invest time and other resources into gathering it. - REGULARLY REVIEW YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING ACTIVITIES. If you're spending too much time getting information you can't use, or if you're not using the pertinent information you've gathered, you need to make some adjustments. Figuring out how not to just survive but to thrive in this industry will be the challenge. Discussion Questions 3-11. Which of the cells in Exhibit 3-2 applies most clearly to the environmental uncertainty faced by HBO ? 3-12. Using Exhibit 3-4, what components of HBO's external environment and specific environment are having an impact on the company? Why? 3-13. What, if anything, can HBO do to manage its environment and reduce it uncertainty exposure? 3-14. How might HBO's organizational culture change as a result of the changes described in this case? 3.2 Describe the constraints and challenges facing managers in today's external environment. The recognition that no organization operates independently was a major contribution of the systems approach to management (see History Module). In this section we want to demonstrate how forces in the environment play a major role in shaping and limiting managers' actions. Defining the Environment and Environmental Uncertainty The term environment refers to institutions or forces that are outside the organization and potentially affect the organization's performance. The reason the environment is important is because not all environments are the same. They differ by what we call their degree of environmental uncertainty. By 2030 , the cable and satellite TV market is estimated to shrink by 26 percent. That would leave only 60 percent of American households as subscribers to pay TV. 130 Meanwhile, smart phone usage keeps climbing worldwide each year. The number of smart phone users in 2018 was estimated at 2.53 billion. By 2020, that number is expected to climb to 2.87 billion. 131 Also, HBO is now officially part of the AT\&T-Time Warner family. The merger became official as of July 12,2018.132 Other companies in media and telecommunications industries, like Comcast and 20th Century Fox, are talking about combining forces. Meanwhile, Apple has set aside \$1 billion to get in on the action of streaming original content. Competing in these industries is different than it used to be. John Stankey, the AT\&T executive in charge of HBO, has made it clear that there will be a lot of change in the company. "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit,"133 said Stankey. At a recent town hall meeting, Stankey talked about HBO increasing its swhscriher n11mbers and the amo11nt of content offered This is a different Exhibit 3-4 The Organization and Its Environment Managing the Environment As we've seen, organizations are not self-contained or self-sufficient. They interact with and are influenced by their environment. (Exhibit 3-4 summarizes that environment.) Organizations depend on their environment as a source of inputs and as a recipient of its outputs. Organizations must also abide by the laws and regulations and respond to groups that challenge the organization's actions. However, while the environment constrains managers, it certainly doesn't completely tie their hands. 109 Exhibit 3-4 The Organization and Its Environment Environmental Uncertainty Environmental uncertainty refers to the degree of change and complexity in an organization's environment. The matrix in Exhibit 3-2 shows these two aspects. Exhibit 3-2 Environmental Uncertainty Matrix can't use, or if you're not using the pertinent information you've gathered, you need to make some adjustments. - ENCOURAGE YOUR ASSOCIATES AND COLLEAGUES TO BE ALERT TO INFORMATION THAT IS IMPORTANT. Your colleagues and employees can be your "eyes and ears" as well. Emphasize to them the importance of gathering and sharing information that may affect your work unit's performance. Practicing the Skill Identify several different sources of business information and start practicing regularly collecting information from those sources. Subscribe to a news feed or follow a news organization on Twitter. Incorporate checking the external environment somewhere in your daily routine. How does the concept of environmental uncertainty influence managers? Looking again at Exhibit 3-2, each of the four cells represents different combinations of degree of complexity and degree of change. Cell 1 (stable and simple environment) represents the lowest level of environmental uncertainty and Cell 4 (dynamic and complex environment), the highest. Not surprisingly, managers have the greatest influence on organizational outcomes in Cell 1 and the least in Cell 4. Because uncertainty poses a threat to an organization's effectiveness, managers try to minimize it. 107 Given a choice, managers would prefer to operate in the least uncertain environments. The environment can also be analyzed at two levels. The next sections look at those two levels: the general environment and the specific one. What can management do to lessen these constraints and gain some control over their environment? They can identify key external constituencies and build a relationship with them. It makes sense, for instance, for Lockheed to hire former high-ranking military officers to lobby the Pentagon for defense contracts. The management at Kraft Heinz can respond to lower-priced store brands by engaging in advertising that builds customer loyalty for products like its ketchup and Cheez Whiz. And Apple can reduce the likelihood that the supply of memory modules for its iPhones aren't disrupted by building business relationships with multiple suppliers. Working Together: Team Exercise Almost a third of employees who leave their companies within the first ninety days say they left because they didn't fit into the company's culture. 128 This suggests that learning about a company's culture before you accept a job could save you a considerable amount of grief. To increase the chances that you'll fit with the culture of the company you next work for, form groups of three or four and share the characteristics of an organizational culture each wants (and don't want) in an employer. Compare your lists for common factors. Now choose one of the group member's lists and discuss: What could you do when visiting a company for an interview to find out whether it has the characteristics on the list? What questions could be asked during the interview? What clues could be looked for when walking around the company to understand what the culture is like? Be ready to share your analysis with the class. Stankey. At a recent town hall meeting, Stankey talked about HBO increasing its subscriber numbers and the amount of content offered. This is a different approach from HBO's emphasis on quality over quantity. Focusing on quality worked for almost two decades. HBO had the most Emmy nominations from 1999 to 2017. Then, in 2018, Netflix beat out HBO with a higher number of Emmy nominations. The sheer volume of Netflix's shows is credited as the reason for its launch to the top. 134 Plus, HBO only spends about one-quarter to one-third of what Netflix spends on developing new content. Some of HBO's productions in the past have taken years to develop and cost millions per episode. Stankey wants HBO to try new approaches and add other types of content than what is currently offered on HBO Now, its streaming service. He offered these glimpses of the future saying that there would be fewer streaming companies. Figuring out how not to just survive but to thrive in this industry will be the challenge. Case Application 1 Environmental Uncertainty at HBO HBO is one of those company names everyone knows. It's the oldest and second-largest pay TV station in the US. Since the early 1990s, it has been developing original programming. That's much longer than Netflix and Amazon. HBO shows like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Westworld have won Emmy and Golden Globe awards. HBO includes seven 24-hour channels as well as the streaming service HBO Now. It has about 130 million subscribers worldwide. 129 That all sounds like HBO is doing well, right? Looking more deeply, though, there is a lot happening in HBO's environment. Over a million households got rid of their cable TV subscriptions during a three-month period in 2017. That's much faster change than experts expected. By 2030, the cable and satellite TV market is estimated to shrink by 26 percent. That would leave only 60 percent of American households as subscribers to pay TV. 130 My Turn to Be a Manager - Find current examples in any popular business periodical of both the omnipotent and symbolic views of management. Write a paper describing what you found and how the examples you found represent these views of management. - Consider a business that you frequent (for example, a restaurant or coffee shop) and review the six aspects of the external environment discussed in the text. Create a list of factors in the external environment that could affect the management of the business you selected. - Choose an organization with which you're familiar or one you would like to know more about. Create a table identifying potential stakeholders of this organization. Then indicate what particular interests or concerns these stakeholders might have. - If you belong to a student organization, evaluate its culture by answering the following: How would you describe the culture? How do new members learn the culture? How is the culture maintained? If you don't belong to a student organization, talk to another student who does and evaluate it using the same questions. change can be accurately anticipated, it's not an uncertainty for managers. The other dimension of uncertainty describes the degree of environmental complexity, which looks at the number of components in an organization's environment and the extent of the knowledge that the organization has about those components. An organization with fewer competitors, customers, suppliers, government agencies, and so forth faces a less complex and uncertain environment. Organizations deal with environmental complexity in various ways. For example, the Hasbro toy company simplified its environment by acquiring many of its competitors, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley. Complexity is also measured in terms of the knowledge an organization needs about its environment. For instance, managers at Pinterest must know a great deal about their internet service provider's operations if they want to ensure their website is available, reliable, and secure for their customers. On the other hand, managers of college bookstores have a minimal need for sophisticated knowledge about their suppliers. How does the concept of environmental uncertainty influence managers? Skill Exercise: Developing Your Environmental Scanning Skill About the Skill Anticipating and interpreting changes that take place in the environment is an important skill managers need. Information that comes from scanning the environment can be used in making decisions and taking actions. And managers at all levels of an organization need to know how to scan the environment for important information and trends. Steps in Practicing the Skill You can be more effective at scanning the environment if you use the following suggestions: - DECIDE WHICH TYPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR WORK. Perhaps you need to know changes in customers' needs and desires, or perhaps you need to know what your competitors are doing. Once you know the type of information you'd like to have, you can look at the best ways to get that information. The first dimension of uncertainty is the degree of change. If the components in an organization's environment change frequently, it's a dynamic environment. If change is minimal, it's a stable one. A stable environment might be one with no new competitors, few technological breakthroughs by current competitors, little activity by pressure groups to influence the organization, and so forth. For instance, Zippo Manufacturing, best known for its Zippo lighters, faces a relatively stable environment, with few competitors and little technological change. The main external concern for the company is probably the declining numbers of tobacco smokers and the increased popularity of e-cigarettes, which rely on lithium batteries rather than fire. In contrast, the recorded music industry faces a dynamic (highly uncertain and unpredictable) environment. Digital formats and music-downloading sites turned the industry upside down and brought high levels of uncertainty. And now, music streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora have added doubt to the equation. If change is predictable, is that considered dynamic? No. Think of department stores that typically make one-quarter to one-third of their sales in November and December. The drop-off from December to January is significant. But because the change is predictable, the environment isn't considered dynamic. When we talk about degree of change, we mean change that's unpredictable. If change can be accurately anticipated, it's not an uncertainty for managers. customers' needs and desires, or perhaps you need to know what your competitors are doing. Once you know the type of information you'd like to have, you can look at the best ways to get that information. - REGULARLY READ AND MONITOR PERTINENT INFORMATION. There is no scarcity of information to scan, but what you need to do is read pertinent information sources. How do you know which information sources are pertinent? They're pertinent if they provide you with the information you identified as important. - INCORPORATE THE INFORMATION YOU GET FROM YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING INTO YOUR DECISIONS AND ACTIONS. Unless you use the information you're getting, you're wasting your time getting it. Also, the more you use information from your environmental scanning, the more likely it is that you'll want to continue to invest time and other resources into gathering it. - REGULARLY REVIEW YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING ACTIVITIES. If you're spending too much time getting information you can't use, or if you're not using the pertinent information you've gathered, you need to make some adjustments. Figuring out how not to just survive but to thrive in this industry will be the challenge. Discussion Questions 3-11. Which of the cells in Exhibit 3-2 applies most clearly to the environmental uncertainty faced by HBO ? 3-12. Using Exhibit 3-4, what components of HBO's external environment and specific environment are having an impact on the company? Why? 3-13. What, if anything, can HBO do to manage its environment and reduce it uncertainty exposure? 3-14. How might HBO's organizational culture change as a result of the changes described in this case? 3.2 Describe the constraints and challenges facing managers in today's external environment. The recognition that no organization operates independently was a major contribution of the systems approach to management (see History Module). In this section we want to demonstrate how forces in the environment play a major role in shaping and limiting managers' actions. Defining the Environment and Environmental Uncertainty The term environment refers to institutions or forces that are outside the organization and potentially affect the organization's performance. The reason the environment is important is because not all environments are the same. They differ by what we call their degree of environmental uncertainty. By 2030 , the cable and satellite TV market is estimated to shrink by 26 percent. That would leave only 60 percent of American households as subscribers to pay TV. 130 Meanwhile, smart phone usage keeps climbing worldwide each year. The number of smart phone users in 2018 was estimated at 2.53 billion. By 2020, that number is expected to climb to 2.87 billion. 131 Also, HBO is now officially part of the AT\&T-Time Warner family. The merger became official as of July 12,2018.132 Other companies in media and telecommunications industries, like Comcast and 20th Century Fox, are talking about combining forces. Meanwhile, Apple has set aside \$1 billion to get in on the action of streaming original content. Competing in these industries is different than it used to be. John Stankey, the AT\&T executive in charge of HBO, has made it clear that there will be a lot of change in the company. "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit,"133 said Stankey. At a recent town hall meeting, Stankey talked about HBO increasing its swhscriher n11mbers and the amo11nt of content offered This is a different Exhibit 3-4 The Organization and Its Environment Managing the Environment As we've seen, organizations are not self-contained or self-sufficient. They interact with and are influenced by their environment. (Exhibit 3-4 summarizes that environment.) Organizations depend on their environment as a source of inputs and as a recipient of its outputs. Organizations must also abide by the laws and regulations and respond to groups that challenge the organization's actions. However, while the environment constrains managers, it certainly doesn't completely tie their hands. 109 Exhibit 3-4 The Organization and Its Environment Environmental Uncertainty Environmental uncertainty refers to the degree of change and complexity in an organization's environment. The matrix in Exhibit 3-2 shows these two aspects. Exhibit 3-2 Environmental Uncertainty Matrix can't use, or if you're not using the pertinent information you've gathered, you need to make some adjustments. - ENCOURAGE YOUR ASSOCIATES AND COLLEAGUES TO BE ALERT TO INFORMATION THAT IS IMPORTANT. Your colleagues and employees can be your "eyes and ears" as well. Emphasize to them the importance of gathering and sharing information that may affect your work unit's performance. Practicing the Skill Identify several different sources of business information and start practicing regularly collecting information from those sources. Subscribe to a news feed or follow a news organization on Twitter. Incorporate checking the external environment somewhere in your daily routine. How does the concept of environmental uncertainty influence managers? Looking again at Exhibit 3-2, each of the four cells represents different combinations of degree of complexity and degree of change. Cell 1 (stable and simple environment) represents the lowest level of environmental uncertainty and Cell 4 (dynamic and complex environment), the highest. Not surprisingly, managers have the greatest influence on organizational outcomes in Cell 1 and the least in Cell 4. Because uncertainty poses a threat to an organization's effectiveness, managers try to minimize it. 107 Given a choice, managers would prefer to operate in the least uncertain environments. The environment can also be analyzed at two levels. The next sections look at those two levels: the general environment and the specific one. What can management do to lessen these constraints and gain some control over their environment? They can identify key external constituencies and build a relationship with them. It makes sense, for instance, for Lockheed to hire former high-ranking military officers to lobby the Pentagon for defense contracts. The management at Kraft Heinz can respond to lower-priced store brands by engaging in advertising that builds customer loyalty for products like its ketchup and Cheez Whiz. And Apple can reduce the likelihood that the supply of memory modules for its iPhones aren't disrupted by building business relationships with multiple suppliers. Working Together: Team Exercise Almost a third of employees who leave their companies within the first ninety days say they left because they didn't fit into the company's culture. 128 This suggests that learning about a company's culture before you accept a job could save you a considerable amount of grief. To increase the chances that you'll fit with the culture of the company you next work for, form groups of three or four and share the characteristics of an organizational culture each wants (and don't want) in an employer. Compare your lists for common factors. Now choose one of the group member's lists and discuss: What could you do when visiting a company for an interview to find out whether it has the characteristics on the list? What questions could be asked during the interview? What clues could be looked for when walking around the company to understand what the culture is like? Be ready to share your analysis with the class. Stankey. At a recent town hall meeting, Stankey talked about HBO increasing its subscriber numbers and the amount of content offered. This is a different approach from HBO's emphasis on quality over quantity. Focusing on quality worked for almost two decades. HBO had the most Emmy nominations from 1999 to 2017. Then, in 2018, Netflix beat out HBO with a higher number of Emmy nominations. The sheer volume of Netflix's shows is credited as the reason for its launch to the top. 134 Plus, HBO only spends about one-quarter to one-third of what Netflix spends on developing new content. Some of HBO's productions in the past have taken years to develop and cost millions per episode. Stankey wants HBO to try new approaches and add other types of content than what is currently offered on HBO Now, its streaming service. He offered these glimpses of the future saying that there would be fewer streaming companies. Figuring out how not to just survive but to thrive in this industry will be the challenge. Case Application 1 Environmental Uncertainty at HBO HBO is one of those company names everyone knows. It's the oldest and second-largest pay TV station in the US. Since the early 1990s, it has been developing original programming. That's much longer than Netflix and Amazon. HBO shows like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Westworld have won Emmy and Golden Globe awards. HBO includes seven 24-hour channels as well as the streaming service HBO Now. It has about 130 million subscribers worldwide. 129 That all sounds like HBO is doing well, right? Looking more deeply, though, there is a lot happening in HBO's environment. Over a million households got rid of their cable TV subscriptions during a three-month period in 2017. That's much faster change than experts expected. By 2030, the cable and satellite TV market is estimated to shrink by 26 percent. That would leave only 60 percent of American households as subscribers to pay TV. 130 My Turn to Be a Manager - Find current examples in any popular business periodical of both the omnipotent and symbolic views of management. Write a paper describing what you found and how the examples you found represent these views of management. - Consider a business that you frequent (for example, a restaurant or coffee shop) and review the six aspects of the external environment discussed in the text. Create a list of factors in the external environment that could affect the management of the business you selected. - Choose an organization with which you're familiar or one you would like to know more about. Create a table identifying potential stakeholders of this organization. Then indicate what particular interests or concerns these stakeholders might have. - If you belong to a student organization, evaluate its culture by answering the following: How would you describe the culture? How do new members learn the culture? How is the culture maintained? If you don't belong to a student organization, talk to another student who does and evaluate it using the same questions. change can be accurately anticipated, it's not an uncertainty for managers. The other dimension of uncertainty describes the degree of environmental complexity, which looks at the number of components in an organization's environment and the extent of the knowledge that the organization has about those components. An organization with fewer competitors, customers, suppliers, government agencies, and so forth faces a less complex and uncertain environment. Organizations deal with environmental complexity in various ways. For example, the Hasbro toy company simplified its environment by acquiring many of its competitors, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley. Complexity is also measured in terms of the knowledge an organization needs about its environment. For instance, managers at Pinterest must know a great deal about their internet service provider's operations if they want to ensure their website is available, reliable, and secure for their customers. On the other hand, managers of college bookstores have a minimal need for sophisticated knowledge about their suppliers. How does the concept of environmental uncertainty influence managers? Skill Exercise: Developing Your Environmental Scanning Skill About the Skill Anticipating and interpreting changes that take place in the environment is an important skill managers need. Information that comes from scanning the environment can be used in making decisions and taking actions. And managers at all levels of an organization need to know how to scan the environment for important information and trends. Steps in Practicing the Skill You can be more effective at scanning the environment if you use the following suggestions: - DECIDE WHICH TYPE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR WORK. Perhaps you need to know changes in customers' needs and desires, or perhaps you need to know what your competitors are doing. Once you know the type of information you'd like to have, you can look at the best ways to get that information