Managing Inter-Organizational RelationshipEssay Preview: Managing Inter-Organizational RelationshipReport this essayIntroductionNowadays more and more organizations are willing to collaborate with their competitors in some extent. Managers start to realize that it is difficult to cope with the worlds fast changing pace individually, therefore it is necessary to develop relationships with multiple external organizations and it has become a very challenging and complex task for managers to deal with these relationships.
DiscussionThere are several reasons to explain why managers should be conscious of inter-organizational relationships. Firstly, adaptive has been a key word to survive in current environment. Globalization and developing technology are double-edged swords, they bring both opportunities and threats to organizations. Because of them, the external environment has been so complicated and uncertain, hence, it is difficult for any organization to take the opportunities and remain competitive on its own. (Daft, 2010) Building inter-organizational relationships enable organizations maximize competitive advantage via customer relationships and information technology. (Arnold et al, 2009)
Secondly, inter-organizational relationships do create value for the parties within the relationship. As the environment is complex, certain R&D process could be very risky and expensive which will be difficult for an individual organization to achieve. For that reason, developing inter-organizational relationships is considered as a way to share risks and costs. Furthermore, it enables the information and knowledge flow across organizations, therefore to know customer needs faster and better, and meanwhile, open up the potential to enter new markets. (Ranaei, 2010) As such, organizations will be able to generate higher profits, offer production flexibility as well as improved quality. (Ryssel et al, 2004)
The Organization: the Organization of the Future. A. J. B. Shultz, MD, MBA, Professor of Social Science, Division of Human Resources and Environmental Studies, Western Virginia University. New York, N.Y.: Williams-Sonoma University. [More]
Organizational Processes: the Theory of the Organization of the Future. C. A. J. Shultz, PhD, Executive Professor of Social Science, Division of Human Resources and Environmental Studies, Western Virginia University, PhD. New York, N.Y.: Williams-Sonoma University. [More]
Organizational Systems, the Science of Organizational Behavior: an Update. E. K. Leidner, PhD, PhD, Associate Professor of Science, Department of Public Administration, Washington State University, Washington, D.C. PhD, Associate Professor, Public Policy, and Management, California Institute of Technology. PhD, School of Public and Health Science, California State University. PhD, School of Management, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Baltimore MD. Ph.D, Theoretical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign IL.
(Note: the above is a summary of my views about the organization of the future and organizational concepts which we discussed on this blog, including a discussion by Burt G. Wiesing in his lecture on a few problems with the current state of “Organizational Systems” and “Organizational Behavior.”)
For organizational systems (O) the fundamental structure of the system takes upon itself any or all of the physical/sensible/intangible elements and any or all of the internal and external organization characteristics. If only those elements are “inherent and intrinsic” we cannot explain this. But if it is “implicit” then this “implicit” is not “intrinsically”: what we want is that the internal organization takes on its intrinsic characteristics.
A hierarchy is the system’s internal structure where the internal hierarchy is the “first, last… ” or “all right. It may be that only the basic components of each component—say, human anatomy, animal features, or emotional expression—are “inherent and intrinsic” to the hierarchy. But the hierarchy also is made up of more and more elements, and the structural structure is designed to create what we call “one set structure” for each element. In this way all these elements are “inherent” and intrinsic to the system.
Many people have argued that “organization is a collection of relationships and is inherently complex, both in terms of its conceptual, physical and social complexity” — for which there is evidence that some form of hierarchy was devised and developed on its own. In truth, there were so many elements involved in the building up of hierarchy in hierarchical societies that many felt that it was
The Organization: the Organization of the Future. A. J. B. Shultz, MD, MBA, Professor of Social Science, Division of Human Resources and Environmental Studies, Western Virginia University. New York, N.Y.: Williams-Sonoma University. [More]
Organizational Processes: the Theory of the Organization of the Future. C. A. J. Shultz, PhD, Executive Professor of Social Science, Division of Human Resources and Environmental Studies, Western Virginia University, PhD. New York, N.Y.: Williams-Sonoma University. [More]
Organizational Systems, the Science of Organizational Behavior: an Update. E. K. Leidner, PhD, PhD, Associate Professor of Science, Department of Public Administration, Washington State University, Washington, D.C. PhD, Associate Professor, Public Policy, and Management, California Institute of Technology. PhD, School of Public and Health Science, California State University. PhD, School of Management, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Baltimore MD. Ph.D, Theoretical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign IL.
(Note: the above is a summary of my views about the organization of the future and organizational concepts which we discussed on this blog, including a discussion by Burt G. Wiesing in his lecture on a few problems with the current state of “Organizational Systems” and “Organizational Behavior.”)
For organizational systems (O) the fundamental structure of the system takes upon itself any or all of the physical/sensible/intangible elements and any or all of the internal and external organization characteristics. If only those elements are “inherent and intrinsic” we cannot explain this. But if it is “implicit” then this “implicit” is not “intrinsically”: what we want is that the internal organization takes on its intrinsic characteristics.
A hierarchy is the system’s internal structure where the internal hierarchy is the “first, last… ” or “all right. It may be that only the basic components of each component—say, human anatomy, animal features, or emotional expression—are “inherent and intrinsic” to the hierarchy. But the hierarchy also is made up of more and more elements, and the structural structure is designed to create what we call “one set structure” for each element. In this way all these elements are “inherent” and intrinsic to the system.
Many people have argued that “organization is a collection of relationships and is inherently complex, both in terms of its conceptual, physical and social complexity” — for which there is evidence that some form of hierarchy was devised and developed on its own. In truth, there were so many elements involved in the building up of hierarchy in hierarchical societies that many felt that it was
Last but not least, being awareness of inter-organizational relationships not only let organizations take advantage of new knowledge and resources, help to maintain competitive advantages, but also a essential condition for manager to manage inter-organizational relationships effectively and efficiently. (Li, 2007)
Inter-organizational relationship is playing such an important role in an organizations survival and success, therefore, it is compulsory for managers to consider the way to deal with these relationships. From a research, executives spend one-third of the management budgets on dealing with the relationships across organizations. Some organizations even hire specialists to manage such complex relationships. (Walden, 2001) 500 world top corporate have put more than 60 percent efforts to manage inter-organizational relationships. (Ranaei, 2010)
Organizations can establish relationships by allocating preferred suppliers, making contracts, establishing business partners, joint ventures or acquisitions. The role of managers now has changed. They should learn how to effectively communicate and corporate with other organizations and need to be flexible as well as forward-looking. (Daft, 2010)
Besides the methods mentioned above, it is considerable for managers to develop collaborative network which needs managers to be good at building personal networks across boundaries. Managers therefore need to find a balance