10 Summary

• Nowadays change is not a disruption of normality: in a very real sense, change is the norm.

• Forces in the general environment that lead to change in organizations can be categorized as:

  • Political factors

  • Economic factors

  • Social factors

  • Technological factors

  • Legal factors

  • Environmental factors

• Carrying out a PESTLE analysis will help you to identify the external forces for change that may affect your organization and your department in the future.

• You can keep up-to-date with developments that may affect your department by:

  • reading journals and newspapers;

  • talking to suppliers' representatives;

  • reading company newsletters and bulletins;

  • attending management briefings;

  • going on relevant courses;

  • talking to colleagues in your own and other organizations.

• By carrying out a SWOT analysis for an organization (or department) you identify the following.

  • Strengths

  • Weaknesses

  • Opportunities

  • Threats

• An organization's strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. They include:

  • the things it does well or badly;

  • its resources or lack of them in certain areas;

  • its staff skills or gaps in these skills;

  • the high or low staff morale;

  • the high or low demand for its products or services;

  • its strong or weak financial position.

• The opportunities and threats are presented by the external environment.

• Carrying out a SWOT analysis should enable you to identify ways in which an organization, or department, can:

  • build on its strengths;

  • rectify its weaknesses;

  • grasp opportunities;

  • overcome threats.