2002 by
Prentice Hall, Inc.
14-3
Documents: Definition and Scope
nA document can be described as a unit of “recorded” information structured for human consumption”
nDefinition also accommodates wide variety of documents used in organizations:
nContracts and agreements
nDrawings, blueprints, and photographs
nReports
nE-mail and voice mail messages
nManuals and handbooks
n
•The External Organizational Environment
•IT allows information to move faster, thus increasing the speed at which events take place and the pace at which individuals and organizations respond to events.
•Globalization
•Huge and everywhere
•Deregulation:
•More widespread in U.S. than anywhere else

•The Internal Organizational Environment
•Outsourcing and Strategic Alliances
•Examining types of work that are to be done internally or by others
•The Demise of Hierarchy
•Hierarchical structures cannot cope with rapid change.