Analysis of Enterprise Environmental Factors for Ford Motors Co.

This report presents an analysis of Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF) and their impact on the Electrical or Electronic Systems Engineering department of Ford Motors Co.

Introduction
Ford Motor Co. is an automaker company situated in the United States of America and was
established in the year 1903. The revenues of the company are approximately $164,196 billion.
Company has a presence in the entire world with 327,537 employees working for it across the
world. The company has a department called the Electrical or Electronic Systems Engineering
department and it has the responsibility of developing electrical systems and these systems are
valued at cost of $800 to $1000. These systems are then sent to more than 80 vehicle programs.
This particular department has almost 740 employees divided into teams with 25 engineers in
each team.
The department and its processes are well aligned with the mission of product creation
enumerated by Ford, which helps in intensification of communication. However, there are many
internal and external factors that have an impact on the functioning of the department. Hence,
this report presents an analysis of Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF), their impact as well
as the plan of communicating with the stakeholders.
Enterprise Environmental Factors
The Ford Motors Co. operates in a highly volatile environment in which changes take place
rapidly. The changes, however, can be both internal as well as external to the company.
Therefore, with respect to Ford Motor Co. various Enterprise Environmental Factors can be
taken into consideration, which affects the operations of the company.
The term EEF can be defined as all those internal and external factors that have an impact on the
operations and activities of an organization (Institute of Leadership & Management, 2007).

There can be a positive as well as negative impact of these factors. Some of the factors internal
as well as external to the organization are mentioned below:
INTERNAL FACTORS
1. Human Resources
2. Operational Efficiency
3. Organization Structure and Organization Culture
4. Availability of Capital and Finance
5. Infrastructure
6. Uniqueness of the products offered
7. Imitation risk of the products
8. Management Decisions
9. Innovation
10. Communication within the organization
EXTERNAL FACTORS
1. Political Environment
2. Economic Environment
3. Technological Environment
4. Social and Cultural Environment
5. Ecological Environment
6. Legal Environment
7. Infrastructure
8. Suppliers and Creditors
9. Customer Demands

10. Market Conditions
In total, 20 environmental factors are listed in which 10 are related to internal environment and
10 are related to the external environment. Out of these, some important ones are explained in
the below section:
Internal Environmental Factors
Human resources- Most important resources of a company are its human resources and this
applies to Ford as well. The department first checks the requirement of the project and as per the
required skill set, human resources are allocated. The department has a diverse workforce, which
makes this process of allocating human resources easy. Furthermore, the advanced project
managers for this department are identified through individual development plans and they are
then provided with advance training so as to make sure that they will be able to take up
permanent leadership roles in the company.
Operational Efficiency- It is essential so as to ensure reduction in costs, avoidance of wastage
and timely delivery. At the Electrical/Electronic Systems Engineering department of Ford,
operational efficiency is greatly focused upon. This is evidenced by the fact that the company
tries to remain consistent in project management delivery. This is done by ensuring
standardization in processes and institutionalization of new processes.
Organization Structure- If the structure and the roles in an organization are well defined, then
ambiguity and mismanagement decreases to a great extent (Contreras, 2007). The
Electrical/Electronic Systems Engineering department is divided into three levels, the
governance board, the stakeholders and professional project managers. The prioritization work is
carried on by the governance board; technical knowledge is provided by the stakeholders and

professional project managers manage the project. This helps in adequate communication and
puts a check on any resistance from employees.
Management Decisions- The most important factor that has an impact on the allocation of
resources at electrical/electronic systems engineering department are the decisions of
management. In fact, the final decision about which project must be given priority must be with
the governance board of the department. Thus, any resources to be allocated require the
permission of the board.
Communication within the organization- The above mentioned management structure will
help the department to communicate effectively and efficiently. It is essential to put some control
over the information that is being transmitted while undertaking a project. Communication has a
lot of impact on the working of a project (Rogala & Bialowas, 2016).
Infrastructure- Infrastructure, here, means the available tools and techniques which ensures
speeding up of the existing processes. For this purpose, the employees must be well trained to
ensure that they are well aware of the technology they are supposed to be use.
External Environmental Factors
Political Factors- This affects the working of an organization because the government of the
country must come up with policies that are favorable to the industry, in this case, Car
Manufacturing Industry. If the policies are in favor, then it will give a boost to the operations of
the company (Thomas & Feys, 2015).
Economic Factors- The economic condition of the industry as well as of the country in which
the company is situated affects the performance of the organization. The performance of Ford, as
a company will depend on the economic factors of the industry as a whole. For example, if the

prices of the tools required are suddenly hiked, then it will have an impact on the profitability of
the company as well (Wallis, 2015).
Social Factors- The taste of the people which the company is serving also affects performance
of the company. Society determines the trends and features and the company must operate
according to the needs and wants of the society. With respect to Ford, the designs of the cars
would be as per the demand of society (Berry, Pestle Analysis Essntials, 2017).
Legal Factors- The car manufacturers like Ford have to ensure that all the laws framed with
respect to pollution, disposal of waste and the materials used are followed by them, because any
discrepancy from the laws might lead to huge penalty and severe consequences (Berry, 2017).
Technological Factors- Ford Motors Co. is required to constantly undergo innovation to make
its current technology and design better in order to survive the competition. Also, the company
must ensure that efficient engines are designed, which help in controlling the pollution from it
(Robertson, 2015).
Environmental Factors- These factors also have a huge impact on Ford, as the company might
be under pressure to develop technology to reduce air pollutants emitted from the vehicles,
because they affect the environment adversely (Berry, 2017).
Strategies for Impact Assessment
PESTLE Analysis- This tool helps in analyzing the factors external to the organization and their
impact. The name PESTLE is short for political, economical, social, technological, ecological
and legal factors (Perera, 2017). All these factors help in analyzing the external environment of a
company. For example the legal, ecological and technological factors have a huge impact on the

Ford Motor Co. as these factors attract government and societal displeasure if anything goes
wrong.
SWOT Analysis- This tool helps in understanding the internal environment of the company by
clarifying the strengths and weaknesses of the company (Sarsby, 2016). The strengths of Ford lie
in its availability of human resources, standardization of processes and making project
management as an in house discipline. However, there are some weaknesses as well. The biggest
weakness was the time taken in realizing that project management office approach was quite
essential for the improvement of the project management processes.
Stakeholder Analysis- This strategy is usually used by many companies to manage their
projects. With the help of stakeholder analysis, electrical systems engineering department of
Ford was able to develop standardized processes and control systems (Kimmich, Janetschek,
Meyer-Ohlendorf, Meyer-Ueding, & Sagebiel, 2012).
Phased implementation shall be adopted by the company. The methodology given by PMBoK
consists of five stages:
 Initiation
 Planning
 Execution
 Control
 Closure (Project Management Institute, 2017)

Justification for the Strategies
The strategies adopted would help in framing processes based on the most significant of all
factors and its impact on the organization. Ford needs to focus on improving the communication
within the organization and it also needs to consider the legal factors. Thus, SWOT and PESTLE
analysis are useful techniques for taking suitable actions.
Communication Plan
Purpose
To provide stakeholders with latest information in real time
Communication Guidelines
 Internal stakeholders must be provided with clear and detailed directions regarding the
manner in which they must proceed.
 Daily meetings must be conducted.
 Communication with external stakeholders must be carried out on weekly basis through
audio-visual means.
 Security and privacy must be ensured.
Reporting Structure
Name of Report Share with/Not
Share with
Frequency Shared By Communication
Mode
Status Report Internal Stakeholders Daily Department
Heads
Internal Mails
Progress Report Internal and External Weekly Project Internal Mails

Stakeholders Managers
Change
Management
Report
Internal and External
Stakeholders
Monthly Governance
Body
Internal Mails
Defect Report Internal and External
Stakeholders
Weekly Senior
Managers
Internal Mails
Completion Report Internal and External
Stakeholders
On
completion
Project
Managers
Internal Mails
Conclusion
Electrical/Electronic Systems Engineering department is affected by many internal and external
factors. Human resources, management decisions, internal communication and organization
structure are major factors affecting it. Therefore, the department of the company ensures that the
resources are adequately placed as per their skills and, strategies are communicated effectively
by preparing reporting structure and communication plan.
References
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Contreras, C. (2007). Organizational structure and culture: promising practices that lead to
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Institute of Leadership & Management. (2007). Organisational Environment. Routledge.

Kimmich, C., Janetschek, H., Meyer-Ohlendorf, L., Meyer-Ueding, J., & Sagebiel, J. (2012).
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