Environmental Scanning

Let’s explore environmental scanning. Environmental scanning involves searching the environment for important events or issues that might affect an organization. Managers scan the environment to stay up-to-date on important factors in their industry and to reduce uncertainty. Organizational strategies also affect environmental scanning.

Finally, environmental scanning is important because it contributes to organizational performance. After scanning, managers determine what environmental events and issues mean to the organization.

After scanning for information on environmental events and issues and interpreting them as threats or opportunities, managers have to decide how to respond to these environmental factors. Because it is impossible to comprehend all the factors and changes, managers often rely on simplified models of external environments called cognitive maps.

Cognitive maps summarize the perceived relationships between environmental factors and possible organizational actions.