1. Examining the Environmental Influences or Driving Forces
A critical component of the scenario planning process is examining the environment around us and asking ourselves about the major influences that are shaping the world in which we are operating. You can conduct this environmental scan by conducting interviews, doing a literature review, or listening to presentations by subject matter experts.
To complete:
In the Group Wiki, write by Day 5 responses to the following:
- From the interview you completed for your Assignment this week, provide a summary of the environmental influences or driving forces that were identified by the person you interviewed that will be impacting your organization over the next 5-10 years.
- Share at least two websites or scholarly articles that you would use in a literature review to further explain these driving forces in the long term (these should be different than those resources identified to look at current trends).
2. Assignment
Starting the Scenario Planning Process
In this week's Learning Resources, you were introduced to the four interdependent stages of the scenario process called QUEST (questions, environments, scenarios, and transformations). In stage one, you develop framing questions in order to identify the purpose of your scenario planning process. The SWOT analysis you completed in Week 3 can be used as a way of identifying a purpose and agenda to your scenario planning process and helping to identify areas in the environment that will need greater focus over the next 5-10 years.
For this Assignment, review the Learning Resources for this week.
Create interview questions for a leader or subject matter expert in the nonprofit or government organization you have selected for your Final Project, and provide the following:
- Provide the position of the leader or subject matter expert you interviewed and explain why you chose this person.
- Describe other key players you would interview in your organization and/or community as part of a scenario planning process and explain why.
- Provide a list of 5-8 questions that you asked this individual and the answers you obtained during the interview.
Describe the driving forces you observed in the leader or subject matter expert you interviewed.
Sample questions can be taken from this week's Learning Resources and may look something like those below:
- When you look 10 years ahead, what do you consider most uncertain about where we are heading with local government?
- What would you consider a good outcome or a favorable scenario from these uncertainties?
- What would you consider a bad outcome or nightmare scenario?
- What are the major lessons learned in local government in the past 5 years that should carry us into the future?
- What are the big decisions that need to be taken in the immediate future that will steer us away from the nightmare scenario?
- What are the main constraints standing in the way of the favorable scenario?
The Assignment should follow APA 6th edition guidelines:
- Title page
- Running head
- Introduction and Conclusion
- Level 1 headings to define sections
- 3-5 pages in length, double spaced, 12 pt Times Roman font
- 3-5 references cited in the text and a reference list
Introduction
The International Red Cross is an international humanitarian organization that has more than 15 million members, volunteers, and staff across the world. The objective of this not-for-profit organization is to protect human life and health and thereby make sure that all human beings in this world have access to medical facilities. It was founded in 1863 and since then it has remain activated across the world. The headquarters of the organization are located in Switzerland. The organization, however, needs to carry out careful strategic planning to make sure that not only they achieve desired objectives but also overcome several internal and external environment challenges in a given environment. Today, with increasing globalization and with advent of new technologies, it has become difficult for the organization to operate in a given working environment. They face multiple challenges and hence strategic planning is important for them to remain successful in different case scenarios. They need to maintainpositive cash-flows so that they can rise necessary funding for different campaigns and operational activities of the organization (Cullmann, Schmidt-Ehmcke, &Zloczysti, 2012). This report will discuss the SWOT analysis of the International Red Cross so that the senior management can remain aware of their strengths, can take steps to overcome the weaknesses, can look out for additional opportunities to serve the human life in a better way, and simultaneously overcome the threats in a given environment.
Discussion
The International Red Cross is a well-known not-for-profit organization working in different parts of the world. The organization thereby faces issues such as of culture, language, caste and religion, and also other local barriers. They need to formulate strategies and seek for local collaboration with such organizations so that they can implement their strategies accordingly. They need to also seek cooperation from the local doctors and healthcare organizations so that they can provide necessary help to the patients in need in differentparts of the world. There will always be challenges regarding arrangement and allocation of the financial resources for all the activities carried out in the organization (Burke, van Stel, &Thurik, 2010). The rigid management structure of the organization will always pose challenges to the routine operations of the organization. It is important for the management team to reconsider their vision and thereby partner with other such NGOs to improve the quality of life for the patients. The subsequent section will discuss the SWOT analysis that will later provide recommendations to improve the present working scenario.
SWOT Analysis
The first major strength of the organization is strong brand equity. It has a very long history and hence has developed credibility among different parts of the world. The senior management has deployed important principles of leadership and management to make sure that they are focusing on the vision and mission of the organization. Third, they are the largest blood supplier in the United States. With their brand name, they also associate them with high levels of accountability, transparency, and trust. As a result, they are able to conduct operations in different parts of the world. With such a huge manpower they have a vast international presence; also, they follow all the legal norms of the respective nations and thereby have developed strong government relations (Dobbs, 2014). It assists the organization in their day-to-day activities of the organization.
Now, as far as weaknesses are concerned, critics have doubt over the financial control of the organization. They have raised questions regarding whether money is spent effectively on human welfare or not. Second, due to broad vision, it is become increasingly challenging for them to manage all the operations within the organization(Dobbs, 2014). Also, few management scholars have raised the questions over the rigid management structure. International Red Cross thereby needs to frame strategiesthat will help them overcome these weaknesses. They can even plan to reorganize the organizational structure to streamline the daily operations. As far as opportunities are concerned, the company still lacks having a global presence through social media. They are not using funds for research and development activities, which needs to be focused upon considering the age of technology.
They need to develop strategic alliances with other NGOs and not-for-profit organizations so that they can increase their reach in the under-developed nations of the world. They need to expand their services so that people of the society can have benefits out of it(Dobbs, 2014). Finally, they need to improve their communication channels and focus on the aspects of transparency, accountability, and honesty (Olins, 2011). It will help the organization achieve desired objectives of the organization. Finally, the threats include - other non-for-profit companies have specific goals that can deteriorate the brand image of the company, local governmental norms, and taxation issues. Also, the organization needs to improve their publicity campaigns so that people can become more aware of their products and services. It will make sure that the organization is able to overcome the threats and capture desired opportunities in a given challenging environment.
Recommendations and Conclusion
The company needs to improve their digital presence through social media marketing. They need to deploy technological tools to improve the efficiency of their daily operations and activities. They need to recruit more volunteers so that they can start new centers of services in the developing and under-developed nations of the world (Powell& Ralls, 2010). Also, they need to deploy marketing campaigns that will help them receive more donations from the world. Also, they need to formulate strategic alliances with the local NGOs so that they can overcome the challenges of local governmental norms, taxation policies, and operational laws of the respective nation. Further, they can initiate new marketing campaigns in the new nations with an objective to have more reached among the people of a given country. It will help them provide all the necessary healthcare and medical facilities. Also, people will turn more aware of such organizations and the people in need will benefit the most out of it. It is thereby the responsibility of the government as well to support such organizations and assist them in all their needs. However, the senior management needs to make sure that the company follows the ethical norms and Code of Conduct to ensure transparency, accountability, and honesty in their daily practices in the organization. It will help them overcome the internal and external challenges of a given operational environment and thereby make them successful in achieving desired objectives of the organization.
References
Cullmann, A., Schmidt-Ehmcke, J., &Zloczysti, P. (2012). R&D efficiency and barriers to entry: A two stage semi-parametric DEA approach. Oxford Economic Papers, 64(1), 176-196.
Burke, A., van Stel, A., &Thurik, R. (2010). Blue ocean vs. five forces. Harvard Business Review, 88(5), 28-29.
Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review,
24(1), 32-45.
Olins, W. (2011). A brand''s real value is nothing, except in the eye of the beholder. Marketing Week, 34, 31-47.
Powell, J., & Ralls, L. (2010). Best Practices for Internet Marketing and Advertising. Franchise Law Journal, 29(4), 231-238.