Q Project 2: Situation Audit Step 6: Determine Organizational Size and Structure Like strategy types and competitive advantage, organizational size and structure also have implications for accomplishing the organization’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives (MVGOs). Organizational Size Review your organization's size and determine how much it has changed over the last five years. Include in your audit an analysis of how your organization's size impacts its ability to accomplish its strategic objectives. Organizational Structure Organizational structure refers to the pathways that define who reports to whom. It is most easily discovered by studying an organizational chart. If your organization does not have a chart, or if the chart doesn't reflect reality, read Organizational Structure for help constructing an organizational chart. Having a chart for your organization will be helpful in determining which of the numerous structural types best apply. Include in your report an analysis of whether the current structure aligns with and impacts the organization's MVGOs and, if not, the likely consequences. When you have completed Steps 4, 5, and 6, follow the instructions in Step 12 to submit your organizational strategy and analysis to the Assignments folder for review and feedback. Then proceed to Step 7. Project 2: Situation Audit Step 7: Analyze Critical Resources Now that you've examined your organization’s big picture—MVGOs, size, and structure—you're going to analyze the critical resources of your organization for inclusion in your report. Critical Resources As you analyze your organization’s critical resources, follow the guidelines below: • Consider whether your organization has the critical resources needed to accomplish its MVGOs, whether these are being used effectively, and whether they are being leveraged for competitive advantage. • Read about resource-based theory and resource dependency theory to learn more about how and why certain resources may serve as a source of strength for an organization. • Consider whether your organization has valuable, rare, inimitable, and nonsubstitutable (VRIN) resources (characteristics of resources) that it can use toward a competitive advantage, and whether these are sufficient given the market or markets in which your organization is operating. Types of Critical Resources Briefly explain the relevance of resource-based theory and resource dependency theory to an organization's critical resources; then analyze and discuss two or three highlights that pertain to your organization's human, financial, technological, and physical resources. Integrate, as appropriate, the VRIN characteristics (valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable) in your discussion of the four critical resources listed below. Each critical resource should be discussed separately. • human resources • financial resources • technology resources • (physical resources) When Step 7 is complete, prepare your findings for inclusion in the final report. Then proceed to Step 8. Project 2: Situation Audit Step 8: Examine Leadership, Governance, and Management Now it's time to shift your focus to the organization's leadership. Management styles, leadership styles, and governance structures can have an immense impact on the daily experience of employees at all levels. Leadership can also positively or negatively affect the execution of all the elements you've studied thus far: strategy, resource allocation, competitive advantage, etc. Read the resources below and prepare a summary and analysis of how each principle applies to your organization. (If you believe one of these topics is not relevant for your organization, you may be able to skip it. Before making this decision, consult with your professor): • management and leadership styles and effectiveness • management control systems • organizational leadership • governance When you have completed Steps 7 and 8, follow the instructions in Step 12 to submit them for feedback in the Assignments folder. Then proceed to Step 9, where you will review the elements of a SWOT analysis. Project 2: Situation Audit Step 9: Evaluate Strengths and Weaknesses An analysis evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, known as a SWOT analysis, is an important task when analyzing an organization's situation, especially when the information is intended for use in strategy development and related decision making. For the purposes of this report, however, your interest is in internal organizational factors, and you will therefore focus on strengths and weaknesses. Review the elements of a SWOT analysis, concentrating on the S and W portions. Then use the results of your analyses in Steps 2 through 8 to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organization. When Step 9 is complete, prepare your findings for inclusion in your final report. Then proceed to Step 10. Project 2: Situation Audit Step 10: Explore Capacity for Learning and Change The last step before working on all your conclusions and recommendations for this report is to examine your organization's capacity to learn and change. Learning organizations are organizations that systematically measure their performance against sound criteria and metrics and then take concrete actions to change and make improvements. However, organizations—and people—vary considerably in their ability to decide upon, implement, and manage change. Therefore, managing change is extremely important and often goes hand-in-hand with the desire to improve organizational performance. Think about your organization’s attempts to improve its performance in key areas. If the organization has tried to make changes in key areas, were the attempts a success or a failure? Explain the reasons you associate with the organization’s success in making changes or the organization’s failure to succeed. (If you cannot identify any attempts by your organization to make changes, think of a key area in your organization that could be improved and briefly explain the reasons you think your organization would succeed or fail if an attempt to make changes in that area was launched.) For further guidance, read these resources on organizational change and learning organizations. When Step 10 is complete, prepare your findings for inclusion in your final report. Then proceed to Step 11. Project 2: Situation Audit Step 11: Form Conclusions and Recommendations It's time to wrap everything up. You will now finalize your situation audit report by making recommendations based on the conclusions and research that you've done. In priority order, with one (1) being the highest rank, list and explain, in no more than a few sentences for each conclusion, your report’s 3 to 5 most important conclusions. Follow each conclusion with a specific recommendation that is expressed in no more than a few sentences. Once discussed with senior management, these recommendations and conclusions may form the basis of future strategic plans and objectives for your organization. When you have finished this step, continue to Step 12 to submit your final situation audit report.