Fluent Essays

SWOT analysis help please When an organization is faced with a challenge, or perhaps a new opportunity, care must be taken to properly diagnose the issues at hand so that proper actions are developed to accomplish the task in the most effective manner possible. During Week 2, you clearly defined a challenge for your chosen organization. During Week 3, you will develop a SWOT analysis targeting specifics of the organization that will impact the potential outcomes of the challenge. Prior to building the SWOT analysis, review the following web pages for ideas and guidance on developing proper questioning for the analysis: · SWOT Analysis (Links to an external site.) · SWOT Analysis: How to Develop a Strategy for Success (Links to an external site.) · What is a SWOT Analysis, and How to Do It Right (With Examples) (Links to an external site.) · SWOT Analysis: What Is It and When To Use It (Links to an external site.) Develop a SWOT analysis for the organization you are researching for your Final Paper. Define one or two findings for each section of the SWOT analysis that would be pertinent and specific to the outcome of the challenge identified during Week 2. For each section of the SWOT: · provide a definition for the section, · define a characteristic of the organization for the section, and use the defined questioning as the catalyst for the characteristic · and then, tell why that finding is important to resolving the challenge. EXAMPLE: Using scholarly research, define the letter S in SWOT. Then, through research, define a strength of the organization that is vital to resolving the challenge defined during Week 2. Include the reasoning as to why the strength is important and relate your findings to your SWOT questions. Continue this process for each letter of the SWOT analysis. Conclude this section of the paper with a paragraph briefly discussing the importance of the findings and how they will help reach a logical solution to the challenge and the possible type of strategy that best fits the process. Section 3 of the paper must have at a minimum two full pages of content (excluding the cover and reference pages). You must include at a minimum two scholarly resources (in addition to the text) that support specific strategies used to prepare the paper. Wikipedia is not a qualified resource. Use the Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.)  document for additional guidance. Include the text as a scholarly resource to support theory and concepts related to strategy. During the construction of Section 3, be specific and refrain from assumption. 3 Week 2: Structure and Decision Making Process Theresa Osendorf University of Arizona Global Campus MGT450: Strategic Planning for Organizations Professor Robin McCart September 20, 2021 The Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) is a non-profit higher education institution that primarily focuses on offering online courses to students across the globe. Since the establishment of the institution, there has been a lot of growth and advancement realized. This is a result of the quality leadership and brand recognition that the university has enjoyed. However, the organizational structure through which the university uses to make crucial decisions and share the information across the institution has played a significant role. According to UAGC (2021), UAGC has a tall hierarchical organizational structure. This is a structure where ranks are arranged from the highest to the lowest level. However, the university uses a functional organizational design where there are different departments, and each department has its specific area of specialization. For instance, there is the IT department, Marketing, Human Resource Management, and many other departments. At the university, the executive team oversees the running of the facility comprised of the Board of Directors, Chairman, CEO, and the MD, among others. Each department has the head of department (HOD), and other positions are ranked below the department head. The HOD connects the department with the university’s executive arm, thereby sharing all the communications from the executives to the department and vice versa. When it comes to important decisions, the executive team can engage different HODs’ and the decisions made are shared with all other stakeholders. In the first week, the major challenges affecting the UAGC were identified. The university was affected by unethical malpractices, especially by the leadership attracting huge losses for the company, increasing student enrollment using illegal means, and an online teaching strategy sidelining students with a specific learning disability. These three identified issues have a negative impact on the UAGC in many ways (Hernandez, 2020). The application of unethical behaviors by the leaders brought about economic instability in the facility by attracting huge and unnecessary debts that could have been avoided in the first place. The financial instability compromises the quality of services the university offers, which has created a negative reputation and pushed a lot of students to other universities despite the facility being a non-profit organization. The second impact is that the UAGC offers unique services to students with specific learning disabilities. This item has been a major strength that has made the university highly competitive. The failure to provide this service has come out as a developing facility weakness that has tarnished the brand image of the facility (Hernandez, 2020). The more important reason is that students attracted by the school to enjoy the privileges of a specific learning disability package are no longer attracted. Lastly, the unethical practices in the enrollment process have caused many students to lose trust in the institution, thus opting to seek alternatives where ethical enrollment is practiced. All these challenges have affected the university strategies since it is the desire and goal of the university to reach out to all students. Challenges have prevented some completely impoverished students from benefiting, thus losing their overall purpose of existence. Although a risky endeavor, the University of Arizona’s (UA) acquisition strategy to purchase Ashford University provides the UA ample opportunity. With the acquisition comes a positive financial outcome due to the global nature of the business and the revenue associated with the purchase (Abraham,2021). UAGC operates over 150 micro campus locations worldwide, resulting in serving a large, diverse student body. What’s more, UAGC has an enrollment base of approximately 35,000 students (About UAGC, 2021). Although there is fierce competition with online universities, UAGC differentiates itself by being affiliated with the UA brand (Abraham, 2021). References Abraham, S. C. (2012). Strategic Management for Organizations. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUMGT450.12.2/sections/copyright. About UAGC: Uagc: University of Arizona Global Campus. UAGC. (2021). Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.uagc.edu/about Hernandez, R. (2020, December 9). Analysis finds ethical issues with newly formed University of Arizona Global Campus. KJZZ. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://kjzz.org/content/1641785/analysis-finds-ethical-issues-newly-formed-university-arizona-global-campus. 2 Week 1: Evaluating Mission Statements Theresa Osendorf University of Arizona Global Campus MGT450: Strategic Planning for Organizations Professor Robin McCart September 13, 2021 The History, Industry, Mission, and Vision The modern-day new nonprofit University of Arizona Global Campus was once known as the former for-profit Ashford University. Its history dates back to 1918, when the Catholic Church expressed the need to have higher education centers. At the time, education was offered only using physical classrooms. However, over the years, the situation changed. Through series of mergers and changes in leadership, the university has adapted to newer versions that led to its current state, now known as The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC,2021). In 2005 Bridgepoint Education, Inc. purchased the catholic university and renamed it Ashford University. Shortly after that, in 2007, the brick-and-mortar campus expanded its program and began offering online classes. The name Ashford University was adopted from 2005 to early 2020. In 2020, a transaction transpired between the parent company of Ashford University, Zovio Inc., and The University of Arizona to create a nonprofit entity (UAGC, 2021). The name was once again changed to The University of Arizona Global Campus. The institution offers online classes across the globe hence enabling the university to meet its purpose in society. University of Arizona Global Campus is in the higher education industry. The organization has an established mission and value statement. Their mission statement defines their purpose as “to provide high-quality, accessible, affordable, innovative, educational programs that meet the diverse needs of individuals pursuing advancement in their lives, professions, and communities.” In support of its mission statement, the university is guided by five core values: quality, equity, empowerment, guidance, and ingenuity (UAGC, 2021). Through their values, mission, and all campus engagements, the university aims to make education accessible to as many people as possible fairly and equitably. The university has excellent internal leadership comprised of professionals that have been in the industry for years. It is the strength of their internal leadership team that has helped the organization to remain highly competitive. Some of the major competitors are; University of Phoenix, Washington Governors University, and Purdue University Global. University Strategy Challenges Recent news is that The University of Arizona University Global Campus has faced a series of ethical issues (Rocio Hernandez, 2020). The application of unethical practices, especially on the part of leadership, has exposed the institution to significant losses, especially after the acquisition of Ashford University. The issue had created room for many students to exit the institution with hefty unpaid debts, which is affecting the institution’s economic/financial stability. One of the unethical issues was the acquisition of Ashford while the institution had huge debts. Most commonly, an acquisition should be made only after the company being acquired has cleared its path. This is important to ensure that the acquiring party does not get affected by acquiring the company debt and would achieve the intended purpose. The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC), formally known as Ashford University, has faced a series of challenges that negatively affected the reputation. For instance, in 2019, the parent company to Ashford University, Bridgepoint, Inc., was named in a class-action lawsuit. This lawsuit was filed due to allegations of the university increasing student enrollment using unethical manners. According to the case filed on August 25, 2019, the university had created partnerships with numerous corporations offering their employees a full-tuition grant “FTG”. The FTG program accounted for approximately 10% of the student enrollment. (Pomerantz LLP, 2019). The lawsuit stated that Bridgepoint maintained deficient accounting controls, resulting in errors related to accounts receivable and inaccurate revenue projections. According to Del Bianco, & Mason, (2021); another major issue affecting the institution strategy is Specific Learning Disorders. This is a significant challenge because the university has a strategy of making a positive impact in the lives of all the students getting enrolled for the purpose of achieving their academic goals and objectives. It is a norm at the university to record students with disabilities like Attention and Learning Disorders and place them in the right program to help attain the proper education milestones. It is challenging that as online university programs have been increasingly diversified, offering unique and reliable online programs for students with Attention and Learning Disorders has become almost impossible. As a matter of reality, although the program provides online tutors, many students suffer from learning disabilities and have been unable to complete their education, resulting in poor graduation rates. Despite the negative reputation surrounding Ashford University, it appears they have taken steps to refurbish their image. Fortunately, The University of Arizona came up with a market development strategy to penetrate an existing market by purchasing Ashford University, thus offering students an online higher education platform (Abraham 2012). By following a strategic business model, UAGC is taking strides to provide a quality, affordable education to students looking to have the flexibility to complete their degree online. References Abraham, S. C. (2012). Strategic Management for Organizations. Log on to constellation. Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUMGT450.12.2/sections/copyright. About UAGC: Uagc: University of Arizona Global Campus. UAGC. (2021). Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.uagc.edu/about. Del Bianco, N., & Mason, L. G. (2021). Specific Learning Disorders in Higher Education: The University of Arizona case study. Education Sciences & Society-Open Access, 12(1). NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, Inc. . (2019, April 25). SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Reminds Shareholders with Losses on their Investment in Bridgepoint Education, Inc. of Class Action Lawsuit and Upcoming Deadline – BPI. University of Arizona Global Campus Library. Retrieved September 11, 2021, from https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/shareholder-alert-xa0-pomerantz-law-firm-reminds/docview/2214157059/se-2?accountid=32521. Hernandez, R. (2020, December 9). Analysis finds ethical issues with newly formed University of Arizona Global Campus. KJZZ. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://kjzz.org/content/1641785/analysis-finds-ethical-issues-newly-formed-university-arizona-global-campus. .