Mid-Term Application Reflection 3-4 pages ALL IN APA STYLE AND ORIGINAL WORK QUALITY WORK
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weekly_refelction.docxWeek 1-4 Discussions
Week 1
Strategic planning is the hallmark of success of all organizations in the industry. Growing competition makes it extremely important for organizations to set goals and regulations to streamline their day-to-day activities. The ability of dictating, planning, organizing and allocating resources of an organization is the hallmark of strategic planners responsibilities in an organization. For businesses to function properly, there are certain facilities, services, and organizational structures that are required including strategic planning and management. Proper strategic planning will ultimately set a positive foundation for a successful organization. Strategic planning is one of the most essential parts of all organizations in the industry. Therefore, strategic planners are vital for the maintenance of organizations and their functionality.
In order to run a successful organization, it’s essential for strategic planners to understand the nature of work and demands of the company they are managing including health care organizations. The main goals of strategic planning entirely depends on both long-term and short-term strategies, which will help companies, make strategies in order to make accurate decisions for promoting their individual products and services. “Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological), to define direction” (Drewniak, 2014). Thus, it’s important for strategic planners to fully entail strategies that fulfill their day-to-day management of the organizations tasks.
The role of a strategic planner in an organization is extremely important due to the fact that proper strategies implementation dictates the success of an organization. The role of a strategic planner has changed dramatically over the past several decades due to the growing competition in the industry. Nowadays, strategic planners have to be fully aware of the fact that consumers have access to a lot of information, which they utilize to make their decisions regarding their basic and health care needs. Therefore, strategic planners have to implement strategies that portray a positive image of their company so that consumers will be willing to choose their organizations over others offering the same products and services. Within a given demographics, more than one organization is offering same products and services to the consumers. Therefore, consumers have a lot of available tools to compare and contrast services before making their decisions. “As markets shift under the influence of the actions of your competitors, you have to modify your strategy to continue delivering the competitive advantages you need to remain profitable”(Markgraf, 2016). More than ever before, strategic planners have to closely monitor key variables regarding their competitors and adjust their strategies and policies to take advantage of changes and opportunities. “In addition to evaluating the actions of your existing competitors, you have to check for new entrants into your market. To get the most advantage from your strategy changes, you have to think ahead to how each competitor is likely to react to your adjustments”(Markgraf, 2016). Thus, Smart consumers behavior has been increasing over the past several decades and this has definitely made the job of strategic planners a lot more difficult than ever envisioned before.
Among many other skills, strategic planners also have to really excel in large-scale data organization and collection. The ultimate success of organizations entirely relies on strategic planners abilities to analyze data so that resources can be managed and allocated in ways that proves most beneficial for the future growth of their organization. Being able to analyze and interpret data that has been provided by different resources can greatly benefit the future growth in the long run. In a highly competitive business world, it’s extremely important for strategic planners to have good decisions making tools so that they can make educated decisions. Data interpretation is an essential part of research that is often needed to make proper decisions in the workplace. One of the most important aspects of strategic planners responsibilities includes the ability to predict future outcomes based on highly educated data analysis. Thus, it is of utmost importance that strategic planners have a thorough understanding of data analysis methodologies including quantitative and qualitative methods. “Both qualitative and quantitative methods of user research play important roles in product development. Data from quantitative research—such as market size, demographics, and user preferences—provides important information for business decisions” (Madrigal, 2012). These two methods are most commonly used to interpret data analysis. Quantitative data relies on factual information that is primarily dictated by mathematical analysis, numbers and quantities that can be easily measured. On the other hand, qualitative data focuses on interpretations that focus on providing information regarding why and how to fix a problem using interviews, questionnaires, and unstructured observations (Rohrer, 2014).
In addition, to build a solid foundation, strategic planners also makes it possible for organizations to build a road map of where the company is and where it is going so that the company can have a bright future in the industry. Therefore, strategic planners have to handle a lot important responsibilities and this is the reason why they often have to face a lot of challenges in their job. The greatest challenge for strategic planners in any environment is execution, actually having the ability to make a plan. “Too often so much effort and attention is focused on developing the plan that once it’s developed the planning team feels that their work is through. Actually achieving the goals, objectives, strategies and tactics in the plan is the point of the entire process, as effective strategic planners know” (Richards, 2016). Another important challenge for strategic planners is the fact that they have to deal with a lot of people with different viewpoints. “Achieving consensus can be challenging, but fortunately there are a number of business tools that can be used from simple brainstorming, to mind mapping to nominal ranking” (Richards, 2016). Therefore, strategic planners also have to improve their social skills in order to positively deal with individuals with different perspectives.
Ultimately, understanding of research applications can help strategic planners to choose appropriate research tools to develop product strategies, set future goals, and expand their organizations. In addition, companies often use both quantitative and qualitative methods together to manage their organizations. Strategic planners can really take advantage of quantitative techniques to predict future outcome based on concrete statistical data and then use qualitative methods to see which product trends that are currently favorable by the general population. Thus, based on data collected by both of these methods, strategic planners can implement strategies that can really help them develop products and services, which are really profitable for their organizations.
References
Drewniak, Rob. (2014). 7 Steps to Healthcare Strategic Planning. Hayes Management Consulting. Retrieved on 4th November, 2016 from
http://www.hayesmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Whitepaper- Hayes-White-Paper_7-Steps-to-Healthcare-Strategic-Planning.pdf
Madrigal, D. (2012). Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative and Qualitative Research. UXmatters. Retrieved on 3rd November, 2016 from
Markgraf, Bert. (2016). Factors That Affect a Firm’s Competitive Strategy. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 3rd November, 2016 from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/factors-affect-firms-competitive-strategy-70012.html
Rohrer, C. (2014). When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods. Neilsen Norman Group. Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux- research-methods/
Richards, Leigh. (2016). Challenges of Strategic Planners. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 4th November, 2016 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/challenges-strategic-
week 2
What competitor information categories are useful in competitor analysis? Are these categories appropriate for health care organizations? How can these information categories provide a focus for information gathering and strategic decision-making?
Business world is highly competitive due to the fact that there are many entities trying to increase value for their companies in the same industry. As more companies enter the business world, the competition in business becomes even more fierce. Growing competition makes it apparent for businesses in the industry to carefully analyze their goals and strategies. In order for businesses to grow and to keep a positive image, the management teams have to be able to comply their individual company with the current market trends. "Competitive analysis plays an important role in shaping the marketing strategies of many brands. Your brand’s rank in your market helps reveal your strengths and shortcomings" (Parker, 2013). Nowadays, there are so many companies offering the same products therefore consumers have many available options to serve their personal and healthcare needs. Consumers rely on external resources like the Internet and reviews from other consumers before making important decisions regarding their purchases including healthcare needs. Thus, competitive analysis is an essential part of strategic planning so that proper decisions can be made in order to successfully run organizations.
It's vital for companies to carefully evaluate the costs associated with their services and products compared to their competitors in the market in order to establish a good financial management system. “With a good financial management system, you will know not only how your business is doing financially, but why. And you will be able to use it to make decisions to improve the operation of your business” (Lesonsky, 2016). The companies that are able to implement goals and strategies to fight the competitor’s services will always achieve great success. The main advantage one company can have over others is cost reduction strategies. Companies that are able to control theirs costs can significantly lower their prices for their services and products. This can drastically lower their costs associated with their day-to-day business activities, which will ultimately maximize profits. Having the ability of maintaining lower prices and costs will eventually allow companies a great leveraging power over their competitors in the industry. Therefore, it is fundamental to review and understand the ways the competitors determines their prices and the quality of services they are providing. Once these entities are understood, a company or an organization is in a better position to face challenges in their particular business markets. Consumers in this day of age are really well informed and will generally acquire two to three service quotes before making their final purchasing decisions. Due to this, all aspects surrounding price and services should be monitored with great detail so that an intricate review of the market can be performed and adapted.
The healthcare industry in recent years has also become increasingly competitive. It's also important to note that healthcare industry holds an essential part in the business world therefore it's important to understand the competitive analysis that exist among different healthcare providers as well. There are many reasons for importance of understanding competition in health care. This is primarily due to the fact that consumers have a great awareness of services that they are being provided. Therefore patients want to make sure they are being offered the best health care in the market. In order to achieve this goal, consumers often research different healthcare providers before deciding on their particular doctor. To make matters even more complicated, healthcare insurance companies always enforce many more restrictions which makes it extremely important for healthcare institutions to implement strategies which allows them to understand their competitors and the demographics that they aim to serve. Increase consolidation among large healthcare providers has also put more constraints between price variations among healthcare providers. Due to this, competitive analysis even becomes more crucial in the healthcare industry.
All companies including healthcare organizations need to develop plans so that management teams can make accurate decisions based on accurate data and competitive analysis. “The health industry will yield substantial returns for physician entrepreneurs, non-medical entrepreneurs and patients in the years to come as we witness the continuing evolution of our system. The key will be how successful we are in reshaping the microenvironment and the macroenvironment” (Meyers, 2014). Although some organizations think that they can individually plan their strategies without taking their competitors into consideration but in the long run companies that carefully evaluate their resources keeping their competition in mind will always have a higher rate of success. “The future will belong to those who create value and lays out his principles of value-based competition so that innovations that increase valve can be rewarded” (Meyers, 2014).
In addition, competitor analysis has many important roles that can often help management teams including:
· Planning and implementing new goals and strategies.
· To understand potential threats competitors pose?
· To understand the competitor’s strengths and weaknesses in order to learn from their business track records.
· To understand your competitor’s advertising and marketing strategies that cater the consumers.
· Understanding in depth information of running day-to-day business operations compared to their competitors.
· The ability of comprehending competitive benefits and disadvantages relative to their competitors.
· For management teams to forecast the costs, profits, and returns on future business investments.
· To help implement strategies to maximize future revenues.
· To provide an informed basis to develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the future so more profits can be gained.
· To help understand competitor’s strategies that gives them an edge in the market.
· To understand the competitive financial management in order to manage your own organizations finances.
Financial changes and improvements are made better when there’s a collective effort put into the work therefore easily accessible financial data allows businesses to develop much-needed highly advanced competitive analysis paradigm. Thus, understanding of your own and your competitor’s financial management will ultimately help managers to make educated prediction of the future in their business finances with less chance of errors. Goals of financial management are extremely important for organizations to allocate their finances properly in order to run successful businesses. “Sound Budgeting is important because it enables your business to approach decisions with sound information and sufficient resources” (Gartenstein, 2016).
The financial needs of companies are drastically changing as more and more companies are introducing new products and services. It’s extremely important for companies to understand that the things that worked for a business company today could end up being a disaster tomorrow. Being able to comply with the changing economy is what separates those who excel from the companies that are losing profits everyday. Therefore, it’s extremely important to have positive financial goals and strategies so that changes can be made constantly in order keep a successful business running. Competitive analysis is the key for companies in a fast moving economy where competition is fierce in all aspects of the markets. Thus, the hallmark of competitive analysis is the ability of identifying present as well as future competitions in order to accurately make decision-making tools that can eventually lead to success in business.
References
Gartenstein, Devra. (2016). Why is Financial Management so important in Business? Azcental. Retrieved on 8th November 2016, from http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/financial-management-important-business-4406.html
Lesonsky, Rieva.(2016). A Good Management system tell you hoe your business is doing. Entrepreneur.com Retrieved on 8th November 2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/21926
Why are the values referred to as an organization’s guiding principles? In what sense do values constitute a directional strategy for an organization? Illustrate with a health care institution example.
The foundation of all organizations is set on their core values and guiding principles. The understanding of one’s core values always holds significance due to the fact that core values help define the company’s identity by emphasizing their principles and beliefs. In order to achieve functionality and productivity in their work, organizations have to establish core values that give their company more impact in the market. In short, core values help organizations to show their fundamental capabilities and skills that ultimately run their business smoothly. “Core values educate clients and potential customers about what the company is about and clarify the identity of the company. Especially in this competitive world, having a set of specific core values that speak to the public is definitely a competitive advantage” (Wendy, 2013). Organization’s values can have a huge impact on the performance of the company in the business world and this is primarily the reason why organizations have to show reflection of positive values and their implementation so that their business can successfully move toward growth. Therefore values ultimately have the power to change the overall image of the organization among its consumers and competitors.
Not only do core values help to reflect what the company value, they also function as guiding principles, which help steer companies toward success. “Defining your beliefs and guiding principles is important to running a successful business”(Sugars, 2010). Once an organization has established their values based on the goals they hope to achieve in their particular business, now guiding principles can be further developed. “Guiding principles take values one step further by helping you think through how your values impact some of your key strategic decisions” (Ganguly, 2013). Core values and guiding principles work hand in hand in order to achieve efficiency in the business world including healthcare market. The primary goal of all organizations is to lead their companies to the path of success and for this to happen, it’s crucial for companies to determine the tone of their business, policies, true nature and their overall culture that they hope to show their potential investors and consumers. Based on their overall mission statement, values, and beliefs, organizations can further develop their guiding principles which can ultimately help in implementing successful strategies.
In addition, guiding principles are essential due to the fact that these help to guide group interactions so that the work related tasks can be achieved smoothly without any unnecessary delays. In order to run a organization successfully, many different people have to learn to coexist so that they can all work together to complete their projects. Therefore, it becomes even more important to establish core values and guiding principles so that all teams members are aware of the level of expertise they need to provide to match the work of their colleagues. In order to achieve efficiency, organizations need to develop business plans, which should also include their strategies. Organizations have to develop their core values and based on their values, individualized directional strategies can be developed to achieve their business goals. In order to develop an identity of an organization, it’s essential for companies to have their goals in mind and then establish their values. Core values have to be “honest and authentic statements of what’s essential to the organization’s success. If superb customer service is essential, then it’s a core value. If behaving ethically at all times is essential, it’s a core value. If making a profit is essential, then that’s a core value” (Douglas, 2015). Thus, the company has to decide values and beliefs that hold an uttermost importance for their organization and based on that further strategies has to be made in order to run their day to day activities.
A perfect example that illustrates the importance of values and guiding principles to constitute a directional strategy for an organization includes the world health organization, which serves a highly beneficial role in the health care market. World health organization often has many projects running at the same time and different teams are handling various different projects, therefore it’s extremely important for them to communicate their core values and guiding principals to their employees so that everyone fully understands the overall mission of the organization. The world health organization tries their best to achieve many health care goals in order to provide great health care services to the overall medical community. In order for the world health organization to have their staff to work properly, the organization has to make sure the organization values and guiding principles are shared with all their employees. In order to set a positive tone in their business, the organization has to align their beliefs with their staff so the organization can continue to hold excellent value in the health care industry.
World health Organization provide many benefits in the health care industry due to the fact that the organization fulfills their objectives by providing leadership skills on matters relating to health, research, and international public health. The world health organization is responsible for eradication of smallpox (World Health Organization, 2016). The world health organization also creates awareness and research for many serious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, Ebola, malaria among many others (World Health Organization, 2016). Thus, this organization holds an extremely important place in the global health care industry and this is why the world health organization serves as a perfect example to understand the importance of core values and guiding principles. For example, the world health organization set up specific guiding principles for their current work relating HIV/AIDS. Some of the guiding principles that hold importance to World Health Organization for their work relating HIV/AIDS includes:
· Elimination of human health suffering.
· Providing respect, dignity, and care to everyone.
· The ability of respecting diversity among people and providing equality to everyone regardless of their sex, race, age, or religion.
· Protecting everyone health information and status.
· Addressing social problems to establish valuable research to provide public health awareness.
· Providing privacy and confidentiality to everyone.
· Willingness to work together to find health related solutions.
“These values are common to our work as NGOs in responding to HIV/AIDS, whether we are HIV/AIDS, health, development, human rights or humanitarian NGOs” (World Health Organization, 2016). The world health organization shows that the importance of working together is significant if everyone is working to achieve common goals and their main goal is to end global health related suffering. Ultimately, these values and goals have made it possible for the World Health Organization to help so many people around the world. The World Health Organization provides many health care benefits to so many people suffering from diseases and this became possible due to their strong beliefs, values and guiding principles relating helping people suffering from many health care needs and conditions.
Reference
Douglas, E. (2015). Why Core Values Matter – and How to Instill Them? Business2 Community. Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/leadership/core-values-matter-instill-01199430#jPKdm8x7qdeVVB8k.97
Ganguly, S. (2013). How to Set Organizational Values and Guiding Principles? Triple Pundit. Retrieved from http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/02/set-organizational-values-guiding-principles/
Sugars, B. (2010). What Are Your Guiding Principles? Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/205846
Wendy, A. (2013). Company Core Values: Why to Have Them and How to Define Them. 7Geese. Retrieved from https://7geese.com/benefits-of-having-core-values-and-how-to-set-them-in-your-organization/
