Writers Den

Assignment 2: Internal
Environmental Scan/Organizational Assessment

This section provides the
opportunity to develop your course project. Conducting an internal
environmental scan or organizational assessment, provides the ability to put
the strategy audit together.

In this module, you will
conduct a comprehensive assessment of the internal environment at your business
unit or organization you are working with for this project, also known as an
organizational assessment, and present your findings in a report. In your
report, you should analyze the operating characteristics and assets of your
business unit.

The SWOT model is one of the
most common business tools used during organizational assessment. Another is
developing a balanced scorecard based on a prescribed or planned set of
performance objectives that will be measured and evaluated regularly. In this
assignment, based on the external environmental scan you conducted in M2: Assignment 2and the internal environmental scan in this
assignment, you will develop a SWOT analysis and a balanced strategic
scorecard.

Part
I: Internal Environmental Scan (2–3 pages)

The internal environmental
scan or organizational assessment should include the following:

·
Mission, vision, and values:Assess the organization’s understanding of the mission, vision, and values,
and how they relate the business strategy. Is there consensus on the mission
and vision of the organization? What are the shared values of the organization?
What are the behaviors espoused by these values?

·
Strategy clarification:Assess the organization’s
understanding of the business strategy through the interview with a mid-level
or senior manager. Assess his or her understanding and agreement of the
business unit’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage.

·
Cultural assessment:Explain the unwritten rules
and shared values that govern behaviors in the organization. Do they act as
enablers or blockers to the strategy? For example, is there a culture of
information sharing and collaboration that enables the organization to respond
quickly across structural boundaries to solve problems for customers? On the
other hand, do groups not share important information through informal
mechanisms, thus slowing response times?

·
Value chain analysis:Identify the primary (direct)
and support (indirect) activities that create and deliver your product or
service to your customers. Assess each activity’s contribution to competitive
advantage through cost or differentiation. Identify any areas where the business
may be at a competitive disadvantage.

·
Summary of findings:Using these different analyses, identify the organizational strengths and
weaknesses as they relate to the business strategy. Organizational strengths
are assets, capabilities, and resources that contribute directly to the
organization’s strategic fit, differentiation, and competitive advantage
relative to competing organizations. Organizational weaknesses are
characteristics and capabilities (often lacking) that place the organization at
a disadvantage relative to competitors.

Part
II: SWOT Analysis (1–2 pages)

Your SWOT analysis should
summarize the opportunities and threats from the external environmental scan
with the strengths and weaknesses from your organizational assessment or
internal environmental scan.

Your output should include a
matrix depicting strengths or weaknesses on the horizontal axis and
opportunities or threats on the vertical axis. This matrix will reveal a set of
strategy forces that can be used to assess the current strategy and identify
important potential changes to the strategic direction of the company.

In creating your SWOT
analysis, look for natural pairings of internal and external factors that match
internal resources and capabilities to the external environment. Internal
strengths and external opportunities depicted in the upper-left quadrant on
your matrix might form complementary pairs that suggest necessary strategic
focus for the business unit to pursue opportunities that fit its competitive
strengths. Conversely, internal weaknesses and external threats shown in the
lower right quadrant of the matrix may combine to illustrate the need for a
defensive strategy to avoid becoming highly susceptible to competitive threats.

Your matrix should not simply
be a collection of four lists compiled together in a matrix. Your analysis
should combine factors and explain why specific strengths complement specific
opportunities, and selected weaknesses are amplified by external threats. In
addition to your matrix, provide a brief narrative that summarizes the main
findings in your analysis and the implications for the current and projected
strategy.

Part
III: Balanced Strategic Scorecard (1–2 pages)

Use the balanced scorecard or
another similar tool to recommend indicators and measurements that will tell
you if the company is successful or unsuccessful in progressing toward your
vision through execution of strategy.

A balanced scorecard presents
organizational performance on four primary groups of measures:

·
Financial

·
Customer (external
stakeholder)

·
Learning and growth

·
Internal process

You should develop a strategy
scorecard that ties the performance of your business unit in these areas to its
overall business strategy. The challenge you face is selecting two-to-three
measures in each of the four areas that give a measurable and reliable
indication of the business unit performance in the key activities that promote
strategic fit, customer value, and sustained competitive advantage.

Write an 5–7-page report in
Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file
naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M4_A2.doc.

The paper should include a
cover page, executive summary/abstract, table of contents, body of paper—proper
headers (mission, vision, and values assessment; strategy clarification;
cultural assessment; value chain analysis; summary of key findings; SWOT
analysis; balanced strategic scorecard; and references).

By Wednesday, September
25, 2013, deliver your assignment to
the M4:
Assignment 2 Dropbox.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Mission, vision, and values:Assess the organization’s understanding of the mission, vision, and values, and how they relate the business strategy. Is there consensus on the mission and vision of the organization? What are the shared values of the organization? What are the behaviors espoused by these values?	16
Strategy Clarification:Assess the organization’s understanding of the business strategy through an interview with a mid-level or senior manager. Assess his or her understanding and agreement of the business unit’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage.	16
Cultural Assessment:Explain the unwritten rules and shared values that govern behaviors in the organization. Do they act as enablers or blockers to the strategy? For example, is their culture of information sharing and collaboration that enables the organization to respond quickly across structural boundaries to solve problems for customers? Or do groups not share important information through informal mechanisms, thus slowing response times?	16
Value Chain Analysis:Identify the primary (direct) and support (indirect) activities that create and deliver your product and/or service to your customers. Assess each activity’s contribution to competitive advantage through cost or differentiation. Identify any areas where the business may be at a competitive disadvantage.	16
Findings:Using these different analyses, identify the organizational strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the business strategy.	20
Write using ethical scholarship and proper grammar and mechanics.	16
Total:	100