This week’s Learning Resources examine how
organizations conduct internal and external assessments for strategic planning.
Although these resources use differing terminology, the overarching focus of
this week is on how an organization assesses its own strengths and weaknesses
as well as on the opportunities and threats in the environment in which it
operates. For this Application Assignment, you will conduct a short analysis of
a particular health care organization. You will not have access to as much information
as you would if you were fully engaged in this process for an organization, but
this assignment will give you an opportunity to apply key principles and
generate questions for further exploration.
Prepare for this Application Assignment as follows:
·
Identify a health care organization with which
you are familiar and/or for which a significant amount of information is
available online.
·
With this organization in mind, review the
information presented in this week’s media segment and the chapters of the
course texts.
·
Then, research and analyze the organization as
follows:
·
o What are the mission, vision, and values of
this organization? What have you learned about the importance and function
of an organization’s mission, vision, and values?
o Gather data on these three aspects of the organization:
§ Historical financial performance
§ Major resources and competencies
§ Internal value chain of the organization
o Based on this abbreviated internal assessment (as indicated
above), what do you think are this organization’s most significant strengths
and weaknesses?
o Examine information about the community in which this
organization operates, and the various external factors identified in the
Learning Resources. These include economics, demographics, competitors, and other
factors.
o Based on this abbreviated external assessment (as indicated
above), what do you think are the most significant opportunities and threats
for this organization?
·
After you have concluded your research and
analysis, consider what additional information you would need in order to
conduct more complete internal and external assessments.
Then write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses
the following:
·
Analyze the mission, vision, and values of the
organization you have selected.
·
Describe significant strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats for the organization. Be sure to provide your
rationale.
