The emergence of crises is one of the aspects which might curtail the smooth flow of operations in an organization. There are incidences where the disruptions might be severe to the extent of jeopardizing the whole functions of an organization. Therefore, it calls on the organizations to develop crisis management mechanisms to assist in the prevention of eventualities and uncertainties which might arise during operations. In order to have efficient crisis management, there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of the existing strengths, the unforeseen weaknesses, opportunities, and threats which might be of danger to the organization. This article is a detailed analysis of SWOT for crisis management in K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward.
Strengths
In regard to the strengths, an organization in most cases is endowed with the resource base as well as the capacity which can be used to achieve the aims and set objectives put forth for the success. Generally, the organization should design strategies which maximize the use of its strength to exploit the opportunities so as to reduce the weaknesses which might expose it to threats. The strength in an organization is associated with a number of advantages especially to employees. For an organization to thrive, it calls on the employees to understand their strengths and the limitations of the organization (Serrat, 2017). It becomes important that strength evaluation starts with the internal individual environment. In the case of schools, the management should look at the individual employees such as teachers and other subordinate staffs. One of the renowned strengths an organization can be accredited with is effective communication and information flow. Looking at K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there is the proper channeling of information and efficiently working communication system. This is evident in the planning of events. Again looking at the news and announcements sections, there are the stipulations and statements of all the activities expected to take place within specific dates.
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Another strength of crisis management is a good team. The team becomes effective with the fact that there should be coordination of all the sectors and interaction of all the team operations. The team members are expected to be in touch with each other. It is recommended that there should be elements of professionalism. Teamwork has become one of the fundamental and hallmark elements of crisis management activities. The success of the entire management committee is dependent on the teamwork with the aim of achieving the organizational goals together (McNeese , Mancuso, McNeese, Endsley, & Forster, 2014). Hence, it can be concluded that teamwork is vital for the address of the emerging complexities and emergency. Looking at K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there is a team comprising of different groups. These groups work together to achieve the management of the activities.
These groups include the school management, the parents, the instructors and the specific school employees such as the medical and health teams. Take for instance the case of an outbreak of diseases such as waterborne infection, there are possibilities that the health personnel will be contacted to bring the facilities of emergence which pertains to health. Important is that emergence can be created within the organizational management such as the purchase of various equipment which was not intended in the initial budget or plan. When the team is in good terms and communications marked with appropriate coordination of activities and functions, there is a likelihood that the people involved will save the situation.
The team is also marked with strength emanating from the assessment team and formal incident action groups. The incident action group is crucial for an institution as it enables the identification of a problem and designing solution mechanisms. It calls on the organization to put in place the set group which can act in case of a crisis. There should be the alignment of the operational plan with the crisis communication plans. Looking at the K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there are plans which are set in place to see into it that there is an efficient framework for dealing with the crisis in case they emerge.
Weaknesses
Most of the crisis management plans are designed with the aim of ensuring the solution for unexpected sequences and events. In specific detail, the designs are looked at with the main objective of reducing unexpected emergencies. However, there are some unexpected eventualities which cannot be tackled even with comprehensive plans. The hard to deal with emergencies are emanating from natural calamities and disasters such as hurricanes and floods. Nevertheless, management is not exposed to such calamities as part of its objectives and plans. There are weaknesses in the organization, particularly in the crisis management plans. The most common is the failure to adequately data and relevant information and adequately plan in line with it. Failure to establish hierarchy and command structure can be a problem in the organization.
The challenge of inability by an organization to clearly designate a role to a team is a weakness. There should be the provision of a clearly spelled procedure as well as clear information marked by instructions to functions and duties. Identification of the specific duties and roles for an individual employee within a given organization can be treated as one of the most essential ways of tackling the crisis. However, looking at many organizations, there is the inadequacy in the coordination and collaboration of different people within their sectors. The case of K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward is seen as having well-structured coordination channels and communication as pointed out in the strengths sections. Nonetheless, there is the aspect of lack of well spelled out roles for the different personnel and employees. Even though there can be seen all the evidence of good communication and great teamwork for the school, the challenge sets in case of crisis. The challenge is mostly brought about by the fact that there are no well-designed roles by the employees in case of the emergency and crisis. It should be noted that there can be good communication structures and infrastructure. However, there can be no clearly defined roles by the players in different sectors.
Another challenge which poses a weakness to many organizations is the inability to effectively communicate with the outside community such as the hospitals and security agencies. The members of the outside communities such as the police and fire departments should be included in the emergency plans. The most important thing expected from the organization is the identification of support organizations and strive to create and make available contact information. Inasmuch as the K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward has a hotline for contact in case of challenges; communication should be detailed and comprehensive with closer touch with the mentioned communities. It is vital that the organization is given closer association and touch with the community to reduce the intensity of the crisis in case it occurs. This can happen when the management is taking control of the situation through progressive information delivery of any pending case of danger.
Failure to consistently update the contingency plans or lack of the plan altogether is a weakness in the crisis management plans. The crisis management should meet the regulatory requirements which form part of its plans. The organization like learning institutions should be composed of a response team, and the effective working environment made of easy access to facilities. There should be regular evaluation of the existing resources and crisis management framework to ensure that no extreme danger and threats posted on the institution. Looking at K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there are no well-stipulated structures for updating the plans put in place to salvage the situations in case the danger and threat emerge. It is important to note that the period taken to update the plans is an important aspect as it determines the input likely to change the existence of things.
The weakness can be seen by the failure of management to make the information easily accessible. The difficulty in accessibility can be increased by the institution’s lack of proper implementation strategies. It calls on all the individuals within the implementation framework and crisis management team to be in a good position to understand the responsibilities and duties. In some cases, there should be the availability of the guide and reference in the quickest time possible. Taking the case of K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there are seen the inaccessibility of information as part of the issue which can derail the proper management of institutional affairs. It is evident that the most concerned stakeholders are taken care of in the implementation strategies and understanding of the issues. However, the outside community especially the health department, the ambulance, and the security are not fully in touch with the crisis management system. It becomes one of the seen pitfalls in the entire issue of the implementation of the strategy in that there is curtailing of the implementation activities and the accessibility to important emergency information.
Opportunities
The opportunities are marked by the exciting areas which can be pointed in the functioning and operations of the organization. Some of the important opportunities which can be established in an analysis of the SWOT include changes in the government policies which are seen as favorable to a particular organization. Important is that the opportunities can be created by factors such as the positivity in information technology. The change in social patterns, lifestyle and populations can bring about the opportunities in the sector of crisis management. Factors like the emerging markets and the increase in the demand for the products are some of the opportunities which are arising in the organizational operations and undertakings.
Taking a focus on the K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward as an organization, there are seen the aspects of opportunities which are worth analyzing as far as crisis management is concerned. There are seen some elements of opportunities from the reviews posted on the blogosphere in regard to the school. The parents are pouring praises to the management and the achievements of their students who are in the school. One of the parents is seen as posting that the school cares more about the students and their education in general. According to the parent, the school has a website which gives the opportunity for parents to see the results of their children (Trulia.com, n.d). This review is seen as an opportunity as it creates a market niche which can be exploited to reach the people who have no information about the school.
Important is that the school is endowed with an element which can attract the outside community.
As far as crisis management is concerned, this review is essential in that it promotes the school as it creates an opportunity at which the school can be looked at in a popular perspective. The evolution of information technology creates an opportunity for the organization in that people are in a position to get the information online about the school. Important is that the school has the social media facilities and infrastructure which creates the potential threshold at which the people can directly engage in the activities of the school. The fact that the school can be reached by the community to see the events such as the sporting activities is welcoming as the people get in touch with the institution.
Another opportunity is brought about by the existence of population and community which is in line with the promotion of the school. Take for instance the existence of children who are in demand for education. The fact that there are communities such as hospitals, emergency facilities such as firefighters and security personnel within the state is an advantage and opportunity which can be exploited to see the thriving of the school. In case of a crisis like in the event of a fire outbreak or the health issue, there are possibilities that the students will not face more adversities. It calls on the institution especially K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward to see into it that there is enough exploitation of the available resources.
The conflict management elements are marked by the opportunities which should overcome all the negativities and threats which might be poised on the management. There are a number of threats directed to the organization by the outside factors such as the negative reviews and bad comments. Looking at the Florida state, there is a positive ranking of K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward in terms of reading proficiency. The recorded percentage of students attaining proficiency in reading skills is 55%. This percentage is higher than the average record for the entire state which stands at 52% as per the academic year 2015-2016. (Public school review.com, n.d). Crisis management is cognizant of the existing opportunities to help in the evaluation. It should be recognized that the crisis can be in existence from different perspectives. The crisis, in this case, can be in terms of the academic performance in which with the good ranking like the one pointed out above will be important in the tackling of such cases.
Threats
Threats are all the elements deemed as responsible for the damaging or may possibly damage the smooth operation of the organization. These may include factors such as competition from the peer organization and firms. As far as public organizations are concerned, competition might prompt a problem in drawing the human capital from one organization to another. In the case of K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward, there are various learning institutions within the neighborhood which can pose the competition challenge to the organization.
Inasmuch as there is the aspect of indirect threats, there is the possible transfer of the working personnel. With competition, as a barrier, there is the possibility for the stretching of the available resources such as the number of students which might be interested to join the neighboring institution. It is evident upon review that there are negative commentaries which arise from the parents in regard to service offered in K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward. There is the possibility that the neighboring institutions might take advantage of the dissatisfied parents to enroll their children. The problem is worsened by the fact the crisis might arise on the grounds of performance. Poor performance is a threat to the crisis management for instance according to 2015-2016, there were reports that in K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward had 47% proficiency in math. This performance was below the average for the entire state of Florida. The performances brew a lot of negative commentaries from the parents and other concern community members. In case of conflict arise, there is a possibility that performance can be used to pin down the institution.
Just like other institutions, the change in technology can negatively affect the organization. As it stands currently, there are many learning institutions affected by the fact that there is growing technological advancements. The computer games and augmented reality feature are likely to affect the crisis management in the institutions. Even though these activities are not likely to directly affect the institutions, it is apparent that most of the students are likely to engage in these undertakings and will change the results and their performance. In connection with the crisis management, threats imposed by technological advancements like the one pointed out, in this case, will reduce the effectiveness of the management team and its overall operations. When giving the analysis of the SWOT in line with crisis management, it should put into consideration the reflection of the outcomes. Important is that when designing the implementation framework the SWOT analysis should put as a priority the idea of consideration to all the purpose and the use of outcomes (Rehak & Grasseova, 2014). It becomes necessary that the purpose of the analysis is put as a priority and the user should be well defined before the actual analysis.
These technological advancements are external factors which should be regulated and controlled so as to realize the performance and effectiveness of the conflict management plans. Again it is of significance to put into consideration the fact that some competitors are likely to use their technological strengths to undermine the activities of K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward. Take for example the situation in which there is the evaluation of students’ moves and operations in academics. The software has played a vital role in the keeping of database which would be the point of reference in case there are the cases of misunderstandings such as performance. When the institution or an organization like K-8 Charter School Avant Garde Broward is not in a position to strengthen and create its own database and software, the students and parents are likely to protest and contest most of the results. The situation is worsened by the capacity of competitors to efficiently deal with such issues. In a condition where the competitors have the paraphernalia to manage such challenges, then it is clear that the people will head to such institutions.
There are external factors such as the government policies which are responsible for the hindrance of conflict management strategies. There are crises which arise from the enrollment of students and the number of teachers who are expected to be with a specific number of students. The average number of students expected in American classes is 21.3 in secondary classes as per the OCED. The total number of students in the institution is 943 against a total of 5 teachers. Looking at these statistics, one is likely to notice that there is no balance. As an overall positioning, the SWOT analysis is the basic tool which is used in the evaluation of the operations of the institutions and organizations. The elements in the SWOT analysis framework accurately give a reflection of the situation present in the organization thus demonstrate the validity of the analysis (Phadermrod , Crowder, & Wills, 2019). It can be concluded from this discussion that the analysis gave the rightful insights into the situation in the institution presented therein.
References
McNeese, M. D., Mancuso, V. F., McNeese, N. J., Endsley, T., & Forster, P. (2014, September). An integrative simulation to study team cognition in emergency crisis management. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 58, No. 1, pp. 285-289). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management , 44 , 194-203.
Public School Review (n.d) Avant Garde Academy K-8 Broward profile retrieved from https://www.publicschoolreview.com/avant-garde-academy-k-8-broward-profile
Rehak, D., & Grasseova, M. (2014). The ways of assessing the security of organization information systems through SWOT analysis. Crisis Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 712-728). IGI Global.
Serrat, O. (2017). Building a learning organization. Knowledge Solutions (pp. 57-67). Springer, Singapore.
