An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment
This case explores an ambiguous, public incident of a mature student touching a younger Professor, which created the perception of a hostile work environment for the Professor and for some students in her class. The ambiguous nature of the contact itself, uncertainty about organizational processes, potential career and reputation outcomes, and the impact on the learning environment in her classroom are all considered by the professor as she tries to decide whether to make a formal complaint, attempt to resolve the issue informally, or ignore it. This case does not address sexual harassment from a legal or regulatory perspective, but rather considers the role of perception and attribution in defining harassment, the social and psychological impact of sexual harassment on individuals, and the reasons that sexual harassment incidents continue to occur.
Swot Analysis of "An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment" written by Katherine E Breward, Colleen Sharen includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Harassment Sexual facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Workspaces and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harassment Sexual, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harassment Sexual operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harassment Sexual
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Harassment Sexual
Strengths An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Harassment Sexual in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Harassment Sexual has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Harassment Sexual has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Harassment Sexual has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Harassment Sexual has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Harassment Sexual are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Harassment Sexual digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Harassment Sexual has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Harassment Sexual is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Harassment Sexual is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Harassment Sexual in the sector have low bargaining power. An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Harassment Sexual to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High brand equity
– Harassment Sexual has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Harassment Sexual to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harassment Sexual to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harassment Sexual to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Harassment Sexual is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Harassment Sexual in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Harassment Sexual is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Harassment Sexual, firm in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Harassment Sexual has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Harassment Sexual has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Harassment Sexual is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Harassment Sexual has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Harassment Sexual even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Harassment Sexual is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Harassment Sexual has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, in the dynamic environment Harassment Sexual has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Harassment Sexual has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment HBR case study mentions - Harassment Sexual takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Harassment Sexual needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Harassment Sexual has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Harassment Sexual is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Harassment Sexual has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Harassment Sexual to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment case study. Harassment Sexual can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Harassment Sexual can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Harassment Sexual can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Harassment Sexual can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Harassment Sexual can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Harassment Sexual has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Harassment Sexual to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Harassment Sexual to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Harassment Sexual to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Harassment Sexual can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Harassment Sexual can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Harassment Sexual to increase its market reach. Harassment Sexual will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Harassment Sexual to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Harassment Sexual can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment are -
Environmental challenges
– Harassment Sexual needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Harassment Sexual can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Harassment Sexual needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Harassment Sexual will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Harassment Sexual demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Harassment Sexual in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Harassment Sexual can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment .
Regulatory challenges
– Harassment Sexual needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, Harassment Sexual may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Harassment Sexual.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Harassment Sexual can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Harassment Sexual high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Harassment Sexual business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Harassment Sexual can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Harassment Sexual needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.