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 - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, 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 -
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Harassment Sexual is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Harassment Sexual has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Harassment Sexual
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Harassment Sexual does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Harassment Sexual has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Harassment Sexual has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment, it seems that the employees of Harassment Sexual don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Harassment Sexual products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Harassment Sexual needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Harassment Sexual is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Harassment Sexual needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Harassment Sexual to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Harassment Sexual 's lucrative customers.
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 -
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Harassment Sexual can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Harassment Sexual has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study An Uncomfortable Encounter: Perceptions of Sexual Harassment - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Harassment Sexual to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Harassment Sexual in the consumer business. Now Harassment Sexual can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Harassment Sexual in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Harassment Sexual
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Harassment Sexual.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Harassment Sexual is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
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 .
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 .
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.
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.