Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker
The image of the 'ideal' worker and its attendant expectation of complete devotion to work has long been believed to be a key driver of workplace gender inequality. Scholars have mostly examined how women - and mothers in particular -navigate expectations that they devote themselves to work. Less attention has been paid to men's experiences, echoing the tendency to frame work-family conflict as a 'woman's problem'. Yet, the author shows that a majority of men and women in the workplace experience some conflict regarding the ideal-worker stereotype. Further, many men who are considered to be 'ideal' workers are actually simply passing as such; while many women reveal their true work identity and are punished for it.
Swot Analysis of "Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker" written by Erin Reid includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ideal Worker facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Labor, Workspaces and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ideal Worker, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ideal Worker
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 Ideal Worker
Strengths Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ideal Worker in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Ideal Worker 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 Ideal Worker is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ideal Worker to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ideal Worker to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ideal Worker 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ideal Worker in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Ideal Worker is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Ideal Worker 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 Ideal Worker in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Ideal Worker has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ideal Worker in the sector have low bargaining power. Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ideal Worker to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Ideal Worker has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ideal Worker to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Ideal Worker
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ideal Worker does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Ideal Worker is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Erin Reid can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker, in the dynamic environment Ideal Worker has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ideal Worker has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ideal Worker 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ideal Worker, firm in the HBR case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ideal Worker is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Ideal Worker has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ideal Worker products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ideal Worker needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ideal Worker 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 - Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker, is just above the industry average. Ideal Worker needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ideal Worker has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker | 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ideal Worker can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ideal Worker has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ideal Worker to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker case study. Ideal Worker can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ideal Worker to increase its market reach. Ideal Worker 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ideal Worker 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ideal Worker 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ideal Worker can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ideal Worker 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 Ideal Worker to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ideal Worker can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Ideal Worker 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ideal Worker to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ideal Worker 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ideal Worker 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.
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 Ideal Worker 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.
Threats Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ideal Worker 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.
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 Ideal Worker business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Ideal Worker 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. Ideal Worker can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ideal Worker is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Ideal Worker needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ideal Worker 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.
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.
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. Ideal Worker 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ideal Worker has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ideal Worker needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ideal Worker in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker, Ideal Worker 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 wage structure of Ideal Worker
– 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 Ideal Worker.
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 Ideal Worker in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Updating the Image of the Ideal Worker 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 Ideal Worker needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
