Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Communication
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S.
Over the next 20 years, many organizations will experience significant shortages of skilled workers. At the same time, because of longer lifespans and a gradual rise in what society has considered the traditional retirement age of 65, older workers will represent a growing proportion of the American workforce. For a variety of reasons, many of these older workers desire to continue working and, if retained and engaged, they constitute a significant labor source for mitigating the emerging shortages of skilled workers. However, many organizations are not prepared to take advantage of this demographic shift; some even generate barriers that impede the retention and engagement of older workers. In this article, we identify a variety of ways in which organizations can retain and engage older workers to meet their staffing needs and enhance organizational performance. We also discuss the relationship of these proposals to prominent theories of motivation in management.
Swot Analysis of "Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S." written by William J. Heisler, Diane Bandow includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Workers Shortages facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Employee retention, Human resource management, Innovation, Motivating people and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Workers Shortages, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Workers Shortages 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Workers Shortages
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Workers Shortages
Strengths Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Workers Shortages in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Workers Shortages is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Strong track record of project management
– Workers Shortages is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Workers Shortages 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 Workers Shortages is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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.
Organizational Resilience of Workers Shortages
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Workers Shortages does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Workers Shortages 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Workers Shortages 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 Workers Shortages in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Workers Shortages in the sector have low bargaining power. Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Workers Shortages to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Workers Shortages is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Workers Shortages 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 William J. Heisler, Diane Bandow 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.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Workers Shortages digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Workers Shortages 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Workers Shortages has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Workers Shortages 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.
Weaknesses Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Workers Shortages is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Workers Shortages 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. Workers Shortages 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S., it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Communication 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. HBR case study mentions - Workers Shortages 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Workers Shortages 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Workers Shortages 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S., in the dynamic environment Workers Shortages has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Workers Shortages has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Workers Shortages 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S., is just above the industry average. Workers Shortages 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Workers Shortages, firm in the HBR case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Workers Shortages has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. | 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Workers Shortages can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Workers Shortages can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Workers Shortages can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Workers Shortages 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Workers Shortages can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Workers Shortages 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. Workers Shortages 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Workers Shortages is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Workers Shortages 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 Workers Shortages 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Workers Shortages has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Workers Shortages to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. case study. Workers Shortages can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Workers Shortages 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Workers Shortages can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Workers Shortages to increase its market reach. Workers Shortages 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.
Threats Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Workers Shortages has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Workers Shortages needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Workers Shortages is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Workers Shortages 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Workers Shortages in the Communication industry. The Communication 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Workers Shortages can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Workers Shortages 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.
Environmental challenges
– Workers Shortages 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. Workers Shortages can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Workers Shortages 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.
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 Workers Shortages.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Workers Shortages 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Workers Shortages with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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 Retaining and Engaging Older Workers: A Solution to Worker Shortages in the U.S. 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 Workers Shortages needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
