Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge
This note reviews research findings on the leadership challenges of diversity, including the social psychology of similarity and difference, the value of multiple perspectives to problem-solving, the relationship between diversity and firm performance, and management paradigms for diversity.
Swot Analysis of "Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge" written by Sandra J. Sucher includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Diversity Similarity facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Diversity, Ethics, Influence, Leadership, Personnel policies, Race and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Diversity Similarity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Diversity Similarity 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Diversity Similarity
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Diversity Similarity
Strengths Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Diversity Similarity in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Diversity Similarity 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
– Diversity Similarity 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Diversity Similarity is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Diversity Similarity 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Diversity Similarity in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Diversity Similarity 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 Diversity Similarity in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Diversity Similarity is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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.
Learning organization
- Diversity Similarity 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 Diversity Similarity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Diversity Similarity is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Diversity Similarity has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Diversity Similarity to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Diversity Similarity to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Diversity Similarity to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Diversity Similarity 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Diversity Similarity is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Diversity Similarity supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Diversity Similarity vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Diversity Similarity products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Diversity Similarity needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Diversity Similarity 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Diversity Similarity 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge HBR case study mentions - Diversity Similarity 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Diversity Similarity 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Diversity Similarity 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 - Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Diversity Similarity is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge | 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Diversity Similarity can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Diversity Similarity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Diversity Similarity to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge case study. Diversity Similarity can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Diversity Similarity 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Diversity Similarity 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. Diversity Similarity 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Diversity Similarity in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People 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 Diversity Similarity 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 Diversity Similarity to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Diversity Similarity can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Diversity Similarity 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Diversity Similarity can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Diversity Similarity in the consumer business. Now Diversity Similarity can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Diversity Similarity can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Diversity Similarity can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Diversity Similarity operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Diversity Similarity is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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.
Threats Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge are -
Environmental challenges
– Diversity Similarity 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. Diversity Similarity can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Diversity Similarity 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Diversity Similarity with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Diversity Similarity in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline 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. Diversity Similarity 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
– Diversity Similarity has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Diversity Similarity needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Diversity Similarity 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Diversity Similarity 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge, Diversity Similarity may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Diversity Similarity in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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. Diversity Similarity needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Diversity Similarity.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Note on Human Behavior: Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge 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 Diversity Similarity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
