Background
Ageism is a critical problem in modern society, which affects millions of people across the globe. Recognizing and informing an organization that fights such issues is vital to future social development. One of the receivers of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award 2020 in non-profit organizations is the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), aiming to help people over 50.
AARP is the largest non-profit organization that continually empowers older people to live the desired life. The organization has a large presence in the United States, accounting for 38 million members (AARP, 2020). AARP has three primary focuses that they continually realize within the company’s program: health security, financial stability, and personal fulfillment. The company operates in the non-profit industry sector, based on volunteerism, meaning that it serves public interests and is exempt from federal income taxes. AAPR initiates and manages funds to help people over 50 in various issues, starting from sponsoring innovative products to raising money for dementia research.
Strategic Planning
To achieve success, each organization must map a strategic plan of development to guide the management into correct growth and expansion directions. When companies plan to expand their influence on international markets, strategic planning is the most critical part of preparing for such a severe step. Strategic planning refers to the process of documenting and mapping the objectives of specific organizations and the outline of their execution by assessing current assets and plans (Thompson et al., 2017). Strategic planning allows for various benefits that will accelerate the business in a much shorter time than intuitive conduct.
The achievement of business goals is impossible without strategic planning, as it outlines the specific framework for prioritizing efforts, effectively allocating resources, and keeping shareholders and employees accountable for the organization’s objectives and their deadlines. According to Harvard Business Review, 85 percent of executive leadership teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy, which leads to employee’s unawareness of their specific goals in the workplace (Cote, 2020). Consequently, the enterprise fails to develop and set concrete milestones for future development and, as a result, experiences stagnation.
Strategic Management Theories
Businesses develop various strategic management theories and concepts to differentiate from their competitors. For that reason, business owners apply different methods during specific periods of company development. Strategic planning for non-profit organizations significantly differs compared to public ones due to the underlying nature of the conduct. Among strategic plans for AARP aimed to expand to the international market, a real-time non-profit strategic planning model would be practical as it relies on setting short-term goals based on the uncertainty in the market.
Other models that would be feasible specifically for non-profit organizations are SWOT Analysis to investigate the aspects, which may be used best for expansion. Gap Planning is used to map the company’s goals for the future precisely, and Porter’s Five Forces, which is essential for the market investigation and determining specific plans.
Creating a roadmap for non-profits to expand is more challenging than for profit-driven organizations. AARP may create local offices in different countries by sending some of their employees to the new locations. By making their presence known to the industry, it would be useful to collaborate with similar organizations in the region to raise competency outside their habits. The resources include competent employees, able to take on leading positions, networking contacts, budget to set up new locations, advertising assets.
As it is the first international expansion of AARP, it would be smart to use the nearest places with similar cultural features for testing the organization’s capabilities. Canada is an excellent option for market expansion as it is geographically close, has a similar mindset, and has a relatively stable economic position compared to Easter Europe or Near East. Moreover, creating new offices in Canada would not require a significant operating model change, only adapting it to the current situation. Expanding to Canada offers numerous benefits in the face of new customers and expands its influence on new territories.
Importance of Appropriate Resource Allocation to Strategy Execution
When it comes to establishing a company’s mission and goals, resource distribution is critical. The process of organizing, controlling, and distributing resources in a way that helps your company achieve its strategic objectives is known as resource allocation (Wudhikarn, 2016). Even though it seems to be a simple task, it is critical to complete a project. Appropriate resource allocation will aid in meeting and meeting project objectives. So, in the end, removing existing risks will help achieve the vision and strategic goals.
From the perspective of market expansion, resource allocation will give a push to more productive work. Time management is key to successful project implementation, exceptionally when it is executed from different countries. The actual estimate hours to complete the tasks may be set by proper resource allocation, ensuring efficient project execution (Thompson et al., 2017). In terms of strategic management, adequate resource allocation will help identify a team member’s presence in a specific mission, making it easier to delegate tasks based on their availability. Employees will prioritize their assignments and execute them based on their goals, consequently achieving project goals and planning.
Policies and Procedures to Support Implementation of International Strategy
Policies and procedures are vital instruments of strategy implementation. They are intended to direct managers’ behavior concerning pursuing and achieving goals and objectives. There are various ways the establishment of policies aids the execution of strategies. By taking on creating policies, they will significantly reduce uncertainty in day-to-day tasks that inevitably facilitate efficient strategy execution. Additionally, the alignment of company goals would not be as effective without the outline of procedures, minimizing chaotic decision-making and conflicts. Thus, policies are fundamental in the organization’s decision-making process, supporting its mission, vision, objectives, strategies, and employee culture.
Policy Examples for AARP
The policies and procedures include collecting well-honed routines for running the business and carrying out the plan (Thompson et al., 2017). In the market expansion, managers must carefully consider whether current policies and practices completely support such improvements, and if they do not, they must amend or eliminate them.
Partnership With a Community
As a non-profit company based on community efforts, collaboration with local governments to develop programs that meet the public’s needs is a must for AARP. The company’s activities must be structured to meet its target audience’s needs, rely on the executive team to identify issues, research consumer needs, and set goals to meet those needs.
Respect and positive communication among all members
In the non-profit organization, there still could be a hierarchy, which is not specifically a useful management model. Each volunteer must respectively communicate with their colleagues and clients. Such policy will ensure the establishment of an amicable atmosphere within the group.
Never take any money from the clients
AARP is a non-profit organization, and taking money for your services is unacceptable in this company. There is no exception where it is feasible to accept any material award for the job. The violation of the policy must result in disqualification.
Incentives to promote strategy execution using process management and information systems management principles
Using business process management techniques to drive continuous change of how internal processes are performed, company managers may significantly advance the competent plan execution, including policy management. For AARP, the Total Quality Management (TQM) Program is the most suitable process management tool that may facilitate its growth. TQM involves fostering a total quality culture among managers and employees at all levels to continually improve the output of all value chain activities (Thompson et al., 2017). Focusing on people, their efforts, and satisfaction, such a strategy will change corporate culture, adopting a quality improvement business philosophy.
Businesses must understand how and when to change or improve their business processes and determine areas requiring intervention. In this case, process management is the best instrument for keeping track of all initiatives. Installing information and operating systems that enable employees to effectively carry out their strategic roles is crucial for organizations planning to expand. Thus, it is essential to establish incentives that will promote strategy execution within the organization.
Establishing a culture of motivation and encouragement among employees is crucial to successful strategy implementation. Arranging a team united with one goal promotes success inside the company. And if, in the case of AARP, there is no possibility of monetary motivation, the volunteers are more driven by the common goal, which facilitates their interest in strategy execution. To catalyze the process, one leader must drive the staff community, ensuring the alignment of concrete plans to each employee.
Moreover, the management must ensure a vivid corporate culture and transparency among volunteers and the customers. Understanding the company’s purpose is crucial for motivating people as it gives a clear roadmap of the organization’s short and long-term plans and positioning on the market (Thompson et al., 2017). Thus an effectively designed incentive is an excellent tool for organizing employee commitment to successful strategy execution.
The Role of Information Systems and Operating Systems
Modern-day companies rely on information systems in the efficient execution of internal and external processes. Each year introduces businesses to new electronic tools that simplify and automate the organization’s operations, consequently increasing customer satisfaction (Thompson et al., 2017). Thus, well-designed operating systems will improve market expansion AARP’s strategy execution and boost organizational capabilities, giving a strategic advantage over the competitors by handling rapid growth as it occurs, with operational systems, facilitating a faster market adaptation.
The Role of the Company’s Core Values and Ethical Standards in The Expansion Effort
The company’s values and ethics reflect its corporate culture, how the company makes business and the respected organizational habits. It is essential to consider the country’s culture the businesses expand to avoid any cultural appropriation that may threaten the company’s success in other territories. While some corporate values may be acceptable in one country are not in others. Adherence to corporate core values and ethics promotes better strategy execution, visible to the public (Thompson et al., 2017). By introducing values and ethics, new employees will have a clear pathway of the company’s behavior and attitudes, helping steer them toward doing things right.
The Role of Company’s Culture in Proficient Strategy Execution
The culture of the company is often the most significant determinant of plan implementation performance. Expanding to the international market, a company must clearly define its positioning and establish a corporate culture to translate to each location. A well-aligned culture to the strategy for expansion allows employees to better understand how the company operates, directs their behavior, and serves as a guide to their decision-making (Thompson et al., 2017). Subsequently, the establishment of transparent culture allows for more effective execution of strategy in the market expansion.
Actions Management Must Take to Change a Problem Corporate Culture
Expansion to international markets may create difficulties when aligning corporate and local cultures. In such cases, management must take action to eliminate any controversies and problems within the organization. After acknowledging toxic behavior, it is critical to re-scale the work scope, redefining new realities for the employees. Those who do not comply with the new corporate culture should be eliminated to avoid conflicts of interest (Emerson, 2018). The management must clearly define the expected changes and their purpose, in this case, the expansion to other markets, which will facilitate the company’s faster transition. Most importantly, change in policies that will drive cultural change is critical for securing the culture shift.
Determine what constitutes effective managerial leadership in achieving superior strategy execution in the expansion effort into your chosen international market
Expansion efforts require multiple factors for effective strategy management. Therefore, the non-profit sector is significantly different from profit-driven organizations, requiring unconventional leadership methods for achieving successful strategy execution. Implementing the company’s services into international markets requires strong strategical planning, which is not applicable if it is not aligned with some core factors (Cote, 2020). Firstly, senior management must continually monitor strategy execution, if needed, to identify and administrate issues. Management by walking around (MBWA) technique is outlined to be feasible in tracking changes by staying informed about the initiative’s progress (Thompson et al., 2017).
Secondly, it is critical to ensure a work climate that each employee feels comfortable and productive in. Using empowerment, showing employees’ value, and using tools to nurture a result-driven environment inevitably contributes to the strategy execution primarily (Thompson et al., 2017). Focusing on employees in expansion effort may be responsible for the majority of strategy implementation success, as they are the primary drivers of change, whose results depend on their satisfaction with the organization.
References
AARP. (2020). NIST. Web.
Cote, C. (2020). Why is strategic planning important?. HBS Online. Web.
Emerson, T. (2018). How to change a toxic culture. Forbes. Web.
Thompson, A. A., Margaret Ann Peteraf, Gamble, J., Strickland, A. J., Janes, A., & Sutton, C. (2017). Crafting and executing strategy : The quest for competitive advantage. Mcgraw-Hill.
Wudhikarn, R. (2016). An efficient resource allocation in strategic management using a novel hybrid method. Management Decision, 54(7), 1702–1731. Web.