Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross
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Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross
Introduction
The chosen organization for this task is the American National Red Cross. This is a local organization in my area that provides humanitarian and emergency services to people faced with disasters. The non-profit organization provides disaster relief, disaster preparedness, and disaster education to Americans faced with floods, fire, thunderstones, and earthquakes. It also provides humanitarian assistance to the communities faced with the pandemic like in the case of Covid-19. According to my interview with the manager of the organization, I managed to retrieve a lot of information describing the vision, mission, and objectives of The American National Red cross. The manager depicts that the American National Red Cross is an affiliate of the Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Red Cross, and the Red Crescent Movement. The basis of its history, the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 in Dansville, New York (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Notably, its first local chapter gets traced at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville. Moreover, the organization has managed to score four stars at the Charity Navigators because of the increasing provision of blood donations, provision of tissue services, plasma services, Leukoreducation, and research in blood laboratories. It has continued to provide cellular therapies in blood as well as the training services like the administration of emergency oxygen, asthma training, basic life support, and lifeguard management (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, it also provides disaster services and the national response framework to the services to mitigate the detriment of the increasing disaster challenges in the United States of America. Therefore, the project examines the organization’s motivation, innovation strategy, and people strategy to determine the objective of service provision. It also evaluates the American National Red Cross’s social responsibility plans, the organization culture, competitive position, possibilities, potential generic strategies, potential grand strategies, potential value discipline, and the potential generic strategies. Most importantly, the study describes the National Red cross change management strategies that the management has considered and the recommendations which depict the areas the company should improve.
The American National Red Cross Motivation
The American National Red Cross gets motivated by the desire to create assistance for Americans without discrimination. It provides humanitarian services to the people that are affected by the disasters like diseases, floods, world fires, and pandemics (Pellegrino et al., 2020). Also, it is motivated by the need to alleviate human suffering in the United States of America through the protection of health and life hence the provision of respect for the human being for social, economic, and political life sustainability. The American National Red Cross has managed to promote friendship, understanding, cooperation, and lasting peace among Americans through the eradication of the forces that may become a detriment to peace (Issaias, 2022). Through the use of a strong network of donors, volunteers, and partners, the American Red Cross has been inspired to make compassion into actions to enable the people affected by the disasters to receive care like shelter and other basic needs. It also prepared the communities for disasters by making them understand the ease of access to safe medical services. Wnenev4r an emergency occurs; the trained individuals are motivated to work hence enabling the use of the Red Cross skills in saving the life. Notably, the American Red Cross is motivated by the fundamental principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality, and independence (American Red Cross, 2011). It continues to provide voluntary services through the use of the principle of unity and universality. The use of the principle of Unity has enabled the organization to undertake services across the American territory.
How the American National Red Cross Monitors Ethics
Monitoring the ethics within the company enables the employees to become productive in all areas delegated to them by the management. Before monitoring the ethics, the company should ensure that all the employees monitored are provided with the knowledge of what is monitored, the reason for monitoring, and the methodology of monitoring. Also, the American Red Cross must limit what is to track by tracking the things that rea relevant to keep the company productive. The American Red Cross also ensures that the employees’ data are kept safe through the provision of access to data (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). As such, the major method of monitoring ethics is through the use of the telephone where the manager can record the telephone conversation. Also, the Red Cross has managed to monitor the ethics through the use of geolocations and videos to determine the location of the employees once delegated the duties. Emails and social media can suit the ethical monitoring strategy through the determination of the social relation of the workers with the clients.
Innovation Strategy
The American National Red Cross has applied technological innovation which has created a mechanism for changing American lives. Through innovation, the models of human interaction for the accessibility of the humanitarian aid provisions have been enhanced by the organization. The program provided by the organization remains the strategy that the American National Red Cross uses in response to the provision of blood services, military support, and training services for the delivery of the mission which alleviates human suffering during emergencies. Notably, the innovation at the American National Red Cross operates by focusing on the opportunity delivery that impacts humanity in the shortest possible time (Bessant et al., 2015). Majorly, the areas of innovation are artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence enables the American National Red Cross to transform the methodologies of delivering its services. Through machine learning power, the organization has created the supply and demand predictions for continuous service provision. Also, the American National Red Cross has implemented Chatbots which describes the customer-facing information system for the improvement of the service delivery by the staff. Consequently, the organization uses voice skills to provide easy access to the Red Cross information and the use of transactions. (American Red Cross, 2011). Majorly, the voice skills get enabled by the management through the use of Amazon Alexa and a plan for the extension with the Google Home and the Smart Speaker. Another innovative approach by the organization is the use of Robotic Process Automation which aids in the automation of the manual process for the improvement of the employee experiences hence devoting the workforce time to strategic activities and repetitive tasks. An in-depth analysis of the organization shows that the American National Red cross applies digital transformation as an innovative approach through the use of the digital ecosystem for the visualization of all the aspects of the disaster response (Bessant et al., 2015). The geographic Information system continues to characterize the innovative strategy of the American National Red Cross through leveraging of data for the analysis of the information and the creation of visualization tools hence easing the support for domestic disaster operations. The technical staff has also used drones for the provision of immediate and aerial; perspectives for the improvement of situational awareness. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross uses the mobile apps launched in 2012 to enable people to learn and deliver immediate response services to disasters. The open-source software continues to enhance digital communications. The projects of open-source software provide portable mapping services in areas with limited networks like the photogrammetry used for the processing of the drone imagery.
People’s Strategy
People’s strategies depict the move by the Red Cross to provide a humanitarian and peaceful environment that enables Americans to adapt to 21st-century challenges. The strategies create a mechanism through which the Americans and the organization prepare for the dynamic global networks for amicable service delivery. Also, the people’s strategies create anticipation, response to, and quick recovery from the crisis through the improvement of the local response and the preparedness for easy tackling of the crisis (American Red Cross, 2011). People create a lead safe, dignified life and healthy opportunities as a strategic move towards the promotion of the mental, social, and physical; health of the individuals affected by the disasters hence acting as a mechanism of supporting livelihood. Another strategy that peoples use to enhance the comprehensive growth of the American Red Cross is the mobilization for inclusivity and peaceful communities. The American National Red Cross promotes and provides support to the equitable, more inclusive, and cohesive environment for the eradication of the humanitarian detriments that affect the economic, social, and psychological life of Americans. Through the embodiment of humanitarian values, people have created a mechanism of enhancing social responsibility hence determining quick response to the life scenarios that undermine human services (Donaldson et al., 2016). People are also prepared to mitigate the climate and the environmental crisis through the use of sustainable environmental management frameworks. The workforce in the American Red Cross has taught people about the need to understand the growing gap in the health and well-being of Americans hence easing the need to provide the peaceful resolution of the merging challenges. Through migration and identity, the Americans have formed a framework through which local migration has been safely enhanced for the promotion of economic, social, and political development within the American societies. Moreover, people have inspired and mobilized volunteerism as a strategy for promoting the non-profit organization’s values, vision, and mission. Other strategies that people have implemented towards the growth of the American National Red Cross are the influence of humanitarian actions, effectively working as a distribution network and enhancement of trust and accountability.
American National Red Cross Corporate Social responsibility plans
The social responsibility plan of the American National Red Cross as a non-profit organization creates a mechanism for enhancing the long-term commitment between the company, workforce, and society in general. As such, there exist several social responsibility plans that the Red Cross has put in place for the sustainable achievement of the vision, mission, and values. Majorly, the American National Red Cross works towards achieving the 2030 goals agenda as a sustainable development agenda through the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance. The 2020 plans describe the move by the organization to eradicate human suffering and the creation of peace through the mitigation of the human-caused factors and detriment as well as the provision of the opportunities and training to strategize the move of solving the challenges of the natural calamities. Also, the American National Red Cross has created a framework for enhancing social responsibility through the induction of corporate volunteering (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Corporate volunteering has enabled the Red Cross to organize marathons that involve all the members of the American society regardless of age, gender, or social; affiliations. The marathon has been used by the organization as a marketing tool to sensitize the public on the need to promote social approaches to human calamities. The American National Red Cross also organizes for blood donation campaigns to increase the provision of blood to the hospitals to ease accessibility to blood transfusion services to those in need (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Digital volunteering characterizes the social responsibility plans where the community members have provided cheap and voluntary services for the digital transformation of the organization. Other social service plans that the American Red Cross has implemented are the support of religious celebrations like Christmas and the Easter holidays. Moreover, social responsibility plans for the American Red Cross define the move to get the event sponsorship. The event sponsorship provides economic and financial services to the organization (American Red Cross, 2011). The management is always looking forward to creating an enabling environment that attracts the sponsors like the Diamond Trust Bank, federal government funds, and other organizations that are willing to support humanitarian aid.
The Organization Culture
The American Red Cross work toward achieving the common goals in the provision of humanitarian aid to the public through a strategized framework. As such, it is characterized by several cultures for the achievement of common goals. Majorly, the American Red Cross has a compassionate culture through its dedication to improving the lives of those affected by the disasters. Compassionate culture enables the effective treatment of people with care and respect. Also, the American Red Cross gets characterized by a collaborative culture where the employees and the volunteers work towards creating togetherness through partnering with other organizations like Johnson and Johnson (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). The culture of creativity continues to characterize the American National Red cross. Creativity enables the organization to seek new ideas and create rooms that are liable to change hence creating a better environment for the service delivery to the vulnerable. Commitment culture enables the American Red Cross to hold accountability for the determination of the clear objectives and the mission delivery of services to the public. Moreover, the credibility culture enables the organization to act with integrity and transparency hence creating a notion of public trust and the honor of the promises (American Red Cross, 2011). Cultural sensitivity continues to define the culture of the American Red Cross where the employees have the capability of reflecting cultural diversity. The diversity is achieved by the partners, suppliers, workers, and project initiators. Most importantly, the organization offers resources to the group of employees without regarding the LGBTQ communities, the African-Americans, and the Latinos. The minority groups in the United States of America air their views and concerns for the generation of opinions that are helpful for the sustainable development of the resources. The organizational culture of the American Red Cross continues to characterize the professional development where the employees are given the chance to develop their profession through further studies by the management. The American Red Cross has enhanced the strategic leadership headed by the chief executive officers. Other branches in management include the financial officers, human resource department, and disaster management officers. Also, the American Red Cross has a high retention rate of employees because of the need to show examples to the public on the provision of humanitarian services as opposed to individual needs.
The Organization’s Environment
The environment of the American Red Cross favors the need for climate and ecosystem conservation for the provision of humanity to the vulnerable in society. The organization comprises the director of the climate change and sustainability that organizes fundraising for the domestic climate change actions hence supporting the resiliency of the communities that are vulnerable to extreme weather. Also, the grants and the community initiatives enable the organization to offer grants and financial assistance to the communities affected by natural calamities (American Red Cross, 2011). It also characterizes the voluntary workers who provide services for the benefit of vulnerable societies.
Competitive Position of the American National Red Cross
The American Red Cross remains number one in the provision of services to the people affected by the disaster in the United States of America. The first position is achieved by the move to involve strategic measures in the management of the available resources and the need to eradicate the detriments that affect the social life of the employees, stakeholders, and the entire American population (American Red Cross, 2022). The major competitor is World Vision which has moved to attract sponsors due to its increasing move to provide sustainable services to the vulnerable in society. World Vision is a private company that was started by the Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Aid groups. It provides healthcare by creating easy accessibility to water and sanitation programs for the vulnerable members of American societies (American Red Cross, 2022). Also, the Goodwill Industries of Texas competes with the Red Cross through the provision of government and public services to the communities affected by the disasters. It gets sponsorship from most of the well-wishers and the government hence creating a divisive mind that has split the financial sponsorship of the American Red Cross. Goodwill Industries of Texas is located in Tyler as its headquarters. Consequently, Sutter Heath remains the major competitor of the American Red Cross. Sutter Health provides the hospital care and the other healthcare programs hence scrambling for financial resources with the American Red Cross.
Possibilities
There exist several possibilities that make the American Red Cross viable for the provision of services to disaster-affected people in the United States of America. It has the possibility of restoring the family links by locating the loved ones missing due to war., civil unrest, and natural disasters. It also sends messages to the separated family members. It also has the possibility of training the American communities on disaster response and preparedness through the implementation of disaster preparedness programs (American Red Cross, 2011). It provides emergency healthcare services that get aimed at tackling the healthcare challenges like Covid-19. The possibility of providing blood services has enabled the organization to save many lives by using contemporary medical technology in blood donations and transfusions. Through the use of the quality assurance units, the American Red Cross has been able to manufacture FDA-regulated products that meet compliance standards (Cotter, 2018). The American Red Cross has continued to provide awareness and education programs through the use of contemporary technology and video programs that inform the public about the need for self-protection in case of a crisis. It emphasizes disaster readiness hence mitigating the expected challenges that the societies might undergo.
Potential generic strategies
The American National Red Cross gets characterized by business-level generic strategies for the sustainable development of the organization. It has cost leadership which enables the management to carefully use the financial resources to achieve the goals and objectives of helping the disaster-affected people in the United States of America. The differentiation strategy also characterizes the American Red Cross. It enables the organization and the management to evaluate the current trends in the provision of services with the past and the future trends in the management of disasters. Consequently, the focused cost leadership strategy employed by the American Red Cross has created a framework through which the organization has focused on the service provider to the vulnerable in society (Rozario, 2003). Furthermore, the focused differentiation strategy has enabled the American National Red Cross to apply the methodological framework in the analysis of the criteria of delivering the services to the public that aims at the mitigation of the challenges affecting the human race.
Potential grand strategies
The potential grand strategies used by the American National Red Cross are growth, stability, and defense. The growth as a grand strategy enables the American Red Cross to comprehensively grow in terms of technological innovation to increase the probability of providing humanitarian services to the public affected by the disasters. Also, stability as a grand strategy enables the organization to be stable in the provision of services and the maintenance of the productive workforce for the sustainable delivery of services (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, the defensive strategies enable the American Red Cross to determine the effective approaches in defending the communities against aggression like in the case of the war. It continues to link the government and its people through a defensive mechanism for handling disasters.
Potential value discipline
Potential value discipline defines the nature of the American Red Cross as a local organization within the area. The American National Red Cross get characterized by diversity, inclusivity, and equity where the management band the entire organization attains rich diversity through the equitable distribution of resources to areas affected by the calamities. Also, fair treatment and progressive discipline define the American Red Cross by creating a lovely working climate for the employees (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Also, the non-discrimination approaches enable the organization to use the defined mechanism of handling the issues relating to the company’s inclusion in the workplace. Security safety and health define the American Red Cross through which the organization can provide security to its workers, safety to the affected public, and the provision of health care services to the general community. It continues to provide environmental conservation measures through the induction of sensitization formulas for the benefit of the ecosystem. Violence-free workplace and a harassment-free workplace give a clear definition of the American Red Cross where the management tries to manage the violence occurrence through the use of the peaceful method of conflict resolution.
American National Red Cross change management strategies
The American Red Cross consists of half a million volunteers and 35 000 employees headed by the board of governors who oversees the management and the organization’s strategies. The board of governors consists of 12 to 20 members including the chair who is appointed by the president of the United States of America. The president and the CEO are appointed by the board. As such, the management has the responsibility of planning carefully for the activities of the organization. The board of governors also communicates the strategies that require implementation by the workforce. Consequently, they provide a mechanism through which the communities participate effectively in the development of humanitarian provision (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Another mechanism through which the board of governors uses the change the strategic management includes the invitation of the companies to participate in the provision of humanitarian aid, creating the roadmap for the implementation of the changes and the provision of the training to the employees and the general communities on the disaster management.
The recommendations depict the areas the American National Red Cross should improve
The American National Red Cross should devise communication and messaging policies that are not perceived as moralizing to enable the workforce to work diligently towards achieving the company’s mission and vision. The use of an effective communication model will create a framework through which the organization will easily identify the challenges affecting the general society in times of crisis and disasters (Briones et al., 2011). Through the application of the technological system of communication, the American Red Cross will create an atmosphere for the provision of sustainable services.
The management should develop multicultural approaches in recruiting, training, and assigning duties to the staff. The use of multicultural approaches will mitigate the conflict and stereotypes within the organization (Potera, 2011). Reduction of bias and duty delegation will motivate workers by enabling them to work as brothers.
The head of the delegation should decide on the empowerment formulas in risk management. The risk management framework will determine the possibility of continuing with the operation. Also, if the operation seems to be unprofitable, the risk management team should issue guidelines for suspending the activities.
Conclusion
American Red Cross remains the major charity organization in my local area and America at large. It has enabled the well-wishers to provide economic, social, and psychological assistance to the individuals affected by calamities, disasters, and war. It has also enhanced health care provision and the provision of educational services to the Americans on the need to handle the calamities like diseases. As such, the American National Red Cross has motivated the workers through the use of the sustainable service provision mechanism to increase their need for humanitarian aid provision. It also uses technological innovation approaches to enhance communication like drones, and the geographical information system. There exist competitors which enhance the provision of the quality services like World Vision. Notably, the changes in the management strategies ha enable the organization to get the appropriate approaches to handling the issues that may become a detriment to the provision of services. Moreover, ethics remains the most effective criterion for making the workforce get motivated toward achieving its goals. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross should improve in some areas to increase its chances of effectively reaching the American communities that are affected by Natural disasters and wars.
References
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