Environmental Analysis:department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics

RUNNING HEAD: Environmental Analysis

Environmental Analysis of a University Department

MBA580

University of Phoenix

Introduction

In today’s business, managing internal activities and issues of a profit or not-for-profit business is only part of the present executive’s responsibilities. Modern senior managers must also acclimate to challenges posed by an organization’s external environments. One method used by upper level management to generate or maintain an organization’s prosperity is strategic management. Strategic management is the set of decisions and actions that result in the design and activation of strategies to achieve the objectives of an organization and to determine where the business is heading, how the business gets there and how the enterprise will know if it got there or not. (Pearse, J. A., and Robinson, R., 2005).

The key to maximize an organization’s probability of being both independent and prosperous over a long-term is to pursue a strategy model that defines the business, the ends it seeks, and the means it will use to accomplish those ends. Below is a strategic analysis that expresses how the Department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics (PCB) intends to contribute to a society that sustains it by defining the company’s mission and social responsibility.

The Department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics is apart of the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and will be the subject of this analysis. Although no commencement date can be uncovered, this department has been operational and recognized for over 40 years based on the statement of one of the oldest inaugurate faculty. Up to 10 years ago, the department was one of the most desired basic research graduate programs in the College of Medicine. This department flourished with top-notch faculty with an abundance of funding and produced graduate student sought after by leading scientific industries and prestigious Universities. During the past 10 years, countless events transpired that has caused the department to deteriorate slowly. A new Department Chair was appointed and with his poor guidance in addition to his nonchalant attitude, the chair proved to be inexperienced and meager Department Head. Currently, faculty, have become lazy and as a result, decreases in funding and graduate students have taken place. Consequently, a new Department Chair has been appointed to restore research opportunities, motivate current faculty, acquire as well as retain innovative faculty and students.

Managing activities within an organization is only part of many responsibilities in controlling a prosperous business. Leadership must also respond to the challenges created by the businesses remote and industrial external environments. These external environments include competitors, suppliers, and technology advancements that support demands of an organization’s internal and external activities as well as support the requirements of its stakeholders. These external factors are broken into three factors remote, industry, and operating environments and influence a firm’s choice of direction and internal processes within its organizational structure (Pearce, J & Robinson R., 2005).

To start off, the remote environment encompasses 5 aspects that originate beyond a firm’s operating situation; economic, social, political, technological and ecological characteristics. Organizations seldom have control over these influences (Pearce, J & Robinson R., 2005). However, these faucets present businesses with opportunities, limitations, and threats. An example, in regards to the Department of Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics (PCB), are social and technological aspects within the remote environment.

In definition, social factors are subset forces that can affect a business. It involves the beliefs, values, attitudes, opinions, and the overall lifestyles of people in the company’s external environment, as a by product from cultural diversity conditioning (Pearce, J & Robinson R., 2005). Because society constantly evolves, so must the practices of business to satisfy desires and needs of individuals by controlling and adapting to environmental factors.

Although companies may not be able to control social changes throughout the community, they can develop tools to utilize collected information about these changes advantages in the industry. Social trends are easy to follow but hard to predict. However, these social trends can give business high momentary