Name of organization: Apple computers
For this project, you will be creating a Situation Audit on your own organization. You will prepare to conduct your audit over the next 12 steps during which you will review various aspects of your organization, including its mission, goals, and values. You will be given the opportunity to submit different parts of your audit for instructor feedback prior to submitting your final situation audit. Read the full description of the final deliverable and the Steps to Completion.
Begin your situation audit by going to Step 1: Organizing Your Work.
When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.
- Evaluate strategic implications for domestic and international markets of an organization's industry.
- Develop and recommend strategies for an organization's sustainable competitive advantage.
- Evaluate major business/organizational systems and processes and make recommendations for improvement.
- Identify and distinguish among organizational structural types and their respective implications for performance.
- Design organizational structure, systems and processes that support the strategic goals of the organization.
- Evaluate how human capital serves as a source of competitive advantage.
- Analyze financial statements to evaluate and optimize organizational performance.
Final Deliverable Instructions: A Situation Audit and Preliminary Analysis of Some Key Factors
You have been tasked by your boss to prepare a situation audit that presents a five-year history of your organization (or an approved alternative). In this report, you'll focus on analyzing some key internal factors that, taken together, provide a portrait of your organization. The information upon which you rely for this report must be publicly available or available for review by faculty as necessary
Format requirements
Prepare a document that presents a five-year history of the organization you're examining. Using the provided template, your maximum 5,500 word (approximately 25 pages double-spaced) report must include a cover page, a brief executive summary, and a list of references used. See this resource for guidance on writing an executive summary. You may also use appendices for helpful supplementary information, but these will not be included in the word limit for this report. Use APA formatting for in-text citations and the references.
Addendum
Include an addendum to your history, which will identify factors requiring attention and include your preliminary recommendations for action.
The focus is on developing and demonstrating a comprehensive and strategic understanding of your organization and the major internal factors of likely importance for its future. You may find that this information is contained in formal documents (such as annual reports, strategic plans) or on the organization's external website. In many cases, however, you will want to verify your findings with others in the organization.
Now that you have a better understanding of the project requirements, complete the following:
- Read over these brief guidelines about conducting research on your organization. Please discuss with your instructor any limiting factors you may encounter as you write this report. After you've discussed these issues with your instructor, if you believe it's best for you to research an organization other than your own, please read the guidelines about using an outside organization.
- If necessary, schedule any meetings in advance with your organization's personnel to obtain the necessary information.
- Use the situation audit template to create your final report.
Write a brief overview description (creating an organizational fact sheet) of your organization, including:
- when it was established
- by whom
- its legal form and tax status (legal forms of organization)
- its current CEO
- its industry or industries
- its size
- its general purpose
Remember:
- Apply the perspective of an outside consultant to your analysis. Be as objective as possible.
- Consider the audience for this report: key stakeholders (including, potentially, board members), new employees, and anyone else who would benefit from this overview.
Now that you've identified the key facts about your organization, turn your attention to your organization's mission, vision, values, and goals. Taken together, these elements help drive organizational decisions, can positively impact employee performance, and will influence many of the other organizational components you'll be examining for this report.
The mission, vision, values, and goals should be reviewed periodically to determine whether adjustments are needed in light of changes in the organization's performance, capacity, and/or in key environmental factors.
Mission, Vision, and Values
- Find your organization's mission and look at whether and how it has changed over time. If it has changed, what process changed it?
- Analyze the extent to which your organization's mission (a) is well understood, (b) continues to inform key decisions, and (c) is well aligned with what the organization is actually doing.
- If your organization does not have a formal mission statement, read this guide to deducing a mission.
- Analyze your organization's vision and core values. Consider whether the vision and core values are in alignment with and supportive of the organization's mission. Are the vision and core values widely understood and accepted within the organization?
- If you cannot find formal statements about vision and/or core values, read these to help you deduce vision and core values.
- Now determine whether your organization has identified major strategic goals it is striving to accomplish. Analyze whether these goals are explained clearly and whether they make sense given the organization's mission, vision, and values. In other words, look for alignment of mission, mission, values, and goals.