West Chester Private School Case Study

West Chester Private School Case Study
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West Chester Private School Case Study
Evaluate the effectiveness West Chester Private School (WCPS) as an open system at the time of the closure.
The effectiveness of an organization can be judged based on how it regularly exchanges feedback with its external environment. This is referred to as an open system, an adaptation from the biological theory that premises that a system comprises many parts that share resources or information internally and with the external environment (Jung & Vakharia, 2019). Since the external environment significantly impacts business organizations, such organizations must consistently and regularly exchange feedback. This was not entirely the case at West Chester Private School, in which several internal decisions against forces in the external environment led to the closure of business. At its peak, WCPS was described by parents as having a high-performing, in-person academic environment that provided a rigorous curriculum while fostering a safe, family-oriented atmosphere in a place where the community was valued. Today, this perception is diminished given how the organization behaved contrary to the requirement of an open system. Answering the following questions, the current paper draws from this case study review and evaluates the effectiveness of WCPS as an open system at the time of closure.
Evaluate the decision made by WCPS Dr. Murphy and EMS in terms of the process of going about the closure. Please explain how the behavioral decision-making model was applied in WCPS's decision to shut down its campuses.
The rational decision-making model involves individuals using information and facts, analysis, and a step-by-step approach to arrive at decisions. While this model is advanced, its fundamental shortcomings are that it can be time-consuming and, therefore, not ideal in situations requiring prompt decisions. A model that feels this gap is behavioral decision-making. The model premises that decision-makers, often administrators, have bounded rationality and often make decisions per the situation's demand. A model is a pragmatic approach based on the argument that humans are irrational (Uhl-Bien et al., 2021), especially when confronted with many constraints, inadequacies, and limitations. In the case of Dr. Murphy and the EMS, constraints included financial hardship from the recession and the pandemic, stiff competition, lack of technological preparation, the needs of stakeholders, and time.
A vital aspect of the behavioral decision-making model is that the decision-maker may not have all the required information (Sahu et al., 2020). For instance, while Dr. Murphy was grappling with keeping the remaining campuses open, the pandemic provided a new dimension to the organization already facing problems. Thus, the decision reached in this aspect was devoid of information on how the pandemic would affect the school and the entire education system, and the economy. Thus, the decision-making process was hampered by insufficient information in this case. Timely availability of information would have enabled the WCPS to communicate earlier and, therefore, embrace the tenets of open systems.
Another critical aspect of the behavioral decision-making model is that it does not require searching and analyzing alternative decisions. In the case of Dr. Murphy and EMS, time constraints implied that the model was ideal since a decision was required without going through various formalities. This explains why the announcement to close the North Phoenix campus came only a day before the scheduled opening date, an unfortunate surprise for the campus's key stakeholders. From this point of view, the WCPS did not act as an open system because it did not promptly provide stakeholders with the necessary information to allow for planning and readjustment.
More importantly, the behavioral decision-making model or any other model is that decisions are meant to be implemented in the future (Sahu et al., 2020). However, the future environment is unpredictable and is full of uncertainties and complexities. WCPS faced this challenge, especially in the pandemic and the subsequent limitation of movement by state and government agencies. Further, while decision-makers at WCPS were struggling to return things in order, emerging competing like Allegiant Academy took advantage of the niche and displaced WCPS as an educational destination. From this perspective, it is clear that WCPS failed to connect with the external environment in several ways. The most critical example is that the organization failed to understand the influence of technology on the education system. This shortcoming became especially relevant at the onset of the pandemic.
Analyze one major technology and innovation challenge that WCPS faced and propose a solution that would make WCPS more competitive in meeting the needs of the three primary stakeholders.
In the face of the pandemic, business organizations, including those in the education sector like WCPS, needed new approaches to do business or face closure. Digital technology was critical because it allowed employees to work from home, patients to receive online medical assistance, and students to continue learning through online resources. At WCPS, the organization was caught off-guard by the pandemic. Firstly, there was a technology gap because most students did not have access to the necessary resources for online learning activities. These included computers and high-speed internet connections. Additionally, members of the teaching staff were not adequately prepared for online classes because they lacked core training and did not have an online training module. As an open organization that regularly gets feedback from the external environment, WCPS failed because it did not remain at par with the emerging changes that revolutionized educational content delivery.
The solution to this technology and innovation challenge shou...