Challenges that CultureWorks ESL deals with
The company CultureWorks-English as a Second Language (ESL) is an institution whose primary business is teaching non-English natives to fluently speak the language.
Among the key challenges that affect the institution is that there are very few levels of administration and that the study environment is not well-equipped to facilitate proper learning.
This section seeks to give an in-depth analysis of the two challenges listed above, and provide solutions using organizational and management theories.
Concepts learned in the first and fourth sessions will guide the development of the discussion. The primary aim is to offer applicable solutions to help counter the challenges that will be identified.
Organizational structure
CultureWorks, unlike most academic institutions, has a completely horizontal type of administration framework that has one individual overseeing the working of various departments.
For an establishment that prides in offering services to students from across the globe, there needs to be a proper administrative structure which helps ensure that the each and every department runs effectively.
This can be achieved by developing a hierarchy with different levels of authority. For instance, instead of having one person responsible for providing both accommodation and academic support in a campus, it would be advisable to increase the number of support persons and give them different levels of authority.
The new structure should include both horizontal and vertical levels of command and influence. This change in structure is necessary for both efficiency and learning.
Efficiency will be increased by having a centralized decision making process and though having trained individuals handling specialized tasks. In this regard the institution may initially be required to hire more workers.
However, the eventual gains will be worth it because it will lead to reduction in the number of complaints by students and other interest groups, regarding the time taken to address particular issues.
The horizontal units of structure will ensure that individuals on the same level of authority share ideas and resources, effectively making their respective offices run effectively.
In the development of the recommended administrative structure, the organization’s goals, strategy and current structure have to be taken into consideration as explained below:
Goals
CultureWorks seeks to be the premier provider of English language training services to persons who are interested in picking the language for both professional and personal purposes.
This is a realistic and achievable goal, but for the institution to attain it, positive reviews need to be provided by various academic institution accreditation offices.
To this end, the college needs to ensure that its operations meet all the professional standards of the industry. These include an efficient administrative structure that is adaptable to the changes of the day.
Strategy
The institution’s primary strategy, as outlined in its business model, is to ensure that they attract the interest of many non-English speakers in various Canadian states, before moving on to set up international branches.
In order to reach this target, the institution has taken the unique approach of providing its students with a relaxed and adaptable learning environment.
This approach is yielding positives with most of the students who register listing the flexibility of the institution as one of the key reasons they chose it.
Structure
As had been described in the introduction section above, the administrative structure of the CultureWorks institution is primarily horizontal. However, this structure was useable when the institution was small.
However, with an increase in number of students, it needs to be changed in order to effectively meet the growing quality demands of the institution.
It has already been indicated that a more elaborate structure with both and vertical levels of authority will yield more gains for the institution.
Learning environment
The second challenge that has been listed among the items that negatively impact on CultureWorks is that the environment and study unit are not well structured to encourage proper learning.
One of the key issues that have been seen to negatively affect the institution in this regard is that there are very many students of Asian origin in the facility. This makes it less demanding for the students to speak English when conversing with each other because they find it much appropriate to communicate in their native languages.
In addition, the institution does not have all the resources that are needed to further heighten the pace at which students grasp the appropriate usage of various English terms. In order to deal with these challenges, the institution needs to establish methods of buffering roles.
This will be achieved by: Absorbing uncertainty from environment, exchanging resources and materials between the environment and the organization and enhancing the institution’s technical capabilities. The three items and their relevance to the institution are briefly explained below.
Absorbing uncertainty from the environment
For an academic institution to gain the necessary competitive advantage needed to increase profitability, it must first prove that it’s worth its reputation. This will help reduce any elements of doubt from would-be students.
CultureWorks, being a relatively young institution, needs to constantly ensure that all individuals who pass through it have a positive image of the establishment. The positive reviews that former students give an institution has the desired effect of introducing more students to the facility.
To achieve this, the institution’s administrative office needs to ensure that they recruit tutors who are well qualified.
The institution currently has to deal with is an insufficient number of trainers, making the teacher to student ratio inappropriate. The more easily a tutor can interact with individual students, the more easily objectives will be met.
Exchanging resources and materials
The challenge of having most of the students coming from one ethnicity can be countered by holding exchange programs with other reputable organizations. In addition, the institution can organize regular community encounters, with students allowed to visit public places and interact with native English speakers.
This will help expose the students to situations that will force them to speak the language, further increasing the pace at which they learn.
Enhancing technical capabilities
Learning a language cannot be achieved by using one particular strategy. Tutors need to combine a number of approaches, some which require some amount of technical support. CultureWorks has a number of laboratories with video systems for usage by the students.
However, the equipment does not meet the demands of the institution hence the need to invest in more tools to make the learning process faster.
One of the key areas that the institution needs more investment is in video resources, with the primary guiding principle being that each individual learns at his/her own pace and, therefore, by giving everyone their own machines, the tutors can give the slow-learners more attention.