Executive Summary
The Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) has succeeded in advancing the interests of female students at MIT Sloan. Over three decades, they helped many ladies achieve their dreams by organizing key events for discussions and mentorship. In 2013, the organization was focused on holding the third conference, as the two prior meetings had been largely successful.
A new team comprising three co-presidents (Rachel, Lea, and Tarini) and two directors (Jane and Merill) was responsible for the arrangements. Even as they faced numerous challenges, including communication and organization, they were focused on ensuring the third conference succeeded. However, they encountered a momentous challenge that threatened to cause the cancellation of the meeting due to impending stormy weather. The team faced three alternative options to choose from, which would impact the session and the credibility of SWIM.
SWIM Case Study Analysis
The Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) has evolved over three decades to become a major organization at MIT Sloan. Over time, SWIM maintained its primary objective of advancing the interests of all Sloan women. The aim was met by organizing different events with key leaders, which allowed SWIM to grow.
The organization succeeded in organizing three flagship events, including an annual conference to promote discussions between students and top women in business. In only two years, the annual conference became a significant event. Despite starting as a small-scale meeting with speakers drawn mainly from the MIT Sloan community, the event in 2012 attracted 400 attendees and key speakers. In 2013, SWIM was looking forward to another significant conference.
The club appointed three co-presidents, Rachel, Lea, and Tarini, to plan for the event. However, they were warned by their predecessors of a power struggle, particularly regarding the person who would make the final decisions. Nonetheless, they worked with a new team and wanted to be consulted in all major decisions, but the decision did not please the directors.
Another sign of problems emerged when the team faced a major communication hurdle as they dispersed to five cities for the summer. The different time zones and work schedules made it hard to organize a meeting, and there were instances of non-response. In addition, Merrill was offered an opportunity to leave MIT Sloan and take up another start-up. This affected the team’s capacity to logically and purposefully make critical decisions in worst-case scenarios about the conference (Cohrs et al., 2019).
Despite the challenges, the team held an optimistic outlook and continued to work together upon returning to campus for the fall semester. They spent much time planning speaker recruitment, marketing, operations, and sponsorship. However, the major challenge presented itself in the final stages of preparation when it was reported that there would be a monstrous snowstorm that risked the cancellation of the conference. The challenges exposed an underlying problem underscored by poor organization, failure to have a clear division of roles, and a contingency plan to manage unforeseen risks.
Case Analysis (SWOT)
Strengths
The SWOT analysis describes the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. SWIM’s main internal strengths entail its resolve to succeed and attain its objective. In particular, the organization has existed for over three decades, creating strong social networks and building resilience. Its membership expanded significantly to include participation even from social networks. In particular, the third annual conference was expected to attract about 500 attendees despite starting as a small-scale meeting.
Weaknesses
The major internal weaknesses facing SWIM are the breakdown in communication and the lack of coordination (Cohrs et al., 2019). As a result, the team members faced challenges in selecting and agreeing on the speakers. Poor coordination was occasioned by the insistence that all presidents must be consulted on all critical decisions. When the team members went for the summer holiday, there were difficulties in holding meetings to plan for the event.
Opportunities
On the other hand, SWIM enjoyed external opportunities, especially the willingness of different individuals to contribute to its objective. Businesswomen and the community were ready to support their mission of supporting female students. In addition, some sponsors offered to provide funds to ensure the conference took place according to the organizers’ wishes.
Threats
However, it faced external weaknesses, especially concerning the disaster caused by the poor weather conditions. Just two days before the start of the conference, media reports indicated an impending major storm that would hit the Boston area on the same day of the event. Even as the team devoted their time to seeing the meeting occur, they needed help planning for and dictating the weather patterns.
Alternative Solutions
As soon as the news of the stormy weather emerged, the team faced the challenge of making a critical last-minute decision defining the third conference. The immediate scenarios involved carrying on with the plans of the third conference with the already invited speakers or looking for speakers from within the local area. Accordingly, the third annual conference would have to be held as expected without enforcing venue or program changes. This alternative would save the organization funds and time required to make such changes later (Gordon & Martin, 2018). In addition, it would save SWIM’s longstanding reputation, although the security of the attendees would be at risk.
The second alternative the team needed to consider was to continue with the conference as planned, albeit the activities would be run concurrently in a half-day format. This approach would prove costly, as SWIM would incur additional costs of increasing the venue’s holding capacity to accommodate different speakers simultaneously. The option appeared workable since the weather report indicated there was a reduced risk in the morning hours, and that time was appropriate to hold a half-day session. The other half would be devoted to securing the attached attendees.
The third alternative was to refer the conference to a different date. This choice would be highly costly to SWIM’s reputation since people had paid for the event, and the organization had spent funds on planning, which would be lost. In addition, the current team would have left the organization as they would have graduated from the institution. As a result, planning the third annual conference would be distracting, and appointing a new team would distract SWIM from focusing on its mandate and organizing other events.
Proposed Action Plan
The best-case scenario would be to host the conference on a half-day basis, which would be of interest to all parties. The main advantage was that the weather predictions indicated that the storm would probably hit in the evening. The solution would fit the conference discussion well, considering the theme, “Dare to Fail: Taking Risks When it Matters Most.” The program would be adjusted so speakers would be required to deliver their addresses to different groups simultaneously.
According to Gordon and Martin (2018), the alternative will help to meet the objective without compromising the whole program and at minimal cost. In addition, the speakers would not be disadvantaged, considering they had spent much time planning their message across different topics. The attendees could spend time in a particular venue and move to another without causing much disturbance.
Contingency Plan
A critical part of the case is preparing for such a disaster to avoid future disappointments. Waldow (2022) states that developing a contingency plan will guide the event organizers on planned activities and backup alternatives. The process has to involve leaders and experts from diverse fields who would be required to consult to help in planning, such as technology and the environment.
It further involves clearly defining the roles of the team involved in planning. For instance, the co-presidents and directors would have to assume distinct roles. In this case, apart from acting as the CFO, Rachel would be in charge of speaker appointments. Lea would have acted as the COO and was in charge of operations. Tarini would take up the roles of CMO and marketing. The directors would oversee the operations and report to the respective presidents.
Additionally, the team would enhance the contingency plan by developing a risk analysis tool to classify different levels of risk and their impacts on the organization. Each risk should be analyzed independently so that the risks are classified from most to least significant. SWIM would further develop detailed standard operating procedures (SOPs).
The SOPs would define the most probable action to take in case of a disaster. The certainty of action would enhance effective and quick decision-making. The contingency plan would then be assigned to a specific person to administer and make necessary changes amid new developments. Implementing the measures would help SWIM avoid disaster and enhance its effectiveness in responding to challenges for sustained growth.
References
Cohrs, C., Bormann, K. C., Diebig, M., Millhoff, C., Pachocki, K., & Rowold, J. (2019). Transformational leadership and communication. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(1), 101–117. Web.
Gordon, V., & Martin, D. (2018). The 21st-Century CEO: Intrinsic attributes, worldview, and communication capabilities. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 26(2), 141–149. Web.
Waldow, D.J. (2022). What is a contingency plan? Monday.Blog. Web.