Developing a Business Plan for VR in Higher Education

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Management in IT: Business plan
Name of the student
Name of the university
Authors note

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Executive summary
This assessment is written with the aim to give the detailed business plan of the VR
upgrade IT initiative in a university. The budgeting plan along with the staffing policy plan is
provided to understand the purpose and aim of the initiative taken. Moreover, the ethical
impacts of the approach is also discussed. The risk management program with the business
continuing planning is given to ensure about the plans and strategies of the university. The
aim is to develop a business plan which would give the overall idea of the initiative and the
areas of improvement along with the recommendations. The budgeting plan and the areas of
investment are justified by detailing the aims, objectives and purpose of the initiative.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
Section 1- case study and IT initiative.......................................................................................2
Section 2- IT initiative staffing..................................................................................................4
Section 3- staffing approaches...................................................................................................6
Section 4- IT installation plan....................................................................................................8
Section 5- evaluation of initiative............................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................15

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Section 1- case study and IT initiative.
a) Providing a summary of the IT project initiative around the topics of virtual
reality as a tool to running labs and classes of the future.
Virtual reality is an IT project initiative which would be launched and taken up in our
university. There have been many advancements in the field of virtual reality as its
purpose is of a very wide range. Several competitors and have also arisen in the operating
industry of virtual industry. I this initiative is taken as it helps in easy assessment of
projects by the students. It is mandatory to move with changing pace in order to produce a
faster, smarter and better human grade. Current systems restrain from achieving these
goals and objectives (Webb, 2017). It is necessary that we unleash the future with the
launch of a standardised and rapid course-ware builder with a single point global
distribution system. We aim to make education the number one economic priority with
the help of this initiative in the present global economy. This IT initiative will be the great
predictor of springing the value in the education system in the online world. These are
quick to develop, participant-driven systems to align closely with the demands of the
marketplace. Moreover, this will lead to the emergence of the education system in the
online world of education in university. With the help of private funding, we aim to bring
a dramatic and influential shift in the educational scenario. It will help the common
people to create courses on the topics that are conceivable. It will help in increasing the
gravitation towards the building of the courses which will in turn help in the growth and
development of the integrity making it attain functionality and set goals (Soomro, Shah
and Ahmed, 2016). We are part of the society where everything is associated virtually
with one another and that is we are planning to make such a system fulfils the need of the
same. Transition from teaching to learning is very crucial in today’s world and this
initiative will focus on the same. In order to ensure the exponential growth of
information, the initiative is very important. To start with the VR initiative in the
university, there is a need to make sure about the hardware and software updates.
Initially, the technologies were not that advanced to launch virtual reality in every aspect
of learning, with certain limitations. It provides the digital experience and the power
subtlety of life. It offers the glimpse of the great possibility of positive changes. The
initiative of virtual reality will help to run labs and classes in the future effectively and
conveniently. The classes and labs will be modified according to the need of the initiative
and thus will serve the appropriate purpose of the decision for bringing desired changes.

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The IT initiative will not be beneficial only to the university and its system but also for its
students and in meeting the needs and demands of the virtual outgoings of the world.
b) Suggest the university’s overall strategic plan and objectives.
The university aims at expanding the didactically driven adopting of the technologies
related to academics, supporting the system of evaluation and utilizing the new and unique
advancements for innovative designs of classrooms. It also aims at supporting and adopting
digital content resources which includes open resources of education. The goal is towards
enhancing co-ordination of services of design and support so that this can enhance the
operation and function of the classrooms and is capable of ensuring the sustainable effects. It
strategizes to optimise the utilization of the traditional technologies in order to create new
spaces for distinguished learning experience (Schwalbe, 2015). The strategy is to work for
the extension of available academic software and management system of learning. The
university goals to use the effectiveness of the technologies by enabling virtual and casual
learning by the students. it plans for the employment of varied diversified approaches to
activate the learning process with collaborative and creative individualized experiences. The
university will support and strengthen faculty and the students which help in strengthening
their partnerships with other private institution and business enterprises. Initiative is taken in
accordance with these goals to engage the faculty for evaluation of extraordinary features.
c) Justify the aim and objectives of the initiative in the context of university’s
overall strategic plan and objectives.
The initiative aims to create an overall environment of virtual reality to meet the needs of
the growing world. Diversified ranges of interpretation will also be able to be developed. It
aims to explore other ways with the specified and disintegrated focus on the areas of potential
development to enable the learners from different fields and different sectors of education to
foster experience and independent learning in a virtual environment. Further the strategic
plans of the university is made in accordance with the aims of the initiative to support
learning in collaboration by stimulating interaction (Schnoll, 2015). Moreover, these aims
and objectives are adaptable to the educational contexts of the university and the demands of
the present environment globally. The university also makes sure that there are no negative
consequence of the initiative taken.

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Section 2- IT initiative staffing.
a) Explain how you would conduct a review of the current IT staffing skills.
The current IT staffing skills helps in identifying the gaps in the skills in the business
organization. Sometimes there can be unawareness of the skills the staff of an organization
possesses or their quality of taking the additional responsibility. This unawareness must be
eradicated for better performance. The review of the IT staffing skills is conducted by
considering the overall skills employed in the organization instead of individual capabilities.
The review is done on the basis of the requirements of the future skills and staffs to attain the
business goals. Research is conducted on the existing business staffing skills and business
goals to conclude the limitations of the organization and employ accordingly. Interviews of
the staffs are conducted to understand their perspectives and their recognition of the skills
possessed so that the organization can utilise it effectively. Further process of developing
their skills through trainings and courses can be conducted which help in the company’s and
the individual progress (Rodríguez, Ortega and Concepción, 2017). Performance reviews are
helpful in acknowledging the fact of the interaction and the relationship amongst the
employees and also with the organization. It is also helpful in addressing the issues hindering
the better performance of the staffs and company. Career planning and development is very
important to gain benefits from the qualified and experienced staff members enabling in
fulfilling of more responsible roles. Development of the staffing skills through monitoring
and appraising can also be helpful. Recognition of prior learning is very important as it helps
in recognising the skills and knowledge of staff regardless of its attainment through training
or during employment period. It also provides benefits to the staff to improve their
qualifications and boost their morale giving a more qualified work force to serve the purpose
and attain goals. Making the employees involve in self-assessment plans will help them and
the organization to know abut their skills and abilities. Moreover, evaluation of their
knowledge of the technological skills are also important. It helps to know about their abilities
of using the hardware and software which will necessary in the launching and processing of
any initiative. The process of taking the feedback from other members of the team and
organization will help to get an overall knowledge of their actual staffing skills without
gaining the risk to be dependent on them only. Involving them in the real situation is one of
the best ways to assess their skills and employ them accordingly. This method reduces the
risk involved at the time of giving instant results and outcomes and the employees are able to

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work with high efficiency having already faced the challenges and checked their proficiency
(Pérez-Aróstegui, Bustinza-Sánchez and Barrales-Molina, 2015).
Diagram of project management team structure.
b) Create a comprehensive staffing policy plan for the IT department that would
meet the IT initiative needs.
Staff policy plan is very essential as it is a whole process of systematization for ensuring
that the number of staffs employed in the organization are appropriate and have the required
skills for fulfilling the business goals and objectives. Integration of the external and the
internal factors are necessary with the involvement of the HR planning and business plan.
The steps involved in developing a staffing policy plan are- job description: the job
description of the required role and responsibility is given with the help of the manager and
inputs from other resources; job requirements: a detailed and useful set of requirements of job
is set to determine the information of whether the recruitment is required or there can be
attainment of the qualifications from the existing work force. The questions need to be kept in
mind are about the skills, knowledge and abilities needed for the job, characteristics of the
project
amnagemnet
team
manager
project
assurance
project
support
project
manager

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people succeeding or failing in the organization, necessary qualifications and the relation of
job with others; fair employment considerations: the illegal screening of the disabled
applicants must be avoided providing them with the information only about the work and not
about how it is performed normally; assessing the skills of current employees: all the
information must be gathered from the staffs to ease the search of the abilities required for
performing the task; turnover trends: the knowledge of the trends the organization’s turnover
trends are necessary to know about the predictability of the organization and its workers and
this will also help in predicting the progress of recruitment; business trends: the analysation
of the internal and the external factors such as work shift changes, demographics of
workforce, downsizing and merger or acquisition, legislative factors will help in discovering
the business trends (Peltier, 2016).
Section 3- Staffing approaches.
a) Identify and evaluate the different staffing approaches that you can use.
In order to ensure success of the business or any organization it is very important to
employ right people suitable for the work with the help of different staffing and scheduling
policies and approaches. These approaches serve as the plan of action of the business to hire
and organize people effectively. The different approaches thus described are-
Ethnocentric staffing: in this approach all the managerial positions are filled in the new
branches with the employment of the employees from the parent company. This approach
basically helps in unifying the entire working force of the organization. It helps in aligning
the interests and perspectives of the home office with the foreign offices. It helps in making
the communication process easier with no culture and language barriers. Th transference of
skilled employees with clear record can also lead to some predictability of the status of the
future work. The disadvantage of this type of approach is that it can increase the expenses as
compared to the hiring of the local employees (Noe et al. 2017). A high ratio of the external
factors will be created leading to degrading efficiency and moral to work.
Polycentric staffing: in this approach, the employees of the parent company are not in the
managerial positions dominating the company. The chance is given to the employees in the
host country to work and dominate the work process which also ensures cultural harmony and
equality (Mao et al. 2016). As compared to the ethnocentric approach, this approach is lea
expensive. In this way the better guidance will be given to the host country and there will be

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better understandability of politics, laws, conditions and culture space. And hence leads to
more commitment of the employees.
Geocentric staffing: in this approach, the positions are opened for all qualified and eligible
candidates to be employed regardless of their current position or where they are from. This
approach has several advantages as it allows to build and gain a large number of skilled and
qualified workforce by a multi-national company. It also ensures comfortableness and
freshness of work in a varied range of cultural scenarios.
Regio centric staffing: in this approach, there is transference of employees from one branch
of the organization to the other but within the same region. The advantages of this approach
are that it provides the chance to make impacts on decisions and increase competition at the
regional level. It also helps the company in evolving from the other approaches and its
disadvantages.
b) Explain and justify your preferred approach to staffing.
The approach of staffing preferred here is the ethnocentric approach. This is basically
employed because of the early stage of the initiative. There are certain inadequacies in the
managerial and the technological skills and to cope up with the same the ethnocentric
approached is implemented. There is a need of maintaining coordination and association with
the main branch and this will be fostered with the help of the ethnocentric approach. In the
field of virtual reality IT initiative there are core competencies and that is why highly skilled
employees will be hired for more efficiency and productivity (Long, 2018). There is also at
present non-availability of the qualified workers and thus there is a need to employ the
qualified personals at comparatively lower cost. In order to increase the commitment of the
workers and speedy implementation of the strategies, ethnocentric approach is preferred
above other approaches of staffing policy. Moreover, there are several advantages of this
approach such as the familiarity of the employees with the goals, objectives, policies, and the
process of working of the company. They are even highly acknowledged about the products,
technologies, customer needs and issues of the company which will be helpful when they are
staffed through ethnocentric approach. Moreover, the link and the level of interaction and
communication which they share with the branch will be very helpful and provide
convenience in working better.
c) Consider the ethical impacts of your choice.

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There are certain ethical impacts of the ethnocentric approach on the performance of the
company overall as it affects the modes of decision making and rationality in terms of bounds
and economical perspectives. It affects the distributive justice, the moral rights of man and
the concept of utilitarianism. It evaluates all the culture groups operating in an organization.
The imposition of the parent methods into the new approaches can lead to ineffectiveness and
result in undesired outcomes. Other ethical impacts include discrimination, heath abuse,
unsafe working conditions, control of sharing personal information through technology,
exposure to transparency, and inequality in working environments, corruption and bribery.
These ethical issues, however, can be solved with the help of various methods and
mechanisms (Lientz and Rea, 2016). The disadvantage of forming a group superiority results
in overconfidence and inefficient working. The cultural differences also impact the
performance of the workers leading to un-comfortability and complexity in adaptability to a
completely different work scenario with distinguished and unknown culture. These ethical
impacts acting as a hindrance to the company can however be solved with unified efforts and
strategies.
Section 4- IT installation plan
a) Create a detailed IT implementation and installation plan.
Barriers Strategies Action
Planning and
promotion
Lack of strategic
planning.
Lack of
understanding.
Unwillingness to
change standards of
teaching with the
loss of power and
control of the
teachers.
Poor clarity of e-
learning vision (Hu
and Kapucu, 2016).
Development of
strategic planning
for online learning,
in alignment with
the strategic plans of
the faculty and the
institution.
Diffusion of
rationale to students,
staff members and
professionals,
accredited bodies by
conducting
meetings, memos,
Open discussions at
faculty and
institution, discipline
meetings and bulk
emails to all
students.
Including sessions
on online learning
during orientation of
students and staffs.
Providing forums for
professional and
business
organizations.

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emails.
Identification of
benefits to the
stakeholders.
Education Lack of
understanding.
Fearful of the
unknown and
unpredictable
barriers.
Lack of ease in
transferring contexts
and concepts of
online learning.
Imitation of best
practices currently
with newness.
Models of
implementation with
combined learning
approaches, wide
range of utilization
of online learning
and technological
equipment.
Open discussions at
faculty and school
and organization of
discipline meetings.
Support Lack of time.
Lack of supporting
and acknowledging
factors.
Teaching relief.
Mentoring.
Formation of peer
support groups.
Technical and
learning design
support.
Forming the faculty
to give e-learning
programmes with
working group of
actively supporting
staffs in design and
development of the
teaching materials
by regular meetings
for sharing ideas.
Relief from teaching
load with learning
and technical design
support.
Training Lack of skills and
preferred
competitive abilities
for adaptation of
new tools.
Workshops in online
diversified practices.
Trainings of small
groups on e-
learning.
Faculty specific
training sessions.
Presentation of best
practices and case

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Lack of easy
transferability of e-
learning methods
and concepts.
Proper management
system with
association of
appropriate tools.
Centralised help
desk.
Online guide
manuals.
studies.
Workshops linked to
practical uses of
technical tools for
sound online
learning.
Encouragement Lack of time.
More emphasis on
research.
Rising the profile of
online learning.
Provision of
teaching and
learning grants and
awards (Anand et al.
2016).
Showing and telling
sessions presented
by early adopters.
Support is given for
preparation of
applications for
grants and awards.
Recognition and
reward.
Lack of support and
acknowledgment.
More emphasis on
research.
Recognition of time
for development,
deliverance and
maintenance of
materials of learning
in faculty model of
workloads.
Provision of
teaching and
learning of grants
and rewards.
Increasing the
emphasis on online
learning and its
achievements in the
process of probation
and promotion.
Working party
development
programmes and
guidelines for
faculty workloads
model and
implementation
across faculty.
Note of all the
achievements in
bulletins of all
faculties (Avgerou
and Walsham,
2017).