Assessment 4: Evaluating Management Decisions in a Virtual University

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report analyzes strategic decisions at World University.

ASSESSMENT 4
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Executive Summary
The report explains about the development of the World University which is the outcome of the
common agreement among the several private universities that have come together in order to
provide ease of education by the formation of the World University. It is an online university
which is committed to provide education anywhere and anytime in the world. The university
would be able to help several students in the world to access education in the virtual space. It
would facilitate the students with the choice to choose their favorite course from the desired
course and language. The University also helps the students to opt out the degree course from the
country from which they have decided to attain the degree. The report further explains about the
various decisions taken by the senior management of the world University in order to increase
the efficiency of the university. It describes the implementation of the Customer Relationship
management software and business intelligence tool in the system of the university which would
the university to meet with the quality standards of the world class university even within virtual
space. It discusses the advantages as well as limitation of the decisions taken by the senior
management of the university. The report finally ends with the prescribed recommendations and
the conclusion within the project.
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Introduction:
The report provides the explanation regarding the various decisions that have taken by the senior
management of the World University which is committed to provide the world class education in
the virtual space. This would help the students of the university to access their desired course
from the country of their choice. It would help the students of the university to access the lecture
of their course anytime and anywhere in the world. The report discusses the customer loyalty
scheme of the University named as StudyTogether which would help the students and the
university to stay connected. The fees of the course of the students depend upon the type of the
course the students have opt for. The laptop would also be provided to the students by the
university itself. Customer Relationship Management software would help the university to
maintain the strong bond with the university. Business Intelligence tool would help the university
to maintain efficiency with the functions of the university.
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Outline of the Case:
In order create World University, Several educational institutions has come together to provide
the access of education to the students. It would help the students of the university to access the
education anywhere in the world and anytime according to their convenience. The students
choose the course of their choice according to their desired country. The students can interact
with their faculty through the online portals in the virtual space. This would be great turning
point in the education system at global level.
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Critique of Management Decision
1. Students will be rewarded with the customer loyalty scheme known as Study Together
loyalty who will introduce another student; the free credit will be dependent on the course
picked up by another student.
The scheme of the university which is named as StudyTogether would help the students and the
university to stay connected with each. It would help the university to expand its business at
global level. It would help the university to access the new students with the help of current
students by rewarding them for introducing the university to them. It would help the university to
maintain relationship with the student which would help the university to maintain its good will
at the global level. The benefits of the Scheme are as follows:
(1) It would help the university to bifurcate the cost needed while hiring the faculty for the
student in the online courses.
(2) It would help the University in the promotion of the university at the global level.
(3) It would help the university to reduce the cost incurred for the promotion of the
university.
(4) It would help the university to expand the income and circle of the university at the
global environment and would help the university to spread education all over the world.
(5) It would help the university enhance its brand name among all the other University of the
World (D'Ambra. et.al., 2013).
(6) It would help the university to maintain better communication with the students of the
university.
(7) Due to the easy payment options of PayPal, the students of the university would be able
to easily transfer the course of the university.
The limitation of the decisions to implement the scheme of StudyTogether would help the
students of the university.
(1) The students of the university cannot be the only source for the promotion of the
university.
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(2) The fees of the students are non refundable.
(3) The site of the PayPal is though being a easy way to transfer the money it is the only way
to transfer the money which acts as the payment barrier for the students of the university.
(4) The scheme of customer loyalty may prove quite expensive for the university to provide
the rewards to each student who brings new student to the university (Wang& Feng,
2012).
(5) There are some practical courses which makes it difficult for the university to provide
online courses for.
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2. E-Book and laptop purchases are part of the course and will be available online. Out of
purchase cannot be out by the students. Pre-configured laptop with required software will
be sent out to all students.
The decision of the university to provide the E-book and laptop as the part of the course would
help the university and the students in the following way:
(1) It would help the teachers of the university to provide the series of the test course and
would help them to record their performance accordingly. It would help the university to
provide the materials for the desired course of the students.
(2) It would help the student of the university to improve their performance at their studies
according to the scenario of the university.
(3) It would also help the university to record the performance of the employees more
effectively.
(4) It would also help to students to maintain the consistency in their good grades and would
also help them improve them effectively (Gaille, 2016).
(5) It would also help the student of the university to download the study material from the
site of the university more easily and would help them to provide convenience in their
studies.
(6) It would also help the students of the university to access those lecture anytime which
they have missed and would help them to download them in order to watch them
repeatedly if in case they required.
(7) It would also help the university to provide the updated version of their courses to
students of the university which would help them to keep pace with time.
The limitation of the decision of the university to provide the E-book and laptop as the part of the
course are as follows:
(1) The biggest limitation of the above decisions of the university is that even if the price of
the e-books and laptops are high, the students of the university are bounded to buy
(Adair, 2018).
(2) It puts certain kind of boundation over the students where they cannot exercise their
choice.
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(3) It also puts an extra burden over the university to arrange laptops and e-books to each and
every student.
(4) Students are bound to buy the e-books and laptops even if they already own it.
3. Use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software engaging better and building
rapport with existing, potential and past students at World University.
The customer relationship management software would help the university to share a healthy and
strong relationship with the student of the university. It would also help the university to keep the
track record of the old, new and the existing student of the university. It would help the
university to enhance its scope at the international level (Azma& Mostafapour, 2012). The
decision of the university to implement the software of the Customer relationship management
would help the university in the following manner:
(1) It would help the university to enhance the productivity of the university as it would help
the university to focus on the issues and problem of the students,
(2) It would help the students of university to solve their queries related their studies, course
or the fee structure of the university.
(3) It would help the university to keep the data of the university secure and would also help
the university to effectively manage the data.
(4) It would help the university to improve the relationship students would help in the
promotion of the students.
(5) It would serve a longer relationship with the student of the university.
(6) It would also help the university in the process of Data mining and would help the
university the university to provide the scalable solution to issues and problem of the
students as well as university in the most budget friendly manner (Chen.et.al., 2012).
(7) It would help the university for the purpose of effective and required improvement within
the policies of the university
(8) It would also help the university in the decision making process.
The limitations of the decision of the university implement the software of the Customer
relationship management with the system of the university are as follows:
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(1) The data collected through the customer relationship management software may create
threat for the university as together they can hamper the reputation of the university.
(2) The customer relationship management software mainly speaks in favor of students in the
university.
(3) It can also be used by the third party who may pose serious threat to the university and
would affect the image of the university drastically.
(4) The university would also have constant fear to lose the data
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4. Use Business Intelligence (BI) tools to make sense of unstructured data collected from
various sources. E.g. social media feeds, and use that to analyse trends in the online
education market.
Business intelligence tool refers to the software application which would help the World
University to collect and process the data in order to analyze the internal and external
environment of the university. It can implement through the images, files and document related
to university and other related sources. The decision of the university to implement the tool of
business intelligence to filter the unstructured data would help the university I the following way:
(1) It would help the university to visualize the data of the university effectively which
would help the university to secure the data in huge quantity.
(2) It would help the university to track the performance of students and also the university
annually
(3) It would help the university in the effective decisions making process and would also
help the university to design its strategies more effectively (Brookins, 2018).
(4) It would also help the university to enhance the quality of data ion system in order to use
in operation system of the university.
(5) It would also help the university to access the data easily, effectively and more
accurately.
The limitation of the decision of the university to implement the tool of the business intelligence
is as follows:
(1) The skills of the tool of business intelligence to secure the data effectively are quite
questionable.
(2) The cost of the tool is quite high and would burden the university with additional cost.
(3) It would also expose the private information of the university in public (Gunn, 2018).
(4) It can also put the university under the shadow of legal sanction and government
regulation in case of data breach.
(5) The conclusion of the data gain through the business intelligence tool may puts question
on the relevancy of the data as it differs from person to person.
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Recommendations:
The decisions taken by the senior management of the university does require certain
improvement within itself in order to bring efficiency in the functions of the university such as:
(1) The tool of business intelligence needs to be use with precision as it may affect the
secrecy of the important data of the university.
(2) The system of CRM software needs to be use efficiently as it may also procure the
security issues for the university.
(3) The company should invest effectively in the direction of secure internet connection.
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