Business Continuity Management in British Red Cross - Case Study Example

This analysis has been done under the preview of Business Continuity Management. It includes the analysis of vital and operational function of British Red Cross by using various analysis models like Business Impact Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis etc. The report also includes the relation between important stakeholders and organizational functions, major process which are critical for the survival of British Red Cross and ten generic questions that can be used to elicit information regarding the four critical processes and which will identify any potential vulnerabilities in them. The analysis has been done on the basis of information given on websites, journals, articles, research papers, books and many other sources.} Business Continuity Management Business Continuity Management is a process which provides a framework to ensure the pliability of any business; it is for ensuring the continuity of any business to all its stakeholders with protecting brand image and reputation level. It provides a basis for ensuring the long term sustainability and survival of the strategies. The emergency and unplanned situations in any business can create a hurdle in for the sustainability. These situations can anything like natural disasters, unfortunate events, criminal activities etc. but business should go on and on. An organization needs to have strategies in advance. What if when an organization is like British Red Cross which always works in an emergency and disruptive situations. (Gallagher) British Red Cross British Red Cross is among world largest NGO’s which is working for humanitarian motives with aiming for “caring for people in crisis”. It has been established in 1863’s. Since then it has worked and served the society during major crises like World War I and II, so many other emergency situations and disaster. It is abide by seven fundamental principles like – Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary services, Unity and Universality. (Principle and Values) Its services include providing first aid training, fire and emergency support, humanitarian education, health and social care, HIV awareness etc. (Strategy Review and Analysis, 2003) Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a very vital part of the business continuity management process. The main focus of BIA is to identify the impact of many different external and internal impacts on the functions of the organization during crisis. It comes under the preview of risk management. BIA analysis is used to understand the most important impacts of operational hurdles and then to plan for how to protect the business process, stakeholders interest and goodwill and reputation of the organization. Business continuity management and the BIA is more focused on keeping the business up and running and less focused on recovery after a disaster. There are various key elements of the BIA which includes identifying critical business functions, to determine the effect on this business function during emergency and to find out the non performing functions which can be measured on the basis of regulatory, legal, financial, operational grounds. (Barnes, 2004) Business Impact Analysis for British Red Cross Under the BIA for British Red Cross, the first part analyzes all the critical business functions; second part of the analysis includes impact of disasters and disruptive events on business functions. Part 1 – Business Functions It is imperative to identify the critical business functions and processes of British Red Cross before undertaking BIA for identifying the importance of objectives in risk analysis. This will help us to draw the boundaries of critical business functions and processes. To define these boundaries, first we need to analyze the inputs (people, material, time, finances), process, output (the products and services) and the feedback (stakeholders). In the context of British Red Cross, its vision and mission is - (vision) “We strive, through voluntary action, for a world of empowered communities, better able to address human suffering and crises with hope, respect for dignity and a concern for equity.” (Mission and Vision and Role) Its mission is “to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. Vulnerable people are those who are at greatest risk from situations that threaten their survival, or their capacity to live with an acceptable level of social and economic security and human dignity.” Often, these are victims of natural disasters, poverty brought about by socio-economic crises, refugees, and victims of health emergencies. (Mission and Vision and Role) There are various business functions are important for the survival and sustainability of British Red Cross but the major four has been discussed below. 1. Communication and advocacy The world is facing the changes across the globe and it is posing global challenges like continued poverty, inequity, and increasing vulnerability to disasters and disease. The International Federation of British Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies with its global network are working for accomplishing its Global Agenda for mobilizing power of humanity. It is developing and coordinating with local community and civil society for preventing and alleviating human suffering from disasters, diseases and emergencies. For strengthening the inside and outside communication and improving the quality of service, various efforts are being made by the International Federation. (2003) This has organized a number of programs to strengthen the global image and position of the International Federation by consistent communications at all levels of the organization. As an overall communication and advocacy strategy tools it has achieved excellence. Achievement of year 2007 are listed below- Corporate communications kit and tools have been developed and distributed. It has taken initiatives for developing communications and advocacy on HIV (AIDS Virus) and risk reduction which includes the impact of climate change. It has put efforts to improve the internal (FedNet) and external website. (budget had been increased due to the integration of FedNet) It has improved the existing internal communications methods after thorough examination and evaluation. (Global Positioning, 2007) 2. Human resource management Human Resources Management is very important for an organization like British Red Cross. This is the key resource of it because it represents the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values needed to perform various tasks to translate vision of caring people in crises into action. Volunteers and staff are the backbone of its movements since 1863. At present human resource is the central point to all activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent which is contributing to the success of its National Societies and assisting millions of vulnerable people in times of greatest need. It has a human force of 97 million volunteers across the globe which is working for it without any self interest. Out of these 97 millions, 20 millions members are active and it is a huge number. (Volunteers) British Red Cross is constantly working on improving the efficiency of its forces by providing training and other means. As a world's leading crisis response organization, it is always wanted to gain an instant view of skills and resources available in a crisis and reduce communication and administrative overhead. For that matte it has introduced a web enabled technology and cost effective human resource management processes. It has implemented Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management to provide Web-enabled, automated HR management processes for the betterment of the processes. 3. Logistics Efficient and comprehensive emergency logistics networking has been a key driver for success of British Red Cross. It includes successful relief interventions which also includes purchasing, trans-continental shipping, infrastructure repair, trucking, storage, timeliness, contingency and special delivery through air. The British Red Cross has a schedule of around 30 logistics staff which is always ready for rapid deployment. These special teams are called as logistics emergency response unit (ERU). Whenever a disaster or disruptive event occurs, the Emergency Response Unit team at Geneva will alert the international director in London. Then this international department will decides on the availability of the equipment and personnel to be deployed. As its mission statement stats about emergency relief, International Rescue Committee will avail procurement, transportation and storage required for food aid, medical supplies, trained staff, shelters and equipment. The inefficient logistics can have detrimental impact on problems while the importance of logistics is to be reflected by having an effective supply chain risk management to avoid the devastating ripple effects of any disruptive event. 4. Financial management Finance is one of the most important resources for any NGO. It has the same importance for British Red Cross also. If we use Porter’s value-chain model then includes four support functions (Firm Infrastructure, Human Resource Management, Technology Department and Procurement) above the five core activities (Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing & Sales and Services). Out of these nothing would be possible without financial resources, especially during the times crises where additional cost of working and extraordinary expenses are required. (Barnes, 2004) British Red Cross raise fund for its activities through face to face fund raising, door to door, telephone fundraising, sometimes it hires external agencies for raising fund for it. Some of the tax effective ways for giving are gift aid, payroll giving, giving shares etc. The major cost for it is administrations cost and providing food, medicines, money, shelters and basis amenities to vulnerable people. Stakeholder Analysis of British Red Cross Stakeholder Analysis is used to identify the individuals and groups which are likely to be affected by business functions and their effect on decision making of the organization. This is used to plan for protecting the interest of shareholders and stakeholders. The major stakeholders of British Red Cross are its volunteers and staff members, general public, partner NGO’s, clients and donors and government. Its Volunteers and Staff members are important for maximizing and mobilizing the ‘power of humanity’ by developing and maintaining a strong volunteer base through sound volunteer resources management. Young and seniors volunteer groups are identified as the best target which can be tapped, recognizing that in the face of declining volunteerism generally, there is increased competition for volunteers. It need to utilize the potential of its volunteer bas eat every situation. For this matter there remains a challenge in defining opportunities for volunteers and in recruiting, training, evaluating and recognizing them. Some of its volunteers and staff have been reported that stakeholders of British Red Cross believes that this organization is overly bureaucratic, with a heavy infrastructure, overhead costs which makes it difficult to rationalize fundraising for direct services to clients. This feeling set them back for taking initiatives. Volunteers and staff members are responsible for the financial stability and restructuring the organization in light of its Mission. (Mayers) British Red Cross has a strong positioning among general public. Research says that society feels that British Red Cross is a charitable and humanitarian organization which first comes to their mind. Sometimes the Society and general public perceive it as a government-funded agency. The British Red Cross has made hard efforts to appropriately maintain its image and positioning by coordinating with other NGO’s. It has established strategic alliances in the areas of Disaster Services, Water Safety/First Aid, and International Programming. This Coordination provides new resources (including financial and human) to provide more complimentary services to society and an opportunity to grow. From the perspectives of Clients and Donors, the British Red Cross is very much humanitarian organization. British Red Cross Society has a practice of designating funds in accordance with its donors’ wishes. Clients and donors want it be more accountable and transparent organization. The Finance and Fund raising departments are working hard to make sure that it is working under all philanthropic and ethical guidelines. Clients and donors want more involvement and they want to know that how their money is being used. So British Red Cross is involving them in strategic development and decisions. It is working hard to enhance its reporting systems for funders and foundations as well as partners and agencies. Among external and internal stakeholders of British Red Cross volunteers and staff members are most important. If they go for any mission of disaster recovery plan, they need to respond to the requirements of the vulnerable people. Are they following proper mechanisms, processes, capacities, and resources to help? How can the British Red Cross better invest in its human resources, maximize the potential of its volunteers and mobilize the power of humanity? What strategies should be developed to tap into youth? Is there a role to play in advocacy, promoting tolerance and human dignity? (Barnes, 2004) Stakeholder’s Mapping After identifying the important stakeholders of British Red Cross, it becomes necessary to identify the most powerful stakeholders of the organization. This will help us to identify the amount of impact a stakeholders can create on decision making processes of British Red Cross. Sometimes it is necessary to get rid of the internal issues and for creating a smooth work process. Stakeholder Mapping is a tool which gives us a way to identify the power of the stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping is a grid between power and interest of the stakeholders. (Thompson) Figure 1 represents the stakeholders of British Red Cross on the basis of their power and interest in the organization. Volunteers and staff members of British Red Cross have the high power and high interest profile; they are the main people who make decisions for the organization. They have a huge impact on decision making because they are the people who really work on grounds in emergency situations. Clients and donors have high power in their hand but low interest; they have the power to enquire about the basis behind taking decisions by British Red Cross because they are donating money. That is why British Red Cross report to all their clients and donors. General Public has a very high interest because BRC is working for them, but general public does not have any power to have an impact on decisions. Government officials have low power and low interest, but they support BRC in their work. Figure 1 - Power\Interest Grid for Stakeholders of British Red Cross Part 2 – Business Impacts – Ten generic questions There are a number of processes which are linked up with the above mentioned four core business functions. BIA focused on the importance of considering different durations of impact and internal and external dependencies. Business functions are part of a wider business continuity planning process. Below mentioned ten generic questions that can be used to elicit information regarding the four critical processes of British Red Cross and which will identify any potential vulnerability in them. 1. Description of the function/process and operational controls This area of inquiry is for the strategy for business survival. The aim of this inquiry line is to build a foundation of understanding for the business unit and so contextualize the environment in which impacts would occur. Components of this area could include: Description of the service provided by the British Red Cross Set the goals and objectives of BRC Descriptions of key processes using flowcharts for operational efficiency Philosophy, mission, vision and values of BRC 2. Stakeholders in the function Stakeholder analysis identifies the importance of knowing the primary stakeholders who enable the function to take place and secondary stakeholders that are affected by a disruption to the process. The questions in these areas are who are the internal and external stakeholders related to business functions? What are the goals of the stakeholders with regard to the business functions of BRC? What are the modes of reporting and other communications tools have been adopted to ensure the accountability and transparency in the system of BRC. It is for maintaining reputation and good image of BRC. 3. Linkages and dependencies with other functions It is important to clarify the relationship between departments and functions and how they interact during and after interruptions. It is an important part of the Business Impact Analysis. In this area BRC should provide information on dependencies on internal and external sources for the workflow of the business function. 4. Time related aspects Since British Red Cross is working for recovery from emergency crises, time considerations are important for all its business functions. There can be unfortunate consequences of business functions if the time has not been considered. Critical time periods’ for a function is referred as recovery time to access the resources required restoring business functionality and dealing with possible back-logs of work. BRC should clarify their status on these aspects. 5. Human resource aspects Human Resource management is the most important aspect for BRC. Questions can be put on regarding the identification of staffing to ensure the continuation of business functions. This issue includes - The current staffing levels of BRC which are supporting the core functions To ensure the minimum number of staffing levels to operate under emergency conditions Availability of additional staff and volunteers required in order to recover functionality Training and development of special skills for staffing the function which including security clearance and humanitarian values. 6. Location aspects These issues are related with buildings and workspace in terms of resource requirements for vulnerable people and refugees. There are various other areas to inquire about location which includes - Requirement of Minimum workspace for its operations Ease of accessibility Vulnerability of building and access routes Security issues of the locations Flexibility of infrastructure and time required to move resources from one place to another 7. Resource aspects This is the another area of inquiry where it is absolutely important to understand the type and level of resources required for the function operating under normal conditions, the minimum level of resources required to function and the level of resources that would be required over time for recovery. Some of these resources might be considered as being: Physical and key equipment; Transportation, storage and logistics assets; Financial resources; Telecommunications systems; Intellectual property and information 8. Technology and information aspects This area inquires about the importance of information and the relationship between information loss and technology, including computing and telecommunications. For data reliability an authentic software and reliable back ups are required. 9. Financial and legal aspects Each and every support functions of the business process of British Red Cross is affected by financial and legal implications. This can relate to monetary loss, loss of business, loss of market share, and an inability to complete contractual or regulatory obligations. This area inquires about the authenticity and transparency in the system of raising and utilizing funds. It is imperative to know the customers’, client and donors view on financial management of British Red Cross. A good image needs to be maintaining for raising funds further in the coming years. 10. Alternatives This area highlights the importance of considering the present level of preparedness, existing procedures to deal with interruptions and historical data relating to previous disruptions. This consideration is a key element in the British Red Cross Business Impact Analysis that attempts to identify ‘gaps’ in existing functions. (Barnes, 2004) Works Cited (2003, July 18). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual03/01590302.pdf Barnes, J. (2004, November). Business Impact Analysis. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.josephbarnes.co.uk/businessimpactanalysis.htm Gallagher, M. (n.d.). Business Continuity Management. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/10324521/eBook-Pearson-Ed-Business-Continuity-Management Global Positioning. (2007, November 9). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual06/MAA00008PU2.pdf Mayers, J. (n.d.). Power Tools - Stakeholder Mapping Influence. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.policy-powertools.org/Tools/Understanding/docs/stakeholder_influence_mapping_tool_english.pdf Mission and Vision and Role. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.ifrc.org/who/index.asp?navid=03_01 Principle and Values. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.ifrc.org/what/values/index.asp?navid=04_02 Strategy Review and Analysis. (2003, March). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.redcross.ca/cmslib/general/full_synthesis.pdf Thompson, R. (n.d.). Stakeholder Analysis. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from www.mindtool.com: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm Volunteers. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://www.ifrc.org/voluntee/index.asp?navid=12 Read More