Business Processes of the British Red Cross - Assignment Example

Assignment Overview – First of all it is vital to understand the business and services processes of British Red Cross and then develop a Business Impact Analysis and Stakeholder analysis keeping in mind all internal and external factors & forces having impact on business processes of British Red Cross. This analysis report has been developed under the preview of Business Continuity Management. A thorough understanding of Business Continuity Management has been described in this report. This report includes the major four critical business processes whose continuation is important during disruption. On the basis of the data and facts available on the websites and other literary sources, I have developed 10 generic questions which will help me to elicit information regarding critical processes of British Red Cross. A Brief Introduction about British Red Cross British Red Cross is a humanitarian organization which has been led by its large volunteer and staff base. It is one of the worlds largest NGO’s and serving the society in all possible ways during major crisis and disruptions like Tsunami, Earthquakes, Wars, Diseases etc. which is working for humanitarian motives with aiming for “caring for people in crisis”. While helping and caring for people, it does not matter for them that what is the religion, nationality of this person. They will help whoever you are and wherever you are. International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement had been started in 1863 by Henry Dunant. Since its inception it has worked during war between France and Persia, first and Second World War, gulf crisis, Hungarian revolution etc. In UK it provides services like health and social care, education, refugee camps, first aid and other emergency services. British Red Cross and British Red Crescent provide these services to its vast global network of around 20 million volunteer and staff base. It organizes different fund raising programs for generating money power for its operation. British Red Cross and British Red Crescent work under the seven fundamental principles like – Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary services, Unity and Universality. (Principle and Values) A Brief Introduction about Business Continuity Management Business Continuity Management is a crisis recovery management approach. It is a management tool which ensures the continuity of business operations and processes. It is a comprehensive process which includes disaster recovery, business recovery, contingency planning, business impact analysis, stakeholder analysis, crises management, crisis communication, event management, information security, mitigation planning, project planning, risk management etc. It is a powerful tool which provides a framework to win over various challenges and threats posed by internal and external forces for an organization. These threats can be like natural disasters, terrorist attacks, unfortunate events, criminal activities etc. In this report I will majorly focus on business impact analysis and stakeholder analysis. In the context of British Red Cross, business continuity planning become more important as their work structure is very critical; their service should go on and on and for that they need some strategy back up and planning well before. A Brief of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a crucial part of the business continuity management tool. Under business impact analysis, the focus is to identify, review, evaluate and prioritize issues, factors and forces which can pose threat\ challenge on the operation of the organization. BIA analysis is used to understand the impact of crisis on operational, financial, legal, regulatory process of the organization. This analysis plans for establishing time framework for recovery of all processes. Business continuity management and the BIA is more focused on keeping the business up and running and less focused on recovery after a disaster. (Barnes, 2004) It includes business units like finance, Human Resources, corporate communication, regulatory affairs etc. BIA is necessary for the sustaninablity of the business in the interest of all the stakeholders and shareholoders. Business Impact Analysis for British Red Cross For an organization like British Red Cross and British Red Crescent, the critical business processes includes Communication management, Human resource management, logistic department and Financial Management. These four functions are most critical for the sustenance of British Red Cross. Human Resource includes its volunteer and staff network, financial management includes raising funds for its operations. Under BIA I will analyze these functions and their impact on British Red Cross during the time of crisis. Critical business functions and their impacts Identification of functions will help to draw the boundaries and impacts 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 and Red Crescent, its vision and mission is as mentioned on the websites – (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) (Mision) “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) To achieve the goals and direction set by British Red Cross, it is imperative to have a sustainable business process and strategy planning without any disruptions. The below described functions are major function which is important for the survival and sustainability of British Red Cross. 1. Human resource management Human Resources Management is the main business function of British Red Cross; it included its entire volunteer and staff network. Volunteers and staff members are key responsible for all its business activities. Volunteer and staff are the backbone of British Red Cross. Activities ranging form generating funds, helping people, organizing programs for awareness, managing quality and keep a check of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values needed to perform various tasks to translate vision of caring people in crises into action. They are serving vulnerable people in the society at the time of crisis, and this is such a tough job. There is constant requirement of injecting morality and helping attitude in volunteers. For that matter there are various training programs are required. British Red Cross 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 matter 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. British Red Cross is providing opportunities for young volunteers to be a part of this humanitarian organization. They are shifting their focus to make this job as a career. This will certainly enhance its volunteer base. Roger Smith is the director of HR and Education. His responsibilities cover human resources, health and safety, first aid support service, commercial training, diversity, schools and community education and the humanitarian action programs. Impact – Without its human force, all it functions will break down. Machines can not work without human being. Imagine a situation where an NGO is having zero human force, who will serve the people, who will care, who will get the funds from who have for who have not. This situation is unimaginable. Human resource is just like a mind of a body which controls all functions. 2. Communication Management Phil Talbot, Director of communication at British Red Cross. Phil’s background is in PR/media relations and internal communications management. Communication is another critical business function of British Red Cross. Role of communication department is to send various reports including financial reporting, competitive advantage, relationship status, service reports, event reports etc. to all its stakeholders and press, media. 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) externally, it promotes our services, campaigns and principles to the public, the media, the government and donors. Internally, the division keeps staff and volunteers up-to-date with what is going on. There are four departments in this which includes information resources, media and public affairs, communications co-ordination and marketing and brand development. 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. (Global Positioning, 2007) Impact - The poor coordination between departments is an effect of poor communications. To create a good image on the society and at global platform, communication is must. Effective communication methods will help British Red Cross to gain more trust and fetch more donors for its activities. 3. Financial management Rohan Hewavisenti is director of Finance and business development at British Red Cross. Financial Management is also one of the most important functions for BRC. It is the main resources for British Red Cross to handle all its function. Without the support of finance all functions are dead. British Red Cross is a non profit organization but it need to maintain all its financial activities with maintaining transparency and accountability in the system. 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) The finance and business development division oversees all matters relating to the management of our financing, investments, budgets, property, purchasing, insurance and legal affairs. Under its financial activities fund raising is one of the important task, for this matter British Red Cross, it identifies sources of funds and then raises funds through face to face fund raising, events, trusts, charity shops, Red Cross Training, 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. Impact - Nothing can be done without money and it is blood for an NGO. This sentence shows the powerful impact of this function. 4. 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. Figure 1- Four Critical Business Processes of British Red Cross Stakeholder Analysis of British Red Cross Stakeholder Analysis is a tool which has been used under project management. It helps us to identify the individuals and groups (primary and secondary stakeholder) which can have a positive as well as negative impact on the business functions and decision making criteria. Stakeholder analysis tool is widely used to figure out the interest of stakeholder and planning aspects in order to protect the interest of shareholders and stakeholders. As per the information available on the websites and report on Red Crescent, I can say that there are four major stakeholders of British Red Cross. This includes its vast global network of volunteers and staff members, Public and affected people at large, Other NGO’s and humanitarian organizations and the last is the people who donates money to this organization like clients and donors and government. Volunteers and Staff members of British Red Cross are most important stakeholders of the organization. As per the vision of British Red Cross they are the working towards maximizing and mobilizing the ‘power of humanity’ and for that matter they are developing and maintaining a strong volunteer base through sound volunteer resources management programs. British Red Cross is providing career opportunities to young volunteers. BRC needs to utilize the serving potential of its volunteer base and provide better humanitarian services to society. As reported the problems and complains from volunteers regarding protecting their interest and their less career opportunities. A research shows that volunteers of BRC feel that the structure of the organization has become overly bureaucratic and less vulnerable to work for. This is causing dissatisfaction among its volunteers. Some moral issues have been registered in the behavior and attitudes of volunteers. That is why BRC is showing their concern for providing opportunities for volunteers and in recruiting, training, evaluating and recognizing them. Dissatisfaction causes for not taking initiatives and volunteers and staff members are responsible for the financial stability and restructuring the organization in light of its Mission. (Mayers) As they are the key people responsible for overall actvities. Considering public at large for which British Red Cross is continuously working. It is quite important to have a good positioning in the mind of public. Research shows that society feels that British Red Cross is a charitable and humanitarian organization and it is at the top of 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. Clients and Donors are the stakeholder who provide resources for its activities and services it provide. British Red Cross Society generates funds from it clients and donors so it is important to protect their interest. BRC has implemented a practice of designating funds in accordance with its donors’ wishes. BRC should be accountable and maintain transparency to its Clients and donors. It needs to ensure that all the money is going for a valid social cause. 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 – Grid Mapping of Power and Interest of the Stakeholders The above mentioned analysis shows the important stakeholders of British Red Cross. Stakeholder mapping will help us to understand the power and influence of these stakeholders on the decision making criteria of BRC. This analysis will help us to get rid of the internal issues and for creating a smooth work process. Stakeholder mapping is a grid between power and interest of the stakeholders. (Thompson) The below presented grid (Figure 2 - Power\Interest Grid for Stakeholders of British Red cross) 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. Power Low High Figure 3 – Power - Interest Grid for Stakeholders of British Red Cross Impacts of Business Functions and Ten generic questions to Elicit More Information Although, earlier in this report we have identified the various business functions and process but there are certain other functions which are directly linked with these major processes. These business functions are part of a wider business continuity planning process. There are ten generic question listed below which will help up to elicit more information regarding business functions and processes of British Red Cross. These questions are based on various functional grounds and support the core activities. 1. Description of the function/process and operational controls Question – How do you justifies the feasibility of your vision through your operations? This question includes information regarding basis of setting objectives and goals, feasibility of business model, philosophy and vision. How BRC makes sure that its strategy will be sustainable and what is the processes and flowchart of its operational efficiency. 2. Functional Stakeholders and their roles Question – Who are the internal and external, primary and secondary stakeholders of BRC which creates an impact during the time of disruptions? (Other stakeholders who are not mentioned in this report) How BRC does communicate with its stakeholders? This question will help us to enquire abut what are the modes of reporting and other communications tools have been adopted to ensure the accountability and transparency in the system of BRC. 3. Interdependencies of Departments Question – What are major functions which depends on other major functions in order to take decisions? For a proper understanding of overall business model and its process, it is vital to enquire about interdependencies of various business functions. How departments do coordinates among them. 4. Recovery Time Frames Question – What are the time frames and guidance at the time of recovery during crisis? How much a business function takes in order to recover all its process? This is one of the most important question needs to be ask as BRC is majorly working during crisis time. There it is imperative to find out critical time periods during recovery phase. 5. Human resource Management Question – As crisis can occur at any place in this world. So what are the expansion plans of BRC and how they are going to manage the recruiting, training and developing new volunteer and staff base? Human Resource management is the backbone of British Red Cross. It is important to know the sustainability of this department in changing global scenarios which are becoming worse. 6. Location and infrastructural aspects Question – What are the future plans for expanding its location base and infrastructure in countries which are more likely to get the help from BRC. It needs to enquire about the resource requirements and ease of operation in terms of better services to the society. 7. Resource Requirements Question – What are the type of resources it requires at the time of major disruptions and how does it handle all these issues? This area enquires about the major level of resources which are requires during major disruption as the basis work of BRC is during crisis. One can not help anybody without any resources available at its palace. This question also inquires about the logistics, transportation, storage and financial issues related with resources. 8. Technology and information aspects Question – How does it handle the data security and safety aspects? How does it take care of the information asymmetry and authenticity of the data of its clients and stakeholders? This question enquires about the tool of communications used by BRC and what are the current methods of securing data and their reliable backups. 9. Financial and legal\regulatory aspects Questions – How do you fund your business activities and what are the future plans in that area in order to get more and more fund to help more and more people? Financial management is the most important resource for BRC. It is important to make sure a continuous collection of funds to sustain the activities of BRC. Other than this what are the legal and regulatory frameworks for all financial issues. 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. 10. Random Issues Question – What are the types of situation which can occur randomly and they how does BRC controls them? This area inquires about the disaster management, crisis management, crisis recovery plans and tools of BRC. Is BRC is prepared for any emergency situation? (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