Let’s face it-Raymond Walters is a business. It is an organization that produces educated minds (outputs) by pulling in under-educated people (inputs) and transforms them through the use of instructors, curricula, textbooks, and other materials. It is necessary for the managers of this organization to provide incentive for students to attend RWC by differentiating their services or by being the low-cost leader in the industry.
Every business has a set of issues that are affected by several business environments. Although RWC is separately accredited and maintains control of many of its own functions, it remains subject to all of the University of Cincinnati’s policies and procedures.
As primarily a two-year community college, it draws a more diverse population of students than your typical undergraduate university. This diversity requires an entirely different set of services and programs, and it is more difficult to engage the student body in extra-curricular activities.
In manufacturing, an organization’s task environment is affected by customers, suppliers, distributors, and competitors. For educational institutions, some of the labels change, but the functions are basically the same.
The “customers” are actually you and I, the students, but we play a very unique function in this organization: we also happen to be the product.
While the school has various obvious suppliers, there are also less conspicuous “suppliers.” After all, the production of well-educated members of society requires a supply of previously under-educated people. RWC’s suppliers, therefore, also consist of local high schools, businesses, and communities.
Re-defining the concept of the “distributor” involves a bit more thought. “Distribution” is accomplished through the programs, curricula, and instructors who provide access to learning.
Finally, we have competition. RWC is again in a unique situation: some competitors are external to the overall organization (UC), like Cincinnati State or ITT Tech, while others are internal, like Clermont or main campus.
In terms of RWC’s general environment, many forces are beyond the control of administrators yet often prove to hold the most influence over all facets of the organization. Demographic, economic, political, and technological forces all play a significant role in the day-to-day and ongoing functions of the school.
Demographically, Raymond Walters pulls a unique set of students, drawing many older or returning students, single moms, working students, those who are first to attend college from their families, and mentally or physically challenged individuals. These students make up the majority of our student body, and they require a very different set of services than typical high school grads who have applied to multiple universities.
These students do not have time to be involved in extra-curricular activities, often require daycare services or flexible scheduling of classes, and may need help to overcome knowledge or technological gaps after many years out of school.
In addition, many of the students at Raymond Walters are most affected by even small changes in economic conditions at a local, national, and/or global level. Increases in the costs of tuition, textbooks, utilities, and even gasoline have not been matched by increases in income, and our students are particularly susceptible to being forced to drop out when the ends simply don’t meet.
While enrollment is decreasing, the costs of keeping the grounds and increasing certain services have been taking the toll on the college’s budget. Add in the lack of financial transparency and consistency, and last year’s profits are likely to be this year’s losses. It therefore remains to be seen whether necessary improvements will be feasible.
The political and legal environments of all schools in the state are currently volatile. State and federal funding cuts, in combination with rising costs and mandatory caps on tuition increases, are quickly causing massive restructuring university-wide. While RWC has lagged in taking similar action, more drastic budgetary cuts are inevitable.
Unfortunately, this all comes at a time when certain deficiencies in business administration, and especially in the technological environment, have become more apparent at RWC. In a world where every competitor (internally and externally) offers wireless Internet access, Raymond Walters’ students must hike to White Castle or Friday’s if they want to get full use of their laptop computers.
Although management has the ability to get inexpensive access through main campus, they have chosen to avoid UC’s advanced resources and recently announced that it will likely take at least two years to provide what may fast become an antiquated technology.
At Raymond Walters, academic managers provide innovative solutions to many of these environmental issues by offering a wide range of courses, continuously updating curricula, and seeking to improve all areas of the organization.
However, the factors discussed here require RWC administrative management to be well-organized and fully engaged in gaining a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, we currently lack the leadership necessary for an adequate response to many of these pressures, particularly in the areas of technology, economy, and certain necessities (such as food and day care services.)
With Clermont and Cincinnati State offering a majority of similar coursework at a lower cost and with better amenities, it seems likely that they will continue to pull customers from the RWC pool.
With the Dean’s recent announcement that she does not plan to pursue a second term at Raymond Walters, the question that begs to be asked is: who can step up and make the hard decisions that must be made in order for this institution to move forward-and when can they start?