Organizational Alignment Assessment: Recommendations for Resolving Organizational Challenges

By: Barbara Poirier
Date: [submission date]

Contents

Assignment 1.2: Organizational Profile Part 1— Description of your Company 3
Assignment 2.1: Organizational Profile Part 2—Alignment of Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategy 6
Assignment 2.2: Stakeholder Analysis 10
Assignment 3.2: Organizational Profile Part 3—Cultural Analysis 14
Assignment 4.2: Alignment of your Organization’s Performance Appraisal System with its Strategy and Culture 18
Assignment 5.2: Professional Development Plan 23
Assignment 6.2: Team Effectiveness Analysis 26
Assignment 7.2: Change Management Case Study and Recommendations 30
Assignment 8.1: Leadership Challenges for Your Organization 31
Assignment 8.2: Course Project Final Report 32

Assignment 1.2: Organizational Profile Part 1— Description of your Company
Caprock Academy
It might seem hard to think of schools as a business and education as a service and not as a right, but the reality is that in order to stay open and operational, schools have to be properly organized, structured and managed just like any other business. There has been an increase in demand for better service and higher quality of education offered by the public school system, which has been answered by the creation of charter schools. According to the National Centre of Educational Statistic, charter schools are not only a business, but a booming business catering to over 2 million students across the country (NCES, n.d.). I currently work for Caprock Academy charter school, which was open in 2006 and has a roster of over 700 students from K-12. The school was founded by parents and educators that wanted an alternative curriculum to the one provided by the public school district in Grand Junction, Colorado.
As a charter school Caprock Academy has more autonomy over its curriculum content, organizational structure, calendar year and policies. For instance, the school does not follow the current curriculum used by public schools. They have chosen to adopt a curriculum based on Classical Education and Core Knowledge. According to the school’s website they believe themselves to be different and apart from the public school system. “There are at least four reasons why Caprock Academy embraces classical education. You will discover these reasons will separate us a bit from the modern, progressive idea of education.” (Trezise, 2014)
Competition & Customers
The organization offers free education to anyone who is willing to adhere to the curriculum proposed by the school and its vision. Although there are three other charter schools in the area, Caprock is the only completely independent charter from the Colorado School District, such distinction makes the organization competitive with the public and private school sector. It competes with public schools as a free education option, and with the private schools as an academic challenging organization.
As a competitor to public and private schools, Caprock Academy’s customers range in demographics. The school caters to wealthy and poor families from different parts of the city, as the school does not have adhered to school districts’ zones. The school uniform code, its strict conduct policies and the ratio of teacher-student seem to be the main reasons customers choose to attend the school.
The school also differentiates itself by offering additional assistance to teachers and students by hiring educational assistants for every grade level. I work as one of those Educational Assistants, E.A.; my job is to ensure my two eighth grade teachers has all the support necessary to instruct students daily. The job entails offering students help in class, enforcing dress code and behavior conduct rules of the school, escorting students from and to classes, preparing educational materials for the class, recording and grading student’s assignments and to be a communication liaison between