Environmental Analysis

Environmental Analysis

Environmental Analysis

When operating a business/organization, performing an environmental analysis before and during periods of business is a strategic plan that should be assessed. This form of analysis is generated through an environmental scan, which is "a method that enables decision makers both to understand the external environment and the interconnections of various sectors so that it may be implemented in the organization's planning and decision making process" (Morrison, 1992). There are three external environmental components in an organization: remote environment, industry environment, and operating environment. In order to conduct an environmental analysis identifying these components, I will depict the organization where I am employed, Holcomb Behavioral Health System.

Holcomb Behavioral Health System is an organization operated within the mental health industry. The mental health industry is a sector in healthcare which focuses on psychological functions and emotional and some irregular developmental functions. Holcomb Behavioral Health Systems provides a "comprehensive range of behavioral health services and a variety of programs with developmental disabilities throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and the state of Delaware" (Chimes). "Its programs include mental health counseling; 24-hour mobile crisis intervention; life skills and parenting classes; residential and supported housing; vocational training and educational services" (Chimes). This industry essentially provides services to children, adolescents, and adults in order enhance their social awareness, prevention, and to have them cope with their underlying domestic issues.

The demand of mental health services are ever increasing due to simplistic macroeconomic variables that can be handled quite differently starting out with our government but has not been changed for the better. One factor which causes the mental health industry to boom is the government investing more money into prisons than into schools. MSNBC reported, "Minorities tend to attend segregated schools with high concentrations of poverty, less qualified teachers, lower expectations, and a less demanding curriculum which essentially makes it difficult to get accepted to colleges if eligible." Others who do not complete high-school thus making themselves ineligible for college become high-school drop-outs. "High-school drop-outs are much more likely to go to prison" (MSNBC). As a result, "many children have at least one parent in prison so these children often struggle with the economic, social, and emotional burdens of the