Name: Bernardo B.

Leona Course: Master in Public Administration

Subject: Management Planning and Control Instructor: Prof. Joanna Ruth Castillo

WRITTEN REPORT

Environmental Scanning; PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis, and mind mapping in

VUCA WORLD

What is Environmental Scanning

Environmental scanning is the process of gathering information about events and their
relationships within an organization's internal and external environments.

The basic purpose of environmental scanning is to help management determine the

future direction of the organization. Basically, it is the strategic planning method.

There are some excellent strategic planning methods that you can use analyze internal
and external factors. SWOT analysis, PEST analysis and Mind Mapping are three of the
most frequently used planning methods.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT, when broken down simply means analyzing the:

• Strengths – The advantages you have over the competition concerning this
project.
• Weaknesses – The disadvantages you have internally compared with your
competitors.
• Opportunities – Current external trends which are waiting to be taken advantage
of.
• Threats – External movements which may cause a problem and have a negative
impact on your business.

Sometimes SWOT is referred to as SLOT, where weaknesses are names as liabilities.

By working through each of these points it is possible to identify any internal
disadvantages or advantages which could benefit or hinder the outcome of a planned
project. In addition to evaluating the state internally, this method is also able to identify
the external factors which could also make a difference to the success or failure of a
project.
PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL stands for the analysis of the external factors which are beneficial when
conducting research before beginning a new project or to help conduct market research.
These factors are:

• Political – Laws, global issues, legislation and regulations which may have an
effect on your business either immediately or in the future.
• Economic – Taxes, interest rates, inflation, the stock markets and consumer
confidence all need to be taken into account.
• Social – The changes in lifestyle and buying trends, media, major events, ethics,
advertising and publicity factors.
• Technological – Innovations, access to technology, licensing and patents,
manufacturing, research funding, global communications.
• Legal – Legislation which has been proposed and may come into effect and any
passed legislations.
• Environmental – Environmental issues either locally or globally and their social
and political factors.

Unlike SWOT this strategy is more directly aimed at the external macro environmental
factors that might be affecting the position of your business, the reasons behind growth
or decline in the market and also identify new directions for the business as a whole.

VUCA model
What is this so called VUCA model?

When military planners first came up with the VUCA model, they were reacting to the
end of the Cold War, which is ironic considering the current news. The model addressed
a world suddenly devoid of certainty in which events
were Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous – hence the acronym. And here
we are again - VUCA is now describing what seems to be the default state of our world!

VUCA is not a problem to be solved. It is a shift in our perspective of the world. The
VUCA environment we are in means that we must focus on what is possible (because
anything can happen) rather than on what is likely to occur (which is determined more
by what happened before).

The “V” in the VUCA acronym stands for volatility. It means the nature, speed, volume,
and magnitude of change that is not in a predictable pattern. Volatility is turbulence,
turbulence that is becoming more frequent than ever in the past.
The “U” in the acronym stands for uncertainty, or the lack of predictability in issues and
events. These volatile times make it difficult for leaders to use past issues and events
as predictors of future outcomes, making forecasting extremely difficult and decision-
making challenging.

The “C” in VUCA stands for complexity. There are often numerous and difficult to
understand causes and mitigating factors (both inside and outside of an organisation)
involved in a problem. This layer of complexity, added to the turbulence of change and
the absence of past predictors, adds to the difficulty of decision making.

The A is Ambiguity is the lack of clarity about the meaning of an event, or the “causes
and the ‘who, what, where, how, and why’ behind the things that are happening that are
unclear and hard to ascertain” A symptom of organisational ambiguity is the frustration
that occurs when individual achievements fail to add up to a comprehensive or enduring
success.

References:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-survive-vuca-world-prism-brain-
mapping?trk=organization-update-content_share-article

https://www.tesu.edu/about/ir/environmental-scanning
https://creately.com/blog/project-management/swot-analysis-vs-pest-analysis/