Identify one single risk you consider could affect the university as an organisation and justify yourchoice. It could be in relation to people, property or physical assets. Remember to ensure you have a sufficiently narrow focus to ensure your report has suitable depth and detail. So, as an example please do not choose ‘terrorism’ as your risk as this is far too broad to cover sufficiently. Consider instead one specific type of terrorism risk, for example a lone wolf attack on a university building.
The main purpose of this assignment is to analyze the risks which are faced by a university. The assessment will be analyzing the main difficulties which are faced by the management of the universities in day to day operations of the institutes. This includes various risks which the business is subjected to in management of the university (Sercombe and Donnelly 2013). It is responsibility of the management to identify such risks and the manage the risks which can affect the university’s operations. These risks affect the university reputations as well as the financial aspects of the university.
In an educational environment the main objective of the authority is to provide the best educational facilities and infrastructure which can be used by the students of the university. The main risks are brought about by such students itself which is incidence of Bullying and Ragging. Bullying can be described as an aggressive and unwanted behavior of students for the purpose of proving the superiority or perceived power among university students. The impact on such a behavior is normally subjected to fresher students in most of the universities (American Educational Research Association 2013). The impact of such a behavior not only impacts the mental health of the fresher student who is being bullied but also on the witnesses of such a bullying incident (Hassan et al. 2016). Researches show that the one who is being bullied along with the one who is bullying is deeply affected.
The nature of bullying may differ such as in some cases this aggressive behavior is only subjected to verbal assaults which may involve teasing, name-calling, sexual comments and even in extreme situations, embarrassing someone in public (Cowie and Myers 2015). While in other cases, there are instances of physical assaults which impacts the students more and such normally involves fights, breaking things of someone. In many cases it is seen that most of the bullies bring about a combination of both verbal and physical assaults on students. The incidence of bullying can take place both during or after school hours (Dir and Cyders 2015). The authorities of university are responsible to keep such unethical behavior of senior students during and after campus hours at a minimum. The risk which universities faces due to such incidence is that the university losses its reputation and is considered to have an unsafe environment for students and their academic developments (Lester 2013). In this process the university tends to lose brilliant students who have a bright academic track record and such students can bring about academic success for the university. This is to be considered by the authorities as bullying poses serious risks and deflects the interest of potentially talented students from taking admission in the University. Moreover, the reputation of the educational institute is hampered and the students consider the environment of such universities to be unfit for educational advancements (Meriläinen, Puhakka and Sinkkonen 2015). The impacts which can arise due to regular incidence of bullying are given below:
Bullying is known to create an unsafe environment and also builds up a level of anxiety and stress in the minds of the students which can greatly affect the educational environment as well as the social environment in university (Sinkkonen, Puhakka and Meriläinen 2014). Moreover, cases are reported where the bullying was at such an extreme level that the students who was bullied was mentally affected and even in some extreme cases committed suicide. Similarly, the students who are engaged in bullying other students often are affected as well such as they show little progress in academics and also tend to develop criminal behavior patterns in the long which if kept unchecked can destroy the life of that individual. Therefore, the level of risks and responsibilities which is on the management of the university is very high as not only the reputation and functioning of the institute depends on it but also the overall development of an individual also depends on it.
The risks which are associated with bullying is apparent for both the students and the institute who is unable to control such a situation. As per various cases which have come in the light in recent years, bullying takes place on students who are either freshers or individuals who are easy to pick on (Keashly and Neuman 2013). The students who bully freshers engages in such an activity so that they are appropriately demonstrate their seniority and power and also for the purpose of entertaining themselves.
A general research which was conducted on schools and colleges indicated that incidence of bullying takes place either during the school hours in school campus itself or after school hours which may be inside or outside the school campus. The authority of the University in both the stated situations are at risks as the behavior of the students during the campus hours fall under the purview of the university and any incidence of bullying will only be contributing to the bad name of the University in the eyes of the general public. Moreover, in todays world, the incidence of bullying has increased in most of the universities and is taken as a sport by students. This is clear from various incidence which have been reported in present times. As per the data which is collected by National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics for the year 2014-15, around 21 % of the students who fall within the age group of 12 to 21 years have been subjected to bullying in the nation (Dir and Cyders 2015). This is quite a high percentage which the management of the university needs to address for the benefit and long-term survival of the university. Another research which was conducted revealed that most of the students which accounted for around 20% in major universities were bullied during the universities hours (DelliFraine et al. 2014). The above discussion makes it clear that risks of such bullying if takes place in the campus or during class hours will be on the management and such could adversely affect the reputation of the university adversely in the eyes of the society. The incidence of bullying which are of regular nature will indicate the inefficiency of the management of the university and also portray the environment of the university in a negative manner to potential students. This in turn will reduce the admission of students who are willing to enroll in different courses which are offered by the university and the university will be losing out on brilliant academic minds which could have joined the university.
In other cases, the incidence of bullying and similar unethical behavior in classroom environment or campus will create pressure and unfavorable environment for education which will be bring the results of the university and thus further contributing to the declining reputation of the university. This will also affect the competitiveness of the University with other universities which are providing similar courses in the market. In addition to this, the well-being of the students are also affected by such incidence in the campus leading to mental health problems like depressions and anxiety, self doubt and loss of confidence. In certain cases where the management of the university is unable to solve the grievance of the students who are facing bullying, commit suicide or attempt to committed suicides. This affect the university reputation drastically and proves that the management is inefficient and unable to create a favorable environment for the students. In cases of suicides, the University in most cases faces law suits for the lack of effective management and the unsafe environment which has been created and which is not effectively monitored by the authorities.
With the development of online social networking sites, cyber bullying is also quite common where students uses fake ids with the purpose of harassing students which can be verbal insults or sexual taunts with the use of internet as a medium. This sort of bullying has also become quite common and is considered to be more severe than traditional bullying practices as the student who is engaged in such a misconduct is not revealed (Kokkinos, Antoniadou and Markos 2014). In addition to this, such types of harassment are sexual comments which are inappropriate and often girls are victims of such a harassment. In addition to this, the business will be suffering due to the decrease in the admissions to the different courses which are offered by the university. Moreover, there is a high risk that the university might be liable for charges for mismanagement of the educational institute (Bauman and Newman 2013).
The role of the authority is very important when dealing with the situations which is relating to such incidence of harassments. Bullying is recognized as a serious problem in the university environment and its is imperative that the management understands the dynamics and consequences of bullying on the students and other individuals (Polan, Sieving and McMorris 2013). The management needs to understand the impacts of bullying on student’s ability to succeed academically and also the overall reputation of the universities (Holt et al. 2014). The important steps which can be taken by the management of the university is essential for minimizing incidence which causes or give initiates such risks (Mulvey and Liu 2016).
The management of the university firstly needs to incorporate a structure which is efficient enough for internal control and overall management of the university. If the internal control of the University is effective and efficient then any such incidence of bullying can be avoided (Ahmad, Kalim and Kaleem 2017). Another approach of the management is to identify the various risks which are associated with the students and plan control measures so that the risks can be avoided. The management can opt for aggressive or liberal approaches for the purpose of tackling the risks which are associated with the management of the University.
Aggressive approach for managing the risks will include strategies and policies which can strictly deal with the issues of bullying. In such an approach, the management of the university can follow zero tolerance policy for any such ethical behaviors and severe actions are to be taken against the students are engaged in bullying of other students (Skinner et al. 2015). In most of the extreme situations, the university might rusticate the guilty student so as to provide an effective example which can prohibit bullying incidence in campus during class hours or after class hours. In case of Liberal approaches for managing the risks of the university, the authority adopts a less lenient approach for dealing with the situations of bullying. The steps which are taken by the management of the University are intimation of the issues of the students who are engaged in bullying to their respective parents, a fair warning that severe steps will be taken if the unethical harassments of other students are not stopped immediately (Thisera 2015). In liberal approach the management notifies the issues which are faced by students and highlights the same so that the few students who conduct bullying are kept under supervisions (Hein 2017). In such an approach, the management of the university ensures that the students are given a second chance for any unethical behavior of fellow students (Dentith, Wright and Coryell 2015).
The problem of bullying in an educational institute has serious impact on the students as well as on the image of the educational institutes. As per a website which is handled by the US department of Human Services, 50% of students grade 4 through 12 experiences bullying and around 70% of the students are estimated to be witness to such a bullying activity (Myers and Cowie 2015). The most common form of bullying which is seen in educational institutes are social and verbal bullying which can be name calling, teasing or even sexual taunting. Physical bullying is less common but are being reported frequently which is a serious matter of concern for the universities. Moreover, the impact of such activities is adverse on students causing them mental health problems, anxiety, depressions. The witnesses to bullying are also affected as the incidence creates a sense of fear and helplessness in the minds of students and they often tend to skip schools which suggests that the bullying has negative impacts on the child’s health. Once the incidence of bullying has taken root in the university, it is very difficult to eradicate the practice completely from the university. The various steps which can be taken by the officials of the university are explained below in point form:
Thus, if the management of the university effectively follows the measures which are given above, then the university will not only be able to protect the image of the university but also ensure that the mental health of the students are effectively maintained. The above measures which are undertaken by the management will show that the management of the University considers its responsibilities with precision and is working effectively for building a safe environment for the students to develop academically and socially. The above measures which are mentioned can help the management of university to mitigate the risks which are associated with bullying and ragging.
Organizational Culture refers to the overall environment of the business in which the individual operates or functions. The organizational culture includes beliefs, values and policies of the organization. In university, the culture plays a vital role in maintain the educational policies and structure of the University. The culture of the university determines the behavior of the students and also the activities in which the students engages in. The culture of the university also involves the faculty members and the role they play in shaping the attitudes and behavior of the students of the university. In a strict environment where effective disciplinary actions are present for any misconduct which are conducted by the students, bullying or any sort of misconducts are automatically discouraged and minimized (Stone 2013). While in a University where the management is not that strict and business are not managed effectively then such culture gives students the opportunities of engaging in such misconducts. Thus, from the above discussion its is clear that the role which is played by the culture of the organization is also important for mitigating the risks which are associated with bullying (Casas, Del Rey and Ortega-Ruiz 2013).
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion it is clear that the major risks which the management of the university faces is related to bullying activities which are conducted by the students itself. The assessment above shows the various impacts which incidence of bullying has on the students, witnesses and even the bullies. The assessment also shows the overall impacts which such risks have on the university. In order to minimize the risks which are discussed above various measures have also been suggested which if effectively followed can help the management of the university to avoid such a risk
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