Introduction
According to Momani (2010) business continuity plan is an application that sets out how the business would cope in the event of a disaster. The schools in Kuwait consider it to be important for technology to support the learning process. In this regard, the Kuwait private schools have launched a series of initiatives consistent with the business continuity planning. For schools, the business continuity plan is all about the thinking through diverse events that affects the school operations and putting in place strategies in place to deal with them so that the school continues to operate in the foreseeable future. For a private school, any eventuality could mean the closure or the day-to-day operations of their business. A school can easily face problems like breakdown of their structures, accident on a school vehicle, or even event of fire. Whereas such events may rarely occur, such private schools need to be fully prepared for them. Private schools are designed to make profits and must be fully prepared for any eventuality for them to sustain their businesses.
In case of an incident in the private school, the actions and the decisions need to be recorded to protect the school from possible lawsuits that may damage their reputation and face financial losses. On the other hand, the media attention must be managed at times of crisis to avoid any negative publicity that may arise (Stewart, 2009). Furthermore, the parents and the school stakeholders must be properly informed. In some incidences, counseling may be necessary and extra security may be needed.
Currently, a number of private schools in Kuwait are employing the use of business continuity applications in their schools. Despite their perceived benefits, the effectiveness of such business continuity applications has not been fully established (Lindstrom, Samuelson, & Hagerfors, 2010). Without being effective, such business continuity applications will be of no use to such schools. The international standards ISO-22301 established the benchmark that can be used to analyze the business continuity programs in the private schools.
Aims and Objectives
The main aim of this research proposal is to establish the effectiveness of the business continuity applications in Kuwait private schools.
Other objectives of the research include;
Rationale
Since private schools operate like private businesses, the sustainability of such business is very important for its stakeholders. Therefore, it is not a just a matter of applying the business continuity applications, but also applying them effectively. Knowing the effectiveness of the business continuity applications would help the private schools to plan and program accordingly (Pinta, 2011). Furrhermore, these private schools needs to understand the challenges they are likely to encounter in their business continuity applications so that they can prepare adequately for such challenges. So far, the ISO standards have established the benchmark that can be used by various players in the industry. It is prudent for an organization to learn the ISO standards so that they can gauge whether their their practice is up to the international standards. Therefore, this study will provide the necessary knowledge that can help the private school management make strategic and tactical plans. In this regard, the private schools will develop a plan that can help them get back on track faster with reduced impact on the learning process.
Methodology
Since this study is exploratory in nature, the survey methodology is appropriate in answering the research questions. The main aim of this study is to establish the effectiveness of the business continuity applications in Kuwait private schools.
This study will use both the primary and the secondary sources of data to analyze the research questions. The primary data will be gathered from the interviews from the selected private schools. On the other hand, the secondary data will be collected from the books, journals, reports, and websites among other secondary sources. For primary sources, five private schools will be selected for the study.
Interviews will be conducted to gather primary data in selected private schools in relation to business continuity application. The questions asked during the interview process will help to assess the effectiveness of the business continuity applications in Kuwait private schools.
After data have been collected, they will be analyzed accordingly to get the answers of the research questions. The interview questions will then be analyzed by thematic analysis that focuses on examining, pinpointing, recording patterns, and themes within the collected data. Therefore, the themes must be analyzed in phases in response to the research questions to generate the necessary codes (Creswell & Plano, 2007).
Literature Review
According to Momani (2010), business continuity is a plan to evade and mitigate risks that comes along with disruption of the normal operations. It gives the steps to be followed before, during, and after the even to sustain the financial position of the school (Cerullo & Cerullo, 2004). Though there are insurance covers to recover for losses incurred during an emergency, it cannot fully recover some of peripheral damages, like loss of students, loss of market share. One of the best investments an organization (including a school organization) should have is a well-detailed and documented business continuity plan clearly communicating how you will respond during eventuality (Cerullo & Cerullo, 2004). Business continuity planning in schools is a particular form of risk management that aims at ensuring that the normal school programs continue in the event of a disaster occurring. It sets a situation on how a school would cope in the event of a major incident and can thus be referred to as a recovery strategy that focuses on emerging weaknesses in the organization.
Unfortunately, many schools do not have a business continuity plan even with the fact that it is one of the most crucial components in the recovery strategy (Botha & Rossouw, 2004). Several authors agree that business continuity planning has a number of positive impacts on a school set up. It helps in time and safe recovery in case of an event in a school (Botha & Rossouw, 2004; Cerullo & Cerullo, 2004; Momani, 2010). Training of the employees on how to follow a business continuity plan in advance will get everyone on the same page during such an event. Overall, the business continuity plan should capture the three key main areas of resilience, recovery, and contingency.
The ISO 22301 was developed in 2012 to specify management approaches that can be used by businesses for their continuity arrangements. It helps both the small and large organizations, irrespective of their location and activity, to be more resilient in line with their operations. The ISO standards help the business to identify and manage the current and the future threats of the business. In addition, the ISO enables the businesses to take a proactive approach in minimizing the impact of incidents and keep a critical functions running in times of crisis. The ISO 22301 also provides the framework for businesses to minimize the downtime during incidents and demonstrate increased resilience to their customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Therefore, it provides the framework for the business to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, and maintain a business continuity program to help organizations protect against various forms of eventuality (Lindstrom, Samuelson, & Hagerfors, 2010).
Time Chart (Gant Chart)
Bibliogrpahy
Botha, J., & Rossouw, V. S. (2004). A cyclic approach to business continuity planning. Information Management & Computer Security, 12(4), 328-337.
Cerullo, V., & Cerullo, M. J. (2004). Business continuity planning: A comprehensive approach. Information Systems Management, 21(3), 70-78.
Creswell, J.W., & Plano, V.L. 2007. Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage
Lindström, J., Samuelsson, S., & Hägerfors, A. (2010). Business continuity planning methodology. Disaster Prevention and Management, 19(2), 243-255.
Momani, N. M. (2010). Business continuity planning: Are we prepared for future disasters. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, 2(3), 272-279.
Pinta, J. (2011). Disaster recovery planning as part of business continuity management. AGRIS on-Line Papers in Economics and Informatics, 3(4), 55-61.
Stewart, W. (2009). Service impact analysis using business continuity planning processes. Campus - Wide Information Systems, 26(1), 20-42.
