Copyright 1998 by Walter G. Green III.
The Course Requirements state that you will complete a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) analysis for an emergency services agency or organization with which you are familiar. Detailed information on SWOT as a process is contained in Chapter 5, Tools For Analysis, of the draft textbook MANAGING THE EMERGENCY SERVICES - AN INTRODUCTION. At the end of the Chapter you will find a typical SWOT matrix form for your use.
You can prepare your SWOT on any emergency services organization or agency, using the definition of the emergency services as described in Chapter 1 on the draft Textbook MANAGING THE EMERGENCY SERVICES - AN INTRODUCTION. Having said that, the following guidelines may be helpful:
(1) If you are going to prepare a SWOT on your own agency, it is very important to sit down and think objectively about the organization. Although it is difficult to ignore personalities and their impact on your perceptions, make every effort to look beyond people and consider actual realities. Also make every effort to look beyond the accepted truths - "we do a great job" is not truth as a Strength, but the fact that 35% of the calls last year couldn't be responded to because the dispatcher couldn't find a crew may point to "daytime staffing shortfalls on all weekdays" as a Weakess.
(2) If you are going to prepare a SWOT on an agency you are not currently a member of, gather facts to support what you are doing. Newspaper coverage, interviews with members, government meeting minutes, and agency records are possible sources. If something you put down on the paper is a perception, label it as so, because perceptions are important as shapers of reality in any public organization.
(3) If you are not a member of an emergency service and do not have easy access to one, it is perfectly acceptable for you to do a completely perceptual SWOT. What do you as a citizen perceive to be the Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats of the State Police? However, be prepared to support your perceptions with cogent arguments.
(4) And you can SWOT a function within an organization. What, for example, would be the SWOT for business continuity planning within the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, or for emergency management as a function in the Virginia Department of Health?
SWOT is often seen as a threatening process, because it can lay bare issues people and organizations do not want to face. In addition, your SWOT analysis may address proprietary or confidential policy and strategy issues. Your SWOT is confidential in its written form and will not be shared by the instructor with the agency on which it is prepared (although you may certainly do so if you choose to). The graded copy will be returned to you. We will discuss SWOTs in the on-campus class session, and students are reminded that these discussions fall under the academic freedom provisions of the syllabus and are not to be repeated outside the classroom.
The excellent SWOT will:
(1) Generally be balanced, with approximately equal numbers of comments in all four quadrants of the matrix. Comments will generally be of the same degree of importance ("Wealthy benefactor has left Squad $10 million in his will which is now going through probate" as an Opportunity cries out for something more significant than "one of the overhead lights in Unit 47 is burned out" as a Weakness). While some organizations are unbalanced, they are generally either those that are about to self-destruct or that are recognized as the best in the field.
(2) Generally have at least 20 items included. Large numbers are not necessary, and usually end up degenerating into trivialities. However, almost every agency has at least five Threats to worry about.
(3) Be focused on the agency, not on you as a member of the agency. While it is possible to do a personal SWOT (and actually not a bad idea), this assignment should be focused on the organization.
(4) Deal in specifics and in root causes. "Can't get ambulances out the door during the daytime" is a very real problem (but not as well expressed as "80% of weekday calls not covered due to crew shortage"), but you must ask what the underlying weakness is. Is this an issue of not enough members, or of members working during the daytime (and are these two demographic issues resulting from population shift from rural to commuter suburb), of people quitting because of leadership issues, of an imbalance of social versus working members, of an abysmal recruiting program, of ...?
(5) Remember that strengths and weaknesses are internal and opportunities and threats are external to the organization. For example, "Training program results in 75% of candidates meeting certification requirements within 4 months of joining" is a Strength, not an Opportunity. "Local newspaper editor has expressed strong interest in promoting volunteerism in the community" might be an Opportunity (or a Threat if you are a paid or fee for service agency). And sometimes you have to wonder - for a law enforcement agency that has traditionally been underfunded, would newspaper headlines "Local Crime Rate Rises 10% - Now Worst In State" be a Threat or an Opportunity?
(6) Consider the full range of possibilities. For example, can computer software be a Strength? If a corporate business continuity department has the latest software from a major business continuity vendor such as Strohl, they are probably significant steps ahead in the process of planning and are more capable of reacting effectively.