FEMA SWOT Analysis

Assignment:
Over the next week you will need to create a SWOT on a local business, government agency, or volunteer agency. ***(That deals with emergency management or preparedness)***
A SWOT Analysis, is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in business analysis. A SWOT can also be used in analyzing businesses and community for disasters as well. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. This type of analysis is credited to Albert Humphrey. Humphrey led a research project at Stanford University using data from the Fortune 500 companies.
A SWOT analysis lets you gain a better understanding of your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This section describes how a SWOT analysis can help your emergency planning team understand your organization's or community’s vulnerabilities.
Strategic Use
A SWOT analysis must start with defining a desired objective, and may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. An example of a strategic planning technique that incorporates an objective-driven SWOT analysis is SCAN analysis. Strategic Planning, including SWOT and SCAN analysis, has been the subject of much research.
If a clear objective has been identified, SWOT analysis can be used to help in the pursuit of that objective. In this case, SWOTs are:
o Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful to achieving the objective.
o Weaknesses: attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.
o Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
o Threats: external conditions that are harmful to achieving the objective.
The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories:
o Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.
o External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment.
The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective.
SWOT analysis is just one method of categorization and has its own weaknesses. For example, it may tend to persuade companies to compile lists rather than think about what is really important in achieving objectives. It also presents the resulting lists uncritically and without clear prioritization so that, for example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats.
It is prudent not to eliminate too quickly any candidate SWOT entry. The importance of individual SWOTs will be revealed by the value of the strategies it generates. A SWOT item that produces valuable strategies is important. A SWOT item that generates no strategies is not important.
http://en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
Strengths
o What assets do you currently have in terms of emergency readiness? Are you near a firehouse? Do your employees have CPR certification? Do you already have good relationships with your local emergency responders?
o What resources are available for your organization? Do any of your employees have family members who could provide emergency training? Do you have a back-up power source?
o What steps have you already taken to increase your readiness for emergencies? Think about the condition of your facility, training programs available in your community, etc.
Weaknesses
o What could you improve, in terms of emergency preparedness? Do all of your employees know where the emergency exits are? Do they know CPR? Do they know how to use a fire extinguisher safely?
o In what areas is your organization’s emergency preparedness particularly deficient? For example, do you need to develop a relationship with your local police precinct? Does your company’s insurance cover all the types of emergencies you might face? Is the coverage adequate for these emergencies?
Opportunities
o What opportunities exist that you can take advantage of? Is there a local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program that your organization can team up with? Are any of your business associates currently developing emergency plans that you can use as examples and inspiration?
o What local events could provide opportunities for raising employee awareness of emergency preparedness? Does your community have street fairs or seasonal festivals?
Threats
o What obstacles does your organization face in terms of planning? Some obstacles could be lack of money or time, low enthusiasm from other employees, etc.
o What are the specific hazards and threats that your organization faces? Keep in mind that such threats could be natural, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, as well as man-made, such as terrorism and crime. Is your organization particularly susceptible to any of these due to the nature of your business? Make this list as detailed as possible. Your plan needs to address all potential hazards and threats.
Once your group has answered the above questions, have one person collate all of the notes, type them up, and distribute them for review. After the group has had time to review the notes, meet again to develop the priorities that will guide your planning process. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats listed in your SWOT analysis will be the framework for determining these priorities
http://www(dot)vaemergency(dot)com/business/planning/vulnerability/swot/index.cfm
FORMAT
SWOTs are typically presented on a single sheet of paper. Divide the sheet into four quarters, traditionally the upper left quadrant is STRENGTHS, upper right WEAKNESSES, lower left OPPORTUNITIES, lower right THREATS.
Statements on the SWOT should be bullet statements. This means that grammatical completeness is not required, although the intent should be easily recognized and not a grammatical mess.
Bullets should be rich in detail with facts that support the thrust of the bullet. At the same time they should be brief, concise, and written with punch.
WHO OR WHAT CAN I SWOT?
You can prepare your SWOT on any organization or agency.
(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 Weakness.
(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) 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 county Department of Health?
CONFIDENTIALITY
SWOT is often seen as a threatening process, because it can lay out 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). We will discuss SWOTs in an on-line discussion, 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.
WRITING A GRADE “A” SWOT
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. "Attendance shortfalls of agency employees” may be a weakness, (but not as well expressed as "50% of communication center absenteeism occurs on the weekend”), but you must ask what the underlying weakness is. Is this an issue of not enough communicators, or do the communicators have a poor work ethic?
(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, they are probably significant steps ahead in the process of planning and are more capable of reacting effectively.