By Mike Cieri, MSIR, Vice President of Mardac Consultants
One of the key functions of success for organization is to formulate strategies that will allow an organization to accomplish its mission and achieve its goals. One of the best techniques for accomplishing this is to use a SWOT analysis. This strategy begins with analyzing the forces inside and outside of the organization that affect its ability to meet its goals now and in the future.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats. Strengths & Weaknesses focus on the internal business environment, while Opportunities & Threats focus on the external business environment. Looking at both the internal & external environments gives you the ability to identified the potential threats that might harm the company and produce opportunities that you might take advantage of.
The first step in SWOT analysis is to identify your strengths and weaknesses. For example a strength might be exceptional skills at problem solving and a weakness using out-dated technology. The challenge is to honestly identify the strengths and weaknesses which characterize the current organization.
The second step in SWOT analysis is much more complex. Identifying opportunities and threats in the business environment at affect the company now and in the future. Some areas to focus on: Demographics, Political/Legal forces, Technology changes, Economic forces, Competitors, and Socio-Cultural conditions, etc.
The last step is to put it all together. With the knowledge gained from the SWOT analysis you can develop targeted strategies for achieving your mission and goals.
About the author:
Mike Cieri, MSIR, is Vice President of Mardac Consultants and been in the Human Resource Management field for over 20 years. During this time he has held a variety of management positions, including several years on the executive management team of a large corporation as Vice President of Human Resources and Safety, as well as Vice President of Operations.
