A key takeaway for you to always remember is that a SWOT is never done; it’s a living document that needs to be revisited each time you revisit your organizational strategy, culture, or anytime a major change is on the horizon. The day you stop worrying about what risks are looming is the day you get caught off guard, much as occurred for many organizations with the recent pandemic, the protests sweeping the nation, and the many natural disasters occurring on a yearly basis. The same is true with opportunities. Stay attuned to your SWOT analysis so that you won’t miss those “golden opportunities” when they arise!

This is an individual assignment, meaning you will do this one on your own, focusing on a company of your choosing in your profession (e.g., a nursing home, police unit, credit card company, food distributor, foster care agency, etc.) that has faced an ethical dilemma and significant consequences. While a SWOT Analysis is best done in a group, you will do this one on your own, focusing on a company’s ethical dilemma and the consequences faced.

Find a company of interest to you that has gone under or had extensive negative media attention due to unethical decisions (e.g. data privacy mishandling, financial improprieties, denials of service to people from different cultures, responding to protests, other social injustices, etc.). You may know of a prominent organization in your field, or there may be a “notorious” organization in your region that you would like to examine more deeply. Choose one that has enough information in the public domain for you to be able to conduct your SWOT. Use credible media sources on the organization. Then supplement these with your discipline’s code of ethics and at least one scholarly peer-reviewed article from the Excelsior Library (Links to an external site.) (required) on the ethical issue represented to provide an evidence-based analysis.

In addition to your code of ethics, you may find it helpful to revisit previous modules and speaker sessions to identify some of the issues we have discussed thus far, including codes of ethics, diversity and inclusion, and the multigenerational workplace.

Now that you have gathered your credible source information, use the SWOT Analysis template to conduct a SWOT Analysis on the decision and the alignment or misalignment of its organizational strategy (which would drive the decision) and the organization’s stated values.

SWOT Analysis Template (.doc) Download SWOT Analysis Template (.doc)

Select three to five of each of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Do not exceed five in any one category.

Once you have completed the actual SWOT Analysis, provide a one-paragraph analysis summary that describes the main findings of your SWOT Analysis. Then add a 2-3 paragraph recommendation for how the organization could have leveraged the strengths and opportunities to choose a different decision—one that might abide more strongly to your discipline’s code of ethics.

Your SWOT Analysis should be two to three pages, not including your title and reference pages. Please use current APA standards in all aspects of your SWOT Analysis assignment. Be sure to credit the sources you use to support your SWOT using both in-text citations and a reference page.