Running head: S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS THRESHOLDS, INC.

S.W.O.T. Analysis, Thresholds, Inc.

Mary Pender
Wilmington University
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Introduction, S.W.O.T. Analysis, Thresholds, Inc.

S.W.O.T. analysis is a method used to assist a person, group, or an organization in

identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The S.W.O.T. analysis helps to

develop a complete awareness of factors involving decision making within any organization. It

can identify ways to improve or eliminate the corporation’s weaknesses and profit from its

strengths (Schooley, 2019).

The Thresholds, Inc. is a counseling agency that was established in 1985. It eventually

became a very strong organization in the surrounding communities. The Thresholds, Inc. is an

individually owned for-profit organization with the main office located in Georgetown,

Delaware, with satellite offices in Milford and Lewes, Delaware. Thresholds, Inc. has been a

primary provider of DUI treatment services in Delaware since they received a State of Delaware

contract to do so in May of 1985.

Strengths

One of the strengths about the Thresholds, Inc. is that they offer Drug Court Diversion

Programs in Court of Common Pleas and Superior Court, and a Comprehensive Outpatient

Treatment Program. The agency’s clients are referred independently or from other agencies and

through the legal system. Upon referral, the clients are scheduled for intake and treatment

planning sessions. After the initial intake sessions, clients are admitted to the program they have

been referred to. The clients can also be referred to a more appropriate program, according to

their required needs.

Another, but most important strength about the Thresholds, Inc., is the agency’s primary

goal, providing effective interventions for improvement of health and safety to the people they

serve. Thresholds offers services for education and treatment of life problems brought on by
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alcohol, drugs, and mental health issues such as worry and depression. In order to meet the goal,

the organization’s policies and procedures reflect their commitment to have services delivered by

a competent staff. The Thresholds, Inc. not only ensures the safety of the clients, but their

employees as well.

Another strength that was demonstrated was when the organization had an unmanageable

client backlog; Thresholds designed and implemented a program that eliminated the waiting list

statewide within three months of its inception. Since the beginning of that program, the

Thresholds, Inc. has added specialized treatment modules to their DUI program. They have also

initiated innovative community-based treatment programming with their Comprehensive

Outpatient Treatment Program and Drug Court Diversion Program. The agency provides

treatment that is client centered and evidenced-based (Pender, 2019).

Other strengths about the Thresholds, Inc. are their participation in outreach events, such

as National Alcohol Screening Day, National Depression Screening Day, and National Recovery

Month. They also have annual training for staff members that addresses emerging issues

concerning cultural awareness. Another strength of the Thresholds, Inc. is that they are an

individually owned business. Being individually owned business alleviates bureaucracy, and the

final decisions in reference to the organization are decided by the owner. It eliminates a lot of

input or different opinions from other people working for the agency which can result in

cumbersome red tape or stalemate.

The Thresholds, Inc. has a very diverse group of clients in various ethnic groups. This

includes all genders, men, women, and sexual orientations. The different ethnic groups include

African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, and Caucasian. The agency has two Spanish speaking

staff members. The Thresholds, Inc. also has translation services available, such as Spanish sign
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language. This particular service is the organization’s most common translation request. They

are available to provide provision of services to non-English speaking clients. The agency also

has other interpreting services they can reach-out to if needed. The organization appears to be

culturally sensitive to their clients and staff members because of having culture awareness about

their characters and beliefs (Pender, 2019).

The Thresholds, Inc. has a cultural competence plan that reflects the fact that they have

people of diverse backgrounds and experiences treating people of diverse backgrounds and

experiences. It is good that Thresholds ’goals are to insure that the staff members’ history and

experience assists in the effective delivery of treatment rather than getting in the way. The

organization’s plan in regards to cultural competence includes the identification of their strengths

and weaknesses of the staff and the community they serve. It also includes an assessment of how

the strengths and weaknesses support the effective provision of care. Thresholds, Inc. provides

annual training that addresses emerging issues in cultural awareness. There is a consistent, day-

to-day supervision that recognizes the role of culture and engagement in the counseling

relationship.

Weaknesses

The Thresholds, Inc. is a for-profit organization without a board of directors. Because

Thresholds is a for-profit organization with a single owner, it has options whether to have a

board of directors or not. The owner of the Thresholds, Inc. chose not to have a board of

directors. Instead, the organization has what is called a Leadership committee, which is chaired

by the Director, and is comprised of the Director, the Treatment Services Director, Office

Manager, and the Comprehensive Outpatient Treatment Program’s Clinical Supervisor.

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The agency has another committee called the Improving Organizational Performance

Committee that measures the agency’s performance (Pender, 2019). Without a board of

directors and just having these committees puts limitations on any new ideas from other team

members. The owner being in control makes all of the decisions concerning his company. This

is a weakness for the organization because there are many benefits that come with having a board

of directors. A board can bring knowledge that can help the organization achieve its goals.

Board members give their time by participating in the organization’s community activities.

Board members also have friends that usually make financial contributions to support the

mission and vision of their friend’s organization. Having a board of directors at the Thresholds,

Inc. could help focus on the organization’s mission, strategy, and their goals.

Other weaknesses that were observed about the Thresholds’ organization were the

unprofessionalism of some employees in front of intern and clients. There was profanity used by

the owner’s daughter as if it was a normal thing to do. No doubt she was employed because she

is the owner’s daughter, nepotism, but nevertheless, she should carry herself in a professional

manner like the other employees. There was unprofessional talk about other staff members and

how bad the agency is doing in front of an intern. There also was no effective communication

between intern and site supervisor. This included not giving the intern any projects to do.

Questions from the intern would go unanswered sometimes or she would be told to ask her site

supervisor which is also the Treatment Services Director.

Thresholds made poor use of the intern’s abilities by not giving her special projects to

occupy her time of internship at their facility. The intern should have been given real human

services jobs to do because that was the reason for the internship in the first place. Most of the

administration at the Thresholds, Inc. did not seem to care about what the intern wanted or
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needed during the internship. The intern was constantly asking for more meaningful work to do,

from the site supervisor, counselors and the front office workers. The staff at the Thresholds,

Inc. should have shown the intern some compassion and made her feel welcomed at their

organization. They need to understand that the intern’s primary objective was to learn about the

agency as well as to obtain the necessary skills to function effectively as a human services

worker. When interns are not given a chance to do real human services work, this could deprive

them from developing their knowledge and skills.

Other weaknesses included, not holding an orientation session between the intern and site

supervisor. Having an orientation session is important for the intern, site supervisor as well as

staff members to ensure that everyone, in other words, is on the same page. The intern can

express what he or she is expecting to learn from the internship and others at the agency as well.

There was a brief meeting between the intern and the site supervisor that lasted one and a half

hour, signed a few forms and end of meeting. The orientation would have been the opportunity

for the site supervisor to present the intern with a handbook about the agency. This would have

served as a guide for the intern when she needed questions answered concerning rules and

regulation about the organization. It can be frustrating to an intern feeling like you are not part

of the team or that you do not exist. Being left in an office waiting for someone to provide work

for you to do was not a good representation of the Thresholds, Inc.

Another weakness about Thresholds was not inviting the intern to attend meetings in-

house or outside at other organizations. The intern showed an interest in attending meetings with

site supervisor and had no problem with her schedule being rearranged to do so. The intern was

given an excuse about her schedule being a problem, when in actuality, it was not. The only

thing the supervisor had to say was that she wanted the intern to attend certain out of town
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meetings with her. Attending these events would have been an exciting learning experience for

the intern. It would have given the intern time away from the agency to visit and meet new

people, to see what go at other agencies, and have the chance to do some networking.

Opportunities

The Thresholds, Inc. needs to offer more hours of care out in the communities. The

organization’s hours of operation are from 8:00 am. to 4:30 pm., Mondays to Fridays only.

Moving their hours of operation to seven days a week and being open for twenty four hours a

day can be a great opportunity for the organization. Expanding their services gives them the

opportunity to address the client’s substance abuse problems in a more effective way, especially

the opiate drug situation. It also gives the clients more options as to where they can go for help.

This also could show and encourage the clients that the Thresholds, Inc. is an agency who cares

whether they live or die. Expanding services can also show the community that the organization

is serious about helping people to be from drugs and alcohol.

Another opportunity the Thresholds did not take advantage of was making good use of

the intern’s abilities. This is also an opportunity for the intern to expose his or her career that

matches their educational and personal interest. Thresholds need to develop an intern and

volunteer program to make use of intern’s talents. Interns and volunteers are invaluable because

they increase the workforce without needing compensation. Interns have great expectations

concerning their future about working in the human services field.

The main purpose of doing internship at Thresholds was for the intern to gain experiences

to help him or her transition into the human services field. The intern should be a primary

concern of the site supervisor and everyone involved. Showing a concern for interns is a way of

encouraging them that they are on the right track towards success. Interns can come out of an
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internship feeling confident that they have received the necessary tools that’s needed to move to

the next level in their lives. However, if interns feel rejected, disrespected and left alone

searching for work to do, it could leave them wounded in their hearts and minds. They could

also feel resentment and bitterness about an organization who was supposed to demonstrate good

leadership skills. One of the most important skills the leaders of the Thresholds, Inc. could have

demonstrated to the intern was the ability to communicate effectively.

Another opportunity the Thresholds, Inc. failed to see that suggestions and ideas from

staff members concerning the agency are important. Their ideas could be beneficial to the clients

and have an impact in the community. The staff has the most or only contact with the clients by

phone or in person. In the staff meetings, counselors discuss problems concerning their clients

and give their opinions on how the situation should be handled. For this particular reason, the

counselors’ opinions should be considered. However, the owner or Treatment Services Director

makes the decisions concerning the operation of the organization. They failed to recognize and

appreciate the fact that, the rest of the staff is a part of the team and their opinions or

recommendations should matter or at least be taken into consideration.

Another opportunity the Thresholds, Inc. does not take advantage of is developing

relationships with other non-profits who offer the same or related services as they do. It is very

important to collaborate and partnership with other organizations that have similar ideas or goals.

In an article, “Partnerships and Collaboration” (2015), it stated that, “Partnerships and

collaboration are strategic alliances between nonprofits that are intended to achieve greater

impact than any organization could generate on its own.” It also discussed how strategic

alliances are used by organizations for many purposes. These alliances are formed to increase
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the organization’s influence, their efforts, and changing operations to gain efficiencies

(“Partnerships and Collaboration,” 2015).

Threats

There are threats for any business who receives state or federal funding. Because funding

is so political, organizations can never be sure if or when a program will be cut. The Thresholds,

Inc. is state funded along with other resources such as Medicare, Medicaid, and DUI programs

are self-pays. The agency also receives funding provided by the Division of Substance Abuse

and Mental Health (DSAMH). Since there is no guarantee that the organization will receive

state funds, the agency should be looking at other ways to support their organization. The

Thresholds, Inc. should be pursuing every type of funding opportunities as possible. This should

include any grants, personal contributions and earned income.

Another threat that the Thresholds, Inc. is confronted with is the percentage rate of

client’s attendance that has dropped tremendously. Although Thresholds, Inc. is an outpatient

counseling facility specializing in treatment for substance abuse and other mental health

problems, it is no guarantee that clients will attend. With the percentage rate of clients dropping,

this means that the agency’s finances could be in trouble as well as the organization. Thresholds

need to do some strategic planning that will provide the organization with new directions to help

them move forward in accomplishing their mission and vision.

The Thresholds, Inc. is also in competition with other organizations that are in the

surrounding areas. These human services organizations are Sun Behavioral Delaware,

Connections Community Support System, and Fellowship Health Resource. These agencies

have treatment facilities located in other states and they are doing well. Instead of being in

partnership with these organizations, Thresholds only does referrals. The Thresholds, Inc. also
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does not have a board of directors, but their competitors do. Some serious changes need to take

place at the Thresholds, Inc. in order for the agency to be successful and productive in the

community they serve.

Conclusion

The S.W.O.T. analysis is a tool used to help organizations, groups or a person identify

their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Anyone who is thinking of starting a new

business should perform a S.W.O.T. analysis before making that decision. Organizations can use

the S.W.O.T. analysis to learn about any recommendations and plans, by concentrating on

leveraging strengths and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats.

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References

Partnerships and Collaboration. (2015, January 1). Retrieved from

https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/nonprofit-management-tools-and-

trends/strategic-alliances

Pender, M. (2019). S.W.O.T. analysis. Unpublished manual script, Wilmington, University.

Schooley, S. (2019, June 23). SWOT analysis: What it is and when to use it. Retrieved from

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html