OVERVIEW
This assignment will help students to develop an inside-out, principle-centered approach to
management by self-reflection. Each student will conduct a personal assessment of managerial
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats via a SWOT analysis and develop strategies for
self-improvement via a TOWS Matrix. Students will evaluate their own personal management
factors (principles, traits, skills or practices) that are critical to their managerial effectiveness.
Remember: This assignment and all assignments in this course have a management, not
leadership focus. There is a distinct difference between management and leadership. Discuss
management, not leadership. The Contemporary Management text only provides basic topical
information. As a research-intensive doctoral course, you will need to research current scholarly
literature. There is no assignment in this course that can be completed by relying on the text
alone.
Conduct a management SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on your
personal effectiveness on the managerial level of an organization. Do this by identifying your
strengths and weaknesses as a manager, as well as the opportunities that you can take advantage
of to make you a stronger manager, and threats that are currently impeding your growth as a
manager, or prior threats that plagued your management progress. This is your personal SWOT.
Do not conduct a SWOT analysis on an organization. Research SWOT Analysis to get a full
understanding, which is not available from the management text. Strengths and Opportunities are
not the same, and do not have the same origin. Weaknesses and threats are not the same and are
not similar. Use the results of one or more management self-assessment tests as a base to
discover and support your SWOT.
Various tests can be found online. The website Mindtools has an excellent series of management
assessment tests, and you can find a link for Mindtools on the Research Paper: Personal
SWOT Analysis Assignment page under Research Paper: Personal SWOT Analysis
Resources. State the title of the test, the purpose of the test, your actual score, and the
interpretation of the score. Be sure to focus on the management aspects of the test if the test is
based on personality, psychology or other unit of analysis. Do not use a leadership assessment
test. Discuss whether or not you agree with the results of the management test assessment.
Apply biblical integration by documenting what the Bible says about each personal SWOT factor
which are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Present your SWOT analysis in essay
format, not in a graph, diagram or chart. (At least 400 words in this SWOT section).
TOWS Matrix:
Develop strategies to improve your managerial effectiveness by creating a TOWS Matrix from
the results of your SWOT Analysis. This should be your personal TOWS matrix, not a TOWS
matrix for an organization. You must present at least 1 real-life personal strategy for
implementation in each of these 4 types of strategies: SO strategy/ WO strategy / ST strategy /
WT strategy. Be sure to state what factors (S/W/O/T) you are matching and the resulting
BMAL 703
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strategy that you propose from that matching. As an example, state that you are matching your
planning strength with a specific threat (ST), then state a strategy that would result from this
combination. Research TOWS Matrix to get a full understanding, which is not available from
the management text. Apply biblical integration by documenting what the Bible says about
personal strategies. Present your TOWS matrix strategies in essay format, not in a graph,
diagram or chart. (At least 400 words in this TOWS section)
Required Headings
Cover page with Topic Title
Abstract
Introduction
SWOT Analysis (in this section identify your management strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats in at least 400 words)
o Strengths
o Weaknesses
o Opportunities
o Threats
TOWS Matrix Strategies (in this section provide examples of your management
SO/WO/ST/WT strategies in at least 400 words)
o SO Strategy
o WO Strategy
o ST Strategy
o WT Strategy
Conclusions
References
Other Requirements
Materials submitted to fulfill requirements in one course may not be submitted in another course.
Concerns about the propriety of obtaining outside assistance and acknowledging sources should
be addressed to the instructor of the course before the work commences and as necessary as the
work proceeds.
