Understanding Organizations/Agencies

Theories of how organizations work

What is an organization?

- A social group formally created to achieve specific goals.- An organization has specific characteristics.- Deliberate action was taken to form the organization to

deal with something in the environment.- A written document describes the general purposes and

activities of the organization.- A structure of governing the organization is created which

outlines of authority and work conducted.- The group is legally sanctioned through articles of

incorporation to perform certain tasks in the community.

Why should social workers be concerned about organizations?

• Most social workers will work within the confines of a formal organization.

• This organization or agency will have a tremendous impact on how they deliver services to their client and who that client will be.

• The formal organization is an extremely powerful tool that can bring about change or maintain the status quo.

• Many micro social work practitioners (counselors, clinicians and therapists) will become managers and need to know the dynamics of agencies.

Types of Organizations

• Public (government agencies established to serve people in need).

• Nonprofit organizations (private organizations given special tax status that allows them to spend their funds for public purposes without being taxed on the money they receive).

• For-profit organizations (private business that charge individuals or government agencies for their services).

• Self-help groups or mutual aid societies. Founded by a group of people with similar problems to provide help and support to members of the group. Most self-help groups are either nonprofit organizations or what we call informal organizations.

Organizations can be formal or informal

• Formal organizations have a definite structure and a decision-making process. It’s easy to tell who is and who is not a member of a formal organization.

• An informal organization can just be a group of people with similar interest or needs who come together to solve a problem (a block club, neighbors who exchange child care, volunteers who maintain a food pantry, etc.). It is sometimes difficult to tell who is and who is not a member of the organization. There may not be a definite leader or a process for making decisions. Informal organizations are not nonprofit organizations but may apply to state and federal governments to become one.

Several tools help us understand agencies.

Social Systems Model Mechanical model

Human Relations Model

Decision-making Model

Parson’s Paradigm

Organizations function to serve people in need and to maintain their own resources.

• Organizations must raise funds and obtain resources from a variety of sources (individual donors, government grants or contracts, foundations, and businesses, or charge fees for their services).

• They can only provide services if they have money to do so.

• Consequently, they can may limit the number of people they serve or ration services.

Organizations must also interact with other systems (economic, social, political) and

organizations in order to survive.

• They need money.• They need clients.• They need to establish a positive reputation• They need good workers.• They need resources and methods to deliver

services.• They need to be responsible to licensing and

accreditation agencies.• They need to be responsive to the public.

One way of Understanding Public and Nonprofit Organizations

involves the Social Systems Model• Boundary• Suprasystem• Interface• Input• Output• Proposed Output• Conversion Operations• Feedback

What is a boundary and how can you tell one in an

organization?

Agency 1

Agency 2

Boundary

• The boundary controls the internal and external exchanges with the environment.

• A Boundary must be closed enough to keep the integrity of a system yet open enough to allow a flow back and forth between the system and the environment.

• Boundaries are not physical.• The boundary of an organization or agency

is its culture.

What to look for in an agency boundary.

• Who are the workers? What is their education and skills? How do they dress?

• Who are the clients? Are they rich or poor? What is their ethnic background?

• What service population is stipulated in the mission statement?

• What is the feel when you walk into the agency? Are you welcome? Are you confined?

Suprasystem

• The social environment of the agency made up of individuals, groups, other agencies and communities.

What should you look for to determine an agency’s suprasystem?

• Where does the agency get its money?• Where does your agency get its clients?• What other agencies or businesses does the

agency contract with?• What communities and government agencies

have connections to the agency including grants and contracts?

• Where is the agency located?

Interface

• The boundary shared with another organization or agency that is a part of the suprasystem of the agency.

• The interface is the relationship between the agency and other organizations in the suprasystem.

• This relationship is jointly maintain by both agencies.

What should you look for in determining an agencies interface?

• What are the organizations connected to the agency?

• What is the nature of their relationship? Is formal and contractual? Is it informal with no contract?

• Who funds the agency?

Input

• All the incoming individuals and resources needed to provide services and run the agency.

How can you determine the input in an agency?

• Who are the clients in the agency?

• Who are the workers in the agency?

What is proposed output and how can you find it in the agency?

Proposed Output

Proposed Output

• The purpose or goals of the agency.

• Simply put, what the agency says it is going to do.

Where can you find proposed output in the agency?

• What is the mission statement of the agency?

• What are its goals and objectives?

• What does it say it’s going to do in its various grants and public pronouncements?

Mission Statement

Output

• The input after it goes through conversion operations.

Where is the output of the agency?

• What happens to the client when he/she has finished treatment, case management, counseling, education, etc.?

• What happens to the human services worker after working in the agency?

What is conversion operations and where can you find it in the

agency?

Conversion Operations

• The process where the agency turns its inputs into outputs.

Where can you find conversion operations in the agency?

• What practice modalities are used in the agency?– case management– psychotherapy– counseling– teaching– medical treatment

Feedback

• Determining if the agency is doing what it said that it was going to do.

Where can you find it in the agency?

• Does the agency do annual program evaluations?

• Does the agency do needs assessments in the community?

• What kind of information system does the agency utilize to determine completion of objectives?

Mechanical Model

• The authority structure is hierarchical in nature.

• There is a definite chain of command from the top to the bottom.

An organizational hierarchy may look like

this (typical nonprofit structure):

Board of Directors

Executive Director

Supervisor Supervisor

Staff MembersStaff Members

Where would clients be in this structure?

What effect do you think this has on clients?

• Workers are selected based upon their qualifications.• A given task is divided into parts and assigned to

positions. What is this called?• Roles within the job or position are standardized.

What does this mean?• Each position has a fixed salary and salary increase

is based upon steps. How does that differ with other models?

• Promotion is based on senority. What is that mean?• Conduct within the agency is strictly regulated.

What are some advantages to a bureaucracy?

Advantages

• Works well with agencies involved in a specific task.

• Allows quick decisions. Why?

• Workers know their place in the agency without question.

• There is little ambiguity in communication. What does that mean?

What are some disadvantages to a bureaucracy or the

mechanical model?

• Does not allow the flexibility to respond to a turbulent outside environment. What does that mean?

• Rigidity makes it difficult to deal with complex tasks. What does that mean?

• The nonpersonal nature of interaction increases low morale.

• Feeling powerless in policy changes increases low morale. Why?

Human Relations Model

• Is founded on the principal that the behavior and interaction of people within an agency directly impacts the quality and quantity of work produced. What does that mean?

• Workers directly participate in organizational decisions and policy development. Why is that important?

• Leadership is democratic.• Communication is free and open.• Workers needs are a concern of the agency as

well as client’s needs.

Advantages

• Workers have a higher morale.• Workers have an increased loyalty to the

agency and agency goals. Why?• The positive ambiance of the agency is

translated to the client.• Creativity and problem solving are

increased in the work performed by the professionals in the agency.

Disadvantages

• Some research indicates that although the human relations model increases worker satisfaction, it does little to increase agency effectiveness, innovation or client treatment.

• The agency puts more energy into satisfying staff needs than satisfying client needs.

• The human relations model fosters increased political behavior in terms of decision-making. Why?

• The human relations model slows down the decision-making process thereby hindering cost effective and speedy service delivery.

• The model tends to see all organizational problems as caused by lack of communication overlooking other factors including ineffective work, lack of resources and political/environmental barriers.

No agency is purely mechanical or purely human relations.

• Most agencies are a blend of the two models.

Pure Human Relations Pure Mechanical

Your analysis of where the agency is on the scale can tell

you a lot about the agency.

Parson’s Paradigm

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

What happens if one box gets bigger?

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness Maintaining

Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

What should be the goal?

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

Which box would be bigger in the Human Relations Model?

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

Parson’s Paradigm

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Which box is bigger in a bureaucracy?

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness

Maintaining Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

Parson’s Paradigm

Adaptation

Maintaining Uniqueness Maintaining

Workers

External

Internal

Fulfilling

Environmental

Goal

Simon’s Decision-Making Model

• To understand any agency, you need to know who is in control. Who has the power?

• The values of the people in control will filter down into the policy and the procedures of the worker and ultimately come to rest with the client or consumer.

• What are the values of the people who control the agency?

Two Tasks for Understanding an Agency’s Structure:

• Determine who is in control of the agency.

• Determine what are their values.

Empowerment Theory also helps us understand organizations

• What is the organization’s decision-making structure?

• How does the organization involve organization staff in decision-making?

• How does the organization involve clients in decision-making?

• Do staff members work collaboratively with clients to assess their problems and develop intervention plans?

What is empowerment?

Why do you think it’s important?