Understanding

Organizations/Agencies
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.
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. Its 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
Parsons 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 agencys 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 maintained by
both agencies.
What should you look for in
determining an agencies interface?
What are the organizations connected
to the agency? MOU
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 its 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.? JOB
ASSURANCE
What happens to the human services
worker after working in the agency?
Monetary Benefits
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 Members Staff 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 seniority. 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? Timeliness
Workers know their place in the agency
without question.
There is little ambiguity in communication.
What does that mean? - Hierarchy
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? Integrity
Rigidity makes it difficult to deal with
complex tasks. What does that mean? -
Flexibility
The non-personal nature of interaction
increases low morale.
Feeling powerless in policy changes
increases low morale. Why?
Communication Gap

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? Clarification
of Doubts
Workers directly participate in organizational
decisions and policy development. Why is that
important? - Involvement
Leadership is democratic.
Communication is free and open.
Workers needs are a concern of the agency as
well as clients needs.
Advantages
Workers have a higher morale.
Workers have an increased loyalty to the
agency and agency goals. Why? Feel
as a ownership
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? Critical Analysis
The human relations model slows down the
decision-making process thereby hindering cost
effective and speedy service delivery.- Blocking
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.
Parsons 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
Parsons 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
Parsons Paradigm
Adaptation
Maintaining
Uniqueness
Maintaining
Workers
External
Internal
Fulfilling
Environmental
Goal
Simons 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
Agencys Structure:
Determine who is in control of the agency.



Determine what are their values.
Empowerment Theory also helps
us understand organizations
What is the organizations 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 its important?
A management practice of sharing information, rewards,
and power with employees so that they can take initiative and
make decisions to
solve problems and improve service and performance.
Empowerment is based on the idea that giving
employees skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as
well holding them responsible and accountable for outcomes of
their actions, will contribute to their competence and satisfaction.