For this Assignment, focus on the design of the People First San Diego organization and the organizational chart. Be sure to access the website’s Dashboard

45 Organizational Structure

2. To initiate, by September 2021, an after-school program in three different schools, serving twenty teens per site, which offers recreational activities, instruction regarding birth control and family planning, and counseling ser­ vices, as appropriate and indicated

These objectives specify what will happen, within what time frame, and where. They can be further refined to include the parties responsible for implementa­ tion. Attainment of these objectives can be observed and measured. However, such measurement will not tell us about the quality of the survey or the after-school program. Measuring the outcome of services is explored in later chapters.

Although the organization has primary responsibility for defining its mission and the program goals and objectives by which the mission will be carried out,

many external forces affect the exact way in which programs and services are articulated and operationalized. The precise nature of programs, for example, may be influenced by the demands of political groups, funders, and community mem­ bers (Netting et al., 2016). Ideally, a broadly stated organizational mission allows for some adaptability and flexibility in regard to how it is achieved. However, the demands made on the organization by external sources may stretch the boundar­ ies of the original mission and thus impede the capacity of the agency to achieve

its purposes. Direct service social workers, in their interactions with administrators, influ­

ence the mission as well as the implementation of the mission into goals and objectives. For instance, social workers working in an agency in Texas that served primarily African Americans noted that the values and the culture of the commu­ nity were not well integrated into the structure of the programs. Agency admin­ istrators responded to this critique by holding community forums, which enabled them to incrementally change the mission and objectives of the agency. As this example illustrates, agency norms and structures may be created in a reciprocal and collaborative fashion by various stakeholders.

Organizational Structure

All organizations have formal structures through which to carry out their work and achieve their purposes (Netting et al., 2016). Skidmore (1990) defines struc­ tures as the "actual arrangements and levels of an organization in regard to power, authority, responsibilities, and mechanisms for carrying out [organizational] functions and practices" (p. 97).

An organizational chart is the best descriptor of the structure of an organi­ zation and shows its lines of authority, relationships, and substructures (which may be called departments, units, or divisions). Each organization structures itself somewhat differently, a reflection of the particular programs it sponsors,

46 2 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF ORGANIZATIONS

its financial resources, its system of governance, management philosophy, and agency traditions. An example of an organizational chart is provided in Figure 2 .1.

The organizational diagram tells us many things about the organization. First, the chain of command-who reports to whom-is specified. Second, it provides some idea of the size and complexity of the organization. The programs are delineated. The number and type of staff assigned to each program may be fea­ tured. In short, the organizational chart is a blueprint of the agency's structural

relationships.

SUBSTRUCTURES

Organizations, once created, seek to establish systems to carry out their work and, further, to ensure their own survival and growth. The development of formal sub­ structures affects how and how well the work is carried out. Formal substructures include the divisions, departments, or units needed to do the agency's work, staff­ ing patterns, the pattern of governance, including the appointment or election of board and committee members, and board-administration-staff arrangements.

The structure of the organization includes its physical location and space. Some organizations occupy one location; others may have a main headquarters and one or more satellite offices. The Legal Aid Society of New York, for example, serves its clients through a complex, city-wide network of twenty-six borough, neighbor­ hood, and courthouse offices (Legal Aid Society, n.d.).

The Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services (2016) offers programs in seventy-five locations throughout the five boroughs of New York and in the suburb of Westchester County. Its scope of program offerings is vast and includes health care coordination, outpatient treatment programs, early childhood programs, and domestic violence shelters and transitional housing. Some programs are residen­ tial, others are outpatient only, and still others are for short-term interventions. Each program has its own administrator, such as the director of services for the developmentally disabled or the director of group treatment. Not all programs are available in all locations. For example, therapeutic nursery school services are provided at one specific location. Counseling services, on the other hand, may be housed in many locations. The dispersion of the target population served may require multiservice sites to provide accessibility to clients. These satellite service centers constitute a decentralized subsystem for the local implementation of ser­ vices. Given the breadth of the population served by the organization, the use of multiple sites is essential to accomplish program goals.

Public human service agencies, too, are often structured on a county-by-county basis, with varying degrees of control from the umbrella state organization. The size of the organization, number of clients served, and range of programs offered are also important variables in determining the need for decentralized sites.

Size is an important determinant of the overall structure of an organization and the nature and breadth of its substructures. Large public bureaucracies, for

Board of Trustees

Standin Committees Executive Committee S cial Committees

Executive Director

Public Relations Consultant or PR Development Consultant Board Committee

Assistant to the Executive Director Board Relations Support Volunteer & Administration Part-Time Grant Writer

Support

Chief Operating Officer Chief Financial Officer

Agency Intake Worker Assistant

Director Clinical Director Director Senior Services Services Division New Americans

Full-Time Part-Time 20 Hours Resettlement Worker

Social Worker Residence Mana er

Part-Ti me 21 Hours Part-Time Clothing Residence Staff Social Worker Collection

Additional Social Worker Part-Time New AmericansHours as needed 15 Hours Mana er

New Americans Case Worker Part-Time 25 Hours

Case Worker

Teacher English as a Manager Second La ua e KNOW

Director SecretaryVocational Services

Receptionist

Part-Time 10 Hours Insurance

Figure 2.1 Example of an organizational chart.