Organizational Theory and Design

Organizational Theory and Design

Erin Buell

Concordia University

Issues in Human Service Administration

MHS 550

Kollbaum

September 26, 2013

ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND DESIGN1

Organizational Theory and Design

Grace’s House, a day care and support organization for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia and their caregivers, will primarily follow the theory of universal management principles; however, there will be elements of bureaucracy theory as well. The design of Grace’s House leans toward the balance of leadership providing guidance and quality control, with staff participation, communication, creativity and energy.

Graces’ House will have a strong foundation. The board of directors will bring to the organization the expertise of agency management, financial planning, quality control, and policy.The executive director, or ED, will directly oversee the staff and the operations. The ED will be the conduit between the board and the staff, and will be directly responsible for hiring staff and overseeing daily operations. The description of the universal management principles includes that the manager, or the ED in Grace’s House, will be responsible for planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012, p. 82). The ED will be in a position of leadership for the staff to look toward for guidance, while at the same time following the mandates and expertise of the board of directors.

Furthermore, this model will encourage face to face interactions between all staff members as an effort to encourage creativity and accountability in the care of the clients. Frequent staff meetings, appropriate training, continuing education opportunities and inter-staff collaborations in activity planning are an essential piece of the organization. Lewis, et al refer to Henri Fayol’s use of the concept of a gangplank image to describe how each individual in the agency is able to communicate directly with any other individual, whether in the same department or another (p.82). This concept will work well in my organization.

However, the influence of a bureaucratic structure will be important as well. Because an adult day care will have to follow local, state and government guidelines of operation, and because the agency will receive Medicaid reimbursements, there will be policy and procedure that will require strict adherence. Lewis et al describe professional bureaucracies to be effective in areas where standardization is necessary, and where tasks are “too technical and complex to be dictated by managers” and “emphasizes authority of a professional nature – the power of expertise” (p 82, 83). Because of the specificity of governmental policy, this area of expertise will be a necessary consideration, and staff with expertise to oversee these things will be a priority in the hiring processes.

Grace’s House will be organized so that there is a flow between all staff, while at the same time having the division of specific departments. Day care coordination, family and caregiver support and programming, volunteer coordination and facilities coordination comprise four entities of distinction. However, the staff that deals with the clients will primarily be in day care, caregiver support, and volunteer participation. Therefore, these departments will all interact closely in activities planning.

The daycare coordination will have the responsibility of tending to the clinical elements that might enter into caring for our elderly clients. While Grace’s House will not offer clinical services, per se, we will need to have safeguards in place for the likely occurrences of medical need. This position will also plan and implement food service for our clients, and coordinate the transportation efforts for client outings. The ultimate goal will be to have our own mini-bus or a partnership with public transportation to bring clients to and from the facility for their daily stays.

The caregiver and family support staff will be responsible for education and outreach for the loved ones of our day care clients. This might be a part time position, or might overlap into another department, such as volunteer coordination.

Volunteer coordination will be a vital piece to the organization. Volunteers will need to be thoughtfully recruited, trained, managed, scheduled and supported.

The facilities coordinator will be responsible for housekeeping and maintenance. This might be two part time positions, or might be outsourced on a contractual basis.

As the diagram below indicates, these four departments are intricately linked together. The diagram also shows how the board oversees the ED and that an administrative staff will be linked to all parts of the structure. However, the support of our legal and financial staff is less closely linked to the four departments in terms of daily interaction. But issues such as budgeting, payroll, and funding are, of course, vitally important to the success of the organization.

In order to ensure that our staff coordinates endeavors within each department as well as cross-departmentally, we will hold weekly staff meetings. However, as the needs of our clients will likely be quite complex, and we will potentially have a mix of clients that will change from day to day, we will have a 10 minute staff check-in each morning to go over the daily schedule, client specifics and staff needs. Staff will be expected to be able to assist in areas outside of their own department. Our facility will be relatively small, so this should be a reasonable expectation.

Activities planning will be part of our weekly staff meetings. During this time, updates on items in-process will be shared, requests for assistance can be made, and ideas for future activities can be proposed and delegated. At least once a month the finance coordinator will attend staff meeting to discuss our fund raising status and goals. Once quarterly, or as needed, our legal/policy staff will attend the staff meeting to provide updates and understanding of current policy, regulations and requirements. If it is determined at any time that more, or fewer, staff meetings would be appropriate, these adjustments can be made on a trial basis.

Quarterly board meetings will review the efficacy of the structure of the organization and propose recommendations for improvements.

References

Lewis, J. A., Packard, T. R., & Lewis, M. D. (2012). Management of human service programs (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole .