Organisational Theories

Julie Baturynsky ;Ph 46201863

Introduction

• A dominant feature of human service organisation is the centrality of client – staff relations in determining service outcomes.

• The definition and measurement of service effectiveness is therefore indeterminate, ambiguous and multi –dimensional

• This makes social welfare administration complex

IssuesIn particular the issues relevant to community services are• Turbulent environment• Service delivery and management issues that

are value laden • To address the lack of clear and unambiguous

end states and • Manage staff and clients who cannot readily

be controlled

Administrative Tasks and Organisational TheoriesAdministrative Task Organisational TheoryGoal Attainment Rational –legal, scientific

managementManagement of people Human relations, feminist

perspectiveProficiency and efficiency ContingencyAdaption and mobilisation of resources

Political economy

Administrative Tasks and Organisational TheoriesAdministrative Tasks Organisational Theories

Funding and survival Population economy

Institutionalisation New Institutionalism

Integration and social cohesion

Culture, sense -making

Knowledge, power and control

Neo –Marxist, post modern, structuralism

Social Change Critical theory, radical feminism

Goal Attainment/Rational approach

• The rational approach views the organisation as an efficient machine to attain certain goals (Morgan , 1997)

• Effectiveness –based program planning involves taking a program through a series of steps designed to produce a clear understanding of the problem to be addressed, to measure client problem type and severity at entry, to provide a relevant intervention, to measure client problem type and severity at exit (Kettner, Moroney and Martin 1990)

It includes

• goal setting, objectives and strategies• Organising, identifying and arranging the work

needed to carry out the plans• Mobilizing the people to make the program work• Planning the use of financial resources to reach the

goals• Supervising to enhance the skills and motivation of

the service providers and• Evaluating the accomplishment of the program(Lewis, Lewis and Souflee, 1991)

Criticisms of Model• The organisation is conceptualised as a closed system

with little attention to the broader social system in which it exists

• It fails to take into account the unique attributes of human service organisations, i.e the human factor

• It has also been argued that this model has provided the basis for the concentration of power in large organisations and hierarchical authority

Is this model compatible with welfare values and ethics

Management of People/Human Relations/Feminist• Assumes that behaviour is embedded in a web of

social relations. How members relate to each other within and without the organisation will influence their motivation, patterns of work, productivity and self –identity

• That is when workers find meaning and satisfaction in their work, when they actively participate in management of the organisation and when leadership is person orientated

Four interelated areas

1. Job satisfaction ( work conditions, pay, job security, personal growth)

2. Human resource practice management ( teamwork, job enrichment, high level training)

3. Trust ( cooperative relation and teamwork ) and 4. Leadership (vision setter, motivator, analyser and

task master )

Criticisms

• This perspective tends to view the organisation in isolation from its environment, and thereby diminishes the importance of external factors in shaping organisational dynamics

• It implies that changes in how people behave will have a great impact on organisational dynamics

• If strategise are applied to make workers”feel better” under very trying circumstances thus deflecting from important organisational barriers to effective service delivery , they can be counter productive to morale etc

Political Economy Theory

• Recognises the importance of environmental factors• Views the organisation as a collectively that has

multiple and complex goals, paramount among them survival and adaption to the environment

• The capacity of the organisation to survive and to provide services depends on its ability to mobilise power, legitimacy and economic resources eg money ,personnel and clients ( Wamsley and Zald, 1976)

• The high dependency on the external environment for legitimacy and resources makes them particularly susceptible to external influences

• Concerns with survival and adaption must be balanced with the goal of service effectiveness

• Managers assume several broad roles, policy advocate, negotiator of organisational linkages and manager of worker discretion

• And must employ various political strategies ,ranging from controlling agendas to building network relations and managing impressions

(Gummer ,1990)

Limitations of Political economy perspective

• Understates the importance of values and cultural norms in the survival of the organisation

• By emphasising survival and adaption, less attention is given to the desired outcomes

• Overlooks industry wide or sector patterns and the dynamics that also shape the organisation for example a community mental health organisation have structural and operational features that apply across the mental health sector

Managerialism• Refers to the belief that human service organisations can

better meet their goals by allowing management to have more control over all aspects of an organisations functioning

• It has come to refer to the promotion of “ neo-liberal” practices within organisations such as competition, cost- benefit analysis, risk management and performance appraisal.

• The managerialist organisation is seen as being “ market –orientated” or “corporate”

• Characterised by business management principles being applied to human service organisations

Pros and Cons • Professional staff often perceive this greater control by

management as a threat to their autonomy and status

• And may result in greater routinisation in everyday practice

• Advocates argue it promotes efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness to the needs of consumers

• Effective managers are seen to be able to manage any workplace regardless of its purpose, structure and nature of the work

Management and Leadership• Leadership is about goal setting, values and

the ‘big picture’• Management is about implementing• For some the terms are interchangable• http://ncoss.org.au/projects/msu/downloads/resources/information%20s

heets/07_goodleadership_MSU.pdf?subject=Leadership

Effective Leadership• As you will note from the previous reading a effective leader

has a number of roles and the size of the organisation is a significant factor

• One is that the range of tasks requiring extensive knowledge and skills has to be carried out by a small number of people

• The following chart summarises the management issues relating to size and the resulting positives and negatives