Leadership in the

Agency Environment

SOWO 874, FALL2012

Agency-Environment Relations

ENVIRONMENT – all external conditions that actually or potentially affect an organization.

DOMAIN – the points at which the organization is dependent on resources from the environment.

DOMAIN CONSENSUS – a set of expectations about what the organization will or will not do.

LEGITIMACY – a generalized conception that the actions of an entity are desirable or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, and beliefs.

Environmental Elements

National and International Economics

Political, Economic, and Cultural Attitudes

Demographic Composition

Religious Organizations

Characteristics of the

Environment

Placidity vs. Turbulence

Homogeneity vs. Heterogeneity

Richness vs. Paucity

Stability vs. Instability

Simple vs. Complex

Organized vs. Unorganized

Certainty vs. Uncertainty

ADAPTATION – the process of change by which the organization provides a better and better solution to the problem

COPABILITY – the internal ability to maintain your identity and overcome change

Contingency Theory-No single structure is effective for all organizations -Structures must meet contextual demands of the environment

Political Economy/ Resource Dependence Theory-In order to survive you must have legitimacy and power as well as resources

-These resources are controlled by agents in the external environment

Adapta

tion T

heorie

s

More Theories . . .

ECOLOGICAL THEORIES

- Survival of the fittest amongst similar organizations

- Your ecological niche determines the capacity of organizations

- Can organizations not change?

INSTITUTIONAL THEORY

- Organizations are driven to incorporate practices and procedures of prevailing institutions (i.e., the government)

- Organizations that conform gain legitimacy and resources

Consolidated

Systemic

Promotional

Obligational

Degre

e o

f C

en

tral C

on

trol

~ A relationship between an autonomous organization and one or more other Organizations that join to achieve a goal none could achieve on its own.

Inter-organizational Relationships (IORs)

Reasons For Collaboration

The Need for Resources

The Need to Expand

The Need to Compete

The Need to Move Quickly

The Need to Achieve Economies of Scale

An Applied Example: A youth tutoring organization is

having trouble connecting with their Latino students …

Initial Phase

You find out the father of one of your students sits on the board of a Latino Advocacy organization. You ask the father if he will introduce you to the director.

Between the two boards a common vision statement is drafted based on each agencies core values.

Committee meetings are scheduled and you begin forming trust by attending and being professional at these meetings.

Implementation Phase

The advocacy organization begins offering translation services and bi-lingual tutors to your organization and in return we market their agency and include them in major fundraisers.

A collaboration manager is hired at each agency to monitor the partnership. They report directly to you the director.

Research continues by both organizations so that the most up to date knowledge can be shared. Quarterly reports are submitted to both boards.

Chapter 22: Policy Advocacy and Lobbying

A critical skill for managers of HSOs is “the ability to conduct meaningful policy advocacy in order to boost awareness of

and resources available to an organization, its clients, and its community” (p. 455).

Advocacy in the Human Services

Historically relevant to social work and social activism (i.e. settlement house movement, Progressive Era, etc.

Currently relevant to social work and social activism (NASW, Code of Ethics)

What can it look like? Policy Advocacy vs. Case Advocacy; Macro vs. Micro

Advocacy in Human Services Management

What is the actual participation of human service organizations or managers in advocacy work? (Sosin, Pawlak and Flynn, Salamon)

What are the benefits from participating in this kind of work? (importance for clients, improved service delivery systems, organizational health, more?)

Barrier 1: Legal Restrictions and Misunderstandings

Fear of violating the law; Consequences are too great

Misunderstanding of lobbying regulations

What happens if an issue for which you are passionate about violates organizational policies? How do you respond?

How can we address this problem?

Barrier 2: Leadership Initiative and Training

Lack of managerial initiative

Lack of training or access to training

Lack of political involvement; Is the social political and vice versa?

Can we think of examples within this school that promotes advocacy work?

How can we address this problem?

Barrier 3: Organizational Capacity

Challenges to networking and advocacy

What needs to be addressed? (enhancing the public understanding of key policy issues, strengthening relationships with key policymakers, responding effectively to community expectations, and interacting with other organizations, more?)

Resources for advocacy work (Human resources and funding)

Strategies and Tactics

Coalitions

Media Communications

Framing the Issue

New Technologies

Who Should Participate?

Striving for Effectiveness

CLASS ACTIVITY

You currently hold a managerial position within the Autism Society of North Carolina and are looking to increase the amount of advocacy work within the Triangle. There is a new education bill that may decrease the the budget of disability services within public schools, which will most likely decrease the amount of certified teachers who can offer special assistance to children with disabilities, including children with autism. Using what we have discussed today related to agency-environmental relations, interorganizational relationships, advocacy and lobbying, how would you begin to address this issue and what resources or relationships would be the most important to develop first?