An organization is a place with definite goals and objectives. It has several people working to achieve those goals. Some work at a smaller level, while some work at a higher level. However, everyone works for the development of the organization. Planning, organizing, managing, controlling and sustaining are the keys to organizational growth and development. At the departmental level, all these tasks are done by the supervisory level people and the junior management. But, who is the person taking care of the overall planning and management at the organizational level?
Well, he/she is the executive director of the organization! An executive director is also termed or addressed as the chief executive officer of the organization, looking after the higher level management of administration, production, marketing, operational, quality and many such aspects, which constitute the business structure of the organization. ” (Buzzle 2000) Executive directors are what make sure everything is done correctly and if there are any problems the executive director does whatever he/she can to solve the problem.
So, what if an executive director “of an established not-for-profit, community-based organization provider that offers high quality educational, vocational, and training services to various segments of the local population; in response to the increasing dropout rates of high school students in the local community and a worsening financial situation at the local school district, the organization is considering the opportunity to offer basic skills and vocational training programs in the community.
The purpose of this new program is to equip high school dropouts with necessary skills needed to gain potential employment opportunities. The executive director has to justify the reasoning behind this new program and develop a complete launch plan, including a budget and consideration of environmental factors. The executive director must determine how data will be used to support the new program and consider human resources issues affecting this new program. ” (Axia College 2010) Sounds like a lot of work, but this is one of many different types of scenarios that an executive director has to handle.
In getting started with this plan the executive director must make a statement of opportunity. A statement of opportunity is a short, “clear and concise statement of the opportunity to be addressed”. (Axia College 2010) A statement of opportunity is like a mission statement. “A good mission statement should be lofty and inspiring, concise, capable of being easily understood and remembered, should reflect the organization’s fundamental purpose, and should indicate what the organization wants to accomplish in relation to the beneficiaries of its work.
Mission statements should be stated in terms of the agency’s projected ideal outcomes for the populations served. ” (Kettner 2000 pg. 72 phar. 2). The mission statement projected for this organization is: To provide high-quality educational, vocational, and training services throughout the community to help with the increasing high school dropout level and the decreasing funding for the school system to ensure community success. The organization will ensure that all high school dropouts of low income communities have the educational opportunities they deserve.
The organization will recruit high school students and mobilize high school dropouts by teaching them useful plans for their life and future. The next thing that the executive director needs to consider is how the issue will affect organizational structure. Organizational structure is very important it is what helps keep the employees organized in knowing what needs to be done. If an organization did not have organizational structure the business would not succeed because the employees would not know what to do. “Organizational structure can determine any or all of the following factors.
The focus of work and the extent to which an employee can use his or her independent expertise and judgment, locus of responsibility which is who is responsible and who will be held accountable for what types of accomplishments, supervision and direction which includes who will do performance appraisals and determine such factors as merit increases and promotions, the lines of communication which is who communicates with whom about what issues, the extent of participation in agency planning and decision making, and the extent to which a particular employee or unit can have an impact on organizational mission and goals. (Kettner 2000 pg. 87-88 phar. 3 & 1)
All of the different types of items that can affect organizational structure could eventually have an interaction with this type of issue that the executive director is facing. The focus of work needs to be done to allow all employees in the organization that are helping with this project to know that they may not always get to do what they want, but will be asked to do what is needed. The employees should know that they are asked to do certain things because they need to be done and each part of the organization is just as important as the next.
The locus of responsibility will be in this organization because each job title needs to know their duties and needs to be required to meet their duties. If a person is hired to do a job they are expected to do their job to the fullest extent and that means meeting all requirements of that position. Supervision is an important factor in organizational structure and supervision is not just in this organization, but all organization. Supervision is needed to make sure that things are being done correctly and on time.
If employees did not have supervision they may not stay on track and each employee themselves may try to be the leader, which can cause conflict. By allowing one person to lead projects and the organization; it adds structure and production to the organization. Lines of communication are one of the most important factors in an organization. If communication is not open and forward an organization can fail. It is crazy to think that an issue as small as good communication can make or break a business, but a person must look at a job like a relationship in a sense.
If the lines of communication are not open in a relationship the relationship normally fails. Employees need to know they can have an open professional communication relationship with their supervisor and the supervisor must feel they can have an open professional communication relationship with their employees. Open communication can allow for better success throughout an organization; it can also save time and confusion. The extent of participation is an organizational structure that can help develop the organization.
The extent of participation allows employees and supervisors to communicate on how different decisions can be made throughout the business. This can be used by allowing everyone in the project to communicate on different types of programs that can be developed to help with the high school dropout situation. Every person sees and understands things differently so different opinions can open the eyes of others to think about different routes to improvement.
Organizations committed to high levels of productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and quality will attempt to structure themselves in a way that facilitates full participation in decision making on those decisions that affect the quality or quantity of work performed. Agency structure can make a difference in terms of the opportunities that are provided for full staff interaction around important work-related and productivity-related issues. ” (Kettner 2000 pg. 90 phar. 2) Environmental factors will have a toll on the success of the project in this organization.
Environmental factors help in making a business a business. There are internal and external environmental factors that help with the business. “An agency’s external environment refers to everything outside the boundaries of the agency or organization itself. ” (Kettner 2000 pg. 65 phar. 7) According to Kettner the four external environmental factors are “customers (both distributors and users), suppliers of materials, labor, capital, equipment, and work space, competitors for both markets and resources; and regulatory groups, including governmental agencies, unions, and interfirm associations. ” (2000 pg. 6 phar. 1)
So the four external environmental factors are: customers, suppliers, competitors, regulatory groups. When looking at specifically human service organizations Kettner says that the four external environmental factors are: funding sources, sources of non cash revenue, clients and client sources, and other constituents. (2000 pg. 66 phar. 2) When looking at all the items that are stated to be external environmental factors a person can see that they are in four categories: economic factors, sociological factors, technological factors, and political/professional factors. (Kettner 2000 pg. 66 fig. 3. )
When examining internal environmental factors, “Netting, Kettner, and McMurtry (1998), synthesizing from a number of sources and applying them specifically to human service organizations, identify the variables of corporate authority and mission, leadership style, organizational and program structure, programs and services, personnel policies, and technical resources. ” (Kettner 2000 pg. 71 phar. 6) After further examination there was a list of six internal environmental factors developed: Organizational purpose, mission, and philosophy Organizational planning Organizational operations Human resources
Technological resources Financial resources (Kettner 2000 pg. 71 phar. 7) After the executive director has studied and made knowledge of all the environmental factors he/she most note which ones are going to or already affecting their project. Funding sources and sources of none cash revenue is one of the main issues that are going on with the community that can and is affecting the organizations project. The reason for this is because “the local economy situation is depressed due to steady job losses resulting from employers relocating to other cities and communities that offer better economic incentives to employers.
As a result local taxes that support funding of high school programs have declined significantly in recent years. The reduction has caused local school districts to lose significant financial resources to retain good teachers or fill vacant teachers’ positions. ” (Axia College 2010) Since schools are turning bad more students are dropping out; “in the last two years the high school dropout rate had climbed to fifteen percent from five percent”. (Axia College 2010) Since the rate is increasing so much, customers will not be a problem.
There will be plenty of customers for the organization, but the problem is, is there enough money to cover all the customers that need help? Adding to the need of money to help take care of the customers “the organization needs to plan for the recruitment and hiring of experienced trainers and other highly skilled technical staff to start the proposal program. The tight financial resources available make finding qualified personnel a challenge. ” (Axia College 2010)
If there are any other organizations trying to compete with this organization they may win if they have more money for the business and are able to offer the customers more opportunities. The mission for the organization is set, but the only hard part is making sure that it can be successfully completed. With any project there needs to be a budget set, especially, a project with limited funds. The following is the budget plan for the first year with the amount of one thousand students.
The executive director has a lot under his/her belt to consider in the budget area. If one of the areas end up spending more money than planed it will mess up the whole budget. The budget must be stuck to. With limited amount of money and limited amount of staff that can be employee the organization must make sure that the employees that they do have they do not loss. A good reward system will have to be set into play to push employees as far as they can go. The following is the award system that will be put into play. GoalRequirementsRewardBenefit
Individual AttendanceAt six month mark management will check to see which employees missed less than two days. The employees that missed less than two days will get one day off paid that will not count to the days missed in the next six month check. Encourage employees to come to work. Company AttendanceAt the six month check the management will check to see if the between all the people in the company there were no more than twenty-five days missed. If less then twenty-five days of work was missed between all employees then all the employees will have a paid day of fun.
The business will pay each employee for a full day of work and all employees will be treated to a day of fun together at the manager’s choice of local exciting activities in the area. Encourage employees to come to work and to also encourage co-workers to come to work. Individual ComplaintsNo individual complaints for six months. Employee is allowed to show up two hours later than normal for a week. Will encourage employees to make sure customers are happy so they can get extra sleep for a week. Company ComplaintsNo company complaints for a full month. Special breakfast provided by management.
Encourages employees to make clients happy and encourage co-workers to keep a smile on their face and make clients happy. Individual Client SuccessAt least two full client success rates in a month. Receives a certificate at monthly company meeting and a point to the end of the year reward that is given to the employee with the most client success rate. Makes employees work harder to try and satisfy and successfully improve the life of the clients. Company Client SuccessAt least two full client success rates in a week for eight weeks. Company is rewarded with a three hour lunch break.
Encourages employees to be successful with their clients and to help co-workers learn to be successful with their clients. End of year company success rewardCompany must have less than fifty days missed out of work, less than twenty complains, and at least ninety full success stories. Every employee will receive a bonus of twenty percent extra of what they normally make in a month. Encourage each individual employee to work hard all year long and to encourage all co-workers to work hard all year long which will help boost teamwork throughout the company. Employee individual success reward.
One client success rate a week. No missed days. No complaints. All for a full month. Employee of the month. Picture posted at entrance of business and front row parking in a special spot for a full month. Encourages each employee to be all they can be which in return will allow for an outstanding business. Not only will a good reward system help, but an appraisal system should be used. The following appraisal system will be put into play in the organization. Performance Appraisals Format. Twice a year all employees shall have a performance appraisal completed by their immediate supervisor.
This supervisor will have the assistance of two other peer employees that work closely with the employee being appraised. The supervisor and peer employees will look over the job duty checklist and employee handbook and evaluate the employee on the standards required for their specific job title. Upon completing the evaluation the employee being appraised will receive a copy of that checklist with all the evaluations that were discussed listed beside each item. Timing. The first performance appraisal of the year shall be completed between February 1 and February 20 of each year.
The second performance appraisal of the year shall be completed between August 1 and August 20 of each year. Process. Twice a year on February 1 and on August 1 there will be a conference for all employees and supervisors. All employees and supervisors will be given a forum that will require all employees to sign stating that they will be upfront and honest throughout the whole appraisal. Once the appraisals are completed the supervisor and the peer appraisal helpers must sign off on the appraisal and must take it to the employee and have him/her sign off on the appraisal and then a copy must be made.
The copy is given to the evaluated employee and the original is filed. Appeals on Performance Appraisals “When there are disagreements on matters associated with performance appraisal, they shall be referred to the appeals committee. The committee shall be composed of two persons representing the rank of the employee who filed the appeal, two persons representing the rank of the person who completed the performance appraisal, and one person representing management.
Demographic characteristics shall be representative of the organization. The committee shall make a recommendation to the executive director, whose decision shall be final. ” (Kettner 2000 pg. 332 phar. 1) In conclusion, the organization that is planning on helping high school students can be successful if they stick to the budget and follow through with the reward system and the appraisal system to keep encouraging employees to recruit as many high school students as possible. In return, if igh school students become successful in the community the communities’ bad economic creases could improve. With improvement the high school dropout percentage could decrease.
References
- Axia College. (2010). Appendix A. Retrieved from Axia College, HSM 220 website.
- Buzzle. (2000). Executive Director Job Description. Retrieved from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/executive-director-job-description. html
- Kettner, P. M. (2000). Achieving Excellence in the Management of Human Services Organizations. Boston. Pearson Education, Inc.
