Social Service Work of the Ramapo Manor in Suffern - Term Paper Example

? Introduction Ramapo Manor in Suffern, New York, provides many services and programs to families in need, such as food share, medical assistance, emergency funding for rent and JAL loans to fix automobile repairs, which allows those working and seeking work reliable transportation. A few more of these programs that are offered are W2 job placement programs and newborn assistance programs. Ramapo Manor also offers social service work to the public, those with minor children and the elderly, blind and disabled. The recent economic conditions, lay-offs, pay cuts and mandatory furlough days have contributed to the high turnover in employees and the decline in employee performance for several Ramapo Manor locations nationwide. I believe the problem with their reward systems, affecting performance has been a long-standing problem prior to the current economic crises. Problem Identity Clients have constantly complained about the quality of service in which they receive from Ramapo Manor and report a decline not only in the services offered, to help them sustain during this economic crises, but also the attitudes, performance, timeliness and quality of service they receive from the employees. This assessment will research the lack of reward systems in place and the cutting of reward systems, which kept employees providing better service and increasing productivity. The nature of the problem is Ramapo Manors current reward system, which is causing employees to leave their current positions for either a different department/division within Ramapo Manor, which has not been affected greatly by the economic crises. They are returning to pursue their education in different fields, which yield a more promising livable status, they are leaving Ramapo Manor and pursing positions in a different organization, there are gaps in positions, which are crucial to running Ramapo Manor effectively. This causes budget cuts, not allowing for reward systems and incentives to keep their current employees or encourage potential employees. Lay-offs, mandatory unpaid furlough days, holiday pay, bonuses and hourly pay cuts are the core to the nature of this problem. This problem cannot be pointed to one single figure. It could be pointed to Kathleen Falk, executive for Ramapo Manor state wide, as the ultimate decisions fall on her, her decision-making process and communication to her subordinates. On the other hand, the problem affects and becomes all employees within the organization, the clients who depend on the organizations services and the potential candidates who have taken test after test just to get an interview, to be considered for a position in Ramapo Manor. This problem is unfortunately a part of a larger problem, which has affected the entire world and the United States, yet there are related problems that stemmed from poor planning and budgeting skills. The economic crises, which has caused unemployment to soar to unspeakable numbers, the closings of small and large businesses due to the lack of funding from banks, budget cuts which force organizations to prioritize needs, wants and necessities which are crucial to the survival during the deficit. Ramapo Manor was once the most sought out organization for potential candidates. People would wait years, test and retest just to be considered for hire at Ramapo Manor, due to its exceptional reward systems and benefits for their employees. LTE workers (Limited Term Employees), looked to gain no health benefits in terms of extrinsic rewards, but in terms of intrinsic rewards, they gained skills, received a great starting wage, became a part of the Union for Ramapo Manor, flexible hours and would be first on the list to possible become a FTE (Full Time Employee). FTE enjoyed the extrinsic benefits of being paid for a full 40 hour work week, even if a day or two was missed, full health care coverage, including dental and vision, 401k, profit sharing, PTO (Paid Time Off), holiday pay, amazing starting wages and the ability to transfer between departments within the Ramapo Manor organization, due to seniority. Chosen Perspective There are four perspectives in which one could do an organizational assessment: Financial perspective, Customer perspective, the Internal Process Perspective and the Learning and Growth perspective. This organizational assessment will be completed using the Learning and growth perspective, as it directly relates to meeting goals and objectives, in which the organization must learn to, continue to grow. This perspective is predominantly employee centered, as without internal feedback, it would be very hard to assess how to maintain the organizational standards for excellence. Using this perspective will also give insight as to how to help increase customer satisfaction, addressing the immediate concerns of the customers, while addressing the needs of the employees, to help solve the concern of the clients and keep both parties satisfied. Therefore, creating a more positive, productive and rewarding environment in the organization. In alignment with this perspective, the use of Management by Objectives (MBO) adds to the goals for the outcomes desired. MBO’s: aim to subordinate objectives throughout the organization align goals and. For the most part employees get strong input to identifying their weaknesses, time lines for completion of project and work related objectives. MBO’s also include ongoing feedback in the process and tracking to reach objectives. The financial perspective focuses on financial goals and comes primarily from the viewpoint of the shareholders. The goals in which to achieve financial success and maintain satisfactory with the shareholders will depend on which stage the organization is in, in the business life cycle. The customer perspective focuses on how the organization is viewed in the customers’ eyes and relates directly to time, quality, costs and performance, in relation to the customer. The overall perspective and goal is about how well the organization is service its clients or customers to meet financial objectives. The internal process perspective focuses on satisfying both shareholders and customers and is the most crucial perspectives. These processes are what the organization must focus on and place their efforts in order to excel. Organizational Elements For this organizational assessment, we will evaluate Ramapo Manor internal elements/environment, as they pertain to the Learning and growth perspective, such as technology, environment and structure. The effectiveness is defined on the scope of the learning and growth from each element within the organization, if one element is lacking in growth, it is necessary to re-evaluate all other elements and bring cohesion within them all. RAMAPO MANOR Mission Statement The basis of Ramapo Manor mission statement is to serve the public sector, providing services for families and individuals in need. In addition, to also provide customer service and understand the needs of the client in times of crises and obtain a standard of excellence in service. Company policies Company policies are an indication of an organization's and are guidelines that govern how certain organizational situations are addressed. Organizational culture  The culture of an organization distinguishes it from others and shapes the actions of its members; it is the organization's personality. In these internal elements, it seems as though they are not functioning to full capacity, as there are complaints by clients who receive the services provided and the employees who provide the services to the clients. Structure The structure of an organization is it order and management, goals and tasks and the flow of operations. With this element, the flow of operations is functioning successfully as the executive has resigned and a new executive has been brought in, of which will implement new goals and objectives. This new executive has great concern for the employees and regularly conducts SWOT Analysis to evaluate the organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Technology Are the physical hardware and the mechanics within the organization in which are used to produce services, send information, such as computers, software, etc. This element has been in constant upgrade, giving the latest in technology equipment to be used not only by the employees of the organization, but also the clients. Recommendations The possible solution that I have researched and concluded would and could help improve or solve the problems regarding Ramapo Manor reward systems, would be to offer non-cash bonuses and rewards. This will increase employee performance and satisfaction, along with meeting clients’ needs and solving their concerns. I have researched the alternative, created steps and determined the solution that I feel would benefit and improve the reward system, benefiting all at Ramapo Manor. I have researched and found that in other states, such as; Texas, Atlanta, North Carolina, Chicago and New York, their reward systems are very similar to that of Ramapo Manor. It seems as though the current economic conditions did affect their Human Services Departments as drastically as it has for Ramapo Manor, but the leadership, decision making and budgeting were handled differently, therefore its impact on the budget for their reward systems was affected the least. These states had similarities in regards to successful alternatives that helped to bring in more funding into the organizations, therefore the distribution of the funding increased the budget for their reward systems, creating an increase in productivity, decreasing high turn-over’s and job enlargements and producing satisfied employees. Their strategies included a mix of extrinsic rewards, creating intrinsic rewards. Some of these changes included: the addition of merit pay (a compensation systems that bases an individual’s salary or wage increase on a measurement of the person’s performance accomplishments during a specified time). (Schermerborn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). They have also implemented gain-sharing plans, which links performance and pay giving the employees the opportunity to increase earnings by sharing in productivity gains. Solutions Alternative #1: Offer non-cash bonuses and rewards Steps and actions to take: 1. Review any current non-cash bonuses and rewards. 2. Determine the success and impact by measuring the impact, using previous results and performance results. 3. Select one or two of the current non-cash bonuses or rewards, then create 2 to 3 new options. Do this by creating a survey to send to all employees, listing the choices and asking for input and preference selection using a simple ranking method, then set a time frame for completion and the return of the surveys (such as complete and return within 5 business days) for analysis. 4. Designate a committee of supervisors and managers to research, decide and execute the new reward system. Select one or two from each department, a recommendation would be to select the managers and supervisors who have the highest amount of contact and personal relationships with employees. 5. Determine performance measures to select employees (recipients) to receive the non-cash reward or bonus. For each employee selected, implement performance measurement and management steps (refer to LOB Concept #2). Implementing performance measures will help to determine timelines/deadlines, measure and set performance goals, monitor progress and provide results to compare to previous and future rewards and non-cash bonuses. 6. Create policies to insure that at least ? of employees are able to receive a reward within one full calendar year. 7. To determine the minimum and maximum amount for rewards, assess the elected employees’ performance results, rank them take the top 25 in each quarter and give the reward with the highest value to the employee showing the most improvement and so forth. 8. Have the designated committee contact the selected retailers and vendors to inquire about receiving gift cards, etc as a donation, in return Ramapo Manor could purchase “x” amount, per quarter at the establishment and acknowledge them in monthly newsletters that are distributed throughout the organization and posted on bulletin boards. 9. Determine the budget needed and the budget allotted to reward systems, this is to determine the amount to be spent should donations are not a given option but discounts are. 10. Send emails and gift cards with appreciation notes and measurement results to recipients, include this with their paycheck. 11. Repeat steps 5, 6, 7, 9 & 10 on a quarterly basis. Sending surveys to access the impact and determine if the new reward system should be continued reevaluated or discontinued. Works Cited Balance Scorecard. (n.d.). Retrieved on January 8, 2011, from Net MBA: http://www.netmba.com/accounting/mgmt/balanced-scorecard/ Charles Lusthaus, M.-H. A. (2002). Organizational Assessment; A Framework for Improving Performance. Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank. Schermerborn, J. R., Hunt, J. D., & Osborn, R. N. (2008). Organizational Behavior. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More