Decision Making and Advocacy - Research Paper Example

? Part One: Decision Making and Advocacy Organizational Chart For Clubhouse of Suffolk 2. Decision Making At Clubhouse of Suffolk The process of decision-making involves the selection of different courses of action that lead to appropriate solutions to a problem. The decision making process at the company is the duty of the senior management along with their clients. The inclusion of the clients in the decision making process aims at minimizing tensions between the two entities. This process involves the activities of establishing the company’s objectives and the client’s needs through the use of committees. The classification of the needs and objectives in their order of priority will be done to ensure these issues are dealt with in their order of preference. The company needs to collect their clients problems and views as it enables them to know the type of solutions they need to develop (Roth and Mullen, 2002). The use of committees is vital in reducing the costs and inconveniences that the customers face when coming for meetings. The development of alternative ways to take action is done soon after while considering the views and satisfaction levels of different customers. The company needs to come up with an alternative way of accomplishing their objectives. This occurs if their current resources are unavailable or unaffordable. The choice of the available alternatives will be made in consultation with the workers and clients. The alternatives the organization and the committees choose to take will undergo a process of evaluation. This will help to determine whether they are in line with the company’s set objectives (Potterfield, 1999). The alternatives that the team finds satisfactory enough in satisfying all the objectives will be put to use. Additional consequences of using the alternatives are put into consideration for the purposes of evaluating any unforeseen hindrances. The team does an evaluation on the alternatives for any additional forces that may bring negative consequences. The information that the company gets from their clients will be vital for the company. This is because it will help them in determining the methods they will use to ensure the achievement of satisfaction. This eventually culminates in the implementation of the decisions by the lower level management, the company staff and the clients. The involvement of the clients in the formation and implementation of decisions enables the smooth operation of the company’s activities. a. Clients And Workers Roles In Decision Making The clients will participate in the decision making process by bringing out their needs and problems for further analysis. This will in turn enable the efficient formulation of policies to counter their effects. The workers involvement in the decision making process will help in easing resistances that the management could face when implementing the decisions. The workers can also assist the management in devising new and more cost effective ways of performing their activities (Roth and Mullen, 2002). The participation of the workers and clients in the decision making process will ensure the operations of the company run smoothly. b. Structures Used To Encourage The Participation of Clients and Workers The management of the company will hold open discussion forums with the clients and their workers. The aim of these forums will be ascertaining the solutions to the problems both parties are encountering in the course of their normal activities (Roth and Mullen, 2002). These forums will also be beneficial in collecting the various requirements of the workers and their clients. The company’s administration will also make use of customer care centers to cater for the needs of their clients and workers. There will be the presence of suggestion boxes that will be vital in collecting information concerning various activities that happen within the organization. The use of these facilities allows the workers and clients who are not brave enough to air their views the chance of doing so. c. Beneficiaries of the Structure of Decision Making The structures of decision making in the organization stand to benefit the management, the workers, clients and the society. This is because all the parties will sit down and listen to the problems before deciding on the final decisions to make. The workers will benefit through their participation in making decisions that are favorable to them and their work conditions. The client’s complaints will be dealt with directly resulting in more superior and cost effective products. They will be able to adequately express their views to the management through their involvement in the decision-making committees (Potterfield, 1999). The community at large will also benefit from the decision making process since their interests will be put into consideration. Most of the clients are from the surrounding areas and will bring out the problems affecting their regions. d. Relation of Analysis To the Concept of Empowerment The notion of empowerment involves the process of granting power to the people by the senior management before they acquire it through their own effort. The management will allow all the parties in the business to participate in the decision making process. This gives preference to the client and worker’s rights when deciding what they feel is best for them. The workers and clients are able to air their grievances and immediately take action against them. Thus, the chance of oppression occurring in this form of decision-making is minimal (Garcia, 2002). The workers will have the freedom of adopting alternative though more efficient ways of doing things without the fear of reprisals. This is because their involvement in the decision making process increases their confidence when performing their daily activities. e. Recommendations For Increasing The Degree of Empowerment the Agency Fosters The management should increase the use of delegation of authority in the company to increase their participation in running the company. A responsible worker should be able to make decisions that will benefit the company in the short and long-term periods. The workers should also be given the liberty to try out new methods of doing things without encountering criticism from their counterparts or the management. This will enhance the workers creativity and confidence when carrying out their normal activities in the company. The agency should encourage the clients to openly voice their concerns and take the initiatives in preserving the agencies resources. They should be left to actively participate in the running of the agency to make them feel they are part of the company. The company should also include some of their clients in the various committees they form to undertake development efforts. 3. Advocacy Strategies To Be Used By The Agency Because of the 30% cut in state funding on the social agencies the people will suffer distressing effects. The agency intends to use various forms of advocacy strategies in countering the implications that arise from the authorities move (Rubin, 2002). These advocacy strategies include building the society for change along with the confrontational and educational strategies. The strategy of building the society for change involves making the people feel better about their ability of bringing change to their societies. This implies that the people get the motivation of bringing change within their organizations. This takes place through the creation of political attentiveness, organizing and mobilizing of the people’s efforts in fighting for changes in the society (Rubin, 2002). The operation of this strategy goes in line with the application of other additional strategies. For example, the workers and clients of the social groups can participate in demonstrations against harsh laws. The application of confrontational strategies makes use of the any actions that are available in bringing attention to the authorities. This strategy involves using non-violent and violent methods of defending our reasons for change. The company will however use non-violent strategies in pushing for change within and outside the organization. The management will have to convince the people that there is a violation of their rights. Initiating violence among a group of workers makes the public lose confidence in the company. The public continues to feel vulnerable when dealing with the company. The methods that the company intends to use will include holding direct consultations with the authorities to sort out their issues (Witzel, 2003). The use of lawsuits will be beneficial in ensuring that the infringement of the people’s rights stops. The final strategy that the management intends to use when pushing for changes within and outside the company is the strategy of educating the people. This involves raising the people’s awareness concerning the effects of the changes (Garcia, 2008). It will also involve the acts of empowering the people with the knowledge of representing themselves and gathering the essential information. This strategy will enable the people to grow alternative policies to use when conducting their business activities. The use of these strategies in an appropriate manner allows the management to push for the necessary changes from the authorities. The pressures that the authorities get from the implementation of these strategies will result in bringing the changes into effect. The authorities will look into their grievances as a result of their airing by the clients and the companies. The fight for these changes should eventually result in a return to the conditions the clients require to ensure they achieve success. The organization intends to educate their clients through seminars and conferences they will organize in the future. Part 2: Culture and Structure 1. Analysis of Agency The Schein model gives a three-stage process that the company uses to bring changes that will benefit them. The use of this model requires that the people first learn the issue of rejecting or replacing the changes that come into an organization (Hollander, Renfrow and Howard, 2010). This involves accepting the changes to be facts they will live with or refusal to comply with the changes. The first stage builds on the hypothesis that the creation of individual’s past behaviors results from the influences of culture and learning from observation. This step involves the removal of the forces of change or the factors that lead to these changes. This step involves the discontinuation of the conditions that are currently bringing dissatisfaction among the company’s staff and client’s. It also involves the creation of an anxiousness to survive among the people, the urge to defend and resist changing from their previous practices (Witzel, 2003). The people have to move past these anxieties for the changes to be achievable. This implies that their urge to survive should be greater than their urge of learning new things. The second step of the process involves the determination of the changing needs in the company. It comes after the people have the desire to bring changes at their hearts. The impact of processing this information will be either the taking of new meanings, the interpretation of ideas within wider contexts and the making of adjustments in their scales for evaluation of their fresh inputs. The current description of their state enables the team to distinguish between what is currently available and what they need in the future. In order to achieve these targets, the teams will have to look for the solutions to their problems using trial and error methods. The final step involves making the impacts of the change become permanent in the company. This involves transforming these new behaviors into habits that the people will often indulge in. It involves the processes of establishing new relationships among the workers along with the development of new ideas. The performance of the three stages in the decision making process will ensure the changes become permanent to their workers. B. A Gender Lens A gender lens is useful in determining the needs, involvements and realities of the men and women in a certain environment. It involves the use of a list of questions in determining the levels of needs and involvements of the various groups of people (Hollander, Renfrow and Howard, 2010). This list will be put to the use of determining the needs of the various parties participating in the decision making process. The creation of this lens is done in a manner that ensures it is routinely put to use. Their creation is done in while considering the participatory manners of their users. This will include information on the level of participation of various members in the team. A gender lens recordings should be done in words or pictures where the people’s literacy level is low. This lens should always be made available for the clients use. This will be for the purpose of ascertaining whether their needs have been met (Garcia, 2008). The lens should be given to the people who plan and develop programs so that they can learn why and how to use them. This will include all the team members of the decision making team. Gender lenses usually comprise of ten points or less and focus on the discrete realities of both men and women. It can also include the discrete realities of both boys and girls but as per our case it will include information on adults. A gender lens mostly includes the activities of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the activities of various groups of men and women within an organization. C. Gareth Morgan’s Notion of Using Metaphors to Describe the Organizations Culture Gareth Morgan does introduce metaphors that we can use to better comprehend the activities and address the issue of the organizational problems. He describes organizations as machines since they have the abilities of working continuously while achieving better results (Witzel, 2003). They are machines in the sense that they cannot determine their own culture but depend on people to do it. He also calls them organisms because they have a beginning point and can easily come to an end along with the cultures in practice. This can occur as a result of using inappropriate management policies or when the company becomes bankrupt. He claims that organizations also have brains since their managements are able to make decisions that will impact on their future (Garcia, 2008). Morgan also describes organizational cultures as political systems and telepathic prisons. This is because these cultures easily come under the influence of political decisions and are binding to them. He also describes organizational culture as instruments of dominance and as transformation processes (Witzel, 2003). This is because the cultures of the organization supersede the cultures of the individuals working in them. Morgan suggests that these metaphors may be put to use independently or in combination with others for the purposes of improving the organizations image and tribulations. 2. Hierarchical Influences of the Organization in Serving Clients, Addressing Workers Needs and Adapting To Changes in the Political and Economic Environment The authority in the organization flows from the top to the bottom of the organizations structure. The chief executive officer makes all the major strategic decisions in the company. The operation managers and the other officers below his rank take orders from the CEO and transmit them to the other workers who are the bottom layers of the hierarchy. The lower levels of the workers will report and seek redress for the issues affecting them from the people in the higher levels of the organization (Hollander, Renfrow and Howard, 2010). The clients will seek redress into the issues that are affecting them from the management and the workers of the organization. This will occur at all levels of the organization. The higher level management within the organization will address the workers needs and the information will be sent down the hierarchy. Responsibility for the organizations resources and activities will go from up the ladder and downwards to the low level workers. The effectiveness to adapt to changes will be depend on the higher levels management’s ability to mobilize their staff to speed up these changes (Garcia, 2008). The lower level workers require a lot of motivation and enlightening in the benefits of being efficient in implementing the changes. 3. SWOT Analysis Regarding the Agency’s Ability to Fulfill Its Mission. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPURTUNITIES THREATS There is availability of qualified staff. There is lack of adequate funds. The increase in their scope of operations. The entry of new competition in the market. Their ability to make decisions fast. There is lack of appropriate technology and equipment. The opening up of new branches for the agency. The availability of cheaper services from other agencies. There is cooperation and collaboration from the clients. The company can obtain additional funds for increasing their operations. The company faces many legislative obstacles in the execution of their duties. The company will have strengths in their ability to make appropriate decisions fast through consultations between their members. This will be through the various open forums that the management will hold with their clients and workers. They have the ability of making decisions fast since they do achieve the cooperation of their workers when making decisions. This could help in increasing their productivities and improving on the quality of services they provide. Among the weaknesses that the company encounters include the lack of appropriate technologies and equipment for carrying out their routine activities. They also face an inadequacy in the amount of funds they have at their disposal for expansion purposes. The company encounters opportunities in expanding their operations if they attain the appropriate funding from well-wishers and other authorities that support social activities. The threats that the company experiences on their operations is the availabity of substitute organizations offering similar services. They also encounter threats of entry into the market by new companies. This brings competition in the market for the existing number of customers. 4. Analysis Of Where The Agency Fits In The Process Of Change Using Lewin/ Scheins Change Theory. This is a three-stage model encompassing changes, which occur in an organization. The management requires prior knowledge of the changes for it to decide on rejection or replacement. He gives the first stage as having the motivation to change (Garcia, 2008). This stage gets its influence from learning through observation and the influences of culture. Changes that come in this stage involve adding new features or the removal of several existing structures that influence behavior. The results of experiencing the change can lead to disconfirmation due to dissatisfaction, defensive and resistant behaviors to change. Change within an organization should have the approval of all the team members. This ensures that no resistances are met during the implementation process. The second stage involves implementing the changes that the organization requires. In this stage, words have greater meanings, contexts have broader interpretations and there are also adjustments in their scales for evaluating their efforts. This will involve setting standards that are acceptable to all the members of a community. The team of decision makers will have to come to a consensus on various issues affecting the implementation of various decisions. The final stage involves making the new behaviors a habit for all the people who have an association with the company. This stage involves the development of new self-concepts and the establishment of new relationships among the workers, clients and the management (Rubin, 2002). The organization fits in all the three stages of change. This is because the consultations between the organizations management, workers and clients will have to first have the motivation of bringing change to an organization. The implementation of these changes will be a duty of all team members in the decision making process. This will ensure the smooth operation of the changes since there will be a reduction in the resistances from the management (Garcia, 2008). The applicability of the third stage will also be essential in ensuring that the changes become a permanent culture of the organizations members. References Hollander, J., and Renfrow, D., and Howard, J. (2010). Gender Situations, Gendered Selves, a Gender Lens on Social Psychology. London: Rowman and Littlefield, Potterfield, T. (1999). The Business of Employee Empowerment, Democracy and Ideology in the Workplace. London: Greenwood Publishing Group Roth, B., and Mullen, J. (2002). Decision Making, Its Logic and Practice. London: Rowman and Littlefield. Rubin, H., and Rubin, I. (2002). Community Organization and Development. New York: Maxwell McMillan International. Garcia, S. (2008). Toward a Social Network-Based Theory of Large-Group Interventions. North Carolina State University: Raleigh. Witzel, M. (2003). Fifty Key Figures in Management. New York: Routledge. Read More