Change Models for Human Service Organizations

Author(s):  
Thomas Packard

Organizational change models designed for human service organizations include the ARC model, the sanctuary model, getting to outcomes, and design team. Their use might require assistance from expert consultants. Each includes high participation of staff members, using structured systems and processes to identify opportunities to improve operations in a program or in administrative operations, followed by analysis and brainstorming to generate improvement ideas. Innovation and intrapraneurship are concepts that have been adapted from the for-profit sector for application in the human services. Innovation can be defined as a process, method, product, or outcome that is new and creates an improvement. Intrapraneurship is the use of entrepreneurial principles within an organization to solve problems or improve operations. Cutback management is not specifically identified as a change model, but is a process for changing organizations by addressing funding cuts, through methods ranging from efficiency improvements to, ideally, finding new revenue sources.

Author(s):  
Thomas Packard

Quality improvement processes such as Total Quality Management and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) are organizational change models that are increasingly being used in human service organizations. The CQI model of plan, do, study, act is a useful analytical tool to identify ways to improve services in fields such as child welfare. Technologies such as a workflow analysis and cause-and-effect diagrams originated in manufacturing settings but are directly applicable to service delivery processes in human service organizations. All these methods involve work teams within a program analyzing the processes for working with clients as they move through the service delivery process, looking for unnecessary steps or ways to remove barriers and improve services for clients. Depending on the assessment of conditions in the organization experiencing a change process, any of these may be used, either on an organization-wide basis or as needed within particular programs or work teams.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Apolonia Calderon ◽  
Daniel E. Chand ◽  
Daniel P. Hawes

Abstract Nonprofit scholars have developed a rich literature on nonprofit advocacy. While the literature is rich, however, gaps remain in our collective knowledge, especially regarding specific sectors of nonprofit human service organizations. Here, we apply existing theory on advocacy by human service organizations to an important subset of the nonprofit community, that being immigrant-serving organizations (ISOs). Most prior research on nonprofit advocacy has not focused on politically polarized issues, such as contemporary immigration policy. Using a nationwide survey of ISOs, we find that unlike other types of human service organizations, the majority of ISOs do engage in at least some forms of policy advocacy. However, those that report using the H-election status on their Form 990s are significantly more likely to engage in advocacy and do so to a wide variety of policymakers, including legislators, chief executives, and even local law enforcement agencies. H-election groups are also more likely to perceive their advocacy activities as effective. These findings add to the evolving knowledge on when and how human service groups seek policy change for marginalized groups.


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