Agency Planning Operational and Strategic Plans

Who decides on the direction of an agency?

Internal to the Agency Individuals and factions within the agency who can mobilize external groups with power and money. Usually these include:  Members of the Board Of Directors  Chief Administrators  On occasion,a staff member: who possesses a particular skill needed by the agency who has access to external power sources.

External to the Agency Individuals or groups that provide resources to the agency. Who would this be? Individuals or groups that regulate the technology of the particular agency. Who would this be?

The final goals are a negotiated blend of the most powerful internal and external interest groups involved with the agency. These groups constantly change and thus the goals of the agency are in flux.

Who is left out of this picture?

The client; the consumer. Why?

They hold limited power or resources. They are not politically organized. Why?

The Way Planning Should Be Done. The agency needs to complete a needs assessment. Social Indicators-published and unpublished needs assessments based upon population, agency, census reports, government research, and United Way assessments Interviewing-interview administrators of agencies in the community to ascertain their beliefs concerning the needs of the community and the best way to fill those needs.

Given what we’ve said about client empowerment, should interviews with administrators be the only way we gather information for needs assessment?

 Needs Assessment Instruments-using surveys or interview guides, solicit feedback through telephone interviews, focus groups, or individual interviews.  Open Public Forums and Meetings-hold public forms and meetings on community needs inviting political leaders, religious leaders, community leaders, and recipients of public service.

Goals and objectives for the agency need to be formulated and decided upon with input from all the players involved with the agency including administrators, workers and consumers. They need to be specific, time- limited, and measurable.  Goals-a proposed change in an organization that will alleviate a long-term need in the community.Goals are long-range benefits that the agency is seeking. Goals are usually the ideal and you may not be able to achieve it completely. For example: “To increase the ability of persons with disabilities to live outside of institutions in Fresno County.”  Objective-the specific accomplishment which will result in the reaching of a goal. “To provide transportation to 20 people with disabilities per week.”

Two Kinds of Objectives Outcome or Task Objectives (impact, operational, and product)-objectives which relate to program activities to be performed and the numbers and types of services to be delivered.  What specific services will be provided?  How many people will be receiving these services?  How long will they be receiving these services?  What product will be produced? How with people, organizations, or communities be changed?

An example of an outcome objective: Thirty middle school students will receive three hours of counseling per week for 20 weeks.

Another example of a outcome objective: “At the conclusion of a five-week course on skill development in activities for daily living, 85% of the participants will demonstrate a pre/post gain of at least 30 % using the Activities for Daily Living Rating Scale. Areas tested will include transportation, food shopping and meal preparation.”

Another type of objective is a service or process objective: You need process objectives in order to produce outcomes or carry out outcome-related objectives. They specify how tasks will be accomplished. Process objectives sometimes contain the words through or by. For example: Recruiting new volunteers by distributing flyers door to door.

Agencies change in three ways: Goal Succession-the original goals of the agency are accomplished and the agency moves on the new goals. Goal Adaptation-original goals are modified in relationship to changes in the community but no new goals are adopted. Goal Displacement-an agency abandons original goals and moves in the direction of resources.

The Importance of Effective Planning Clear goal and objective formation counters criticism of agencies that they don’t know what they’re doing. Well conducted needs assessments assures quality services for consumers and strong arguments for agency programs. Clear goals and objectives; well conducted needs assessments respond to conservative needs around accountability.

An operational plan Identifies actions needed to operate a program. Is described in a variety of documents including grant proposals, government and local agency policy manuals, eligibility criteria, organizational charts, and lists of procedures.

Two main types of plans Operational plans. Strategic plans.

Operational plans should be based on the problem-solving model (problem identification, assessment, goal setting, intervention/implementation, and evaluation.) It’s everything you need to do to plan a program

Inputs for Program Operation Facilities Supplies Staff and/or volunteers Clients Eligibility criteria Policies and procedures (rules) Intake and referral processes

A strategic plan: Is used for long-range planning. Usually contains information about how an organization wishes to operate over a period of time (usually about 5 years). Most strategic plans start with a mission statement that includes values that the organization wants to achieve Is developed with input from staff, clients, and other key informants/constituents. It also requires that the organization figure out how the suprasystem will be different in 5 years and how the organization should respond to these changes. Allows the organization to find the resources it needs to achieve what is written in the 5 year plan. The plan is often adopted in small stages over the 5 year period.

Goals and objectives should be based on a theory of action. Theories or explanations of why things happen should guide our actions as social workers. Theories connect cause and effect. Most theories are testable (can be evaluated to see if they are right) In program development and planning, they should allow us to connect our inputs and interventions with outputs. What should happen as a result of the program.

Sources of theories for program development can include: Theoretical and research articles in professional journals and books. Practice experience and knowledge Best practice literature that can be found on the web and in reports issued by social service agencies, advocacy groups, and government agencies.

Goals and objectives should incorporate the assumptions outlined in our theory of action The goal is the outcome (long range change that we want to achieve for clients, the organization, or the community) Outputs are the things we produce when we provide the service (immediate or intermediate changes in people/organizations/communities) Objectives are the small steps needed to research the goal, but also contain information about the output.

Lists of goals and objectives should also contain information about how we will evaluate what we have done. Measurable objectives allow us to simply assess whether we’ve achieved these things (for example, giving 50 bags of food to hungry people) We can assess if our action has produced other results using additional research methods (for example, measuring improvements in self- esteem using Hudson’s self-esteem scale).

In addition to goal attainment and standardized scales, other ways to evaluate achievement include: Interviews with program participants. Surveys Focus groups Experimental and quasi-experimental design. Case record analysis (Who was served; what was the outcome?)

Evaluations can measure both outcome and process (how the service was delivered/why was it effective/not effective) Process evaluations or implementation analysis allow us to assess whether there were problems in delivery and how to improve things. Relies both on organization records and the perceptions of people in and outside the program. Allows us to determine what happens within the “black box” of the program.

Goals and objectives can also incorporate assessments of quality and cultural competency. Quality refers to whether the product or service produced meets certain criteria. For example, is a home-delivered meal received while it’s hot and in a timely manner. Were social workers polite? Did they provide the client with the information he or she needed?

Cultural competency also is related to the way the service was offered Cross (1998) defines a system of culturally competent services as “the expansion of knowledge and the adaptation of services to meet culturally unique needs.” Culturally incompetent services are not language appropriate or make people feel inferior if they are not members of the dominant culture.

How would you describe culturally competent services?

Why are many services not culturally competent?