Assessment
Understanding Organization
Culture and Community Needs
We use the problem-solving model to
understand organizations and
communities:
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Problem Identification
Assessment
Goal Setting
Intervention
Evaluation
To understand how to
address problems, we must
conduct assessments
Assessment in organizations is
not as standardized or routine as
those conducted in social work
practice with individuals, families,
and groups.
Organizations and
Communities are composed
of a variety of smaller
subsystems
Generally, no two organizations
or communities are exactly alike.
In organization assessment,
we can easily identify
organization inputs and
outputs
But we also need to find out
about the throughput:
What happens inside the
organization?
Throughput consists of:
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Technology: How are services provided? What
technology (intervention strategies) and staff are
used to deliver services?
Organization Structure. How are decisions-made?
How do clients flow through the organization?
Organization Culture. Values and behaviors of the
people in the organization. How do staff treat each
other? How are clients treated? How do clients and
workers interact with one another?
The individual personalities of people in the
organization
Culture is generally defined as
behaviors, values, perspectives,
and expectations that are shared in
common by organization participants.
Organization culture determines how
members come to learn about the
expectations of the organization and
how they subsequently behave
(Schein, 1992).
Organization culture is
important because:
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All organizations have unique cultures that come from both the
values of participants and the tendency of people to form
informal groups.
Sometimes informal leaders may be just as important as “real”
leaders in determining what happens in organizations.
The values of group members can influence worker attitudes
toward their work and how they interact with clients.
To maximize performance, staff members need autonomy over
their own work and appropriate rewards.
They also need to feel that they can participate in decisions that
determine how the agency operates.
In order to facilitate the empowerment of clients, workers must
feel empowered themselves!
If organizations feel that it is important to
empower clients and workers, they will do some of
the following things:
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Include clients in organization decision-making (seats on boards of directors or
advisory committees).
Include clients and staff in designing programs and evaluating services.
Make sure services are culturally competent.
Minimize the power differences among staff and between staff and clients.
Have staff members work in teams rather than have several layers of
supervisors.
Help staff feel psychologically empowered (inclusion in decisions; opportunities
for professional development among staff).
Increase job satisfaction among workers.
Encourage staff to engage in advocacy for clients and to improve agency
services.
Work to increase the power of the organization to advocate for legislation and
policies that will help clients and community residents (this includes lobbying the
government, asking constituents to lobby, and helping clients become involved
in the political process (voter education and registration).
How can you find out if an
organization does these things
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Interviews with or surveys of organization
participants (clients, staff, and board members).
Interviews with or surveys of people in the
organization’s suprasystem.
Administering standardized tests to clients or staff
(there are scales that measure psychological
empowerment, self-efficacy, and motivation).
Observing meetings or the social interaction among
staff members or between staff and clients.
Review of agency records.
Case records provide some information
about organization culture and values:
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Who is served by the organization.
The eligibility criteria used that determines
who is served.
Who is not served by the organization.
Information on the organization’s
board or governing body
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Who serves on the board?
How diverse is the board (gender, social
class, ethnicity, or profession)?
Who selects the board members?
Do clients serve on the board?
Other sources of information about
organization values and culture:
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Mission Statement
Goals and Objectives
By-laws
Annual Budget
Evaluation Plan
Organization Policy Manual
Personnel Policies
Rules and Procedures for Program Operation
Grant Proposals
Annual Report
Web Page
Brochures and Fundraising Letters
A mission statement is an
important source of information
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Identifies the group of clients to be served.
States the need and/or problem to be
addressed
Describes the type of service to be provided/
States the goal or purpose for providing the
service.
Identifies organization values that will guide
service delivery.
Sample Mission Statement:
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Needs statement:
People with incomes under the poverty line need affordable, accessible, and
high quality health care.
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Problem statement:
Many low-income people, especially those who are undocumented residents,
have difficulty finding affordable, accessible, and high quality health care
services.
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Client Population:
Undocumented individuals and families living in the Mission District.
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Goal:
To provide affordable, accessible, and high quality health care services to
undocumented individuals and families.
* Values
Needs can be defined as the
gap between what a situation
is and what it should be
(Community Toolbox, 2005).
The mission of social service and
community organizations are to
meet needs
To find out about community needs, we
conduct needs assessments that consist
of :
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Analysis of agency records and government
statistics.
Interviews with and surveys with community
residents, clients, informal leaders, social
service professionals, and key informants.
Consultations (community forums) with
people affected by the problem.
Development of community maps to identify
community assets and problem areas.
Data Collection for Needs Assessment
Qualitative Data (People’s
perceptions)
Quantitative (Numerical measures
or models of community
problems)
Conversational Interview
Structured Surveys
Formal (structured) Interview
Program Monitoring (using case
records)
Ethnography (study culture or
specific group)
Social Indicator Analysis (using
data collected by others)
Focus Groups
Time Series Analysis
Nominal Group Technique
Mapping Techniques
Delphi Approach
Network Analysis
Social Indicators
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Can be obtained from agency records.
Many agencies have systems that allow
intake information to be entered into a
management information system.
Government indicators can often be found on
the Web.
The primary database for needs assessment
in community practice is U.S. Census data.
Census Data includes:
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Ethnicity, gender, and age of residents.
Income.
Poverty rates.
Number of people living in census track or
other geographic locations (neighborhood,
city, congressional district, etc.).
Housing conditions.
Census Information
can be found at:
http://www.census.gov
Other public information on community problems can
be found at government agency websites or websites
and reports distributed by advocacy groups. See
http://www.ca.gov to find state agencies. Also see the
Needs Assessment link on Dr. Hardina’s webpage.
Data from social indicators can be put into charts
in order to make comparisons over time or by
demographic group
30
25
20
Unemployment Rate
15
% of Children in Pop.
10
% of Children in
Poverty
5
0
1980
1990
2000
Time Series Analysis can be used to
examine trends over time
35
30
25
Employment Rate
20
% of Children in
Population
% of Children in
Poverty
15
10
5
0
1980
1990
2000
Spatial Analysis
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Mapping community boundaries, physical
space, problems, and assets.
Social network analysis (exchange of
resources among individuals and groups)
Geographic information systems (uses
computer mapping and overlays of various
attributes)
Census Tract 42.08, Fresno County, California
4 miles across
30
25
Unemployment Rate
20
15
% of Children in Pop.
10
% of Children in
Poverty
5
0
1980
1990
2000
Social Network Analysis
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Based on the assumption that people routinely exchange goods
and services to get the things that they need.
Also assumes that strong networks are important for maintaining
the quality of community life.
It’s important to understand networks in the community in order
to recruit social change participants and to conduct outreach to
people who need services.
We also assume that most communities contain informal leaders
who provide assistance and information to people in the
community.
Social Network Map
Jose
Focal Actor
Latisha
Kia
We conduct network analysis:
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Informally, by conducting informal interviews
to locate natural leaders and to find out how
people get help.
Formally, by conducting structured interviews
with people to find out from whom they get
help, give help, and whether these
exchanges are reciprocal.
Power Analysis
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We use abstract models to try to understand
how decisions are made in communities.
The individuals and groups who influence
these decisions.
The amount of power currently held by
decision makers
Opportunities for those excluded from
decision-making to gain power.
Power in Communities
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Primarily elitist or pluralist structures.
We identify power brokers by conducting interviews
to identify people associated with issues, using
media accounts, tracking linkages on organization
and business websites and organization letterheads.
We can also examine links between politicians and
industries, labor, and other donors by looking at
campaign donations.
Community Power Models
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Elitist – small group of powerful people make
most decisions.
Pluralist – people who make decisions
change depending on the issue. More than
one group of people are involved in the
decisions.