The Process of Organizational Reconstruction- How the Deaf Action Center of Shreveport reorganized and came out on top.

Developing an organizational structure that will transform an organization to meet the demands of its shareholders is difficult and challenging. One key to this process is communication. “An organization’s long-term survival may best be judged by its ability to manage change rather than by its current balance sheet” (Clampitt & Berk). Most organizations are more than able to crunch numbers and evaluate rates of return than they are capable of effectively measure implemented change efforts.

Here you will find an historical account of a nonprofit in need of reorganization, its challenges, the change model needed, and the changes needed to meet the demands of everyone affected by the change. David Hylan, the Executive Director of the Betty and Leonard Phillips Deaf Action Center in Shreveport Louisiana knew he would need to envision goals and create a new mission statement that would create income revenue from secure grant money as to create a continuum of care for the consumers they served. He understood that many of the consumers were in transition as well. Many were affected by governmental budget cuts to those who are disabled, as were the employees themselves. This article will outline how The Deaf Action Center in Shreveport Louisiana, transformed into a vital organization by reorganizing internally as well as externally.

The Organization

The Deaf Action Center in Shreveport, Louisiana is the only agency of its kind in north Louisiana. Their innovative services are being accessed by other agencies throughout Louisiana and the country. They work with any agency in north Louisiana who requires hearing translation, which includes schools, government, hospitals, and social settings. Being one of the most innovative Deaf services agencies in the country, they rarely face duplication of services. Many programs are unique and are not offered anywhere else in the state and in some cases the nation. In addition to the wonderful service programs the Center now offers, they are continuously evaluating new research data and emerging technologies to develop innovative solutions that directly address their client’s needs.

The Mission Statement

The Mission Statement of a nonprofit organization informs employees, shareholders, vendors, and consumers how it will achieve the organizations mission. There is a tremendous amount of employee buy in when the mission statement is geared towards inspiring those involved (Brueckner, 2012).  The mission of the Deaf Action Center is to serve as a provider of direct services and as a coordinating, cooperative and referral center utilizing the services of otologists, audiologists, counselors, educators and other professional personnel. The Deaf Action Center (DAC), seeks to cooperate with and not compete with, all present agencies and organizations working in the field of deafness and other hearing impairments. It constantly evaluates its own purposes and accomplishments in relationship to the current and future needs of Deaf and hard of hearing persons. It seeks to fill the needs which are not being fully met, as determined by objective evaluations, and/or through technical support, it encourages other agencies or organizations to meet these needs (Hylan).

Issues confronting the Organization

The organization was not in a financial well standing two years ago. Governmental budget cuts in the state of Louisiana had left DAC with nearly a fourth of the budget it has been working with. The closure of the organization was projected to happen by the end of the funding period. Compounded to the fiscal issues, a problem in the region, Louisiana lost 60% of its American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting workforce to migration since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Louisiana interpreters now number only 46 for the whole state. Yet, even before the effects of this loss of skilled interpreters, the National Organization on Disability conducted a 2005 special needs assessment following the Katrina emergency and concluded: “the most underserved group was those who are deaf or hard of hearing.” Having actual people to interpret for the Deaf was a huge crisis in the state (EEPHL, n.d.).

               The Executive Director, David Hylan, decided to diversify and expand services outside of sign language interpretation that were being provided to various entities in the community as well as created an avenue to provide sign language interpretation as well as classes to teach interpreters through video conferencing and webinars. As with most other agencies, the DAC looked for other income outlets. The agency had been providing some American Sign Language training classes via video conferencing as well as some case management to clients, even though there was no actually funding in place to provide these services. It was then David Hylan decided to expand their services to provide webinars across the country to professionals to receive continuing education units (CEUs) which social workers, lawyers, and nurses all need for licensure renewals. The Deaf Action Center realized they would need extensive upgrades to expand services and create a vital income source for the organization. Due to the nature of American Sign Language (ASL) high definition equipment would be needed to offer regularly scheduled webcasts for the Deaf, more live training for interpreters & underemployed or unemployed deaf people. If this goal could be realized, then a viable continuing income source would be established that would be independent from relying on contractual restraints lasting two to five years of foundation grants.

Organizational and Structural Changes

Organizational structure is the base of operational policy development. The structure is responsible for the culture of the organization as well. The DAC found it necessary to change the structure of the organization to become more competitive, especially competing with so many other nonprofits who had suffered huge losses from government funding. The DAC would need to be unique and innovative when competing for foundation grant monies.

The first step was for Hylan to assess the type of change needed. When looking from the inside out, it is not easy to perceive the problem and the magnitude of the change. Those initiating change often underestimate the impact that the change will have.  The upgrades needed to become a full video conferencing studio that needed professional guidance from similar service providers as well as educational needs of the staff. With all participants on board, an urgency was created, and along with it, an excitement for the upcoming change.

People Centered Change

People centered change alters the behavior, skills, and how productive employees are. For there to be people centered processes, communicating, motivating, leading, and interaction within the group must be ongoing (Dougherty, 2002). Hylan encountered a need to change how problems would be solved, the way employees would be educated in new skills, and a reconstruction of employee self perception.

Open communication between the different entities .opened up many questions that would be addressed before making any steps towards such an overwhelming change to the structure of the organization. Some of the questions that would need addressing were:

·       Are the benefits readily observable?

·       Will key relationships be adversely impacted?

·       Is management prepared for employee reactions to change?

Strategic Change

It became evident that to add to an already underfunded over worked operation, it would be necessary to adjust the strategy of the former goals of the organization, including the mission statement, to foster the expansion of the new demands. By doing so, Hylan found himself considering adjusting the fundamental approach to how the DAC was doing business. To expand the presence of the DAC from a local community organization to a nationally respected cutting edge nonprofit, the kinds of products he would have available, how they would be sold would be as far reaching as state and national markets. It would also give partnering organizations the opportunity to provide CEUs in their prospective fields for a fee. This kind of collaboration is gold to prospective grantors. There is nothing a foundation loves more than to see than the money they grant be used as seed money for bigger projects, and become self containing. That is exactly what Hylan did; offer one or two nonprofit agencies an opportunity to buy in by educating their demographics through webinars for a fee to those seeking to earn continuing education units (Clamped & Berk).

Process Oriented (Funding) Change

Expanding the capacity to a continuous revenue source by offering CEUs to professionals, creating the capacity to offer ASL classes online, as well as other webinar services that included English as a Second Language classes to the Deaf, would more than make up for the lost federal grants that had kept the agency afloat for many years. The first step was to research foundations that would provide funding in these areas. Once national and community foundations were identified, the process of application submission and grant writing began.

Create Boundary Crossing Partnerships

The criteria in most grant applications are there has to be evidence of collaborative efforts with other community agencies. This ensures that the work of a nonprofit will have cross beneficially effect with more than just one agency’s demographic. They would be expected to explain the differences and similarities of the DAC to other agencies providing similar services, and they would have to show any efforts undertaken to eliminate duplication of services. Most importantly they would have to be able to eloquently tell the story of not only their mission, but stand above all the other agencies that were battling for an ever decreasing amount of funds. In this economy, even foundations are feeling the effects and are unable to increase the amount they give or continue to give the amounts they had in the past (Chatfield).

Structural

   It was evident there was a need to streamline structures and with that there would be staff changes and changes to the organizational chart. In one case, it was determined there would need to be staff layoffs or the combining of two positions into one. New staff would need to be hired to over see the functions of new equipment if funding for these innovative projects were met through foundation grants. With these new observations, Hylan began restructuring the organizational chart to reflect the changes to the organization’s staff requirements.  

Change Model

There were actually two change models applied to achieving the reorganization of the DAC. Kotter’s Eight Step Change Model was used initially. Midway through the change process the Tipping Change Theory was applied. The first discussion of  the change model will be Kotter’s Eight Step Change Model and the steps taken.

Kotter’s Eight Step Model

Step One: Create an Urgency

The first step Hylan took in the Eight Step Model was to create urgency for change. This began when Hylan tapped into the intellectual capital of the shareholders and employees by brain storming different paths to take when scouting out new income sources. He then went to external forces by inquiring from vendors, sister organizations, and other community agencies to assess and evaluate the needs. According to Kotter, for the change to be successful, 75 percent of the organization needs to buy into the change (Farris, et al, 2009).  Once he accomplished this task, he moved to the second step.

Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition

To create a powerful coalition, one must convince people that the change in necessary. To accomplish this, strong leadership and support for external and internal forces are needed. Most importantly, change cannot be delegated. Hylan didn’t dispense duties to department heads and expect them to follow through, leadership began with him. He was willing to put as much work into making the change as those he led. His way of leading was to form change coalitions and work as a team.

Step Three: Create a Vision for Change

He created a clear simple vision that could easily be internalized by those affected by the change. To create the vision of change, he determine the values that are central to the change and developed a short simple summary that captured what he saw as the future of the DAC. He then created a strategy to execute that vision. He made sure those involved in the change could describe the vision to ensure they would buy into it and he communicated his "vision speech" often to himself and others.

Step 4: Communicating the Vision

 

Communicating the vision would be determinate of his success. To ensure the vision was properly communicated, Hylan and staff talked about the change vision often. He created an open door policy where honest dialog and concerns were addressed. He applied all aspects of operations to incorporate the vision for change. And most importantly, he led by example.

Step 5: Removing obstacles

Once the vision buy in was complete, obstacles to the change became apparent. He then identified the change leaders and what their roles would be to deliver the change. He then set up a system to recognize and reward people who were making change happen. He then identified those who were resisting and removed barriers to the change.

Step 6: Create Short-term Wins

 

          Nothing motivates more than watching the success of change. One way to do this is to create mini goals and short term wins. Some of the ways the DAC created short term wins was to find sure fire projects that were perceived as non threatening to those who would be critical. The organization grew slowly and did not jump into goal targets that were expensive. As funding came in, the studio grew with better equipment. It slowly evolved and Hylan was able to justify the investment with each project.

Step 7- Build on the Change

Kotter stated that change projects fail because victory is declared too early. Real change runs deep and there are no short cuts to lasting change (Farris, et al, 2009). Hylan did this by analyzing what went right and how to improve the change. He set goals to continue on the path of achievement.

Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture

           Finally once the achievements toward change were met, he made sure it became part of the organizations culture. He made sure constant efforts to ensure that the change permeated through every aspect of the DAC. By doing this, it gave the change a solid hold in organization's culture.

The Role of the Leader

There are three leadership qualities of leadership, visionary, participant, and transactional which produce effective organizational change (Manz, et al, 1991). When leaders act as advocates for change, they won’t allow the process of change to falter from lack of attention. They are willing to invest their political capital to rally those affected. They must be the role model for those in the organization. They must be the decision maker and take responsibility for those decisions. They must be the voice, motivator, and enforcer. Others in the organization need someone to look up to while processing the change they are going through. A good leader will be assessable to them making the process seem easy.

The Plan to Overcome Barriers

Barriers to implementation include preoccupation with the day to day details, lack of teamwork, conflicting priorities, and funding issues. A good start is implementing a work plan to map out structure and time restraints. One of the strategies that were used at the DAC was an understanding that planning and execution is dependant on success. Execution takes time, especially when grant requirements usually demand evidence based outcomes that must be documented over time. Once those figures were in place, Hylan was able to reach out for funding in the private sector. The “tipping point” theory of change was implemented,, which means even with improvements that appear to be small and functions needed to empower consumers, they were able to serve more people with greater outcomes, financially as well as the quality of services with enormous impact that reached not only those who require our services locally, but also be a model for other agencies to implement when fulfilling their mission statements.

Conclusion

With these change theories in place, various foundation grant providers have given of over $1,000,000 since the financial crisis two years ago. The funding received has provided new jobs for professionals in this field, as well as acted as seed money for a lasting revenue source without outside assistance. Over the last year, just webinars alone, has generated nearly $60,000 in a year, not counting various classes via the web. As a community project and grant requirement, DAC has offered the use of the facility to other nonprofits to offer CEUs as an income generator. It is what grant givers dream of in a nonprofit organization. And here today is the final product of his and the organizations efforts. The video capibilities are exception and down right fancy.

References:

Brueckner, T. K. (2012). The importance of mission buy-in by staff and clients. Senior Market

Advisor, , n/a-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/963393279?accountid=32521

Chatfield, M. (n.d.). Self-Directed and Self-Managed Teams. http://www.imetacomm.com. Retrieved September 10, 2012, from http://www.irism.com/selfteam.htm

Clampett, F., & Berk, L. (n.d.). Strategically Communicating Organizational Change. iMetacomm. Retrieved September 9, 2012, from http://www.imetacomm.com/otherpubs/pdf_doc_downloads/strat_commg_org_change_v5.pdf

Dougherty, D. (1992). A practice-centered model of organizational renewal through product

innovation. Strategic Management Journal (1986-1998), 13, 77-77. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/231179375?accountid=32521

Emergency Planning for People with Hearing Loss. (n.d.). http://www.hearinglossweb.com.

Retrieved September 10, 2012, from

http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Issues/EmergPlan/emerg_plan.htm

Farris, K. B., PhD., Demb, A., Janke, K. K., PhD., Kelley, K., & Scott, S. A., PharmD. (2009).

Assessment to transform competency-based curricula. American Journal of

Pharmaceutical Education, 73(8), 1-158. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/211313601?accountid=32521

Hylan, D. (n.d.). The Deaf Action Center - About us. The Deaf Action Center.

Retrieved September 10, 2012, from http://www.deafactioncenter.org/

Manz, C., Bastien, D., & Hostager, T. (1991). Executive leadership during organizational

change: A bi-cycle model. HR.Human Resource Planning, 14(4), 275-275. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224591172?accountid=32521

Charismatic Leaders: Wonderful or Dangerous? BUS660

Heroic military leaders are a perfect study group that can show us the nature of charismatic leadership. 

Che Guevara stands out as one of those leaders who possess charm, intelligence, and inspires others  to get on board and follow. El Che is considered an authority figure who put his life in jeopardy to lead others to a better life. He is considered the ultimate freedom fighter to many South American countries as well as abroad in Russia, France, and Africa.

Che Guevara not only was a handsome man, but when he spoke, could move those that heard him, be inspired to fight against injustices that the poor endured by those in power. In military terms, Guevara was the epitome of a romantic tragic martyr that quickly became iconic to those who fight injustice in the world. Military defeat can sometimes become a cultural victory and that is exactly what happened in the making of Che Guevara’s place in history.

A photo that was taken of him standing next to Fidel Castro after defeating the bloody Batista regime in Cuba is the most duplicated image in the world. In the myth making of Guevara, he is now perceived as a Christ like figure. As one of his modern day followers is quoted from the documentary, Chevolution, “Che is a hero to many because he resisted a truly ugly system, remained true to his ideals, and conveniently died before the Revolution’s slow, pathetic demise became apparent to nearly everyone“ (Tutor, n.d.). Of course his memory does not take on the role to some who found his ideals were to be resisted. Paul Berman, author of Terror and Liberalism offers an intense iconoclastic critique when he was quoted as saying, “The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster.” Needless to say, Che’s image can be found the world over as the symbol of freedom of oppression and the symbol of rejecting worldly excess and the values of those resisting injustice in the world (Tutor, n.d.).

On the other hand, some of the most evil men to rise to power got to their position because  they were charismatic. One of the most evil authoritarian leaders ever to live was Pol Pot. Pol. Pot oversaw the brutal deaths of over a million Cambodians in the 1970s. His horrendous crimes were against his own people. Pol Pot has been described as a leader that is worse than Hitler and a genocidal maniac. The blood baths occurred so that he could push forward his ideology of collectivist agrarian utopia on an unwilling nation. Its hard to understand how someone has evil can fool those who follow him. His own people did not remove him from power that was exposed to the world in 1979. He continued to rule until his death in 1998. Pol Pot's entrance onto Cambodia political landscape was inspired by the desire to bring about such social and political changes to benefit the poor masses. Pol Pot's speech as "harmonious and persuasive; he used examples skillfully. He made himself easy to like (Chandler, 1999). In the end, it was evident he was a much worse than those before him and used speech to persuade his followers he would make their lives better than before. His love for ultimate power resulted in the deaths of more than a million compatriots, one in seven Cambodians, in less than four years.

References

 Chandler, David P. Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999. 

Hughes, R.L. & Ginnett, R.C. & Curphy, G.J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the

Lessons of Experience (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN: 9780073405049 

Tutor, J. (n.d.). Che Guevara was the ultimate charismatic leader.

The Whole Vision Thing

I keep being confronted by the whole epiphany  thing while studying the whole vision thing and how to implement a successful outcome when given a project. Examining structural features can impact upon a leader’s effectiveness. It is obviously true, however, that leadership is contingent upon what a leader actually does. In this regard, a major implication of our analysis is that leaders’ capacity to marshal support for their plans will be enhanced to the extent that they are able to advance the collective interests and aspirations of the group they lead. Moreover, because much of the demand for leadership emerges in competitive contexts it also follows that this will often involve promotion of the in group at the expense of an out group.

Again, the key to leadership lies not in getting followers to say that they agree with a vision, but being the inspiration as a leader that works along followers helps make that vision a reality. Many a leader’s grand designs have been left in tatters because the support that they initially elicited was never translated into anything concrete. What counts  is their sweat and toil (and sometimes their blood and tears). Accordingly, these are more dearly sought, and less easily bought.

Haslam and Platow found that students only generated arguments and ideas that backed up a leader’s plans for improving their campus, if that leader had a record of making decisions that supported positions that were normative for the group. This is one reason why party followers scrutinize Senate voting records so closely when deciding who to back (and work for) through the Presidential nomination process. By the same token, candidates routinely point to their rivals’ voting records in order to strategically undermine their support base.

This same point also emerges from the carefully observed ethnographic field studies of Clifford Stott and John Drury (2000). These examine the evolution of riots during public events (e.g., protest rallies, soccer tournaments) and show that individuals who seek to engage in conflict with police only assume a position of leadership (whereby they are able to influence others to participate in violent acts) once relations between police and those they are policing (e.g., protestors, football fans) have become antagonistic and violence is seen to define an appropriate response to the intergroup situation at hand. Critically too, at apractical level, it is the leader’s possession of particular skills that the group needs in these contexts (e.g., to resist, to fight) that make others turn to them. However, in the absence of such dynamics, those who promote violence are typically dismissed as dangerous thugs and rarely gain influence. Moreover, it is worth noting that sensitivity to such dynamics on the part of police in Europe has played a major role in reducing the incidence of major disturbances at public events in recent years. Indeed, this line of research gives powerful testimony to the practical advantages of a theory that accounts for the ongoing interplay between leadership and group dynamics (see Stott et al., 2007).
Source

Such is the case of The Big Changes in the Small Hospital a case study from BUS660 Master's level Contingency Theory of Leadership.
Story is rounded around F .NICHOLAS JACOBS. He started work for small hospital named as Windber Medical center facility as a president. Firstly he was dread when he entered in new environment. Then he started to work under their culture.  He discussed issues with employees and community. Taken idea about people who are directly and indirectly involved with hospital. Then he provides authority to seniors of hospital for improvement. He created a community center that would allow members of community to ask health related question with professionals. Under Jacobs’s leadership Windber has established an affiliation with the Planetree treatment system, which integrates meditation, massage, music and other holistic methods in to traditional health care. Now Windber’s wellness center which offers fitness training, yoga and acupuncture. Very soon they stated to generate profit. Infrastructure are renewed, no of employees are increased. Finally the winder research institute, Windber’s heart disease reversal program has treated about 250 patients.
When considering the factors from the situational leadership theory First and foremost, Jacobs came into a situation where the hospital he was hired to turn around was in a very bad financial situation. The building was deteriorating, and employees had taken a 30 percent pay cut. There was a high turn over in staff and morale was very low because of lack of security on the job.

Jacobs did in house focus groups and interviews polling the employees asking what they expected from their jobs in regard to wants and needs. He reached out to the community leaders bringing them into the organization as consultants for needs evaluations. After evaluating the problems faced by the hospital he began to assess the issues needing to be dealt with.

He realized there was a lack of communication between employees and management and began opening avenues for productive communication. He evaluated the vision/mission of the hospital and reformed it so that he could produce successful outcomes. He incorporated a learning organizational culture where two way communication was accessible to employees and implemented a delegating style to increase emotional buy in by employees.

Taken from the Situational Leadership Theory model, Jacob incorporated the selling factor component by engaging those affected internally and externally. He took that information he gathered, as a high task before him.  His goal was not only to keep the doors open even though other hospitals had not survived. It was a large task and involved a high relationship from everyone involved.

Another component of the Situational Leadership Theory used was the telling approach. Windber was high task with little employee emotional buy in. Many employees left for employment elsewhere. They were not emotionally attached to a “sinking ship” and had very little relationship in building it back up. With a 30 percent pay cut and the dismal environment of the hospital, there was a lack of willingness to participate in the turn around process that could have been from untrustworthiness of the management from the past.

How did Jacobs score on the least-preferred-coworker scale? Why?

I would consider Jacobs a high LPC leader. High-LPC leaders thrive in situations where motivation and relationship building skills are used. People like Jacob love creating and building relationships. His first step was to connect with and build working relationships with everyone from the top to the bottom. His goal was to meet the needs of those involved by how the hospital was run. He took ownership of the problems and made them his own to resolve. As all visionaries, he identified problems, set in motion specific changes, and made his vision a reality.

Based on the success of Windber the range of overall situational favorability Jacobs fell on the continuum illustrated

When the turn around was in beginning stages, it appeared the situational favorability was low. According to the model, the situation to reverse would need a high-LPC leader. Jacob dove straight into the problem and made quick progress by turning to those most effected by the hospitals downfall. A low-LPC leader would have been effective which as the text indicates, there are short comings and criticism of this theory.

Job Analysis and Hiring Practices

 When I started my career in HIV/AIDS nonprofit organizations twenty years ago, not many people applied for positions to work in my field of choice. Stigma was a huge issue, the lack of prevention education as it is now, some 30 years later. I was taught by example what an executive should be in the early days by the first executive director of our center, Bobby Darrow. Since then, we’ve had several executive directors to gather what to do and not to do as well as my experience as interim director to give me insight in regard to hiring new employees. There are many facets of hiring the right person for case management to those who live with HIV/AIDS. All the usual requirements such as a job description, interviewing new prospects, hiring and training the right person are involved, but finding someone who is compassionate and empathetic, are qualities also needed to be a good case manager. It is not something that can be measured with any tool. The Human Resource process is ongoing. I have used my own hiring process as a tool, my job description, and took it upon myself to research several human resource theories used by other grass root nonprofits like the one I worked for. I definitely felt the stress of picking the right person for the job. The interview process was a learning experience in itself. I did use an HIV/AIDS educational test to see which of the candidates studied up on the disease before their interview. Going through the questions and answers, and their reactions and questions about the subject, gave me insight as to how judgmental they would be

towards those living with AIDS.

             I will use the tools I learned from my wonderful first executive director, as well as human resource theories to outline the creation of the job description. The organization being new had not developed a job description and policies and procedures for the new case management department, so as interim director, I was a part of that process as well.  Dessler (2011) says, “A job description is a written analysis of what the job holder actually does, how  the responsibilities are performed and under what conditions.” For the first job description we analyzed exactly what the case managers would be doing, including education skills, responsibilities, and job experience. The creation of a job description will attract candidates who are most qualified for the position.

Hiring an HIV/AIDS Case Manager

Job Description

POSITION TITLE:  Case Manager

REPORTS TO:   Case Management Supervisor

POSITION SUMMARY:  Responsible for the provision of case management services to PLWH/AIDS and affected family members by accessing needed services available in the community and/or through the program.  Case file documentation is maintained through daily contacts, monthly progress reports, progress notes, and the development and evaluation of goals with the client. Home visits are routine part of case management.

POSITION ACCOUNTABILITY:

Conducts intakes and assessments/reassessments of people seeking services through the Center.

1. Provides case management services to PLWH/AIDS and their families.
2. Maintains accurate documentation and audit preparation.
3. Makes referrals to resource agencies half of consumers when needed.
4. Develops case management plans for HIV/AIDS consumers verifiable to case logs.
5. Monitors, evaluates and revises service plans as indicated.
6. Arranges for all services identified in the case management plan.
7. Interacts with other team members to facilitate productive and efficient team functioning.
8. Works in a collaborative mode with other team members.
9. Participates in other program activities  for educational activities.
10. Follows all policies and procedures adopted by the Center. 

JOB SPECIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION:   A Bachelor’s degree in human services-related field from an accredited institution and one year of paid post-Bachelor’s degree experience in a human service-related field providing case management services.

EXPERIENCE:  One year of case management experience. 

SKILLS:  Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to access services for clients, ability to work as a team member and adapt to culturally diverse populations.  

Computer proficiency is a must.

WORKING CONDITIONS:  May be exposed to infectious and contagious diseases, occasionally subject to irregular hours, subject to varying and unpredictable situations.

Travel and home visits required. 

SALARY:  Based on previous experience to be negotiated at the time of hire.

Recruitment and selection

            One of the most important elements of selecting the appropriate candidate for case manager is hiring someone who will fulfill the mission statement of the organization.  The organization’s mission statement is three fold. 

1.      Provide support services for people who have Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or have contracted the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

2.      Prevent the spread of HIV by educating the public with regard to how HIV is contracted and how its transmission may be avoided.

3.       Improve the quality of life for all people affected by HIV/AIDS regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, political beliefs, financial status or any other non-meritorious basis.

Those who have worked in other nonprofit organizations are familiar with confidentiality issues social workers deal with on the job.  Even with previous basic training in sexually transmitted diseases, the new employee will have to be willing to undergo very specific OSHA and universal precaution education. Surprisingly, many candidates do become concerned with the transmission of HIV as well as a host of other infectious diseases they could be exposed to.  This makes the selection process a very sensitive matter. It is mandatory of the Ryan White ACT that nondiscriminatory hiring practiced are documented and carried out.  The job posting can be done internally of the organization, but is mandatory to be placed publically for at least two weeks. This opens up the posting to publically to ensure hiring practices are transparent and fair. Candidates can apply by eesponding by email or by mailing in their resumes.

The Interview Process of the HIV/AIDS Case Manager

            Candidates will be selected from the resumes and appointments made to speak to candidates face to face. If the candidates are not local but are willing to relocate, online interviews can be done through internet video conferencing. It is important to have this time with the candidate to see how prepared they are and to elaborate on the skills and experience from their resumes. Interviewing also allows the candidate to express their passion and empathy to the consumers they will be serving. The interviewing team will consist of myself and the Client Services Director for the first round of interviews. When we conduct the last round of interviews, we will have narrowed it down to three candidates. The final interviewing team will consist of myself and the other case managers. It is important for them to be part of the team building process.

            The interview will also include a basic HIV/AIDS test, not just to analyze their knowledge of the disease, but to find out how prepared they were for the interview process. Today with all the funding cuts to HIV/AIDS nonprofits, there is less money for education and prevention. Our scope in community education isn’t as far as it has been in the past, so how well someone goes out of their way to learn about HIV education will be a good indicator how assertive they will be in all areas of the position. Education is ongoing in this field.

Other interview questions will be in regard to how well the applicant will adapt to change. With funding cuts, changes in grant and legislative policies, change is constant. An example would be the legislative cuts in thirteen states to AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. HIV consumers are being put on waiting lists for their HIV medications. It is now up to case managers to find alternate drug assistance programs from foundations and pharmaceutical companies for their consumers. With these drastic changes in policy, the case manager is expected to take on more duties unexpectedly.  Time management skills, working efficiently alone, and within the team are essential to meeting the mission of the organization.

The case management position requires behavioral questions as part of the interview process. According to research data, an estimated seventy percent of all companies use behavioral questions as part of the interview process. Behavioral interviewing is open ended questions that ask are situational/task questions, action questions, and result questions (Whitacre, 2007).  An example would be scenario based questions or “give me an example when” questions.  The purpose of this type of questioning is to allow the candidate to use previous experiences and apply them to the job they are interviewing for. It also would allow the interviewers to assess the candidates ability to perform the job duties based on past job experience. Most importantly, to keep within our mission statement and antidiscrimination laws, all questions would be created to be fair and within the federal and state guidelines. Based on my years in the HIV/AIDS field, I have been asked what my sexual preference was as well if I am HIV infected, both being illegal according to the law. “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, sex, religion or religious beliefs, and national origin; prohibits sexual harassment” (Cascardo, 2011).

Seeing there isn’t a test in place for the case management position, we would rely on other qualities of the candidate. The interviewing panel would narrow down the candidate to three people . For any of these three people to be the successful candidate, a testing system based on questions asked by the panel would be used. Peers and supervisors who have been in this field for any length of time would be able to identify those who have similar qualities to ensure the team would work well together. Those qualities would be based on the ability to adapt to change, technical skills, and teamwork.

Performance evaluation

            Now that we have hired the candidate that can best meet the job, a performance evaluation would be used to determine their progress. I would first make a check list of different tasks she has been trained in and use it to evaluate her performance in each category. During the probation period, which would be up to six months, the new hire, our supervisor, and I would meet once a week. During these meetings, we would discuss feedback about the challenges of the job, successes accomplished, and questions and answers from the candidate. It is important to have feedback sessions with her so she will feel comfortable about issues she is not familiar or comfortable with.  Feedback and communicating with those who lead in the organization is important to the success and retention of a new hire.

After the new hire has worked a year in the position, a yearly annual review will be conducted. Those in attendance would be myself, the new hire, and our supervisor.  A Bahaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) would be used. A BARS is made up of narrative and critical incidents, quantitive ratings, by anchoring a qualified scale with good and poor performance (Dessler, 2011, p 178). Depending on the outcome of the BARS, a discussion of pay increase would be discussed. Once discussed by the staff, a recommendation would be made to the Executive Director.

Salary

            The case management position is set by the limitations of the grant that funds it. Usually everyone starts at the lower end of the scale, but depending on experience, can be negotiated. It is a salaried job, with bonuses if the case manager reaches the quota. The amount negotiated would depend on if the candidate met the requirements of the position or if they brought experience and education to the job. Once they have been on the job for two years, then raises and bonuses could be discussed, but with the funding cuts experienced by most nonprofits, raises aren’t an option at this point and discussion of those limitations would be discussed at the time of hiring. It is important that the salary negotiation process is fair in every respect with transparency being a priority so the candidate is informed as much as possible when they accept the position.     

Training and development

                        There are specific grant guidelines that have to be documented for the center to bill for case management units. The old saying in case management is, “If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen.” We are reimbursed by the number of units the case managers bill. It is usually any contact with the consumer, their family member, or other resource contacts. Many things that seem like would be billable aren’t, so very specific training is given in documentation. The training manual will teach the candidate what is expected of her for billing purposes. The best way to teach many of the duties of case management is by watching and learning. I would mentor the new hire and walk her through many of the processes that she will need for the job. Direct coaching from myself and our supervisor, our team members, and leadership development conferences are tools that my supervisor used to train me, and I in return would use. Also having a day out with other case managers to show short cuts they have developed for time management would be included. “Job rotation, in which an employee (usually a management trainee) moves from job to job at planned intervals, is another on-the job technique” (Dessler, 2011, p. 148).  Informal training is just as important as formal training when teaching new hires.

Conclusion

Being part of the hiring process and training someone to replace a position I have excelled in gives me a unique perspective on what to look for in a candidate. Skills alone are not enough when selecting a case manager. Someone who is willing to go that extra mile in the care of others be highly adaptive to change, and realize case management is sometimes considered a thankless job. One has to be there because of a calling to help others, be compassionate.

Compassion being important, skills, teamwork, and the ability for adapt to change is also needed for the job. Learning from a good leader, as well as using what I was taught through experience and research, I was able to create a hiring model that would be very effective choosing the right candidate for the case manager position. The model I used included a job description, interview and testing, salary requirements, and training. Once the candidate was hired, a development plan for the new hire would be implemented that would focus on the wellbeing of the new case manager. By adhering to federal and state hiring regulations, as well as using the Mission Statement of the organization as guidelines, this hiring process should prove to be instrumental in hiring the right candidate that can thrive in a stressful work environment and be a productive case manager for those living with HIV/AIDS.

References 

Cascardo, D.. (2011). Everyone Looks Good on Paper: How to Hire Your Ideal   

            Employee. The Journal of Medical Practice Management : MPM, 26(6), 367-

370.  Retrieved June 18, 2012, from ProQuest Health and Medical Complete.

(Document ID: 2408653551).

Dessler, G. (2011). A Framework for Human Resource Management (6th ed.). Upper Saddle

            River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Whitacre, T.  (2007). Behavioral Interviewing-Find Your STAR. Quality

Progress, 40(6), 72-73.  Retrieved June 18, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global.

(Document ID: 1298920031).
- OMM640

Stress in Organizations- Those most vested are the most stressed.

Job Stress in Organizations 

            Job stress has a high occurrence in the modern workforce. More than half of those employed in the U.S. cite pressures from stress on the job. There has been extensive research to support excessive stress adversely affects the emotional and physical health of those workers. This article will outline job related stress, its symptoms, and ways to reduce stress for managers and their employees.

Stress Defined

            According to Dessler, on the job burnout due to stress, is the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. Defining stress can subjective and dependent on internal and external causes as it relates to the symptoms people experience.  Stress can also occur when workers think about the future and away from thought of “here and now”. Some say there is no difference between what is considered good stress and bad stress if thoughts are created about future outcomes. When the stress is relieved by good outcomes then we perceive it as motivating. If there is no outlet for it, then it is incapacitating for us. In reality both good and bad stress is still stress (Milbourn, 2012).

            Managers often deal with many sources of stress which can be define in two categories, one being the lack of principled organization , the other being the lack of supportive leadership. Workers become stressed when the vagueness of responsibility as well as conflict of having to carry out responsibilities under these conditions.  When workers are allowed a greater level of satisfaction due to their jobs, then they will experience less symptoms of job related stress (Milbourn, 2012).

Stress and it Causes

            On the job stress originators are divided into internal and external conflicts. Individual/Internal  can be related to fears (specific and nonspecific), guilt, and stress that occurs when there are perceived environmental threats. Some of the external conditions can be defined by lack of opportunity, excessive responsibilities, monotony, and value conflicts can seriously affect work performance, which are things that are beyond one’s control there are other situations that can be just as stressful. Physical environment, lack of diversity or work pace, conflict in responsibilities, quality of work, on the job relationships, and career development stressors attribute to feeling overwhelmed and stressed. “ The effects of these sources of stress on various measures of physical and mental health ranging from absenteeism to poor physical health (Carr, Kelley, Keaton, & Albrecht, 2011). Job demands, individual differences, social demands, all influence the level of chronic stress felt in the workplace.

How Stress is manifested in the Workplace

            Stress can create a number of behaviors which may be a positive or negative effect on the individual’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Some of the positive outcomes may be the development of neutral behaviors to avoid stress points such as becoming fit, social networking, and other activities.  These outcomes will lower negative responses to stress. On the other hand, negative responses would include smoking, drinking and the use of prescription and illegal drugs.

Managing Stress

            Because of the dual perspective of stress for managers, there is a need for balance and stability. For managers and workers alike, finding ways to minimize stress will lead to higher productivity.  There are three specific strategies that deal with on the job stress, treat the symptoms, change the person, or remove the causes of stress. (Carr, Kelley, Keaton, & Albrecht, 2011). First and foremost the first thing to do is help the person who suffers from stress by relieving the symptoms. Providing health care and counseling services can identify what is needed.  From there, the person should be taught how to build stress management skills to help alleviate the possibility of getting to that point again.  Some of the ways this can be achieved would be time management and relaxation skills. Another would be taking a healthier approach by exercise and diet changes. A third approach would be the reduction of the environmental causes that created the stress.

Conclusion

            On the job stress can manifest in many ways. Much depends on the person experiencing the stress. It is important to identify stress, learn how to recognize and deal with it in a positive manner.  A stress less work environment is nearly impossible to achieve. Although it is in the best interest for management to make dealing with on the job stress a priority, rarely is anything done about it until the individual already exhibits symptoms. It is important to put into place outlet for workers to release the stressors on the job. Such programs must be deemed important from management first.

References

Dessler, G. (2011). A Framework for Human Resource Management (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. I

Jolynn Carr, Becky Kelley, Rhett Keaton, & Chad Albrecht. (2011). Getting to grips with stress in the workplace. Human Resource Management International Digest, 19(4), 32-38. (Document ID: 2371839441).SBN: 9780132556378. 

Milbourn, G.. (2012). Job Stress and Job Dissatisfaction: Meaning, Measurement and Reduction - A Teaching Note. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 18(1), 1-9.  from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2682334301).