SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

SSW411E HUMAN SERVICE

ORGANISATION AND ADMINISTRATION

REFLECTION PAPER

NAZURAH BINTI MOHD NOH

COURSE LECTURER:

107989

DR. NGUYEN THI TUNG UYEN

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

1. UNDERSTANDING HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Organization is a systematic arrangement of people to accomplish some specific
purpose. Every organization is composed of three elements i.e. people, goals and system.
Each organization has a distinct purpose. This purpose is expressed as goals generally. Each
organization is composed of people. Every organization has a systematic structure that
defines the limit of each member. Some members are managers and some are operatives.
The human service practitioner is a professional who acts as an agent to assist and or
empower individuals, groups, families and communities to prevent, alleviate or better cope
with crisis, change and stress to enable them to function more effectively in all areas of life
and living. The goal of the human service practitioner is to enable people to live more
satisfying, more autonomous, and more productive lives, through the utilization of societys
knowledge, resources, and technical innovations.
The Human Service Professional is a generalist who works side-by-side with various
professionals and assumes a wide range of roles to assist individuals, groups, organizations
and communities. The human service professional does not necessarily do in-depth and
psychotherapy, but is well-equipped to facilitate client change and growth typically by
working directly or indirectly with clients/consumers around concrete tasks, objectives and
goals. Typically the work of the human service professional focuses on one or more of the
following roles :

Counselor works with individuals and groups to help identify and solve problems of
everyday living using behavioral and social science theory.

Outreach Worker provides information to communities and carries out liaison

activities in surrounding communities.

Broker helps clients define needs and utilize new services.

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Advocate champions and defends clients causes and rights.

Research/Evaluator assesses client programs and shows that agencies are accountable
for services provided. Collects and interprets data through a variety of research
methods to carry out needs assessment, implement programs and evaluate results.

Teacher/Educator models new behaviors for clients, and conveys new skills.

Behavior Specialist carries out a range of activities planned primarily to change

behavior, including coaching, problem solving, counseling and behavioral
management.

Mobilizer organizes client and community to obtain new community services and
resources.

Consultant uses specialized knowledge to work with other professionals and health
and human service agencies regarding their handling of problems, needs and
programs.

Community Planner designs, implements and organizes new programs to serve

consumer needs. This includes work with community boards and committees and
grass root groups to minimize emotional stress and remove social and economic
barriers.

Care Manager/ Case Manager assesses individual consumers, assists in the

development of a care plan/treatment plan, arranges for service delivery, performs a
monitoring function and completes a reassessment to determine service outcomes, and
might also facilitate discharge planning and provide follow up services.

Administrator carries out management and/or supervisory activities that are oriented
to the organization/agency as a total system. This includes program management,
budgeting, human resources management, strategic resources management, marketing
management and so forth.
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2. ORGANIZATIONAL THEORIES
Theory is set of organized ideas concepts and their relationships, or principles
used to describe systematically a set of phenomena or to provide an explanation of those
phenomena. A theory is basically an idea or thought. It probably has no carefully collected
data to back it up, let alone any rigorous hypothesis testing or experiments. In the world of
science, however, a theory is a broad explanation of a phenomenon or phenomena that is
testable, falsifiable and has multiple lines of evidence. A theory is typically a model that tries
to provide a general explanation for how some part of the world works. A theory is not just a
description of what happens but a statement of the underlying rationale for why something
works in the way it does. It draws on observations made over time to explain, interpret, and
predict behaviour.
System theory is the transdisciplinary study of the abstract organization of
phenomena, independent of their substance, type, or spatial or temporal scale of existence. It
investigates both the principles common to all complex entities, and the (usually
mathematical) models which can be used to describe them. A system can be said to consist of
four things. The first is objects the parts, elements, or variables within the system. These
may be physical or abstract or both, depending on the nature of the system. Second, a system
consists of attributes the qualities or properties of the system and its objects. Third, a
system had internal relationships among its objects. Fourth, systems exist in an environment.
A system, then, is a set of things that affect one another within an environment and form a
larger pattern that is different from any of the parts. The fundamental systems-interactive
paradigm of organizational analysis features the continual stages of input, throughput
(processing), and output, which demonstrate the concept of openness/closedness. A closed
system does not interact with its environment. It does not take in information and therefore is
likely to atrophy, that is to vanish. An open system receives information, which it uses to
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interact dynamically with its environment. Openness increases its likelihood to survive and
prosper. Several system characteristics are: wholeness and interdependence (the whole is
more than the sum of all parts), correlations, perceiving causes, chain of influence, hierarchy,
suprasystems and subsystems, self-regulation and control, goal-oriented, interchange with the
environment, inputs/outputs, the need for balance/homeostasis, change and adaptability
(morphogenesis) and equifinality: there are various ways to achieve goals. Different types of
networks are: line, commune, hierarchy and dictator networks. Communication in this
perspective can be seen as an integrated process not as an isolated event.

3. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Organizational structure refers to the way that an organization arranges people and
jobs so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. When a work group is very
small and face-to-face communication is frequent, formal structure may be unnecessary, but
in a larger organization decisions have to be made about the delegation of various tasks.
Thus, procedures are established that assign responsibilities for various functions. It is these
decisions that determine the organizational structure.
In an organization of any size or complexity, employees' responsibilities typically are
defined by what they do, who they report to, and for managers, who reports to them. Over
time these definitions are assigned to positions in the organization rather than to specific
individuals. The relationships among these positions are illustrated graphically in an
organizational chart. The best organizational structure for any organization depends on many
factors including the work it does; its size in terms of employees, revenue, and the geographic
dispersion of its facilities; and the range of its businesses.
There are multiple structural variations that organizations can take on, but there are a
few basic principles that apply and a small number of common patterns. The following
sections explain these patterns and provide the historical context from which some of them
arose. The first section addresses organizational structure in the twentieth century. The
second section provides additional details of traditional, vertically-arranged organizational
structures. This is followed by descriptions of several alternate organizational structures
including those arranged by product, function, and geographical or product markets. Next is a
discussion of combination structures, or matrix organizations. The discussion concludes by
addressing emerging and potential future organizational structures.

3.1 Formal Structure

Formal structure is primarily concerned with the relationship between authority and
subordinate. A typical organization chart illustrates the formal structure at work in a company
or part of a company. The hierarchical organization begins at the top with the most senior
leader and then cascades down to the subordinate managers and then subordinate employees
below those managers. There are job titles, financial obligations and clear lines of authority
for each box on the organization chart.
3.2 Informal Structure
Informal structures typically develop around social or project groups. Because
informal structures are based on camaraderie there is often a more immediate response from
individuals. This saves people time and effort, thus making it easier to work with in informal
structures. People also rely on informal structure if the formal structure has stopped being
effective, which often happens as the company grows or changes but doesnt reevaluate its
hierarchy or work groups.
3.3 Matrix Organizational Structure
Some organizations find that none of the afore-mentioned structures meet their needs.
One approach that attempts to overcome the inadequacies is the matrix structure, which is the
combination of two or more different structures. Functional departmentalization commonly is
combined with product groups on a project basis. For example, a product group wants to
develop a new addition to its line; for this project, it obtains personnel from functional
departments such as research, engineering, production, and marketing. These personnel then
work under the manager of the product group for the duration of the project, which can vary
greatly. These personnel are responsible to two managers.

One advantage of a matrix structure is that it facilitates the use of highly specialized
staff and equipment. Rather than duplicating functions as would be done in a simple product
department structure, resources are shared as needed. In some cases, highly specialized staff
may divide their time among more than one project. In addition, maintaining functional
departments promotes functional expertise, while at the same time working in project groups
with experts from other functions fosters cross-fertilization of ideas.
The disadvantages of a matrix organization arise from the dual reporting structure.
The organization's top management must take particular care to establish proper procedures
for the development of projects and to keep communication channels clear so that potential
conflicts do not arise and hinder organizational functioning. In theory at least, top
management is responsible for arbitrating such conflicts, but in practice power struggles
between the functional and product manager can prevent successful implementation of matrix
structural arrangements. Besides the product/function matrix, other bases can be related in a
matrix. Large multinational corporations that use a matrix structure most commonly combine
product groups with geographic units. Product managers have global responsibility for the
development, manufacturing, and distribution of their own product or service line, while
managers of geographic regions have responsibility for the success of the business in their
regions.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organizational culture is shaped by and overlaps with other cultures especially the
broader culture of the societies in which it operates. This observation highlights the
challenges that global organizations face in establishing and maintaining a unified culture
when operating in the context of multiple national, regional and local cultures.
Culture is consistent, observable patterns of behavior in organizations. Aristotle said,
We are what we repeatedly do. This view elevates repeated behavior or habits as the core
of culture and deemphasizes what people feel, think or believe. It also focuses our attention
on the forces that shape behavior in organizations, and so highlights an important question:
are all those forces (including structure, processes, and incentives) culture or is culture
simply the behavioral outputs?
Culture is powerfully shaped by incentives. The best predictor of what people will do
is what they are incentivized to do. By incentives, we mean here the full set of incentives
monetary rewards, non-monetary rewards such as status, recognition and advancement, and
sanctions to which members of the organization are subject. But where do incentives come
from? As with the previous definition, there are potential chicken-and-egg issues. Are
patterns of behavior the product of incentives, or have incentives been shaped in fundamental
ways by beliefs and values that underpin the culture?
Culture is a process of sense-making in organizations. Sense-making has been
defined as a collaborative process of creating shared awareness and understanding out of
different individuals perspectives and varied interests. Note that this moves the definition of
culture beyond patterns of behavior into the realm of jointly-held beliefs and interpretations
about what is. It says that a crucial purpose of culture is to help orient its members to
reality in ways that provide a basis for alignment of purpose and shared action.
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Culture is a carrier of meaning. Cultures provide not only a shared view of what is
but also of why is. In this view, culture is about the story in which people in the
organization are embedded, and the values and rituals that reinforce that narrative. It also
focuses attention on the importance of symbols and the need to understand them including
the idiosyncratic languages used in organizations in order to understand culture.
Culture is a social control system. Here the focus is the role of culture in promoting
and reinforcing right thinking and behaving, and sanctioning wrong thinking and
behaving. Key in this definition of culture is the idea of behavioral norms that must be
upheld, and associated social sanctions that are imposed on those who dont stay within the
lines. This view also focuses attention on how the evolution of the organization shaped the
culture. That is, how have the existing norms promoted the survival of the organization in the
past? Note: implicit in this evolutionary view is the idea that established cultures can become
impediments to survival when there are substantial environmental changes.
Culture is a form of protection that has evolved from situational pressures. It prevents
wrong thinking and wrong people from entering the organization in the first place. It says
that organizational culture functions much like the human immune system in preventing
viruses and bacteria from taking hold and damaging the body. The problem, of course, is that
organizational immune systems also can attack agents of needed change, and this has
important implications for on-boarding and integrating people into organizations.
The cultures of organizations are never monolithic. There are many factors that drive
internal variations in the culture of business functions (e.g. finance vs. marketing) and units
(e.g. a fast-moving consumer products division vs. a pharmaceuticals division of a diversified
firm). A companys history of acquisition also figures importantly in defining its culture and

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sub-cultures. Depending on how acquisition and integration are managed, the legacy cultures
of acquired units can persist for surprisingly long periods of time.
Finally, cultures are dynamic. They shift, incrementally and constantly, in response to
external and internal changes. So, trying to assess organizational culture is complicated by
the reality that you are trying to hit a moving target. But it also opens the possibility that
culture change can be managed as a continuous process rather than through big shifts (often
in response to crises). Likewise, it highlights the idea that a stable destination may never
indeed should never be reached. The culture of the organization should always be learning
and developing.

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5. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Organizational change is an important issue in organizations. It is actually a process in
which an organization optimizes performance as it works toward its ideal state.
Organizational change occurs as a reaction to an ever-changing environment, a response to a
current crisis situation, or is triggered by a leader. Successful organizational change is not
merely a process of adjustment, but also requires sufficient managing capabilities.
5.1 The Internal Environment
The internal environment of an organization refers to events, factors, people, systems,
structures and conditions inside the organization that are generally under the control of the
company. The company's mission statement, organizational culture and style of leadership
are factors typically associated with the internal environment of an organization. As such, it is
the internal environment that will influence organizational activities, decisions and employee
behavior and attitudes. Changes in the leadership style, the organization's mission or culture
can have a considerable impact on the organization.
5.2 The External Environment
The external environment are those factors that occur outside of the company that cause
change inside organizations and are, for the most part, beyond the control of the company.
Customers, competition, the economy, technology, political and social conditions and
resources are common external factors that influence the organization. Even though the
external environment occurs outside of an organization, it can have a significant influence on
its current operations, growth and long-term sustainability. Ignoring external forces can be a
detrimental mistake for managers to make. As such, it is imperative that managers
continually monitor and adapt to the external environment, working to make proactive

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changes earlier on rather than having to take a reactive approach, which can lead to a vastly
different outcome.

6. FUNDRAISING IN HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions of
money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable
foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to
gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification
and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.
Traditionally, fundraising consisted mostly of asking for donations on the street or at people's
doors, and this is experiencing very strong growth in the form of face-to-face fundraising, but
new forms of fundraising such as online fundraising have emerged in recent years, though
these are often based on older methods such as grassroots fundraising.

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7. SUPERVISION IN HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Supervision means a professional relationship between a supervisor and a social
worker in which the supervisor provides evaluation and direction of the services provided by
the social worker to promote competent and ethical services to clients through the continuing
development of the social worker's knowledge and application of accepted professional social
work knowledge skills and values.
Supervision is an opportunity for consultation on current practice and debriefing on
past practice. Supervision enhances knowledge and skills through the practice of skills,
discussion of pertinent research, feedback on job performance, and development of greater
self-awareness. Valuable time is spent on reviewing decisions and judgments, considering
alternative options, recognizing subjective elements, and learning from experiences. The
supervisees objectives, performance and motivation can be monitored and improved.
Professional ethics are reviewed, practiced, and internalized into daily practice. Supervision
provides constructive feedback on past and current performance and assists in setting
performance related goals. Supervision assists with advocacy abilities and contribution to the
interdisciplinary team objectives and approaches.
Supervision is necessary for safe, sustainable, and ethical practice and is an integral
part of the employers duty of care. The nature of professional supervision reflects distinctive
characteristics of social work including:
1. Working to affect positive change in complex individual and family situations,
2. Issues relating to safety and a duty to warn others,
3. Protection of children and vulnerable adults,
4. Assessment and management of risk and uncertainty, and
5. Improvement of professional judgment in conditions of chronic conflict and stress.

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Supervision assists with identifying challenges in the earliest stages, as well as

preparation for possible risks. Supervisors assist with identifying education, capacity-building
opportunities, training, and development needs and options in order to increase social
workers effectiveness. Frequent supervision is very important for new social workers. It can
be difficult for employers to consistently provide the guidance these social workers need.
Supervision ensures that support is adequate to prevent work-related harm to social workers
health and well-being. In an environment of increasing demands (longer waitlists, larger
caseloads, and more demands for accountability), supervision provides support to help the
social worker handle stress by providing encouragement, reassurance, and appropriate
autonomy.

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8. WORK ENVIROMENT IN HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATION

Work Enviroment is the term work environment is used to describe the surrounding
conditions in which an employee operates. The work environment can be composed of
physical conditions, such as office temperature, or equipment, such as personal computers. It
can also be related to factors such as work processes or procedures. The work environment
can involve the social interactions at the workplace, including interactions with peers,
subordinates, and managers. Generally, and within limits, employees are entitled to a work
environment that is free from harassment.

A hostile work environment exists when

unwelcome sexual conduct interferes with an employee's job performance, or creates a

hostile, intimidating, or offensive work environment. The term work environment can also be
associated with the physical condition of the building. Healthy work environments will be
free from problems associated with sick building syndrome, which is often due to poor
ventilation or off-gassing of chemicals used during construction. The accumulation of molds
and mildew may also lead to sick building syndrome.
8.1 Organizational Burnout
Burnout is a psychological response to work stress that is characterized by emotional
exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment. In this
paper, we review the burnout literature from 1993 to present, identifying important trends
that have characterized the literature. We focus our attention on theoretical models that
explain the process of burnout, the measurement of burnout, means of reducing burnout, and
directions for the future of burnout research.

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REFLECTION
I was learning many things about organizations, there often appear to be few
similarities between them. Reasons for their high profile vary, but all appear to have
developed particular expertise in one or more organizational development initiatives.
Some examples include scenario analysis, systems thinking, intensive employee
education, creativity development and leadership development.
As a conclusion, practising social worker concerned about the longterm future of the
organization will find it increasingly harder to ignore many of the principles of
developing learning in organizations. One of the most common insights that occurred to
the managers in my class was that the concept of a learning organization was, above all,
an underlying principle of doing business. This insight improved their understanding of
their organization, the variety of initiatives that organizations are undertaking, and how
these initiatives can be integrated within a greater context of improving learning.
Organizational learning must begin with improved individual learning. Learning must
become an explicit part of the organizations culture. Leadership must demonstrate
individual learning and facilitate widespread dissemination of all learning, both about the
operations of the business and about how to learn better. The concept of deutero learning
must become an accepted part of the organizations language, as should single and
doubleloop learning.
Effective learning has much to do with the concept of creative tension. It requires a
very high degree of honesty, as individuals and teams assess their current reality, develop
a shared vision of the future, and are truthful about how they will move forward. Teams
are essential to achieving learning synergy. Some tools, such as systems thinking, are

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very well suited to improving team dialogue and insight. Finally, the framework in this
paper provides a highaltitude overview of learning organization theory.

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REFERENCE
Alvesson, M. (2013). Understanding Organizational Culture (2nd ed.). Sage Publication Ltd.
Alder, N. J., & Gunderson, A. (2008). International Imensions of Organizational Behaviour
(5th ed.). Thomson Higher Education.
Glidewell, J. C. (1986). Corporate Cultures: Research Implications for Human Resource
Development.
OConnor, N. K., & Netting, F. E. (2009). Organization Practice: A Guide to Understanding
Human Services (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc

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