Human Service Organizations Research Articles

Rethinking Change: Complexity Theory and Its Application to Human Service Nonprofits

The following article introduces complexity theory as an alternative for conceptualizing the dynamics of change in nonprofit health and human service organizations. We begin by reviewing theories most frequently used to frame change in nonprofits, identifying knowledge gaps that limit their explanatory capacity. The authors then introduce complexity theory as a lens for studying change as ongoing adaptation in dynamic systems; it emerges from the resolution of dualities and can appear unpredictable and nonlinear. Given the criticality of these organizations to public services, we consider new ways of analyzing nonprofit adaptation, and how understanding could lead to enhancing the sector’s capacity to respond to crises.

Why Won't Anyone Talk? Challenges Naming and Addressing Tokenism Within Health and Human Service Agencies Serving the LGBTQ+ Community.

Workplace tokenism, the use of superficial efforts to appear equitable, which often leads to burnout of marginalized groups, is pervasive, even in health and human service organizations dedicated to improving their community's health and well-being. An original research project to identify interventions addressing tokenism within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer plus serving health and human service agencies in New York was unable to engage staff in focus groups. A follow-up survey with 41 potential participants reported burnout as the main reason for nonparticipation. Qualitative data revealed desired aftercare for the retraumatizing nature of sharing individual experiences. Utilizing a community-based participatory research approach with an antiracism lens may mitigate challenges addressing tokenism, thereby increasing workplace inclusion of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer plus community.

TAKING IT TO THE STREET: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL PROMOTING THE ESSENTIALITY OF TRUST IN COMMUNITY-FOCUSED QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Introduction/Frame: Trust is foundational to qualitative research and program evaluation to ensure that data collection, data analysis, and actionable recommendations improve programs and produce effective outcomes. Concomitantly, building trust between the university and community sectors offers a rich opportunity to join efforts to address public health issues including substance use, homelessness, criminal justice involvement, and mental illness. Research suggests cross-sector collaboration among human services organizations produces effective outcomes when stakeholders are engaged, trust one another, and have shared goals. Developing qualitative program evaluation partnerships between university researchers and human service organizations offers a valuable application of cross-sector collaboration, including the transferability of qualitative research and program evaluation findings. Objective: This conceptual paper aims to highlight the essentiality of trust, summarize the facilitators and barriers of collaboration, and share a case example of a partnership. Additionally, it offers implications for researchers and community partners while outlining the benefits of university/community collaboration. Finally, we will offer a conceptual model of the iterative relationship between trustworthiness, trust, and impact in our evaluation approach. Theoretical Framework: Our approach to community-focused qualitative program evaluation is anchored in an action research paradigm, a use evaluation approach, coupled with trust as the key factor in developing and maintaining effective evaluative relationships. The Impact of Trust: Three areas in which trust is most beneficial to qualitative program evaluation are relationships, data collection, and transferability of results. Conceptual Model: Our model is grounded in three seminal works focusing on trust in business-business relationships, organizational trustworthiness as a mediator to both cognitive and affective trust, and relationship stability in inter-organizational reliance. Final Considerations: We found that using this model allowed quicker research-to-practice implementation of evaluation recommendations, solidified community/university collaborative relationships, and facilitated strategies to address workforce shortages in community human services agencies.

Reconstructing the Bicultural Worker within Health and Human Service Organisations

ABSTRACT Limited literature considers the role and contribution of bicultural workers in Australia. This article explores how bicultural workers are constructed by social workers within health and human service organisations, through the lens of Whiteness. Eight White social workers participated in this multimethod qualitative study. Data were analysed using a critical approach to narrative analysis. The findings suggest that bicultural workers can be constructed as inferior and of less value than other employees, and as a “resource” to be “used” within organisations. These findings are consistent with previous literature, which highlighted how bicultural workers, or similar, are treated and how they experience workplaces differently to other employees within mainstream White Western organisations. It is concluded that we need to reconstruct the bicultural worker role in a way that meaningfully privileges their expertise, skillset, and diversity. IMPLICATIONS Social workers’ constructions of bicultural workers appear to relate to what expertise is privileged within the West. Cultural othering of bicultural workers may contribute to diminishing their role and the credibility and capabilities of organisations. Ensuring bicultural workers receive career pathway progression and professional development could help facilitate their repositioning within organisations.

The Practice of Supervision in Human Service Organizations: A Descriptive Survey of Canadian Practitioners, Supervisors, and Organizational Leaders

The Practice of Supervision in Human Service Organizations: A Descriptive Survey of Canadian Practitioners, Supervisors, and Organizational Leaders

The Protective Effects of Hope Training on the Human Service Workforce Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress

ABSTRACT Workplace stress and burnout are a concern among human service leaders. Organizations need evidence-driven enhancements and actionable strategies that impact employee wellbeing. This study evaluates employee-focused training that draws from theory and research on hope in a large, multi-agency human service organization. The training used both in-person and asynchronous learning. A nonrandomized comparison group design with retrospective posttest assessment was used to investigate the potential impact of participation in hope training on workforce burnout and secondary trauma. Findings demonstrate statistically significant differences between those who completed training and those in the control group with no training.

Understanding the Social Worker Experience with Organizational Changes in HSOs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Drawing on Lewin’s three-stage change theory (i.e. unfreezing, changing, and refreezing), this study explored social workers’ experience with organizational changes in human service organizations during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative content analysis was conducted using secondary data from a cross-sectional survey (June–August 2020). Responses for 2447 participants (78.5%) who answered the open-ended question, “How have services, functions or operations changed in response to COVID-19?” were thematically coded. Four overarching themes were identified and discussed: (1) changes to organization capacity; (2) technology/infrastructure and workers arrangements; (3) workplace safety; and (4) impact on clients and workers.

Nonprofit Management’s Perceptions of Unions in Government-Funded Child Welfare Agencies: Can They Help Raise Wages in This Triangular Relationship?

ABSTRACT This study explores the potential of unions as a solution for addressing chronic low compensation in government-funded nonprofit human services organizations. We used the primary child welfare agencies in New York as a collective case to study nonprofit management’s views on the role labor unions can play in addressing these issues. Our in-depth interviews with 15 nonprofit leaders reveal several findings: 1) Existing unions were relatively weak and had achieved limited gains for workers, which in turn demotivated workers to unionize; and 2) Most leaders doubted that unions can help in this matter because government, as opposed to nonprofits, controls prices. Some leaders, however, expressed a belief that a larger-scale worker unionization could provide nonprofit management with more leverage to ensure the government pays adequate contracts. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the role unions can play in helping improve worker compensation in nonprofit-union-government funder triangular relationships.

Converging on Institutional Logics: The Expansion of Syringe Service Programs in a Midwest State

ABSTRACT Institutional logics are theoretical constructs that describe how organizations and other actors make sense of, and organize their everyday practices. This paper describes how syringe service programs (SSPs) have incorporated disparate institutional logics in efforts to meet the needs of a stigmatized population. SSPs are a type of human service organization that allows intravenous drug users (IDUs) to obtain unused needles, stemming the spread of bloodborne infections. Using qualitative interviews with 26 SSP employees at 22 SSP programs in a Midwestern US state, we reveal how these individuals understand how their organizations adapt to different logics (community, state, and professional) during changes in the field. We use Skelcher and Smith’s types of organizational hybridity to describe how SSPs incorporate different institutional logics into their work. Implications for understanding what happens at the organizational and field level as external pressures shape organizational activity and logic adoption are discussed.

Disaster Preparedness in Social Work: Enhancing Policy in Australian Human Service Organisations

Abstract This article reports on a small study that aimed to enhance disaster preparedness policy in Australian human service organisations. Adopting a transformative ecosocial lens, the researchers collaborated with emergency services as part of action research (AR) to co-design a series of workshops. The objectives of the workshops were to progressively develop disaster preparedness policy relating to risk assessment, service continuity and recovery plans. Semi-structured interviews with eight participants from human service organisations were undertaken post-workshop to explore their experiences and the impacts of workshops on organisational policy. Qualitative data were examined using thematic analysis. Five key themes emerged from the data. The themes were knowledge acquisition, the interrelationship between policy and practice, inter- and intra-professional relationships, organisational challenges and marginalisation. Whilst results indicated that workshops provided participants with opportunities to enhance disaster preparedness policy, participants described ongoing challenges inhibiting their progress within an organisational context. Implications for social work highlight the interrelationship between policy and practice and underscore the value of the profession’s multidimensional approach to practice. The need to disrupt the influence of the neoliberal discourse within the organisational context is critical for enhancing disaster preparedness and for mitigating the inequitable impacts of disasters on marginalised groups.

Human Service Organization (HSO) Study of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in Health and Community Welfare Services in Bandung City

This research is motivated by the importance of the HSO's task in improving social welfare efforts or providing social welfare services to individuals, groups, families and communities who experience social problems or as a "Human Service Organization". To bring about changes in attitudes and behavior and improve the community's ability to be able to solve the problems they face and carry out their social functions appropriately. Social organizations have various functions. As for the function of social organizations, especially in order to help the government or participate in carrying out management functions, this can be because social service organizations currently still tend to focus on charity and are not based on profit (non-profit oriented). This situation allows for quite a large influence in the service process to the community. Therefore, the existence and functioning of PMI will continue to be developed through good organizational management so that it can reach more people and be sustainable. Compiled from various research that has been carried out previously, the problems at PMI include the availability of a digital information system that can provide real-time data on blood needs and availability, human resources managing financial reports, reduced regeneration of PMI volunteers, team organization or governance. management, availability of blood stock and blood quality at certain moments, and limited donors who finance the PMI program (Dewi et al., 2022; Hernimawati et al., 2020; Khoiri et al., 2021; Lendryono, 2022; Rakhman et al., 2019) This research will describe how HSO management practices and collaboration practices exist at PMI Bandung City in Health and Community Welfare Services.This research is motivated by the importance of the HSO's task in improving social welfare efforts or providing social welfare services to individuals, groups, families and communities who experience social problems or as a "Human Service Organization". To bring about changes in attitudes and behavior and improve the community's ability to be able to solve the problems they face and carry out their social functions appropriately. Social organizations have various functions. As for the function of social organizations, especially in order to help the government or participate in carrying out management functions, this can be because social service organizations currently still tend to focus on charity and are not based on profit (non-profit oriented). This situation allows for quite a large influence in the service process to the community. Therefore, the existence and functioning of PMI will continue to be developed through good organizational management so that it can reach more people and be sustainable. Compiled from various research that has been carried out previously, the problems at PMI include the availability of a digital information system that can provide real-time data on blood needs and availability, human resources managing financial reports, reduced regeneration of PMI volunteers, team organization or governance. management, availability of blood stock and blood quality at certain moments, and limited donors who finance the PMI program (Dewi et al., 2022; Hernimawati et al., 2020; Khoiri et al., 2021; Lendryono, 2022; Rakhman et al., 2019) This research will describe how HSO management practices and collaboration practices exist at PMI Bandung City in Health and Community Welfare Services.

Att ge information i skriven interaktion

To provide information in written interaction – responsiveness at the digital welfare state’s frontline Digitalisation has created opportunities for people to have contact with representatives of human service organisations through various text-based channels (e.g., online chat, social media, email). Despite the fact that such text-based interaction is common in social work practice today, there is remarkably little knowledge about how the interaction is structured in practice and what characteristics the different forms have. Such knowledge is central to designing appropriate contacts that respond to clients’ needs. This study uses conversation analysis to study two forms of digital text-based interaction between clients and representatives of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SSIA). The data consist of circa 900 exchanges via email and the SSIA’s official Facebook page for parents. Identified patterns are also compared with 300 recorded phone calls to the SSIA, to make visible how participants orient to the limitations and affordances that the textual arenas provide in practice and which functions they thereby fulfill with regard to client relations. The analysis focuses on how practitioners manage responsiveness in replies to client questions. We show how practitioners’ replies tend to deviate from conversational norms by not being designed in line with the design or content of the questions. For example, practitioners often provide information that is conditioned (e.g., “if …then …”) rather than yes/no answers (even when replying to yes/no questions). Through this, the analysis also demonstrates how practitioners realise policy and organisational goals in digital text-based interaction. The study contributes knowledge about how help and service is provided in digital text-based interaction and highlights the problem of generally held replies that are not adapted to the recipient, as the interaction risks not fulfilling the expected function for the clients. We also problematise how textual interaction on social media platforms poses risks for clients’ privacy from an ethical perspective.

Benefits, Challenges, and Opportunities in Addressing Medicaid Beneficiaries' Non-Medical Risks to Health: A Qualitative Analysis.

North Carolina's Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) is a Medicaid 1115 Waiver program that seeks to address nonmedical risks to health for Medicaid beneficiaries through multisector collaboration. Among other stakeholders, HOP involves collaboration between human services organizations that deliver interventions, network leads, which establish and oversee the human services organizations within a region of the state. To understand how employees at human services organizations and network leads prepared to deliver HOP services. Qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews. Interviews were conducted between April and June 2022. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded thematically, and analyzed using a conceptual model derived from the consolidated framework for implementation research. Organizations within North Carolina counties participating in HOP. Employees of human services and network lead organizations across all 3 HOP regions of North Carolina. The researchers interviewed 37 participants. Overall, organizations experienced benefits from HOP participation, including capacity-building resources, flexibility in allocating resources, and creating community-wide enthusiasm for addressing nonmedical risks to health. There were also key challenges. These included the time needed to build capacity, adjustments to the work processes and regulations inherent to multisector collaboration, geographic variation in availability of services to offer, and the difficulty of addressing different needs. Finally, participants recognized substantial opportunities that HOP presented, including membership in a more extensive network, exposure to a learning community, and a more sustainable funding source. The perspectives of individuals preparing to deliver HOP services offer important lessons for those developing and implementing large-scale programs that can address nonmedical threats to health.

Self-Care Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Curriculum: A Post Pandemic Faculty Survey

This exploratory study describes the post pandemic integration of classroom-based self-care pedagogy with students engaged in field placements in human services organizations. Forty-nine undergraduate faculty members at a large public university system in New York City completed an online survey about how they teach self-care (i.e., integrate self-care pedagogy) in their courses, their needs for resources, and barriers to integrating self-care. The survey is grounded in the National Organization of Human Services (NOHS) Ethical Standard 35, which requires human services workers to prioritize their own wellness and self-care. Burgeoning research demonstrates the deleterious effects of the Covid19 pandemic on undergraduate students’ well-being. Students’ difficulties are further exacerbated for those undertaking human services work in community-based organizations as student interns. Faculty recognized the mental health challenges faced by students in field placements, both because of the demands of agency-based human services work, as well as the exposure to sensitive classroom discussions about clients’ psychosocial needs and traumas. However, most faculty have not meaningfully integrated self-care into the curriculum. This study highlights the need to develop strategies to promote student well-being and mitigate the effects of exposure to potential sources of vicarious trauma. Recommendations for best practices for undergraduate departments are offered.

The intersection of self-determination theory and workplace spirituality: an innovative framework for advancing social work administration

ABSTRACT This conceptual article aims to explore how self-determination theory can be utilized in integrating workplace spirituality in social work administration to help address issues such as those related to employee well-being, job satisfaction, and motivation. The paper examines the interconnection between self-determination theory, workplace spirituality, and social work administration through a review of pertinent literature on these interrelated concepts. The complementation of self-determination theory and workplace spirituality in the realm of administration hopes to create a spiritually sensitive environment that boosts self-determination and promotes the well-being of social workers for them to become healthy and productive members of human service organizations.

How Digital Platforms Promote Roles of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations During the COVID-19 in China

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic compelled nonprofit human service organizations (NPHS) to rapidly adapt to heightened service demands while prioritizing the well-being of their staff and volunteers. Although digital platforms hold promise in facilitating NPHS adaptation, little is known about their impact during the crisis. How and through what pathways do digital platforms help NPHS adapt their service roles in times of crisis? Did digital platforms with different types of sponsorship vary in the way they affect NPHS’s roles? Our study, based on 94 interviews in China, reveals that digital platforms assisted NPHS through three pathways: reducing transaction costs in stakeholder engagement, mitigating information asymmetry in targeting service recipients, and promoting shared responsibility for volunteer participation. Different sponsorship types influenced these pathways: government-sponsored platforms enhanced legitimacy, business-sponsored platforms leveraged private resources, and nonprofit-sponsored platforms bolstered citizen trust. This research informs scholars and practitioners on understanding how NPHS remained agile and innovative while facing extraordinary external challenges.

The Three P’s in Nonprofit Human Service Mergers: Strategic Response to Coping with a Crisis

ABSTRACT COVID-19 has heralded a health and socioeconomic crisis that has made it difficult for nonprofit human service organizations (NPHSOs) to play their social roles and achieve their goals. This article examines how the merger of NPHSOs can serve as a strategy for coping with an organizational crisis caused by external extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on eight mergers of Israeli NPHSOs. Using in-depth interviews and a survey methodology of senior managers and board members who have participated in the merger process, we explore the motives, challenges, and key processes characterizing these mergers. The findings are organized around three stages in the merging process – the Three P’s in human service mergers: Pre-merger, when the motives and barriers were examined; Process, where decision-making mechanisms, issues of belonging and identity, and coping with conflicts and trust-building were examined; and Post-merger, where attitudes toward the outcomes of the merger and its success in various organizational areas were assessed. The findings also point to a lack of proper preparation and orientation for the merger, ego struggles between managers and workers, and the need for socializing the employees to the merger. We conclude by discussing the importance of planning for and attending to the human capital in the merged NPHSOs, the need to build a shared sense of belonging, and the value of shaping a new and shared organizational culture. Implications to theory, practice, and policy are discussed.

Human Service Organizations as an Arena for Social Intrapreneurship: A Cross‐Country Analysis

ABSTRACT A comprehensive comparative study using qualitative methodology was conducted in Israel and the U.S. to examine the goals that social workers seek to achieve through social intrapreneurship, measures of success for social intrapreneurship and motivations to act as social intrapreneurs. Categorical content analysis was used to identify recurring themes according to predetermined study questions. The research findings provide insights into the role of social organizations and social work education systems in designing policies that promote the involvement of social workers in social intrapreneurship to address complex and ongoing social problems.

Unemployed, Immigrant, and Older Asian Workers in a U.S.-Based Job-Training Program: Their Experiences and Well-Being, and Strategies for Reaching This Important Population

ABSTRACT The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a U.S.-based job-training program that serves unemployed workers aged 55 and older with incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty level. While federal funds are set aside to serve Asian workers in SCSEP, little is known about their characteristics and experiences. In response, this pilot study aimed to document the health, well-being, and experiences of older Asian SCSEP participants in Massachusetts through the completion of a survey. Respondents (N = 39) ranged in age from 58 to 73 and identified as either Chinese (72%) or Vietnamese (28%). All were immigrants, and almost all spoke a language other than English at home. Most reported “good” health as well as financial difficulties. They also stated that their supervisors in their placements were supportive. On average, respondents noted moderate interest in searching for a paid job after exiting SCSEP, although more reported interest in searching for a volunteer role. Key to the success of this study was a robust collaboration with a local human services organization with strong ties to the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. The findings highlight the importance of this growing group of older workers.

Black Women in Leadership Positions in Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Shifting Toward Intentional Intergenerational Leadership and Mentorship Model Centered on Black Women’s Collective Identity

ABSTRACT Black women overcome various social and structural obstacles while advancing to leadership positions. The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experiences of Black women leaders as they rose to the leadership position. We used the grounded theory method to analyze the lived experiences of n = 12 Black women leaders working in nonprofit organizations, from a broader sampled study from 2017–2018, using semi-structured interviews, in rural East Texas. Based on our analyses, Black women's leadership trajectory centered around intergenerational leadership development, leadership values, and other’s perception of Black woman in leadership. The themes generated show that Black women have remarkable resilience in a service-driven leadership ideology grounded in faith, family, community support, and the collective identity of being a Black woman. Generating intentional leadership pathways for strong and compassionate next-generation of Black women leaders and mentors is essential for development and sustainability of nonprofit human service organizations.