Society for Disability Studies

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DHD 547:
Organizations and the Non-Profit Disability Sector
Dale Mitchell, PhD
Room 251D, Disability and Social Policy (DHSS) Building (1640 West Roosevelt) 312-413-1504
fax: 312-413-1630
dalem@uic.edu
Office Hours by appointment
Class Meeting Time: Wednesdays, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.-for 3 sessions; all other sessions are on-line
Accessibility
To obtain disability-related academic accommodations, students with disabilities must contact the instructor and the Office of Disability Services as soon as possible. You may reach Disability Services at (312) 413-2183.
Description of Course
This course will blend organizational theory with real-life experiences in the non-profit disability sector. Students will learn core organizational theories, with a special emphasis on non­profit agencies serving people with disabilities. Standard theoretical models of organizations, theories of authority, leadership, and management are discussed and analyzed. Differences between and for-profit and non-profit organizations are addressed, including budgeting and fiscal management.
Instructor Dale Mitchell will draw upon approximately 35 years of experience in the disability field. This includes 20 years of academic and management experience at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and his 15 years of working in public and private disability agencies in the Chicago area. This experience includes positions as a direct care provider, front-line supervisor, and as executive director. During his tenure at UIC, Dale has published several books, book chapters, and journal articles in the field of disabilities. These publications include financing of disability programs, wages and turnover of direct care staff, and managed care for people with disabilities. Dr. Mitchell's PhD dissertation examined the determinants of turnover among direct care staff working in the developmental disabilities field.
While any student is welcome, this course is targeted at the professional or manager who is currently working in the disability field. In order to bridge the theoretical and practical, Dr. Mitchell will draw upon his own academic and service experience, the work experiences of the students, and occasional guest lecturers from the disability sector. Students will be encouraged to participate fully during lectures and will be expected to complete six (6) special projects throughout the year that will link the theoretical material from the lectures to real life experiences in a community agency.
SyllabusOrganizationTheoryOutlineRevised20080115.wpd
This course will give the student an opportunity to analyze the theoretical structure and design of traditional organizations, how these concepts are (or are not) applicable to "real life" disability organizations, and compare typical characteristics of for-profit organizations with those of their non-profit counterparts.
Course Requirements
Students are expected to complete all readings in advance of the class session for which they are assigned. There will be a weekly, 10 question quiz that will test retention of these readings. Students are expected to thoughtfully contribute to class discussions thru postings on weekly forums. Students will also complete four (4) special projects related to topics of their choosing.
Grading
Four (4) short special projects (written summary of 3-5 pages)-3 solo projects will be worth
15 points each and a team project will be worth 10 points (55 points)
Complete weekly quiz for 1 point each (15 points)
3. Class participation/discussion-minimum of 2 postings per week to discussion board forums
(30 points)
TOTAL Grade--100% Assigned Textbooks
There is no assigned text-required readings are posted on Blackboard Content page for the course.
Course Outline-Week by Week
Listed below is an outline of the expected content for each of course sessions. Although this outline will guide the class throughout the semester, there will be considerable flexibility to deviate from this outline when the instructor and students feel it would be beneficial to do so.
Week 1: January 16, 2008, 6-8:30PM,
Classifying and Comparing Traditional Organizations
This session covers traditional models used by various researchers to classify and describe organizations, principles of structural design within an organization, and the typical "stages of growth" that many traditional organizations pass though. We will review theories proposed by various researchers including Weber, Etzioni, Blau & Scott, Burns & Stalker, Katz & Kahn, Woodward, Perrow, Lawrence & and Lorsch as they relate to traditional organizations
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Week 2: January 23, 2008-Online
Leadership and Management Philosophies
This week we will review the differences between leaders and managers, and review various leadership models that have been proposed from 1930 to the present. In addition, we will discuss other leadership issues such as Management by Wandering Around, Knowledge Management, and Total Quality Management
Week 3: January 30, 2008, Online
Authority, power, and decision-making in organizations
In most organizations, there is a basic "control structure" set up that confers formal authority to positions with the assumption that individuals filling these positions will have the power to achieve the goals of the organization. To better study this formal authority, we will review the "operations control circle" found in most organizations that includes gathering information, formulating goals and strategies, executing strategies, evaluating results, and reviewing and updating goals.
This week will also concentrate on the "real" power that individuals in the organization may have, regardless of the formal authority the organization may confer on them. Among the topics we will cover is the span of control that managers within an organizational may have and what factors typically increase or decrease the amount of "power" they may actually have in an organization.
Week 4: February 6, 2008, Online
Communication in Organizations
This session discusses the formal communication channels established in an organization. Typically, these include downward communication, upward communication, and lateral/diagonal communication. Also covered will be the informal communication channels ("lateral relations") that grow and thrive in most organizations. We will review both formal and informal groups, norms that most groups develop, factors that contribute to or interfere with group cohesiveness, and how groups are formed. We will also discuss barriers that interfere with communication both within and among various organizational groups.
Week 5: February 13, 2008, Online
Employee Satisfaction and Job Design
This session covers factors contributing to employee job satisfaction including variety, control over the work, task relevance, feedback on the results, and opportunities for personal growth. During this session we will also discuss the implication that these factors have in affecting the redesign of jobs.
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Week 6: February 20, 2008, Online
Board leadership & governance in non-profits
Corporate scandals over the last decade in the for-profit sector and questionable practices in some nonprofit agencies have focused increased attention on the role and effectiveness of boards. As one observer has stated, "In many [nonprofit] organizations, the board is viewed in a way similar to an appendix, a part of the body without apparent purpose but capable of serious inconvenience (Robinson, 2001)."
This week will review whether non-profit boards are performing up to expectations, what their typical role and degree of involvement is, and how their responsibilities may overlap with those of agency staff. We will also discuss whether boards are tackling the correct issues or whether they are providing largely superficial oversight of nonprofit agencies.
Week 7: February 27, 2008, Online
Strategic Planning
The for-profit sector has long used strategic planning as a way to formally articulate organizational goals and objectives, determine how these objectives will be achieved, and to monitor progress over time. Developing a strategic plan can take considerable time and resources and project over a multi-year period.
During the past twenty years, many non-profit agencies have adopted the strategic planning approach in the belief that it will help them to respond quicker and more effectively to future changes in their environment. This session will review how successful strategic planning has been for the non-profit sector and whether an alternative concept of "strategic positioning" would serve non-profits better.
Week 8: March 5, 2008, Online
Marketing
At one time, marketing for non-profits was considered very controversial and even unethical by some. Currently, with the increasing demand for service, more crowded markets, and declining sources of funding, many would concede that marketing can be an important tool for most non-profits. In this session, we will review what marketing is, different marketing strategies that a non-profit agency can use, and how an agency can use "target" marketing to achieve its goals. In addition, we will look at how an agency might develop a new product, specifically focusing on the product's life cycle, including pricing and branding of the product.
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Week 9: March 12, 2008, 6-8:30 PM (in person)
Employee Recruitment and Turnover
This week will focus on the methods and techniques to recruit direct support staff that work in human service agencies. It will also review and discuss research related to the turnover of direct care staff and review successful training programs targeted at these workers.
Week 10: March 19, 2008, Online
Front-line supervision
This week will focus on the recruitment and training of front line supervisors who supervise direct care staff working in human service agencies.
Week 11: March 26, 2008,
NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK
Week 12: April 2, 2008,Online
Differences between For-profit and Non for profit Organizations
This session covers the "life-cycle" of the typical non-profit organization: forming, growing, coalescing, peaking, maturing, and refocusing. Unlike the for profit sector, where regulators worry more about monopolies (many buyers at the mercy of one supplier), the nonprofit sector typically suffers from the opposite problem-- monopsony (where there are many suppliers at the will of one "buyer"-typically a state agency). We will explore how the nonprofit sector deals with the challenges of a restricted marketplace and what impact that competition has on non-profit agencies in the same geographic region.
Week 13: April 9, 2008, Online
Introduction to fiscal management in nonprofit agencies
This session will introduce financial basics for mangers in non-profit organizations. Topics include reading a balance sheet of a nonprofit organization, the importance of cash flow, and what to expect from an external financial audit. Other topics will include the question of whether it is appropriate for a nonprofit agency to make a profit, and if so, how much profit is OK. Another topic of discussion will be risk management-how much insurance and what types does the nonprofit agency need-- also known as "Covering your ass(ets)."
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Week 14: April 16, 2008, 6-8:30PM (in person)
Budgeting in Nonprofit
This session covers a more in-depth look at budgeting for nonprofit organizations such as why non-profit agencies need a budget and the different types of budgets used by non-profits. We will also discuss "gamesmanship" in the budget process-as played by both local budget managers and by central office staff. Other topics will include strategies used by non-profits to deal with budget cuts and a review of popular budget reallocation approaches (i.e. zero-based budgeting and activity-based budgeting).
Week 15: April 23, 2008, Online
Evaluating effectiveness and quality-Part 1
Measuring the overall effectiveness of an organization in the for-profit sector usually revolves around their profitability. However, this task is more complicated in the nonprofit sector. As a result, the concept of Organizational Effectiveness Evaluation (OEE) has been developed to assess the effectiveness of a non-profit organization as a whole. In this session, we will review the four typical stages of OEE, and some of the tools that the nonprofit sector has developed to do this evaluation (i.e. United Way Approach, the Balance Scorecard, best-practice bench marking).
Week 16: Week 17: April 30, 2008, No Assignments, All Projects Due May 7, 2008, 6-8:30pm (In person) Evaluating effectiveness and quality-Part 2 This week will continue the discussion begun two weeks ago on assessing quality, with a focus on health care facilities. It will review the increasing trend among health care providers to publicly post mortality and morbidity statistics and the federal government's involvement in this trend.

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