The Alternative Place Program 3

The Alternative Place Program 3

Human Service Program: The Alternative Place

Jo’Ane Simpkins

MHS 550

Concordia University

The Alternative Place: Mission

The Alternative Place is a residential program for youths between the age of 18 and 23 who have aged out of foster care in Broward County. When the youths turn 18, they face challenges in life that require them to have their own source of income which is why this program provides them with skills and resources that facilitate independence. With the help of Maslow hierarchy, The Alternative Place ensures that the needs of the youths are met in order to keep them motivated hence productive.

The Mission and Primary Goals for the Program

The program focuses on providing housing, job, and training to needy youth. Its goal is to assuage the plight of the many youth affected by insecurity, poor housing, unemployment, lack of education and poor health care. The program’s primary goal is to provide training and development services to the youths who find it very difficult to survive in the ever-competitive job market. This includes a place for developing life skills such as cooking, housekeeping, and first aid, which one requires to develop when leaving alone. In order to solve the problem of unemployment, the Alternative Place assists the youth in job placement and enables them to develop skills that help them in positioning at the workplace. The program also provides the need for a home, which is another challenge for the youth who leave foster care.

Specific, Measurable Objectives for training and development

Unemployment is caused by lack of training and underutilization of skills (Hasenfeld, 2010). The Alternative Place has a goal to ensure the youths receive training and are able to develop their skills to be productive. In order to meet this goal, the program works with other stakeholders who have shown their full support for the program by either providing funds or technical support. The Alternative Place has been able to manage its operations by working together with partner agencies such as the Children’s Bureau in Florida, DCF, ChildNet, and Workforce One. Broward College and McFatter Technical Centre help the program by offering placement for youth’s operations.

According to Kennett (2013), training and development requires a motivated group, hence one of the objectives of this program is the adoption of Maslow where holistic programs are provided to support the youth that reach graduation age. It begins with meeting basic needs and respond to other needs as per the hierarchy. Shelter, food, and medical attention are all available at the Alternative Place.

Academic tutoring and educational scholarship through the help of funders will yield fruit in this program with a large population attaining scholarships showing commitment to development and training. Applicants for the scholarships are provided to those who are committed to their schoolwork. Other trainings on issues such as money and finance management are practiced towards the goal of training and development.

Organizational Theory and Design

The theory that applies for this human service program is the bureaucracy theory because there will be the need for rules and laws to guide the entire process. In this study, the human service program in question involves the rehabilitation of the youth coming out of foster care. This means that there will be the need for a systematic organization of labor to ensure that all the children can access the help they require. A majority of them will be between the ages of 18 and 23, which necessitates the finding of a suitable and permanent solution.

The Bureaucracy theory is applicable in this case for a number of reasons. Firstly, it will be necessary to organize the available labor to ensure that all the children can access the adequate help they require. Considering that they are of age to fend for themselves, it will not be possible for them to access all the resources and amenities they require. These feature complex requirements to the basic needs of life such as access to proper shelter, education, and food. Thus, applying the principles of this theory will be one method of helping the children gain access to their needs.

Secondly, the intention of the project is to create an alternative home where the children leaving the foster home can access a good residence, counseling services, education, life skills and final getting jobs. Therefore, the bureaucracy theory suggests the organization of labor be organized in a hierarchical manner. This will create accountability because each of the children is able to follow up on their own cases and equitably access resources. By creating a system where each child is able to account for themselves, it creates a sense of responsibility in them that is vital in shaping their future (Hemant, 2011).

There are a number of ways of departmentalizing the organization to meet the objectives of the project. On the basis of the bureaucracy theory, there is the need to organize the existing labor in a hierarchical manner. At the top, there has to be a director who will act as a link between the organization and the stakeholders. The director will be a vital medium of communication because it will be their responsibility to communicate different facts about the project to the stakeholders. This will enable the project to get appropriate external help to guarantee success.

In the organization design, the supervisors will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of management in the business. There will be the need to create a section that will source jobs and employment opportunities for the youth. This section will incorporate professionals and mentors who will be responsible for imparting knowledge and sourcing talent. This will be crucial for the children because they will not have many alternatives for seeking employment opportunities. Therefore, having a single department to handle the quest for jobs, as well as talent nurturing will be significant in enhancing the welfare of these youth.

It will also be necessary to create a housing department that will be instrumental in offering accommodation options. A housing department will perhaps be the busiest because it will be necessary to keep track of each child coming into the program. In addition, it will be necessary to provide appropriate accommodation, and an option for accessing reliable health care. This organization design will function from the top going towards the bottom to ensure that there is an efficient division of labor. This way, the children will have a chance to access the resources they require to ensure a better and fruitful life.

The division of labor in the departments and among individuals will depend on their key competencies. It is necessary to find those who will have an interest in working in definite departments. This is the first and most effective method of dividing the available labor. Thereafter, it will be appropriate to find supervisors who will oversee the work in each of the departments. The supervisors will act as a direct link to the objectives of the project because it will be their responsibility to ensure efficiency among people (Sapru, 2008).

The supervisors coming from each department will have to report to the director’s. This individual will be responsible for monitoring the work of supervisors and settling disputes among the laborers. It is up to the deputy director to observe the key competences of each department and ensure they are positively contributing to the project. The deputy director has the power to alter the objectives and scope of the project depending on the available resources, as well as the success of the program. However, the deputy director will have to report directly to the director who will have the final say on matters of labor within the program.

Director

Deputy Director

Supervisors

Laborers

Thus, the main decision making process of the organization will be dependent of the hierarchy. The individuals who will be occupying the top positions will be responsible for making the key decisions that will move the organization forward. Having this disambiguation is necessary because involving too many people in the decision making process will slow it down. The director will have the final say in all important matters, but will run the organization using the participative leadership style. This means that even though the main decisions will depend on the hierarchy, every person within the organization will have the right to speak out their opinions.

Effective coordination of work will mainly depend on the ability of the supervisors and the director. Effective leadership is always essential in an organization because it directly determines the efficiency of each employee. The director must be an individual ready to exercise the vital leadership attributes in their quest for success. It will be necessary to establish a chain of command that clearly defines the roles of the director and the supervisors. This will ensure efficient management to yield the right results in the long term (Daft & Armstrong, 2009).

In addition to this, by making use of the bureaucracy theory, it will be necessary to establish a string of rules. They will be a guiding factor in the work of the organization because they will offer a direct connection to the objectives. This will be an excellent way of effectively coordinating the work of groups and individuals because there will be a clear definition of the work. Each person will have a sense of duty and there will be no confusion because of the rules governing each professional. This will help to ensure that everybody remains within their bounds and are able to account for all their actions as the organization seeks to achieve its objectives.

Jobs and Supervision

The structure of the organization is as follows:

The above organizational structure requires the creation of the positions of the project manager, operational manager, secretary, internal auditor, financial controller, policy, plans, and communications officers, operations and programs officials, community social workers, guidance-counseling officials, and alternate parental officials.

The job selected for evaluation is that of the administrative programs officer. One of the key cornerstones to the success of this project is the ability to streamline the administrative functions with the financial constraints of the project. This calls for effective utilization of the resources available in activities that will result in maximum benefit to the entire project. In order to make this possible, Tracey outlined that it is important that there should be measures outlined and implemented to achieve the target, anticipate changes, and adjust accordingly (2004). Considering that this project requires a lean workforce, it is important that some duties have been merged and assigned to one single individual, or a set of individuals. One of the duties that have been designed to fulfill the above requirements is the position created encompassing programs and operations and assigned to an administrative programs officer.

Operating under the supervision of the program management office, the office will be expected to research about the different programs that the Alternate Place program should initiate. The other duties will involve carrying out documentation of the program, coordinate activities of the program, and disseminate this information to other departments (Milosevic, Martinelli & Waddell, 2009). The officer will also be required to deal directly with the selected group of youths by participating in the selection process, assign them to groups, and evaluate their performance from time to time. The responsibilities will range from research support, knowledge management, program coordination, communication and required network development, monitoring and evaluation, and liaison with external and internal constituents of the program.

A person occupying this position will be expected to have excellent knowledge of welfare activities. As a program coordinator, the individual will be required to collect and document all information on the activities of the program. From the collected data, the individual will be required to prepare annual work plans, prepare memoranda, and distribute reports and briefings to donors. One of the key responsibilities of this position will be to coordinate the operations of the program (Milosevic et al, 2009). This will be done by ensuring good workflow, assess the program response rate, and create links to different parts of the project. Considering that the individual will be having an overview of different operations of the project, they will be in a position to make recommendations about the program to the program manager and directors..

While considering candidates for this position, conceptual, analytical, management, leadership, communication, and team skills will be evaluated. The candidates should have a thorough knowledge of welfare programs in the country, and must have worked on another program before joining this team. Apart from the above, the candidates will be expected to be conversant with the regulations, policies, and laws concerning welfare, and particularly child welfare. Analytical skills will come in handy in the case of budget and financial evaluation, and the performance of the program presented analytically. My most important aspects that will be considered for these candidates are their leadership and communication skills, since they will be acting as the program managers on the ground. An excellent communication background will enable the candidate to share information about the program with other stakeholders that are involved.

In order to identify these competencies, the candidates will be shortlisted based on their qualifications and experience. After drawing a shortlist of those with the required match of training and experience, an interview will be conducted. The target of the interview will be to give the candidates a chance to demonstrate their qualifications based on the correlation of their previous experience to the responsibility that they have been assigned. To test communication skills, the interview will evaluate how best the candidate is capable of expressing herself orally and in written form. Questions will range from personal competencies, to a display of team skills (Veterans Affairs Canada, n.d.). In order to get the best from the rest, the interview for this position will be conducted by the head of all the major departments to establish the ability of the candidate to operate within the organization structure that has been established.