The Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS)
Abstract
The Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS) was established in 1976 with the core mandate being the aiding of victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Accordingly, VIBS has been dispensing its duties with the organization assuming an expansionary approach. VIBS has, however, not failed in its activities. It continues to offer humanitarian services. This is despite the financial challenges that it faces. However, even with the society being seemingly educated and informed, it is this paper’s contention that the organizational activities aimed at creating a state of awareness and empowering the victims are critical. In addition, the organization needs to identify the personnel gap it experiences and with immediate effects seek to place a person worthy enough for the role. This submission is of the view that the organizational success is based on its ability to fund its activities. On that premise the manager’s job should include sourcing for funds.
VIBS is a pioneer organization of its own kind intended to create a sense of awareness on the domestic and sexual violence. Ideally, as indicated in its own introductory page VIBS is intended for the support of victims of rape and domestic violence. It is critical to appreciate that this mandate does not stop with the victims, rather, the organization endeavors to access potential victims and those persons who though not directly victims, are affected by the violence visited on their relations. On that premise, VIBS should be considered as an organization intended to offer awareness, rescue and advisory services to violence and rape victims and related people.
Body
VIBS was founded exactly thirty seven years ago with a rather lean mandate. It was intended to offer help services to victims of rape and domestic violence. The organization was essentially a hotline with a forum for speakers. In essence, VIBS was intended to create a connection between victims and would be aid givers in response to the violence. This was muted by its Board of Directors in appreciation of the then dicey nature of societal relations in Suffolk and its environs. Three decades later, the organization has since grown past its intended mandate and area of operations. However, it by large still retains its traditional roles of creating awareness of sexual and domestic violence and lending a helping hand to victims to the mentioned vices. It is essential to appreciate that the organizational approach entails collaboration with government agencies and non-profit organization that equally seek to offer aid to victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Organizational Change Plan
Organizational Change Plan
Abstract
The Victim’s Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS) was launched in the year 1976 with the mandate of availing assistance to victims of both domestic violence and sexual abuse. Owing to the expanding demand of its services, the organization has continued to endeavor to provide its services. However, the organization has grappled with inadequacy in funding for its activities more so with a cut in funding from its significant financier-namely the government. At the moment, and in contrast to the time of the inception of the organization, the public are more informed of the dangers as well as more educated. Nonetheless, the increase in awareness and education has not dispensed the need for the organization to continue its awareness and advocacy campaigns to save the victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Other critical services provided by VIBS include creating a link between the victims of sexual abuse and their would-be aid givers. In the discharge of this noble mandate, the VIBS collaborates with other governmental agencies and non-profit making organizations in availing the necessary aid to the victims of violence and sexual abuse. The significant functions of the organization can be summed up into three core roles. One of the essential roles of the organization is creating awareness on the need for justice for the victims of these crimes and compassion for the victims against whom the crimes have been perpetrated against. The other roles of the organization are offering assistance to the victims through providing the necessary psychological services and also providing assistance by enabling and empowering the victims to access justice in the courts. This plan proposes changes to turn around the organization by confronting the funding and capacity challenges that bedevil it.
Organizational Change Plan
In the discharge o these noble functions, the organization has overly depended on the government for the funding of its activities. Indeed, this is reflected in the financial statements of the year 2012 of the organization which indicates that the organization received a total of 1.76 million dollars for its activities. This represents a whopping 95 percent of the spending incurred by the organization. In a nutshell, it can be said that the government stands as the chief primary financier of the organization’s activities. Nonetheless, the organization has in the recent past been grappling with the problem of a lack of adequate funding to carry out its increasingly expanding activities. This position has been presented owing to the global recession in the world market which had led to the government, its major source of funding to adopt austerity measures aimed at enabling the running of the government. As such, the organization’s activities have suffered as a result of the cut in funding which has significantly hampered the activities of the organization. To exacerbate the situation further, VIBS depends on the government as its sole chief source of funding. The upshot of this is that a failure of funding from the government means that the activities of the government may cripple. Yet, it is conventional wisdom that a dependence on the government for funding can be a frustrating experience especially when the core functioning of an organization is pegged on such funding. This means that the organization is in urgent need for change so as to bring other sources of funding into the bracket. This will cushion the organization efficiently by availing a reliable source of income. It is apparent that the major source of funding for the organization is grants from the government and some donations from the wiling public. There is, therefore, an urgent need to source for other supplementary sources of funding to ensure that the activities of the organization do not grind to a halt. Indeed, the organization has been forced to partner with likeminded agencies and organizations so as to efficiently deliver its mandate. VIBS has partnered with organizations such as Mercy Center Ministries, UCP Suffolk, and Stony Brook University to offer its services. Another significant problem that faces the organization is a weakness in its organization structure. This problem is closely interlinked to the first problem as it is this weakness in the structure of the organization that has meant the absence of a grant writer or a person responsible for the raising of funds in the organization. The manager or leader of VIBS, therefore, needs to put in place a position of a development fundraising manager who will be responsible for the sourcing of funds. The third problem which faces VIBS organization is the misapplication of skills of the volunteers in the organization. The significant workers at the organization are volunteers who include advocates engaged in advocacy as well as other personnel. However, owing to a weakness in organizational structure, the volunteers are given positions or deployed to a position or job that they are not best equipped or skilled to perform.
Bolman and Deal propounded a four frame model which is usually used in understanding leadership in various organizations. Frames in this respect constitute the lens through which people are able to view or visualize the world and consequently put it in order. These frames enable individuals to take away or sift away the things they do not want to see. We can, therefore, state that frames are never accurate and that they tend to distort reality. Being that as it may, is the case that individuals require frames to enable them make sense of the world and the experiences in it. It is these frames that help people to determine and guide their actions. Bolan and Deal further made the case that individuals have their own specific personal preferred frames of which they make use of. These individuals use these frames to help them in the gathering of information, the making of judgment and determining as well as explaining certain behavior. Every of these frames offers a version of organizational life and also provides specific though narrow range of ideas, techniques, processes that are essential for the improvement of the efficacy of the organization. Bolman and Deal thereby proposed four theories to explain this which will be the subject of this paper in indentifying and explaining the above incremental steps. It must be noted from the outset that a leader of an organization may use one or more of the theoretical frameworks as proposed at any one particular time with much efficacy. We begin with the first theory of structural framework in our quest to formulate an organizational change plan that will work for the VIBS organization. Bolman and Deal identified the structural framework as a theory for the leaders of an organization whereby the structural manager endeavors to design as well as implement a structure that is suitable and appropriate to the problem as well as the circumstances of the case. Using this structural theory as posited by Bolman and Deal to VIBS organization, the leader of the organization should approach the question of the inadequacy of funds for the organization by looking at the goals and objectives of the organization. It is clear that among the goals of the organization is the protection of the victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence as illustrated in the organization’s biography. Without doubt, these kinds of activities by the organization require funds much as a big portion of its workers are volunteers. The leader might even want to set the dates or deadlines for the sourcing of the funds for the organization at any particular time to ensure that its activities do not grind to a halt for lack of funds. Since a huge part of the structural frame as postulated by Bolman and Deal is to develop a structure within the respective environment of the organization, the leader might develop a hierarchy for a development fundraising manager charged with the sourcing of funds. In this vein, the leader could appoint a fundraising manager at the organization who will be responsible for raising money through writing grant proposals and seeking external donors. In addition, this grants writer or development manager may be given the responsibility of ensuring that funds are available. This mandate should be given by the leader under a stipulated time frame say the first three months of the fiscal year. Indeed, Bolman and Deal stated that the structural approach focuses on the finding of an arrangement that with a pattern of official roles and relationships that accommodates both organization’s needs as well as individual differences. We then examine the next theory of Bolman and Deal of human resource frame in our organizational change plan. This theoretical framework places the people being served in the first place which resembles what is popularly known as servant leadership. According to this theory, there is need for participation by the people in decision making as well as the solving of problems. This framework as posited is premised on the view by psychologists that an organization is made up of people and therefore their varying needs and feelings need be reflected in an organization. Similarly, their skills, potential and possible biases are encompassed in the organization. Since a significant concept of this frame is that an organization exists for the service of the people, the leader of VIBS must find an organization form that enables the workers at the organization to own the plan and feel good about it. Such an organization form as required by this frame involves participatory management where the people wield much power in decision making. The leader would also need to take the step of training and developing both the professional as well as the personal skills of the people more so the development fundraising manager to equip the individual with better skills. Further, training should be afforded to the volunteers to enable them match the skills required of the roles and jobs they are given within the organization so as to alleviate the problem of mismatching of skills. We then consider the final theory in this organizational change plan which consists of the political frame. Bolman and Deal stated that a political leader is one who understands the reality of politics in an organization and deals with such politics properly. We submit that though VIBS is not a political organization, Bolman and Deal must have had any organization in contemplation while developing this theoretical framework since it is the case that no single organization is devoid of politics or micro politics. The theorists must have borrowed heavily from political scientists who argue that an organization is an area where conflicts of interests lay out in competition for the limited resources and power. It is clear that the major source of funding which is the single biggest problem at the organization at the moment has been the government. However, it is also known that government has competing interests more so among the political leaders. In an organization, there also develops micro politics where groups make use of both formal and informal power to achieve their objectives. The leader of VIBS, therefore, needs to be well aware of the power levels in the organization and also take cognizance of the inevitability of the conflict. In this respect, the leader of the VIBS needs to employ his political power by calling on the key contacts at the governmental or federal level to ensure that the funding of the organization is continued even as government adopts austerity measures. Specifically, there is need for the leader to identify who wields informal power in government and then develop an alliance with such people to ensure that the organization continues to get funding.We then move to examine the probability of success of the measures and changes proposed above according to the three theories as propounded by Bolman and Deal. We first begin from the position that the changes proposed in this plan are not only realistic but also achievable. The changes are not overambitious as they can be put into action by a leader who has the will to change the fortunes of the organization so as to regain funding for the organization and fend off the organizational structure challenges. Any of the measures proposed for availing funding may be employed as various avenues or options of ensuring that the organization regains its erstwhile foothold. If the options were to fail, the case of soliciting donations from the public and other philanthropists fuelled by an intense campaign would act as a fallback position for the organization in its quest to get funding.
References
Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2006). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Spaulding, A. (2007). Micropolitical Behavior of Second Graders: A Qualitative Study of Student Resistance oin the Classroom. The Qualitative Report , 14-18.
VIBS. (2011). Annual Report . Suffolk : VIBS.
VIBS. (2013, October 3). Assistance, Prevention and Awareness. Retrieved October 23, 2013, from VIBS: ww.vibs.org/mission.html
VIBS. (2013, 10 3). Assistance, Prevention and Awareness. Retrieved 11 28, 2013, from VIBS: www.vibs.org/mission.html
APPENDIX
SMART
SWOT ANALYSIS
