FOR KATE TUTOR ONLY RA 2: Research Question and Literature Review
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m4_a2_bruder_todd.docxRunning head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 9
Annotated Bibliography
Topic: Challenges Facing Human Services Organizations
Almog-Bar, M., & Schmid, H. (2013). Advocacy activities of nonprofit human service organizations: A critical review. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 0899764013483212
The article begins by explaining that policy advocacy is a feature that is usually used by human services organizations in representation of their constituencies. The literature review in the article focusses on the research that has been done in the last ten years about policy advocacy in human services organizations particularly the non-profits. There is also an elaboration of the contributions and characteristics of policy advocacy in relevance to human services organizations. The major topics that are addressed in the review are; the definition and how the term policy advocacy originated, the current issues that have been studied on the topic, current prevalence and situation on advocacy activities of human services organizations, structural and organizational variables related to policy advocacy. The other aspect that is highlighted by the article and it affects most of human services organizations is that on policy advocacy and dependence on external funding. The article is important for my research topic as it gives a deep insight on one of the challenges facing human services agencies.
Brown, W. A., Andersson, F. O., & Jo, S. (2015). Dimensions of Capacity in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-24.
This is a quantitative study that was done by conducting interviews in order to identify the dimensions used in determining the capacity of human services agencies. The objective of this paper is to give a presentation and develop a better understanding on the capacity of human services organizations. The article adopts resource-based perspective on the organization which appreciates that capabilities and attributes of the organization determine and promotes performance. Data collection was done by conducting interviews among 66 executives in human services organizations that were moderate sized in which there was discussion of factors influencing performance. The finding elaborated in the article is that social, human and financial capital all contribute to the performance of the organization. From the executives who were interviewed, it was apparent that the quality of those people who are associated with the agency including board of directors impact on the performance. The article is a good source for the research paper as it identifies challenges affecting performance of the human services organization.
Carnochan, S., Samples, M., Myers, M., & Austin, M. J. (2014). Performance measurement challenges in nonprofit human service organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(6), 1014-1032.
This is an article by Carnochan which focused on the challenges that human service agencies face in regards to performance measurement. It is a qualitative study that conducted an examination of four human services organizations that were involved in processes of performance measurement to as to meet performance needs and increase program and organizational effectiveness. The article also highlights the importance of nonprofit organizations to conduct performance measurement as demanded by the donors. It also highlights that some of the strategies that have been adopted by the public sector are not effective for the human service organizations. There were three major findings from the study that were conducted through focus groups, review of data and interviews. The first finding is that the complex nature of processes of human nature and the varying clients make definition of client outcomes to be complicated. The second finding is that staff skills are important in utilizing data systems. Thirdly, in order to enhance performance measurement staff should be allowed adequate access to data. This is reliable source for my topic as it addresses a challenge to human services organizations.
Johnson, J., Faulk, L., & Ali, S. B. (2015, January). Exploring the Risks of Government Funded Growth in Human Service Organizations. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 18243). Academy of Management.
The author of the article first points out that the public sector is relying more on grants that they offer to nonprofits so that they can provide human services and that partners from nonprofits and public sector are focusing on the issue to ensure the best results. The major challenge that is pointed out by the article facing the public sector is that of thin markets in which it relies on limited private providers. The article also gives a review on how these organizations can be financially viable and establish connections with the government and still maintain their mission. The two perspectives are combined to understand how increase in government funding affects the financial sustainability of the organization in the future. It also recognizes that the stability of the relationship between the government and the human services organizations is significant in provision of quality services. The author then recommends that the grant process should be adopted to ensure long-term sustainability even in economic downturns. This article is reliable source as it addresses matters to do with funding.
Katz, H. (2014). Poverty and Other Factors Affecting the Location of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations. International Journal of Social Work and Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/
The article highly disputes the idea that location of the organizations that offer human services is associated with how poverty is geographically designed. The article identifies other factors that determine how the services are located as social capital and zoning rather than just service needs and poverty. The researcher did an exploration on spatial relationship of the locations of human services together with poverty in Los Angeles and the finding was a complex association together with loopholes in service provision in areas having high poverty levels. The findings contradicted with the hypothesis on poverty but instead emphasized on the significance of effects of agglomeration. Also discussed in the article is service accessibility and planning for the policy makers and those funding the service. There is also the explanation of the role of organizations offering human services in alleviating poverty in the society. The article is a reliable source as it addresses some of the challenges faced by human services organizations while determining where to be located.
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Lam, M., & McDougle, L. (2015). Community Variation in the Financial Health of Nonprofit Human Service Organizations An Examination of Organizational and Contextual Effects. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 0899764015591365. The article begins by first highlighting that human services organizations are important in providing services that are very critical to the society. It then elaborates that other studies indicate that there is difference in density of these organization depending on communities. This is evident where the communities that are vulnerable receiving fewer quantities. With the above findings, a lot of concerns have been raised on the ability of the subsector of human services to be able to address community needs. The article makes an argument that the indicator of organizational density is not of great importance rather it is financial health that is very significant. In the article, there is modelling of six measures about financial health as illustrated by Bowman and then these measures are examined in relation to community vulnerability indicators. The results from the examination indicated that there was variation in four of the measures and the variances were explained by contextual effects. This is a key source to the topic under study as it examines the challenges of financial health and organizational density. Saint Joseph’s University (2016). Health Care Challenges Facing Administrators Today. SJU. Retrieved from http://online.sju.edu/resource/health-human-services/ The article begins by pointing out that at the moment, the industry of health care is going through various changes caused by technological changes and the transformation in the health care system of the nation. It is because of the above transformations that the administrators of the healthcare organizations face new and unpredicted change. The transformations occurring in the healthcare sector are continuous and it is necessary for the administrators to strategize on how to address the issues and provide care adequately to the patients. The challenges arise from factors such as technological improvements and adoption of new legislations. Administrators have to find means on identifying strategies on succeeding particularly in regards to consumer choice. There is also the challenge of increased specialized services in the sector in the county in addition to competition to acquire health professionals as a result of their shortage. The article is important since there are many human services organizations that aim at offering health care services. Schalock, R. L., Lee, T., Verdugo, M., Swart, K., Claes, C., van Loon, J., & Lee, C. S. (2014). An evidence-based approach to organization evaluation and change in human service organizations evaluation and program planning. Evaluation and program planning, 45, 110-118. This article by Schalock focuses on the way human services organizations can apply self-assessment and evidence based approach in facilitating quality improvement in a continuous way and organizational change. The article gives a presentation of real-life examples, discussion of strengths and challenges and identification of future measurement and conceptual issues. The article also highlights perspectives that are performance-based, evaluation using collaborative approach and integrative approach to ensure continuous quality improvement. There is description of collaborative evaluation as a strategy where there is engaging and invitation of stakeholders in implementation and planning of program evaluation, it is always a challenge among many human services agencies. The other challenge faced with such organizations is ensuring that there is continuous quality improvement in regards to operations and delivery of services. Evidence-based indicators highlighted in the article on how to improve evaluation of the organization and program planning. This is a reliable source because it addresses on the challenge faced by human services organizations in program planning and evaluation. Wascalus, J. (2013, Jan 1). Human service organizations "tread water" in face of funding uncertainty. Community Dividend. Retrieved from https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/ This is an article by Wascalus who is a project manager on community development. The main focus of the article is on unpredictability of levels of public funding and its effects on human service agencies in expanding or improving services. The article begins by first highlighting that most of the organizations providing human services to clients having moderate and low income are limited due to lack of certainty in regards to government funding. The author also highlights that these organizations depends on grants from state, local and federal governments. It is because of the budget limiting by the legislature due to Great Recession that has resulted to unpredictability thus hampering expansion and improvement of the services hat they offer. The article also elaborates on major issues such as uncertainty coinciding with increased demand of human services and uncertainty in planning operations due to unpredictable and irregular funding. The article is relevant to the topic of research and therefore is a reliable source. Woodside, M., McClam, T., Diambra, J. F., & Varga, M. A. (2012). The Meaning of Time for Human Service Professionals. Journal of Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ The objective of the article is to examine the meaning of time in the delivery system of human services. The study conducted involved analysis of interviews for forty six professionals on human services across United States based on the themes associated with time. The themes that were identified in the study included service delivery, pace, choices and change. It is from the above themes that determined how professionals on human services discussed on how time impacted on their work. The discussions then provided new perspectives and recommendations on training and educating students before being getting into careers in human services. In its conclusion, the article elaborates on the implications on education based on human services. The main point of focus in the article is how professionals working in the field of human services perceive time. This is therefore a good source to my research topic as it elaborates on time as a significant factor in the field of human services.
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