Chapter 15

Maintaining Faith

Christine S. Davis

Case Overview

 This case study examines the issue of team-based organizing in a mostly volunteer non-profit organization. Suzanne Whitaker is the executive director of the Interfaith Center for Aging, a non-profit interdenominational organization that provides social programs and services to relatively well older adults. Her husband, Jake supports her as she deals with professional, interpersonal, and organizational frustrations with the executive board, committees, and volunteers. Problems in the organization seem to revolve around three key areas: clarity between board, staff, and volunteers; volunteer empowerment; and strategic communication efforts. This case illustrates the challenges of managing a nonprofit organization through volunteer groups and teams, including: balancing the human side of volunteer services and programs with business and organizational realities; keeping part-time volunteers empowered and motivated; dealing with and respecting age diversity in an older adult organization; and balancing the need for change versus resistance and inertia.

 Learning Objective

 This case demonstrates the importance of strategic communication for creating a cohesive, empowered team; maintaining team effectiveness; and leading organizational and team change in the face of resistance while working with volunteer workers and board members.

 Keywords and Definitions

 Agenda—a plan of action for a meeting.

 Board meeting—meeting of the board of directors of an organization.

 Board of directors—governing body of an organization.

 Chairperson—person in charge of a group, team, or committee.

 Committee—a group of people that exist to produce an end-product such as a report or a decision. “Standing” committees exist to make ongoing decisions in a specific discipline, such as a finance committee.

Corporate organization/corporation—a legal business entity that has filed papers of “incorporation” with a state government. Incorporation is a legal process that provides a company with certain rights and responsibilities. In reference to this case study, “corporate” refers to large organizations operating for profit.

 Donors—people and organizations that provide financial support to a nonprofit organization.

 Executive director—the person in charge of carrying out the day-to-day operations of a nonprofit organization.

 Feasibility study—a research study that investigates a potential new product or service by comparing consumer needs with organizational ability.

 Feedback—verbal and nonverbal responses to a communication message.

 Financial statement—a document that summarizes the financial status of an organization; it includes income and expense categories.

 Fundraising event/fundraiser—an event designed to raise money for a nonprofit organization. Events might include walk-a-thons, rummage sales, golf tournaments, and auctions.

 Nonprofit organization—a legal designation for an organization that exists for charitable or educational purposes; “nonprofit” designation exempts an organization from certain forms of taxation.

 Organizational culture—beliefs, expectations, and norms operating within an organization.

 Organizational mission statement—a mission statement captures the purpose of a business and is a frame of reference for selecting goals, developing procedures, and making decisions. The mission focuses on the organization’s purpose and reason for being. A mission statement is not a specific, individual goal, but an overall guiding direction.

 Organizational vision—an organizational vision is a clear picture of what the leaders of an organization see their group being, or becoming.

 Press release—an announcement sent to media outlets (newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations) to announce newsworthy items about an organization.

 Support group—a group of people with a situation in common (similar illness, similar circumstances) who meet for the purpose of providing support and/or information to other group members.

 Task force—a small group formed for the purpose of carrying out one specific goal or task. A task force is typically part of a larger group, committee, or organization. This is also known as an “ad hoc” committee.

Key Case Concepts

Leadership

Situationa Leadership Resources Overiew 1

Situational Leadership Resources Overview 2

Relevant Grou Process Concepts

 Dialogue—an open, frank, exchange of ideas for the goal of mutual understanding, common agreement, trust, and harmony.

 Empowerment—an empowered team is one that has the capability, responsibility, and authority to carry out the mission.

 Equilibrium—the tendency of a system to return to the status quo as a reaction to outside pressures to change.

 Group maintenance behaviors—maintenance functions are behaviors that help relieve group tension or pressure such as encouraging, stress relieving, and motivating.

 Group task behaviors/roles—task functions are behaviors that contribute to the team’s ideas and progress giving opinions, gathering information, giving information, and reviewing information.

 Laissez faire attitude/style—a “hands-off” approach to leadership.

 Nonfunctional behaviors—nonfunctional behaviors are ones that inhibit the team’s success such as gate keeping (distorting or holding back information), grandstanding (making oneself look good at the expense of the team), diverting, and belittling the ideas of others.

 Self-directed teams—teams in which both leadership and decision making are shared throughout the team.

 Team cohesion—the ability of a team to work together as an aligned, harmonized, synergistic group.

 Team culture—all social and behavioral patterns, values, customers, ways of working and thinking that are characteristic of a group of people. A constellation of shared meanings, values, rituals, and modes of interacting with others that determines how people view and make sense of the world.

 Team mission—a mission statement captures the purpose of the team and is a frame of reference for selecting goals, developing procedures, and making decisions.

 Team roles—social identity with its own rules for behavior and interaction within the context of the team.

 Team vision—a consciously created image of what the leaders and/or team envisions in the future for the team; a motivational vision gives direction, provides passion, is greater than one person, and comes from the heart.

 Teams—cohesive groups working together toward a common goal, in which more attention is usually given to group maintenance behaviors that use the differing skills of team members in order to accomplish their goal.

Obstacles/Challenges

         Sue may have some unrealistic expectations about the non-profit sector.    
         Her search for meaning and purpose, and altruistic motivates, are admirable but attaining these goals
         will require motivating volunteers, and in motivating senior citizens.

        Potential leadership challenge by one volunteer (Angela)

       Having to answer to a Board of Directors which has veto power, but may not have vested interest
       in the day to day operations of the organization.

        Woring in senior citizens and volunteer workers.   Many senior citizens may have been tactful and
        diplomatic in their corporate lives, but once retired they tend to be direct and non-record in their
        communication particularly when they believe their needs or interests are potentially at risk.

        Challenge of working with volunteers, who may be separate from their primary families, may have
        lost spouses, and be alone for the first time in their lives.

        Challenge or working and motivating volunteers with no line-authority.   Challenging to persuade and
        motivate volunteer employees.....particularly getting them to assume leadership positions.

        Challenge to insure that all volunteers are recognition ("make your audience heroes") at on of the
         quarterly volunteer meetings.

        General tendency to resist change i.e. feasibility study for acquiring new office space, rewriting
        the mission statement

  Strategy

Suzanne needs to build some consensus prior to meetings e.g. management by walking around.  Not easy to do with a group staffed by volunteers.

Must make a persuasive case for change.  Anticipate potential obstacles. Plan potential strategies."

"Suck it up."  Running a community our-reach program with only a few paid staff members is very hard
work.  Working with a advisory board of directors who advise and give consent, but are generally uninvolved on a week-in-week out basis.  Really need an ED whose primary role is fund-raising and motivating the troops and a assistant ED whose primary role is administration and office management. Suggesting that one's role was "motivating the troops," and team-building with the committee chairs would like be a hard sell to the board of directors.

 Discussion Questions

1.   What are some advantages to group decision making?

2.   What characteristics do successful teams have?

3.   Name examples of task functions seen in this case study.

 4.  Name examples of maintenance functions seen in this case study.

 5.  Name examples of nonfunctional behaviors seen in this case study.

 6.   How can you be a committed group member?

 7.   What should a group or team member do to be an effective member?

 8.   How can you minimize the effects of negative behaviors?

 9.   What does open-mindedness in a group mean?

 10.     What are your responsibilities as an effective group member?

 11.     What are the responsibilities of a team leader?

 12.     Think of a decision you’ve been involved with, either in a class or at a job, that would have been more effective if it had been made by the group. How could that decision have been improved by group decision making?

 13.     Imagine you are a member of a team. For that team, identify your common approach. How aligned are you? What would you do to align your team?

 14.     What ways of thinking, processes, practices, and procedures seem to contribute to things going right in this case study organization?

 15.     What ways of thinking, processes, practices, and procedures seem to contribute to things going wrong in this case study organization?

Resources and Referneces 

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