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THESlS

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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

A little bureaucracy goes a long way:
Problems of communication
and
role ambiguities in feminist collectives

presented by

Julie A. Morton

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

MA degree in Communication

ajor professor

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A little bureaucracy goes a long way: Problems of communication and role
ambiguities in feminist collectives

By

Julie A. Morton

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

Department of Communication

1995

ABSTRACT
A LITTLE BUREAUCRACY GOES A LONG WAY: PROBLEMS OF
COMMUNICATION AND ROLE AMBIGUITIES IN FEMINIST
COLLECTIVES
By

Julie A. Morton

An organizational assessment was conducted to determine how role and
communication ambiguities fostered in a feminist collective organizational
structure affect the quality of daily operations and service provision to clients at
the Counsel Against Domestic Assault (CADA). The assessment focused upon:
how the collective structure affects the communication among board, staff,
volunteers and residents; how the collective structure affects the structural and
service outcomes; what can be done to improve the structural and service
outcomes; and, the organizational member’s suggestions and recommendations for
improving CADA.

The data collection consisted of twenty-four semi-structured interviews
with the staff, board, and volunteers, a focus group for residents, and a creative
problem solving session held for staff members. The data collected were coded
and quantitatively analyzed. Findings indicate that members felt CADA fell short
of their ideal. Of specific concern were role and communication ambiguity, as well

as lack of training and on-going education.

DEDICATION

Many years ago my Father gave me the following mantra: He is proud of
me; I am doing the right thing; He loves me. These three sentences have helped to
give me the courage to stand straighter, walk farther and fly higher than I ever
thought possible. That is what my family continually does. We give and receive
love, be it tough or gentle. We support one another, laugh both at life and with
one another, and are happily ensconced in one anothers lives. I would have it no
other way. It is to my family that I dedicate this thesis. I would not have arrived
at this juncture in time without you and I thank you for all of your many thoughts
and actions, be they large or small.

I also wish to especially acknowledge the family member with whom I
have chosen to spend my life. Without you, Ron, my days would be darker and
my nights would be endless. Who would have ever thought that a young,
seventeen year old girl would have been so astute as to choose a life partner who
continually challenges her, supports her, makes her laugh, smile, physically move
and emotionally grow. You are a wonderful man who brightens my world by your
very existence.

Finally, to you Jakey-Bakester. Your journey into this world was a long
and arduous one. You have played havoc with my scholastic career, yet I have
perhaps learned more from you in your short life than I have from any other

experience. Welcome to my world. I am glad that you are a part of it.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my entire thesis committee, composed of Drs.
William Donohue, Ron Tamborini, and Larry Stimpert for their help on this
project. Your endless patience and encouragement were much appreciated.

I am indebted not only to the individuals who took the time to participate
in this research study, but also to the research team of Marcy Meyer and Valerie
Roberts who helped me to conduct the organizational assessment under the
direction of Dr. Pennie Foster-Fishman.

I would like to state my appreciation to Frank Boster for his
encouragement in my early academic career at Michigan State. His support,
when I was ill in my second year, was invaluable. I would also like to
express my deep gratitude to Ron Tamborini. He has extended to me not
only the hand of his friendship, but his car when I wanted to talk, his
shoulder when I needed to cry, his dry humor when laughter healed, and his
willing foot when I needed a good swift kick to propel me forward. I am

truly indebted...

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................. vii
CHAPTER 1: Introduction .................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 2: Theoretical Framework .............................................. 4
Traditional and Feminist organization ........................................ 4
Family Systems Theory ............................................................ 9
Role ambiguity ............................................................................ 13
Communication ambiguity ......................................................... 17
Viability of collectives ............................................................... 22
CHAPTER 3: Research methodology ............................................... 27
Research site .............................................................................. 27
Process ....................................................................................... 32
Survey ........................................................................................ 34
Participants ........................................................................... 34
Interview protocol ................................................................ 37
Focus group .......................................................................... 38
Feedback ............................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 4: Data Analysis .............................................................. 42
Process ....................................................................................... 42
Creation of Interview coding scheme ......................................... 42
Creation of suggestions and recommendations coding scheme 54
Quantitative analysis .................................................................. 60
CHAPTER 5: Results ......................................................................... 65
Aggregate questionnaire responses ............................................ 66
Research Question 1 .................................................................. 68
Research Question 2 .................................................................. 69
Research Question 3 .................................................................. 72
Research Question 4 .................................................................. 73
Eight Research Themes ............................................................. 76
CHAPTER 6: Discussion .................................................................... 80
Research questions .................................................................... 80
Consideration of findings in light of existing research ............... 86
Limitations ................................................................................... 91

vi

Implications of study for professional practice and future

research ........................................................................... 93
APPENDIX A: CADA organizational assessment proposal .................. 96
APPENDIX B: Potential participants of organizational assessment ...... 101
APPENDIX C: Organizational assessment questionnaire ...................... 103
APPENDIX D: Organizational assessment focus group protocol .......... 110
APPENDIX E: Organizational assessment interview code book ............ 1 1 1

APPENDIX F: Organizational assessment suggestions and
recommendations codebook ........................................... 121

APPENDIX G: Organizational assessment questionnaire
suggestions and recommendations ................................. 129

LIST OF REFERENCES ...................................................................... 171

Table 1:

Table 2:

Table 3:

Table 4:

Table 5:

Table 6:

Table 7:

Table 8:

Table 9:

Table 10:

Table 11:

Table 12:

Table 13:

Table 14:

Table 15:

LIST OF TABLES

Independent variables, and dependent process and
outcome categories ............................................................. 147

Distribution of organizational members by tenure and

job role ................................................................................ 148
Frequencies and percentages of questionnaire

responses ............................................................................ 149
Most frequent responses to Research Question 1 ............. 150
Frequencies of categories for Research Question 1 ............ 152
Most frequent responses to Research Question 2 ............. 153
Frequencies of categories for Research Question 2 ............ 154

Cross Tabulations of job role with process and outcome
variables .............................................................................. 1 55

Cross Tabulations of tenure with process and outcome

variables .............................................................................. 157
Most frequent responses to Research Question 3 .............. 159
Frequencies of categories for Research Question 3 ........... 161

Frequencies and percentages of questionnaire
suggestion variables for Research Question 4 ................... 162

Cross Tabulation of job role with questionnaire
suggestion variables ........................................................... 163

Cross Tabulation of tenure with questionnaire
suggestion variables ........................................................... 165

Most frequent responses cited for the eight research
themes comprising the CADA Questionnaire .................. 167

vii

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of many different
organizational structures. Zand’s (1974) work on change strategy, highlighting
dichotomous problem classification and solution modes, provides a conceptual
framework in which may be grounded the perceived organizational need to
experiment with different types of organizational structures. The typical problem
an organization will face should effect the solution mode which is utilized.

Although some problems combine elements of both categories, most
problems can be classified as either “well structured” (typically characterized by
physical or routine mental work), or “ill-structured” (typically characterized by
complex, non-routinized mental work). Just as a dichotomous relationship can
exist for problem classification, it can also exist with regard to organizational
solution modes. An organization (or workgroup within the organization) can be
classified as either authority/production-centered or knowledge/ problem-centered.
Again, it should be noted that some organizations will experience a marriage of the
two modes (land, 1974).

Whereas the authority/production mode is concerned with mobilizing
people and equipment to maximize output of a finished product, the
knowledge/problem mode is concerned with processing or inventing knowledge to
solve problems (land, 1974). Typically, the authority/production mode may be

represented by the traditional, bureaucratic organization. For well-structured

 

 

 

 

problems, it appears that groups in the authority/production mode produce more
output, more rapidly, than do groups in the knowledge/problem mode (land,
1974). Ironically, it is precisely the hierarchy, the division of labor, and the rules
that make the authority/production mode effective for well-structured problems,
which seem to interfere with the group’s ability to devise quality solutions to ill-
structured problems.

For ill-structured problems, however, the reverse is true. Groups in the
knowledge/ problem mode devised solutions of better quality, more rapidly, than
did groups in the authority/production mode (land, 1974). It is for this reason
that many organizations, which commonly encounter ill-structured problems, have
adopted alternative organizational structures.

Organizational objectives, a factor which land (1974) did not consider,
should also be added to the conceptual framework explicating why organizations
explore alternative structures. For example, whereas maximization of economies of
scale may provide one of the underlying objectives for traditional, bureaucratic
organizations, the underlying objectives of alternative organizational structures
may be the maximization of economies of information sharing and/or member
empowerment. Consequently, organizations may institute alternative
organizational structures not only because these structures may be more effective
in solving the types of problems which these organizations are commonly
encountering, but also because these alternative structures are more closely aligned

with the underlying organizational objectives.

There are many alternative organizational designs that have been developed
to address the deficiencies of the traditional organizational model. These structural
alternatives include, but are not limited to, cross-functional teams, matrix
organizations, participative management, and the focus of this paper, feminist or
organicorganizations.

Although these alternative organizational structures effectively deal with
deficiencies in the traditional model, it is nonetheless important to recognize that
organic organizations do not provide a panacea to all organizational ills. Due to the
“structurelessness” of many alternative organizational designs, administrative
breakdown may result from ambiguities related to both communication and job
roles.

This project focuses on the importance of structure as feminist
organizations face organizational problems which are exacerbated by the
“structurelessness” associated with the collective organizational design. It uses
field data from an organizational assessment of Lansing’s Council Against
Domestic Assault (CADA). CADA is a not-for-profit grassroots organization
that enables women to obtain access to resources and to develop skills and self-
esteem that will hopefully empower them to have the ability to choose to leave an

abusive relationship.

CHAPTER 2
Theoretical Framework

The theoretical portion of this paper is divided into four sections. The
first section will discuss the difference structures and philosophies of traditional
versus feminist organizations. The next section focuses upon Family Systems
Theory as it relates to feminist organizations. Specifically, it examines the
symptoms and implications of dysfunction in open organizational systems, and
why it is especially vital to model a healthy, functional, organization at CADA.
The next section attends respectively to role and communication ambiguity as
they are the primary variables derived from Family Systems Theory which affect
feminist collective organizations. Finally, the last section discusses the continuing
viability of collectives as an alternative organizational structure.
Traditional and feminist organizations

As the prototypic, traditional, organizational structure arising from the
Industrial Revolution, the Machine Bureaucracy maintains a dominant position in
American business. The Machine Bureaucracy is a mechanistic structure with
standardized responsibilities, qualifications, communication channels, work rules,
and a clearly defined hierarchy of authority (Gordon, 1992, pp. 529). Post offices,
security agencies, steel companies, custodial prisons, airlines, and car
manufacturing companies, to name but a few, are all examples of Machine

Bureaucracies which fall under the rubric of traditional organizational structures.

The basic structure of Machine Bureaucracy is as follows: vertical and
horizontal job specialization; routine operating tasks; formalized procedures in the
operating core; a proliferation of rules, regulations, and formalized communication
throughout the organization; large-sized units at the operating level; reliance on
functional basis for grouping tasks; vertical centralization and limited horizontal
decentralization for decision-making; and an elaborate administrative structure
with a sharp distinction between line and staff. Further, Machine Bureaucracies
are relatively inflexible, old, large, regulated, non-automated technical systems,
that exist in simple, stable environments (Mintzberg, 1979, pp. 50).

This structural configuration produces several potentially dysfunctional
repercussions that are somewhat unique to Machine Bureaucracies: First, the
organizational structure demands a high level of conformity (Gordon, 1991, pp.
529) while providing little room for personal growth, creativity, self-actualization,
or initiative. Consequently, Machine Bureaucracies are experiencing resistance
from people who simply do not want to be there. This resistance is manifest
through absenteeism, high turnover rates, sloppy workmanship, strikes and poor
customer service.

Second, Machine Bureaucracies are thought to be somewhat unreceptive to
innovation, (an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual,
or other unit of adoptiOn) (Rogers, 1983, pp. 11), and change (Gordon, 1992, pp.
529). The adoption of an innovation by an organization results from rethinking old

ways of doing things, and from experimentation and deviation. However,

nonconformity and disregard for established practices are often denounced by
bureaucracies, thus, acting as a barrier to innovation. Since adaptability and/or
flexibility were found to be the most frequent indicator of effective organizational
performance in a number of studies by Steers (1975), the conclusions that
innovation and change represent progress and that the absence of innovation and
change represents rigidity and/or stagnation can be drawn.

An organic organizational structure is typically associated with relative
flexibility, innovation and change (Gordon, 1991, pp. 530). It lies at one end of a
structural continuum with the mechanistic model lying at the other end. As an
organizational alternative to the traditional, capitalist, patriarchal, hierarchical
structure, the organic organizational structure falls under the umbrella of Feminist
organizational structures. The Feminist umbrella encompasses all organizational
alternatives to the traditional model.

As opposed to the mechanistic structure, the organic structure may be
applied to systems that tend to maintain a given, relatively high level of
organization despite ever-present oppositional tendencies (Duncan, 1987), and is
characterized by: decentralized decision-making with less emphasis on control and
authority levels (enabling lower-level participants to take the initiative and to
propose changes); lateral communication (achieving cross-fertilization of ideas
from different perspectives); involvement of staff members in outside activities
(increasing their awareness of new ideas for possible use in the organization); the

expertise [or quasi-expertise] of j ob incumbents (leading to norms of high

performance); and finally, reduced emphasis on certainty (leading to greater risk-
taking) (Daft, 1982, pp. 135).

Although organic organizational structures are not ideal for all businesses,
in industries or segments of large corporations that require high rates of
innovation, they are now the prescribed form of organizational structure (Leitko &
Szczerbacki, 1984). In service industries where customer relations require high
levels of skill and trust (i.e.: information and financial services industries), organic
organizational structures provide effective mechanisms for organizational
communication (Leitko & Szczerbacki, 1984). This organizational form is also
frequently found in the human services industry, such as hospitals and
universities, and in community movements and/or support organizations.

A driving force for the entrenchment of alternative organizational
structures was the increase in women in the workplace. Specifically, as women
entered the work-force and business schools in increasing numbers, many
entertained the hope that the feminization of the workplace would change
organizations for the better -- making them more humane and more socially
conscious (Calas & Smircich, 1989). In order to achieve the dual goals of
democratizing and humanizing their organizations in accordance with feminist
ideology, some organizations adopted a collective organic structure (Riger, 1984).

A collective is based upon democracies with minimal hierarchy and broad
participation (Thurston, 1987). It takes into account the individual workers’

needs, and potential, for growth by attempting to distribute resources and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

responsibilities among members. The collective philosophy recognizes that each
organizational member has his or her particular area of expertise, and that each
member can therefore make a contribution in terms of decision making and
supervision.

Although some collectives share or rotate jobs to develop skills among all
workers and others divide labor but share power in decision making (Riger, 1984),
most collectives generally attempt to: enable relevant stakeholders to have access
to information, (channels of communication are open and connected so that
members are free to communicate without being restricted to formal channels in a
hierarchy); establish a communication network, rather than a traditional hierarchy,
(a system of communication whereby members can approach and enlist others in
the organization to help solve problems without being restricted to formal
subordinates); and to share responsibility in making and carrying out decisions,
(adopt norms encouraging rapid and complete exchange of relevant information, as
well as careful questioning and analysis of goals, assumptions, methods,
alternatives, and criteria for evaluation by organizational members) (land, 1974).

While it is true that collectives embody politically correct manifestations
of feminist ideology through their enactment of highly decentralized, participative
and communicative systems, collective organizational structures nonetheless have
unique problems and dysfunctions associated with them. Family Systems Theory,
which is discussed in the next section, helps to identify what some of these

problems are, and why they occur.

Family Systems Theory

The Open Family System Theory, which is the successor of Osborne’s
(1953) classic model of the democratic family, is a derivative of General System
Theory. It is generally understood to include open, congruent communication,
clear and evolving rule structures, egalitarian and flexible role relations and
functioning that balances change with stability and, individual with collective
interests (Constantine, 1983).

Feminist movement organizations attempt to embody the ideals of Open
Family Systems as these systems are frequently modeled as inherently fimctional
or healthy. Open systems are distinguishable from closed systems which support
less permeable boundaries, less information exchange, and more resistance to
change. References to open systems values are widespread in domains other than
the family field. In fact, organizational communication has predominantly been
studied fi'om the viewpoint of system theory (Monge, 1982, pp. 245).

The problem with open systems are that when they are too open, system
dysfunction occurs. The primary aspects of system dysfunction are similar for
both families and organizations. In both instances, system dysfunction can usually
be traced back to problems with internal operations (communication ambiguity) or
from task performance (role ambiguity).

‘ Ariel’s (1987) explanation and general definition of system dysfunction in
the organizational realm states that dysfunction occurs in a system if there is

something in its differentiation or adaptability that prevents proper functioning.

10

Differentiation involves specialization (division of labor) of subsystems,
hierarchy (control, regulation, and coordination of one subsystem by another), and
communication (transmission of information among the various subsystems). It
can become dysfunctional when under or over specialization occurs, and/or when
hierarchies are too loose or tight. Adaptability, which refers to the capabilities of a
system to accommodate its division of labor, its hierarchical organization, or its
modes of information-transmission to internal and external changes, can become
dysfunctional when faulty adaptation occurs. In the family realm, Beavers and
Voeller (1983, pp. 90) define severely disturbed families as having poor
boundaries, confused communication, lack of shared attentional focus, stereotyped
family process, and denial of ambivalence.

Dysfunction in open systems, caused by factors related to differentiation
or adaptation, may reflect power mismanagement and inequalities among
organizational members. Although power inequalities should theoretically not
play a role in an open or collective organization, the creation of an egalitarian
structure is not enough to insure that power is in fact equally distributed (Gruber
& Trickett, 1987). As variability with regard to member knowledge, skill, ability,
and social desirability will naturally occur, so too will concomitant inequalities
naturally arise with regard to influence and power among organizational members.
Naturally occurring organizational member inequalities cannot be mitigated simply

by instigating an open or collective organizational structure. This is especially

11

relevant when role ambiguity exists and organizational members are striving to
make order in their environment.

Although French and Raven (1959) originally posited that there are six
forms of social power which can act as a potential influence on other people,
collective structures generally fall prey to inequities of: information power
(potential influence through clear logic, argument, or information); expert power
(potential influence based on specific or unique knowledge, experience, or
judgment); referent power (potential influence based on a sense of identification
with the influencing agent, or a desire for such an identification); and reward
power (potential influence through the ability to utilize social rewards). The
remaining two basis of power, coercive power (potential influence through the
right to mete out punishment or to withhold rewards), and legitimate power
(potential influence by virtue of a superordinate position or office), should play a
diminished role due to the unique organizational structure of collectives.

Legitimate power does, however, make an entrance into collective
structures through a backdoor which opens up the issue of legitimacy as a by-
product of other power forms. For instance, Ahems (1980) noted that in a fimded
shelter for battered women, paid staff did more work and so became more
knowledgeable about the organization’s actual operations and needs than did
volunteers. Consequently, differences between paid and non-paid workers (or

between those heavily involved and those less active in the organization) were

12

exacerbated by the fact that paid staff ended up with both expert and legitimate
power to make more of the day-to-day decisions.

The various kinds of inequalities described above set up a system whereby
de facto leadership, power and influence structures may be created. Consequently,
the so-called structureless organizations may prove to be destructive as unofficial
leaders, who can provide pragmatic solutions to the group’s problems, exercise
unchecked influence over organizational decisions and processes (Freeman, 1973).
However, this should not be surprising, as classic studies on leaderless groups
(Bass, 1965: Kelly & Thibaut, 1969) have shown that [collective structures] may
reproduce, to greater and lesser degrees, the status structure of larger
organizations. Nonetheless, the emergence of informal leadership is often resented
and undercut (Freeman, 1972) by members experiencing failed expectations of
organizational equality. This outcome exacerbates the existing system
dysfunction.

Constantine (1983) chronicles a list describing symptomal dysfunctions
reflective of both familial and organizational dysfunctional open systems. These
systems would have: nontraditional, [de facto], or no leadership; lax discipline;
endless negotiation; poor problem solving; dramatic role shifts and reversals;
dramatic rule shifts; many implicit but few explicit rules; capricious or arbitrary
enforcement of rules; endless discussions, negotiations, and unceasing searches for
new data and potential solutions; confusion and ambiguity generated from

indefinitely deferred resolution; strong emotional bonds; highly dependent

13

members; blurred internal boundaries; coalitions; and, decisions and activities
which are jointly shared (Constantine, 1983).

The Council Against Domestic Abuse (CADA), which is an organization
that is designed to intervene in dysfunctional families, may embody many the
aforementioned characteristics. Further, since women who endure battering over a
period of years may be inexperienced with the exercise of their own authority
(Baker, 1982), and are often stripped of the emotional resources (e.g., sense of
personal power and self worth) that enable them to manage their own lives
(Statement of Purpose, 1991), CADA has adopted as its mandate the goal of
becoming a vehicle for women to claim their power (Statement of Purpose, 1991).

If CADA is successful at administrating its structure as a feminist
collective, it will represent itself as an effective role model of what a functional
family (organization) should look like. Additionally, it will be an effective channel
through which women can learn to claim back their power. However, due to the
negative outcomes associated with communication and role ambiguities, which are
fostered by dysfunctions in open systems, CADA may fall short of this vital
objective.

Role ambiguity

In their pure or organizational form, roles are standardized patterns of
behavior required of all persons playing a part in a given fimctional relationship,
regardless of personal wishes or interpersonal obligations irrelevant to the

fimctional relationship (Katz & Kahn, 1978). Perceived role ambiguity, which

 

 

 

 

 

14

may occur at an intrapersonal or an organizational level, occurs when a person
feels that s/he lacks salient information needed to effectively enact her or his role
(Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn & Snoek, 1964). It may specifically concern the doubt or
uncertainty an individual, or a group of individuals, may experience with regard to
the specific forms of appropriate behaviors, responsibilities, rights, obligations
and accountabilities as they affect either one-self or other organizational members.
Role ambiguity may also include task indeterminacy, which is defined as
ambiguity about operational goals and priorities (Leitko & Szczerbacki, 1984).

Rodriguez’s study of a Hawaiian battered women’s shelter found that
conflicts over rights, privileges, and duties persisted (1988) which resulted from
role ambiguity. When members are unsure of what are the roles and functions of
their job, or of what are the job roles and functions of others in the organization,
role ambiguity may act as an inhibitor of organizational effectiveness by increasing
the variability and instability of human actions.

Minimizing both variability and instability to yield consistent and
dependable patterns is of primary concern in organizational life. This is especially
important in many organizations since role ambiguity, including task
indeterminacy as well as human ignorance and error, are significant parts of the
picture of behavior in organizations (March & Simon, 195 8, pp. 8). Increased
organizational variability and instability among member’s actions may lead to task

and role redundancy, or gaps and overlooked needs where work is not attended to,

15

unproductively, and individual perceptions of frustration and alienation. If left
unaddressed, these factors may undermine the integrity of the collective.

In an attempt to identify variables with a variance-reducing affect, Thelen
(1960) proposed a model distinguishing three types of control pressures which
may fulfill this organizational requirement: The first type of control pressure
consists of environmental or task requirements in relation to needs where the task
requirements, or the pressures from the external environment, induce coordination
of group effort; the second type of control pressure consists of norms, and is
induced by demands arising from shared expectations and values where people
share some goals in common and mutual expectations about how they should
behave to achieve these common objectives, and; the last type of control pressure
involves the enforcement of rules where the violation calls for some form of
penalty or negative sanction.

In all social systems, variability of individual behavior is brought under
control by one or more of the three aforementioned mechanisms (Katz & Kahn,
1978). However, whereas traditional organizational structures may employ all
three of Thelen’s control pressures, community movements and/or support
organizations (like CADA), are based much more on the first two processes than
on the third. In the absence of control pressures ensuring rule enforcement,
organizations are particularly vulnerable to role ambiguity, and its concomitant

increased variability and instability of human actions. This is especially true of

16

community movements and/or support organizations which function as collective
organizational structures.

When the division of labor and hierarchy of authority are insufficiently
enforced, or lose definition, the resulting diffusion of authority may affect role
ambiguity by hampering the maintenance of administrative coherence within the
collective. The administrative breakdown may be attributable to the inability of
organizational members to gain the compliance necessary to take action in an over-
decentralized decision making system where organizational members have the right
to challenge decisions, or to an unwillingness of organizational members to exercise
authority. According to Leitko and Szczerbacki (1984) the repercussions of an
administrative breakdown can be twofold:

First, employees are likely to perceive an administrative malfimction as
role ambiguity since the net result may be synonymous: job definitions may be
imprecise, operating procedures are vague or simply left in the drawer, lines of
authority are drawn only on organizational charts, and areas of responsibility are
accepted or rejected on the basis of each employee’s interest and disposition. In
either context, employees are likely to experience ‘burn out,’ (a perception of their
jobs as being overwhelming and stressful and/or their relations with other staff
members as being demanding, non-supporting and conflicting), not because the
task is too demanding but because they cannot manage both ambiguous tasks and

an ambiguous administrative environment.

ll

 

 

 

 

17

Second, in an administrative breakdown, the enforcement of rules shifts
from being an administrative concern to being an interpersonal concern. Because
administrators fail to define specific work rules and roles, a system of mutual
surveillance and enforcement is enacted in an attempt to mitigate the resulting role
ambiguity. In consequence, the unclear policies and procedures enables and
facilitates interorganizational employee interference with one another as each
member tries to do her job.

Communication ambiguity

Despite the fact that communication ambiguity will also exacerbate the
variability and instability of worker actions, due to the fact that organizational
behavior is influenced by organizational knowledge (Lyles & Schwenk, 1992), role
ambiguity is an operationally differentiated and unique variable from
communication ambiguity. Nonetheless, aspects of the two ambiguity variables
are so closely interwoven, it is often difficult to parse of the effects of one from
the effects of the other.

Communication ambiguity refers to perceptions by organizational
members of ineffective or inadequate communication patterns, channels and
interactions among organizational members. The outcome of which leaves
individuals, or groups of individuals, feeling uncertain or doubtful with regard to
the information being conveyed.

One school of thought regarding the nature by which groups make sense of

their environment and come to take action holds that: group members share a

18

system of socially construed explanations or meanings which define their joint
experience and facilitate a regulated action (Pheffer, 1981). However, implicit
assumptions (defined by Nilson, 1954 as a more or less unconscious taking for
granted of certain basic but undefined conceptions of one’s world), may increase
ambient communication ambiguity. This may occur through the impediment of
communication resulting from the foreclosure of discussion topics where
information exchange might be useful. The supposition by one organizational
member that an implicit assumption, or mental model, is shared with another
organizational member will impede relevant information from being distributed
among the key people who may require it.

Communication ambiguity may occur in either informal or formal
communication. Informal communication is represented in the complex social
pathways in a network of intimate groups where spontaneous and unrestrained
communication can occur with an absence of deliberately designed barriers, or
constraints (DeFleur, Kearney & Plax, pp. 207).

Although organizational members can receive information informally,
communication carmot take place frequently between all members of a group larger
than about twenty members (DeFleur, Kearney & Plax, pp. 193). The inability of
an organization to utilize informal communication channels as a reliable and
consistent method of ambient information is especially true in an organization like
CADA where the contact between organizational members who work different

shifts may be minimal or non-existent.

19

However, even if shift variability was not a factor, relying on informal
communication as a primary channel of ambient information would open the
organization up to problems associated with systematic distortion of messages.
Messages may be distorted due to the mere number of people the message must
pass through (serial distortion), or the inability of a sender or receiver to
reproduce the identical message because of cognitive, physical, or social
limitations (Stohl, 1995). All of the aforementioned may occur at CADA which
would limit the usefulness of informal communication channels as a source of
ambient organizational information.

Consequently, clearly specified and restricted channels of communication
must be defined and utilized; the provision for a formal communication network
that will both maintain cohesion in the group and make it possible for it to attain
its goals is considered a critical feature of a design for an effective organization
(DeFleur, Kearney & Plax, pp. 193). Thus, for the reasons explained above, this
paper will be concentrating primarily upon the effects and implications of formal
communicationambiguity.

Formal communication takes place only between certain designated
parties, and only for a restricted range of organizationally relevant topics. It is
necessitated by the reality that large groups require complex rules for
communication so that the activities of its participants can be coordinated among
themselves (DeFleur, Kearney & Plax, pp. 215). This type of communication

includes: formal job descriptions; program, subordinate and peer review and

20

evaluation; interorganizational memos; department meetings; telephone calls,
company newspapers, bulletin boards; feedback; information documentation
mechanisms, and ensuring that information is both available to and from key
sources. Formal communication ambiguity, however, refers to lost or missing
information, an inability to send or receive information in a timely manner, and
absent or unclear information regarding feedback, job descriptions, review and
evaluation.

Inadequacies of a formal communication structure may produce two
outcomes relating to accountability and decision making in collective
organizations:

First, failures in [formal communication] distribution policies may result in
communication ambiguity. They are caused by key organizational members’
inability to identify which groups of personnel need to know certain things, or to
establish where these groups are supposed to be able to obtain the information
they need (Farace, Monge & Russell, 1977). The subsequent lack of formal
communication structures which arise from this failure inhibit establishing
procedures for determining individual accountability. This threat of impending
chaos due to organizational ambiguity would seem particularly relevant to
organizational members who are already experiencing role ambiguity. If taken to
an extreme, the lack of formal communication structure can result in organizational

dysfunction. Consequently, increasing formal communication will help to reduce

21

communication and role ambiguities, as well as the variability and instability of
worker actions.

Second, in her analysis of egalitarian feminist movement organizations,
Freeman (1972) noted the “tyranny of structurelessness” which affects the
decision making environment effecting collectives. Freeman emphasizes that by
the adoption of the position that formal group structures (e. g., leadership roles)
perpetuate inequalities among members, self-directed groups can become
“tyrannized” by the dynamics created by the decision to avoid formal leadership.
In consequence, collectives may expend a tremendous amount of group time and
energy on their formal communication processes as participation in decision
making becomes the goal of the group, rather than simply a means to achieving a
goal (Kanter & Zurcher, 1973). This is especially true of all-female groups, which
tend to focus less on task orientation than they do on human factors
(Bettenhausen, 1991).

The inability, deriving from communication ambiguity, of collectives to
make discernible progress towards solving their tasks or problems may induce
perceptions of burnout. Burnout is an individual, psychological, and negative
phenomenon (Maslach, 1982b) which may be reflected in demoralization, negative
attitudes toward the job and/or organizational members, disinterest and/or inability
to cope in the work environment, among organizational members. Variability and

instability of worker actions are thus fostered by communication ambiguity.

22

Viability ofCollectives

Part of the feminist agenda was to create non-hierarchical, egalitarian
organizations that would demonstrate the possibilities of non-patriarchal ways of
working (Martin, 1990). However, the scarcity of any feminist organizations to
have preserved their original radical-democratic form (Martin, 1990) lends support
to Michels’s (1962) famous “Iron Law of Oligarchy” which maintains that
organizations move in a unidirectional path towards bureaucratization.
Specifically, it states that as a [feminist] movement organization attains a base in
society, it inevitably becomes more bureaucratic and [must] develop more
conservative goals as a means of maintaining itself (Riger, 1984).

Three explanations of increasing organizational bureaucratization (value-
action incongruities; organizational entrenchment and maintenance functions; and,
increased size and control functions) are posited for this occurrence. They are
discussed below:

According to Morgen (1994) one reason for the value-action incongruity
phenomenon is that despite a participant’s belief to the contrary, bureaucratic
assumptions and practices often co-exist with the counter-bureaucratic
assumptions and ideals in the actual practice of alternative organizations. For
instance, without the guidance of written rules and procedures, or when significant
differences emerge within the staff, it is not unusual for some individuals and
groups to fall back on ways of thinking [and acting] that draw more heavily from

dominant than feminist ideological assumptions (Morgen, 1994).

23

This hierarchical “fall-back” position may occur either because hierarchy
is the defining characteristic of humans (Burke, 1969), or because from our earliest
experiences, humans are socialized into complex hierarchical relationships (Stohl,
1995). Thus, one would assume that what one knows best is what one employs
most often, and especially in uncertain or ambiguous situations.

The discrepancy between the intended collectivist (collaborative, feminist),
and observed (capitalist, hierarchical, patriarchal) organizational practices caused
Weisstein and Booth (1975, pp. 3) to assert that feminist organizational structures
die from internal bleeding long before they succumb to external pressures. In her
study of the interplay of daily discourse and feminist ideology in a collective,
Eastland (1991) highlighted the inconsistencies of goal and practice by
demonstrating how the business structure of the organization was essentially
incongruent with the separatist ideology of the women who worked in the
cooperative.

A second reason for the eradication of the radical-democratic form of the
collective structure lies in the fact the pure collective structure, which is anti-
organizational, is relationally closer to a group than it is to an organization. A
collective, like a group, has less structure and is more informal and ephemeral
(Martin & O’Connor, 1989) than is an organization. It is most effective when
there is a single, short term task and when members are consistent in their beliefs,

as the homogeneous and interchangeable members of a group often come together

24

solely for the purpose of making a decision, (Oransanu & Salas, 1993) or for a
single task. Collectives, are particularly effective at accomplishing a specific goal.

However, a collective is often ineffective at maintaining the task outcome
due to the mismatch between the ideology and skills required for the construction
of the collective (i.e.: the establishment of protective shelter for women subject to
domestic assault), and the outcomes of which it must maintain (i.e.: quality of
service). Organizations, however, which have a formal, often legal-corporate,
status and structure and are relatively permanent (Martin & O’Connor, 1989),
have established structures facilitating a maintenance function of task outcomes,
and permitting the continued existence of the corporeal body over time.

Additionally, while internal dynamics demand a greater need for
organizational maintenance functions, outside tensions and the inevitable
pressures of an interconnected world (Stohl, 1995) may also force organizations
committed to democratic and feminist principles to create a multileveled
bureaucratic structure to procure grants and maintain funding support from
outside agencies (Ferree, 1987). Thus, one witnesses feminist collective
organizational structures succumbing to the same sorts of pressures that have
undermined other utopian experiments with alternative work forms (N ewrnan,
1980)

Finally, size plays a role in the transformation of the radical-democratic
form of the collective structure. As the size of the collective membership

increases, there is a concomitant increase in interpersonal conflict, difficulty in

25

coordinating members’ activities, decreased member satisfaction with the group
(Moreland & Levine, 1992), as well as motivational abatement. This last factor
may occur because larger groups offer more opportunities for free riding (Albanese
& Van Fleet, 1985). Further, as group size increases small cliques emerge and a
few dominant talkers “hog” the discussion (DeFleur, Kearney & Plax, pp. 161).
As informal leaders are permitted to exercise unchecked influence over
organizational decisions and processes (Freeman, 1973) it becomes an
organizational imperative to establish some control and accountability mechanisms
that are counter-indicative of pure collective and feminist philosophies. The
negative factors associated with increased organizational size are especially
important when one considers at what point the total number of a group induces
organizational dysfunction. While the ideal group size to ensure at least some
diversity of views, a relatively full flow of reasonably accurate communication,
and an ability to make decisions, involves approximately five to seven
organizational members (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, pp. 161), CADA now consists
of nineteen staff members and over seventy volunteers during its peek season.
Due to the reasons stated above, as well as others, most feminist
organizations reach a point where continued survival mandates a modification of
their original radical-democratic form entailing the marriage of impure mixtures of
bureaucracies and democracies. While early feminist equated power with
exploitation and domination, thus modeling their organizations on non-hierarchical,

egalitarian structures, a case can be made arguing that bureaucracy and democracy

26

are compatible rather than incompatible processes (Cafferata, 1982). For instance,
as early as 1979, Freeman illustrated that power can be seen as an aspect of
organizational culture which can be used positively as well as negatively
(Freeman, 1979). Knoke, (1989) supported this notion by highlighted the fact that
goal accomplishment can be facilitated in bureaucratic structures without
exploiting members, and Straggenbor (1988) delineated how bureaucracies can help
assure fairness and effectiveness.

CADA’s increased size, and evolving organizational structure calls into
question the viability of the collective to operate as a smooth functioning
organizational entity. An organizational needs assessment exploring organizational
member’s perceptions about the pros and cons of the collective structure is
mandated. The focus of the organizational assessment was to determine: how the
collective structure affects the communication among board, staff, volunteers and
residents at CADA; how the collective structure affects the structural and service
outcomes at CADA; what can be done to improve the structural and service
outcomes; and, what are the suggestions and recommendations organizational

members have for improving CADA?

CHAPTER 3
Research Method

The raw data utilized in this thesis was generated by a research team
consisting of three doctoral students participating in a seminar, taught by Dr.
Foster-Fishman at Michigan State University, on organizational change. The data
generation was the result of an organizational assessment of the Council Against
Domestic Assault which was conducted in partial fulfillment of the organizational
changeseminar.

Research Site

Domestic violence against women is a serious social problem in the world
today. In Michigan alone, it is estimated that nearly twenty-five thousand women
were victims of domestic assault in 1993 (Michigan State Police, 1993). In
Michigan, domestic assault is recognized to be a social issue that needs to be
addressed at multiple levels, from the women who are beaten by their partners, to
the legal system and the community at large who may be apathetic, in denial, or
simply not aware of the enormity of the problem that plagues our society.

This research is primarily concerned with an organization that addresses
the immediate problem of domestic assault by providing services to the women
who are survivors of domestic assault. CADA is a thirty-bed shelter which
provides a safe haven for women and children. (It should be noted, however, that
male children over the age of fifteen are not permitted to stay at the shelter).

CADA also offers to survivors of domestic assault on-site

27

28

individual counseling, support groups, basic legal advocacy and help filing
restraining orders, as well as off-site outreach programs educating the public about
domestic assault. While extensions are common, the general invitation of shelter
offered to any client is approximately one month. Additionally, CADA’s open
door policy permits former clients to return as many times as necessary to the
shelter.

CADA is located at a confidential site in Lansing, Michigan. Although
women in need can contact CADA through the telephone book, the location of the
shelter is disclosed only after the organizational member, who has answered
CADA’s crisis line, has been verbally assured that her request for site
confidentiality will be adhered to by the potential client.

CADA’s operating budget for the fiscal year of 1994-1995 is $437,000
(1994-1995 Budget). Its funding is derived from Federal and Local grants, private
organizations and clubs, as well as contributions from members and churches,
individual donations and fundraising events (1994-1995 CADA Budget).

The Council Against Domestic Assault evolved as an outgrowth of the
Domestic Violence Task Force that was organized in July, 1977 through the
combined efforts of representatives of the Ingham County Women’s Commission
and Sisters for Human Equality. The Domestic Violence Task Force began as a
cooperative venture that produced “The Battered Women’s Project’, a research
report on the problem in Ingham County. In 197 8, the Task Force became the

Council Against Domestic Assault (CADA). A full time Program Director

29

responsible for implementing the program was hired. Additionally, a governing
Board of Directors, a crisis line, and an emergency housing network comprised of
community members who volunteered their homes for women who needed a safe
place to stay, were all instituted. In 1980 the individual volunteers could no
longer meet the increased demand for protective lodgings and CADA’s shelter was
opened.

In the past fifteen years, CADA has not only experienced steady growth
in staff size and service provision, it has also experimented with a variety of
organizational structures. In 1981 the configuration of the executive leadership
was altered at the suggestion of the Program Director so that it would be more in
line the philosophy, adopted by CADA, of empowerment and the feminist
model. A tri-directorship was created whereby the organizational power was
equally shared by the Administrative Director, the Program Director, and the
Volunteer Services Director. The tri-directorship oversaw 10 full-time staff
members in 1981.

In the 1987-1988 fiscal year, CADA sheltered 748 women and children
and handled 1,516 crisis calls (Historical changes of CADA’s structure, 1991).
That year, the board voted in favor of changing back to an executive structure (the
vote was split five to seven). The staff were not consulted. This act of recidivism
not only contravened CADA’s feminist empowering vision, it also created a
damaging rift between the Board and newly hired Executive Director and the

organizational members who opposed the action and were not consulted about the

30

change. However, concerns about communication and accountability problems, as
well as administrative role ambiguities, convinced the board that it was necessary
to maintain the more autocratic structure of an executive directorship.

The executive structure continued as CADA expanded. However, the staff
was dissatisfied and morale was depleted due to their resentment of the power
imbalance which was perceived to be counter-indicative of the organizational
philosophy.

In 1989 the Executive Director resigned after the board and the staff
ratified a change to the collective structure which the staff had unanimously
brought forth. At the time of this change, CADA consisted of 14 staff members
who delivered service to 835 women and children and answered 1,659 crisis calls
in the fiscal year of 1988-1989 (Historical changes of CADA’s structure, 1991).

Today, CADA has 19 staff members who continue to maintain the
collective structure. As CADA draws most of its volunteer pool from the
Michigan Universities and Community Colleges, volunteer participation
experiences a seasonal fluctuation that reflects the school calendar. Consequently,
August to September represents a low season as students are both out of school
for the summer and have often left the geographic location from which they can be
of service to CADA. In this time period volunteer participation may drop to six
to twelve women. However, during the rest of the year the volunteer pool hovers

at approximately seventy women.

31

In keeping with the philosophy that battering occurs as a result of an
imbalance in power in relationships, CADA operates as a collective which aims to
embody a philosophy of shared governance by encouraging input from and
cooperation among residents, the board of directors, full- and part-time staff, and
volunteers (Mission statement, 1991). The collective structure attempted to
eliminate wage gaps between all staff (especially between part time and full time,
and also between full time directors and coordinators), changed the decision
making and supervision structure to include all staff, and established two annually
rotating positions consisting of the staff facilitator and the board liaison, which
would be assumed in addition to an individual’s regular workload. Communication
and accountability problems, as well as administrative role ambiguities, remain as
on-goingconcerns.

CADA recognizes that sexism, racism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and
classism are subtle forms of violence that preclude a full range of life choices for all
women, and so it is committed to nurturing an “ism-free” environment in which all
organizational members can function (Statement of purpose, 1991). In this way,
CADA provides shelter and advocacy to women in need, while simultaneously
creating an atmosphere in which women can make positive changes in their lives
and the lives of their children.

In light of current external pressures (e. g., increased demand for services,
financial constraints and a significant increase in size since the inception of the

collective in 1989), board members and staff have expressed some concern about

32

the collective structure’s impact on CADA’s organizational operations and service
provision. Consequently, CADA is currently weighing the costs and benefits
associated with the collective structure. To this end, the board and the staff
agreed that an organizational assessment was required which would determine how
the role and communication ambiguities fostered by a collective organizational
structure affects the quality of daily operations and service provision to clients.
This thesis will explore organizational members’ perceptions of the pros and cons
of the current form of the collective structure.

21222929:

At a board meeting in August, 1994, Dr. Pennie Foster-Fishman met with
CADA’s board to discuss the possibility of conducting an organizational
assessment at CADA. On October 7, 1994, a research team consisting of three
doctoral students enrolled in the seminar, and Dr. F oster-Fishman, initiated a
meeting with Michelle Freridge, CADA’s board liaison. At that meeting the
liaison shared with the research team, and Dr. Foster-Fishman, a list of questions
and concerns that had been jointly generated by staff and board. The identified
issues were reframed in a series of research questions that were incorporated in a

draft proposal, which may be found in Appendix A.

 

insert Appendix A about here

 

33

The proposal was approved at a follow-up meeting with CADA’s board
liaison, on October 20, 1994. At that follow-up meeting, the research team
obtained written materials from the board liaison about CADA’s background,
mission, policies, in-take paper work, as well as a budget and a telephone contact
list for the organizational members who had agreed to participate in the project.
The liaison also agreed to provide the researchers with an updated supervision
network as soon as possible, however, as a current version could not be found the
research team never received a copy of this document.

The supervision network embodies a collective process whereby all staff
are supervised by another staff member who works similar hours and is able to see
what kind of job that person is doing. The supervisor is responsible for: a)
providing support to the employee they supervise; b) giving appropriate
feedback; c) completing employee orientation procedures; (1) coordinating the
annual evaluations; and, e) making sure the employee is completing her job to the
satisfaction of all other co-workers (Herstory, 1991)

The research team employed a four-stage process in the organizational
assessment at CADA: stage one consisted of initial meetings with Michelle
Freridge to establish the foundation for survey development and data collection;
stage two consisted of 24 interviews with staff, board, and volunteers; stage three
consisted of a focus group for 7 residents; and in stage four, the research team

incorporated staff feedback in a meeting in which researchers shared preliminary

34

results and facilitated a creative problem solving session for organizational

members. Final results were presented at CADA’s December board meeting.

Survey

Participants

CADA had asked the researchers to interview the entire current staff of
17 people and 9 board members. The researchers attempted to comply as they
felt that the selection of participants identified by the board liaison represented a
broad range of organizational roles.

The board liaison also suggested that, in addition to the current
organizational members who had agreed to be interviewed, the researchers should
attempt to contact a disgnmtled part-time employee who had recently left the
organization and had yet to be replaced. Unfortunately, although a concerted
effort was made to locate her, she had recently moved and had left no forwarding
address.

The researchers further suggested that by interviewing volunteers and
conducting focus groups composed of CADA’s current and past clients, they
would be able to gain additional insight into the intricacies of the organizational
operation at CADA. Although the board agreed that these suggestions were valid,
confidentiality prohibited the disclosure of, or unsolicited contact with, any past
clients. However, the board did agree that some currently active volunteers and

current residents could be added to the list of participants.

35

At the time of the organizational assessment, CADA had twelve active
volunteers, four of whom expressed interest in participating. In total, of the thirty
staff who all agreed to participate in the study, eight were full-time workers, nine
were part-time workers, nine were board members, and four were volunteers.
Although participation in the organizational assessment was voluntary, all
twenty-seven staff and board members, as well as four volunteers, signed up to
participate in the study. Nevertheless, of the thirty-one potential participants,
only twenty-four interviews were actually conducted (six board members, eight
full time staff, six part time staff, and four volunteers). A list of members who
both agreed to participate, and who actually participated, can be found in

Appendix B.

 

insert Appendix B about here

 

Non-participation can be attributed to illness (one woman), inability to
contact potential participants despite three attempts over a two week period
(three women), no shows (one women), and lack of personal time (one women).
Validity concerns with regard to participant selection was not considered to be a
problem as the organizational members who did participate constituted at least
two thirds of any given category and exhibited a wide variety of job roles and

tenure.

36

All participants were contacted by phone to arrange a one to two hour-
long interview at their earliest convenience. Three attempts were made to contact
each participant, after which further contact was no longer attempted with the
organizational member. During the initial contact, staff members were informed
that they were being paid for the time that they participated in the survey. They
were also asked to communicate with the staff facilitator, Carol Smith, to ensure
that someone would be scheduled to cover direct service for them while they were
in the interview.

The data were collected from November 2 to November 18, 1994. Each
category of organizational members (full time staff, part time staff, and board
members) was split into three and divided among the researchers. The division and
distribution of the three participant groupings among the researchers was agreed
upon so as to minimize the possibility that response variability could be
attributed to any one researcher interviewing a non-proportional group of
participants. The only non-proportional division occurred among the volunteers
category, which was divided equally among two researchers. The three researchers
respectively completed seven, eight, and nine interviews.

Due to the potential sensitivity of the data the interviews were not tape-
recorded. Nevertheless, the researchers maintained detailed written records of the
subject’s verbal comments arising throughout the interviews. Subjects were

guaranteed that nothing they said would be reported unless it was corroborated by

37

at least one other source, and even then only general themes and not direct quotes
would be reported.

Staff and volunteers were interviewed at the CADA shelter during their
works hours; Board members, however, were interviewed by telephone as they
were not involved in the daily operations at CADA and contact and scheduling of
appointments with them was more difficult. The telephone interviews lasted the
same length of time as did the face-to-face interviews. Substantive differences
were not expected to occur as a result of the interview format.

At the commencement of each interview, all organizational members
received a verbal assurance of confidentiality. The participants were thanked and
encouraged to contact the researchers if they had additional information or
thoughts which they would like to share. None of the respondents had any further
comments or information which they imparted to the researchers at a later date.
Interview Protocol

Members of the assessment team collaborated to generate a theoretically-
oriented survey comprised of items that would address major concerns raised by
the staff and board in initial meetings as well as reflect major themes in the
organizational change literature. Some of the central themes that married theory
with practical concerns included staff burnout, continuity, consistency,
accountability, shared responsibilities, and participation in decision-making. See

Appendix C for the Organizational Assessment Questionnaire protocol.

38

 

insert Appendix C about here

 

Focus gong

A focus group seemed to provide the safest forum for residents to express
their concerns. It eliminated the possibility of residents being singled out, or
stigmatized for participation by allowing them to share issues and concerns with a
collective voice rather than identifying particular individuals that provided
information. Residents were invited to share their perceptions of CADA in a
focus group held at the shelter at 7 pm. on Sunday, November 13. Flyers
announcing the date and the topic were posted throughout the CADA shelter two
weeks in advance of the focus group. Additionally, CADA staff members were
asked to encourage residents to attend the focus group.

Although it would have been ideal to hold the focus group at an geographic
location other than the CADA shelter, the lack of resident transportation, funding
for transportation, difficulty in arranging sufficient child care, and resident
scheduling constraints, prohibited this from occurring. At both the beginning and
the end of the focus group, participants received a verbal assurance of
confidentiality. Additionally, prior to the commencement of the first question the
researchers gave an explanation of the organizational assessment and the role
which the residents would play. The researchers strove to create an open

communication climate by ensuring that the door leading into the room where the

39

focus group was being conducted was closed, and that no staff members were
permitted to enter the room during the focus group session. One research team
member took notes on an easel while the other two researchers facilitated the
focus group discussion.

Half of the current adult residents (over age thirteen) at CADA
participated in the focus group (five women and two teenagers). The other women
and teenagers were out for the evening and consequently did not attend. Several
comments were made by the residents and staff members with whom the
researchers came into contact on the evening of the focus group that, despite the
flyers distributed on all the notice boards around CADA and the request that staff
encourage the residents to participate, they “had no clue that anything was
happening tonight.”

A second focus group for the absent residents did not occur due to
scheduling difficulties. However, a notice was placed at the CADA shelter
indicating that if any of the individuals who had missed the focus group would like
to talk to the researchers about either the organizational assessment or the focus
group, the researchers would be appreciative and would arrange a time at the
resident’s convenience. None of the residents replied to this invitation.

During the hour-long session, women were encouraged to talk freely about
what they liked and what they disliked about CADA. They were also asked to
give suggestions about how to improve the way things were conducted at CADA.

Other issues that were covered by the group included staff consistency, shared

4O

responsibilities, and participation in decision-making. A copy of the

Organizational Assessment Focus Group Protocol can be found in Appendix D.

 

insert Appendix D about here

 

At the end of the focus group meeting, participants were thanked for
sharing their ideas. The participants were also asked to contact the researchers if
they had additional information or thoughts which they would like to share.
Because the information collected from the residents was done in a focus group
format, administration of the entire questionnaire with each participant was not
feasible. Therefore, focus group respondents were collapsed into a single
respondent category.

Feedback

At a staff meeting on November 23, the researchers thanked all the staff
for their participation and reported the progress made to date on the
organizational assessment. The purpose of this reporting session was to enable
staff to become a part of the collaborative process by providing a medium for
them to express any additional questions, concerns, or comments which might
have arisen as a result of the organizational assessment. The researchers presented
and explained seven broad themes which had consistently emerged from the data

across participants: communication ambiguities; role ambiguities; unclear policies

41

and procedures; lack of training; inadequate direct services; work overload; and,
physical environmental issues.

In the course of a question and answer period following the presentation of
the seven themes, the researchers commented on the sheer volume of suggestions
and recommendations which had arisen in the course of the twenty-four
interviews. The researchers further stated that the quantity had been so
voluminous that all the suggestions and recommendations had been compiled in a
separate document.

Although the data had not yet been analyzed, the researchers were
nonetheless pressed to identify the predominant re-occurring themes in the
suggestions and recommendations document. The researchers reiterated once again
that the data had not yet been analyzed, and that any response to that particular
question would not constitute hard facts and would be representative of only
speculation. The staff indicated that they understood this and asked the
researchers if they would nevertheless respond to the question. The researchers
unanimously concurred that themes of role and communication ambiguities
appeared to have emerged as the predominant concerns. Two research team
members helped the staff to facilitate a brainstorming session about strategies that
might be employed to address these two concerns. Notes were taken by the third

research team member and the data generated was incorporated in the final report.

CHAPTER 4
Data Analysis
Processes

Given the number of content areas explored in the interviews, an enormous
volume of information was generated. In order to identify the most salient
concerns, data were coded and quantitatively analyzed.

The first step included compiling demographic information in order to
differentiate the concerns expressed by the various functional roles within the
organization. Respondents were categorized by both job role and tenure. Four
distinct job roles emerged including: full time staff; part time staff; board; and,
volunteers. Tenure with the organization ranged from one month to thirteen years.
Creation of the interview coding scheme

In order to develop the coding scheme, the completed interviews were
divided among the three researchers. Each researcher took her own completed
interview questionnaires and attempted to create a coding scheme for it. No
guidelines were established with regard to how these coding schemes should be
accomplished.

The three researchers all took a similar approach to their coding schemes
by identifying major themes arising across all of the interview responses for each
individual question. Examples of coding schemes for question one (What is your

position at CADA?) are as follows:

42

43

Researcher 1: staff; staff PM; board; volunteers working less than five
hours a week; volunteers working over five hours a week; part time staff; part
time weekend staff; and, other.

Researcher 2: staff; board; and, volunteers.

Researcher 3: part time staff; full time staff; board, volunteers and other.

The breadth of the coding categories for other questions can be witnessed
in the following six examples. These individual examples are composed of two
random selections from each of the three researcher’s coding schemes:

Question 3: What are some things you like about your job?

0 intrinsic value

0 people

0 alternative organizational structure

0 task diversity

0 other
Question 4: What would you change about your job?

0 increased communication interaction

0 increased resources

0 increased uniformity

0 increased safety

44

Question 11: Do you feel you get the supervision you need? If no, why not?
0 yes
0 no
0 if I’m proactive
0 I utilize alternative options

0 don’t know

not applicable

Question 16: In general, how well does the collective structure work at CADA?

unqualifiedwell

qualifiedwell

poorly

0 other
Question 21: When decisions cannot be resolved by consensus, how is the issue
resolved?

0 majority vote

0 compromise

0 pressure dissenters

0 coercion

0 other

45

Question 29: In your opinion, what could be done to increase the frequency and
quality of board/staff interaction?
0 don’t know
0 no problem
0 increase involvement of board members at shelter
The researchers met and discussed their coding schemes. Although some
questions (i.e. question 1) evidenced overlap among the three coding schemes,
there was also variability among other questions. For example, the responses from
Question 15 (What do you like least about the collective structure?) produced
very different coding schemes among the three researchers:
Researcher 1: burnout; staff cliques; power plays; everything is great; lack
of organization; lack of accountability, lack of consensus.

Researcher 2: nothing; don’t know; slow decisions; slow acculturation; lack

of accountability.

Researcher 3: unfair distribution of work; stress; understaffed; it basically
works: better than alternative.

The researchers concluded that the initial attempt to individually create
coding schemes could not result in a product which was acceptable for all the
completed questionnaires. They also concluded that creating an individual coding
scheme for each question produced unwieldy results which could be problematic

for later analysis.

46

The researchers decided to collectively try to establish broad categories
which would be applicable to most questions in the completed questionnaires.
The categories would have to reflect the underlying themes indicated by the
questionnaire responses which were affecting the collective structure at CADA.
Four questions were negotiated which ultimately structured the researcher’s
thinking about this task. The questions were: what are the three to four
underlying processes that are affecting the collective structure (the “ah-has”)?;
does the collective work?; why doesn’t it work?; what could we change to make it
work better?

The researchers negotiated the meaning of these questions with knowledge
based on the theory of organizational communication, their interview responses,
their initial coding schemes, and repeated reference to the written questionnaire
responses.

Several themes were defined: lack of communication (i.e.: organizational
members experience inadequate interaction or lack of information); role ambiguity
(i.e.: organizational members experience uncertainty with regard to their own or
other’s job roles); unclear policies and procedures (organizational members have

no set criteria for daily operations and evaluation); lack of training and education
(i .e.: organizational members experience a lack of on-going training and in-
services); work overload (i.e.: organizational members have too much to do and

110t enough time to do it in); and, physical environment (i.e.: organizational

 

 

Or

in.

47

members perceive the physical environment to be unsafe, unclean or placing
unequal job demands upon members due to geographic location of office space).

In the course of this process, it became evident to the researchers that
some of the problems identified by the respondents were not simply an
outgrowth of a collective organizational structure. Rather, the lack of adequate
resources also served to significantly influence CADA's operation.

Employing the question “what are the possible positive and negative
implications of the identified themes?” to guide their thinking, the researchers next
attempted to identify the outcomes of the aforementioned themes.

Once again, the researchers negotiated the meaning and answers to these
questions with knowledge based on the theory of organizational commrmication,
their interview responses, their initial coding schemes, and repeated reference to
the written questionnaire responses.

Eleven broad outcome themes were defined: value-action incongruity (i.e.:

CADA is a collective but not everybody feels like they have an equal say);
loosely connected staff (i.e.: CADA members feel only loosely connected and
isolated from other organizational members); quality of service (i.e.: organizational
members and/or residents experience a lack of support in finding interpersonal,
financial, housing, or other resources); staff inconsistency (i.e.: organizational
members display a lack of consistency in enforcing rules); staff burnout (i.e.:
Organizational members are stressed out, apathetic, uncomfortable, or uninterested

in enforcing rules); resentment (i.e.: organizational members have developed hard

48

feelings towards other members, or towards the system as a whole); intrinsic value
(i.e.: organizational members find work to be meaningful); people and co-workers
(i.e.: organizational members like co-workers); collaborative nature (i.e.:
organizational members like working together to get things done); task diversity
(i.e.: organizational members experience a wide variety of opportunity to work in
many areas); and, creativity (i.e.: organizational members are encouraged and
trusted to be creative while engaged in their job).

The researchers attempted to check the validity of their coding scheme by
taking one questionnaire from each of the three researchers and verbally coding
them. At the completion of this ‘reality check’ the researches agreed that the
categories would suffice as the coding scheme was effective across both questions
and interview responses. The researchers had, nonetheless, identified two problem
areas which would have to be dealt with prior to the next iteration of coding.

The first reservation about the acceptability of the coding scheme occurred
with question seven, “Tell me a little about your position in the supervision net.
Whom do you supervise?”; and, question eight, “What other kinds of
responsibilities does that role include?” These two questions required the
respondent to identify specific job role and procedural information which did not
fall under any categories in the coding scheme.

In response to this concern, a decision was unanimously made that any
responses relating to specific job roles and procedural information would not have

to be incorporated into the analytic process as the researchers did not feel that it

49

was essential to the focus of this study. The specific job roles and procedural
information was nonetheless utilized as a research aid which helped the
researchers to better understand the organizational dynamics at CADA.

The researchers felt justified in taking this position as the two questions of
concern had been added to the questionnaire in an attempt to establish the
specifics of the supervision net with which CADA had not been able to supply
the researchers. Although no other questions specifically asked respondents to
produced information of this type, any other information relating to specific job
roles and procedural information garnered during the course of any individual
subject’s response to an interview question was treated in the same manner.

The second reservation about the acceptability of the coding scheme
occurred with question ten, “Do you feel you could hold your supervisees
accountable? Do you feel that others hold their supervisees accountable?” With
regard to the first part of the question, many of the respondents did not hold
supervisory net positions and were thus unable to answer this question. With
regard to the second part of the question, many of the respondents answered that
they simply did not know the answer. In response to these additional coding
concerns, a decision was unanimously made by the researchers to add two
categories to the coding scheme: not applicable; and, not know.

The primary difference between the two new coding categories lies in the
fact that unlike “not applicable”, the ”not know” coding category provides useful

information about organizational knowledge structures. In consequence, while it is

50

not considered a negative organizational outcome variable, the results are
nonetheless presented along with the negative outcome variables throughout the
course of the organizational assessment. While data was also collected for the not
applicable coding category, it was used primarily for the researcher to gather
information relating to specific job roles and procedural information. As such, this
category will not be represented in the final analytic process.

Although the entire answer to each interview question constituted the unit
of analysis, in order to minimize differences in interview responses which may
have resulted from the stylistic interview techniques, the three researchers agreed
that only the first response in any given process or outcome category would be
noted for any question. For example, if a respondent replied in question four
(what would you change about your job?) that s/he did not get information in a
timely manner, that information was constantly getting lost, and that s/he
experienced a lack of feedback, ineffective communication would be noted only
once for that response. However, if in that same interview question response any
other process or outcome was also mentioned, the first response in all of the other
categories mentioned would also be coded.

The researchers also made two other decisions which affected how the
interview responses were coded: due to the volume of information supplied, any
responses relating to organizational suggestions was to be compiled in an
additional, but separate, document for analysis at a later date; and, as coding

decisions were based on a brief thematic definition, the researchers agreed to

51

compile lists of both prototypical and questionable examples representing each
theme.

Using the newly established coding scheme, the researchers commenced a
second coding iteration. Once again, each researcher coded her own completed
interview quesrionnaires.

After the second iteration was complete the researchers compared their
individual lists of prototypical and questionable examples. Upon the realization
that the researchers had coded certain responses in different categories, it was
decided some of the categories might be not be discrete enough. For example, the
response of “not everybody knows the rules” was placed in both coding
categories of role ambiguity and unclear policies and procedures by two different
researchers who both came across the same statement in their interview responses.

In order to alleviate problems with inter-coder reliability in the next coding
iteration, several closely related response categories which had produced coding
difficulties were collapsed down: unclear policies and procedures was subsumed
into role ambiguity; inadequate direct service was subsumed into work overload;
people and co-workers was subsumed into collaborative nature; loosely connected
staff was subsumed into value/action incongruence; and inconsistency and
resentment were subsumed into staff burnout. Also, the category label of
ineffective communication was broadened to communication ambiguity as the
researchers felt that the former label connoted a more narrow definition of the

construct than was intended. Finally, anytime that an organizational member

52

indicated that the collective structure worked, that s/he was pleased with it, or if
s/he answered a positive yeas to a question concerning the collective, the response
was coded under the variable collaborative nature. A detailed list of the combined
thematic exemplars can be found in the Organizational Assessment Interview

Code Book in Appendix E.

 

insert Appendix E about here

 

Prior to the commencement of the third and final iteration, a valued
colleague brought to the author’s attention that some of the coding categories
identified as underlying process variables may actually be more reflective of
outcome variables. Keeping this input in mind, the author reevaluated both the
exemplars and the location of the underlying process variables, and felt that the
comments had merit. As such, the author felt that a reworking of the coding
placement of the variables was required. Although communication ambiguity, role
ambiguity and, lack of training and education were maintained as underlying
process categories, work overload and physical environment were recategorized as
outcome variables.

For the purpose of this paper, a process variable is defined as a
phenomenon that leads towards the perception of a particular end, or outcome.
An outcome variable is defined as a phenomenon that is perceived to follow as a

result or consequence of another variable. The rational supporting a

53

reconsideration of the coding scheme is the fact that all of the initial outcome
variables are indicative of the respondent’s perceived outcomes, and that process
variables should not reflect perceptions of outcomes. When all of the process
categories were reconsidered, work overload and physical environment were
deemed characteristic of perceptual outcome variables. As such, it was
appropriate to place them as outcome variables and not process variables.

It was also brought to the author’s attention that ten out of the eleven
outcome variables relate specifically to the board, volunteers, and full/part-time
staff at CADA, and one outcome variable relates specifically to the residents.
Consequently, value-action incongruity, loosely connected staff, staff
inconsistency, staff burnout, resentment, intrinsic value, people and co-workers,
collaborative nature, task diversity and creativity, were recoded under the heading
of structural outcomes. Quality of service was recoded under the heading of
service outcomes. Table 1 lists all of the dependent, process and structural
outcome variables.

After the final categories were created the author went through and coded
all twenty-four cases using the completed coding scheme. Data were based on this
analysis. Just under one third of the cases were recoded by another source to
check for reliability. Of the seven interviews which were recoded, two interviews
came from the first researcher, two interviews came fi'om the second researcher,
and three interviews came from the third researcher. This division of completed

interviews for recoding was established so that stylistic differences in any one

54

researcher’s interview techniques would not overly bias the inter-coder reliability
results which were determined by using Cohen’s kappa.
Creation of the Suggestions and Recommendations coding scheme

Every suggestion identified in the Organizational Assessment
Questionnaire responses was compiled in a larger document labeled Suggestions
and Recommendations. The three researcher collated the individual responses from
their own completed interview questionnaires. The data were identified in the
Suggestions and Recommendations document by both respondent and question
numbers.

Although the entire suggestion constituted the unit of analysis, in order to
minimize differences in interview responses which may have resulted from the
stylistic interview techniques, the researcher determined that regardless of the
number of times any single respondent voiced a response falling under a specific
suggestion category, only the first of the multiple mentions would be recorded.
Thus, the organizational assessment suggestion response categories were coded
dicotomously as either absent or present for each organizational member. As
such, the total aggregate frequency of possible citations for any variable is twenty-
four, which represents the total organizational population. This practice was
employed in an attempt to ameliorate interviewer variability with regard to the
encouragement given to organizational members to voice, or to expand upon, their
alternative suggestions when negative comments or organizational dissatisfaction

was mentioned during the interviews.

55

Initially the author thought to attempt the creation of an entirely new
coding scheme which would be unique to the Organizational Assessment
Suggestions document. To this end she read the document over several times to get
an “feeling” of what was contained within it.

She then began to identify an initial coding scheme by writing down broad
categories associated with each response on a separate piece of paper. Some
initial suggestions and recommendations coding scheme category examples and
their respective exemplars are as follows:

Planned formal communication:

0 documentation

0 guidelines

0 how to procedures

0 criterions for success

0 submit with yearly evaluation an annually reviewed and rewritten job

description

0 update and date materials and let people know what’s new

0 document work study notes
Fundraising:

0 ask for donations from businesses (space, skills, services)

0 grants

0 increase ties to local businesses

56

0 fundraising efforts
Technical changes:

0 intercom

o voicemail

0 separate out crisis lines

0 more computers

0 copier
0 fax
Personnel:

0 contractual people
0 volunteers
0 replace inactive members
0 increase number of people conducting direct service
0 extra weekend and night people
0 women of color
Equalization of rights between full/part time staff, board, volunteers and residents:
0 fire or replace board members who don’t do their jobs

0 staff must not smoke or eat in areas where residents are forbidden to

do so

57

0 staff must support individual organizational member’s decisions with
regard to residents rather than rescind them unless they’re a glaring
mistake

0 board must take crisis intervention training

In-services and on-going education:

0 items for in-services (grief, stress, racism, diversity, immediate trauma,
limit setting)

0 monthly follow-ups for ongoing education (recap training for
volunteers, touch base, ensure new staff and residents are aware of key
issues regarding residents)

0 teach professional skills

In total, thirteen initial coding categories were identified: planned formal

communication; planned informal communication; technical changes; feedback;

personnel; equalization of board, volunteers, and full/part time staff rights; lack of

training/education; alternative structural suggestions; alternative functioning

suggestions; fundraising; and, other.

When the researcher critiqued the initial Organizational Assessment

Suggestions and Recommendations coding scheme, she became cognizant that
many of the suggestions and recommendations exemplars fell neatly into
previously established coding categories from the CADA Organizational

Assessment Interview Code Book. Consequently, the researcher commenced a

 

 

 

SL

Re
1‘85]

org.

58

second coding iteration which utilized labels originating in the CADA
Organizational Assessment Interview Code Book when ever a response
warranted it.

If a response fell into a previously established category the researcher
made a tick by that construct. If a response did not fit into a previously
established broad category, another construct label was utilized. In this way, the
researcher made her way down the list of responses in the Organizational
Assessment Suggestions and Recommendations document.

The category labels from the CADA Organizational Assessment
Interview Code Book which were utilized for the Suggestions and
Recommendations coding scheme were: communication ambiguity; role ambiguity;
lack oftraining/education; and, value-action incongruity.

Six new coding categories were also utilized. Although the new categories
incorporated discrete aspects from the three CADA Organizational Assessment
Interview Code Book categories of physical environment, quality of service, and
staff burnout, they did not display consistently high levels of isomorphism to the
previously established coding scheme categories to warrant their usage.

Additionally, although the Organizational Assessment and
Recommendations Code Book category of work overload is defrned as not enough
resources or direct service staff to meet the needs of the residents or the
organizational concerns, for the purpose of the Organizational Assessment

Suggestions and Recommendations Code Book, resources and personnel were

59

disaggregated. The researcher believed that the items should stand alone as
separate categories. The rational supporting this decision lies in the fact that the
frequency of responses to the new categories was sufficient at face value to
indicate high levels of organizational concern. By disagregating the categories the
due attention deserving of each category could be properly accorded. Also, the
personnel suggestions exceeded the work overload personnel definition which
simply concerned direct service personnel.

Thus, the new coding categories were derived from the initial
Organizational Assessment Suggestion and Recommendations Code Book iteration
and are as follows: fundraising; new personnel; functional changes; structural
changes; resources; and, other.

The researcher attempted to check the validity of her coding scheme by
taking sixty-five of the suggestions and recommendations and coding them. At the
completion of this ‘reality check’ the researcher concluded that the categories
would suffice as all of the categories in the coding scheme were represented in the
coded responses. Additionally, all of the coded responses fell into one of the ten
codingcategories.

The researcher did, however, make one change to the coding scheme. Due
to the breadth of responses in the coding category of suggestions and
recommendations for communication ambiguity, the researcher decided to
streamline the category by creating three sub-categories which together would

constitute the suggestions and recommendations relating to communication

60

ambiguity. The three sub-categories are as follows: formal communication;
informal communication; and, technological changes. The Organizational

Assessment Suggestions Code Book can be found in Appendix F.

 

insert Appendix F about here

 

After the final categories were created the author went through and coded
all of the suggestions and recommendations using the completed coding scheme.
Data were based on this analysis. One third of the suggestions and
recommendations were recoded by another source to check for reliability.
Quantitative analysis

To determine the importance of each of the above procedural themes and
outcomes, the data were coded and statistically analyzed. The analysis occurred
in the following manner: by an aggregate level for the entire questionnaire; by four
research questions; and, by eight research themes.

The aggregate questionnaire response consisted of a summary of
independent variables, and the dependent process and outcome variables. It also
consisted of a distribution of organizational members by tenure and job roles.
Descriptive statistics were computed to determine the frequency and percentage
of questionnaire responses for each coding category. Additionally, intercoder
reliabilities were conducted using Cohen’s kappa to calculate the interrater

reliabilities between the two coders. One third of all the cases in the

61

Organizational Assessment Questionnaire were analyzed for coding response
consistencies.

The descriptive statistical analyses allowed the researcher to determine
how important, as measured by the frequency, was each theme and outcome.

The frequencies produced for each variable as a result of the descriptive statistics
were than utilized for the purpose of recoding the data to facilitate increased
meaning during other statistical analyses.

The medium for the frequencies of each process and outcome category
was calculated. When no values at zero were mentioned, the variable was
calculated with a binomial distribution of low and high which was centered around
the medium. If a value of zero was cited and there was a range of response values
which was more than five, the zero values were coded as low. A binomial
distribution of medium and high which excluded the zero value, and was centered
around the medium, was then created. If a value of zero was cited and there was a
range of response values which was five or less, the zero values were coded as low
and the remaining values were coded as high. This coding scheme was utilized for
all of the remaining statistical analysis.

Also of note is the fact that the responses from both the resident focus
group, and the staff creative problem solving group, were used as additional
comparisons at various times in the analysis. The two groups were incorporated
into the job role and tenure variable analysis. As the nature of these group makes

it impossible to parse out the specific comments from each participant, the

 

 

62

collected responses from both groups were collapsed down into a single respective
category representing either the focus or the creative problem solving group.

With regard to the tenure variable, the focus group response was included
under the heading of tenure ranging from zero to one year, since the average stay
for each resident is approximately one month. However, the staff creative problem
solving group response was included under the heading of tenure called unknown,
as it was would have been meaningless to parse out the average tenure for the
group.

Additionally, with regard to the job role variable, both the focus group and
the staff creative problem solving group were established as a fifth job role category
in whatever analysis of which they were each a part. The focus group and the
creative problem solving group were never utilized in the same analysis.

Although the questionnaire was composed of thirty-one questions, not all
of the questions were relevant for this thesis. As some questions were framed to
elicit the supervision network, and others were asked as probes to further
elucidate the response to prior questions, a decision was made to not select all of
the questions for individual analysis. The sixteen questions which were selected
for analysis best represented both the four research questions comprising the
organizational assessment, and the eight research themes comprising the interview
questionnaire.

To determine the most frequent categorical responses for each interview

question selected for analysis, descriptive statistical analysis were conducted for

63

the interview questions associated with each of the Research Questions 1 - 3.
Utilizing frequency as an indicator, the four most common responses were
identified for each question. While most questions documented one main response
which clearly indicated the most frequently occurring answer, others indicated a
three-way tie for the second most frequently occurring answer. Thus, the top
four responses were choosen to be included for analytic purposes.

Descriptive statistical analysis were also conducted for the categories of
responses to each of the three research questions. Chi Square analysis of job role
and tenure for the top three answers were conducted. Only the top three
responses were selected for analysis as the frequencies for the remaining categories
were too small to warrant further examination.

Although the Chi Square analysis afforded the researcher the opportunity
to determine whether different job role and tenure groups perceived statistically
significant differences with regard to organizational issues, Cross Tabulations
provided both a general trend analysis and an organizational outlook.
Consequently, Cross Tabulations of job role and tenure with the outcome
variables were also conducted.

For Research Question 4, descriptive statistical analysis of the most
frequent questionnaire suggestion citations were conducted. This permitted the
researcher to determine how important, as measured by the frequency, was each
theme and outcome. Chi Square analysis of job role and tenure for the top three

answers were conducted. Additionally, Cross Tabulations of job role and tenure

64

with the outcome variables were also conducted. Finally, intercoder reliabilities
were conducted for the Suggestions and Recommendations document utilized in
Research Question 4. Cohen’s kappa was used to calculate the interrater
reliabilities between the two coders. One third of all the cases in the
Organizational Assessment Suggestions and Recommendations document were
analyzed for coding response consistencies.

Finally, descriptive statistics were conducted for the sixteen interview
questions which best represented the eight research themes comprising the
interview questionnaire. This was conducted to determine the most frequent
responses by all organizational members to each of the eight research themes.
Utilizing frequency as an indicator, the two most common responses were
identified for each question. If two variables indicated the same number for the
most frequently cited response, it was determined that the two most common
responses were considered to have been found, and both variables were recorded.
If however, there was one main response which clearly indicated the most
frequently occurring answer, but there was a tie for the second most frequently

occurring answer, then all three or more responses were recorded.

CHAPTER 5
Results

Twenty-four semi-structured, one to two hour, interviews with members
of the Council Against Domestic Assault were conducted as part of an
organizational assessment. Six board members, eight full-time members, six part-
time staff members, and four volunteers all participated. Additionally, a staff
creative problem solving session and a resident focus group were also held. The
information derived from these sources was compiled and analyzed together.

The focus of the organizational assessment was to explore the
organizational members’ perceptions of the pros and cons of a feminist collective
structure, which comprises the structural form of CADA. Specifically, the three
person organizational assessment team was interested in determining: how the
collective structure affects the communication among board, staff, volunteers and
residents at CADA; how the collective structure affects the structural and task
outcomes at CADA; what can be done to improve the structural and service
outcomes; and, the suggestions and recommendations organizational members have
for improving CADA.

The interview results were coded and statistically analyzed in the
following manner: by an aggregate level for the entire questionnaire; by four
research questions; and, by eight research themes.

The aggregate questionnaire response consists of a summary of

independent variables and the dependent process and outcome variables. It also

65

ll

66

consists of a distribution of organizational members by tenure and job roles.
Descriptive statistics were computed to determine the frequency and percentage
of questionnaire responses. Additionally, intercoder reliabilities were conducted.

For Research Questions 1 - 3, descriptive statistics were conducted for
both the interview questions associated with the research questions, and the most
common categories of responses. For Research Question 4, descriptive statistics
of the most frequent questionnaire suggestion citations were conducted.
Additionally, for each of the four research questions Chi Square analysis of job
role and tenure for the top three answers, as well as cross tabulations of job role
and tenure with the outcome variables, were conducted. Finally, intercoder
reliabilities were conducted for the Suggestions and Recommendations document
utilized in Research Question 4.

Finally, descriptive statistics were conducted for sixteen interview
questions which best represented both the eight research themes comprising the
interview questionnaire.

Aggregate Questionnaire Responses
For a summary of the independent variables, and process and outcome

dependent variables, used in the organizational assessment questionnaire analysis,

see Table 1.

67

 

insert Table 1 about here

 

Descriptive statistics for the variables of j ob role and tenure were conducted.

For the distribution of organizational members by job role and tenure see Table 2.

 

insert Table 2 about here

 

Frequencies and percentages of questionnaire responses for each coding
category were conducted. This data was used to identify the most salient
organizational issues, as indicated by the frequency with which the organizational
members cited the issue, as well as the corresponding percentage of respondents
who cited it. The categories were produced ex post facto from the replies the
organizational members made in response to the Organizational Assessment
Questionnaire.

The three most frequently cited variables were collaboration, role ambiguity
and communication ambiguity. In addition, these were the only three categories to
be cited by 100% of the respondents. These responses are consistent with the

theory cited in Chapter 1. For the distribution of results, see Table 3.

ll

68

 

insert Table 3 about here

 

The interrater reliability of the two coders was calculated using Cohen’s
kappa. The interrater reliability was .71. According to Landis and Koch (1977),
ranges of agreement for kappa are poor <.00, slight 0 - .20, fair .21 - .40, moderate
.41 - .60, substantial .61 - .80, and almost perfect .81 - 1.00. For this data,
interrater reliability was substantial.
Research Question 1: How does the collective structure affect communication
among board, full/part time staff, volunteers and residents?

Descriptive statistics were conducted on each of the nine interview
questions which were coupled with Research Question 1. The four most fi'equent

responses to each of the interview questions can be found in Table 4.

 

insert Table 4 about here

 

Descriptive statistics were also conducted to determine the most frequent
categories which were cited by the interview subjects in response to the nine
interview questions coupled with Research Question 1. Although the most
common response (collaboration) indicated that the perception of communication
among the organizational members was that it “seems to work”, the next two most

frequent responses were complaints which focused upon role and communication

69

ambiguity. The two negatively valanced responses are consistent with the theory
cited in Chapter 1. All of the categories, as well as their frequency of response,

can be found in Table 5.

 

insert Table 5 about here

 

Chi Square analysis of job role and tenure were conducted for the three most
frequent category responses for Research Question 1. Statistical significance was
determined in three of the six analyses: With regard to tenure, statistical significance
was established with regard to both role ambiguity X2(23, N = 24) = 18.17, p < .05
and collaboration X2(23, N = 24) = 104.9, g < .05. With regard to job role, statistical
significance was established with regard to collaboration X2(23, N = 24) = 55.92, E
< .05.

Research (Arestion 2: How does the collective structure affect the structural and
service outcomes at CADA?

Descriptive statistics were conducted on each of the two interview
questions which were coupled with Research Question 2. The four most frequent

responses to each of the interview questions can be found in Table 6.

 

insert Table 6 about here

 

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Descriptive statistics were also conducted to determine the most frequent
categories which were cited by the interview subjects in response to the two
interview questions coupled with Research Question 3. The three most common
responses were collaboration, value action incongruence and physical

environment. All of the categories, as well as their frequency of response, can be

found in Table 7.

 

insert Table 7 about here

 

Chi Square analysis of job role and tenure were conducted for the three
most frequent category responses for Research Question 2. Statistical significance
was determined in four of the six analyses: With regard to tenure, statistical
significance was established with regard to physical environment X2(23, N = 24) =
26.17, p < .05. With regard to job role, statistical significance was established with
regard to collaboration X2(23, N = 24) = 13.75, p < .05, value action incongruence
X2(23, N = 24) = 24.58, p < .05, and physical environment X2(23, N = 24) =
37.5, p < .05. Additionally, although it did not meet the requirements of the .05
significance level, value action incongruence approached significance in a Chi
Square analysis of tenure.

As 39% of the Chi Square analysis for job role and tenure were
statistically significant in the three research questions, the researcher determined

that a cross tabulation of job role and tenure on the process and outcome variables

71

was warranted. The results indicated that several response patterns appeared to
have evolved:

With regard to the variable of job role, the board and the full-time staff
appeared to be the job role categories which displayed both the closest alignment
of responses, and the most verbal cognizance of the organizational problems.
The responses indicate that the cognitive awareness of the part-time staff and
volunteers are also closely aligned to one another, but not as closely aligned to the
board and full-time staff. Except for collective, most of the negatively valanced
structural variables are mentioned more frequently, and by more job role
categories, than are the positively valanced structural variables. Summations of

these results can be found in Table 8.

 

insert Table 8 about here

 

With regard to the variable of tenure, the organizational members with the
most tenure cite both more negatively and positively valanced items more often
than do organizational members with less tenure. Additionally, organizational
members with less than one year of affiliation maintain different perceptual
responses than do members with more than two years of organizational affiliation.
And finally, organizational members with one to two years of organizational

affiliation appear to display irregularities with regard to the interaction of

72

increasing tenure and increasing category response and frequency citation.

Summations of the results can be found in Table 9.

 

insert Table 9 about here

 

Research Question 3: What can be done to improve the structural and service
outcomes at CADA?

Descriptive statistics were conducted on each of the six interview
questions which were coupled with Research Question 3. The four most frequent

responses to each of the interview questions can be found in Table 10.

 

insert Table 10 about here

 

Descriptive statistics were also conducted to determine the most frequent
categories which were cited by the interview subjects in response to the six
interview questions coupled with Research Question 3. The two most common
responses of communication and role ambiguity are consistent with the theory
cited in Chapter 1. The third most frequent response was ‘not know’. All of the

categories, as well as their fiequency of response, can be found in Table 1 1.

73

 

insert Table 11 about here

 

Chi Square analysis of job role and tenure were conducted for the three
most frequent category responses for Research Question 3. Statistical significance
was not determined in any of the six analyses. Thus, organizational members in all
job roles and tenure levels had the same concerns.

Research Question 4: What are the suggstions and recommendations
organizational members have for improving CADA?

The suggestions put forth by the organizational members have been
compiled in a document called Organizational Assessment Questionnaire

Suggestions and Recommendations. This document can be found in Appendix G.

 

insert Appendix G about here

 

Frequencies and percentages of questionnaire responses for each coding
category were conducted. This data was used to identify the most salient
organizational issues, as indicated by the frequency with which the organizational
members cited the issue, as well as the corresponding percentage of respondents
who cited it. The three most frequently cited categories were formal communication,

training and on—going education and personnel.

74

The categories were produced ex post facto from suggestions made
organizational members, and were coded separately from the rest of the
Organizational Assessment Questionnaire response data. The suggestion response
set were coded dicotomously as either absent or present for each organizational
member. As such, the total aggregate frequency of possible citations for any
variable is twenty-four, which represents the total organizational population. Table

12 summarizes the frequency and percentages.

 

insert Table 12 about here

 

When Cohen’s kappa was conducted for one-third of the Organizational
Analysis Suggestions statements, the interrater reliability was .80. A reliability of
this magnitude is considered substantial (Landis & Koch, 1977).

Chi Square analysis of job role and tenure were conducted for the three
most frequent category responses for Research Question 4. The six analyses failed
to meet excepted standards of statistical significance at the .05 level. Such failures
are not surprising given the small sample size utilized in the study. Nevertheless,
formal communication was statistically significant for both role and tenure at the
.01 significance level, and training and on- going education was significant for
tenure at the .01 significance level as well.

As half of the Chi Square analysis for job role and tenure were statistically

significant at the .01 level, the researcher determined that a cross tabulation of job

75

role and tenure on the process and outcome variables was warranted. When the
cross tabulations of job role and tenure with all of the suggestions and
recommendations variables were conducted, several response patterns appeared to
have evolved:

With regard to the variable of job role categories, there appears to be two
cognitive camps from which the organizational strengths and weaknesses are
judged. The board, the full-time staff, and the residents were usually in accordance
with one another on all of the suggestion categories. If a discrepancy arose, the
board would fall out of the consensual equation and the full-time staff and the
residents would continue to verbally maintain the closest cognitive perceptions of
the organizational issues. However, as can be witnessed by the variability in the
suggestion response categories, the full-time and the part-time staff appear to
experience two completely different organizational realities. Nevertheless, the
part-time staff and the volunteers were generally in accordance with one another.

Of additional note is the fact that the residents voiced suggestions in
almost all of the suggestion categories. One may therefore assume that the
residents are both conscious of the issues and perhaps even affected by them. The

job role and suggestions cross tabulation summaries can be found in Table 13.

 

insert Table 13 about here

 

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With regard to the variable of tenure, as tenure increased, so did the
suggestions to deal with organizational concerns. Of specific note is the group of
organizational members with tenure ranging from 1 - 2 years. This group voiced
more changes as necessary and made the most suggestions for implementing the

changes. The tenure and suggestions cross tabulation summary can be found in

Table 14.

 

insert Table 14 about here

 

Eight Research Themes

Descriptive statistics were also used to identify the most frequent
aggregate responses for each of the sixteen questions selected for individual
question level analysis. The sixteen questions represent the eight research themes
comprising the questionnaire. The research themes are as follows: burnout;
continuity between facilitators; accountability; shared responsibilities; conflict
resolution; client empowerment; communication with staff and board; and,
consistency between shifts. The results are synthesized as follows:

Work overload, communication ambiguity, and role ambiguity were
mentioned as the most frequent issues associated with job stress. Organizational
members indicated that these issues must be alleviated if burnout is to be reduced.

Communication and role ambiguity were cited as the two dominant

problems which are associated with changes between staff facilitators.

77

Additionally, while some people indicated that a smooth transition occurred
between the current and the past facilitator (collaborative nature), others indicated
that they had no idea if it was smooth or not (not know). Those who responded
that the transition was not smooth indicated that high levels of communication and
role ambiguity were problematic. These variables would have to be lowered in
order for the continuity between facilitators to be smoother in the future.

High levels of communication and role ambiguity were posited as the two
greatest hindrances to accountability. If these issues could be effectively reduced
organizational member’s indicated that they believed increased accountability
would occur.

Although some organizational members concurred that they would neither
add nor delete anything from the description they read regarding the functional
operation of CADA, the most common response was that value-action
incongruities created a schism between the current and the desired organizational
realities. Nonetheless, despite value-action incongruities and role ambiguities
(which represent the variables organizational members like least about the
collective structure), and a perception that information is not shared in a timely
manner due to communication and role ambiguity, the collective structure is
generally perceived to work at CADA. Although many qualified their statements,
many members indicated that that do feel that they have a voice at CADA.
Additionally, members indicated that what they like most about CADA is its

collaborative nature and the diversity of tasks which members can perform.

78

Many members responded that they did not know how the conflict
resolution process could be improved at CADA. However, others indicated that
communication and role ambiguity are problems associated with the process.
Members indicated that the conflict resolution process could be improved by
reducing high levels of communication and role ambiguity.

Organizational members perceive that residents do have an opportunity to
influence decisions, and that the needs of the residents are being effectively
addressed. However, members qualify these statements by stating that value-
action incongruities interfere with resident voice and the physical environment
plays a mitigating role in not meeting all of their needs. Members indicate that
these mitigating factors are going to have to be dealt with if the goal of client
empowerment is to be achieved.

Many organizational members indicate that the frequency and quality of
communication between board and staff members is adequate. However, they also
indicate that in decreasing communication ambiguity it may be possible to increase
the quality and frequency of communication. Additionally, while many
organizational members did not have any suggestions for how to improve the
collective structure, others indicated that in decreasing role ambiguity and value-
action incongruence, it would be possible to increase the effectiveness of the
collective structure.

Finally, while many members indicated that all staff members know

CADA policies, others indicated that role and communication ambiguity act as an

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organizational barrier which interferes with members’ knowledge. Consequently,
a perception is indicated by organizational members that the staff are not
consistent in the way they enforce rules.

Table 15 summarizes the aggregate results for of each of the sixteen

questions.

 

insert Table 15 about here

 

CHAPTER 6
Discussion
Research questions

The organizational assessment of the Council Against Domestic Assault
provides answers to the four main research assessment questions which were as
follows: how does the collective structure affect communication among board,
full/part-time staff, volunteers and residents?; how does the collective structure
affect the structural and service outcomes at CADA?; what can be done to
improve the structural and service outcomes?; and, what are the suggestions and
recommendations organizational members have for improving CADA?

For the duration of the discussion section, the organization as a whole will
be referred to as the collective structure. The rational behind this action lies in the
fact that the organizational members were incapable of parsing out the problems
specifically attributable to the collective structure from the problems plaguing the
organization as an entire entity.

In reply to Research Question 1 (how [does the collective structure affect
communication among board, full/part-tirne staff, volunteers and residents at
CADA?), one hundred percent of the organizational members mentioned that it
“seems to work.” This affirmation is represented by the coding category of
collaboration.

Collaboration was statistically significant in the Chi Square analysis for

both job role and tenure. Although some prototypical statements employed during

80

81

data analysis to represent collaborative nature are that: everyone has a voice;
permits exchange; can go to anyone for help; participation with regard to decision
making; and, working together to get things done, the analytic results indicated
that organizational members of various job roles and tenures perceived CADA to
have had varying degrees of success with regard to organizational communication
and collaboration.

The interview results thus indicated that organizational members perceived
that CADA fell short of their ideal; there were both problems (negative outcomes)
and areas where improvement was stated as required. The two predominant areas
of concern, which were mentioned by every organizational member, were role and
communication ambiguity. Additionally, seventy—five percent of the
organizational members also indicated that lack of training and on-going education
was a concern to them.

The three aforementioned process variables constitute the types of
organizational communication alluded to in research question one. Specifically,
the types of communication occurring between and among organizational members
are: communication enacted with regard to operations (communication ambiguity);
communication enacted with regard to appointed roles (role ambiguity); and,
communication enacted with regard to training and education (lack of
training/education).

Formal communication ambiguity refers to interruptions or inadequacies

with regard to the procedures utilized to transmit and receive information relating

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to organizational decisions, policies and resident information. Informal
communication ambiguity refers to inadequate interactions between staff, board
members, volunteers and residents.

Although all organizational members mentioned communication ambiguity
as an organizational concern, there was not a statistically significant difference in
the manner in which organizational members perceived this issue. Nevertheless,
two non-statistically significant trends emerged from the Cross Tabulations of j ob
role and tenure with the outcome variables in that: members with longer tenure
stated more communication ambiguity than did members with shorter tenure; and,
full time and board members mentioned communication ambiguity as a bigger
problem than did the part time members or the volunteers. The residents also
mentioned this variable as a problem of which they were aware.

Role ambiguity refers to the extent to which job roles are defined and
understood by members of the organization. Two levels of role ambiguity
emerged: intrapersonal and organizational. The former refers to uncertainty
regarding one’s own job roles, and the latter refers to uncertainty regarding either
another’s job roles or the general policies and procedures that underscore the
organization’s operations and services provision.

Role ambiguity appears to affect members of different tenure categories in
different ways. Specifically, organizational members with the more tenure made
more references to role ambiguity than did members with less tenure.

Additionally, a non-statistically significant trend emerging from the Cross

83

Tabulation of job role and outcome variables indicated that full time staff consider
role ambiguity the most evident; volunteers consider it somewhat less
problematic; and, the part time staff and the board consider it much less of an
issue. The residents also indicated that they perceived role ambiguity as a
concern.

Finally, lack of training or education refers to the organizational difficulties
which arise as a result of either inadequate initial training or inadequate on-going
training. Twenty-five percent of the organizational members did not mention this
as a concern at all. Also, as lack of training or education was not one of the four
most frequent responses to Research Question 1, a Chi Square analysis was not
conducted for this category.

Nevertheless, all of the firll time staff, and eighty percent of the volunteers,
as well as the resident focus group, mentioned lack of training or education as an
organizational concern. Additionally, a non-statistically significant trend emerging
from the Cross Tabulation of tenure and outcome variables indicated that members
with shorter tenures mentioned this variable less frequently than did members
with longer tenure.

In response to Research Question 2, (how does the collective structure
affect the structural and service outcomes at CADA?) respondents most
frequently indicated that communication and role ambiguity produced the greatest
amount of negatively valance outcomes. Members also responded to this question

by citing categories of: collaboration; lack of training and education; not know, (the

84

lack of knowledge by organizational members with regards to a particular issue);
work overload, (the workload is unmanageable as there are not enough resources or
direct service staff to meet the needs of the residents or the organizational
concerns); value-action incongruence, (the extent to which the theoretical
implementation of the collective is compatible with how it is actually put into
practice); and, staff burnout, (the disinterest and inability of organizational
members to cope in the work environment, as well as their difficulty in
empathizing with residents and enforcing rules). It should be noted, however, that
Chi Square analysis of both job role and tenure produced no significant differences
in organizational member’s perceptions of the aforementioned issues.

In response to Research Question 3 (what can be done to improve the
structural and service outcomes at CADA?), respondents mentioned the
organizational outcome of collaboration more than any other category. This
indicated that on the whole, the organizational members perceived that the
organizational outcomes “seem to wor ” as they should.

Nevertheless, statistically significant Chi Square analysis of job role
indicated that organizational members engaged in different job roles perceived
varying levels of success with regard to the impact of the collaborative nature on
the structural and service outcomes. The interview results also indicated that the
predominant areas of concern were value-action incongruence, the physical

environment, and role and communication ambiguity.

85

Statistically significant Chi Square analysis of job roles indicated that
organizational members with different job roles perceived varying levels ofvalue-
action incongruence at CADA, which they believed affected the outcome
variables. A non-statistically significant trend emerging from the Cross Tabulation
of j ob role and outcome variables indicated that the board members, as well as the
full and part time staff considered value-action incongruence the most evident;
volunteers considered it somewhat less problematic. Additionally, the residents
also indicated that they perceived value-action incongruence as a concern.

Physical environment refers to the overall physical atmosphere and safety
of the organizational environment, as well as any organizational concerns which
may arise as a result of the physical layout of the shelter. Statistically significant
Chi Square analysis of both job roles and tenures indicated that organizational
members with different job roles and tenures perceived varying levels of concern
associated with physical environment as it affects the outcome variables.

A non-statistically significant trend emerging from the Cross Tabulation of
job role and physical environment indicated that full and part time staff consider
physical environmental concerns the most evident; volunteers consider it
somewhat less problematic; and, the and the board consider it much less of an
issue. The residents also indicated that they perceived physical environmental
concerns. Additionally, a second non-statistical trend emerging from the Cross

Tabulation of tenure with physical environment indicated that members who have

86

less than two years of tenure considered this issue more problematic than did
those members with more than two years of tenure.

In response to the fourth research question (what are the suggestions and
recommendations organizational members have for improving CADA?),
suggestions from the organizational members during the course of their interviews,
the staff creative problem solving group, and the resident focus group, which were
collated in a document called the ‘Organizational assessment questionnaire
suggestions and recommendation.’ The coding categories in the Suggestions and
Recommendations document are as follows: communication ambiguity; role
ambiguity; lack of training/ education; value-action incongruence; fundraising; new
personnel; resources; fimctional changes; structural changes; and, other.

This document provides a blue print of alternative actions which
organizational members believe will improve the operations and outcomes at
CADA. It not only highlights the outcome themes, but also discusses ways to
reduce the three process themes of communication and role ambiguity, and lack of
training and education which were central to both theoretical problems concerning
feminist collectives, and to CADA in particular.

Consideration of frndings in light of existing research

The Council Against Domestic Abuse, which is designed to intervene in
dysfunctional families, has adopted as its mandate the goal of becoming a vehicle
for women to claim their power (Statement of Purpose, 1991). If CADA is

successful at administrating its structure as a feminist collective, it will exemplify

87

participatory principles, shared leadership, and rotation of responsibilities
(Gould, 1979). In doing so, CADA will represent itself as an effective role model
of what a functional family (organization) should look like and an effective channel
through which women can learn to claim back their power.

Proper modeling at CADA is especially important as women who endure
battering over a period of years may be both inexperienced with the exercise of
their own authority (Baker, 1982), and stripped of their emotional resources
(Statement of Purpose, 1991) which would otherwise help them to claim their
power.

However, CADA displays many of the common dysfunctions chronicled
by Constantine (1983) which are reflective of both familial and organizational
open systems. Specifically, organizational members indicate that CADA exhibits:
[de facto], or no leadership; lax discipline; endless negotiation; poor problem
solving; dramatic role shifts and reversals; dramatic rule shifts; many implicit but
few explicit rules; capricious or arbitrary enforcement of rules; endless discussions
and negotiations; and, confusion and ambiguity generated from indefinitely
deferred resolution.

These dysfunctional symptoms act an obstacles affecting the ability of
CADA to model what they advocate, as clients witness power inequalities, role
ambiguity, communication ambiguity, and value-action incongruities.
Additionally, all four of these factors are highlighted in much of the literature as

problems inherent with collectives.

88

Knowledge is a form of social (information) power originally posited by
French and Raven (1959). Inequalities of organizational knowledge along the lines
of tenure, and job roles, was evidenced at CADA through an analysis of the
organizational assessment interviews.

For instance, the organizational members with the most tenure cited more
negatively and positively valanced items more often than did organizational
members with less tenure. Additionally, board and full-time staff appeared to be
the job role categories which displayed both the closest alignment of responses,
and the most verbal cognizance of the organizational problems.

Inequalities of organizational knowledge among tenure and job roles are
consistent with the findings of Gruber and Trickett (1987), who wrote that the
creation of an egalitarian structure is not enough to insure that power is equally
distributed. Ahems (1980) also noted that in a fimded shelter for battered women,
paid staff did more work and so became more knowledgeable about the
organization’s actual operations and needs than did the volunteers.

Role ambiguity is the second of the four factors which act as organizational
obstacles to proper organizational modeling at CADA. One hundred percent of
CADA’s organizational members indicated that they experienced role ambiguity.

Perceived role ambiguity, which may occur at an intrapersonal or an
organizational level, occurs when a person feels that s/he lacks salient information
needed to effectively enact her or his role (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn & Snoek, 1964). It

may specifically concern the doubt or uncertainty an individual, or a group of

89

individuals, may experience with regard to the specific forms of appropriate
behaviors, responsibilities, rights, obligations and accountabilities as they affect
either one-self or other organizational members. Role ambiguity may also include
task indeterminacy, which is defined as ambiguity about operational goals and
priorities (Leitko & Szczerbacki, 1984).

The experience of role ambiguities encountered by the members of CADA
is similar to that Rodriguez’s (1988) study of a Hawaiian battered women’s
shelter. Rodriguez also found that conflicts over rights, privileges, and duties
persisted which resulted from role ambiguity.

The third of the four organizational obstacles to proper organizational
modeling at CADA is communication ambiguity. All of the organizational
members of CADA indicated that they experience communication ambiguity.

Formal communication ambiguity refers to lost or missing information, an
inability to send or receive information in a timely manner, and absent or unclear
information regarding feedback, job descriptions, review and evaluation. Informal
communication ambiguity refers to inadequate interactions between staff, board
members, volunteers and residents.

Failures in communication distribution policies may result in
communication ambiguity. They are caused by key organizational members’
inability to identify which groups of personnel need to know certain things, or to
establish where these groups are supposed to be able to obtain the information

they need (F arace, Monge & Russell, 1977). Communication ambiguity is an

90

especially common occurrence of all-female groups, which tend to focus less on
task orientation than they do on human factors (Bettenhausen, 1991).

The fourth organizational obstacle that impedes the ability of CADA to
act as an appropriate model for women in crisis are value-action incongruities.
Much of the value-action incongruence may be attributable to Michels’s (1962)
“Iron Law of Oligarchy” , which maintains that organizations move in a
unidirectional path towards bureaucratization. Specifically, it states that as a
[feminist] movement organization attains a base in society, it inevitably becomes
more bureaucratic and [must] develop more conservative goals as a means of
maintaining itself (Riger, 1984). In order for CADA to achieve its goal, it will have
to realize a certain level of bureaucratization.

There seem to be very few non-hierarchical organizations that have
survived long periods of time. However, those that have survived are often
perceived to be tightly interconnected networks that are transformed, having
compromised their principles to a great extent (Stohl, 1995, pp. 156). Ninety-two
percent of the organizational members at CADA have indicated that value-action
incongruencies occur which are contraindicative of the principles upon which their
collective was founded.

Quinn and Carnerson describe four organizational “life stages” as
entrepreneurial, collectivity, formation, and elaboration of structure, which can be
expected as part of the normal organizational life cycle. The collectivity stage is

typically characterized by increased informal communication and talk about

91

innovations. However, as an organization grows, informal interaction decreases
and is replaced by more formalized interaction (Monge & Eisenberg, 1987).

The dichotomy between organizational values and organizational actions
experienced at CADA is consistent with the findings of Mumby and Putnam’s
(1992) study of Redwood Record. Redwood Records, which was founded as a
feminist alternative institution, developed an organizational climate of informality,
supportiveness, and consensual decision making aimed at social change. However,
as the organization grew and responded to changes in the music industry,
Redwood experienced tension between profit and its political goals (Mumby &
Putnam, 1992, pp. 477).

Limitations

The study utilized an open-ended interview format which provided a
venue through which rich data could be brought forth. Additionally, the ex post
facto creation of the coding scheme facilitated coding categories which more
accurately reflected of the variety of thoughts and comments of organizational
members then would a priori categories.

Nevertheless, a more traditional format utilizing closed-ended questions, a
minimum of four Likert-type questions items for each variable, and fewer
constructs which were created a priori, would have permitted a factor analysis to
be conducted on a pretested organizational assessment questionnaire. In this

manner, had questions could have been thrown out or fuzzy categories collapsed.

92

As is, the study relied on face validity for questions which does not ensure that
the questions are valid.

Also, in utilizing a more traditional format of identifying organizational
assessment variables a priori, the researcher could have relied more heavily on
both traditional variables and well-tested definitions. As the ex post facto,
ethnographically derived variables did not fit neatly into existing definitional
boundaries, new definitions were constructed by compounding older definitions.
With new construct definitions lies the possibility the various constructs are not
actually discrete categories, but are rather either closely related or are reflective of
the same underlying cause. There also exists the possiblity that in using variables
which have not been otherwise validated, the results from the questionaire may
have inherently biased the questionaire results.

Finally, although it could not be helped, as the entire organization was
sampled, the total sample was quite small. When the sample was combined with
the large number of coding variables, the cells within each variable became even
smaller. Consequently, despite the fact that the results indicated the presence of
specific organizational trends, the results lacked statistical power. Nevertheless,
despite the lack of power, statistical significance occurred in several of the Chi
Square analysis. Significance with a sample size of only twenty-four people may
be indicative of an even stronger organizational trend than is indicated by the

results.

93

Implications of study for professional practice and future research

While the Family Systems Model has not previously been applied in
research pertaining to an organizational setting, anecdotal evidence suggests that
many organizations and organizational members view their environment in this
light. “We are a family”, is a common refrain, or metaphor, which is heard by
organizational members, ethnographic researchers, and consultants.
Consequently, the “organization as a family” might be considered a dominant
metaphor in many organizations.

Just like some families are dysfunctional, so too are the relationships
between and among both organizational members and departments. Although
many families and organizations can, and do, exist in dysfunctional environments,
one can intuit that a functional environment is a healthier, more productive, and
happier environment. In a movement towards this end, a dysfunctional family
might seek the aid of a professional councilor or therapist. Likewise, a
dysfunctional organization might bring in a consultant to diagnose the problems
and to suggest alternative actions to create a more functional organization.

Although not used specifically within the Family Systems paradigm, a
consultant engaged to perform an organizational assessment could conduct an
analysis while keeping the dominant organizational metaphor (i.e.: family
metaphor) in mind. For instance, in the organizational assessment conducted at

CADA, both its organizational literature and member comments indicated that the

ideal organizational state is: “a functioning collective of equal partners who work

94

together on a common identified goal of providing shelter, and advocacy to women
in need, while simultaneously creating an atmosphere in which women can make
positive changes in their lives”. Further, “the collective should be a non-
hierarchical system where everybody has a voice, valued input, unique expertise
and contributions, responsibly, and full range of life choices for all organizational
members”. Nonetheless, the current reality falls far short of this ideal state.
However, in the course of conducting the organizational assessment the
organizational members came up with a blue print for how they can move from
their current reality to their envisioned future.

By utilizing the dominant metaphor by which an organization describes
itself, or aspects of itself, a researcher and/or consultant will have the ability to
speak in the same language and images as do the organizational members. The
researcher and/or consultant will also have established a mental peg by with
compound ideas and images can be meaningfully connected in the minds of the
organizational members to create the desired change.

Future research should attempt to discern the dominant metaphors of
organizational members. In doing so, it may be possible to uncover both where
the mental model overlap does and does not occur, and the possible organizational
and environmental ramifications which may occur when organizational members
hold divergent or contrary organizational metaphors. Further, upon identifying a

dominant organizational metaphor, researchers should examine how knowledge of

95

this metaphor can be utilized in creating the conditions for the desired future

organizational state.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Appendix A

Council Against Domestic Assault
Organizational Assessment Proposal
Julie Morton
Marcy Meyer
Valerie E. Roberts

Pennie Foster-Fishman, Ph.D.

Assessment Purpose

The Council Against Domestic Assault (CADA) has been in operation for
over 15 years providing emergency shelter and supportive services to battered
women. Their overarching philosophy has been to empower women to make
good choices about their lives. Consistent with this empowerment philosophy,
CADA changed its decision making structure five years ago from one that was
hierarchical in nature to a more collective approach. The new approach is aimed at
affording all staff equal power in decision making as well as providing residents
the opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions regarding policy and
services. Its implementation included such changes as redefining job
responsibilities and more lateral communication between the board, staff,

volunteers and residents. Recently, CADA board members, staff, residents and

96

97

volunteers expressed some concern about whether the collective structure has been
implemented and carried out as planned. In order to assess the collective
structure's impact on CADA's daily operation and service provision, the
Ecological-Community Psychology Department at Michigan State University
proposes an organizational assessment aimed at addressing these issues and
providing feedback to maximize CADA's full potential.
Assessment Objectives

The focus of the organizational assessment will be to explore the
organizational members’ perceptions of the pros and cons of a feminist collective
structure. The three person organizational assessment team will attempt to
determine: "how well does the collective structure work?" Specifically, it seems
that CADA is most concerned with how the collective structure effects its
organizational operations and its service provision. The staff, board and
volunteers at CADA have identified a number of specific concerns within both
areas which are listed below.
QErations
0 Continuity between staff facilitator rotation: Is there a steady flow of
information and smooth transition between staff facilitators?
0 Accountability: Is the supervision net working?
0 Shared responsibility and burdens among staff: Does the collective structure

increase the sharing of responsibility and decrease burden among staff?

98

0 Communication between staff and board: Does the collective structure
facilitate communication between staff and board members?

0 Staff burnout: How does the collective structure affect staff burnout?
Service Provision

0 Consistency between shifts: Is there consistency between the way different
staff members see and enforce policy?

0 Client Empowerment: Do residents have more access to decision making and
power?

0 Communication with residents: How does the collective structure promote
communication between staff and residents regarding policy changes?

0 Conflict Resolution: How does the collective structure facilitate the resolution
of infighting and conflict?

To obtain information relevant to the aforementioned concerns, it will be
necessary to talk with staff, board members, volunteers, and residents about their
perception of various components of CADA and how they are affected by them.
This process will provide information about the congruency between the ideal
collectivism and its implementation.

Assessment Methods
In order to address the wide array of concerns that have been expressed, it

will be necessary to gather information from the various roles within the

99

organization. To accomplish this, two data collection methods will be employed:
open-ended interviews, and focus groups.

Given the small number of CADA staff, we propose to conduct one to
two hour interview with all staff members. Staff will be contacted directly by the
consultants during their work shifts at CADA. We will ask our CADA contact to
provide us with the names and shifts of all employees.

Secondly, we will request the names and phone numbers of current
volunteers from our CADA contact. Volunteers will be asked to participate in a
one to two hour long interview. The main target of volunteer interviews will be
those volunteers who have been with CADA long enough to become involved in
daily program activities.

In addition, we propose to hold focus groups for both past and present
residents who are interested in participating in the consultation. Focus groups
seem to provide the safest forum for residents to express their concerns because
they eliminate the possibility of residents being singled out or stigmatized for
participation. This medium will also protect the confidentiality of the residents
by allowing them to share issues and concerns with a collective voice rather than
identifying particular individuals that provided information. Lastly, this method
is most feasible given that it may be difficult to schedule individual appointments
with residents whose schedules vary during the day. Focus groups will be held in
the evening after curfew. We will ask our CADA contact to post flyers about the

focus group in the shelter.

100

Lastly, we propose to conduct phone interviews with all board members.
Given that board members are not involved in the daily operations of CADA,
they may be more difficult to contact and schedule appointments with. We will
request that out CADA contact provide interested participants with a sign up
sheet at the next board meeting. The sign up sheet will allow board members to
indicate the most convenient place and time to contact them for the phone
interviews. The purpose of these interviews will be to obtain information about
their perceptions of the overall purpose and implementation of the collective
structure.

In addition to data gathering, we propose to attend a staff meeting at which
we will provide a progress report and Obtain feedback. This will enable staff
members to become a part of the collaborative process by providing a medium for
them to express any additional questions or concerns that have arisen. At the
conclusion of the assessment, a presentation will be held to which all staff, board
members, volunteers and residents will be invited. The presentation will include a
summary of the findings and recommendations. Finally, a written report will also
be made available. This report will provide detailed information about the
organizational issues that effect the collective structure and specific interventions

that should be undertaken to improve organizational effectiveness.

APPENDIX B

Staff:

Appendix B

Potential Participants of Organizational Assessment

Bazzett, Denise (Crisis Intervention Coordinator - Part time)*

Clark, Nicole (Children’s Advocate - Part time)*

Danovitz, Sue (Overnight - Part time)

Fonseca, Lori (Counselor Advocate - Part time)"‘

Freridge, Michelle (Board Liaison & Volunteer Coordinator - Full time)*
Hagstrom, Julie (Community Ed. Coordinator - Full time)*

Harrison, Judy (Advocacy Coordinator - Full time)*

Hurlbert, Deanna (Drug & Alcohol Coordinator - Part time)

Jordan, Beth (Councilor Advocate - Part time)*

Kent , Barb (House Manager - Full time)*

Lieber, Pauline (Fundraising Coordinator - Full time)*

Redman, Yolanda (Child Care Provider - Part time)*

Rosen, Holly (Program Coordinator - Full time)*

Schwartz, Abby (Administrative Coordinator - Full time)*

Smith, Carol (Staff Facilitator & Children’s Program Coordinator - Full
time)*

Snyder, Rachel (Office Manager - Part time)

101

102

Soul, Nancy (Counselor Advocates - Part time)

Wainwright, Krista (Housing Coordinator - Part tirne)*

Board Members:

Brantley, Sherry
Glennie,Jim*
Greiner,Rick*

Koenig, Carol

Koetye Wilson, Kris
Krese, Manuela
Pedersen-Benn, Judith“
Stoll, Betsy“

Wheeler,Bonnie

Volunteers:

¥

Ester (Trainer of New Volunteers)*
Roberts, Michelle“
Vanden Heavel, Beth“

Wilson, Yvette“

"' organizational members who were interviewed by research team

APPENDIX C

Appendix C

Organizational Assessment Questionnaire
Introduction: My name is , and I’m a graduate student from
Michigan State University. As you may know, CADA has agreed to
participate in an organizational assessment. In general, what we are
looking at is how well the collective structure is working. What we would
like to do to understand this, is ask you a series of questions about CADA’s
policies & daily operation, the interaction between staff , residents,
volunteers and board members and any other information that you feel is
important. Please feel free to answer the questions as openly/honestly as
you can. It is important that you know, everything you share will be held
in the strictest confidence and that your name will not be associated with
the information we collect in any way. When we report the information
back, we will be reporting back general themes or issues mentioned by
more than 1 person. If you can’t answer one of the questions or you feel
uncomfortable, please let me know. Also, feel free stop me if you’d like to
add anything, have any questions or would like to say something off the
record. Let’s begin.

What is your position at CADA?

 

How long have you been working here?

 

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104

Stafir Burnout

What are some of the things that you like about your job?

 

 

What would you change about your job?

 

What could be done differently to help staff deal with job stressors?

 

Now I’d like to ask you about CADA’s daily operation.
Continuitybetweenstaflfacilitators
I understand that the staff facilitator is a rotating position at CADA.

How does this rotation affect your job?

 

Do you feel that there was a smooth transition between the current and

previous staff facilitator?

 

If no, what might have made the transition more smooth?

 

 

>>probe about information flow (quantity, quality, immediacy, and

accuracy)

105

I understand that everyone has an opportunity to play a supervisory role.
Accountability
Tell me a little about your position in the supervisory net. Whom

do you supervise?

 

 

What other kinds of responsibilities does that role include?

 

 

How well do you think the supervision net is working?

 

 

What are some its strengths and weaknesses?

 

Do you feel that you can hold your supervisees accountable?

 

Do you feel that others hold their supervisees accountable?

Do you feel you get the supervision you need?

 

If no, why not?

Can you think of any way to increase accountability or motivation so that

people are more likely to make sure that the job gets done?

 

106

SharedResponsibilities

What we’ve talked about so far is how responsibilities are shared in CADA
through the rotating staff facilitator position and the supervision net. My
understanding of CADA’s collective structure is that-members not only
contribute equally to the work that needs to be done but that each member
also has the power to make decisions that will influence the day-to-day
operations as well as the future direction of the organization. Is that an
accurate description? y In

Would you add or delete anything?

 

What do you like the most about the collective structure?

 

What do you like the least?

 

In general, how well does the collective structure work at CADA?

 

>probe about sharing workload (e.g., do all members share equally in the
work that needs to be done? Do some people always seem to do more than their

share of work? If no, why not?

 

 

107

How do you feel about this?

 

Do you feel that information is shared in a timely manner?

 

Do you feel that you have a voice?

 

ConflictResolution
I have heard that CADA has a strict decision making process. How well

does this process work?

 

 

When decisions cannot be resolved by consensus, how is the issue

resolved?

 

What could be done to improve that process?

 

Client Empowerment & Communication with Residents
Another thing I have heard about the collective structure is that residents

have a voice in decision-making. Is this so?

 

Do residents have an opportunity to influence decision making? If no,

why not?

108

Do residents have an opportunity to voice complaints?

 

If a resident had a complaint or concern, how would she voice it?

 

Are the individual concerns of residents being addressed effectively?

 

What are they?

 

Do you feel that the collective decision making structure promotes

communication between staff and residents?

 

If no, then how could it be more affective?

 

Communication with Stafld't Board
Do you feel that staff and board members have equal amounts of input in

the decision-making process?

 

If no, why not?

 

What, in your opinion, could be done to increase the frequency and quality

of board/staff interaction?

Do you have any other suggestions about how to improve the collective

Structure?

 

109

Now I’d like to talk about more specific issues within CADA’s daily
operation. You’ve already told me that you are a ( insert job role).

Let’s talk about interactions between staff and between staff and residents.
ConsistencyBetweenShifts

Do you believe that all staff members know CADA policies?

 

If no, why not?

 

Are staff consistent in enforcing rules?

What are some ways to ensure that staff are more consistent in the way

they enforce rules?

 

Is there anything I didn’t ask you about that you think is important to

mention? Thank you for your cooperation.

APPENDIX D

Appendix D

Organizational Assessment Focus Group Protocol
1. Likes: Tell us what you like about CADA? Why?
2. Qiglikgg; Tell us what do you not like, or would change, at CADA? Why?
3. Participation in decision making: We have heard that residents have a voice
in decision-making. Is this so? Do residents have an opportunity to influence
decision making? Why or why not? How? Do residents have an opportunity to
voice complaints? If you had a complaint or concern, how would you voice it?
What would be done about your complaint or concern?
4. Communication: Do you feel that information is shared with residents in a
timely manner? If no, why not? What could be done to improve that process?
5. Concerns: What are your concerns as a resident? Are they being addressed
effectively? If no, why do you think that is? How could you change the
organization to try and make sure your concerns are taken care of‘?
6. 91151;; Is there anything that we didn’t talk about here that you think we

should be aware of‘?

110

 

APPENDIX E

Appendix E

Organizational Assessment Interview Code Book

Demoggaphics

Respondent ID (01-24)

Job roles Full time staff
Part time staff
Board
Volunteers

Tenure zero to one year

one to two years
two plus years
ngflg themes and exemplars:
Communication Ambiguity:

Communication ambiguity reflects both formal and informal
communication. Formal communication ambiguity refers to interruptions or
inadequacies with regard to the procedures utilized to transmit and receive
information relating to organizational decisions, policies and resident information.
Informal communication refers to inadequate interactions between staff, board
members, volunteers and residents. Prototypical statements employed during data

analysis to represent communication ambiguity are:

111

112

getting information in a timely manner

lost or missing information

lack of current files on volunteers and staff

inability, or lack of, interaction with people in other parts of
organization (board/ staff/volunteers/residents)

decisions which are overturned without explanation

minority voice is ignored

no formal procedure to ensure that meetings stay on track and on time

lack of social communication, pats on back, support

Role Ambiguity:

Role ambiguity refers to the extent to which job roles are defined and

understood by members of the organization. Two levels of role ambiguity

emerged: intrapersonal and organizational. The former refers to uncertainty

regarding one’s own job roles, and the latter refers to uncertainty regarding either

another’s job roles or the general policies and procedures that underscore the

organization’s operations and services provision. Prototypical statements

employed during data analysis to represent role ambiguity are:

not sure of what the boundaries of my job are
not sure of what others in organization do
unaware of j ob position in organization

no set criteria for determining efficiency of supervision net

 

113

0 lack of accountability and monitoring

0 lack of evaluation

0 how a job role is carried out is entirely dependent on the individual
currently filling that role

0 because of flextime I don’t know what you’re doing or if you are
abusing the lack of accountability in the system

Lack ofTraining/Education:

 

Lack of training or education refers to the organizational difficulties which
arise as a result of either inadequate initial training or inadequate on-going
education. Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent
lack of training/ education are:

0 training with new volunteers and staff

0 on-goingtraining

0 how to deal with conflicts and conflict resolution

0 how to deal with cultural differences

0 how to deal with supervising cohorts and peers

0 know what to do in a crisis situation but not in day-to-day operations

0 job skills

Work Overload:
Work overload refers to the issue that the workload is unmanageable as

there are not enough resources or direct service staff to meet the needs of the

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residents or the organizational concerns. Prototypical statements employed during

data analysis to represent work overload are:

Physical Environment:

Physical environment refers to the overall physical atmosphere and safety

hard to do all you have to do
under-resourced (time, money, supplies)
paid too little for the amount of work performed r

need more full/part-time personnel

 

of the organizational environment, as well as any organizational concerns which

may arise as a result of the physical layout of the shelter. Prototypical statements

employed during data analysis to represent physical environment are:

a smoke free environment

smell

bugs

first floor vs. second floor issues
safety

services which should be offered on or off-site

Value-Actionlncongruence:

Value/action incongruence refers to the extent to which the theoretical

inrplementation of the collective is compatible with how it is actually put into

115

practice. Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent
value/actionincongruenceare:
0 say it’s a collective but not everybody feels like they have an equal
voice
0 a collective should make everybody feel equally valued, but it doesn’t r
o a collective should value alternative organizational ideals because if

came from one itself, but it doesn’t support any ideology other than

 

the dominant feminist empowerment doctrine

o a collective should work equally well at all organizational levels, but it
doesn’t

o a collective should lesson power struggles among staff because
everybody is equal, but it doesn’t

o a collective should have decisions made by everybody, but decisions
are made and changed by a small group of people

0 a collective should promote communication because you can bi-pass
problems with hierarchy, but it doesn’t because people are
uncomfortable confronting friends

0 a feminist collective should work to empower clients, but hiding the
shelter location increases disempowering psychological shame

o a collective should provide for more emotional and physical support

because everybody is in this together, but it doesn’t

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0 members like the idea of working in a collective, but not the
organizational reality which falls short of

0 members should value information and direction from peers and equals
as much as that did from superiors, but they don’t

0 little contact between supervisor and supervisee, and/or staff and
board, and/or staff and residents

0 newcomers feel only loosely connected and isolated

 

0 residents don’t know CADA is a collective

o residents don’t know their rights or obligations in the collective

0 supervisees don’t always go to supervisors

0 board can’t make proper decisions if members don’t know what’s

going on (board members must participate more)
Staff Burnout:

Staff burnout refers to the disinterest and inability of organizational
members to cope in the work environment, as well as their difficulty in
empathizing with residents and enforcing rules. Prototypical statements employed
during data analysis to represent staff burnout are:

0 hard to empathize because all calls/problems start to sound alike
0 blame victims
0 can’t be bothered to enforce rules with residents

0 burned out, uncomfortable, uninterested in enforcing rules

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0 unapproachable, too busy, not here, don’t do job
0 some staff don’t work as hard as others

0 feel stressed and overworked

0 don’t feel like I can take time off

0 made to feel guilty if I take time off

0 lack of consistency in enforcing rules

 

o supervision net is not conducted in same way by all people

 

o develops hard feelings because others don’t respect personal boundaries
Not know:

Not know refers to the organizational members lack of knowledge
with regards to a particular issue.
Intrinsic Values:

Intrinsic values refer to the empowerment philosophy and enjoyment of
the diverse experiences and growth opportunities at CADA, as well as the
firlfillment of personal and social values. Prototypical statements employed during
data analysis to represent intrinsic values are:

0 like work and what it stands for

o empowering self and others

0 growth and/or learning experience

0 fun

0 meaningful

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0 giving back to a place that helped me out when I needed it

0 educational

0 helping people in need

0 helping women and children
Collaborative Nature:

Collaborative nature refers to the shared organizational values and
philosophy of the collective structure and the enjoyment of providing, with like-
minded women, services within this organizational structure to women in need.
Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent collaborative
nature are:

0 can go to anyone for help

a mentoring relationship

0 nothierarchical

- means of support

0 working together to get things done

- helps in making judgment calls with regard to residents

0 everyone has a voice

0 acts as a check and balance

0 shares power

0 permitsexchange

0 seems to work

 

119

- participation with regard to decision making

0 people/co-workers are intelligent, sincere, committed people
Task Diversity:

Task diversity refers to the ability of organizational members to rotate
responsibilities and acquire new job skills enabling organizational members to
perform a variety of jobs when circumstances require it. Prototypical statements
employed during data analysis to represent task diversity are:

0 different jobs

- changingjobs

0 wide variety of opportunity to work in many areas

0 ability to chose area of job that most interests me and run with it

0 good experience to do
Creativity:

Creativity refers to the ability of organizational members to be creative in
the organizational environment as a result of organizational encouragement and
trust to develop and implement new ideas. Prototypical statements employed
during data analysis to represent creativity are:

0 able to be as creative as I want

0 no ceiling on creativity

0 encouraged and trusted to be creative

 

120

Quality of Service:

Quality of service refers to CADA’s inability to actualize its full potential
in terms of providing services and resources to residents. Residents experience a
lack of support in finding interpersonal, financial, housing or other resources.
Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent quality of

service are:

0 staff inaccessible when needed

 

0 lack of support in fining resources (i.e.: housing)
0 need to provide more and better service to clients
0 not enough hours of child care

0 need more education

0 just learn how to do job and then it’s changed

0 not enough women of color on staff for residents of color to feel

comfortable
0 don’t know residents well so it is hard to do job effectively
0 need to provide more and better services

0 residents feel neglected

not enough general volunteers
Not applicable:
Not applicable refers to the fact that not all organizational issues and

procedures are applicable to all organizational members.

 

APPENDIX F

Appendix F

Organizational Assessment Suggestions Code Book
Coding themes and exemplars:
Formal communication ambiguity:

Formal communication refers to the procedures utilized to transmit and
receive information relating to organizational decisions, policies and resident
information. Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent
suggestions and recommendations relating to formal communication ambiguity are:

0 officialfeedback

0 official solicitation of input (i.e.: voice) from all members during

decision making (especially quiet and/or shy ones)

0 increase information availability

0 improve documentation

0 address resident concerns at start of staff meeting to deal more

effectively with policy handling, change and enforcement

0 improve information flow to and from residents

0 staff facilitator hours
Informal communication ambiguity:

Informal communication refers to interactions between staff, board

members, volunteers and residents. Prototypical statements employed during data

121

 

122

analysis to represent suggestions and recommendations relating to informal

communication ambiguity are:

build communication network (i.e.: increased informal contact between
supervisor and supervisee, and/or staff and board, and/or staff and
residents)

0 informal feedback

0 time to vent

o pats on back

0 time to share and discuss feelings (i.e.: weekly pizza night)
Technical communication:

Technical communication refers to any mechanical tools or mechanisms
through the use of which communication can be facilitated. Prototypical
statements employed during data analysis to represent suggestions and
recommendations relating to technical communication ambiguity are:

0 E-Mail

0 voicemail

- separate crisis line

0 intercoms
Role ambiguity:

Role ambiguity refers to the extent to which job roles are defined and

understood by members of the organization. Two levels of role ambiguity

 

123

emerged: intrapersonal and organizational. The former refers to uncertainty
regarding one’s own job roles, and the latter refers to uncertainty regarding either
another’s job roles or the general policies and procedures that underscore the
organization’s operations and services provision. Prototypical statements
employed during data analysis to represent suggestions and recommendations
relating to role ambiguity are:

0 review and evaluation procedures

0 job descriptions

0 job procedures

0 defined criterions of success

- supervision

0 establish guidelines (i.e.: define appropriate action steps for commonly

encountered situations)
Lack of training and education:

Lack of training/education refers to the organizational difficulties which
arise as a result of either inadequate initial training or inadequate on-going
education. Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent
suggestions and recommendations relating to lack of training or education are:

0 professional skills (i.e.: grant writing, administrative and computer

skills)

0 interpersonal issues (i.e.: conflict resolution)

 

Value-actionincongruities: r
Value/action incongruence refers to the extent to which the theoretical

implementation of the collective is compatible with how it is actually put into

124

organizational issues (i.e.: racism and diversity)
intrapersonal issues (i.e.: grief, burnout and stress)
monthly recap of training for volunteers

monthly recap of organizational policy changes

 

practice. Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent I

suggestions and recommendations relating to value/action incongruence are:

support alternative organizational ideals other than the dominant
feminist empowerment doctrine

increase visibility (i.e.: participation) and organizational awareness of
board members

increase staff consistency (i.e.: enforcing rules, and sign up for staff-
volunteer pairing shifts)

equalization of staff and resident rights (i.e.: staff must abide by the
same rules as which are required of residents)

ensure that residents know CADA is a collective and what their rights

or obligations are in the collective

125
F undraising:

Fundraising refers to the actions employed by the organization to increase
the monies flowing into CADA. Prototypical statements employed during data
analysis to represent suggestions and recommendations relating to fundraising are:

0 personnel (i.e.: establish a coordinator or fundraising position whose F

sole responsibility is to focus on raising additional monies for CADA)

. SOllI'CCS

 

0 establish specific goals I A

0 establish files of financial donators
Personnel:

Personnel refers to the organizational members who are recruited and/or
hired to work at CADA. Specifically, it is concerned with the ethnic employee
composition, the addition of new staff positions, and the recruitment and
retention of organizational members. Prototypical statements employed during
data analysis to represent suggestions and recommendations relating to personnel
are:

0 improve recruitment and retention of volunteers

0 women of color

0 additional staff

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Functionalchanges:

Functional changes refers to the organizational dispersion of tasks, from
the point of view of use, which will contribute to the development and/or
maintenance of the larger whole by freeing up member’s time and energy.
Prototypical statements employed during data analysis to represent suggestions
and recommendations relating to functional changes are:

0 increase support group contact at CADA (i.e.: parenting, substance

abuse, women of color support groups)

0 increase networking with outside agencies (i.e.: farm out tasks to other

agencies who specialize in these domains)

0 develop ties with landlords and apartment managers who would be

willing to aid residents when they require housing

0 encourage residents to solve problems on own
Structural Changes:

Structural changes refers to suggestions and recommendations which would
modify either the types of services which are offered by CADA, or how the
collective structure of CADA is manifest. Prototypical statements employed
during data analysis to represent suggestions and recommendations relating to
structural changes are:

0 make staff facilitator a bi-yearly position instead of a yearly one

 

127

0 create a personnel manager that everybody is accountable to, but who
is different from the staff facilitator (not part of the hierarchy)

o eradicate the supervisory net

0 change long-term supervision to hierarchical style of supervision net
with person at top being responsible and accountable to the board

0 need a full time office manager who could supervise and organize

0 need to centralize certain decisions with regard to key facets of

 

decisionmaking
0 split resident and non-resident shelter services (i.e.: administrative
staff, community education, administrative coordinator, fundraising
coordinator and certain programs, should be off-site)
0 cut out legal, housing, drug and alcohol counseling and co-op it out to
the state
0 need alternative to committees because they don’t work
0 need to move off-site the crisis lines and some offices (i.e.: restraining
orders)
Resources:
Resources refers to money, supplies, and benefits which are organizational
members feel that are lacking at CADA. Prototypical statements employed
during data analysis relating to resources are:

0 need to be paid more

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0 need more money

0 need more time

0 need more supplies

0 need more benefits
Other Suggestions: f

The following recommendations did not fall neatly into any of the

preceding six categories. However, the author believed that they should

 

nonetheless be included as they represent important suggestions to the effective I
functioning and quality of service at CADA.
0 Increase the children’s play area
0 Create a separate room for crisis calls (i.e.: exchange the crisis call
room with the mail room).
0 Give volunteers and staff, who are uncomfortable performing direct
service, alternative job functions which they can perform (i.e. child
care).
0 Schedule "quiet time" so that work can be accomplished uninterrupted.
0 ensure shifts are covered

0 stop hiding shelter location

 

APPENDIX G

Appendix G

Organizational Assessment Suggestions and Recommendations

The following recommendations were primarily derived fiom several
hundred suggestions put forth by the board, staff, volunteers and residents of
CADA during their interviews, a resident focus group, and a staff brainstorming
session. Many of the following recommendations are suggestions that CADA
members may be aware of, or have already begun to address. Nevertheless,
respondents cited inconsistency and lack of enforcement in many of these areas.
Consequently, the author feels that it is worthwhile to highlight them again.

The recommendations fall into twelve broad themes: communication
ambiguity (formal, informal, technical), role ambiguity, personnel, value-action
incongruence, lack of training/education, fundraising, functional changes, structural
changes, resources and other suggestions. All of the major themes are
accompanied by definitions, recommendations, and specific actions explicating
how to implement the recommendation.

It should be noted that not all of these suggestions are immediately
possible to implement as some are contingent upon the extra resources which will
be derived through fundraising attempts. However, many of the
recommendations have’either a nominal, or no, cost associated with them and are

thus candidates for immediate adoption.

129

 

130

Formal Communication

Formal communication refers to the procedures utilized to transmit and

receive information relating to organizational decisions. Examples of suggestions

relating to formal communication are:

A. Operations information

1.

Increase Information availability

a. Write as much information as possible on the
computer (i.e. call/log sheets) so that material cannot be
lost or misplaced.

b. Telephone call forms should be standardized and
completed so that the time, date, message and message
taker are all clearly identifiable in case problems should
rise.

c. Call and log sheets should have clear identification
of who took the call or wrote the response, the time

and the day. More detailed comments and
recommendations should accompany the call and log
sheet reviews.

(1. Set a clearly defined place where staff and

volunteers must go to find new/changed information

immediately upon arriving for shift. Staff facilitator should

 

 

131

be responsible for checking initials of everyone on shift to
ensure adequate exchange of information is occurring.

e. If someone misses a staff meeting she should initial
the staff meeting minutes upon the commencement of her
shift. The staff facilitator should be responsible for
checkinginitials.

f. Policy manuals should be updated, dated, and
placed in a location which is made available to all staff,
volunteers and residents.

Improve documentation

a. All volunteers and residents leaving CADA should
complete exit interviews concerning why they are leaving
(volunteers) and any concerns, complaints or suggestions
they have for improving CADA. Board members could
conduct these interviews.

c. Monthly reports submitted to the Board should be
copied in duplicate and made available for all personnel’s
use.

d. A formalized routing system should be adopted to

ensure that all personnel receive the information required

of them.

 

 

132

B. Resident information
1. Improve information flow, from and for, residents
a. Input should be solicited from residents at the exit
interview to determine what, if anything, made them feel
uncomfortable or offended during their stay at CADA.
b. During first or second day processing residents
should be told that CADA is a collective and what this

means and how it will affect them. They should be

 

appraised of their rights and obligations at CADA. They
should also be appraised of the difficulties of communal
living and that extra sensitivities are going to be required of
the residents. Finally, residents should be told at this time
that they should feel free to voice their concerns to staff and
volunteers.
c. When discussing CADA house rules all staff and
volunteers should explain why rules (i.e.-no spanking)
were established, especially if they are culturally-biased
rules.
InformalCommunication
Informal communication refers to informal interactions between staff, board
members, volunteers and residents. Planned informal communication involves

supplementing formal communication in order to increase both the exchange of

133

information and the social integration among various organizational units.
Examples of suggestions relating to informal communication are:
A. Build a communication network
1. Increase informal communication to verify changes and
provide opportunity for spontaneous feedback.
2. Plan social occasions for organizational members to connect and
touch base with one another.
a. Plan opportunities to vent, share and discuss how
things are going by institutionalizing pizza parties or coffee
houses on a weekly or monthly basis at a set time and
place.
3. Reward with praise and acknowledgment things which

have been done well, or projects on which observable/ measurable progress

has been made.
4. Plan staff retreats.
5. Have Fun!

Communication Technology

Communication technology refers to any mechanical tools or mechanisms
through the use of which communication can be facilitated. Many of the proposed
technological changes are inexpensive but highly effective tools to increase both
the ease and the efficiency of communication between CADA personnel. The

more costly items like computers, copiers and faxes can be placed on a prioritized

134

list of ‘things to do’ with incoming fundraising monies. Alternatively, companies
may be approached to donate these items to CADA (see Fundraising suggestions

for details). Suggestions concenring communication technology are as follows:

 

A. Technicalcommunicationdeficiencies
1. Separate crisis telephone lines from business telephone lines.
2. Intercom
3. Voicemail
4. E-Mail
5. More computers and training to use them (see Lack of Training/

Educationrecommendations).

6. Copier

7. Fax

8. Phone tree
Role ambiguity

Role ambiguity refers to the extent to which job roles are defined and
understood by members of the organization. Two levels of role ambiguity
emerged: intrapersonal and organizational. The former refers to uncertainty
regarding one’s own job roles, and the latter refers to uncertainty regarding either
another’s job roles or the general policies and procedures that underscore the
organization’s operations and services provision. Examples of suggestions relating

to role ambiguity are:

135

A. Organizational operations

1.

Job descriptions and procedures

a. Review and rewrite job descriptions on a yearly
basis and submit with yearly evaluation. These should
include clear definitions of responsibilities and should be
made available to all organizational employees.

b. Have all program coordinators, staff facilitator and

 

staff liaison maintain ongoing documentation regarding i I:
what they are doing in their jobs, how they are doing it,
major issues that their replacements will be facing and
recommendations for dealing with these issues (see

current staff facilitator notebook for possible example).

B. Intrapersonal

1.

Job review and evaluation

a. All supervisors should maintain administrative,
personnel and volunteer folders. These should specify in
detail job roles and responsibilities, and measurable or
observable criterion for success. This should facilitate an
increased ability to review and evaluate personnel through
the charting of their progress and the monitoring of their

weaknesses and improvements, both required and

136

attained. Specific actions and comments should

accompany these reports.

b. Supervisors should meet with supervisees on a

monthly basis for staff and more frequently with volunteers,

to discuss progress, individual goals and problems (see

above)

c. The program coordinators should receive more

feedback on a continual basis from staff and volunteers

regarding problems and successes with program

implementation.
Personnel

Personnel refers to the organizational members who are recruited and/or
hired to work at CADA. Specifically, it is concerned with the ethnic employee
composition, the addition of new staff positions, and the recruitment and
retention of organizational members. Suggestions concerning personnel are as
follows:
A. Increase Number of Additional Personnel
1 . Direct service
a. Maintain more contractual people so that there are
always sufficient direct service personnel available for each

shift.

 

137

b. Extra weekend and night people are needed (see

Volunteer section for recruitment ideas).

0. A personnel or direct service manager Should be

hired.

Volunteers

a. Improve recruitment techniques
i. Need to access more work study, internship
and vista volunteers by contacting internship offices
at MSU and LCC in as many departments as
possible.
ii. Need to establish regular contact professorial
staff at MSU and LCC to acquaint them with the
possibility that their students can conduct work
studies or get credits for volunteerism at CADA or
conduct studies at CADA.
iii. Need to contact hospitals and other agencies
of concerned individuals who might consent to
volunteer (i.e. junior and seniors high school
students, retirees, religious groups).

b. Improve retention techniques
i. Let volunteers know they’re appreciated by

increasing the social aspect of volunteerism at CADA.

 

138

Building on the bonding of volunteers who trained
together can be accomplished by having volunteers
describe why they are working at CADA and what they
are getting out of it (diminishes dissonance and
builds communication).
2. Women of color
a. Should recruit more women of color for staff and
volunteers.
3. Other possible staff additions
a. Permanent fund-raiser person
b. Permanent child-care provider
Value-ActionIncongruities
Value-action incongruence refers to the extent to which the theoretical
implementation of the collective is compatible with how it is actually put into
practice. There are a number of inconsistencies mentioned within and among the
staff, volunteers and board at CADA. Recommendations for ameliorating this
situation are as follows:
A. Board
1. Increase the visibility and organizational awareness of

board members

 

Staff

139

a. Board should volunteer and participate at CADA a
minimum number of hours a month; the exact number of
which should be jointly determined by board and staff.

b. Board should take crisis intervention training.

c. Board members who are not willing commit to, and

to perform, the above should be reconsidered.

Increasing staff consistency

a. Staff should sign up for pairing shifts with volunteers.
b. Staff should support and back decisions of other
staff and volunteers with regard to residents, unless they
are a glaring mistake.

c. If staff rescind a decision made by a fellow staff
member or volunteer, the rationale for the change must be
discussed with the person who made the original decision.
d. Staff must abide by the same rules which are
required of residents (i.e.: Staff must not smoke or eat in
areas where residents are forbidden to do so).

e. Staff must pair down enforceable rules and

consistently enforce them.

 

 

140

Lack of Training and Education

Lack of in-services and on-going training and education refers to the
organizational difficulties which arise as a result of either inadequate initial training
or inadequate on-going education. Examples of suggestions to ameliorate this
problem are:
A. On-goingtraining

1. Volunteers and staff should be offered two opportunities

(one of which they should attend) each month to participate in a

session that will:

a. Recap training for volunteers
b. Recap changes that have occurred in the last month
c. Ensure that new staff and volunteers are not missing

key information with regard to new, or changed, rules and
regulations.
d. Ensure that new staff and volunteers are aware of

key issues for residents.

e. Share a ‘this is what we all do at CADA” evening for
new volunteers
B. Professional skills seminars
1. Various agencies (see yellow pages), and university departments,

can be contacted to inquire whether there is someone who is both willing

and able to give pro bono workshops in any of the following areas:

 

C. In-services

1.

CO

d.

141

How to conduct administrative paper work
How to write a report
How to write a grant

Computer skills

The following are organizational and interpersonal issues

which would benefit from in-services:

a.

How to deal with issues relating to racism and

diversity. (Preferably, these classes should be taught by

women of color).
b. How to deal with stress.
0. How to deal with burnout.
d. How to set limits as an organization and as an
individual.
e. How to mediate to solve conflict.
D. Resident in-services and education

1.

Hold regular housing workshops to help educate residents

with regard to where and how they may find a new home.

a.

Develop ties with landlords and apartment

managers who would be willing to aid residents when they

require help.

 

142

b. Contact Realtors who may be able to highlight

alternative sources of housing at not-for-profit prices.
Fundraising

‘ Fundraising refers to the actions employed by the organization to increase
the monies flowing into CADA. It is directly related to CADA's ability to
implement some of the more costly recommendations offered above. The
following are examples of suggestions relating to fundraising at CADA:
A. Personnel
1. Establish a coordinator of fundraising position whose sole

responsibility is to focus on raising additional monies for CADA.

B. Some areas of possible resources for funding

1. Grants

2. Business community
a. Ask businesses to donate space to CADA.
b. Ask businesses to donate skills and/or services.
0. Increase ties to local businesses to sponsor

fundraising events.

(I. Since CADA is a not-for-profit organization,

businesses can use the donation as a tax write-off.

3. Fundraising events.

143

4. Telephone solicitation conducted by volunteers. (Speak to
MSU and LCC and try to access students from persuasion classes in
communication and fundraising classes).

C. Meeting and establishing goals
1. Establish clear fundraising goals for a specific time period [-
so that there are clear targets to work towards and to rally around.

2. Establish files of people who financially support CADA and

 

attempt to access them on a yearly basis. '1
Functional changes

Functional changes refers to the organizational dispersion of tasks, from
the point of view of use, which will contribute to the development and /or
maintenance of the larger whole by freeing up member’s time and energy.
Examples of suggestions pertaining to functional changes are as follows:
A. Boundary Spanning

1. Increase networking with outside agencies (i.e.: farm out

tasks to other agencies who specialize in these domains).

2. Develop ties with landlords and apartment managers who

would be willing to aid residents when they require housing.

3. Increase support group contact at CADA (i.e.: parenting,

substance abuse, women of color support groups).

B. Self-reliance

144

1. Encourage residents to solve problems on their own.
Structural Changes

Structural changes refers to suggestions and recommendations which would
modify either the types of services which are offered by CADA, or how the

collective structure of CADA is manifest. Examples of suggestions relating to

structural changes are:
A. Servicemodifications
1. Move the crisis lines to an off-site location.
2. Move administrative offices to an off-site location.
3. Move off-site specific resident and non-resident shelter

services (i.e.: community education, and legal counseling).
4. Co-op to the state the legal, housing, drug and alcohol
counseling

B. Collective structure modifications
1. Change the staff facilitator bi-yearly instead of a annually.
2. Centralize certain decisions with regard to key facets of decision
making.
3. Create a full time office manager who could supervise and
organize personnel
4. Create a personnel manager that everybody is accountable
to, but who is different from the staff facilitator (not part of the

hierarchy).

 

‘m .a - -.
1
hr

145

5. Change the structure of long-term supervision from a net to
a hierarchical structure with the person at the top being responsible
and accountable to the board.
Resources
Resources refers to money, supplies, and benefits which are organizational

members feel that are lacking at CADA. Examples of suggestions relating to

resources are:
A. Deficient resources
1. Staff wages need to increase.
2 Staff need more money for operations.
3. Staff need more time to accomplish work.
4. Staff need more supplies.
5. Staff need more benefits.

Other Suggestions

The following recommendations did not fall neatly into any of the
preceding suggestion categories. However, the author believed that they were

nonetheless valuable suggestions which could significantly impact CADA's future.

A. Environmental alterations
1. Increase the children’s play area.
2. Separate the room for crisis calls (i.e.: switch the crisis call

room with the mail room).

 

146

3. Change the smoking room to one with more windows and
ventilation.

Odds and sods

1. Stop hiding the location of the shelter.

2. Give volunteers and staff, who are uncomfortable performing
direct service, alternative job functions which they can perform (i.e.
child care).

3. Schedule "quiet time" so that work can be accomplished

uninterrupted.

 

LIST OF TABLES

 

TABLE 1 - Independent Variables, and Dependent Process and Outcome

 

 

Variables
Independent Dependent Dependent Dependent
variables (Process) (Structural) (Service)
variables variables variables
-j ob role -communication -work overload -quality of
ambiguity service
-tenure -physical
-role ambiguity environment
-lack of training & -value-action
education incongruence
-staff burnout
-intrinsic value
-collaboration

-task diversity
-creativity

-not know

 

147

 

TABLE 2 - Distribution of Organizational Members by Tenure and Job Role

 

 

Tenure N Job Role N
0 - 1 year“ 9 Full Time 6
1 - 2 years 7 Part Time 5
2 + years 8 Board 7
Unknown (Staff Creative Volunteer 5
Problem Solving Group 1 Resident Focus Group 1

Staff Creative Problem

Solving Group) 1

 

 

*When the resident focus group was included in an analysis incorporating the
tenure variable it was subsumed under the tenure category of 0 - 1 year, as the
average stay of most residents in one month.

148

TABLE 3 - Frequencies and Percentages of Questionnaire Responses

 

 

Variables cited # of times cited % times
process
role ambiguity 181 100
communicationarnbiguity 163 100
ongoing training& education 38 75
structural outcome - positively valanced perceptions
collaboration 279 100
intrinsic values 24 83
task diversity 21 62
creativity 4 14
structural outcome - negatively valanced perceptions
value-actionincongruence 140 92
not know 119 75
work overload 52 79
staff burnout 35 67
physical environment 20 54
service outcome
quality of service 33 71

 

 

149

TABLE 4 - Most Frequent responses to Research Question 1:
How does the collective structure affect communication among
board, full/part time staff, volunteers and residents

 

Interview
Questions

Cat

Fre Cat

Fre Cat

Fre Cat

Fre

 

Q5 How does
the rotation of

facilitators affect

your job?

Q6 Was there a
smooth
transition
between the
current and
previous
facilitator?

Q14 What do
you like most
about the
collective

Q15 What do
you like least
about the
collective
structure?

Q16 In general,
how well does
the collective
structure work
at CADA?

Q18 Do you
feel that
information is
shared on a
timely manner?

Com
Amb

Role

Collab

Role

Collab

Com

10

10

ll

17

Role Amb 10 Q-
Sevice

Com 9 Collab

Task 4 Incong
Diversity

Incong 8 Work
Overload

Incong 7 Role

Role Amb 7 Collab

150

7

5

6

Not
Know

Not
Know

Intrinsic
Values

Collab

Com

Incong

5

 

151

Table 4 - (cont’d)

Q19 Do you Collab 19 Incong 9 Com 3 Role 2
feel that you Amb Amb

have avoice?

Q24 Do Collab 11 Incong 8 Com 5 Not 5
residents have an Amb Know
opportunity to

influence

decisionmaking?

Q31 Do you Role 15 Collab 9 Com 8 Not 3
believe that all Amb Amb Know

staff members

know CADA

policies?

 

 

NOTE. N = 24. Cat = Category; Fre = fiequency; Com Amb = communication
ambiguity; Role Amb = Role ambiguity; Incong = value-action incongruence;
Collab = collaboration; Q-Service = Quality of service.

TABLE 5 - Frequencies of Categories for Research Question 1

 

 

 

Category Frequency
Collaboration 97
Role Ambiguity 60
Communication Ambiguity 55
Not Know 22
Value-Actionlncongruence 38
Quality of Service 7
Task Diversity 4
Intrinsic Values 2

 

152

TABLE 6 - Most Frequent responses to Research Question 2: How does the
collective structure affect the structural and service outcomes at CADA?

 

Interview Cat Fre Cat Fre Cat Fre Cat F re
Questions

 

Q13 Would you Collab 12 Incong 12 Com 2 Role 2 __
add or delete Amb Amb r
anything from the
description of the
functional
operation of
CADA? g

 

Q26 Are the Collab 11 Physical 6 Incong 3 Role 3
concerns of the Envirmnt Amb
residents being

addressed

effectively? If no,

why not?

 

NOTE. N = 24. Cat = Category; Fre = frequency; Com Amb = communication
ambiguity; Rol Amb = Role ambiguity; Incong = value-action incongruence; Collab
= collaboration.

153

 

TABLE 7 - Frequencies of Categories for Research Question 2

 

 

Category Fregency
Collaboration 23
Value Action Incongruence 15
Physical Environment 6
Role Ambiguity 5
Communication Ambiguity 2

 

 

154

TABLE 8 - Cross Tabulation of Job Role with Process and Outcome Variables

 

VARIABLE FULL PART BOARD VOLUNTEER RESIDENT

 

 

TIME TIME
N = 6 N = 5 N = 7 N = 5 N = l

Fre Fre Fre Fre F re
Com Amb Lo 2 3 3 3 1
Com Amb Hi 4 2 4 2
Role Amb Lo 1 3 2 1
Role Amb Hi 5 2 1 3 0
Training Lo 0 3 2 1 0
Training Med 0 2 3 4 1
Training Hi 6 0 2 0 0
Overload Lo 0 0 1 1
Overload Med 2 2 4 1 0
Overload Hi 4 3 2 1 0
Environment Lo 1 1 3 0
Environment Hi 5 4 l 2 1
Incong Lo 0 0 1 0
Incong Med 3 4 2 l
Incong Hi 3 3 3 2 0
Burnout Lo 0 2 3 3 0
Burnout Med 3 1 2 1
Burnout Hi 3 1 3 0 0
Not Know Lo 2 1 1 0 1
Not Know Med 4 2 2 0
Not Know Hi 0 2 4 3 0
Intrinsic Lo 0 3 0 l 0
Intrinsic Hi 6 2 7 4 1
Collab Lo 1 l 2 1
Collab Med 3 2 2 1 0
Collab Hi 2 2 3 1 0

155

156

Table 8 - (cont’d)

Task Lo 0 1 3 4 1
Task Hi 6 4 4 l 0
Creativity Lo 5 3 7 4 1
Creativity Hi 1 2 0 1 O
Q-Service Lo 2 2 2 1 0
Q-Service Hi 4 3 5 4 1

 

NOTE. Fre = fiequency; Com amb = Communication ambiguity; Role amb = role
ambiguity; Training = lack of training & education; Environment = physical
environment; Incong = value-action incongruence; Burnout = staff burnout;
Intrinsic = intrinsic values; Collab = collaboration; Task = task diversity; Q-
Service = quality of service.

 

TABLE 9 - Cross Tabulation of Tenure with Process and Outcome Variables

 

 

VARIABLE 0 -1 YEARS 1-2 YEARS 2+ YEARS
NAME N=9 N = 7 N = 8
Frequency Frequency Frequency
Com Amb Lo 7 2 3
Com Amb Hi 2 5 5
Role Amb Lo 6 5 2
Role Amb Hi 3 2 6
Training Lo 4 2 0
Training Med 5 2 3
Training Hi 0 3 5
Overload Lo 4 1 0
Overload Med 4 3 2
Overload Hi 1 3 6
Environment Lo 5 5 1
Environment Hi 4 2 7
Incong Lo 2 0 0
Incong Med 5 2 4
Incong Hi 2 5 4
Burnout Lo 6 1 1
Burnout Med 3 2 4
Burnout Hi 0 4 3
Not Now Lo 1 2 2
Not Know Med 2 2 6
Not Know Hi 6 3 0
Intrinsic Lo 3 1 0
Intrinsic Hi 6 6 8
Collab Lo 5 1 2
Collab Med 1 3 4
Collab Hi 3 3 2

157

158

Table 9 - (cont’d)

Task Diversity Lo 5 2 1
Task Diversity Hi 4 7
Creativity LO 7 6 7
Creativty Hi 2 1 1

 

NOTE. Com amb = Communication ambiguity; Role amb = role ambiguity;
Training = lack of training & education; Environment = physical environment;
Incong = value-action incongruence; Burnout = staff burnout; Intrinsic = intrinsic
values; Collab = collaboration; Q-Service = quality of service.

 

TABLE 10 - Most Frequent responses to Research Question 3:

What can be done to improve the structural and service outcomes at CADA?

 

Interview Questions

Q4 What could be done
differently to help
you deal with Job
stressors?

Q12 Can you think ofa
way to increase the
accountability or
motivation so that
people will be more
likely to make sure
that the job gets
done?

Q22 What could be done
to improve the
conflict resolution
process at CADA?

Q29 What, in your
opinion, could be
done to increase the
frequency and
quality of
board/staff
interactions?

Q30 Do you have any
other suggestions
for how to improve
the collective
structure?

Cat

Work
Over
load

Com

Not

Know

Collab

Not

Know

159

Fre

13

11

10

Cat

Com
Amb

Role

Com

Not

Know

Role

Fre Cat

11

5

Role
Amb

Training 3

&Ed

Role

Incong

Cat Fre

Staff 8
Burnout

Collab 3

Incong 4

Role 3

Com 4

.I‘

 

160
Table - 10 (cont’d)

Q33 What are some ways Role 9 Com 7 Training 4 Work

to ensure that staff Amb Amb & Ed Over-
are more consistent load
in the ways they '
enforce rules?

 

NOTE. N = 24. Cat = Category; Fre = frequency; Com Amb = communication
ambiguity; Rol Amb = Role ambiguity; Training & Ed = lack of training and
education; Incong = value-action incongruence; Collab = collaboration.

 

TABLE 11- Frequencies of Categories for Research Question 3

 

 

Category Frequency
Communication Ambiguity 45
Role Ambiguity 40
Not Know 19
Work Overload 17
Collaboration 1 1
Value-Actionlncongruence 9
Staff Burnout 8

Lack of Training & Education 7

 

161

 

TABLE 12 - Frequencies and Percentages of Questionnaire Suggestion for
Research Question 4: What are the suggestions and recommendations
organizational members have for improving CADA?

 

 

 

Variables # of times cited % times
forrnalcommunication 19 79
lack oftraining/education 1 8 75
personnel 17 71
communicationtechnology 16 67
role ambiguity 1 1 46
informalcommunication 9 36
structural changes 8 33
inadequate resources 6 25
other 6 25
value-action incongruity 5 21
fundraising 3 1 3
functional changes 3 13

 

162

TABLE 13 - Cross Tabulation of Job Role Variable with Questionnaire

 

 

SuggestionVariables

VARIABLE FULL PART BOARD VOLUNTEER RESIDENT
NAME TIME TIME

N = 6 N = 5 N = 7 N = 5 N = 1

Fre Fre Fre Fre Fre
Formal Lo 0 3 1 2
Formal Hi 6 2 6 3 1
Informal Lo 4 4 4 3
Informal Hi 2 1 3 2 1
Technical Lo 1 4 1 3
Technical Hi 5 1 6 2 1
Role Amb Lo 3 4 3 3 0
Role Amb Hi 3 1 4 2 1
Training Lo 1 A 2 l 2 0
Training Hi 5 3 6 3 1
Incong Lo 0 2 2 2
Incong Hi 6 5 5 3 1
F undraise Lo 6 5 5 5 0
F undraise Hi 0 O 2 0 1
Personnel Lo 2 1 2 0 0
Personnel Hi 4 4 5 5 1
Function Lo 5 5 5 0
Function Hi 1 0 2 0 1
Other Lo 4 5 5 4 0
Other Hi 2 0 2 1 1
Resource Lo 1 5 4 0
Resource Hi 5 0 1 1 1

163

 

164

Table 13 - (cont’t)

Structure Lo 3 5 5 4 0
Structure Hi 3 0 2 1 1

 

Ngtg; N = 24; Fre = frequency; Formal = formal communication; Informal =
informal communication; Role amb = role ambiguity; Training = lack of
training/education; Incong = value-action incongruence; Fundraise = fundraising;
Personnel = personnel; Other = other; Resource = inadequate resource; Structure =
structural changes. Pip

 

TABLE 14 - Cross Tabulation of Tenure with Questionnaire Suggestion

 

 

Variables
VARIABLE 0-1 YEARS 1-2 YEARS 2+ YEARS UNKNOWN
NAME N = 9 N = 7 N = 8 N = 1
Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency
Formal Lo 3 2 O 0
Formal Hi 5 5 8 1
Informal Lo 7 3 5 0
Informal Hi 1 4 3 1
Technical Lo 5 1 2 0
Technical Hi 3 6 6 1
Role Amb Lo 7 3 3 0
Role Amb Hi 1 4 5 1
Training Lo 4 0 2 0
Training Hi 4 7 6 1
Incong Lo 5 1 1 0
Incong Hi 3 6 7 1
Fundraise Lo 8 6 7 . 0
F undraise Hi 0 l 1 1
Personnel Lo 3 2 2 0
Personnel Hi 5 5 6 1
Function Lo 8 5 7 1
Function Hi 0 2 1 0
Other Lo 8 4 6 O
Other Hi 0 3 2 1
Resource Lo 8 5 3 1
Resource Hi 0 2 5 0

165

 

166

Table 14 - (cont’d)

Structure Lo 8 5
Structure Hi 0 2 5

 

Mg, Formal = formal communication; Informal = informal communication;
Role amb = role ambiguity; Training = lack oftraining/education; Incong = value-
action incongruence; Fundraise = fundraising; Personnel = personnel; Other =
other; Resource = inadequate resource; Structure = structural changes.

 

 

TABLE - 15 - Most frequent responses cited for the eight research themes
comprising the CADA Questionnaire

Burnout
Q4 What could be done differently to help you deal with job stressors?

 

Work Overload Com Ambiguity Role Ambiguity

 

Frequency 13 1 1 1 1 Pg

 

 

Continuity Between Facilitators

 

 

 

Q5 How does this rotation affect your job? I "if
Com Ambiguity Role Ambiguity
Frequency 10 10

 

Q6 Was there a smooth transition between the current and the previous staff
facilitator? If no, what might have made the transition more smooth?

 

Role Ambiguity Com Ambiguity Collaboration Not Know

Frequency 10 9 9 9

 

Accountability
Q12 Can you think of a way to increase accountability or motivation so that
people are more likely to make sure that the job gets done?

 

 

Com Role Ambiguity
Ambiguity
Frequency 1 1 6

 

167

168

Shared responsibilities
Q13 Would you add or delete anything from the description of the functional
operation of CADA?

 

Incongruence Collaboration

 

Frequency 12 12

 

Q14 What do you like most about the collective structure?

 

 

Collaboration Task
Diversity
Frequency 21 4

 

Q15 What so you like least about the collective structure?

 

Role Ambiguity Incongruence

 

Frequency 1 1 6

 

Q16 In general, how well does the collective structure work at CADA?

 

Collaboration Incongruence Role AmbimL

 

Frequency 1 7 7 5

 

Q18 Do you feel that information is shared in a timely manner?

 

 

Com Role Ambiguity
Ambiguity

Frequency 1 5 7

 

169

Q19 Do you feel that you have a voice?

 

Collaboration Incongruence

Frequency 1 9 9

 

Conflict Resolution
Q22 What could be done to improve the conflict resolution process?

 

Not Know Corn Ambiguity Role Ambiguity

Frequency 9 6 6

 

Client empowerment
Q24 Do residents have an opportunity to influence decision making?
If no, why not?

 

 

Collaboration Incongruence

Frequency 1 1 8

 

Q26 Are the concerns of the residents being addressed effectively?
If no, why not?

 

Collaboration Physical Environment

Frequency 1 1 6

 

 

170

Communication with staff and board
Q29 What, in your opinion, could be done to increase the frequency and quality
of board/ staff interaction?

 

Collaboration Not Know Com Ambiguity

 

Frequency 8 8 6

 

Q30 Do you have any other suggestions for how to improve the collective structure?

 

Not Know Role Ambiguity Incongruence

 

Frequency 10 5 5

 

Consistency between shifts
Q31 Do you believe that all staff members know CADA policies? If no,
why not?

 

Role Ambiguity Collaboration Com Ambiguity

 

Frequency 1 5 9 8

 

Q33 What are some ways to ensure that staff are more consistent in the way they
enforce rules?

 

Role Com Ambiguity
Ambiguity

 

Frequency 9 7

 

 

 

 

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