Organizational Growth: Control or Chaos? Heather M. McGee, Ph.D.

Transcription

1 Organizational Growth: Control or Chaos? Heather M. McGee, Ph.D. 1

2 Statistics Approximately 1 in 88 children identified with an ASD (ADDM, 2008) Approximately 1 in 6 US children had a developmental disability in A quick search of Autism Speaks identified 188 ABA service providers in Texas, 329 in California, 251 in Florida A search of BACB site identified 706 BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, and BCaBAs in Texas 3.75 BCBAs per service provider 2

3 Two Approaches to Organizational Growth Grow the Client Base and Then Identify and Implement Required System Changes Identify and Implement Required System Changes and Then Grow the Client Base 3

4 Considerations Approach #1 How will an increase in number of clients served impact our organizational health? What is our current capacity? Have we reached it? Room to grow still? What will the impact be on quality of service provision, training, retention? Approach #2 What changes in the organization are required to impact the number of clients we serve? Do we have the resources to invest in growth? How long will the system changes take? At what point will we be prepared to take on more clients? 4

5 Considerations Approach #1 How will an increase in number of clients served impact our organizational health? What is our current capacity? Have we reached it? Room to grow still? Have we run the numbers? What will the impact be on quality of service provision, training, retention? Approach #2 How does a change in the organization impact the number of clients we serve? Do we have the resources to invest in growth? How long will the system changes take? At what point will we be prepared to take on more clients? 5

6 Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA) Recognizing an organization as an adaptive system Understanding that a change in one part of a system affects other parts of the system Use Organizational System Map to assess impact of growth on organizational system 6

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8 1. Clients Our starting point, this is the change in the system that we are considering Need to identify HOW this change impacts the other parts of the system Note that we are saying HOW and not WHETHER BSA assumes a change in one part of system affects other parts of system Define the change: We would like to grow our client base by X number of individuals over Y amount of time 8

9 2. Mission What is our mission? Why do we exist? Does growing our client base align with our mission? Is growth part of our strategic plan? 9

10 3. Products/Services How would new clients impact our product and service provision? Add, eliminate, or alter services? Impact quality of service provision? 10

11 4. Internal and External Feedback Measures What are our current internal standards for client service? How would these be impacted? How satisfied are our current consumers and their families? Would adding clients have a positive or negative impact on new or current clients? 11

12 5. Resources/Suppliers Do we have the resources to grow our client base? Labor Technology Equipment & Materials Financial Can we reasonably expect (afford) to increase resources in order to increase capacity? 12

13 5. Resources/Suppliers If growing our client base requires an increase in resources, can suppliers support this? Can we get more qualified staff? Where would they come from? Is more funding available? 13

14 6. Organizational Functions What would be the effect on the various functions of the organization? Leadership/Supervision Product/Service Provision Support Functions Administration Functions 14

15 6. Organizational Functions - Leadership/Supervision Are organizational leaders prepared to make required systems changes? Will strategy, policies, or procedures be affected? How will leaders communicate changes? Will new clients require more supervision of staff? Are supervisors able to increase supervision load? Will quality of supervision suffer? 15

16 6. Organizational Functions - Product/Service Provision Will new clients mean increased workload for staff? What is the optimal staff to client ratio? Will quality of service provision suffer? 16

17 6. Organizational Functions - Support Functions If new clients means hiring new staff, will it be possible to provide instructionally sound, performance-based training? Who will train? What will the client impact be? Will retention be impacted? Is the selection and placement process sound? 17

18 Do intake, billing, and records keeping have the human and technology capacity to handle new/more client records? 6. Organizational Functions - Administration Functions 18

19 7. Environmental Factors How will external factors impact the organization if we increase the number of individuals we serve? Regional Economy Funding Opportunities Regulations ACA/Insurance Licensure Certification 19

20 8. Competition Considering the impact on all other components of the system, would this change increase or decrease your competitive advantages? 20

21 Two Approaches to Organizational Growth Grow the Client Base and Then Identify and Implement Required System Changes Identify and Implement Required System Changes and Then Grow the Client Base 21

22 Considerations Is it reasonable to think that if you take Approach #1 you will be able to go back later and identify and implement necessary system changes effectively and efficiently? Is it more likely that employees will be overworked, feel undervalued? Is it more likely that clients and their families will think quality of service has suffered and decide to go to one of the other 187 ABA service providers? Is it possible that you will spend so much time putting out fires that you don t have the time or energy to spend on addressing necessary system changes? 22

23 The Big Take-Away Chaotic Growth Bring in clients now, figure it out later Capacity concerns Potential negative impact on quality of service Potential negative impact on employee training and satisfaction Turnover, client dissatisfaction, bad word of mouth, loss of clients Controlled Growth Understand the impact Identify needed changes in advance You don t exist without your clients and employees, so the impact on these two groups is of critical importance 23

24 Questions or Comments? Contact information: 24