Coping in a Constrained Economy

Abstract

Direct service providers are faced with enormous challenges in today's volatile political and economic climate. A comparative study of human service organizations in California, Michigan, and North Carolina was undertaken to explore the strategies adopted to maintain mission integrity. One hundred twelve (112) organizations participated in the study. It was hypothesized that multiple strategies would be used and these would differ by geographic location and principal program focus. Results showed that a broad range of internal and external strategies were used, most meeting or exceeding expectations, but task and processing demands appeared to dictate the choice of strategies to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency.

Key Words:

• Environmental challenges
• leadership and decision-making
• mission integrity
• organizational change
• strategic management