United Way Management Simple Storage Service (S3)
Running Head: UNITED WAY MANAGEMENT
Overview of the Management Practices of United Way Prepared for Dr. Doyle J. Lucas BSNS 2710 Principles of Management Falls School of Business Anderson University
A Study Conducted by Tessa Williams Submitted November 23, 2015
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UNITED WAY MANAGEMENT
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United Way is a worldwide organization that focuses on the needs of education, income, and health in communities around the world. This organization is known as the largest nonprofit in the United States and raises billions of dollars for people around the world. With an organization so large and successful, the management must be wonderful. I personally plan on pursuing a career with United Way someday and wish to know more about how the organization as a whole works. Section I. General Description of the Enterprise and its Environment According to unitedway.org, United Way was founded as a nonprofit organization in 1887 by a group of five people who banded together to raise money for local charities who were in need. The name of the organization stems from how these people were united to find a way to help those charities. As the organization has grown over the years, there are now eighteen hundred United Ways in forty different countries and approximately fifty million lives around the world have been impacted by their work. United Way is also the world’s largest privatelyfunded nonprofit organization. Currently, the organization has four groups who work together to manage United Way. These groups include: the leadership team, the worldwide board of trustees, the U.S.A. board of trustees, and the United Way worldwide leadership council. The latter three of the groups are consisted of board members who work for other organizations or companies. These members are unpaid and have been specifically asked to join the board. The superior group to the other three is the leadership team. This group is led by the president and chief executive officer of United Way, Brian A. Gallagher. This group is made of
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people who work directly for United Way and are not board members. The goal of the leadership team is to listen to the board members and use that information to make a better United Way that will make an even greater impact on communities around the world. Unitedway.org states that “our leadership team reflects the broader collaborative spirit of United Way: only by bringing together people from all sectors of society can we create innovative solutions that address the most complex challenges of our time.” The leadership team works as a group but is led by the president, Brian A. Gallagher. Gallagher is the highest manager in the organization and thus this team reports to him. The remaining three teams report to the leadership team as a whole since United Way promotes collaboration and teamwork. Below these groups are the board members from specific United Ways throughout the world. These board members vary in size depending on the size of the community. Nancy Vaughan is currently the president of the United Way of Madison County and was once a board member while working for a bank. As a board member, she would work with other members and the president of the community’s United Way to voice problems and concerns and discover ways to repair them. Since she has become the president, the board has shrunk from approximately thirty members to eighteen. Vaughan stated in an interview that “smaller boards are now the trend in the industry.” While there are fewer people on the Madison County board, Vaughan said that she is still pulled in multiple directions by the members. She has meetings with the board every other month that last about two and a half hours that mainly consist of strategic planning. Below the board members is the president. The president is in charge of managing that community’s United Way. At the United Way in Madison County, there are seven employees
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that the president is directly in charge of managing. Each of these employees have their own responsibilities and specialties. They all report to the president when needed. Below these employees there is one intern that is hired to manage Student United Way on the Anderson University campus. I, Tessa Williams, currently hold this position at the Madison County United Way. I am the only employee who does not report directly to the president, Nancy Vaughan. My boss is Kim Williams who is the vice president and resource developer. Below my position as the intern are the volunteers from Anderson University that I gather to join Student United Way. Beyond the sixty members of the four leadership boards, there are multiple employees at each of the eighteen hundred United Way locations. There is no official number given for how many employees there are in United Way. While this is not provided, the United Way website states that the organization has over ten million donors and almost three million volunteers. Annually, the organization has raised five billion dollars to give to local charities and organizations. United Way provides funds for groups in local communities who are in need of help. These funds are the main work of this organization. Employees do volunteer and meet the people in the community with other volunteers but they are mainly focusing on fundraising. Since United Way is a nonprofit, they do not typically sell products. They are a service-providing organization. The offices for each group differ by location. Most are housed in the center of the community where members are able to see their presence and know that they are there to help. The United Way of Madison County recently moved into this position in Anderson. Instead of being housed in a shared building on Anderson University’s campus, they are now in their own building in the heart of downtown Anderson. In this position, they are able to be inside the
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community and be surrounded by those who use the help provided by them. The main headquarters for United Way are housed in Alexandria, Virginia. When United Way began, funds had to be collected directly from people. This occasionally posed problems for fundraising. Nancy Vaughan said that the Madison County United Way “struggled with raising funds before the Internet came along.” The Internet is the largest and most prevalent technology that United Way uses. Now, donations can be given through the Internet from a credit or debit card. Vaughan stated “this [the Internet] reduces the amount of time we would be using to go ‘door-to-door’ to collect funds instead.” While the Internet eased the task of raising funds, it also did the same for the competitors of United Way. According to an article from Forbes, United Way holds the number one spot for the largest charity in the United States. The charities in the second and third spots, the Salvation Army and Feeding America, are the main competitors for United Way. These two organizations also greatly benefitted from the Internet and collecting funds through it. This opened doors to other states and even countries that they may not have been present in before the Internet. Thus, increasing the competition between United Way, the Salvation Army, and Feeding America. The clients of United Way are local charities who are in need of help. United Way serves these clients by helping to raise funds and ultimately make an impact on the community. The customers are community members who come directly to United Way mainly for help with personal health or income. In Madison County, United Way has less customers than clients. They primarily focus on fundraising for charities who need the funds. Section II. Description of Managerial Functions
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There are four main functions that managers focus on: Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The use of these is called the management process or the four management functions. Managers ultimately aim to guide a group to achieve an organization’s goals. These four principal functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling provide managers with the way to lead their group to accomplish the organization’s goals. The four management functions are essential for managers when striving for goals. A. Planning The seventh edition of the textbook “Management: A Practical Introduction” by McGraw Hill Education defines panning as “setting goals and deciding how to achieve them.” This process includes creating precise goals to strive for and deciding how to achieve them. Goals are oriented around the mission of the organization. The mission of Anderson University, for example, is to “educate for a life of faith and service in the church and society.” Every decision that is made at Anderson University revolves around this mission. A major in gambling has been considered since the campus is located near a casino. As great a major as it would be due to location, it has not been added because it does not apply to the mission of the university. Nancy Vaughan, the president of United Way of Madison County, has been involved with creating plans throughout her career with United Way. She stated that in 1997 when she was a board member for United Way there was a large meeting where the board decided whether United Way should exist anymore in the area. Once they decided the organization should continue, Nancy said they did a lot of strategic planning. The planning was focused on what United Way should do and where to invest money so that it would make the largest impact on the community. While the board was planning, they were all focused on the mission of United Way. The website for United Way states that their mission is as follows: “United Way improves lives
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by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.” Without keeping this mission in mind, the future of United Way could have turned out very differently in that meeting. In an article from Journal of Community Practice, the benefits and downfalls of a United Way partnering with a local university to create future plans are discussed. For many community United Ways, they have someone who runs a Student United Way organization on a local college campus. While multiple groups have this, some do not. At the Madison County United Way, they have decided to grow and Student United Way on campus and so has the United Way by Ball State University. These groups were planned by each United Way individually. In some communities, there is no college for a Student United Way to exist. Therefore, they must plan accordingly to find a different way to reach out to a younger audience in that area. Their plan is ultimately different than those of communities with local colleges. While United Way is a worldwide organization, all of their individual plans differ due to the diverse communities they are each housed in. A main issue that most branches of United Way struggle with is raising funds. After the economic crisis in 2008, groups and individuals were less willing to donate to any cause or organization. Thus, making it even more challenging to raise money for those in need. The managers at United Way must plan for struggles like these. The managers are constantly thinking of new ways to reduce costs and get the attention of potential donors. In an interview with Vaughan, she said that they are always planning for when donors will lose interest and what they should do next.
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In case of donors of the Madison County United Way, Vaughan plans to re-evaluate the spending of the company. Within the last few years, they joined with eleven other United Ways to partner with another organization who helped them to grow. This organization gave each group a loan to help them host events and fundraisers to gain the attention of donors once again. This loan is still being paid off as of now, but was quite helpful and has overall been a great plan for this United Way. Once this support and this loan are gone, the organization will look to new potential donors who may have loyalties to the organization. For example, past donors and former employees will be approached for donations. If this does not work, the Madison County United Way will heavily involve the young and fresh minds of Student United Way to pursue new ideas and plans that can sprout from such a younger generation. Another situation that United Way plans for is when bad word spreads about the organization. As is for every group, there are always bad words being tossed around for people to see. Many of the negative statements that have come out against United Way have been proved to be incorrect in most cases. United Way has a plan that when negative statements are publicized about the organization that a formal statement will be released. This statement will counter what the negative on says and emphasize the good impact that United Way makes not only in one community, but throughout the world. Vaughan said that in a situation like this she would also write a formal statement or personally speak to the board members about the statement. United Way also plans multiple service projects in communities. On the first week of November, a project called “Operation Weatherization” was conducted. The project sends teams of community members from churches, school, businesses, and so on to weather-proof local
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houses whose owners cannot afford to stay warm for the winter. Staff at the Madison County United Way individual plan different aspects of the project. One person, Kim Rogers-Hatfield plans and organizes what companies can donate materials and how many of each item can be provided. Kim Williams plans how to most effectively market the event so that the most people possible will volunteer. This planning involves most people in this specific United Way and is completed in advance so that there is time to organize the details of the event beforehand. B. Organizing Once the process of planning is completed, organization begins. Organization involves arranging multiple resources to accomplish the set goal. Without the process of organization, goals would be much more difficult and take more time. Organization puts resources into the most efficient places so that a goal can be reached in the best way possible. For organizing to be efficient, the responsibilities of employees must be defined. If an employee does not know what his/her role is within the organization, they will not be aware of what to plan for or to organize. A way to communicate the responsibilities of an individual employee within an organization is formalization. Formalization is a process in which a manager defines the responsibilities of that individual as well as the organization in writing for the individual. Thus leading to the creation of operating procedures, processes, and relationships within the organization. Formalization helps an individual understand precisely what his/her responsibility or duty within the organization is. Since the statement is written by management, it can be referred to at any time when needed. Another benefit of formalization is that it will not be questioned. Since it came directly from management, the individual does not need to be concerned over what he or
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she is or is not responsible for. While formalization has its positives, it also has some negatives. One negative part of formalization is that it can be a hindrance to creativity. Creativity is seen as something fairly unstructured. When something like creativity is structured and defined it can limit the creativeness from employees. If an employee is given a specific set of responsibilities, he or she may be less likely to think outside of his or her job and be creative. In an article from International Journal of Knowledge, Culture & Change Management, the possibility of formalization impacting the knowledge management process in a creative organization is evaluated. The article ultimately states that “formalization influences knowledge management process directly: the lower formalization is, the more rarely knowledge is preserved; low formalization creates favorable conditions for idea generation, creativity and new knowledge creation.” Formalization can aid an employee in organization by defining the role of the employee but can hinder the creativity the organizing produced by the employee. Centralization is also an issue that can arise within organizations. Centralization is when certain activities such as decision-making processes are typically made within one specific location by the same group. One advantage of centralization is that it is uniform and is easy to control. A downside of this is that it can make the process uninteresting and also less creative. It can also keep the power and decision-making kept in the same area. Part of organizing includes deciding who reports to who. For example, if I had a problem that was associated with organizing volunteers for Operation Weatherization I would report to my boss Kim Williams first. If she could not answer my question or resolve my problem, she would go to her boss, Nancy Vaughan. This chain of command aids in organizing because it lets employees be aware of who to go to in case of a problem.
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In Madison County, the new facilities have individual space for each employee to work. This provides each of them with a quiet area to accomplish her own work. At the old office, each employee had her own cubicle. These spaces were less private and did not offer the peace and quiet some of them wanted. Vaughan believes that this change will “organize the office in a way that work will be completed in a more effective way.” One downfall of the new office space is that there is not as a large of an area to store materials such as signs, books, and so on. The old space was organized by labeled shelves. As of now, the new office has not been organized and these items are scattered about in one room. Vaughan is excited for the new office. She is glad to be in the heart of the community and in a building that promotes individual work as well as teamwork. She also stated that “the office is more organized now and will promote even more organization that we lacked before.” In the article Using Institutional Theory to Explore Local Variations in United Way’s Community Impact Model, the authors state that one problem many United Ways have is location. They are not centered in the community where the need for the organization exists. Before The United Way of Madison County moved into downtown Anderson, they were housed in the Church of God building on Anderson University’s campus. Now, they have solved the problem of not being in the community and can have better interactions with Anderson. C. Leading The third managerial function is leading. Leading consists of managers motivating and directing people by influencing them to work hard to accomplish the goals of the organization. Leading is mainly done by managers but is also demonstrated by others within the organization. Leadership can be a part of the responsibilities of an individual’s job or can be something obtained by an employee through the discretion of peers.
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The highest form of leadership in United Way comes from the president, Brian A. Gallagher. He sets the example for United Way and leads the organization on a path that demonstrates the mission statement. Below him are the board members who lead the board members of single United Ways. These board members then work with the president of the single United Way to make decisions and plan. After the president, leadership can be a status that is given or achieved. Part of leadership is motivating and encouraging employees to do their best and achieve as much as possible. Many nonprofits are focused on a cause that helps people through different areas. Typically, when people are reminded of the change that they are making by working for the organization they are motivated to keep going. At United Way, leaders remind others of the impact they are making in their community and around the world. Leaders bring in people who have been impacted by United Way or show proof of the change they have made in the area to motivate employees. The employees at the United Way of Madison County were motivated to continue working after seeing the success of Operation Weatherization. I personally was motivated as an employee when my boss, Kim Williams, and I saw the growth of Student United Way after working to gain more members. Along with being in a leadership role, there are difficult decisions that must be made. In my interview with Nancy Vaughan, she explain the most challenging parts of being a leader. She stated that “firing people is the worst.” For a long time, she attempted to avoid for as long as possible in hopes that it would eventually go away. She would “jump through all of these hoops just to avoid firing this person.” Eventually, the damage the employee was causing would become overwhelming and she would be forced to dismiss the employee. Her advice for those in a leadership that includes firing people is “to cut them as soon as possible. If it isn’t working, cut
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it.” Another part Nancy finds difficult is hiring new employees. She is always worried to make the wrong decision and hire the incorrect person for the position. In the past, she has hired the perfect people and also hired the wrong people. As for the current staff, “they are all perfect and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.” To be a great leader for a group, the leader must have communication skills. Without communication skills, those being led must be able to hear from and talk to the leader. The leader can communicate through emails, letters, meetings, and so on. Communication is part of the process of getting to know each other as well. Good communication skills can make or break the relationship between the leader and those that he or she is trying to lead. One responsibility of a leader is to resolve any conflicts that may arise in the organization. The conflicts can range from something very minor or something that is large enough to stop all production. Vaughan said that she has not many conflicts recently within the few employees within her control. In the past, she has ran into conflicts between board members. She typically listens to both sides of the conflict and tries to find a “middle ground” that all parties can settle on. The way that conflicts are managed differ by each United Way and who the manager is. When leadership is given to an employee like Nancy Vaughan, that person is trained to be prepared for whatever may arise and be aware of the mission of the organization. When leadership is not given but earned, then that person has gotten himself into that situation with no specific leadership training. One exception I have seen is my leadership role at United Way. I came into my position with no formal training. I was given materials to read about United Way as a whole but nothing specifically about being an intern for this United Way. I have had to
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learn, for the most part, on my own how to be an efficient and effective leader for Student United Way. D. Controlling The final managerial function is controlling. Controlling consists of monitoring performance and comparing it to goals while taking corrective action if or when needed. This function is used in many situations and is essential to management. Controlling helps when changes arise that must be addressed and keeps an organization on the correct path toward success. A part of controlling is monitoring parts of the organization. Funds being raised and expenses are the two main items that are monitored in United Way. This organization is all about raising funds to give to others while still having money to support itself. Costs of the organization must be monitored closely so that the company does not spend more than it earns. If this were to happen, there would be no funds to serve the purpose of the organization. As mentioned before, the economy crisis of 2008 created a challenge in raising funds. During this time, money spent by the company as a whole was heavily monitored since there had been a sudden and drastic drop in donors. The funds at United Way are monitored through accountants and those in leadership positions. Nancy Vaughan monitors the entire budget for United Way and many purchases must be approved through her. If I must make a purchase for Student United Way, I must consult my boss, Kim Williams, first before doing so. Even though I am the person who uses the Student United Way budget, I am not allowed to know how to access the budget or how large it is. This
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lack of authority motivates me to find the cheapest ways possible to accomplish my goals for Student United Way. Change is a large part of controlling as well. People who control must be prepared for change at any given moment. One way this is handled is through continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is small, incremental improvements in all parts of an organization that are ongoing. These small changes help a group to stay flexible and not get too used to how things are right then. This method also changes the organization piece by piece in small ways that can eventually lead up to a large change. Nancy Vaughan is a large proponent of change and loves to add it into the workplace. She is a strong believer of making a change when something doesn’t work. She does not see a point in keeping something that continuously does not work. Thus, she is continuously changing things to find what will perfectly fit for this United Way. Section III. Analysis and Recommendations Overall, United Way has grown to become an incredibly successful nonprofit organization in the world. It has had an immense impact on millions of people all around the globe. To accomplish this, many managers have done their jobs in an effective and efficient manner. While United Way is going a wonderful job, there are a few goals that all organizations must meet. The top three goals for all organizations are: efficiency, effectiveness, and stakeholder satisfaction. Efficiency is the use of resources in wise ways that are cost-effective. United Way excels in efficiency because they are constantly monitoring funds and resources so that they are used in the best ways possible. Since United Way is a nonprofit organization, they must use their money very wisely to keep the group running. Effectiveness is how a group achieves results through
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decisions that ultimately lead to the organization’s goals. For the most part, United Way is quite effective in all that it does. As it is in every organization, there are plans and strategies that do not work and become ineffective. Every day, United Way seems to be striving to find the most effective ways to accomplish its goals. Stakeholder satisfaction is a large part of what an organization should be focusing on along with the success of the organization as a whole. Stakeholders are the people whose interests are impacted by the activities and decisions of the organization. There are two types of stakeholders: internal and external. Internal stakeholders are within the general environment of the organization as well as the task environment of the organization. External stakeholders are a part of these environments as well but are not part of the internal stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include employees, members of the board of directors, and owners. At United Way, there are hundreds of internal stakeholders and their satisfaction matters. For example, if an employee is not satisfied in his or her position because of the decisions being made by the company, they may be more likely to quit or be less motivated to work. If an employee is satisfied and glad to be working for the organization, they are more likely to be a good employee and be willing to stay with the organization for years to come. I believe that the internal stakeholders are quite satisfied in their positions. From what I see in my position, my coworkers are almost always happy and smiling and glad to be at work. Occasionally one of them is upset about something with their job but it only lasts for a little while. There has been nothing I have seen that shows me that one of them is not satisfied with United Way. I personally am satisfied with what I see from United Way. I am proud to be a small part of it. External stakeholders are separated into two categories: the general environment and the task environment. The task environment is made up of eleven groups that give an organization
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tasks that must be handled daily. These eleven groups are: customers, competitors, suppliers, distributors, strategic allies, employee organizations, local communities, financial institutions, government regulators, special-interest groups, and mass media. The general environment only consists of six groups which, unlike the task environment, cannot be controlled. The groups in the general environment include: economic, technological, sociocultural, political-legal, international, and demographic. The external stakeholders in the task environment seem fairly satisfied. Occasionally, the media will spread a negative story about the organization that will be harmful. These situations are typically cleared up very quickly. In most cases, people or companies are glad to help a nonprofit organization whenever possible. This help not only benefits United Way but also the person or company. The allies of and suppliers for United Way seem glad to be a part of the change. As for the external stakeholders in the general environment, they do not always seem as pleased as the other stakeholders. United Way has multiple battles with the political-legal forces due to newly implemented policies and changes. Many legal changes that the government creates negatively affect how United Way tries to help people. Once United Way states how these changes affect what they do, those in the political-legal force become upset with United Way. From what I have seen, the political-legal force is the least satisfied with United Way out of all of the external stakeholders in the general environment. While United Way accomplishes many goals, there are some areas of the company that need to be changed. I strongly agree with what Nancy Vaughan said about change: “if it doesn’t work, take it out. There is no point in keeping something that does not work.” There are events and promotions that are repeated at different United Ways year after year that do not work as
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they should. Another change that needs to be made is training. In my position, I had no formal training as my coworkers had. Any type of training would have made the transition much smoother for myself. Also, I believe that management needs to be seen more in public and participating in events with others. All three of these problems need to be addressed. The first problem of change is a large one. Many people are focused on traditions and keep things the same over the years. Nancy Vaughan stated that “just because it works once does not mean it will keep working the same way year after year.” From what Vaughan told me during our interview, she believes in the “white water rapids” metaphor. She understands that the environment is always changing and that United Way must be ready to manage that change. While she believes this, I do not always see this being put into action. For years, there has been a community pumpkin auction for Halloween. The event has never been very successful yet still continues. I think that Nancy needs to cancel or reinvent the fundraiser so that it is more effective for fundraising. The cost of this change would vary from what the change consists of. The change could be creating a brand new marketing plan or fundraising; each of these would cost time and money. The benefit of this change though would be that people’s interest may be held longer with new and exciting things being introduced instead of them being bored by the same things happening the same way each year. The second problem I see is training. I have seen no training for employee advertised on the organization’s website or talked about in my workplace. For such a large organization, I would expect there to be a certain amount of training each employee or board member would be required to complete. When I first began my internship with United Way I was unsure of the exact goals and plans of the organization. I struggled to learn what exactly these were and was quite embarrassed when I could not answer students’ questions about Student United Way or
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United Way. By adding formal training, money would have to be spent on the employees’ time in training as well as potential materials for the training. While these costs could potentially be high, they would be worth it as it would help unite employees and board members in United Way’s one common goal. Finally, I see management’s involvement with the public as the largest problem. While I see Nancy Vaughan doing a wonderful job at the United Way of Madison County, I do not see her actively participating in events around the community. While collecting research from United Way’s website, I also did not find pictures of any management involved in service projects or fundraisers. In an interview with Danielle Patterson, a volunteer with United Way, she stated that she barely knows Nancy and has never seen her at service projects or events. Danielle sees Kim Williams, a vice president, as the leader of this United Way since she participates in events and is seen in several pictures helping others in need. On the website and around the office, there is no evidence that management is working hands-on with those in need. The photographs show the management dressed in suits and dresses instead of the classic United Way t-shirt with a shovel in their hands. I do not see any cost in making this change besides potentially taking time away from those in management. The benefit of this would be that it would make the community feel more connected with the president and vice versa. This could also help employees to feel more connected with their boss and see that they also care about the same cause. I always believe that seeing someone in a high position of authority get a little dirt on their hands helps the image of a company. It shows that they are not just a person who fills a chair in a large, fancy office.
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United Way is an incredible organization that makes an impact on communities around the world. The organization is truly dedicated to helping every person in this world that is in need. United Way is truly amazing and I am very proud to be a small part of the change. Even though there are small things in management that need to be changed, I believe that United Way is strong and will last for many years to come. I still plan to pursue a career with United Way in the future.
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By Organizational Focus. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit-resources/SONI Girdauskiene, L., & Savaneviciene, A. (2012). Influence of Formalization on Effective Knowledge Management in a Creative Organization. International Journal Of Knowledge, Culture & Change Management, 11(6), 11-28. Greater Twin Cities United Way. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.gtcuw.org/about_us/faqs/ Largest U.S. Charities for 2014. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mjf45hife/1-united-way-3/ Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://anderson.edu/about/mission Our Staff. (2015). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.unitedwaymadisonco.org/our-staff Paarlberg, L. E., & Meinhold, S. S. (2012). Using Institutional Theory to Explore Local Variations in United Way’s Community Impact Model. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(5), 826-849. doi:10.1177/0899764011418123 Patterson, D. (2015, November 15). [Personal interview] Martin Room 402. Vaughan, N. (2015, November 11). [Personal interview] United Way of Madison County Office.
Overview of the Management Practices of United Way Prepared for Dr. Doyle J. Lucas BSNS 2710 Principles of Management Falls School of Business Anderson University
A Study Conducted by Tessa Williams Submitted November 23, 2015
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UNITED WAY MANAGEMENT
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United Way is a worldwide organization that focuses on the needs of education, income, and health in communities around the world. This organization is known as the largest nonprofit in the United States and raises billions of dollars for people around the world. With an organization so large and successful, the management must be wonderful. I personally plan on pursuing a career with United Way someday and wish to know more about how the organization as a whole works. Section I. General Description of the Enterprise and its Environment According to unitedway.org, United Way was founded as a nonprofit organization in 1887 by a group of five people who banded together to raise money for local charities who were in need. The name of the organization stems from how these people were united to find a way to help those charities. As the organization has grown over the years, there are now eighteen hundred United Ways in forty different countries and approximately fifty million lives around the world have been impacted by their work. United Way is also the world’s largest privatelyfunded nonprofit organization. Currently, the organization has four groups who work together to manage United Way. These groups include: the leadership team, the worldwide board of trustees, the U.S.A. board of trustees, and the United Way worldwide leadership council. The latter three of the groups are consisted of board members who work for other organizations or companies. These members are unpaid and have been specifically asked to join the board. The superior group to the other three is the leadership team. This group is led by the president and chief executive officer of United Way, Brian A. Gallagher. This group is made of
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people who work directly for United Way and are not board members. The goal of the leadership team is to listen to the board members and use that information to make a better United Way that will make an even greater impact on communities around the world. Unitedway.org states that “our leadership team reflects the broader collaborative spirit of United Way: only by bringing together people from all sectors of society can we create innovative solutions that address the most complex challenges of our time.” The leadership team works as a group but is led by the president, Brian A. Gallagher. Gallagher is the highest manager in the organization and thus this team reports to him. The remaining three teams report to the leadership team as a whole since United Way promotes collaboration and teamwork. Below these groups are the board members from specific United Ways throughout the world. These board members vary in size depending on the size of the community. Nancy Vaughan is currently the president of the United Way of Madison County and was once a board member while working for a bank. As a board member, she would work with other members and the president of the community’s United Way to voice problems and concerns and discover ways to repair them. Since she has become the president, the board has shrunk from approximately thirty members to eighteen. Vaughan stated in an interview that “smaller boards are now the trend in the industry.” While there are fewer people on the Madison County board, Vaughan said that she is still pulled in multiple directions by the members. She has meetings with the board every other month that last about two and a half hours that mainly consist of strategic planning. Below the board members is the president. The president is in charge of managing that community’s United Way. At the United Way in Madison County, there are seven employees
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that the president is directly in charge of managing. Each of these employees have their own responsibilities and specialties. They all report to the president when needed. Below these employees there is one intern that is hired to manage Student United Way on the Anderson University campus. I, Tessa Williams, currently hold this position at the Madison County United Way. I am the only employee who does not report directly to the president, Nancy Vaughan. My boss is Kim Williams who is the vice president and resource developer. Below my position as the intern are the volunteers from Anderson University that I gather to join Student United Way. Beyond the sixty members of the four leadership boards, there are multiple employees at each of the eighteen hundred United Way locations. There is no official number given for how many employees there are in United Way. While this is not provided, the United Way website states that the organization has over ten million donors and almost three million volunteers. Annually, the organization has raised five billion dollars to give to local charities and organizations. United Way provides funds for groups in local communities who are in need of help. These funds are the main work of this organization. Employees do volunteer and meet the people in the community with other volunteers but they are mainly focusing on fundraising. Since United Way is a nonprofit, they do not typically sell products. They are a service-providing organization. The offices for each group differ by location. Most are housed in the center of the community where members are able to see their presence and know that they are there to help. The United Way of Madison County recently moved into this position in Anderson. Instead of being housed in a shared building on Anderson University’s campus, they are now in their own building in the heart of downtown Anderson. In this position, they are able to be inside the
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community and be surrounded by those who use the help provided by them. The main headquarters for United Way are housed in Alexandria, Virginia. When United Way began, funds had to be collected directly from people. This occasionally posed problems for fundraising. Nancy Vaughan said that the Madison County United Way “struggled with raising funds before the Internet came along.” The Internet is the largest and most prevalent technology that United Way uses. Now, donations can be given through the Internet from a credit or debit card. Vaughan stated “this [the Internet] reduces the amount of time we would be using to go ‘door-to-door’ to collect funds instead.” While the Internet eased the task of raising funds, it also did the same for the competitors of United Way. According to an article from Forbes, United Way holds the number one spot for the largest charity in the United States. The charities in the second and third spots, the Salvation Army and Feeding America, are the main competitors for United Way. These two organizations also greatly benefitted from the Internet and collecting funds through it. This opened doors to other states and even countries that they may not have been present in before the Internet. Thus, increasing the competition between United Way, the Salvation Army, and Feeding America. The clients of United Way are local charities who are in need of help. United Way serves these clients by helping to raise funds and ultimately make an impact on the community. The customers are community members who come directly to United Way mainly for help with personal health or income. In Madison County, United Way has less customers than clients. They primarily focus on fundraising for charities who need the funds. Section II. Description of Managerial Functions
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There are four main functions that managers focus on: Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The use of these is called the management process or the four management functions. Managers ultimately aim to guide a group to achieve an organization’s goals. These four principal functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling provide managers with the way to lead their group to accomplish the organization’s goals. The four management functions are essential for managers when striving for goals. A. Planning The seventh edition of the textbook “Management: A Practical Introduction” by McGraw Hill Education defines panning as “setting goals and deciding how to achieve them.” This process includes creating precise goals to strive for and deciding how to achieve them. Goals are oriented around the mission of the organization. The mission of Anderson University, for example, is to “educate for a life of faith and service in the church and society.” Every decision that is made at Anderson University revolves around this mission. A major in gambling has been considered since the campus is located near a casino. As great a major as it would be due to location, it has not been added because it does not apply to the mission of the university. Nancy Vaughan, the president of United Way of Madison County, has been involved with creating plans throughout her career with United Way. She stated that in 1997 when she was a board member for United Way there was a large meeting where the board decided whether United Way should exist anymore in the area. Once they decided the organization should continue, Nancy said they did a lot of strategic planning. The planning was focused on what United Way should do and where to invest money so that it would make the largest impact on the community. While the board was planning, they were all focused on the mission of United Way. The website for United Way states that their mission is as follows: “United Way improves lives
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by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.” Without keeping this mission in mind, the future of United Way could have turned out very differently in that meeting. In an article from Journal of Community Practice, the benefits and downfalls of a United Way partnering with a local university to create future plans are discussed. For many community United Ways, they have someone who runs a Student United Way organization on a local college campus. While multiple groups have this, some do not. At the Madison County United Way, they have decided to grow and Student United Way on campus and so has the United Way by Ball State University. These groups were planned by each United Way individually. In some communities, there is no college for a Student United Way to exist. Therefore, they must plan accordingly to find a different way to reach out to a younger audience in that area. Their plan is ultimately different than those of communities with local colleges. While United Way is a worldwide organization, all of their individual plans differ due to the diverse communities they are each housed in. A main issue that most branches of United Way struggle with is raising funds. After the economic crisis in 2008, groups and individuals were less willing to donate to any cause or organization. Thus, making it even more challenging to raise money for those in need. The managers at United Way must plan for struggles like these. The managers are constantly thinking of new ways to reduce costs and get the attention of potential donors. In an interview with Vaughan, she said that they are always planning for when donors will lose interest and what they should do next.
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In case of donors of the Madison County United Way, Vaughan plans to re-evaluate the spending of the company. Within the last few years, they joined with eleven other United Ways to partner with another organization who helped them to grow. This organization gave each group a loan to help them host events and fundraisers to gain the attention of donors once again. This loan is still being paid off as of now, but was quite helpful and has overall been a great plan for this United Way. Once this support and this loan are gone, the organization will look to new potential donors who may have loyalties to the organization. For example, past donors and former employees will be approached for donations. If this does not work, the Madison County United Way will heavily involve the young and fresh minds of Student United Way to pursue new ideas and plans that can sprout from such a younger generation. Another situation that United Way plans for is when bad word spreads about the organization. As is for every group, there are always bad words being tossed around for people to see. Many of the negative statements that have come out against United Way have been proved to be incorrect in most cases. United Way has a plan that when negative statements are publicized about the organization that a formal statement will be released. This statement will counter what the negative on says and emphasize the good impact that United Way makes not only in one community, but throughout the world. Vaughan said that in a situation like this she would also write a formal statement or personally speak to the board members about the statement. United Way also plans multiple service projects in communities. On the first week of November, a project called “Operation Weatherization” was conducted. The project sends teams of community members from churches, school, businesses, and so on to weather-proof local
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houses whose owners cannot afford to stay warm for the winter. Staff at the Madison County United Way individual plan different aspects of the project. One person, Kim Rogers-Hatfield plans and organizes what companies can donate materials and how many of each item can be provided. Kim Williams plans how to most effectively market the event so that the most people possible will volunteer. This planning involves most people in this specific United Way and is completed in advance so that there is time to organize the details of the event beforehand. B. Organizing Once the process of planning is completed, organization begins. Organization involves arranging multiple resources to accomplish the set goal. Without the process of organization, goals would be much more difficult and take more time. Organization puts resources into the most efficient places so that a goal can be reached in the best way possible. For organizing to be efficient, the responsibilities of employees must be defined. If an employee does not know what his/her role is within the organization, they will not be aware of what to plan for or to organize. A way to communicate the responsibilities of an individual employee within an organization is formalization. Formalization is a process in which a manager defines the responsibilities of that individual as well as the organization in writing for the individual. Thus leading to the creation of operating procedures, processes, and relationships within the organization. Formalization helps an individual understand precisely what his/her responsibility or duty within the organization is. Since the statement is written by management, it can be referred to at any time when needed. Another benefit of formalization is that it will not be questioned. Since it came directly from management, the individual does not need to be concerned over what he or
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she is or is not responsible for. While formalization has its positives, it also has some negatives. One negative part of formalization is that it can be a hindrance to creativity. Creativity is seen as something fairly unstructured. When something like creativity is structured and defined it can limit the creativeness from employees. If an employee is given a specific set of responsibilities, he or she may be less likely to think outside of his or her job and be creative. In an article from International Journal of Knowledge, Culture & Change Management, the possibility of formalization impacting the knowledge management process in a creative organization is evaluated. The article ultimately states that “formalization influences knowledge management process directly: the lower formalization is, the more rarely knowledge is preserved; low formalization creates favorable conditions for idea generation, creativity and new knowledge creation.” Formalization can aid an employee in organization by defining the role of the employee but can hinder the creativity the organizing produced by the employee. Centralization is also an issue that can arise within organizations. Centralization is when certain activities such as decision-making processes are typically made within one specific location by the same group. One advantage of centralization is that it is uniform and is easy to control. A downside of this is that it can make the process uninteresting and also less creative. It can also keep the power and decision-making kept in the same area. Part of organizing includes deciding who reports to who. For example, if I had a problem that was associated with organizing volunteers for Operation Weatherization I would report to my boss Kim Williams first. If she could not answer my question or resolve my problem, she would go to her boss, Nancy Vaughan. This chain of command aids in organizing because it lets employees be aware of who to go to in case of a problem.
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In Madison County, the new facilities have individual space for each employee to work. This provides each of them with a quiet area to accomplish her own work. At the old office, each employee had her own cubicle. These spaces were less private and did not offer the peace and quiet some of them wanted. Vaughan believes that this change will “organize the office in a way that work will be completed in a more effective way.” One downfall of the new office space is that there is not as a large of an area to store materials such as signs, books, and so on. The old space was organized by labeled shelves. As of now, the new office has not been organized and these items are scattered about in one room. Vaughan is excited for the new office. She is glad to be in the heart of the community and in a building that promotes individual work as well as teamwork. She also stated that “the office is more organized now and will promote even more organization that we lacked before.” In the article Using Institutional Theory to Explore Local Variations in United Way’s Community Impact Model, the authors state that one problem many United Ways have is location. They are not centered in the community where the need for the organization exists. Before The United Way of Madison County moved into downtown Anderson, they were housed in the Church of God building on Anderson University’s campus. Now, they have solved the problem of not being in the community and can have better interactions with Anderson. C. Leading The third managerial function is leading. Leading consists of managers motivating and directing people by influencing them to work hard to accomplish the goals of the organization. Leading is mainly done by managers but is also demonstrated by others within the organization. Leadership can be a part of the responsibilities of an individual’s job or can be something obtained by an employee through the discretion of peers.
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The highest form of leadership in United Way comes from the president, Brian A. Gallagher. He sets the example for United Way and leads the organization on a path that demonstrates the mission statement. Below him are the board members who lead the board members of single United Ways. These board members then work with the president of the single United Way to make decisions and plan. After the president, leadership can be a status that is given or achieved. Part of leadership is motivating and encouraging employees to do their best and achieve as much as possible. Many nonprofits are focused on a cause that helps people through different areas. Typically, when people are reminded of the change that they are making by working for the organization they are motivated to keep going. At United Way, leaders remind others of the impact they are making in their community and around the world. Leaders bring in people who have been impacted by United Way or show proof of the change they have made in the area to motivate employees. The employees at the United Way of Madison County were motivated to continue working after seeing the success of Operation Weatherization. I personally was motivated as an employee when my boss, Kim Williams, and I saw the growth of Student United Way after working to gain more members. Along with being in a leadership role, there are difficult decisions that must be made. In my interview with Nancy Vaughan, she explain the most challenging parts of being a leader. She stated that “firing people is the worst.” For a long time, she attempted to avoid for as long as possible in hopes that it would eventually go away. She would “jump through all of these hoops just to avoid firing this person.” Eventually, the damage the employee was causing would become overwhelming and she would be forced to dismiss the employee. Her advice for those in a leadership that includes firing people is “to cut them as soon as possible. If it isn’t working, cut
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it.” Another part Nancy finds difficult is hiring new employees. She is always worried to make the wrong decision and hire the incorrect person for the position. In the past, she has hired the perfect people and also hired the wrong people. As for the current staff, “they are all perfect and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.” To be a great leader for a group, the leader must have communication skills. Without communication skills, those being led must be able to hear from and talk to the leader. The leader can communicate through emails, letters, meetings, and so on. Communication is part of the process of getting to know each other as well. Good communication skills can make or break the relationship between the leader and those that he or she is trying to lead. One responsibility of a leader is to resolve any conflicts that may arise in the organization. The conflicts can range from something very minor or something that is large enough to stop all production. Vaughan said that she has not many conflicts recently within the few employees within her control. In the past, she has ran into conflicts between board members. She typically listens to both sides of the conflict and tries to find a “middle ground” that all parties can settle on. The way that conflicts are managed differ by each United Way and who the manager is. When leadership is given to an employee like Nancy Vaughan, that person is trained to be prepared for whatever may arise and be aware of the mission of the organization. When leadership is not given but earned, then that person has gotten himself into that situation with no specific leadership training. One exception I have seen is my leadership role at United Way. I came into my position with no formal training. I was given materials to read about United Way as a whole but nothing specifically about being an intern for this United Way. I have had to
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learn, for the most part, on my own how to be an efficient and effective leader for Student United Way. D. Controlling The final managerial function is controlling. Controlling consists of monitoring performance and comparing it to goals while taking corrective action if or when needed. This function is used in many situations and is essential to management. Controlling helps when changes arise that must be addressed and keeps an organization on the correct path toward success. A part of controlling is monitoring parts of the organization. Funds being raised and expenses are the two main items that are monitored in United Way. This organization is all about raising funds to give to others while still having money to support itself. Costs of the organization must be monitored closely so that the company does not spend more than it earns. If this were to happen, there would be no funds to serve the purpose of the organization. As mentioned before, the economy crisis of 2008 created a challenge in raising funds. During this time, money spent by the company as a whole was heavily monitored since there had been a sudden and drastic drop in donors. The funds at United Way are monitored through accountants and those in leadership positions. Nancy Vaughan monitors the entire budget for United Way and many purchases must be approved through her. If I must make a purchase for Student United Way, I must consult my boss, Kim Williams, first before doing so. Even though I am the person who uses the Student United Way budget, I am not allowed to know how to access the budget or how large it is. This
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lack of authority motivates me to find the cheapest ways possible to accomplish my goals for Student United Way. Change is a large part of controlling as well. People who control must be prepared for change at any given moment. One way this is handled is through continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is small, incremental improvements in all parts of an organization that are ongoing. These small changes help a group to stay flexible and not get too used to how things are right then. This method also changes the organization piece by piece in small ways that can eventually lead up to a large change. Nancy Vaughan is a large proponent of change and loves to add it into the workplace. She is a strong believer of making a change when something doesn’t work. She does not see a point in keeping something that continuously does not work. Thus, she is continuously changing things to find what will perfectly fit for this United Way. Section III. Analysis and Recommendations Overall, United Way has grown to become an incredibly successful nonprofit organization in the world. It has had an immense impact on millions of people all around the globe. To accomplish this, many managers have done their jobs in an effective and efficient manner. While United Way is going a wonderful job, there are a few goals that all organizations must meet. The top three goals for all organizations are: efficiency, effectiveness, and stakeholder satisfaction. Efficiency is the use of resources in wise ways that are cost-effective. United Way excels in efficiency because they are constantly monitoring funds and resources so that they are used in the best ways possible. Since United Way is a nonprofit organization, they must use their money very wisely to keep the group running. Effectiveness is how a group achieves results through
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decisions that ultimately lead to the organization’s goals. For the most part, United Way is quite effective in all that it does. As it is in every organization, there are plans and strategies that do not work and become ineffective. Every day, United Way seems to be striving to find the most effective ways to accomplish its goals. Stakeholder satisfaction is a large part of what an organization should be focusing on along with the success of the organization as a whole. Stakeholders are the people whose interests are impacted by the activities and decisions of the organization. There are two types of stakeholders: internal and external. Internal stakeholders are within the general environment of the organization as well as the task environment of the organization. External stakeholders are a part of these environments as well but are not part of the internal stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include employees, members of the board of directors, and owners. At United Way, there are hundreds of internal stakeholders and their satisfaction matters. For example, if an employee is not satisfied in his or her position because of the decisions being made by the company, they may be more likely to quit or be less motivated to work. If an employee is satisfied and glad to be working for the organization, they are more likely to be a good employee and be willing to stay with the organization for years to come. I believe that the internal stakeholders are quite satisfied in their positions. From what I see in my position, my coworkers are almost always happy and smiling and glad to be at work. Occasionally one of them is upset about something with their job but it only lasts for a little while. There has been nothing I have seen that shows me that one of them is not satisfied with United Way. I personally am satisfied with what I see from United Way. I am proud to be a small part of it. External stakeholders are separated into two categories: the general environment and the task environment. The task environment is made up of eleven groups that give an organization
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tasks that must be handled daily. These eleven groups are: customers, competitors, suppliers, distributors, strategic allies, employee organizations, local communities, financial institutions, government regulators, special-interest groups, and mass media. The general environment only consists of six groups which, unlike the task environment, cannot be controlled. The groups in the general environment include: economic, technological, sociocultural, political-legal, international, and demographic. The external stakeholders in the task environment seem fairly satisfied. Occasionally, the media will spread a negative story about the organization that will be harmful. These situations are typically cleared up very quickly. In most cases, people or companies are glad to help a nonprofit organization whenever possible. This help not only benefits United Way but also the person or company. The allies of and suppliers for United Way seem glad to be a part of the change. As for the external stakeholders in the general environment, they do not always seem as pleased as the other stakeholders. United Way has multiple battles with the political-legal forces due to newly implemented policies and changes. Many legal changes that the government creates negatively affect how United Way tries to help people. Once United Way states how these changes affect what they do, those in the political-legal force become upset with United Way. From what I have seen, the political-legal force is the least satisfied with United Way out of all of the external stakeholders in the general environment. While United Way accomplishes many goals, there are some areas of the company that need to be changed. I strongly agree with what Nancy Vaughan said about change: “if it doesn’t work, take it out. There is no point in keeping something that does not work.” There are events and promotions that are repeated at different United Ways year after year that do not work as
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they should. Another change that needs to be made is training. In my position, I had no formal training as my coworkers had. Any type of training would have made the transition much smoother for myself. Also, I believe that management needs to be seen more in public and participating in events with others. All three of these problems need to be addressed. The first problem of change is a large one. Many people are focused on traditions and keep things the same over the years. Nancy Vaughan stated that “just because it works once does not mean it will keep working the same way year after year.” From what Vaughan told me during our interview, she believes in the “white water rapids” metaphor. She understands that the environment is always changing and that United Way must be ready to manage that change. While she believes this, I do not always see this being put into action. For years, there has been a community pumpkin auction for Halloween. The event has never been very successful yet still continues. I think that Nancy needs to cancel or reinvent the fundraiser so that it is more effective for fundraising. The cost of this change would vary from what the change consists of. The change could be creating a brand new marketing plan or fundraising; each of these would cost time and money. The benefit of this change though would be that people’s interest may be held longer with new and exciting things being introduced instead of them being bored by the same things happening the same way each year. The second problem I see is training. I have seen no training for employee advertised on the organization’s website or talked about in my workplace. For such a large organization, I would expect there to be a certain amount of training each employee or board member would be required to complete. When I first began my internship with United Way I was unsure of the exact goals and plans of the organization. I struggled to learn what exactly these were and was quite embarrassed when I could not answer students’ questions about Student United Way or
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United Way. By adding formal training, money would have to be spent on the employees’ time in training as well as potential materials for the training. While these costs could potentially be high, they would be worth it as it would help unite employees and board members in United Way’s one common goal. Finally, I see management’s involvement with the public as the largest problem. While I see Nancy Vaughan doing a wonderful job at the United Way of Madison County, I do not see her actively participating in events around the community. While collecting research from United Way’s website, I also did not find pictures of any management involved in service projects or fundraisers. In an interview with Danielle Patterson, a volunteer with United Way, she stated that she barely knows Nancy and has never seen her at service projects or events. Danielle sees Kim Williams, a vice president, as the leader of this United Way since she participates in events and is seen in several pictures helping others in need. On the website and around the office, there is no evidence that management is working hands-on with those in need. The photographs show the management dressed in suits and dresses instead of the classic United Way t-shirt with a shovel in their hands. I do not see any cost in making this change besides potentially taking time away from those in management. The benefit of this would be that it would make the community feel more connected with the president and vice versa. This could also help employees to feel more connected with their boss and see that they also care about the same cause. I always believe that seeing someone in a high position of authority get a little dirt on their hands helps the image of a company. It shows that they are not just a person who fills a chair in a large, fancy office.
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United Way is an incredible organization that makes an impact on communities around the world. The organization is truly dedicated to helping every person in this world that is in need. United Way is truly amazing and I am very proud to be a small part of the change. Even though there are small things in management that need to be changed, I believe that United Way is strong and will last for many years to come. I still plan to pursue a career with United Way in the future.
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By Organizational Focus. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit-resources/SONI Girdauskiene, L., & Savaneviciene, A. (2012). Influence of Formalization on Effective Knowledge Management in a Creative Organization. International Journal Of Knowledge, Culture & Change Management, 11(6), 11-28. Greater Twin Cities United Way. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.gtcuw.org/about_us/faqs/ Largest U.S. Charities for 2014. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mjf45hife/1-united-way-3/ Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://anderson.edu/about/mission Our Staff. (2015). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from https://www.unitedwaymadisonco.org/our-staff Paarlberg, L. E., & Meinhold, S. S. (2012). Using Institutional Theory to Explore Local Variations in United Way’s Community Impact Model. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(5), 826-849. doi:10.1177/0899764011418123 Patterson, D. (2015, November 15). [Personal interview] Martin Room 402. Vaughan, N. (2015, November 11). [Personal interview] United Way of Madison County Office.
