A Formal Analysis Of Jewish Family Services

According to Hutchinson, a formal organization is a collection of people with formal structure in efforts of working together to meet goals. The formal organization I am analyzing is Jewish Family Services where I am pursuing my MSW generalist internship. I conducted my analysis through interviews with employees, the agency website, and using readings from class. Through my analysis I will look at the agency through a critical lens and analyze how they operate and respond to change.
Organizational Overview Jewish Family Services provides services to the broader Rochester community. Their target audience ranges from Holocaust survivors, children, teachers, and low-income families around Rochester. The agency provides counseling, basic necessities,

The former CEO retired and Deb took over the position shortly after. As Deb becomes comfortable in her new position, she has made changes within the agency’s functioning. To improve expansion of services within Rochester, Deb made the initiative to create two new paid positions within the agency. First, Deb created a full-time position of volunteer coordinator. Previously, different employees helped recruit volunteers, which seemed to be overwhelming so the position was created. As the volunteer coordinator, Shannon, will connect with people who are seeking volunteering opportunities and connect them to opportunities which fit them best, such as delivering food baskets or creating pre-made grocery bags. This internal change affects key stakeholders and employees because it allows other employees to focus on their duties rather than recruiting volunteers. Different departments will benefit from the volunteers Shannon recruits and expand their

The agency is constantly interacting with changes that occur in the social, political, economic, and cultural environments outside the agency The theory explains that changes outside the internal system create changes internally. One external factor causing change for the agency was COVID. The world had to adapt to the sudden pandemic and different departments within the agency were able to adapt easier than others due to the pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the Brighton food cupboard had to restrict people from choosing their own groceries and volunteers made pre-portioned bags for people to pick up outside the building. The counseling team was able to do video visits with their clients when people were forced to stay home. On the other hand, the geriatric team, who mostly does home visits, had to stop visits completely. Once the COVID restrictions lessened, the team was able to continue their home visits but with restrictions such as wearing masks and distancing from clients when