Northern County Legal Services Organization Problems

At Northern County Legal Services (NCLS), organization, team, and individual problems exist which affects the employees and clients. A problem that exists in this organization is the lack of an organized system to handle walk-ins and appointment. Clients are frustrated because the staff operates by telling clients, “I think you are next…” Clients waited for a long time, expressed frustration, and some clients felt as if they were being skipped, which led me to conclude that the lack of an organized system to handle various appointments is causing the frustration. Another organization problem identified by Julie, the only full-time employee, is the lack of funding for the non-profit organization. The office has a small office space with one waiting room and four offices.

Eight volunteers share three offices and no schedules exist for the office spaces. Additionally, volunteers at the staff meeting showed no eye-contact and seemed unfocused and tired, which leads me to conclude that the volunteers were unmotivated with their jobs. The volunteers also demonstrated confusion about the intake forms and Julie responds with frustration saying, “this was described in training.” Julie also shouted at a volunteer when she missed something in the intake form. This led to a hostile work environment where volunteers stayed later to finish their tasks. Lastly, an individual problem I identified is that Julie is the only full-time employee who is responsible for everything in the organization. When an employee asked Julie about an urgent case, she responded that she could not get to it today, which demonstrates that she was overwhelmed by taking on too many