Statewide Ambulette Service Organizational Structure

Current State

Statewide Ambulette Service, Inc. is a privately held company that provides transportation for New York State’s Department of Social Services and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation for non-emergency wheelchair and ambulatory transportation for the elderly, physically and emotionally handicapped and the mentally challenged. The company has served the lower Mid-Hudson New York area since 1986. They serve eight counties from their three office locations, South Fallsburg, Brewster and Elmsford, New York. Each location has 15 vans. Presently, vertical coordination and integration is at a minimal level within Statewide Ambulette Service, Inc. It appears they have a simple structure with either two or three layers. The

61-65). The company’s size will increase so they will have to hire more staff and roles and relationships will change. They will also move from a simple architecture to a more complex and formal structure. The company’s core process will require significant technical innovation on the administrative/billing and program’s side to correspond with the new structural changes. Strategy and Goals are future oriented with long term direction (B&D p.63) and neither the company owners or the Project Manager focused on discussing company future goals to the employees. Employees were not made aware as to why the company chose to serve HIV clients and take on such a huge project. When goals are ambiguous, performance control is less successful (B&D, p.53). Understanding company goals allows employees to make a commitment to the goal and vision of the direction the company may want to go. Without this, employees may not understand their role within the whole organization and this can affect the quality and attitude toward their work. The implementation of technology will be critical for the success of this program. It allows the company more flexibility because of the decentralized structure of the new company. Client cards and the transportation vehicles should be equipped with scanning capabilities to electronically keep up with

All payments among agencies should be electronic and direct deposits. Northeast New York Regional Transportation Brokerage Service may need to create one level for Project Manager(s) for the three locations. These employees would coordinate laterally with outside agencies conducting formal and informal meetings with the heads of the participating agencies who determine eligibility and provide the HIV clients, transporting agencies, accounting and technology departments. They will also report to the owners who are the apex of the structure. The Project Manager(s) would coordinate vertically within the Brokerage Service company conducting formal meetings with the Heads of Dispatching. The frontline workers and the Dispatchers coordinate laterally with informal meetings conducted on the core level. The nature of this business, with many uncontrollable variables such as traffic, sick patients, employees from other agencies, will require quick problem solving and on the spot decisions. Their success will depend on their established interorganizational networks and horizontal linkages to supplement and supplant the vertical coordination. Northeast New York Regional Transportation Brokerage Service Statewide is now