2 What organizational, team, and individual problems can you identify? What opportunities for organization development work do you see?
3 How do the opportunities you have identified illustrate the values and ethical beliefs of organization development identified in this chapter?
“Good morning. Northern County Legal Services,” Christina said. “How can I help you? Yes, I see. Okay, why don’t I schedule a time for you to stop by and talk with one of us about your situation and we can see how we can help? I’m free on the 12th at 3:30 p.m. Does that work for you? Excellent. And you know where our office is located? Yes, right across the street. Good. I’ll look forward to speaking with you then.”
It was already packed in the office of Northern County Legal Services (NCLS), a nonprofit organization located just outside the downtown district. In the small waiting room, nearly 20 clients waited for assistance while a team of staff members handled walk-in visitors and made appointments. With no air-conditioning, the room was starting to get hot on the sunny August afternoon as the chairs filled up.
“I’m sorry. Mr. Gaines? I think you’re next.” Christina looked at the growing crowd.
“Oh, no, no, no, no.” A tall woman rose from her chair and stepped forward, raising her voice. “I’ve been here since 10 a.m. and I was here first. I’m next. He needs to wait his turn.” She looked around the room for support, and some heads nodded as those waiting began to look at one another in frustration.
“Yes, I’m sorry that you’ve waited so long, but Mr. Gaines had made an appointment,” Christina said.
“Yeah, for 11:30,” Mr. Gaines scoffed.
“It will only be a few more minutes until someone is with you,” Christina offered.
“You need to get more organized,” the woman said as she rolled her eyes. She returned to her seat, fanning herself with a 2-year-old copy of an entertainment magazine.
Christina looked her watch: 12:20. Her parking meter was already expired. “Have a seat, sir, and I’ll be right with you.” She grabbed her purse and quickly headed to the front door. “And just where do you think you’re going, Miss?” a voice came from the waiting room. “She can’t take it anymore,” another voice offered, as laughter rose from the corner.
Christina ran the four blocks to where her car was parked. There was already a yellow envelope with a $25 parking ticket lodged under her windshield wiper.
Northern County Legal Service’s mission is to match clients who cannot afford legal counsel with a lawyer willing to offer pro bono services. NCLS specializes in housing and employment law but also matches clients with attorneys who assist with almost any legal need, including domestic violence and family law. The service is free to clients (though some pay for some services on a sliding scale based on their income). The remainder of the funding comes from grants, and the center is staffed almost entirely by a group of 15 volunteers and law school students. Students form the majority of the staff, and they receive internship credit, usually volunteering at the center during their third year of law school. Most students participate in the center only for one semester, and competition among students is tough to receive one of the volunteer slots.
The one full-time employee is a director, Julie, who has been at the center for about 2 years. Aside from running the office, managing volunteers and students, finding attorneys, and conducting training workshops for both students and volunteer attorneys, Julie’s main concern is funding, which is a constant issue.
The small office where NCLS is housed consists of a waiting room and four offices. Julie keeps one of the four offices as her own, and the other three are taken by students or volunteers who work for 10 to 20 hours per week, usually in 4- to 6-hour shifts. Each of the four offices has a computer, and there is one printer shared by the center. At any given time, there might be as many as eight volunteers who share the three offices, meeting with clients to perform the “intake” functions.
The intake process begins with a client who arrives on a walk-in or appointment basis, and the initial meeting usually lasts for about an hour. Depending on the client’s need, the intake paperwork consists of three to six pages of single-spaced questions that the staff members ask clients in order to be able to provide the most help. Intake forms also contain client demographic data, such as household income and household size, which is needed for the center to compile monthly, quarterly, and annual statistics that grant funders require in order to measure the center’s progress.
It was 7:30 a.m. as Julie walked into the office. The phone was already ringing, but she let it go to voice mail as she turned on her computer and quickly sorted through the phone messages that had piled up since she left yesterday afternoon. Nothing that couldn’t wait until later in the morning, she thought. In the waiting room, the staff began to gather for the monthly staff meeting. This is the time when Julie covers the statistics for the prior month with the staff, gives updates, and answers questions.
“Good morning.” Julie looked around the room. About two-thirds of the staff were seated in the uncomfortable assorted chairs, which had been donated or purchased at minimal cost over the past several years. “Today I want to cover a few things. First, the importance of getting the intake paperwork complete; second, scheduling; and third, timely filings.” She looked around the room at the bleary-eyed group, many of whom held coffee cups as they avoided eye contact.
“Fine? Good. Melinda? I noticed that many of you are making the same mistake as Melinda in failing to fully complete page 6 of the housing intake form. For example, here’s the copy of the one you completed last week. Where the form asks for service date, we really need that to complete the filing motion for the client. If we don’t have it, we have to call them to get it. I’ve noticed a few of these that have been blank in the past week or two. Does everyone understand that?” Heads nodded in agreement.
“Where do we put the intake form for housing after it’s done?” Eric asked.
“In the intake inbox on the filing cabinet in Julie’s office,” Monica offered.
“I thought that was only for urgent motions,” Eric said. “I’ve been putting the nonurgent ones in the inbox in the hallway.”
“That’s right,” Julie said. “Actually I’d prefer it if you handed the urgent ones directly to me and put the nonurgent ones in the hallway box. You can put the urgent ones in my box if I’m not here.”
“What’s urgent?” Monica asked.
“Urgent means if it’s been 4 or 5 days since the client received an eviction notice,” Julie said. “The fifth day is the most critical.”
“What do we do if you aren’t here but it’s been 5 days?” Monica asked.
“Then you can either call my cell phone and let me know that it’s waiting, or you can call an attorney from the list,” Julie said. “Or you can do it yourself but wait to file it until I can verify it after you’re done.”
“Do we do that for the domestic violence restraining order requests also?” Annette asked.
“No, those should be filed in the top drawer of the cabinet until another staff member can take the intake form and call a volunteer attorney to take the case,” Julie said.
“Why can’t I just call immediately to get the process started more quickly?” Annette said. “If I’ve done the intake, why can’t I just continue to the next step?”
Julie was beginning to get frustrated. “Look, everyone, we went over this in training. It’s important that this all be handled as we discussed it before.”
Julie continued as, out of earshot, Annette leaned over and whispered to Monica, “Yeah, training was what, like an hour? I still don’t understand why there are so