The Donor Services Department
Case Study : The Donor Services Department
Case Summary
Sam Wilson engaged Joanna Reed as a consultant to the Donor Services Department to determine who should run the Donor Services Department of his sponsorship agency. Sam Wilson was the local representative of a U.S.-based global agency. While his interest was primarily in community building, he was concerned for two reasons: (1) he had observed that his department was not running efficiently and (2) he was told his local office in Guatemala City needed to double in size within 12 months. Sponsorship agencies serve two constituencies: the local people they are trying to serve and the donors who make their work possible. The donor services department was responsible for translating correspondence between donors and the local children/families. However, it was also responsible for the paperwork to enrol new donors, for reassignments when either the donor or the family stopped participating, and for the special donations and the thank-you notes. Having accurate enrolment numbers is very important because the funding each local office receives from headquarters is based on the numbers.
Joanne Reed conducted many interviews and learned the following:
(1) the head of the donor and community services department, Jose Barriga, spent most all his time on community services, (2) the donor services supervisor exercised little or none of her authority, (3) there were deep personal conflicts among the various employees, (4) cliques had been in existence for some time, (5) three translators were not working at full capacity and were concerned that they were not able to use their English skills, (6) there was an uneven workflow, (7) there were piles of work lying around still to be done, (8) there were no data on efficiency, and (9) morale was low.
Assignment Questions:
1. What are the principal issues that Joanna Reed needs to address in her recommendations?
2. Using the research from Hofstede, http://geert-hofstede.com/guatemala.html, how might the Donor Services Department be redesigned?
Hint:
A need to address the following:
(1) acknowledging real and perceived status differences in the restructuring of the department and the choice of the department head,
(2) creating teams to process much of the department’s work,
(3) make decisions by consensus, and
(4) use processes such as shared breaks, and so forth, to create rituals that will enable the necessary degree of socializing but in a way that does not create efficiency losses.
