Environmental Factors

Environmental Factors Heidi Wallen HSM/220 March 21, 2013 Environmental Factors The four external environmental factors are: economic factors, sociological factors, technological factors, and political and professional factors. The six internal factors are: organizational purpose, mission, and philosophy, Organizational planning, Organizational operations, Human resources, Technological resources, financial resources.

Economic factors including knowing what financial resources the company has and where funding is coming from weather it is government funds, donated funds, fees for service, or other agency income. Sociological factors include understanding community demographic both in terms of client and community. Understand the makeup in terms of income, education, gender, age, and other demographic factors. Technological factors for human service agencies can understand how to use the equipment such as computer hardware and software as well as new treatment approaches.

Political/professional factors include knowing laws and regulations from federal, state and local levels as well as a political climate, or the attitudes of community and local leaders and the general public towards the services provided. Professional factors in human services include being aware of licensing and certification standards; and staying in good working relations with these agencies. When looking at all four of the factors it is heard to say what would be the most important.

They all have good value, but if I had to I would say that Sociological factors seem to be very important. One needs to know the people that you are going to help each and every day. To make sure that you are able to give them the help that they may need. Organizational Purpose is to have the understanding of a mission statement and a vision that is intended to provide the logic and the organizing theme . human service agency believes in what it hopes to achieve and what services they will provide to achieve its mission and the vision, goals that were set.

Organizational planning is having a strategy and plan to identify were the organization ideally would like to be in a time frame such as five or more years. This takes some brainstorming and looking at available data so they are able to project future needs. Organizational Operations requires regular review and examination of the programs and services offered to make sure that performance is measuring up to expectations. Human Resources refer to the many functions that are involved in the supervision and management of the organization’s employees and volunteers.

Staff requires a working knowledge of human resources law. Technological Resources can include support and consulting services, computer resources, financial management expertise, marketing and public relations expertise, and other technologies that may be used to support the work of the organization. Financial Resources requires a careful examination of budget documents to determine where the funding is coming from and what obligations the agency assumes in accepting funding from each of the various sources.