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Conflicts on the Human Services Coordination Team
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Conflicts on the Human Services Coordination Team The meeting you dread will begin in less than an hour, so you (Jerry Feldman) reluctantly take out the files on Arthur Harris and Frances Carpenter for one last review. As field director of Field Services for the Human Services Coordination Team of the State Services Department (SSD), you supervise the work of both Frances and Arthur. Arthur is Northeast Regional Director, and Frances is Arthur’s specialist in inner-city problems. Return to Assignment 12
“Conflicts on the Human Services Coordination Team” is a case study from Cases in Public Management, 1997, 5th Edition. Edited by R.J. Golembiewski, J.G. Stevenson, and M. White. F.E. Peacock: Itasca, IL.
Jerry: “Good to see you. I heard about your blow up with Arthur the other day and thought the three of us ought to get together. You’ve worked together for long enough that an incident like this is cause for concern. Do you want to talk for a few minutes before Arthur comes in, or would you rather wait?”
Frances: “Oh, I don’t know, I’m sorry I yelled and got him upset, but he’s really been after me. I used to think he was understanding, but now I’m not sure. He tries hard, but he’s not as grown up as he thinks, and he’s been putting on a lot of airs. He doesn’t come close to doing the job Malcolm Wilson did.” Jerry: “He’s not Malcolm, that’s true. But, what do you mean about Arthur?”
Frances: “You know, playing like he’s the big boss with all these evaluations. I’ve worked here as long as he has, and I know my job. He should be helpful, but instead he’s always trying to act superior.” Jerry: “What kinds of things does he do to act superior?”
Frances: “Well, you know Mr. Feldman, like always trying to pretend he knows better than I do what’s happening in Benton, like he knows the needs there. He gives me a lot of things from books and then tries to make me feel like it’s my fault, not his, when they don’t work.” Jerry: “Like what?” Frances: “Like the time he wanted me to get young mothers organized for prenatal care. You can’t change kids’ habits like that. Some are 14-year-olds hardly aware of what’s happening to them. I tried a little, but there are so many other things to do, it wasn’t worth the effort right then. A time will come for that. If Arthur really knew the black community here in Benton, he’d understand that.”
Jerry: “Is that you Arthur? Come on in. Have a seat.” Arthur: “Hi. How are things going at headquarters?” Jerry: “We’ve finally decided on a plan for implementing the new health regulations in community centers, but I’ll provide you with more information on that later. So, what do you think? Why don’t each of you explain what you think is going on? Arthur, do you want to go first?”
Arthur: “Well, if that’s the way you would like to proceed. I think this is a very complicated situation with a lot of elements in it…(pause). I respect Frances a lot, and I’m a little uneasy saying some of this because we worked together as equals before I became her supervisor. Jerry: “I have an idea. Why don’t you address your comments to Frances as well as to me? After all, whatever is going on, and whatever we manage to do here today, you two are still going to have to work things out between you.”
Arthur: “All right. Before I became you supervisor, when the office first opened, Frances, we worked mostly on helping people caught between the cracks in social services or people getting a bureaucratic pass-me-around--you know, case kinds of things. I don’t know if you have an equal around here in handling that kind of matter.” Frances (showing surprise): “Well, that’s the first time you’ve ever admitted that!” Jerry: “Hmmm, continue…”
Arthur: “All right. You know, casework isn’t all that we should be doing. Our real goal is human-services integration. I’ve felt that one of the reasons I was promoted, Jerry, was because you felt that I could help this region get more into programmatic activities, you know, the kinds of things where, instead of helping a few people, we implement a change that will help lots of people now and into the future…It’s been my goal to try to do that. Things like helping service-delivery agencies establish good coordinative mechanisms between city agencies or between county and the department, for example. We shouldn’t do all the coordination, we should be setting it up so other people do that. Isn’t that right, Jerry?”
Jerry: “That’s one of the objectives. Yes, certainly.” Arthur: “Well, I’ve tried to do that since becoming regional director, but for some reason--I don’t know why, Frances-- you’ve always seemed to resist that idea.” Frances: “That’s not true!”
Jerry: “You’ll get your turn Frances. Go on, Arthur, and remember to tell Frances your thoughts.” Arthur: “My feeling is that both your experience and your talents lead you to prefer casework.” Frances: “What?!” Jerry: “Wait a minute! Let’s try to avoid motivations and interpretations. Just describe what happened. We’ll look for causes in due time.”
Arthur: “Ok. The first few suggestions I gave you just seemed to bounce right off and disappear, Frances. I suggested that you try to improve coordination between County Probation and the summer softball programs in Benton County. You said you didn’t know anyone in the athletic programs and that they didn’t work in the city. Then there was the business with developing support in the Fillmore City Council for community-based mental-health halfway houses, which nothing ever came from. I tried to talk to you about that and tried to get you to set down on paper your goals for the next six months. But you never did. Instead, you gave me a lot of excuses about how busy you were. Then you began getting into arguments a lot during the last two or three months and…”
Frances: “What do you mean, a lot?! And besides, we didn’t have many arguments, just a few disagreements.” Arthur: “Man, if those weren’t arguments, I don’t know!! Jerry (laughs): “What’s an argument to you, Arthur?” Arthur: “That’s kind of hard to define. I guess when people start getting heated over their disagreements.” Jerry: “What about you Frances- what’s an argument?” Frances: “Well, both people at least have to start yelling. If my ears don’t hurt it’s not much of an argument.”
Jerry: “ OK, What happened next?” Arthur: “I don’t know. Things just started to go downhill. I feel that Frances just hasn’t kept up with the others in terms of program improvements. I tried to get her to see this at the weekly staff meetings by having other people talk about what they were doing.” Frances: “That was an attempt to put me down!” Jerry: “Hold on, let’s keep motives out of it. How did you feel, Frances? That’s the question.”
Frances: “Well, I felt angry. He never wanted to…” Jerry: “Tell it to Arthur.” Frances: “Man, you are something. All right, you never wanted to hear what I was doing. I was doing a lot of things. I got the locations changed on the health clinics, and I found a way to get hot meals for the old folks, and I steered a group of kids into a teen center they never knew existed, and a whole lot of other things. But all those meetings were a lot of talk about bureaucratic I-don’t-know-what. I thought I was supposed to work against that, not make more of it!”
Arthur: “That’s just the point. If we don’t make these agencies work right, then no one will get the services they need. I know you mean well, but in the long run this way is better for the black community and all the people.” Frances: “What do you know about the black community? Have you ever lived there? That’s what I’m supposed to know. If you knew anything about the black community you’d know better what is an argument and what isn’t.” Arthur: “Well, when someone stomps around an office picking fights and contradicting everyone, that’s an argument.”
Frances: “Oh, you and your bourgeois standards! What do you know? I have a right to get upset once in a while. Besides, what am I supposed to do? There’s no one in that office I can talk to. Everyone’s so concerned with doing good they never bother to find out what the people are like.” Arthur: “You don’t have a monopoly on the people, Frances. We work with lots of different kinds of people. It’s not just the black community, and you have to understand that.”
Jerry: “I think we’re getting diverted from the main issue. Frances, why don’t you tell Arthur more about his idea of programs?” Frances: “Well, he’s got some problems about black folks that need some work, but all right. (Turning to Arthur) I never did understand all that program stuff. I remember about the softball leagues, but I don’t know any of those people. When I came to you about that, you just gave me some names to call. Well I had already got the names! And I tried to talk to people in Fillmore, and they gave me the run-around. They’re a lot of racists over there, and you never should have asked me to deal with them. Charlie Welsh knows all those people. Why don’t you ask him?”
Arthur: “That’s just the point. You have to expand your base of operations if you are going to become programmatic. You should be able to deal with all kinds of situations. If you are going to get good evaluation reports, you have to do the same as all the other field officers.”
Frances: “Who’s doing the evaluations? You?? How are you going to evaluate me? You don’t understand the black community, and you don’t know our needs. I was hired to work on the things I know best. And that’s what I do. You’ve got all these fancy ideas about programs and all that bureaucratic stuff, but you don’t understand blacks or how to evaluate us. You don’t understand me enough to help me when I ask for it, so how can you evaluate me? All you do is put me down at staff meetings, then you wonder why I don’t come and threaten me with reprimands and all that.”
Arthur: “I certainly can evaluate you and your work. I use the same standards that I use to evaluate everyone’s work. There’s no difference between black or white. This isn’t a race issue, and I resent your trying to make it one!” Frances: “Well, that’s where you’re wrong. If you think you can just go out and hang the same standards on all people, you are a racist, and you don’t even know it!! You call yourself a supervisor and think you can evaluate me? You don’t even know what I do, and you don’t even care. All you care about is your so-called program plans, and I don’t need any of that white middle-class stuff that’s been keeping black people down for years!!!”
The telephone rings. Jerry answers it. Jerry: “Would the two of you excuse me for a minute? This is a long-distance call from Washington. I’ll call you back in as soon as I handle this.” Jerry finishes his telephone conversation and takes some time to reflect on the meeting that just took place. A lot of issues have been aired and the atmosphere is heating up. How is he going to handle the problems that just walked out of his office? He takes a piece of blank paper, and labels the following categories:
What Do I Know? This column is for recording your first impressions, the facts (as you see them) and the concepts from the course that might help you better understand the situation. What Do I Need to Know? This column is for recording what impressions you need to verify and what is still confusing and needs clarification.
Steps to clarify the situation: This column is to record strategies you might use to collect the information that you need. After filling out this form, you may find some of the information you need at the Human Coordination Team website, Jerry Feldman or Arthur Harris’s virtual office, or by directly e-mailing specific questions to Francis or Arthur. Return to Assignment 12
