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Unit Name

Course 6: Organizational Change and Person-Centered Planning

Activity

Review the table below. The left side of the table represents the characteristics typical of service structures and designs that are organized to be responsive to external controls such as funding streams, politics, etc. The right side of the table represents the characteristics of service structures and designs that are organized to be responsive to the individual who is requesting service/support.

Apply the table to an agency/organization you are thinking about. Which side of the table most closely represents the nature of the services provided within the organization?


System-Centered

Person-Centered
  • Plan a lifetime of programs
  • Offer limited options
  • Focus on placements/closures/slots
  • Organized to please funders, policies
  • Focus on labels
  • Emphasis on deficits
  • Depend on professional judgment
  • Emphasize differences
  • Professional control
  • Delegate work
  • Reliance on interdisciplinary teams
  • Organize in conference rooms/offices
  • Spend lots of time planning/little action
  • Craft a desirable lifestyle
  • Design unlimited options
  • Focus on quality of life
  • Organize to respond to people
  • See people first
  • Search for capacities and gifts
  • Depend on people, families & caring others
  • Discover common experiences
  • Shared decision-making
  • Negotiate task agreements
  • Empower workers
  • Organize in natural communities
  • Spend lots of time taking action/assessing plans


Answer the following questions:

  1. What surfaces as a priority area in moving toward a person-centered service structure?
  2. What person-centered practices are in place that can be enhanced or built upon?
  3. What is a necessary first/next step?