Diverse constituencies and the public human service organization

Abstract

Clients, donors, and professionals are identified as three constituencies directly involved in public human service organizations. Each of these groups has different expectations from human service organizations, and these expectations reflect different needs. Concomitantly, each of these groups represents a different ideological perspective. Furthermore, the products or outcomes of human service organizations are generally only vaguely defined. Taken together, the combination of different needs, varying ideologies, and unclear goals renders many human service organizations prone to considerable conflict and inefficiency.