Learning about the task: first steps in relating the organisation and environment in community service organisations

Abstract

The management of community service organizations (CSO) needs to be concerned with managing the operating system and relating the system to its environment. Many factors in the CSO's internal environment might inhibit it from carrying out the latter managerial function and encourage a preoccupation with operations. While the need for relating the organisation and the environment is clear, ways of initiating the process in a CSO have to be evolved. The paper outlines an exercise of learning about its tasks as a means of initiating such a process of linking the system with the situation. The exercise involves an understanding of the present tasks and a derivation of future tasks. Reports of 2 CSOs where the exercise was applied are presented. It is suggested that exercises such as this have the potentiality to shift the management's focus from operations to strategic management.