This assignment involves the development of a brief strategic plan for building a collaborative service delivery model for the organization you have selected for your project assignments. Your organization’s senior leadership has designated you to be the task organizer to address the service delivery model, with a directive to build a team that will be able to address the issues and concerns. You will have to decide what kinds of organizations would need to become involved in the coalition. You might need to bring in legislators or policymakers, health care facilities, schools, private organizations, or philanthropic organizations that have an interest or funding investment in the identified population.
In your strategic plan, include:
- A description of the human services delivery focus for the strategic plan.
- A description of a method for conducting a market assessment of community needs. How will you develop a plan or use an existing tool to assess the community needs?
- A plan for building capacity for service delivery that involves engaging multiple organizations in the planning process. You will need to identify the organizations that will be included in the planning process, how the forms of governance for the organizations may impact their ability to engage in the planning process, and how they will be invited to participate.
- A timeline for implementing the plan. Draw a graphic timeline and include key points and dates for development and implementation.
- Tools and practices you will use to evaluate the plan for success.
Your plan must also include:
- Cultural competency practices necessary to interact effectively with diverse groups and populations.
- An assessment of the sustainability of the plan, based on governance structures and policy changes that may impact continued implementation.
Possible Situations
The following list includes examples of situations that might become an area of focus to consider for this assignment:
- The community has seen an increase in suicide among young people.
- The community has seen an increase in the need for affordable housing programs to assist the needs of an aging population. There has been a noticeable increase in older people who are in need of in-home or facility programs to assist with memory care services.
- The community has seen a lack of affordable local inpatient treatment facilities for mental health and addiction treatment.
- The community has seen a lack of adequate after-school programs for grade school and junior-high aged children.
- The community has seen an increase in drug use among young people.
Name
u09a1 Leadership Development:
Strategic Planning for Collaborative Service Delivery
HMSV5340 Leading in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Organizations
Instructor
Date
Introduction
Write an introduction (2‒3 paragraphs) that provides some general information about
your role, your organization, and the situation or area of focus that this plan will be addressing.
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Describes the human services delivery
focus for a strategic plan and explains why that focus was chosen.
Needs Assessment Methodology
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Describes the method that will be
used to conduct a needs assessment for an identified area of focus for a human services strategic
plan. Provides a justification for the method.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
Building Capacity
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Analyzes the methods that will be
used to build capacity for a human services initiative, including an understanding of how forms
of governance for participating organizations may impact participation. Provides justification for
the methods.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
1
Cultural Awareness and Competency
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Describes components of cultural
awareness and cultural competency that a leader must exhibit in building capacity for a human
services initiative. Provides a specific example that demonstrates the importance of that
awareness.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
Timeline for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Develops a timeline for the
planning, implementation, and evaluation stages of a human services initiative, using a visual
timeline graphic. Justifies the elements of the timeline.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
Evaluating Success of Initiative
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Identifies tools and practices that
will be used to assess success in a human services initiative. Indicates what success will look
like.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
2
Assessing Sustainability of Initiative
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Assesses the sustainability of a
human services strategic plan based on governance structures and policy changes that may
impact continued implementation. Provides suggestions for enhancing sustainability.
Use at least one source from the course syllabus reading list or another academic
reference to support the content in this section. Avoid copying directly from your source—
summarize the content in your own words.
Summary/Conclusions
Summarize the planning process in 2‒3 paragraphs.
3
References
The distinguished (A-level) scoring requirements are: Writes in a manner consistent with the
expectations of the human services profession. Uses current APA style and formatting for all intext citations and references.
Best Practice—at least 1 academic reference per page of paper.
(Samples of references from the course that might be used)
deGroot, S. (2016). Responsive leadership in social services: A practical approach for
optimizing engagement and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Hu, Q., Kapucu, N., & O’Byrne, L. (2014). Strategic planning for community-based small
nonprofit organizations: Implementation, benefits, and challenges. Journal of Applied
Management and Entrepreneurship, 19(1), 83‒101.
Watson, L. D., & Hoefer, R. A. (2014). Developing nonprofit and human service leaders:
Essential knowledge and skills. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Weber, M., Backer, T. E., Orton, K., Barnes, G., Jenkins, W., & Crecy, C. (2015). Implementing
strategic communications planning in a large federal agency. The Innovation Journal:
The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 20(3), 2‒14.
4
Katherine Frew
U02a1 Defining Collaborative Leadership in Human Service Organizations
HMSV5340 Leading in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Organizations
Kathy Enger
2/1/2022
Introduction
The human service organization explored in this assessment is the United States
Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Typically, VA is a government organization that the
United States Congress established on March 15, 1989. VA operates in the administration of the
human resource programs industry. VA is located in Parkersburg, WV, United States. It also
operates as a federal government department that offers life-long healthcare services to military
veterans who are eligible within all the veteran affairs outpatient clinics and medical centers.
Veteran Affairs also provides eligible military veterans with life insurance, home loans,
education assistance, and vocational rehabilitation services. Additionally, the organization
benefit-eligible veterans and their family members through education opportunities,
compensation payments for death and disabilities caused by military service, burial, and
memorial services, and pensions.
Organization Mission, Vision, Programs, and Population
VA is a government agency. It is a Cabinet-level executive branch department that
operates under the U.S Federal government. The mission statement of VA is to serve and honor
American veteran men and women who served their country during war. The organization also
works towards achieving its vision that aims to provide veterans with world-class services and
benefits in line with the highest standards of stewardship, accountability, advocacy, integrity,
professionalism, excellence, respect, commitment, and compassion.
The target population for VA is American veteran men and women and their family
members. Therefore, VA targets those who served in the military, air service, or naval and were
not released dishonorably. It is also paramount to explore the programs provided by VA. The
programs fall under several categories. First, VA provides veterans health care. The organization
1
has a veteran health administration with integrated health care networks that offer health care and
rehabilitation services to at least 9 million veterans in at least 1,255 health care facilities in the
United States (Chavez et al., 2019).
Secondly, VA provides veterans benefits to assist their transition to civilian life. The
veterans’ benefits administration ensures all eligible veterans access life insurance, home loans,
and education, among other benefits. VA also provides national cemeteries to honor those who
die after serving and defending their country. Therefore, VA provides honorable burial services
to eligible veterans and their family members to ensure they will never be forgotten for serving
their country. Lastly, VA offers services to improve the Nation’s response to natural disasters,
national emergencies, terrorism, and war.
The United States Department of Veteran Affairs is adequately staffed because the
current staff is around 377,805 employees. The majority of the staff are full-time workers who
provide different services to eligible veterans. According to the Veterans Health Administration
(n.d.), at least 367 200 people in the organization are full-time support staff and health care
providers who offer care to millions of veterans in thousands of health care facilities in the U.S.
Governance Structure
The governance structure of the VA consists of different administrations such as Veterans
Health, Veterans Benefits, and National Cemetery. Thus, VA’s governance structure falls under
the external mechanism. The external mechanism governance structure is effective because VA
senior leadership makes decisions to run the organization by providing strategic direction. The
governance structure is effective because it maintains accountability collaboratively and
transparently (Liggans et al., 2019). VA is governed by the Secretary of Veteran Affairs
appointed by the U.S President.
2
The Secretary of Veteran Affairs works closely with several principle governance bodies
such as the VA Modernization Board, VA Executive Board, VA Chief of Staff Council, and VA
Operations Board. Overall, the main strength for VA embracing external mechanisms as a
governance structure is that it enables the organization to make sound and informed decisions
based on strategic objectives and risk appetite. The structure also guides the organization in
allocating resources to VA.
Funding Practices and Sources
The funding practices of the United States Department of Veteran Affairs are categorized
into mandatory funding and discretionary funding. The mandatory funding is dictated by law,
while discretionary funding is adjusted annually. Mandatory funding focuses on benefits such as
a pension, life insurance, burial benefits, housing, and clothing allowances. It also provides
veterans with education, employment, vocational rehabilitation, the survivor’s Dependency,
indemnity compensation (DIC) program, and disability compensation. On the other hand,
discretionary funding focuses on medical research, medical care, information technology,
construction programs, and other operating expenses. The strength of VA spending practices is
that they ensure all the eligible veterans access services and benefits whenever they need them in
honor of the services their offered their country.
It is paramount to examine the sources of funds spent by VA to provide services and
benefits to eligible veterans. The first funding source for VA is the Military Construction that
ensures funds are provided for the alteration, construction, design, planning, and improving
infrastructures for active and military reserve components (Office of Budget, n.d.). The funding
also ensures battlefield monuments and veteran cemeteries are maintained. The second funding
source for VA is the Veteran Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Office of
3
Budget, n.d.). This funding requires the U.S President to submit a budget request to Congress to
allocate funds to VA.
Summary/Conclusions
To sum up, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs is a government
organization operating under the Federal government to assist as many veterans as possible. This
organization has achieved numerous goals since 1989. The success of VA is also attributed to the
application of governance and funding practices. VA’s governance by various governance bodies
has benefited veterans in many ways. For example, VA Executive Board makes decisions that
propel the organization to achieve its mission. VA Operations Board helps the organization in
the management and operations. VA Modernization Board helps the organization implement new
initiatives that benefit veterans (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2019). The mandatory
and discretionary funding practices are applied to ensure all eligible veterans equitably access the
services and services by covering all the possible needs in health care, housing, education,
pensions, life insurance, and other areas.
4
References
Chavez, M. A., Duffy, A., Rugs, D., Cowan, L., Davis, A., Morgan, S., & Powell-Cope, G.
(2019). Pressure injury documentation practices in the Department of Veteran Affairs: a
quality improvement project. Journal of Wound Ostomy & Continence Nursing, 46(1),
18-24.
Department of Veterans Affairs. (2019, May 14). Department of Veterans Affairs
Enterprise Governance Structure and Process. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/ADMIN1~1/AppData/Local/Temp/Directive_0214_14_May_2019-2.pdf
Liggans, G., Attoh, P. A., Gong, T., Chase, T., Russell, M. B., & Clark, P. W. (2019). Military
veterans in federal agencies: Organizational inclusion, human resource practices, and
trust in leadership as predictors of organizational commitment. Public Personnel
Management, 48(3), 413-437.
Office of Budget. (n.d.). VA.gov | Veterans affairs. VA.gov Veterans Affairs.
https://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp
Veterans Health Administration. (n.d.). VA.gov | Veterans affairs. VA.gov Veterans Affairs.
https://www.va.gov/health/aboutvha.asp
5
Katherine Frew
u06a1 Leadership Development:
Philosophy, Governance, and Skills
HMSV5340 Leading in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Organizations
Kathy Engle
2/20/2022
Introduction
The U.S Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is the government agency that assists
eligible veterans through various programs such as health, employment, housing, pensions,
loans, and other benefits. VA implements these programs to improve the living standards of
veteran men and women who actively serve their country by protecting people and resources.
The success of VA is highly embedded in the leadership provided by all the stakeholders. Thus,
quality leadership in the organization translates into achieving the mission and working with the
core values to benefit all eligible veterans (Khoshhal & Guraya, 2016).
VA is mainly structured into Veteran Health Administration, Veteran Benefits
Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration. In that regard, my leadership role
will fall under the Veteran Health Administration, where I will practice as a Nurse ManagerNOD for VA. Typically, VA will require a Nurse Manager for Nursing Officer of the Day
(NOD) because the organization provides healthcare services to millions of veterans across
thousands of healthcare facilities in the United States U.S. (Government Accountability Office,
2019). The leadership of a Nurse Manager in the VHA is to execute position responsibilities to
enhance the delivery of quality healthcare in the organization. All the other nurses working in the
VA will be reporting to the Nurse Manager.
Leadership Statement and Philosophy
As a leader, it is essential to be guided by the leadership statement and philosophy to
create a smooth working relationship with teams in the organization (Benson, 2015). For
example, a leadership philosophy is fundamental in running a team and implementing the best
leadership model that aligns with the core values and principles of the organization to achieve
1
goals and objectives (DeGroot, 2016). As a Nurse Manager, my leadership philosophy will be
based on personalized behaviors, attitudes, principles, and theories to depict effective and open
communication, integrity, honesty, and ethical values to keep my team motivated to deliver
quality care to veterans. I will implement these values and principles to ensure eligible veterans
access all the healthcare benefits offered by the Veteran Health Administration.
As a Nurse Manager in the Veteran Health Administration, my leadership statement is to
provide quality leadership by leading other nurses and healthcare providers by example. My
leadership statement encompasses the leadership philosophy by respecting the code of ethics
through integrity, transparency, honesty, compassion, commitment, respect, professionalism,
advocacy, excellence, accountability, and stewardship (Kaya & Boz, 2019). In other words, I
will work collaboratively with my team members to deliver quality and affordable care to
veterans. I will communicate effectively to address issues that may undermine service delivery. I
will demonstrate honesty and transparency to allocate resources to team members to ensure they
work in a safe environment. Overall, I will be a team player by incorporating ideas and opinions
from team members before making decisions.
Leadership Philosophy and Customer Service Focus
I selected my leadership philosophy based on the leadership style needed to lead a
healthcare team in the Veteran Health Administration. In other words, my leadership philosophy
is based on quality leadership that allows a Nurse Manager to relate will with health care team
members to deliver health care services and benefits to veterans. The relationship between a
Nurse Manager and healthcare team members is based on core values such as integrity,
transparency, honesty, and compassion. In other words, my leadership philosophy as a Nurse
2
Manager aims to create positive relationships with healthcare stakeholders. The core values will
act as tools for benefiting veterans on all the healthcare issues because my team will be equipped
to handle various health care problems affecting eligible veterans.
Most importantly, a Nurse Manager should implement problem-solving skills, emotional
intelligence, and clinical processes to bring clinical competence when delivering health care
services to veterans. These skills will allow the Nurse Manager to motivate healthcare providers
under the Veteran Health Administration (Fischer et al., 2020). For example, if a veteran faces a
challenge when accessing healthcare from VA, the Nurse Manager will determine how the
veteran will benefit from care services within VA’s healthcare facilities.
Leadership Philosophy and Components of Service Delivery
I will implement my leadership philosophy to establish an effective relationship with my
interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary healthcare teams by using skills required in clinical
practice to benefit veterans in various healthcare settings. Therefore, I will consider my team’s
values, needs, and strengths to ensure each member provides the best care services to veterans.
My philosophy will assist me in navigating the challenges of delivering affordable and quality
care services to eligible veterans. This philosophy will guide nurses and healthcare providers to
utilize available resources allocated by the Veteran Health Administration to provide equitable
care to veterans to eliminate healthcare inequalities and disparities (Fischer et al., 2020). My
philosophy is based on a team player approach to listen and implement ideas and opinions
presented by team members on how veterans can access the best care services. VA is a
government organization funded by the Federal Government. As a Nurse Manager, my
philosophy is to communicate with healthcare providers serving veterans to ensure they work
3
within the budget and resources allocated to Veteran Health Administration (Fischer et al.,
2020). My philosophy will health team members understand the magnitude of delivery care to
veterans and maintain ethical standards.
Important Leadership Skills
As a Nurse Manager working in the Veteran Health Administration, it is essential to
implement various leadership skills to guide healthcare providers such as nurses to benefiteligible veterans. My first leadership skills are compassion and empathy to understand veterans
and implement healthcare strategies to help them. These skills will also help me understand
nurses and improve their training and team communication, thus helping nurses overcome
burnout and job stressors (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). The second leadership skill is integrity
to veterans, and nurses trust my leadership style. Integrity will also motivate nurses to embrace
ethical values when treating veterans and make critical decisions to benefit veterans. My third
leadership skill is critical thinking to ensure I make crucial decisions to ensure veterans access
care services such as mental health (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). Critical thinking will also
help me lead my team to implement changes advocated by the Veteran Health Administration.
My fourth leadership skill is dedication excellence to guide my team to achieve VA’s
mission and vision. Thus, nurses will demonstrate dedication when provider care services to
veterans. My fifth leadership is communication. As a Nurse Leader, I will communicate
effectively with different healthcare professionals and veterans to improve care service delivery.
The sixth leadership skills are collaboration and team building. These skills will create good
working relationships among healthcare providers to benefit veterans (Indeed Editorial Team,
2021). The seventh leadership skills are mentorship and teaching. These skills will help me
4
inspire other nurses to perform their nursing roles to help veterans facing healthcare problems.
The eighth leadership skill is delegation. As a Nurse Manager will assign duties to healthcare
providers based on their strengths to address the healthcare needs of eligible veterans. The ninth
leadership skill is technology efficiency (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). Technology in
healthcare is fundamental in promoting quality of care. As a nurse manager, I will ensure
healthcare providers integrate health care technology to offer the best care to veterans. The last
leadership skill is open-mindedness (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). This skill will help me
understand the changes taking place in the healthcare industry and integrate them into the
Veteran Health Administration to improve healthcare services and benefits offered to eligible
veterans.
Competency in Leadership Skills
I have identified ten leadership skills for a nurse manager. On a scale of 1 to 5, my
mastery level for each skill is as follow; technology efficiency (5), and open-mindedness (5).
dedication to excellence (4), communication (5), collaboration, compassion and empathy (5),
integrity (5), critical thinking (4), and team-building (4), mentorship and teaching (5), delegation
(5), The assumptions for selecting these skills are beneficial to the goals of nurse managers in the
VA. For example, integrity will help the nurse manager to build trust with team members and
eligible veterans.
Compassion and empathy will focus on improving the working conditions of nurses to
deliver compassionate care to veterans (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). Communication assumes
that team members will share ideas and opinions on how to benefit veterans. Technology
efficiency assumes that healthcare providers will implement telehealth, electronic health records,
5
and other technologies to provide quality care to veterans. Open-mindedness assumes that new
changes will be initiated within VA to improve healthcare delivery. Lastly, collaboration and
team-building assume that my team will comprise interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary health
teams to benefit veterans.
Actions for Skills Improvement
These skills can be improved through several strategies. For example, empathy and
compassion are improved by engaging stakeholders and understanding their challenges.
Communication can be improved through active listening and sharing ideas and opinions before
making decisions. Technology efficiency can be improved by training healthcare providers or
mentoring and teaching them how to improve their clinical practice (Indeed Editorial Team,
2021). Open-mindedness can be improved through benchmarking from other health care
organizations and incorporating changes in the Veteran Health Administration. The delegation,
collaboration, and team building can be improved by allocating tasks to health team members
based on their strengths and competencies.
Summary/Conclusions
To sum up, my leadership philosophy as a Nurse Manager in the Veteran Affairs is to
keep my health care team motivated to improve the quality of healthcare services and benefits
delivered to eligible veterans. This philosophy will be achieved through personalized behaviors,
attitudes, principles, and theories to depict effective and open communication, integrity, honesty,
and ethical values. Overall, my Nursing Manager role in the Veteran Health Administration will
6
depend on ten leadership skills that will not only improve my relationship with other healthcare
providers but also benefit eligible veterans.
7
References
Benson, D. (2015). Creating your personal leadership philosophy. Physician Leadership Journal,
2(6), 64‒66.
deGroot, S. (2016). Responsive leadership in social services: A practical approach for
optimizing engagement and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Fischer, M. J., Kourany, W. M., Sovern, K., Forrester, K., Griffin, C., Lightner, N., … &
Crowley, S. T. (2020). Development, implementation and user experience of the Veterans
Health Administration (VHA) dialysis dashboard. BMC nephrology, 21(1), 1-12.
Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, May 11). 10 nursing leadership qualities and behaviors. Indeed
Career Guide. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/nursingleadership-qualities-and-behaviors
Kaya, A., & Boz, İ. (2019). The development of the professional values model in nursing.
Nursing ethics, 26(3), 914-923.
Khoshhal, K. I., & Guraya, S. Y. (2016). Leaders produce leaders and managers produce
followers. A systematic review of the desired competencies and standard settings for
physicians’ leadership. Saudi medical journal, 37(10), 1061–
1067.https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.10.15620
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2019, May 22). Veterans Affairs: Sustained
Leadership Needed to Address High-Risk Issues. Retrieved from
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-571t
8
Katherine Frew
u04a1 Understanding the Landscape in For-Profit, Nonprofit,
and Government-Based Human Service Organizations
HMSV5340 Leading in For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Government Organizations
Kathy Enger
2/6/2022
Introduction
The human service organization considered in this assessment is the United States
Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). VA is an agency of the U.S Federal government founded in
1989 to look at the welfare of veteran men and women who diligently served their country in the
military service. For many years, VA has provided various services and benefits to eligible
veterans. Critical services include health care services such as mental and dental health, treating
illness and injuries, and preventing future health problems through health insurance coverage.
VA also provides pensions, rehabilitation, educational, and affordable housing programs through
home loans to eligible veterans. In worst cases where veterans die, VA also offers decent and
dignified burials through the National Cemetery Association. The Department of Veteran Affairs
also provides memorial services for all fallen veterans. Therefore, the organization performs
critical functions to Americans, especially those who served in the military. Despite the
remarkable progress made by VA, issues related to the political and economic landscape,
leadership, and forces affecting the organization manifest themselves. Thus, the primary purpose
of this assessment is to extensively address these issues in finality in terms of their relationship
with the organization.
Organizational Political and Social Landscape
The current political landscape for the Department of Veteran Affairs can be analyzed
based on the political interests and influence in the performance or development of VA. First,
political leaders in the United States emphasize the need to expand VA facilities and benefits
offered to millions of veterans. Therefore, veterans in Congress are currently influencing
resource allocation to empower VA to offer better services and benefits to eligible veterans.
1
Also, veterans in Congress play a political role in the passage of legislation regarding the budget
allocated to the VA. The political pressure to expand the benefits and services offered by the VA
is based on the high number of veterans and their families in the voting bloc. The increase in the
number of veterans in Congress has also contributed to the continued expansion of benefits and
services. For example, Congress has recently advocated for legislation to include counseling
programs for veterans who served in the Vietnam War. The legislation has also advocated for
preventative health services for veterans with liabilities associated with military service. Also,
the current political landscape on the Veteran Affairs (VA) is the expansion of medical services
for dependents and raising the number of outpatient veterans to access dental health care.
According to Korb (2019), the current political landscape ensures that the future political leaders
in the U.S will support VA by providing veterans with benefits and services to eliminate
challenges faced by veterans today.
The current social landscape for VA is to raise awareness about social issues affecting
veterans as a vulnerable group. The social landscape for VA is to make people understand that
many veterans have faced physical, social, and mental issues after completing their deployments
in war. These issues make them a vulnerable population that requires social support. Therefore,
the current social landscape for VA is to ensure eligible veterans enjoy and access better benefits
such as healthcare, housing, and employment.
Additionally, it is essential to acknowledge that political and social factors affect the VA.
In terms of political factors, the debate about resource and budget allocation has created
divisions in Congress on the number of funds to be released to VA. Conflict in Congress has
affected the expansion of services and benefits offered by VA to eligible veterans. The current
wars have increased the number of military servicemen and women in terms of social factors.
2
Therefore, the risk of veterans suffering from social problems such as brain damage, depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, substance abuse, disabilities, homelessness,
unemployment, and isolation will increase to a level that will overwhelm the organizations
(Adams et al., 2019). Therefore, the social factors will make it difficult for VA to offer adequate
services and benefits to eligible veterans.
Forces that Impact Human Service Organization
The Department of Veteran Affairs is a large and complex U.S agency that helps the
country address challenges encountered by veterans. However, several factors or forces impact
VA. The first factor is budgeting, which involves addressing the ballooning VA budget. Over the
years, the VA budget has increased and grown significantly, thus becoming one of the U.S
government agencies with the largest discretionary budget. However, the VA budget has been
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, thus causing a budget deficit that impacts the performance
of the VA. The second factor impacting VA is expanding veterans’ access to disability benefits
(Korb & Toofan, 2021). The number of veterans with disabilities continues to increase, and VA
has to decide whether to continue providing benefits to the eligible veterans. This factor impacts
VA because veterans with other special considerations feel that they should benefit from services
they had previously been denied. Thus, the standoffs between which issues are considered
eligible and ineligible continue impacting the organization.
The third factor affecting the organization is slowing down the privatization of veterans’
healthcare (Korb & Toofan, 2021). This factor impacts the organization because veterans are
allowed to seek healthcare from the non-veteran system. Yet, the organization has invested a lot
of resources to set up thousands of healthcare facilities for veterans. Thus, privatization of
3
healthcare limits the utilization of VA healthcare facilities, thus undermining the efforts made by
the organization to improve the standard of living of veterans.
Leadership Challenges Related to Internal or External Forces
The Department of Veteran Affairs is facing leadership challenges due to internal and
external forces. The first leadership challenge is the lack of qualified senior leadership. For
example, the organization has been managed by at least eight senior leaders in the last ten years.
This demonstrates the leadership vacuum and instability affecting the organization. This
leadership vacuum in VA has also increased the gap between the ability of the organization to
meet vital health care needs of eligible veterans. Another leadership challenge facing VA is a
disagreement between VA leaders and the Federal government. For example, the federal
government wants to control the activities of the VA. During the Trump administration, the
Secretary of Veteran Affairs resisted privatizing VA medical services. The disagreement forced
the federal government to replace the Secretary of Veteran Affairs (Lachmann, 2018). This
affected VA because the new Secretary had no experience administering a large government
organization like VA.
Improving Leadership Ability to Respond
The best approach to improve leadership ability to respond to VA leadership challenges
is to engage visionary leaders who understand the framework under which VA operates. These
leaders should engage relevant stakeholders to ensure VA issues are addressed. I recommend that
VA leaders should be allowed to work independently without interference to ensure the VA
activities and operations run smoothly. Another way to improve leaders’ response is to ensure the
organization receives adequate funding. Adequate resources will increase the negotiation power
of VA to make a suitable decision that benefits veterans and protect the organization’s
4
independence. Benefits and services offered to veterans call for visionary and sustained
leadership committed to upgrading and modernizing VA facilities (U.S. Government
Accountability Office, 2019). Thus, skilled leaders and adequate funding are the main
requirements towards bridging the leadership vacuum and challenges. Therefore, innovation and
VA transformation will start with a visionary leader who can withstand internal and external
forces, thus protecting the dignity and rights of veterans.
Summary/Conclusions
To sum up, the Department of Veteran Affairs has achieved remarkable milestones to
benefit veterans. However, factors such as budgeting continue impacting the organization
because Congress has to pass the budget. Services offered to veterans are affected when the
organization experiences a budget deficit. Also, privatization of veterans’ healthcare is a force
that not only impacts the organizational performance but also undermines the leadership (Korb &
Toofan, 2021). Thus, it is essential to empower VA with skilled and visionary leaders to fight
forces and factors that negatively impact veterans’ performance and delivery of services and
benefits.
5
References
Adams, R. E., Urosevich, T. G., Hoffman, S. N., Kirchner, H. L., Figley, C. R., Withey, C. A., …
& Boscarino, J. A. (2019). Social and psychological risk and protective factors for
veteran well-being: the role of veteran identity and its implications for intervention.
Military behavioral health, 7(3), 304-314.
Korb, L.J. (2019, December 4). Caring for U.S. veterans: A plan for 2020. Center for American
Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/caring-u-s-veteransplan-2020/
Korb, L.J., & Toofan, K. (2021, May 17). The challenges facing the Department of Veterans
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