Food Banks Canada: A Success Story of Overcoming Challenges - Paper Example

The Food Banks Canada Case Study is an exciting story of how a failing non-governmental organization turned around and became the leading provider of nourishment to many Canadian families by addressing their hunger. The food bank was staring at a notable dearth coupled with low implementation techniques, making them make changes in the organization. The organization altered its management procedures and decided to implement a combined system.

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It also opted to rejuvenate their employees and establish their authority in the sector. Furthermore, the organization revamped its mission and vision and put it to work. Katharine Schmidt's plans for the organization were to for it to become a stakeholder in the business of data and be the solution to all suppliers. Katharine Schmidt had noticed that the poor people gatherings had not made much impact on their plight since they had adopted a radical methodology, which made it impossible for the government or the corporate world to come to their aid.

This made it the strategy pushed by the organization to be in jeopardy of not getting the proper attention from the government and the elected officials. Nevertheless, the need for food for the poor people was increasing day by day, which necessitated a coordinated approach by the non-governmental organization. Five years have gone by, and Katharine Schmidt is pondering on what to do next. The Food Banks Canada Case Study states that in 2014, the organization had a marginal growth.

The case study showed that the organization provides food and other amenities to nearly one million people in a mere one month. It indicates that over 180,000 people per month are looking to be supported, which contrasts with the period when the economic downturn of 2008 started. The case study also shows evidence of negative patterns which contribute to the rise of needy families all over Canada, thereby creating a need for food bank organization and other similar organization to crop up. These are low numerating jobs and lack of assistance to the unemployed.

The old structure that was in place in the organization before the change was an informal kind of structure. The old structure began as a conglomeration of all local food banks with the objectives of creating awareness, and enhancing poor people's access to food, and to push for policy change to support food banks. The board of the organization was made up of volunteers from the local food banks in Canada. There was a colossal difference among the members on the board on the board on the best solution to fight food hunger. This issue came up as a result of how the voting structure of the organization was set up.

Katharine Schmidt joined the organization in 2007 and began restructuring the organization to prevent such issues from dominating the organization, which led to the formalization of the organization structure. Under the informal structure, the lobbying efforts and their awareness creation programs were ineffective, indicating that some changes were needed to be done. In 2012, nearly five years after Katharine Schmidt joined the organization, significant changes had been effected upon the organization, which had led to the organization meeting its needs. Canada's food bank had made a positive step towards combating hunger that is affecting the poor people and identifying the correct measures to eliminate hunger in the long-term by restructuring the organization and strengthening their focus on the organization's strategy.

The advice that Katharine Schmidt should offer the organization for their succeeding approach within the organization in Canada should be to include the poor people who need food in their activities. The economic statements of the organization during the period 2011 to 2014 elicited much feedback from the people. For instance, 43% of the people believed that the organization's objective is to raise awareness to the poor people in the community who need nourishments and other forms of support. Now that Katharine Schmidt has been involved in a new wave of substantial changes in the organization by injecting new ideas, it is only prudent that there are also structural changes.

When an organization is effecting significant changes, there has to be a change in the system to change the said change to work. Katharine Schmidt should suggest the board that the community needs to know how the organization runs and be educated on its importance. The community's participation in the organization might have a positive impact since people can be able to voice their concerns quickly and help n finding the changes that are needed to eliminate hunger from Canada (Cawsey & Deszca, 2008).

The organization itself can choose a community member who will be the agent of the public at meetings and essential functions. Katharine Schmidt should be engaging with the local community. She is assisting and help present their issues to the board. The best way to create awareness over the problem is by organizing seminars and workshops, where people can come and learn. This will give the people an insight into the organization's management and the activities they carry out. It should be noted that if Katharine Schmidt wants to make more significant changes in the organization is by having the full support of the board members, and this can be easily achieved if the community is on your side.

Katharine Schmidt should know that the changes' successes are dependent on the support offered by the senior management. Once the suggested changes have been approved, all steps should be taken to ensure that they become a success. They need to be effectively communicated to all staff with expectations and outcomes. The federal government needs to come into play to ensure the most vulnerable communities get the aid (Hornstein, 2015).

References

Cawsey, T., & Deszca, G. (2008). Toolkit for organizational change. Sage Publications.

Hornstein, H. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. Semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 31 August 2020, from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-integration-of-project-management-and-change-is-Hornstein/2a8f9bf0c58cf62b07bd3077151c9a5d0f6f63d3.