From Isolation to Organization: Structural Barriers to Client-Induced Accountability in the Human Services

Authors

Robert A. Beauregard, Livingston College

Abstract

Human service organizations form an environment which is both difficult for an individual to transverse and antagonistic to the organizing of clients. The structure of these organizational environments is not conducive to the emergence of client organizations. This issue forms the focus of this paper: the interaction between the structural dimensions of human service, organizational environments and the potential for human service clients to form organizations geared to obtaining accountability from human service agencies. The basic argument is that the structural dimensions of these organizational environments (i.e., the characteristics which affect the basic interrelationships among component parts) have a depressing effect upon the potential for isolated clients to come together in client organizations.

Recommended Citation

Beauregard, Robert A. (1977) "From Isolation to Organization: Structural Barriers to Client-Induced Accountability in the Human Services," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 4: Iss. 7, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.1224
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol4/iss7/10