The Impact of Devolution on Organizational Effectiveness: An Exploratory Case Study of Faith-Based Child Care

Although the foundations of President Bush's faith-based initiative could be traced back at least to Colonial times, the re-packaging of this idea has raised concerns about the role of the federal government in the affairs of faith based organizations, the professionalization of social services, rent seeking, and the crowding out of private funding. This paper aims to examine the local implications of decentralizing the provision of social services in Lee County, Florida. More specifically, we will identify how devolution has affected the organizational effectiveness of faith-based organizations in the day care sector. For this paper, organizational effectiveness was defined in terms of goal setting, efficient use of resources, and reputation. This initial exploratory study suggests that any devolutionary policy that aims to aggressively include faith-based organizations in the provision of social services will face the challenge of weak information flow mechanisms within the industry. Key words: Devolution, Faith Based Organizations, Organizational Effectiveness, Exploratory and Qualitative Research Introduction The foundations of President George W. Bush's efforts to expand the role in social services of faith-based and other community-serving groups could be traced back at least to the early 1990s. However, his re-packaging of the idea that faith-based organizations are indispensable partners to government social programs has re-ignited the national debate on the role of the federal government in the affairs of faith-based organizations, the appropriateness of indirect public funding for proselytization, the professionalization of religious social services, rent seeking, and the crowding out of private funding. This exploratory paper aims to start a discussion of the local implications of federal and state policies that aim to decentralize social services with the help of faith based organizations. Specifically, we will conduct a case study to explore how past devolutionary policies have affected the organizational effectiveness of faith-based day care centers in Lee County, Florida. Our case study consists of secondary research and interviews of key informants directly involved in the child care industry in Florida. For this paper, faith-based providers will be defined as any childcare center associated with a religious 501(c) 3 organization. Organizational effectiveness will be defined in terms of organizations' goal setting, use of resources and reputation within the industry (Forbes, 1998). Although these three components are tightly related, our exploration will be guided by the assumption that devolution is more likely to directly affect faith-based organization's reputation and goal setting and alter only indirectly their use of resources. Even though this most recent national debate on devolution has mostly avoided the issue of child care, we have selected to discuss this industry since both secular and faith-based child care centers in Florida--and the nation--have experienced drastic changes in the way the state understands its relationship and obligations with this industry. These changes have given child care providers' vast experience dealing with institutional changes mandated or recommended by the state government, making this industry a model that illustrates the potential effects of initiatives that promote more involvement by local organizations on the provision of social services. The next section provides a brief review of the literature on devolution, faith-based organizations, and the childcare industry. We then discuss our methodology and our findings. Finally, we conclude by providing suggestions on further research on this topic. Devolution, Faith-based Organizations and Child Care Centers: A Review of the Literature Legislation Changes: The Narrative The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) is considered the first in a series of bills that attempted to bring the issue of faith-based provision of social services to the political forefront. …