Program Planning and Modification

Guided Response: Challenge your peers’ response by referencing the case study in Chapter 4 and by discussing your perspective on how the emergent approach to planning can be useful in this instance

Lashanta’s post:

Program Planning and Modification

Program modification becomes necessary when it becomes apparent that a given program does not have the potential to meet the desired goals. This might be due to several reasons such as institutional changes that might render the program irrelevant or ineffective. Another consideration when determining when to modify a program involves assessing the practicality of the program in terms of time and resources. This is because it important to have a program that can make it possible to achieve the desired goals within the right time otherwise the achievement of the goal would be irrelevant. It is also important to ensure the available resources are sufficient to support the implementation of the program otherwise completing the project can become a hard task in the end. It is therefore prudent to modify a program as soon as it becomes apparent that the program might require more time and resources than what is available.

According to my perspective, the best approach to make modifications to an existing but ineffective program is to subject the program to the four dimensions of interpretive planning. Firstly, one must initiate engagement to ensure that he/she gathers information about the program from as much perspectives as possible. The information must focus on ways through which the program can become more effective. Secondly, the modification process should proceed to the discovery phase to determine the complexity and validity of the information gathered from multiple sources of data. The next step should be sense making that involves trying to understand the meaning from all the information gathered from various sources of data. One must be keen to interpret the information and determine the most useful data that could improve the program. Lastly, the program should undergo unfolding where the planners make necessary modifications to the program based on the interpretations and conclusions made through the sense making process.

REFERENCES

Netting, F. E., O’Conner, M. K., & Fauri, D. P. (2008). Comparative approaches to program planning. Wiley.

Carmen’s post:
Program Planning and Modification

Program planning is steps taken to problem solve and make effective decisions. Program planning helps to implement a plan to carry out a service per say. In the program planning we can be faced with more dilemmas that can require for emergent approaches. Emergent approaches are actions an organization takes to deal with the situation, troubleshooting and collaborating with stakeholders to make better decisions. When problems arise interpretivism takes place because one is assessing the issue and look at the presented problem. Once we are able to assess the problem interpretive kicks in as a way of how we can make the problem better. In this case we think of other resources and stakeholders that can assist. Emergent occurs when we realize that a change needs to take place. Once we have determined that the current plan is not effective and change needs to occur this is when program modification is necessary. For example, in the article Whelan (2018) discuss the case of when the U.S had to make modification due to the sever economic mortgage problem. The U.S implemented HAMP which brought even more problems as the modification only focus on the mortgage crisis. There was a lack of transparency with homeowners and lenders. With modification just because change have been made it does not mean it will always work, there are always room for improvement.

Overall, program modification is needed when there is a demand for a service or a need for change. I believe the most vial steps to modifying an existing, but inefficient program would be engagement. With engagement it requires inclusion and inclusiveness, it assures that multiple perspective is heard, it reinforces validity of multiple truths (Netting et. at., 2008, p. 138). Engagement allows for brainstorming and assessing different perspectives overall.

Reference

Netting, F. E., O’Conner, M. K., & Fauri, D. P. (2008). Comparative approaches to program planning. Wiley.

Whelan, C. K. (2018). The End of the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Start of a New Problem. Brooklyn Law Review, 83(4), 1469–1496.