Analysis of Community Structure and Communication in SIAO

This report provides an analysis of the Somali Immigrant Aid Organization (SIAO), a non-profit organization serving immigrants and refugees in Ontario, Canada. It begins with an overview of SIAO's mission, objectives, and organizational structure. The report then focuses on a settlement worker's role, detailing responsibilities, the formal line of authority, and the impact of both formal and informal communication channels. It examines how communication affects the inclusion and transformation of services for vulnerable populations. The analysis includes the importance of understanding power dynamics within the community and the role of social workers in addressing societal issues. The report concludes with a reflection on the significance of effective communication within the organization. The analysis is based on the annual reports and the organizational chart provided by the SIAO.

Running Head: ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
Analysis of Community Structure
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1ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Organizational structure of SIAO....................................................................................................2
Mission statement............................................................................................................................3
Question 1........................................................................................................................................3
Question 2........................................................................................................................................4
Question 3........................................................................................................................................5
Question 4........................................................................................................................................5
Question 5........................................................................................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Somali Immigrant Aid Organization (SIAO) is an organization which is located in
Ontario, Canada. SIAO is a nonprofit organization set up in the year 1986 and works for
economic development, cultural, social, health, education, immigration needs of the immigrants
and refugees in Canada through the services and programs. The different types of services
provided by the SIAO include family and individual counselling, settlement adaptation,
childminding care, anti-racism programs through the Language Instructions for Newcomers
(LINC) program. The organization also aims to provide counselling and education to the
refugees and the immigrants that are in need. This includes the job search programs, employment
training, language instruction on the Canadian life and culture (Somali Immigrant Aid
Organization, 2018). This study is based on developing an organizational chart and then finding
the formal and the informal relationships within the organization. It also requires a reflection on
impact of the informal communication on the work of the agency.
Organizational structure of SIAO

3ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
Mission statement
SIAO is a non-profit organization that addresses economic development, cultural, social,
health, education, immigration needs of the immigrants and refugees in Canada, Somali-
Canadians through the services and programs and advocacy.
The aims and the objectives:
 To develop education programs and the employment programs
 To facilitate counselling to the persons that are experiencing the long periods of
unemployment.
 To assist the people that are in need of job interviews, job preparation,
employment searching, and drafting resumes.
 To operate, maintain and establish training center for the workers that are low
skilled and also for the unemployed individuals.
 To provide counselling and education to the refugees and the immigrants that are
in need. This includes the job search programs, employment training, language
instruction on the Canadian life and culture (Somali Immigrant Aid Organization,
2018).
Question 1
From the organizational chart provided, a position called settlement worker is chosen.
The several responsibilities of asettlement worker are mentioned below:
 Provide referral, information, orientation, settlement services at the both offsite
locations and the onsite locations.
 By using a client centered approach, assists the newcomers and conducts
assessment for the purpose of developing a personalized settlement plan of action
 Follow up of the contacts and through case management, providing support for
the clients to achieve the positive outcomes.
 Develop, report and document the client outcomes.

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 Preparation and submission of the progress reports and the statistical reports to the
supervisor on both the ad hoc and regular basis (Siao.ca., 2018).
 Participate in the regional, team and regular program meetings, as well as the
other external and the internal committees.
 Conducts the community outreach programs for the promotion of the services and
the programs.
 Track the activities of the clients and their access to the other community services.
 Planning, evaluating, implementing the group discussions depending on the client
needs.
To explain the formal line of authority: settlement worker reports to the translations
department, translations department reports to the Immigration department, immigration
department reports to the Housing department. The Housing department reports to the LINC
child minder and LINC Teacher. The LINC teacher and child minder repots to the LINC
coordinator. The LINC coordinator then in turn reports to the executive coordinator (Siao.ca.,
2018).
Question 2
The formal line of communication can be attributed to the settlement worker asking for
help and guidance from the other co-workers instead of asking from the supervisors. Also, when
in need a worker can ask for assistance from the other staffs and worker of the other department
to gather information related to the progress regarding of any field project.
The benefits of the informal lines of communication for the role of the settlement worker
are as follows:
 Alternative system- certain messages cannot be sent through the formal line of
communication and thus requires to be sent through the informal lines of
communication.
 Interpretation- information, direction and messages that are sent to the
subordinates requires a broad explanation and is time consuming. Here, informal
means of communication helps communicate the message.

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 Present grievances- Employees do not make complaints to the superiors directly
or through the formal means. However, the informal means of communication
provides the employees with a better chance to raise claims, grievances and the
complaints.
 Increase efficiency-employees are able to exchange the terms and the opinions
through the informal communication. This enables the workers to ask for the
internal information without any hesitation (Fay & Kline, 2012).
Impact of the informal line of communication- through the informal line of
communication the projects undertaken and the extent of the completion of the projects can be
communicated informally with in the co-workers. Workers are able to take decision and do the
work autonomously when they know the formal working structure. In achieving the mission, the
informal lines of communication helps the workers to stay motivated by working in a group and
having information disseminated informally (Newman, 2014).
Question 3
The lines of communication in this setting leads to the inclusion and transformation in
serving the vulnerable populations. The organization strictly follows a zero tolerance towards
discrimination of the refugees and the immigrants coming to Canada. The refugees that belong
from the different communities are treated humanely and care is taken when dealing with people
that are from different linguistic background (Holley, Stromwall&Bashor,2012).
Question 4
The awareness of both the formal and informal structure helps a settlement worker to
communicate effectively with the co-workers. Through the effective communication, there is an
increased chance of information getting disseminated from the top hierarchies. Whereas, the
formal structure helps in achieving organization targets in a systematic way (Soda &Zaheer,
2012).
Question 5
I had held a position of social worker and found that social workers engage in
both the political and the social actions. Social workers make sure that each one of the people
gets equal and adequate access to the opportunities, services, employment, and resources. They

6ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
act for the elimination and the prevention of the discrimination, exploitation and domination.
Thus, it can be said that social workers do not have the provision of exercising power. Still
through their work, they can eliminate the biggest problems of the society. They tend to act at the
very root of the problem (Parada et al., 2010).
It is important to understand the power functions in a community because through the
exercise of power, the behavior of people can be directly controlled. The term authority can be
directly perceived as power exercised through the legitimate ways. In a community, power is
exercised by the legal authorities, government establishments and law enforcers. Power is used
to influence and guide the act of the humans that live within a society (Lasswell& Kaplan, 2013).

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Reference
Fay, M. J., & Kline, S. L. (2012). The influence of informal communication on organizational
identification and commitment in the context of high-intensity telecommuting. Southern
Communication Journal, 77(1), 61-76.
Holley, L. C., Stromwall, L. K., &Bashor, K. E. (2012). Reconceptualizing stigma: Toward a
critical anti-oppression paradigm. Stigma Research and Action, 2(2).
Lasswell, H. D., & Kaplan, A. (2013). Power and society: A framework for political inquiry.
Transaction Publishers.
Newman, A. H. (2014). An investigation of how the informal communication of firm preferences
influences managerial honesty. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39(3), 195-207.
Parada, H., Barnoff, L., Homan, M. S., & Moffatt, K. J. (2010). Promoting community change:
Making it happen in the real world. Cengage Learning.
Siao.ca. (2018). Siao.ca. Retrieved 2 February 2018, from
http://www.siao.ca/images/about/SIAO%20Annual%20Report%202013.pdf
Soda, G., &Zaheer, A. (2012). A network perspective on organizational architecture:
performance effects of the interplay of formal and informal organization. Strategic
Management Journal, 33(6), 751-771.
Somali Immigrant Aid Organization. (2018). Somali Immigrant Aid Organization. Siao.ca.
Retrieved 2 February 2018, from http://www.siao.ca/index.php?view=about
Somali Immigrant Aid Organization. (2018). Somali Immigrant Aid Organization. Siao.ca.
Retrieved 2 February 2018, from http://www.siao.ca/index.php?view=about