Running Head: ACCOUNTABILITY STANDARDS

Accountability Standards

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

ACCOUNTABILITY STANDARDS 2

Introduction

Accountability is considered as a central component of human services; the nature of

responsibility placed to human service agency as well as the extent of public demands and needs

call upon careful accounting and clear accountability path on the resources and the results of the

agencies as well as individuals representing human services (Bloom & Farragher, 2010). Direct

service means active services on work as well as services rendered to the clients and not staff

functions. Therefore, this paper will discuss the how the standards of care influence direct

services, the influence that the standards have to the leaders of agencies and the influence of

accountability standards on the level of satisfaction of direct services (Chen & Graddy, 2010).

How Standards of Care influence Direct Services

It is evident that the standards are there to embed and promote the rights of the clients in

accessing human services. As such, they are able to influence how the people are going to be

helped by the agencies as well as individuals offering direct services. This means that the

standards of care influences the promotion of rights of the people accessing the services rendered

by human service organization and individuals. Secondly, they also assure that the community

that the service provider us able to provide that meets the needs and the demands of the clients

(Chen & Graddy, 2010). This example shows that the standards of care support the provision of

human services that meet the needs and the demands of the clients. Thirdly, the standards of care

also help in development of a systematic and common approach to quality monitoring and

review process. This role of the standards helps shape quality of service delivery to the clients,

quality is key (Timmermans & Epstein, 2010). Besides, they are also used in building

transparency in quality requirements between the service providers, the clients, and the

community. Likewise, the standards of care help influence the service providers’ selection of

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independent review body that meets the expectations and requirements of the clients. Lastly,

standards of care are used to influence the culture of continuous quality improvement that is

based on direct service delivery.

Discuss the influence these standards have on how leaders of agencies manage daily

operations in an agency.

It is denoted that the standards of care are the best option that organizations as well as

individuals that offer human services are able to meet the demands and the needs of the clients.

First, the standards are rules in which the leaders have to abide with in order to provide the

service as needed (Timmermans & Epstein, 2010). For example, it is evident that they act as

direct quality adherence measures that have to follow to reduce the risks of negligence. It can be

considered that they are paths towards success and if not followed it means that the operations of

the organizations are not in the right path. Leaders have to promote the standards to make sure

that they follow the needed protocols in provision of human services (Chen & Graddy, 2010).

Discuss the influence of accountability standards on the satisfaction of direct service

workers in addition to how this might influence how the workers relate with the managers

of the agency.

The standards are important because they help the workers to offer the services as

stipulated by law or rules of delivery. It is like a policy document aimed at outlining the steps or

measures that should be taken to foster change and success (Chen & Graddy, 2010). To the

workers it influences the provision of their services as well as supports quality service that leads

to satisfaction. It helps in worker-manager relationship as it indicates the roles that the worker

should do and what the manager should do hence less role conflicts.

Conclusion

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It can be conclude that both standards of care and accountability standards all act as

watch dogs. They help the workers, the manager and the agencies to work on a certain protocol

that support better service delivery as well as adherence to quality.

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References

Bloom, S. L., & Farragher, B. (2010). Destroying sanctuary: The crisis in human service

delivery systems. Oxford University Press.

Chen, B., & Graddy, E. A. (2010). The effectiveness of nonprofit lead‐organization networks for

social service delivery. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 20(4), 405-422.

Timmermans, S., & Epstein, S. (2010). A world of standards but not a standard world: toward a

sociology of standards and standardization*. Annual review of Sociology, 36, 69-89.