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Friendship Baptist Church

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Case Study-Friendship Baptist Church-Organizational Diagnosis and Recommendations
Friendship Baptist Church is a religious non-profit established in 1976 in the city of Merced, California. Its origin was sparked by an inter-organizational conflict within the Greater St. Matthews Baptist church. With fifteen original members, Friendship Baptist church began. Today, it has a membership of approximately sixty-five (65) members. The Leader of the non-profit is, by default, the Pastor. There has been a total of four pastors including the current pastor. The longest tenue of the leaders has been ten years, so a lack of stability within the leadership has always been an issue. All organizational power has traditionally been in the office of the Pastor. …show more content…
In the organizations past, the Board of Deacons stood as a system of support to the leader and a system of checks and balance for the direction and decisions for the organization. Presently, for all intents and purposes they serve in a purely symbolic role. According to Boleman and Deal, most organizations function from a set of assumptions that “undergird the structural frames that reflect their current approaches to organizational design (Bolman, L & Deal, T, 2013, p. 45). Friendship Baptist Church has structural assumptions as well. Their expectation lies in the historical model of the church as an organization. This, loosely translated, means that there is little or no structure at all. This lack of structure has caused ambiguity within the organization. Without checks and balances, systems for spending, …show more content…
The basis for success was the controlling assumption that the leader would be the catalysis for growth and success. The previous leadership did not see the direction of visional statement in the same way as the members of the organization. Charisma was not the leaders’ strength. His leadership style was transactional rather than a transformational or authentic leadership style. Assumptions make up the Human Resources frame. They are vastly different from the assumptions that have traditionally controlled the thinking of Human Resources. In Reframing Organizations, Boleman and Deal share the following, “The human resources frame is built on core assumptions that highlight this linkage: Organizations exist to serve human needs rather than the converse. People and organizations need each other. Organizations need ideas, energy, and talent; people need careers, salaries, and opportunities. When the fit between individual and system is poor, one or both suffer” (Boleman, L & Deal, T, 2013, p. 117). Friendship lacks clear managers and leaders that are trained, equipped and encouraged to handle the successful obtainment of benchmark goals for membership and service to the

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