Working on community projects is not the same as working for a business or an institution. There are many more unknowns. There are fewer rules that are understood. Two sociologists from Iowa State University, Dr. George Beal and Dr. Joseph Bohlen, studied this problem and developed a model to explain how projects happen in a community. Understanding this model can help leaders to carry out their plans and manage projects more effectively.

After completing this reading you should be able to:

1. Describe the steps in the "social action process" model.
2. Explain how community projects get started.
3. Define "the initiating set, legitimizer, the diffusion set."
4. Compare this model to the program planning process (module E-4).

All social action takes place in some sort of SOCIAL SYSTEM...never in a vacuum. Some examples of social systems may be the state, the county, the community, a church, or a club. Social action must be related to one of these social systems. A project may or may not involve all of the broad social system as it moves step by step through the Social Action Process.

For every social action program, there must exist, within the social system, some past experience which relates to the social action under consideration. This is known as the PRIOR SOCIAL SITUATION. Somewhere in the background there is a similar program, or one related to the idea we want to put across, with a history of success, failure, crisis or conflict. If we are to work intelligently we must look at: 1. the overall social system in which the action will be taking place, and 2. the past experience or present situation relating to the program we want to accomplish by social action.

Two or more people agree that some kind of a problem or situation exists and that something should be done about it. Quite often there may be a feeling on the part of the people within the social system that a problem exists and that it is important enough for them to try to get something done about it. It may even be an "insider" connected with the system...but who represents "outside" interests. This member might be a minister, a superintendent of schools, or the county agricultural agent.

Very often there is some kind of force totally outside of the social system that tries to get action started on a given problem within the system. Perhaps a pressing problem has stimulated some outside force such as a health specialist or some state or federal agency to become interested in the problems within the system. The problem might be weed or pest control and the outside force may decide that action should be taken. In such cases, the initiative to define the problem and start action would come from outside the system.

Convergence of interest around the problem is the initial step in the Social Action Process. The people who feel that "something should be done" about a problem are the INITIATING SET. They decide that the problem is important enough to do something about it. They are willing to initiate some action. The people involved in the initiating set are all of those who actually originate action on the idea or program.

In almost every community, or every social system, there are certain people or groups whose approval or acceptance of proposed projects is necessary to make things "legitimate." They put the stamp of approval upon an idea. The initiating set usually takes the problem to the legitimizers and asks them to pass judgement on it. To bypass this group usually spells failure.

Legitimizers may be one or two people. Sometimes it is an informal group of three, four, five or six people. Sometimes it may be a formal group such as a church, the chamber of commerce, a service club, or public officials.

Legitimizers have a reputation for doing things that are good for the community. Thus legitimization is the giving of sanction by key persons or key groups which leads to public acceptance of an idea. The ultimate legitimizers of any idea are the people themselves. Before the idea gets to them, however, the "stamp of approval" is needed from the key people or groups.

After an idea has been "legitimized," it is ready to be moved on to the "diffusion stage." The DIFFUSION SET takes the program to the public. Up to this point the idea has been considered by only a few people who are in the initiating set or who are legitimizers.

Careful consideration should be given to the selection of those to serve as the diffusion set. They should have the promotion ability of sales people, the appeal of an advertiser, the zeal of a missionary, and the dedication of an educator. The "idea people" (i.e., initiators) may not necessarily be the best people to convince others that a problem exists. The diffusion set should be recognized by the public as action leaders.

Once the diffusion set is ready to function, its task is to make the problem become the people's problem. This is done by helping the people DEFINE THE NEED as one of their own. This definition of the need is often a very difficult step in the social action process.

Several techniques may be used to get large numbers of people to see a problem and identify it as one of their problems, too. They are: 1) basic education, 2) program development committees, 3) survey or questionnaire, 4) comparison and competition, 5) exploiting a crisis, 6) trials or demonstrations, 7) building on past experience, and 8) channeling gripes.

Quite often, people appear to accept an idea and to recognize a need, but they're not motivated enough to act. It's easy to get them to nod their heads...to say, "This is a problem, we should do something about it." When the time comes to give time, money, or resources to solve the problem, however, that's another matter. We can't assume that just because we have an agreement, we have moved people to a willingness to act.

We must also get from them a commitment to take action. Such commitments to action can be obtained in terms of 1) votes of confidence, 2) agreements to attend meetings, 3) agreements to act at the proper time, 4) agreements to pledge so much money, and 5) agreements to participate in the program. A commitment to action is one of the most important steps in the social action process.

Once there is a felt need established, we must establish some concrete targets, GOALS or objectives. These are the goals which the group is willing to try to reach to solve the problem. Whatever we are going to try to accomplish must be spelled out as to: 1) our destination (this may be likened to the goal line in a football game), 2) the content area (this can be compared to the plays we need to defeat the other team to bring home a victory) and 3) human behavior changes that we hope to bring about (this can be represented by the school spirit generated by having a winning team).

Once we have decided what objectives we want to accomplish, we must then decide HOW we are going to do it. Usually we have more trouble agreeing on HOW we are going to do something than on WHAT we are trying to do. This then is the "huddle" stage where the quarterback decides what play will gain the most yardage for the team. We should analyze the play (plan) in terms of consequences and have an alternate plan in mind if we are stopped for "no gain" on the first plan suggested.

After we have set up our goals and have decided on the basic methods we should use, we will then want to set up a PLAN OF WORK -- an action guide with the organizational structure to carry it out. Too often this seems to be the starting point. We do not fully consider the other steps which lead up to the plan. We must design a plan which will carry out our goals and use the methods we have in mind. In the plan of work we should consider 1) time schedule, 2) committees needed, 3) kinds of personnel needed, 4) buildings and facilities required, 5) content materials, 6) visual aids or other methods needed, 7) the need for meetings, 8) communications (personal, group and mass media), 9) publicity requirements and 10) all other planning details.

Once we have written our plan of work, then we must MOBILIZE and ORGANIZE the RESOURCES so that the plan can be carried out. The people involved have to begin to take responsibility for their program in terms of time, expense, skill, work, etc.

As we move into action most programs will need some sort of a "launching" process which might take the form of a fund drive, a series of tours, a well publicized kick-off dinner, a full page advertisement campaign in the local newspaper, a telephone call network, or a multi-media publicity splurge. In other words, this "launching" is made into a big event so the people will know we are now in the action stages of the program.

Some programs do not lend themselves to a "sky-rocket" type launching. We must move into them slowly and ease them along carefully but without allowing them to lose momentum.

Whether or not there is a big launching for the program, once it is started we must follow through with our plan of work. So we go through the various action steps (described in our written plan) as we carry out the program. We take as many action steps as necessary to move us to the completion of our specific objectives and, therefore, of our overall goals.

Between each of the action steps, as at all other places along the Social Action Process, we stop and evaluate. We must evaluate what we have done, our next immediate step, how well we are meeting our immediate objective, and alternative methods for reaching that objective. In other words we decide as to what our next move is going to be. Then we plan our next move. Finally we act in relation to that plan.

Eventually we get to the point where we have a final evaluation to "sum up" the project. We need to know:

--did we accomplish what we set out to do?

--were the methods we used the best?

--did we make effective use of available resources?

--what parts of our project were successful? why?

--what parts of our project were unsuccessful? why?

--what would we do differently if we could do the project over?

--what did we learn that could be used for other projects?

--where do we go from here?

Evaluation can be defined as a process to determine if objectives have been met? Depending on your specific objectives, the evaluation instruments you use will differ from one project to another. Module E-10 has examples of some evaluation instruments and a more complete discussion of the evaluation process.

Does the social action process fit with the program planning process explained in Module E-4? How are they alike? How are they different?

1. Analyze your organization or a group or institution with which you are familiar. Which individuals usually are the initiating set? Which ones are the legitimizers? Which individuals would you expect to do the diffusion? Who would usually carry out the project.

If the answers to these questions depend on the specific type of project, then pick a project (current or future) and use that project as the frame of reference for answering the questions above.