This study modified the Ramanujam and Venkatraman (1987) questionnaire that was used to develop their model of planning system dimensions and planning effectiveness, and tested the model on a sample of private social service agencies. The criterion measures were level of planning sophistication, agency size, perceived environmental uncertainty, and relative competitive position. The sample was randomly drawn from private social service agencies which were members of the Community Council of Greater Dallas. Telephone interviews with fifty executive directors were conducted by a trained, impartial interviewer. Stepwise discriminant analysis was used to predict group membership between informal and formal planners. Of the nine dimensions in the model, three dimensions correctly classified 84 percent of the sample. The three dimensions were fulfillment of planning objectives, use of decision making techniques, and lack of resistance to planning. The level of perceived environmental uncertainty was another criterion set. Directors who perceived high uncertainty paid more attention to the external environment, used more decision making techniques, and relied on functional specialists when planning. Large and small agencies were classified by their annual budgets. Stepwise discriminant analysis using the planning system dimensions failed to reject the null hypothesis. Agencies reporting strong relative competitive positions placed greater emphasis on seeking information for planning from external sources. These agencies also reported less resistance for planning within their organizations, fulfillment of more planning objectives, and a flexible planning system. The discriminant analysis correctly classifed 74 percent of the sample. Finally, the study provided some baseline information on the use of planning techniques by private social service agencies. Just over half of the sample reported having written strategic plans covering at least three years.

This study investigates the phenomenon of a communal Jewish organization, the National Budgeting Conference (NBC). In essence, the NBC is in charge of allocating money to national organizations through contributions collected from each local community. This unique arrangement doesn't exist in other Jewish communities around the globe; the common procedure is that every local federation allocates money for the local needs. / The objective of this dissertation is to follow the activities of the NBC from a strategic management point of view. So far, almost the entire body of literature on Jewish organizations stem from a political science and an ethnicity point of view. My assumption is that by conducting the study from a management perspective, I have been able to research topics that usually do not receive a lot of attention in literature about Jewish organizations; some of these topics include whether and to what extent environmental elements in the community, as well as power relations, influence the decision-making process. I also focused on the NBC's structure, outcomes, and chances of survival. I concluded that the NBC operates within a very fluid and unstable environment, and as a result, it will have to monitor its interests carefully and adapt in a slow, incremental fashion if it wishes to increase its chances of survival.

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