Strategies of social services in Ukraine during the conditions of war

Abstract

Background: Social changes associated with martial law, created new conditions for the work of organizations of various industries and forms of ownership in Ukraine, including state and non-state social agencies. In these conditions organizations must use innovative approaches and technologies to solve the tasks, as well as constantly reflect on their own activities, look for perspective strategies for its development. Purpose: To determine strategies for the activities of social agencies in Ukraine under martial law. Methods: To achieve the goal, the methods of theoretical analysis, as well as the methodology of qualitative analysis of empirical data, were used. The semi-standardized interview method was used as the main method of data collection. Also, to analyze the strategic position of social agencies in Ukraine and develop strategic options, strategic planning methods were used, in particular, the SWOT analysis method and the TOWS matrix. Results: It is provided an overview of the results of a survey of managers and leading specialists of social agencies in Kharkiv city and some regions of Ukraine, which was conducted in November 2022 as part of the research work on the topic "Actual trends in the management of social agencies" of the Department of Sociology of Management and Social Work of the Sociology School of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University with the participation of students of the 4th year who are studying in the specialty Social work. Within the framework of the study, respondents were asked to answer 4 classic SWOT-analysis questions: to name the internal features of the organization that significantly contribute to its activity, as well as those that significantly hinder its activity; to name the external conditions that can significantly contribute to the development of the organization's activity, as well as those that can significantly threaten its activity. Conclusions: Based on the use of generalized information about the strategic position of organizations, which was obtained as a result of the SWOT analysis, the TOWS matrix was applied, which made it possible to generate and characterize four possible strategies for the development of social agencies in Ukraine. Two of them are focused on using existing opportunities or overcoming threats that exist in the external environment, based on their strengths. The other two strategies are aimed at getting rid of their weaknesses or reducing their impact on the organization's activities. The article also concludes that the choice of one or another strategic option is directly determined by the specifics of the internal and external environment of a particular organization and may become the subject of further research. Keywords: social agency, strategic planning, strategy, SWOT analysis, TOWS matrix.