A Model for Organizational Change: Using an Employee-Driven, Multilevel Intervention in a Substance Abuse Agency

Abstract

To respond to fluctuations in funding and community needs, human service organizations must develop mechanisms for designing, implementing, and solidifying agency-wide change. This article describes an agency change effort that was staff driven and behaviorally focused and included work teams of employees from all agency divisions. Organization development principles guided the work. The change effort, which focused on the agency's adoption of standards of excellence in client care, sought to disseminate, educate about, and institutionalize these standards. The change occurred through a multifaceted intervention with activities at 14 levels. We describe the nuts and bolts of the change process to fill a gap in the literature on implementing change in human service organizations. The model is applicable to many such agencies.