Successful and Not Successful Implementation THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE FACTORS Funding for this project is made possible through a Cooperative Agreement between the University at Albany, SUNY and the U.S. DHHS/ACF Children’s Bureau ( Grant number 90CT0149. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Children’s Bureau.

Climate & Implementation Organizational climate is:  Predictor of positive service quality  Associated with worker performance  Associated with client outcomes  Associated with worker job satisfaction  Associated with worker retention  Associated with innovative implementations

Focus of the Study  Hypothesis 1: Successful implementation of a change initiative is associated with a more positive organizational climate.  Hypothesis 2: Administrator position is associated with a more positive perception of the organizational climate.

Intervention  Child Welfare Workforce Initiative (CWWI)  Not-for-profit agencies contracted to serve children and families in the public child welfare system  Informed by Learning Organization and National Implementation Research Network (NIRN)

Intervention continued  Collaborated with agencies for 18 months to address a substantial change initiative  Agency Design Team consisting of managers, supervisors, and line staff with authority to develop strategies and implement the change  CWWI provided an expert in organizational change and team facilitation

Intervention Model  4-Phase model:  1 st Explore change initiative and conduct assessment with data and agency stakeholders  2 nd Identify the solution and plan for implementation  3 rd Implementation  4 th Evaluation and stabilization

Sample  3 agencies completed implementation vs. 3 agencies that did not complete implementation  870 employees  83% of all employees at baseline; 65% at follow-up

Psychological Climate Survey  Role Dimension Ambiguity, Conflict, Overload  Job Dimension Importance, Autonomy, Challenge  Organization Dimension Innovation, Justice, Support  Supervisor Dimension Trust & Support, Goal Emphasis, Work Facilitation

Administrators and Non-Administrators: Differences in Perceived Climate  85 (40.5%) Administrators defined as Executive Director/CEO, Program Director, Manager, Department Head  125 (59.5%) Non-Administrators defined as Supervisors, Social Workers, Caseworkers, Case Planners, and Childcare Workers

Design & Analysis  Pre-post, longitudinal design  OLS Regression – implemented/non-implements to each climate dimension  OLS Regression – administrator/non-administrator to each climate dimension

H1: Confirmed Successful implementation of a change initiative is associated with a more positive organizational climate  3 of 4 Organizational Climate Dimensions were significant:  Organization  Job  Role  Supervision was not significant

Organization Dimension Significant  Innovation is the a bility to adopt or implement new ideas, processes, or products successfully  Justice is making d ecisions fairly = accurate information and hearing all concerns  Support is caring about employee wellbeing, opinions, and general satisfaction

Job Dimension Significant  Importance is work is highly meaningful and makes a contribution to team and children/families  Autonomy is the authority to make decisions on how to do job and control assignments  Challenge is job requires use of full knowledge and skills

Role Dimension Significant  Ambiguity is having unclear authority for decision-making  Conflict is rules & regulations interfere with doing a good job, or too many people directing  Overload is amount of work and pressure interfere with doing a good job

H2: Confirmed Administrator position is associated with a more positive perception of the organizational climate  Administrators have a more positive perception of the organizational climate than direct care workers in Organization & Job Dimensions  Administrators have an intrinsic wider scope of authority and empowerment- in both implemented and non-implemented agencies.  Successful implementation is likely due to administrators’ approach and behavior toward employees during the innovative process

Implications  Administrators and child welfare workers from agencies that successfully implement change, report having a significantly more positive organizational climate.  Administrators desiring to implement change initiatives can create a positive organizational climate by being attentive to the organizational, role and job dimensions.

Implications  Essential is creating a supportive environment that:  employees feel their opinions are heard,  decisions are made fairly with full information, and  leaders impart a sense of concern and investment in employees.

Implications  Administrators generate the foundation for an innovative environment by providing workers with:  a sense of security,  recognition for accomplishments,  clarity in job responsibilities,  autonomy within their sphere of authority, and  a creative atmosphere.

Inference  Individual and organizational innovation engages employees in discussions and fosters a work environment that sustains learning and innovation.  Organizations having such innovative capacity are more successful in responding to their environments and will likely enjoy improved performance and outcomes.

Thank You NANCY CLAIBORNE, PHD SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK