Organizational Climate Factors of Successful and Not Successful Implementations of Workforce Innovations in Voluntary Child Welfare Agencies

Abstract

This study advances research on implementing innovations in child welfare organizations, confirming the association between a positive organizational climate and successful change initiative implemen tation. Administrators and child welfare workers from six agencies were surveyed using independent samples t-and OLS regressions. The organizational climate dimensions found significant were organi zation, job and role, indicating the three agencies that fully implemented a change initiative enjoyed a more positive organizational climate. The organization dimension was also significant for administrators, indicating a more positive climate perception than workers. Supervisor dimension was not significant, indicating no association whether or not the change initiative was implemented.Keywords', child welfare, organizational climate, workforce change initiative BA C K G RO U N D In building the capacity o f the child w elfare w orkforce to serve children, youth and fam ilies, w e cannot divorce the w orkforce from the workplace. To be effective in serving vulnerable chil dren and fam ilies, child w elfare w orkers need healthy, w ell-functioning organizations. E ven the m ost resilient, w ell-trained w orker requires an organization that supports them professionally. Subsequently, organizational factors, and efforts to support organizational change, have becom e a m ajor focus in child w elfare w orkforce research.

Leadership for Empowerment: Analyzing Leadership Practices in a Youth Care Organization Using Peer Video Reflection

“…The results show that in the empowering practices, next to cognitive dimensions, also social, communicative and emotional dimensions play an important role. Although this is evident from the leadership literature, the role of negative emotions of leaders is under-emphasized in empowering leadership literature generally (Jordan & Troth, 2004;McCleskey, 2014) and in organizational change studies in child welfare organizations particularly (Claiborne, Auerbach, Zeitlin, & Lawrence, 2015). In our study, peer leaders made various comments on affects (the emotions and moods) taking place in the interaction between the team leader and family manager, indicating how they influenced the team members both positively and negatively.…”