McCrae, J.S., Scannapieco, M., Leake. R., Potter, C.C., Menefee, D. (2014). Who's on board? Child welfare worker reports of buy-in and readiness for organizational change. Children and Youth Services Review, 37, 28-35. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.12.001.
Introducing change throughout large child welfare networks comprised of diverse points of service poses many challenges. This mixed method study investigated how the process of implementing change impacted staff buy-in, following the implementation of a new statewide practice model in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. The researchers were interested in: the level and nature of buy-in in the context of a new set of standard child welfare practice, values, and protocols; how buy-in varied according to staff characteristics; and the relationship between buy-in, the readiness of local agencies, and the status of the implementation one year following the changes. Survey data were collected from 568 child welfare staff in 13 local agencies (58% response rate) in one U.S. state. Baseline data came from the first round of agencies that implemented the organizational changes. From the participating agencies, four were randomly selected for the qualitative portion of the study. Twenty-two qualitative data gathering sessions occurred with this subset, including case study interviews, focus groups, and individual interviews. Finally, one year after the initial quantitative data collection and concurrent to the qualitative data collection, 12 implementation specialists were assigned to rate the status of implementation in all agencies through a follow-up survey at 12 months
The use of a statewide framework and consensus-building model proved successful. Workers seemed motivated by participatory decision-making and transparent methods of communication. Workers’ supervisors were also shown to powerfully effect worker buy-in. Being female and newer to the job showed negative impacts and larger organizations posed particular challenges not seen in small to medium sized organizations. This study also found that buy-in was not a “driving factor in implementation” rather manageable job stress hastened the process and high job stress created an obstacle to implementation. Individual workers appeared to weigh participating in change processes against the demands of their caseloads.
Multiple measures were used to obtain the survey data in the quantitative component of this study. Selections from the Comprehensive Organizational Health Assessment (COHA) were used to measure organizational factors believed to relate to successful change and leadership. An adapted version of the job stress subscale of the Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) addressed job stress and the Implementation Process Measure (IPM), designed to capture the process of implementing change in child welfare systems, was also applied. Buy-in was captured using four items developed for the project. Qualitative data was gathered using a standard interview guide focusing on three content areas: workers initial reactions to change, what they experienced and needed throughout the process and the impact of the changes upon the agency. Additional probes to elicit data concerning buy-in were also included.