Change Communication Strategies in Public Child Welfare Organizations: Engaging the Front Line. Issue 1 (1st January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cao, Yiwen; Bunger, Alicia C.; Hoffman, Jill; Robertson, Hillary A.
• Is Part Of: Human service organizations, management, leadership & governance. Volume 40:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 37
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2016-01-01
• Subjects: child welfare -- communication -- organizational change; Social service -- Periodicals; Social work administration -- Periodicals; 361.3068
• DOI: 10.1080/23303131.2015.1093570
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2330-3131

Abstract

Abstract : In public child-welfare agencies, successful organizational change depends on effective internal communication and engagement with frontline workers. This qualitative study examines approaches for communicating planned organizational change among frontline child-welfare workers. Five, 90-minute focus groups were conducted with 50 frontline workers in an urban, public child-welfare agency. Consistent with prior research on change communication in business organizations, two broad categories of communication strategies were described: programmatic (top-down) and participatory approaches. Results suggest that participatory communicative strategies emphasizing employee engagement might be most effective in combination with programmatic approaches that communicate targeted messages about the change.