Lecture 10 Community Practice Models and Strategies and Process for Change PDF

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Lecture notes from Professor Haranis's class on Community Practice Models and Strategies and Process for Change....

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Lecture 10 Community Practice Models and Strategies and Process for Change ●

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Organizational change efforts ○ According to Professor Emeritus of Leadership at the Harvard Business School, John Kotter (“Leading Change”, 1995) , approximately 70% of organizational change efforts fail. ○ What has been your experience … Why do change efforts fail? ○ Lack of a plan ○ Failure to define a clear rationale for change ○ Ignoring culture ○ Weak follow through by leaders ○ Not investing enough resources into the change effort ○ Gap in change agent skills ○ Haphazard communication ○ Fear of feedback ○ Declaring success too early ○ Neglecting to reinforce the change 8 step process for leading change ○ 1. Establish a sense of urgency ■ Show the risks, get discussion going about change, and get outside perspectives ○ 2. Create the guiding coalition ■ 3-5 person leadership team and a mix of people to guide the change ○ 3. Develop a vision and strategy ■ What is the reason and vision for change ○ 4. Communicate the change vision ■ Talk and lead by example ○ 5. Empower employees for broad-based action ■ Identify change leaders, reward change, remove barriers and help resistors ○ 6. Generate short term wins ■ Analyze what went right and why ○ 7. Consolidate gains and produce more changes ■ Celebrate and build upon success ○ 8. Anchor new approaches in the culture ■ Talk about progress to inspire more progress Community practice models ○ Locality development or neighborhood/ community organizing ■ Development of community capacity through self-help; process oriented, using asset mapping and capability building ○ Organizing functional communities ■ Focuses on empowerment and a cause to change behavior and attitudes ○ Community social and economic development ■ Prepares residents for focus on economic and social development, using

intensive asset mapping (economic arena) and capacity building Social planning ■ Uses skills of planners to guide process of resident engagement in an interaction to address social problems ○ Program development and community liaison ■ Uses skills of professionals in program design and intervention to engage participants in an interaction to address social problems ○ Political and social action ■ Shifts power relationships and resources to effect institutional change, using strengths and empowerment ○ Coalitions ■ Uses multiple organizations/groups to build a power base from which change can occur ○ Social movement or social reform ■ Works outside existing structures toward social justice goals that will change societal structures (broad scale change) Assessing the political and economic context ○ Task 1: Assess Political and Interpersonal Readiness ■ Political and interpersonal considerations add complexity to the change effort ■ Assess Duration, Intensity, & Frequency ■ Long-standing problems are hard to change ○ Task 2: Assess Resource Considerations ■ Determine the Cost of Change ■ Calculate costs associated with the proposed change ■ Determine the Cost of Doing Nothing ■ The cost of non-resolution or non-implementation of the proposed change ○ Task 3: Weigh the Likelihood of Success ■ Identify Alternative Perspectives ■ Assess Support from Individuals, Groups, and Organizations ■ Modified version of force-field analysis can be applied ■ Assess Level of Support, including supporting and opposing facts and perspectives Developing strategies and tactics ○ Strategy = Overall plan of change ○ Tactics = the means by which the target system is approached and change is effected ○ Preliminary considerations: ■ Agency establishes ground rules ■ Mission and goals that are pre-established ■ Preferences for strategies and tactics ○ Goals need to be clarified early ■ the beneficiary system (client system) ■ agency (change system), ○

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■ significant others (target system, implementing system, etc.) Continuum of activity to support change ○ Based upon the relationship between the action and target systems ○ Collaboration: used when there is agreement on the need for change and what is sought ○ Campaign: used when it is possible for the action system to overcome disagreement with the target system by persuasion or education. Can also include mass media appeal, bargaining and negotiation. ○ Contest: Used when the action system attempts to bring about change over the opposition of the target system. Includes community action designed to force decision makers to allow at least some of the planned change to occur, and class action lawsuits. ■ Always try to begin with collaboration ■ Move to campaign and contest as needed Strategies ○ Strategies are the overall approach to the change effort. ○ Steps in strategy development ■ Identify people and forces that will interfere with or resist the action plan ■ Identify: ● the minimum tasks that are required to achieve success ● the necessary elements of the action system ● the resistance/opposition ● the interdependence/entanglements ● interference/competition and indifference ● forces that may be encountered and how to handle them Tactics ○ Tactics are the mechanics of carrying out a strategy ■ Where do we start and with whom? ■ What initial actions give the best chance of sustaining the strategy? ■ How do we work interactively with the action system? ○ Implementation steps: ■ training and supporting participants, ■ scheduling actions over time, ■ dealing with opposition in appropriate ways Considerations for the use of strategy and tactics ○ Examine the practitioner’s: ■ Motivation – to what extent do the personal and professional goals of the social worker reinforce or conflict with the goals of the change effort? ■ Capacity – does the social worker have the intelligence, empathy, sense of personal identity (see cultural awareness, below), skills and knowledge to operate in a community? ■ Opportunity – does the social worker have enough (human and financial) support of the agency to be effective? Selecting strategies and tactics

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Task 4: Select Strategies and Tactics Consider Types of Strategies Collaboration ←→ Campaign ←→ Contest Identify Tactics ■ Within each of the (3) strategies tactics are typically used to further those strategies ○ Consider the Pros and Cons of Collaborative Strategies ■ Include instances in which the target and action systems agree that change is needed Collaboration ○ Consider the Pros and Cons of Collaboration Strategies ○ Implementation ■ Used if there is no disagreement about the change between the action and target systems ■ Used when there appears to be agreement on the broad outline of how change will occur ■ Used if the capacity already exists to carry out the change Campaign ○ Consider the Pros and Cons of Campaign Strategies ■ Campaign strategies are used when members of the target system do not necessarily agree but may be willing to listen to arguments ○ Tactics typically used in campaign strategies: ■ Education – closest to collaboration ■ Persuasion ■ Cooptation of opponents by absorbing them into the action system ■ Coalition building through combining the action system with prior opponents into a new coalition ■ Lobbying – with elected officials or formal policy makers ■ Mass media appeal – indirect persuasion to gain public support Contest ○ Pros and Cons of Contest Strategies ■ Bargaining & negotiation: can be win–win, each party achieves some of its objectives ■ Large-Group or Community Action ● Civil disobedience activities intentionally break the law ● Goal is to force decision makers to allow at least some of the planned change to occur ■ Class Action Lawsuits ● Used by a variety of groups on behalf of many different client populations ● Based upon the likelihood that opponents of change have committed some civil or criminal violation that can be documented in court ● Slow resolution, and can be very costly

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Selecting strategies and tactics ○ Weigh Relevant Considerations in Selecting Tactics ■ Purpose ■ Controlling and Host Systems ■ Ensure that members of all the relevant systems are clear and in agreement about the change goals ○ Relationship of Controlling and Host System Roles to Tactic ■ Primary Client ■ Resources ■ Some tactics require more or different types of resources than others ■ Professional Ethics ○ Use of Covert Tactics ■ The concept of transparency has become important in transactions that take place within both government and private organizations ■ Selecting the Proper Tactics - It is common to think dichotomously ■ Consideration of Professional Ethics Summary ○ As with all professional practice, the approach may need to be adapted to the situation by the practitioner ○ Some changes will always be needed in the field of human services both in organizations and in communities...