Change Models for Human Service Organizations

Organizational change models designed for human service organizations include the ARC model, the sanctuary model, getting to outcomes, and design team. Their use might require assistance from expert consultants. Each includes high participation of staff members, using structured systems and processes to identify opportunities to improve operations in a program or in administrative operations, followed by analysis and brainstorming to generate improvement ideas. Innovation and intrapraneurship are concepts that have been adapted from the for-profit sector for application in the human services. Innovation can be defined as a process, method, product, or outcome that is new and creates an improvement. Intrapraneurship is the use of entrepreneurial principles within an organization to solve problems or improve operations. Cutback management is not specifically identified as a change model, but is a process for changing organizations by addressing funding cuts, through methods ranging from efficiency improvements to, ideally, finding new revenue sources.