CADIGAN, ROBERT THOMAS; PHD
BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL, 1981
SOCIOLOGY, INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS (0629)
The research examines the changes in relationships among the members of an organization-set
during
the development and implementation of an innovation sponsored as an experiment
in system
development by a State Planning Agency. The organization-set studied consisted
of rehabilitation
agencies coordinated through a Regional Council affiliated with the National
Council on Alcoholism. The
innovative program being developed is a post detoxification intermediate care
facility funded through the
State Division of Alcoholism. The methodologies employed included participant
observation (as the
director of a mandated evaluation project), interviews with key organizational
participants and statistical
analysis of client flow. The social context in which the development of intermediate
care was perceived as
a significant development was examined from two sources: the official State
Plan with its emphasis on
incremental system development and the everyday activities of the agents of
social control working in the
management and treatment of alcoholics. The differences in two ideal orientations
within alcoholism
(decriminalization and medicalization) are documented. Eight stages in the innovation
process are
identified: (1) perception of need; (2) decision to sponsor; (3) decision to
compete; (4) decision to award;
(5) program design; (6) initial implementation; (7) program stabilization; and
(8) diffusion. Four of these
stages (perception of need; decision to compete; program design; and initial
implementation) are
examined in detail. While these stages appear as a functionally ordered sequence,
differences in
predominant structures of organizational action and related meaning structures
are observed. In the
perception of need stage, an interorganizational action-set developed to represent
the interests of
detoxification counselors is studied. The recognition of a system performance
gap and consensus on
the value of intermediate care emerged through a process of confrontation intended
to change the
behavior of individual post-detox treatment providers. In the decision to compete
stage, the predominant
organizational structure is the interorganizational task force, which though
composed of members of
specific organizations, develops an individual role and meaning structure, here
identified as hypothetical
rationality. In the program design stage, while the actors remain the same,
the role structure of the group
is changed with members emphasizing their roles as members of specific organizations.
The associated
meaning structure is called 'bounded self interest'. In initial implementation,
the roles of participants as
controllers of organizational resources is predominant. The meaning structure
operative at this stage
'domain realignment', involves the active prosecution of organizational interest.
Conflict over the
structuring and implementation of the proposed innovation first appeared at
the stage of program design
(stage 5), a later stage for the initial appearance of conflict than that reported
in most studies of
innovation. Divergent expectations are identified and related to input, technical
core, or output
structures. The source of conflict within the coordinated system is related
to the tight coupling of two
organizations functioning with distinct ideal orientations. Its resolution is
related to the capacities of the
conflicting organizations to establish partially independent domains.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA 92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX (619) 660-1603 |