Agency Culture and Climate in Child Welfare: Do Perceptions Vary by Exposure to the Child Welfare System?

Abstract

Organizational culture and climate play a critical role in worker retention and outcomes, yet little is known about whether perceptions of culture and climate vary depending on the demands of particular roles. In this study, 113 staff from a child welfare agency completed Organizational Social Context profiles. Staff were divided into three groups according to their proximity to child welfare tasks to assess whether involvement in higher stress child welfare tasks is related to perceptions of the social context. Findings suggest possible differences across groups, with those involved in core child welfare tasks appearing to perceive higher resistance to new ways of providing services and those with the least involvement in traditional child welfare perceiving a more positive social context overall. Keywords leadership and organizational change; management; workforce/workplace issues in human service organizations

Use of evidence-based interventions in child welfare: Do attitudes matter?

“…An agency’s culture and climate are also related to these factors, potentially leading to higher levels of resistance to innovation, possibly due to low resources and perceived risks associated with change. Results from a study contrasting the culture and climate as perceived by 118 providers working across programs in the same large child welfare agency that participated in this study is consistent with this hypothesis (Spielfogel, Leathers, & Christian, 2016). Relative to mental health providers, child welfare providers reported higher levels of resistance to change as well as higher levels of functionality, characterized by high role clarity and worker cooperation.…”

Shared Traumatic Stress and the Impact of COVID-19 on Public Child Welfare Workers

“…As the world prepares for a prolonged impact from COVID-19, leadership on international, national, and interagency levels needs to be proactive (Roule 2020). Institutionally supportive practices and policies would directly shift organizational culture across the PCW system and mitigate risk of shared traumatic responses for staff (Corin and Björk 2016;Deglau et al 2018;Spielfogel et al 2016). The literature conveys that PCW workers are best supported through organizational strategies (Corin and Björk 2016;Lietz 2018;Rao Herman et al 2018).…”

“…Building and practicing a mandatory staff wellness policy for the workforce could also impact job satisfaction for the better. Evidence supports that increased opportunities for self-care, networking, and staff recognition enhance organizational culture and encourage the worker to remain in the job (Gorman 2018;Scanlan and Still 2019;Spielfogel et al 2016). Such changes would shift the work culture in PCW organizations from deficit-focused to supportive, directly increasing job satisfaction.…”

Case Study of a Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC) in a Canadian City

“…As discussed in Chapter Two, organizational culture can contribute to high staff turnover and burnout (Leigh, 2013;Spielfogel et al, 2016;Stanley & Lincoln, 2016;Vito, 2015). Bell, Kulkarni and Dalton (2003) consider vicarious trauma an occupational hazard that should be addressed by each organization.…”