Action Planning Process Research Articles

Leadership Change and Action Planning: A Case Study

* This article describes the effective use of action planning during a period of changing leadership in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It describes how an action planning process ameliorated the organizational adjustments that can be expected during a major transition in the organization. The article reviews the previously observed organizational responses to change and describes the organizational setting in FDA at the time the action planning effort was undertaken. It then reviews the criteria used to design the agency's action planning process, describes the implementation and some problems encountered, and reviews lessons learned and unexpected benefits of action planning. Action planning contributed to an effective leadership transition by focusing the agency's attention on productive activities, by involving a significant portion of the agency's managers and staff in a highly visible and high priority activity, by increasing the effectiveness of communication between management and staff, and by orienting the new leadership to the agency's operations and responsibilities. The authors caution that the process must be in harmony with the organization's culture and previous experience in planning.

Critical Issues for Planned Change in Human Service Organizations: A Case Study and Analysis

This article discusses the critical issue emerging in the implementation of change strategies designed to improve the effectiveness of human service delivery systems. A review of the literature supports the notion that human service organizations have been largely ignored in the development of change and intervention theories. As a result, little specific information is available regarding the implementation of improvement strategies in human service delivery systems. The article describes the process by which change was intro duced and implemented in a human service organization. Entry activities, data collection techniques, the action planning process, and the evaluation procedures used in the present intervention are discussed. The article concludes with a dis cussion of the differences in implementing planned change in human service, as opposed to business and industrial, organizations. Suggestions, theoretical guidelines, and a model are provided for future interventions.