Organizational Change Rationales: Exploring Reasons for Multicultural Development in Human Service Agencies

Abstract

This article examines how rationales for organizational change shape the subsequent change effort. The change process in question is multicultural development in nonprofit human service agencies. Analysis is based on interviews with consultants and practitioners experienced in multicultural development. To further illustrate connections between rationales and outcomes, three case studies are presented. Results indicate that how the organizational change is framed in part determines the degree of change that occurs.

Keywords:

• human service agencies
• multicultural development
• organizational change
• organizational diversity
• qualitative research

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Dr. Karen Hopkins for her feedback.