Organizational Change in Human Service Organizations: A Review and Content Analysis

ABSTRACT This literature review examines organizational change scholarship within human service organizations (“health,” “human,” and “social” services) between 1968 and 2020. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Social Work Abstracts, EMBASE, and Sociology Collection databases were searched for peer-reviewed, English-language items. The vast majority of first authors were based in the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada, though UK-based authors produced over a third of included items. Forty-two journals had multiple included items. Four main, interconnected themes were identified and discussed: external rationales for change (e.g. adopting evidence-based practices, structural shifts, community demands); type and level of change (e.g. frontline interventions, restructuring management, improving internal and external relations); implementing changes (targeted interventions, broader implementation models, and successful “tactics”); and internal characteristics that both promote and inhibit change (leadership, readiness, communication, learning orientation, skills). Growing scholarship warrants frequent review and summarization for diverse actors.