The Reorganization of the YWCA of the USA, 1998-2002

YWCA;organizational change;College of Arts and Sciences: Public Administration

Horton, Kathryn A.Flint ;

University of Michigan

关键词: YWCA;    organizational change;    College of Arts and Sciences: Public Administration;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/117714/Horton.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This thesis is the first written chronology of the large-scale change process that the YWCA of the USA went through between 1998 and 2002. It details the three distinct phases of the massive reorganization of the national YWCA (the Change Initiative, the Transition Phase and the final Reorganization phase) and identifies the significant outcomes of the change process: a radically restructured governance model that requires national board members to remain active at the local level, new affiliation requirements for local associations which include a Hallmark Programs (racial justice and economic advancement of women) requirement, the implementation or regional councils that assume responsibility for local capacity building, a significantly down-sized/right-sized National office, and a re-instated emphasis on the role of advocacy at the national, regional, state and local levels.

The second part of the thesis is an analysis, which compares the YWCA change process with organizational change theory as detailed by several authors.

This thesis suggests that the change process accomplished the primary goals that had been identified by key stakeholders as desired outcomes of the reorganization: it brought into being a representative and responsive national governance body; it reinstated the authority and decision-making impact of local associations within the national structure; it strengthened support systems available to local YWCA;;s; it created a structure that has strengthened the collective nature, identity and power of the YWCA movement; and it has committed to continuously re-creating itself by involving young people in shaping the future.

The documents (some whole, some excerpts) most central to the change process have been included in the Appendices. As part of the research project related to this thesis, the author compiled substantive documents related to the change process and submitted them to the National Office of the YWCA of the USA in Washington, D.C.