Values, Climate, and Resources: Preparing for Implementation Success

• In Event: Evaluating the Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in an Adult Probation Department

Abstract

As training for supervision models based on the Risk-Needs-Responsivity framework continues to show efficacy, quality of implementation grows increasingly vital. To this end, organizational scholars have set upon deciphering how to identify and measure facilitators and barriers to implementation of evidence-based tools and techniques. We explore the interplay between these identified organizational “inner setting” characteristics and the implementation of a training model and case management tools, part of a Smart Supervision grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, at the Philadelphia Adult Probation and Parole Department. To better understand barriers to implementation and how, or if, the technology transfer process affected those barriers, two hundred seventy-two (n=272) staff members completed surveys pre- and post-implementation. Rooted in a general conceptual model of organizational change, the survey measured factors impacting the implementation phase of the technology transfer process, including staff attitudes toward rehabilitation and punishment, and staff perceptions of organizational functioning and climate. Survey analysis focuses specifically on pre-post changes in staff attitudes, and perceptions of organizational functioning and climate. The results provide insight into the implementation process, and issues that affect officer perception.

Authors

• Heather Toronjo, George Mason University

• Amy Murphy, George Mason University

• Faye S. Taxman, George Mason University