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Participatory Organizational Change in Community-Based Health and Human Services: From Tokenism to Political Engagement

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Community psychologists have long worked with community-based human service organizations to build participatory processes. These efforts largely aim at building participatory practices within the current individual-wellness paradigm of human services. To address collective wellness, human service organizations need to challenge their current paradigm, attend to the social justice needs of community, and engage community participation in a new way, and in doing so become more openly political. We use qualitative interviews, focus groups, organizational documents, and participant observation to present a comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations’ managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first-order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions. Four participatory tensions or dialectics are discussed: passive versus active participation, partners versus clients, surplus powerlessness versus collective efficacy, and reflection/learning versus action/doing.

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Acknowledgments

We’d like to thank Maritza Montero for inspiring us to think more deeply about the relationship between Community Psychology and politics and to grapple with the complex relationship between participation and political engagement in our own work. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and challenging comments. Finally, we thank all who participated in the New SPEC’s Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Peabody # 90, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    Kimberly D. Bess

  2. University of Miami School of Education, P.O. Box 248065, Coral Gables, FL, 33124-2040, USA

    Isaac Prilleltensky

  3. Department of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Peabody # 90, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    Douglas D. Perkins & Leslie V. Collins

Authors
  1. Kimberly D. Bess
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  2. Isaac Prilleltensky
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  3. Douglas D. Perkins
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  4. Leslie V. Collins
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Correspondence to Kimberly D. Bess.

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Bess, K.D., Prilleltensky, I., Perkins, D.D. et al. Participatory Organizational Change in Community-Based Health and Human Services: From Tokenism to Political Engagement. Am J Community Psychol 43, 134–148 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9222-8

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