Organizational culture in substance abuse treatment

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between organizational culture, organizational change, and substance abuse treatment. I applied the theoretical frameworks of organizational identity (Diamond, 1993) and organizational modes of experience (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009) to interpret the unconscious dimensions of organizational culture. I developed a three-part model of organizational culture as a framework for interpreting organizational identity as well as modes of experience and their implications for organizational change. Understanding and interpreting organizational identity and modes of experience requires an experience-near method of study that interprets transference dynamics between organizational members, and between organizational members and the researcher in role. I spent one year immersed in a substance abuse treatment organization as a participating observer. Detailed fieldnotes captured my observations and experiences in the field and explicitly recorded the data needed to analyze transference dynamics. The framework of organizational identity provided a lens through which to view the psychodynamics of each field site and the associated implications for change on a micro-level. Organizational modes of experience were a lens through which to view the thematic elements of the organizational culture as a whole at the macro-level. At each level of analysis, organizational leaders? and clinical supervisors? capacity for containment and holding were critical for fostering constructive responses to change in substance abuse treatment.