Organizational effects on mentally retarded adults: a longitudinal analysis

Area of Science:

• Intellectual Disability Services
• Organizational Psychology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Normalization is a key goal for residential institutions serving individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Achieving normalization is often challenging for these organizations.
• Organizational contingency theories suggest bureaucratic structures hinder nonroutine tasks crucial for normalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of organizational contingency theories in assessing mental retardation facilities.
• To determine if less bureaucratic organizations achieve greater success in normalization.
• To examine the impact of organizational structure on treatment outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study was conducted following the closure of a public hospital for the mentally retarded.
• Residents were transferred to two new facilities with differing levels of bureaucracy.
• Behavioral changes were assessed and compared between the less and more bureaucratic facilities, controlling for resident characteristics.

Main Results:

• The less bureaucratic facility demonstrated a greater average positive change in resident behavior compared to the more bureaucratic facility.
• Clinical and demographic factors of residents did not account for the observed differences in behavioral improvement.
• The study provides empirical support for the negative impact of bureaucracy on normalization efforts.

Conclusions:

• Organizational structure significantly influences the effectiveness of normalization in residential facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Reducing bureaucracy in these institutions may enhance treatment outcomes and resident progress.
• Future research should explore other uncontrolled factors influencing facility effectiveness.