Service Implementation in Emerging Human Service Agencies

This study assesses the effects of three sets of variable on the implementation of selected services in a sample of drug treatment agencies. The three sets of variables are: (a) sources of information valued by agency personel; (b) structural and process characteristics of the agency; and (c) characteristics of the community in which the agency is located. The central hypothesis of the study is that, due to the emergent nature of drug treatment agencies, implementation of their services will be more influenced by the sources of information valued by agency personnel and/or characteristics of the community than by the structural and process characteristics of the agency itself. Contrary to this general hypothesis, findings indicate that structural and process characteristics of these emergent organizations have the most pervasive effect on the implementation of agency services. The implications of these findings are discussed

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