Executive Director Role Behavior and the Implementation of Program Change

Abstract

The role of the executive director in community welfare agencies was assigned a central role in this investigation of factors affecting the implementation of program change for a number of reasons. Among the reasons for regarding the executive director as occupying an especially strategic position with regard to program change is the fact that by the very nature of the administrative process in formal organizations, the executive director possesses a great deal of legitimate power. Legitimate power is based upon internalized values by the members of an organization which dictate that one person has the right to influence another person and that the latter has an obligation to accept this influence. In formal organizations (such as community welfare agencies) such power is usually vested in the status or office, and the occupant of the status has the right to influence a range of people and activities. In general, when people accept the authority structure of an organization such as by entering into an employment contract they tend to also accept the right of their supervisors to influence them (Cartwright, 1965). Formal designation as a leader or boss is in itself a source of power (Collins & Guetzkow, 1964).