Chapter 11: Building A Better Department of Revenue for the People Of Alabama

The successful application of organizational change methodology (Cummings & Worley, 2009; Golembiewski, 1969; Huse & Cummings, 1985; Martins, 2011)—including the use of strategic planning as an organizational transformation (Bryson, 1995; DeKluyver & Pearce, 2012; Ketchen & Short, 2011) and management development (Bruner, Eaker, Freeman, Spekman, & Teisberg, 1998; Sauser, 1989) tool—has been documented in detail by Sims (2010b) and in the first chapter of the current volume. Furthermore, this book and its earlier companion volume (Sims, 2010a) include a number of case studies documenting the use of various organizational change methods to improve effectiveness of government organizations at the federal, state, and local level. This chapter extends this pioneering work by describing a case example of the application of organizational change and strategic planning principles to the transformation of an important state agency, the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR). Building the capacity of the organization’s team to anticipate change (Sauser & Sauser, 2002) and to plan both strategically and operationally (Sauser, 1989) was the specific objective of the organizational intervention described in this chapter.