ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION FOLLOWING THE REFORM OF SOCIAL SERVICES: LESSONS FROM SLOVENIA Matej Babšek Faculty of Public Administra ti on, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia matej.babsek@fu.uni ‐lj.si Polonca Kova č Faculty of Public Administra ti on, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia polonca.kovac@fu.uni ‐lj.si Nina Tomaževi č Faculty of Public Administra ti on, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia nina.tomazevic@fu.uni ‐lj.si Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 55 The main goal of the paper is to present how employees of social services in Slovenia view the reorganiza ti on carried out in 2018 with the purpose to draw a tt en ti on to the importance of both the organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on before and a ft er the reorganiza ti on given the established connec ti on between these constructs. In the re ‐ search, mixed methods were used, specifically an explanatory sequen ti al design. In the quan ti ta ti ve phase, an online survey adapted to these organiza ti ons was conducted among employees, while in the following qualita ti ve phase in ‐ depth semi ‐structured interviews were performed with managers and professional workers. The results show the fail ‐ ure of the reorganiza ti on of social services because the set objec ti ves were not accomplished. Employees rated both organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on worse a ft er the reorganiza ti on than before it. Here, the most cri ti cal aspects are the lack of knowledge concerning the new organiza ti on’s mission, vision, and goals, coupled with the em ‐ ployees’ lack of iden ti fica ti on with them. While, as expected, a connec ti on exists between climate and sa ti sfac ti on as well as sa ti sfac ti on and a tti tudes to the reorganiza ti on, the research also reveals the important connec ti on between digitaliza ti on and the principles of good governance pursued by these services. The findings of the research may be valuable for policymakers and prac titi oners while designing and implemen ti ng future reforms in social services orga ‐ niza ti ons in terms of ensuring a favorable work climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on. Keywords: Organiza ti onal Climate, Employee Sa ti sfac ti on, Social Services, Reform, Reorganiza ti on, Slovenia Acknowledgments This ar ti cle is a result of the basic research program “Development of an E fficient and E ffec ti ve Public Ad ‐ ministra ti on System” (P5 ‐0093). The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Slovenian Research and Innova ti on Agency. Abstract Vol. 13, No. 2, 55 ‐70 doi:10.17708/DRMJ.2024.v13n02a04 Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 56 Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia 1 INTRODUCTION The organiza ti onal climate adds considerably to the e ffec ti veness and e fficiency of employees at work and, in turn, to the realiza ti on of the vision, mission, and goals of organiza ti ons. Studies show that organi ‐ za ti onal climate refers to the percep ti on and feelings that employees have about their work environment and is based on their beliefs and experiences, and re ‐ lated to employee sa ti sfac ti on, performance, and mo ti va ti on on the individual, team, and organiza ‐ ti onal levels (Gil et al., 2023; Schneider et al., 2013). Unlike organiza ti onal culture, which is rela ti vely per ‐ manent and built from common systems of values, a tti tudes, and principles, organiza ti onal climate rep ‐ resents the way organiza ti onal members perceive the organiza ti on’s exis ti ng prac ti ces, and what members feel about the organiza ti on and their role within it (Pras ti awan et al., 2020). More recent research (Ahmad et al., 2018; D’ Amato, 2023; Zahid and Nau ‐ man, 2023) iden ti fies several of its dimensions, such as communica ti on, leadership, cohesion, autonomy, innova ti on, rewarding, consistency between strategy and opera ti onal management, dynamics and free ‐ dom of expression, and par ti cularly in the public sec ‐ tor it is strongly influenced by ins ti tu ti onal leadership as a reflec ti on of the integrity and responsibility of managers (Vi đak et al., 2023). Given the complexity of the phenomenon, or ‐ ganiza ti onal climate is defined by many theore ti cal frameworks. Gil et al. (2023) relate it to social ex ‐ change theory, according to which employees per ‐ ceive opportuni ti es to develop their own skills, become visible in the organiza ti on and par ti cipate in decision ‐making, while contribu ti ng to a posi ti ve work environment and engagement. In this context, D’Amato (2023) highlights the theory of construc ‐ ti vist epistemology, according to which organiza ‐ ti onal climate emerges in a process in which employees construct its meaning by collec ti ng and modifying their assessments of organiza ti onal events as a result of their interac ti ons with (significant) oth ‐ ers in the workplace. Furthermore, Schneider et al. (2013) dis ti nguish between service, safety and diver ‐ sity organiza ti onal climates. With the development of these dimensions, the theory approaches prac ti ‐ cal implica ti ons as these concepts focus more on or ‐ ganiza ti onal processes and their outcomes. Studies also establish that the leadership style in public organiza ti ons has a significant impact on the climate since, as noted by Novac and Bratanov (2014), flexibility within the public system, mo ti va ‐ ti on, and trust are essen ti al factors in the success and strengthening of the reputa ti on of organiza ti ons. The role of managers in these hierarchical organiza ‐ ti ons must accordingly be to ensure legi ti macy and nurture agreements between di fferent levels of management, whereas top management must con ‐ sistently translate strategic messages to lower levels and provide formal and informal guidance, support, and empowerment for the opera ti onaliza ti on of strategic direc ti ons by lower ‐level managers (Stanton et al., 2010). The basic founda ti on of the leadership style is trust, both of managers towards employees and employees towards managers, which is shown in public services of higher quality (Mar tí nez ‐Tur et al., 2020). As stated by Tomaževi č et al. (2014), in the repressive part of the public sector (e.g. police ser ‐ vice), the feeling employees have that the employer will protect them if they are exposed as part of per ‐ forming their otherwise legal and professional work is important, while trust in one’s immediate superior also has a strong influence. Most studies of organiza ti onal climate in the public sector refer to its connec ti on with specific aspects of the work of such employees. Moussa et al. (2018) and Mutonyi et al. (2020) found a strong posi ti ve connec ti on between organiza ti onal climate and the crea ti vity of employees at work. A support ‐ ive organiza ti onal climate was shown to be signifi ‐ cantly posi ti vely related to the results of the employee training process and to the emphasized role of rela ti onships (Gil et al., 2023). Ancarani et al. (2019) established a posi ti ve connec ti on be ‐ tween organiza ti onal climate and employee en ‐ gagement, as reflected in the autonomy of workers, their empowerment and well ‐being, and simulta ‐ neously as concerns reforms in the public sector the authors claim that an organiza ti onal climate which is based on e fficiency and is target ‐oriented does not have a posi ti ve e ffect on civil servants’ commitment, and reforms do not therefore in ‐ crease employee commitment. To ensure an adequate organiza ti onal climate, the public sector o ft en needs an organiza ti onal trans ‐ forma ti on with new innova ti ve methods of organiza ‐ Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 57 ti on and opera ti on that lead to a more agile, flexible, and innova ti ve environment (Boufounou and Argyrou, 2022). As noted by Ng et al. (2016), it is crucial that the mo ti va ti on for employment in the public sector is o ft en related to external rewards (e.g., job security) or an easier work–life balance compared to the pri ‐ vate sector (as also stressed by Kalliath et al., 2020). This is even more apparent in the case of younger genera ti ons of civil servants who no longer feel so much that mo ti va ti on for being employed in these fields is built on a sense of commitment to serving the country and the common good. Public sector organi ‐ za ti ons are also characterized by a certain legal deter ‐ mina ti on with the aim of protec ti ng the public interest in administra ti ve ac ti vi ti es and users’ rights (Babšek et al., 2020), which is also accompanied by rela ti ve or ‐ ganiza ti onal rigidity and fewer opportuni ti es for indi ‐ vidual and collec ti ve innova ti on. Employee sa ti sfac ti on is influenced by many fac ‐ tors and exerts a posi ti ve e ffect on the e ffec ti veness, e fficiency, and stability of organiza ti ons. Employees are sa ti sfied at work when they fulfill their desires and needs, taking various facets into account, including job security, work tasks, benefits, reward op ti ons, ca ‐ reer development etc. (Sageer, et al., 2012; T omaževi č et al., 2014). As the theory of rela ti ve u ti lity shows, higher job sa ti sfac ti on can arise in various ways: through improvements in the objec ti ve aspects of the job, through lower expecta ti ons of the job and through a change in the weigh ti ng of the various as ‐ pects of the job so that the nega ti ve aspects receive less a tt en ti on compared to the pleasant ones (Pacheco and Webber, 2016). It is important to note, as Herzberg’s theory of job sa ti sfac ti on, also known as Herzberg’s two ‐factor theory or theory of mo ti va ‐ ti on and hygiene, shows that the factors that lead to job sa ti sfac ti on are di fferent from those that lead to job dissa ti sfac ti on, meaning that these two feelings are not on a single con ti nuum, but are independent phenomena (Maidani, 1991). Measuring employee sa ti sfac ti on and monitoring its trends is thus a vital measurement that quan ti ta ti vely helps to determine the overall health of an organiza ti on (Thomas et al., 2019). At the same ti me, employee sa ti sfac ti on is a complex and mul ti faceted construct that holds di ffer ‐ ent meanings for di fferent people, and mainly in ‐ cludes interpersonal rela ti onships as a key intangible facet of work, material security, a positi ve work envi ‐ ronment, and opportuni ti es for personal and profes ‐ sional development (Laguador and Gonzales, 2023). Employee sa ti sfac ti on hence reduces turnover and has a posi ti ve e ffect on work results and long ‐term performance (Myskova, 2011). When it comes to examining employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on in the public sector compared to the private sec ‐ tor, even over a long period of ti me there are no uniform findings. Maidani (1991) states that overall employee sa ti sfac ti on at work is largely based on in ‐ ternal facets, especially mo ti va ti on, which applies equally to the public and private sectors, while em ‐ ployees in the public sector find external facets and rewards more important. In this regard, a study by Dirzyte and Patapas (2022) showed that employee sa ti sfac ti on is most influenced by posi ti ve organiza ‐ ti onal prac ti ces and general life sa ti sfac ti on, whereas employees in the private sector have more strongly expressed quali ti es of dignity, support, care, and op ‐ ti mism. In their study, Andersen et al. (2013) con ‐ cluded that for civil servants’ user orienta ti on is more strongly posi ti vely related to their employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on than mo ti va ti on for public service in general (Ng et al., 2016), albeit in both the public and private sec ‐ tors the social component of the mo ti va ti on of em ‐ ployees has a posi ti ve impact on their sa ti sfac ti on. Other studies (Gastearena ‐Balda et al., 2021; Mihajlov et al., 2013; Ze ffan and Bani Melhem, 2017), which found higher employee sa ti sfac ti on in the public sector compared to the private sector, at ‐ tributed the reasons for this to the greater security and predictability of the employment of public em ‐ ployees, who are in turn less interested in changing their current job and, on the other hand, the public sector o ffers fewer opportuni ti es to change jobs. Other studies underscore interpersonal rela ti on ‐ ships and trust in the work of managers as being a vital factor of employee sa ti sfac ti on in the public sector which, notably in the service sector of public ins ti tu ti ons, increases engagement and reduces the possibility of burnout at work (Mar tí nez‐Tur et al., 2020). Addi ti onal reasons for this include the posi ‐ ti on of employees within the organiza ti on and fol ‐ lowing the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) (Škarica and Vrtoduši ć Hrgović, 2021). Re ‐ gardless of the various facets of employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on, in their compara ti ve study Juana ‐Espinosa and Rakowska (2018) established that mo ti va ti onal fac ‐ Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 58 Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia tors have a posi ti ve e ffect on employee sa ti sfac ti on in the public sector, with no significant di fferences between the countries being studied. Both organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti s ‐ fac ti on are crucial for the introduc ti on of change in organiza ti ons. According to Kuipers et al. (2014), change management theory and ins ti tu ti onal theory are the most commonly used theore ti cal perspec ‐ ti ves when studying change in public sector organi ‐ za ti ons. Ins ti tu ti onalists argue that organiza ti onal change is imposed by the environment and that or ‐ ganiza ti ons seek legi ti macy by adap ti ng to environ ‐ mental pressures. Change management theory, on the other hand, emphasizes how organiza ti onal change is brought about by the deliberate ac ti ons of the actors involved in the change, with the focus of the theory being on the intra ‐organiza ti onal level. All of the above allows the conclusion that un ‐ derstanding the organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on in the public sector is crucial for analyzing the e ffec ti veness and e fficiency of public ins ti tu ti ons that pursue their vision, goals, and mission to con ‐ tribute to social welfare, progress, and democracy. This means it is important for researchers as well as policymakers and practiti oners to understand these processes and the factors influencing them. In our re ‐ search, we employed mul ti ple research methods with the main goal of analyzing employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate before and a ft er the reor ‐ ganiza ti on of Slovenian social services in 2018. A ft er presen ti ng the basic constructs being studied (em ‐ ployee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate), the paper describes the social services system in Slovenia – its ins ti tu ti onal framework together with its reor ‐ ganiza ti on that commenced in 2018 – followed by an explana ti on of the study’s significance, the method ‐ ology, presenta ti on, and interpreta ti on of the results and, finally, a discussion and conclusion. 2 SOCIAL SERVICES IN SLOVENIA 2.1 Ins ti tu ti onal framework To fully appreciate this research and the impli ‐ ca ti ons it holds for the human resources manage ‐ ment theory, it is necessary to understand the ins ti tu ti onal environment of Slovenian social ser ‐ vices and the reforms implemented in this context, parti cularly the reorganiza ti on of social work cen ‐ ters (SWCs) in 2018. The SWCs are the central, pri ‐ mary, and coordina ti ng ins ti tu ti on in the sense of having acted as a single entry point to the system of social services in Slovenia ever since they were es ‐ tablished in the 1960s. From a legal and organiza ‐ ti onal point of view, SWCs are legal en titi es under public law with their own legal subjec ti vity ‐ public ins ti tutes as holders of public powers that carry out the professional tasks delegated to them by the state. The goal of such an arrangement should be to bring social services closer to people and ensure apoli ti cal decision ‐making (Babšek et al., 2020). With this kind of ins ti tu ti onal arrangement of social services, the professionalism and independence of ac ti on of SWCs in an extremely sensi ti ve area are guaranteed. In September 2018, 62 SWCs were op ‐ era ti ng in Slovenia, with their local jurisdic ti on being determined by the areas of administra ti ve units as a territorial division of the state administra ti on. In October 2018, in the process of reorganizing them, they were merged into 16 organiza ti onally indepen ‐ dent public ins ti tutes which are managed in a fairly centralized way via uniform regula ti ons and instruc ‐ ti ons of the competent ministry. Reorganiza ti on is the transforma ti on of structures, procedures and mechanisms specifically designed to deliver services to ci ti zens, leaving aside broader changes a ffec ti ng public administra ti on in general (Bolgherini et al., 2019). Although this process was labeled as a reor ‐ ganiza ti on, it went beyond mere changes to the or ‐ ganiza ti onal structure. According to the established goals, it was a reform intended to address the struc ‐ tural aspects and strategic func ti oning of these or ‐ ganiza ti ons. Here, it must be noted that with its administra ‐ ti ve and social system Slovenia belongs to the coun ‐ tries of Central and Eastern Europe regarding which, on top of striving for the e fficiency, resilience, and agility of public organiza ti ons, the ongoing transi ti on from former post ‐socialist arrangements to modern democra ti c principles is s ti ll typical. Further, in the case of administra ti ve reforms, Slovenia follows the legal culture and norms specific to the German ‐Aus ‐ trian tradi ti on, with its rela ti vely strict legalism and formalism (Kova č and Bileišis, 2017). During ti mes of reforms, these sociological ‐cultural phenomena usu ‐ ally cons ti tute an obstacle that must be properly ad ‐ Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 59 dressed, i.e., incorporated into the exis ti ng system. The administra ti ve tradi ti on is a core factor for e ffi ‐ cient reforms, which means the successful public management approaches developed in the Anglo ‐ Saxon world are not necessarily a suitable mecha ‐ nism for achieving reform goals in Central Europe. Alterna ti vely, according to the way changes are intro ‐ duced, their adapta ti on is necessary, e.g., also placing otherwise managerial ‐organiza ti onal measures in the legal framework which, on one hand is thus quite rigid in rela ti on to private or Anglo ‐Saxon prac ti ces and, on the other, leads to predictability and legal se ‐ curity for stakeholders and is in line with the other ‐ wise formalized nature of public administra ti on. 2.2 The Reorganiza ti on of Social Work Centers Before the changes in 2018, the SWCs had not been significantly reformed since their incep ti on. Their reorganiza ti on was foreseen on the level of strategic documents by the Resolu ti on on the na ‐ ti onal social welfare program for the period 2013– 2020 (O fficial Gaze tt e of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 39/13) that pursued the objec ti ves of ensuring the availability, accessibility, and reachability of ser ‐ vices while simultaneously improving the quality and e fficiency of their implementa ti on. This was to be achieved by reorganizing the SWCs since this would strengthen their coordina ti ng and connec ti ng role with the services of other departments and non ‐governmental organiza ti ons. In the en ti re social services system, this was expected to encourage the expansion of the o ffer and the introduc ti on of mod ‐ ern innova ti ve approaches based on the profes ‐ sional autonomy of the providers. Irrespec ti ve of the above, the provision of social services was ex ‐ pected to be primarily taken care of by public ser ‐ vice providers in this area. On the poli ti cal level, the reorganiza ti on of the SWCs arose from two coali ti on agreements of the governments at the ti me, and legisla ti vely was im ‐ plemented with the Act on Amendments to the So ‐ cial Security Act (ZSV ‐H, O fficial Gaze tt e of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 54/17) as the central legal basis for the organiza ti on and opera ti on of SWCs in Slovenia. In addi ti on to merging public ins ti tu ti ons and establishing new organiza ti onal structures (e.g., regional joint services at the headquarters and branches in a local area), it introduced social ac ti va ti on services for long ‐term unemployed per ‐ sons, an informa ti ve calcula ti on of social rights (e.g., child allowance, kindergarten payment sub ‐ sidy), and other legal and managerial novel ti es (ACSW, 2018). In summary, the reform did not achieve the set objec ti ves in terms of reducing ad ‐ ministra ti ve burdens for users, greater opportuni ‐ ti es for fieldwork, and the development of new methods of professional work, chiefly due to insuf ‐ ficient strategic planning of the reform and the in ‐ su fficient par ti cipa ti on of relevant stakeholders (Babšek et al., 2020). Concretely, the reform para ‐ doxically led to increased bureaucra ti za ti on and for ‐ maliza ti on of substan ti ve work, unsuccessful ra ti onaliza ti on, a failure to achieve the economic objec ti ves of the reform, insu fficient autonomy of the profession and social responsibility, and addi ‐ ti onal sta ff malnutri ti on and employee burnout (Rape Žiberna et al., 2020). The systemic reasons for this may be found in the lack of a central coor ‐ dina ti on approach and insu fficient ra ti onal discus ‐ sion, along with cross ‐sector uncoordinated solu ti ons, which led to inadequate reform results concerning opera ti onaliza ti on of the principle of the welfare state rela ti ve to the publicly declared objec ti ves of this reform (Kova č and Bileišis, 2017). Given the above, from the point of view of or ‐ ganiza ti onal theory the SWC reorganiza ti on process was not carried out op ti mally as it did not cover all essen ti al aspects of the opera ti ons of these organi ‐ za ti ons (whose key stakeholders are employees), nor did it focus on their par ti cipa ti on and individual factors of employee sa ti sfac ti on (Pacheco and Web ‐ ber, 2016). Even today, several years a ft er the re ‐ form, employees do not iden ti fy with the newly established organiza ti ons and do not know their vi ‐ sion, goals, and strategies (Rape Žiberna et al., 2020). The reasons for the failed reform in the view ‐ point of employees are to be found in the fact that in the Slovenian public sector, even though the for ‐ mal aspects of civil servants are otherwise well taken care of, there is a lack of a strategic view and a tti tude concerning human resources management, which would have a long ‐term e ffect on assuring a s ti mula ti ng environment and thus on the profes ‐ sional and personal development of employees at work (Stare, 2021). Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 60 3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT STUDY In the literature, not many studies comprehen ‐ sively deal with the organiza ti onal climate and em ‐ ployee sa ti sfac ti on in social services in connec ti on with their organiza ti onal or substan ti ve reforms, but instead generally refer to just one aspect of the work of social services. Analyses accordingly o ft en refer to strictly organiza ti onal ‐ins ti tu ti onal aspects of reforms in terms of agencifica ti on, decentraliza ‐ ti on, and governance ‐related op ti miza ti on of the welfare state in individual legal regula ti ons/arrange ‐ ments (Van Berkel, 2010) or analyze the objec ti ves of administra ti ve relief, cost reduc ti on, and e ffi ‐ ciency increase (Johnston and Romzek, 1999). Re ‐ forms have also been frequently studied in terms of the crea ti on of policies and governance models of the welfare state, especially the opera ti onaliza ti on of reform policies (Borghi and Van Berkel, 2007), the ins ti tu ti onaliza ti on and empowerment of ci ti zens as preven ti on against poli ti cal influences (Kekez, 2018), or poli ti cal responsibility for the results of reforms arising from the administra ti ve responsibility of so ‐ cial services (Byrkjeflot et al., 2014). Most studies in the field of social service reforms refer to their professional autonomy as the basis for their managerial independence and apoli ti cal func ‐ ti oning, for example in the context of less radical re ‐ forms of social services due to professional values and the rootedness of ins ti tu ti ons in public systems (Ackroyd et al., 2007), the risk of standardiza ti on as a result of reforms for the professional basis of social work (Røysum, 2013), the key role of managers in successful reform implementa ti on (Niiranen et al., 2019), the impact of reforms on the transforma ti on of the prac ti ce of social services in the direc ti on of ci ti zens’ needs (Gilbert, 1998), and the importance of involving social services in reforms with a complex cross ‐sectoral impact to assure a suppor ti ve environ ‐ ment for employees (Levin et al., 2020). Although many analyses refer to the sa ti sfac ti on of employees in social services with their work, yet only in general and not specifically in connec ti on with reforms, some individual studies of the organi ‐ za ti onal climate in these services in rela ti on to the implemented reforms can s ti ll be found, for instance on the connec ti on between quality reform policies and the organiza ti onal climate in social organiza ti ons (Olin et al., 2014), on the tangible e ffects of a posi ‐ ti ve organiza ti onal climate on solving the situa ti ons of individuals and families (Glisson and Green, 2011), and on the influence of organiza ti onal climate on the work of managers during the process of introducing the changes (Carnochan and Aus ti n, 2002). Almost no studies in the literature focus on es ‐ tablishing a link between organiza ti onal changes and organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on. Studies that par ti ally referred to the men ‐ ti oned topics were carried out in other countries and, due to the di fferent cultural environment, are not directly comparable and applicable in Slovenia. The presented research therefore provides im ‐ portant insights into the opera ti on of social services from the point of view of both reforms as part of their external environment as well as the organiza ti onal cli ‐ mate and employee sa ti sfac ti on. The aim of the re ‐ search was to determine how employees of Slovenian SWCs generally view the reorganiza ti on of these ser ‐ vices with the purpose of highligh ti ng the importance of organiza ti onal climate and their work sa ti sfac ti on. This was done by assessing their sa ti sfac ti on and se ‐ lected facets of the organiza ti onal climate before and a ft er the reform and to establish whether a posi ti ve rela ti onship exists between the studied variables. Ac ‐ cordingly, three research ques ti ons were formulated. The first ques ti on (RQ1) was concerned with how em ‐ ployees evaluate the achieved results of the SWCs’ re ‐ organiza ti on in rela ti on to the set objec ti ves. While finding an answer to this, the presence of sta ti s ti cally significant di fferences in the a tti tudes of managers and professional workers was also checked. The sec ‐ ond research ques ti on (RQ2) asked how employees evaluate the organiza ti onal climate and their sa ti sfac ‐ ti on before and a ft er the reorganiza ti on. The third ques ti on (RQ3) was whether a correla ti on exists be ‐ tween employees’ a tti tudes to the reorganiza ti on and the employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate. 4 METHOD 4.1 Par ti cipants An online survey on reorganiza ti on, organiza ‐ ti onal climate, and employee sa ti sfac ti on in Slovenian SWCs was administered at the beginning of 2022. An email was sent to the o fficial e ‐mail addresses of all Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 61 16 SWCs in the country with an introduc ti on to the survey, instruc ti ons for comple ti ng it, informa ti on sta ti ng that the results were confiden ti al, and a link to the online survey. In order to achieve greater re ‐ sponsiveness, employees were also sent two re ‐ minders to par ti cipate in the survey. The popula ti on of the survey consisted of all 1,387 employees em ‐ ployed at the SWCs at the beginning of the survey. The survey was started by 351 par ti cipants – who an ‐ swered at least one substan ti ve ques ti on, and 243 surveys were completed. The share of par ti cipants in the survey was thus 25.3%, among which 95.9% were women, which is representa ti ve of the gender struc ‐ ture of the en ti re popula ti on. Most were aged 40 to 49 years old (41.0%), followed by those 50 to 59 years (29.0%) and 30 to 39 years (24.0%). The majority (68.0%) had a university educa ti on or educa ti on of the 2nd Bologna cycle, followed by those with a higher educa ti on or educa ti on of the 1st Bologna cycle (16.0%) and those with a higher secondary pro ‐ fessional educa ti on (9.0%). According to the posi ti on in the organiza ti on they occupy, 8.0% of them were management representa ti ves, 74.0% were civil ser ‐ vants – professional workers, while the remainder did not want to define themselves in this way. In the second research phase that followed the online survey, in ‐depth semi‐structured interviews with representa ti ves of management and professional workers in SWCs were conducted. The goal was to achieve a representa ti ve sample in terms of the char ‐ acteris ti cs of individual SWCs. The interviews were held in 2022 a ft er the survey results had been pro ‐ cessed. Nine representa ti ves of SWCs par ti cipated, in ‐ cluding four managers and five professional workers. 4.2 Procedure In view of the men ti oned problema ti c situa ti on, the study used mixed methods of research in a ex ‐ planatory sequen ti al design manner (Creswell and Plano, 2010) according to which a quan ti ta ti ve sur ‐ vey method was first used, followed by in ‐depth semi‐structured interviews to clarify any unex ‐ pected results and provide a comprehensive under ‐ standing in a wider context of social services’ reforms. The research was conducted at a ti me when just over 3 years had passed since the reorga ‐ niza ti on of the SWCs had been implemented since it was es ti mated that by this stage the reform was already well implemented and the opera ti on of the ins ti tu ti ons therea ft er had stabilized to an extent making it possible to examine its e ffects more inde ‐ pendently, even with as li tt le influence as possible from the COVID ‐19 epidemic, which by then was al ‐ ready partly under control, and at the same ti me the findings were s ti ll su fficiently up ‐to ‐date given the ti ming of the completed reorganiza ti on. The ques ti onnaire prepared for an online survey was adapted from ques ti onnaires already used in other studies to measure employee sa ti sfac ti on at SWCs (Sladojevi ć, 2021) and the organiza ti onal cli ‐ mate in local self ‐government administra ti ons (Tašner, 2013). The ques ti ons concerning the reorga ‐ niza ti on of SWCs were developed by the authors themselves. To measure the organiza ti onal climate, the SiOK ques ti onnaire, which is standardized in the Slovenian environment (Jordan et al., 2017), was adapted to the studied popula ti on. The survey con ‐ tained closed ‐ended ques ti ons that required the level of agreement with each statement to be expressed using a Likert scale, where a score of 1 meant “Do not agree at all” and a score of 5 “Strongly agree” . Due to the greater variability of the results, ques ti ons about the extent to which the reorganiza ti on’s objec ti ves had been achieved contained a Likert scale with val ‐ ues from 1 to 10, where a score of 1 meant “Least” and 10 “Most”. When measuring organiza ti onal cli ‐ mate and employee sa ti sfac ti on, scores on a 1–5 scale referred to the situa ti on before and a ft er the re ‐ organiza ti on. Based on the survey results, the authors developed semi ‐structured interview ques ti ons that measured the same variables to provide for the tri ‐ angula ti on and valida ti on of the research results. Quan ti ta ti ve data were processed in the sta ti s ‐ ti cal program IBM SPSS 28.0. Ini ti ally, exploratory ‐ descrip ti ve sta ti s ti cs were used. The non ‐parametric Mann ‐Whitney test (MW U test) was used to deter ‐ mine sta ti s ti cally significant di fferences in the a tti ‐ tudes of the two groups of employees (managers and professional workers), and correla ti on analysis with Pearson’s correla ti on test (r) was used to de ‐ termine the interdependence of the variables. The Atlas. ti 22 tool was used to process the qualita ti ve data. The analysis was performed in line with the principle of open and axial coding with the crea ti on of thema ti c networks of constructs. Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 62 4.3 Variables In the research, the following facets of the SWCs’ work were studied as variables of individual phases in the research: • generally about the reorganiza ti on (its necessity and usefulness, involvement of employees, reduc ‐ ti on of administra ti ve burdens, development of new work methods); • achieving the declared objec ti ves of the reorga ‐ niza ti on (simplified procedures, unified opera ‐ ti ons, the same standard of services, social ac ti va ti on, mul ti disciplinarity, loca ti on and ti me availability, field work, development of profes ‐ sional work methods); • employee sa ti sfac ti on (sa ti sfac ti on generally, sat ‐ isfac ti on with management and colleagues, sa ti s ‐ fac ti on with tasks at work, sa ti sfac ti on with permanent employment and salary, sa ti sfac ti on with training and educa ti on opportuni ti es, sa ti s ‐ fac ti on with promo ti on opportuni ti es); • organiza ti onal climate (employee commitment, organiza ti on, the fact that the mission, vision, and goals are well known, vision and goals, internal communica ti on and informing); • digitaliza ti on (the need for and usefulness of training, simplicity and transparency, ti me ra ti o ‐ naliza ti on, supervision by superiors); and • good governance principles (accountability, trans ‐ parency, responsiveness, equality and inclusion, e ffec ti veness and e fficiency, rule of law, par ti cipa ‐ ti on, and consensus orienta ti on). Employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal cli ‐ mate variables were measured by assessing the views held by employees before and a ft er the reor ‐ ganiza ti on in 2018. Based on an examina ti on of re ‐ lated research in the Slovenian environment (Jordan et al., 2017; Sladojevi ć, 2021; Tašner, 2013), relevant demographic data concerning gender, age, level of educa ti on, and the posi ti on held by the par ti cipants in the organiza ti on were collected for the research. It is important to emphasize that the variables men ti oned were studied in the context of reorgani ‐ za ti on as reform and not just as organiza ti onal change. Regardless of its (mis)designa ti on and final outcomes, the reorganiza ti on of the SWC in the strategic documents and the reform policy was broader than just a change with a specific focus, which also included managerial, financial, legal, in ‐ s ti tu ti onal and social aspects. The analysis must al ‐ ways be based on the actual purpose and objec ti ves of the reforms as defined at the ins ti tu ti onal level of governance, and not only on what is publicly stated, as there are o ft en discrepancies here (Bol ‐ gherini et al., 2019). 5 RESULTS Employees generally assessed that although the reorganiza ti on of the SWCs was needed, it did not lower the administra ti ve burdens and lead to the development of new work methods or more ti me becoming available to work with users (Table 1). Sta ti s ti cally significant di fferences between all the assessments made by managers and profes ‐ sional workers also emerged, except for the contri ‐ bu ti on to the development of new professional work methods where all aspects of the reorganiza ‐ ti on were rated be tt er by the managers. As may be seen in Table 2, employees assessed that the intro ‐ duc ti on of the informa ti ve calcula ti on of social transfers and the unifica ti on of SWCs’ opera ti ons across the country were the objec ti ves of this re ‐ form that were achieved to the greatest extent. Managers sta ti s ti cally significantly rated the fol ‐ lowing objec ti ves had been accomplished to a bigger extent be tt er than professional workers: (1) the same standard of customer service throughout the coun ‐ try; (2) the unifica ti on of prac ti ce via the introduc ti on of a new organiza ti onal structure; (3) more field work; and (4) services becoming more accessible. Employees were the most sa ti sfied with the working hours, permanent employment, and col ‐ leagues, and the least sa ti sfied with the salary, op ‐ portuni ti es for promo ti on and training, and the top management (Table 3), thus confirming theore ti cal findings on employee sa ti sfac ti on in the public sec ‐ tor (e.g., Gastearena ‐Balda et al., 2021; Mihajlov et al., 2013; Ze ffan and Bani Melhem, 2017). As for the climate in their organiza ti ons, the re ‐ spondents rated the internal communica ti on and in ‐ forma ti on, as well as organiza ti on the best, while knowing the mission, vision, and goals of newly estab ‐ lished organiza ti ons and commitment were assessed Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 63 Table 1: General assessment of the reorganiza ti on – arithme ti c means, standard devia ti on, MW U test Note: *Number of answers ** 1 – completely disagree, 5 – completely agree. A non ‐parametric Mann ‐Whitney U test was used for assessing the di fferences between the two groups of respondents with the limit of sta ti s ti cal significance set at p ≤ 0.05. Source: Ques ti onnaire survey, 2022 (see “Method”); calcula ti ons by the authors. Table 2: Assessment of the declared objec ti ves of the reorganiza ti on – arithme ti c means, standard devia ti on, MW U test Note: *Number of answers. ** 1 – completely disagree, 10 – completely agree. A non ‐parametric Mann ‐Whitney U test was used for assessing the di fferences between the two groups of respondents with the limit of sta ti s ti cal significance set at p ≤ 0.05. Source: Ques ti onnaire survey, 2022 (see “Method”); calcula ti ons by the authors. Management Professional workers MW U Variable n* M** SD n* M** SD Δ U p SWCs' reorganiza ti on was necessary 19 3.32 1.20 180 2.48 1.21 0.84 1.064.500 0.005 SWCs' reorganiza ti on was beneficial 19 2.84 1.12 180 1.82 0.91 1.02 836. 000 <0.001 SWCs' employees were su fficiently involved in the reorganiza ti on process 19 2.58 1.02 180 1.81 0.90 0.77 986. 000 <0.001 The reorganiza ti on made it possible to have more ti me to work with ci ti zens 19 1.84 0.96 180 1.27 0.62 0.57 1.049.500 <0.001 The reorganiza ti on contributed to the development of new methods of professional work 19 1.84 0.90 180 1.53 0.87 0.31 1.321.500 0.058 The reorganiza ti on reduced the administra ti ve burdens 19 1.68 0.58 180 1.28 0.65 0.40 1.010.000 <0.001 Management Professional workers MW U Variable n* M** SD n* M** SD Δ U p Simplifica ti on of procedures for exercising rights from public funds by introducing informa ti onal calcula ti on 19 5.21 2.57 180 4.24 2.44 0.97 1333. 500 0.112 Standardiza ti on of SWCs' opera ti on with the introduc ti on of a new organiza ti onal structure 19 5.05 2.27 180 3.13 1.98 1.92 891. 500 <0.001 The same standard of services for users across the country 19 4.42 2.41 180 2.48 1.94 2.48 900. 000 <0.001 Improving the situa ti on of long ‐term beneficiaries of financial social assistance through involvement in the social ac ti va ti on project 19 3.89 2.64 180 3.09 1.90 0.80 1457. 500 0.282 Ensuring mul ti disciplinary case management by teams of experts with specialized qualifica ti ons 19 3.84 2.69 180 2.86 2.11 0.98 1371.500 0.143 Be tt er local and ti me accessibility for users 19 3.42 2.06 180 2.27 1.71 1.15 1097. 500 0.006 More fieldwork 19 2.84 2.36 180 1.71 1.34 1.13 1264. 000 0.029 Development of new methods of professional work with users 19 2.74 2.18 179 2.19 1.72 0.55 1454.000 0.262 Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 64 to be the worst. All measured facets were rated worse a ft er the reorganiza ti on than before. General em ‐ ployee sa ti sfac ti on was also measured, with 26.1% being very dissa ti sfied, 35.4% dissa ti sfied, 30.9% nei ‐ ther sa ti sfied nor dissa ti sfied, and only 7.3% sa ti sfied and 0.3% very sa ti sfied. At the same ti me, 66.0% rated their overall employee sa ti sfac ti on lower than prior to when the reorganiza ti on started in 2018. The following are the results of Pearson’s cor ‐ rela ti on analysis (see Table 4) of the correla ti on be ‐ tween individual variables: general assessment of the reorganiza ti on (REORG), the objec ti ves of the reorganiza ti on (OBJECT), employee sa ti sfac ti on (SATISF), organiza ti onal climate (CLIMAT), digitaliza ‐ ti on (DIGIT), and good governance principles (GOODG). Among the measured variables, a posi ‐ ti ve two ‐way rela ti onship was established between employee sa ti sfac ti on and general a tti tudes to SWCs’ reorganiza ti on, as well as the organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on at the level of 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05). Employees who were more sa ti sfied had a be tt er assessment of the reorganiza ti on car ‐ ried out and vice versa, while employees who had a be tt er assessment of the organiza ti onal climate also assessed their own sa ti sfac ti on be tt er. It was somewhat surprising that, unlike em ‐ ployee sa ti sfac ti on, no sta ti s ti cally significant corre ‐ la ti on was found between organiza ti onal climate and a tti tudes to the reorganiza ti on, nor were organiza ‐ ti onal climate or employee sa ti sfac ti on related to the assessment of the extent to which specific objec ti ves of the reorganiza ti on had been achieved. In par ti cu ‐ lar, the connec ti on between digitaliza ti on and the good governance principles is worth highligh ti ng, with both being significant at the 0.01 level ( p ≤ 0.01), which points to the significance and impor ‐ tance of digital services for SWC employees in pur ‐ suing the principles of good governance such as, according to the OECD/Sigma, responsibility, trans ‐ parency, responsiveness, equality, inclusion, e ffec ‐ ti veness, e fficiency, the rule of law, par ti cipa ti on, and a consensus orienta ti on (Kova č and Bileišis, 2017). Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia Table 3: Facets of employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate – arithme ti c means, standard devia ti on, skewness, and kurtosis – before and a ft er the reorganiza ti on Before reorganiza ti on Aft er reorganiza ti on n* M** SD γ Κ Sa ti sfac ti on with n* M** SD γ Κ 278 4.33 0.76 ‐1.34 2.91 Working ti me 279 4.12 1.02 ‐1.40 1.77 276 4.32 0.82 ‐1.25 1.65 Employment stability 278 4.07 1.07 ‐1.28 1.19 277 4.20 0.82 ‐1.07 1.37 Colleagues 278 3.76 1.09 ‐0.66 ‐0.31 279 3.96 0.69 ‐0.55 1.14 Tasks 279 2.97 1.06 ‐0.11 ‐0.70 275 3.80 1.01 ‐0.63 ‐0.21 Immediate manager 277 3.32 1.35 ‐0.31 ‐1.13 272 3.64 1.10 ‐0.62 ‐0.15 Top management 277 2.82 1.30 0.15 ‐0.09 277 3.57 1.08 ‐0.57 ‐0.25 Training possibili ti es 279 2.66 1.14 0.20 ‐0.80 279 3.21 1.21 ‐0.75 1.59 Advancement possibili ti es 279 2.68 1.18 0.11 ‐0.85 277 2.87 0.99 ‐0.14 ‐0.32 Salary 279 2.77 1.13 ‐0.43 1.53 n* M** SD γ Κ Facets of org. climate n* M** SD γ Κ 267 3.79 0.97 ‐0.67 0.19 Internal communica ti on and informa ti on sharing 269 3.00 1.25 ‐0.09 ‐1.02 271 3.72 0.94 ‐0.66 0.35 Organiza ti on 271 2.94 1.16 ‐0.40 ‐0.83 272 3.58 0.91 ‐0.50 0.24 Familiarity with mission, vision, and goals 274 2.63 1.11 0.20 ‐0.75 270 3.39 1.10 ‐0.45 ‐0.33 Employee commitment 271 2.64 1.18 0.27 ‐0.75 Note: *Number of answers. ** 1 – extremely dissa ti sfied, 5 – extremely sa ti sfied. Source: Ques ti onnaire survey, 2022 (see “Method”); calcula ti ons by the authors. Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 65 The main findings of the analysis of the inter ‐ views conducted with four managers and five pro ‐ fessionals, taking the findings of the previous quan ti ta ti ve phase into account, were: • generally speaking, while managers were not more in favor of the reorganiza ti on compared to professional workers, they s ti ll evaluated the ex ‐ tent to which the objec ti ves of the reorganiza ti on had been accomplished be tt er than professional workers, especially with respect to unifying the prac ti ce and ra ti onalizing the business processes in the newly created joint organiza ti onal units; • managers’ expecta ti ons of the reorganiza ti on were that they would be able to provide employ ‐ ees with working condi ti ons that would allow them greater ti me to work with users, which would unify the prac ti ces of individual organiza ‐ ti onal units and the possibili ti es of developing professional work methods, while professional workers expected more from the reorganiza ti on in terms of the possibili ti es of field work with users and a reduc ti on of administra ti ve burdens; • both managers and professionals assessed digi ‐ taliza ti on as mostly posi ti ve and necessary and in rela ti on to its e ffects they largely highlighted the simplified procedures for users, albeit not for the employees who are conduc ti ng them; • employees noted the good interpersonal rela ti on ‐ ships, working hours, and job stability as key facets of employee sa ti sfac ti on, and training op ‐ portuni ti es as well as sa ti sfac ti on with the orga ‐ niza ti ons’ top management as the most cri ti cal; • employee sa ti sfac ti on was rated the highest by employees in the newly created joint organiza ‐ ti onal units, while the least sa ti sfied were employ ‐ ees from previously independent larger ins ti tutes, which have now merged, primarily due to the loss of professional autonomy and managerial inde ‐ pendence; • both managers and other employees underscored the lack of a common vision and goals of the newly formed organiza ti ons as the most cri ti cal facets of the organiza ti onal climate following the reorganiza ti on, along with the fact that the em ‐ ployees do not (yet) iden ti fy with them; and • both managers and professional workers pointed to the lack of personnel, the administra ti ve bur ‐ dens, the low reputa ti on held by the organiza ‐ ti ons in the public, and the limited financial resources as the biggest factors a ffec ti ng the poor organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on. 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Although the reorganiza ti on of the SWCs in 2018 saw management being centralized and a changed or ‐ ganiza ti onal structure, it had no impact on substan ti ve work. Despite being necessary, the reorganiza ti on did not achieve the objec ti ves of ge tti ng rid of red tape, greater field work, the development of new work Table 4: The Pearson`s correla ti on matrix of variables REORG OBJECT SATISF CLIMAT DIGIT GOODG REORG 1 OBJECT 0.132 1 SATISF 0.778* ‐0.071 1 CLIMAT 0.368 ‐0.342 0.781* 1 DIGIT ‐0.252 0.524 ‐0.452 ‐0.244 1 GOODG 0.120 0.407 ‐0.156 ‐0.049 0.874** 1 Note: *mutual interdependence is characteris ti c at the level 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05); **mutual interdependence is characteris ti c at the level 0.01 (p ≤ 0.01). Pearson’s Correla ti on test (r) was employed to measure the correla ti on between the following variables: general assessment of the reorganiza ti on (REORG), the objec ti ves of the reorganiza ti on (OBJECT), employee sa ti sfac ti on (SATISF), organiza ti onal climate (CLIMAT), digitaliza ti on (DIGIT), and good governance principles (GOODG). Source: Ques ti onnaire survey, 2022 (see “Method”); calcula ti ons by the authors. Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 66 Matej Babšek, Polonca Kova č, Nina Tomaževi č: Organiza ti onal Climate and Employee Sa ti sfac ti on Following the Reform of Social Services: Lessons from Slovenia methods and to a certain extent only achieved the unifica ti on of prac ti ces. Accordingly, SWC employees mostly evaluated it as unsuccessful (RQ1). Compared to professional workers, managers rated individual facets and the extent to which the reform objec ti ves were realized significantly be tt er. This indicates the need for well ‐considered holis ti c change management before (planning and organizing), during (leading), and a ft er (controlling) any reform. The role of superior in ‐ s ti tu ti ons and managers is crucial for analyzing the sit ‐ ua ti on, se tti ng the objec ti ves and purpose of the reform along with the ac ti vi ti es and key performances indicators to enable detailed control of the whole re ‐ form process, all in collabora ti on with the employees and users as the main stakeholders, as also stressed by other authors (Carnochan and Aus ti n, 2002; Levin and Baruch Ben ‐Abou, 2020). This even more implic ‐ itly applies in today’s turbulent ti mes (Greve et al., 2020), especially if management wishes to preserve or even increase levels of employees’ sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate, with both benefi tti ng users’ sa ti sfac ti on and the long ‐term e ffec ti veness and e ffi ‐ ciency of the social services system, as noted by Boufounou and Argyrou (2022), Gil et al. (2023), Myskova (2011), and Schneider et al. (2013). Both organiza ti onal climate and employee sat ‐ isfac ti on were rated worse a ft er the reorganiza ti on than before (RQ2) for each of their facets. It is quite concerning that all four organiza ti onal climate facets, indica ti ng the situa ti on a ft er the reform, were given a score of 3 or lower, which means the employees do not feel su fficiently acquainted with informa ti on within the organiza ti on or that they are su fficiently involved in planning processes, and in turn do not feel commi tt ed to the new organiza ‐ ti onal system. Similarly, all facets of employees sa ti s ‐ fac ti on were assessed lower a ft er than before the reform, especially as concerns the training and ad ‐ vancement possibili ti es, again showing the need for a di fferent approach by top management while im ‐ plemen ti ng changes (also see Ackroyd et al., 2007; Dirzyte and Patapas, 2022; Jordan et al., 2017). The drop in sa ti sfac ti on was also significant with respect to the tasks and top management. This reveals that there is huge room for improvement for both poli ‐ cymakers and managers on all levels (even in the su ‐ perior ministries) to plan and perform future reforms as e ffec ti vely and e fficiently as possible. As expected, Pearson’s correla ti on test showed a correla ti on between organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on, as well as employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on and general a tti tudes to the reorganiza ti on. In contrast, there is no correla ti on between organiza ‐ ti onal climate and general a tti tudes to the reorga ‐ niza ti on, which may be explained by the men ti oned criti cal facets of the organiza ti onal climate, such as being acquainted with the strategic orienta ti ons of new organiza ti ons and iden ti fying with them. The significant (p ≤ 0.01) posi ti ve correla ti on between the digitaliza ti on of social services and the principles of good governance (RQ3) also stands out. S ti ll, this outcome is not surprising because modern admin ‐ istra ti ve reforms in various fields and countries in ‐ clude e ‐government and digitaliza ti on of public services as one of the central pillars of systemic im ‐ provements (Kova č and Bileišis, 2017). The digital ‐ iza ti on of social services also increases transparency, parti cipa ti on, responsiveness and, of course, the ef ‐ ficiency of the implementa ti on of ac ti vi ti es, which applies in rela ti on to both users and the internal or ‐ ganiza ti on of work, and the possibili ti es of em ‐ ployee par ti cipa ti on. This was shown by previous studies conducted specifically for social work cen ‐ ters that examined the importance of the rule of law and other good governance principles, and the re ‐ la ti onships between them (Babšek et al., 2020). Successful change management in organiza ti ons requires a strategic approach based on the involve ‐ ment of employees in all phases of these processes and supported by transparent communica ti on based on the trust of employees towards managers and vice versa (Moussa et al., 2018; Pacheco and Web ‐ ber, 2016). To increase employee sa ti sfac ti on, they need to be trained and supported emo ti onally and professionally to adapt to new roles and processes (Sageer, et al., 2012). According to Schneider et al. (2013) this also contributes to the established and well ‐known system of incen ti ves and rewards, as well as the established mechanisms to provide em ‐ ployees with ini ti a ti ves and feedback according to the system of a con ti nuous feedback loop. To im ‐ prove the organiza ti onal climate, it is crucial to en ‐ sure adequate psychological safety for employees in a changing organiza ti onal environment, and the re ‐ forms must be aligned with the values and organiza ‐ ti onal culture of the organiza ti on (Moussa et al., Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, November 2024 67 2018). Only in this way can the reforms not only maintain but also significantly improve exis ti ng levels of employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal climate. This research had some limita ti ons. It was car ‐ ried out in Slovenian social services and hence while interpre ti ng and generalizing the results to other ar ‐ rangements one must take account of the social, cultural, and poli ti cal environment of the transi ‐ ti onal countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the fact that the welfare state and administra ti ve system in these environments are shaped predom ‐ inantly by the provisions of legisla ti on. The research also focused on employees’ a tti tudes regarding the reorganiza ti on, the organiza ti onal climate, and their sa ti sfac ti on. It is known that these phenomena, em ‐ phasized in the public sector, are also considerably influenced by other factors, especially stakeholders from the external environment. As a predominantly exploratory study, the research primarily focused on the s ti ll unexplored aspects of evalua ti ng a given or ‐ ganiza ti onal change and its connec ti on with the or ‐ ganiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ti on, but not on the influence held by facets of selected phe ‐ nomena as independent variables on others as de ‐ pendent ones. Given the cross ‐sec ti onal nature of the current study, it might be beneficial for further research to take a longitudinal approach in order to examine the development of views on reorganiza ‐ ti on, organiza ti onal climate and employee sa ti sfac ‐ ti on over ti me. This approach could provide a more nuanced insight into the las ti ng e ffects of such or ‐ ganiza ti onal changes. Nevertheless, the results of the study can be generalized to other countries or sectors. In view of the common administra ti ve tradi ti on of the Rule of law and the associated organiza ti on of social services, the results are also useful for planning corresponding reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Eu ‐ rope. Since reforms, employee sa ti sfac ti on and orga ‐ niza ti onal climate are very current and at the same ti me important facets of the e fficiency and e ffec ti ve ‐ ness of public organiza ti ons, the results can also be generalized to other countries in Europe and world ‐ wide. Moreover, the results of this study should be considered not only in social services but also in other public administra ti on structures, as the la tt er, due to its ins ti tu ti onal se tti ng, has di fferent variables influ ‐ encing employee sa ti sfac ti on and organiza ti onal cli ‐ mate than the private sector, especially given the lack of studies in public administra ti on in this area. EXTENDED SUMMARY/IZVLE ČEK Temeljni cilj prispevka je predstavi ti , kako zaposleni na centrih za socialno delo v Sloveniji ocen ‐ jujejo leta 2018 izvedeno reorganizacijo ter opozori ti na pomembnost organizacijske klime in zado ‐ voljstva zaposlenih pred in po reorganizaciji, glede na ugotovljeno povezavo med tema konstruktoma. V raziskavi so bile uporabljene mešane metode, natan čneje na čin zaporednega pojasnjevanja. V kvan ti ta ti vni fazi je bilo s tem organizacijam prilagojenim vprašalnikom med zaposlenimi izvedeno spletno anke ti ranje. V naslednji, kvalita ti vni fazi, so bili opravljeni poglobljeni polstrukturirani inter ‐ vjuji z vodji in strokovnimi delavci. Rezulta ti kažejo, da reorganizacija centrov za socialno delo ni bila uspešna, saj zastavljeni cilji niso bili doseženi. Zaposleni so tako organizacijsko klimo kot tudi lastno zadovoljstvo z delom po reorganizaciji ocenili slabše kot pred njo. Najbolj kri tič na sta bila vidik ‘po ‐ manjkanje poznavanja poslanstva, vizije in ciljev organizacij’ ter ‘pomanjkanje iden ti fikacije za ‐ poslenih z njimi’. Čeprav obstaja pri čakovana povezava med organizacijsko klimo in zadovoljstvom pri delu, pa tudi med zadovoljstvom in stališ či do reorganizacije, raziskava ugotavlja tudi pomembno povezavo med digitalizacijo in na čeli dobrega upravljanja, ki jih zasledujejo te službe. 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