Members of social work organizations often promote poverty as a virtue. They implicitly expect that truly dedicated employees should work for less than market wages and endure shabby work facilities and inadequate resources, resulting in institutionalized oppression. The result may be learned helplessness. This article reports the results of an organizational development intervention within a medium-sized human service organization that encouraged staff empowerment and visionary goal setting. The intervention supported the leadership's promotion of responsible business goals as well as service goals. The article also presents reactions of clients to the change. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this case study for social work community practice.

Mode of access: Internet.