Towards a Strategic Change Management Framework for the Nonprofit Sector: The Roll-Out of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

This chapter identifies how Australian nonprofit disability service providers have implemented the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”), what role strategy has played, and to what extent they have been successful. Using the results of 46 interviews, the chapter develops a framework to assist nonprofit disability service providers in implementing successful transformational change. The framework specifically explicates the leadership and organisational cultural aspects which are critical when rolling out this kind of initiative, that is, changing from what was previously a supply-driven system to a demand-driven disability services system. This is in the context that the NDIS funds the disability support costs Australia-wide rather than using an insurance scheme predicated on individual contributions through traditional insurance premiums. The scheme ensures that those with permanent or significant disabilities receive the support they require, using the service providers of their choice. The scheme does not distinguish between those born with a disability and those who acquire one. It acknowledges the fact that in the past there were often large discrepancies between how different individuals’ services were funded, based on whether they were born with a disability or if it was acquired later in life, and to what extent, on this basis, the disability entitled an individual to some form of insurance-based compensation. The NDIS roll-out commenced nationally on 1st July 2016 and, when fully rolled out, it will provide in excess of 550,000 Australians who have permanent and significant disability with funding for supports and services. Roll-out was to be completed by 2020 but, as at 7 August 2020, 400,000 are currently in Plans of which 150,000 are receiving supports for the first time (NDIS, 2020). Users and service providers continue to face challenges regarding the NDIS implementation, and these challenges provide the focus for this research.