4.5Structural arrangements and interventions for assisting change

Since the manager bears the main responsibility for managing change in his or her organization or unit, he or she may decide to take charge of a specific change effort personally, involving direct collaborators and other staff members as necessary. In many cases, no special structural arrangements are made, and the manager and the staff work out and implement change proposals while simultaneously handling their other duties.

In the practical life of organizations, however, the use of special structural arrangements and intervention techniques for handling change may be required for certain specific reasons:

(1)The regular organizational structure may be fully oriented towards current business and could not cope with any additional tasks, for technical reasons or owing to a high workload.

(2)Rigidity, conservatism and resistance to change may be strongly rooted in the existing structure, and it would be unrealistic to expect the structure to generate or manage any substantive change.

(3)In certain cases it is desirable to introduce change in steps, or to test it on a limited scale before making a final decision.

(4)In many cases, management has to look for a suitable formula that is easy to understand and will involve a number of individuals and/or groups in a change effort (possibly including staff from different organizational units), clearly establish a case for change, reveal objections and risks, develop and compare alternative solutions, and mobilize support for the solution that will be chosen.

There is a wide range of structural arrangements and intervention techniques for managing and facilitating the change efforts of individuals, groups and whole organizations. This section will review some commonly used arrangements and techniques which can be applied for various purposes and at various stages of the change process.

Many of the techniques for assisting change are derived from behavioural science, and focus on changes in attitudes, values, and individual or group behaviour. However, in recent decades we have witnessed a shift in the technology of planned change. This technology has moved from an emphasis on team-building, intergroup relations and the like to an emphasis on diagnostic