The Design, Implementation and Measurement of a Macrochange Programme.

Abstract

This thesis is a case study which examines the feasibility of introducing planned macrochange in a semipublic, bilingual organization (A Canadian Crown Corporation). The emphasis is on the process of becoming rather than what existed at a particular point in time. Attention is given to the organization’s historical and political context and the pressures that members of the political Opposition, the media, and former executives can bring to an evolving change programme. Following the traumatic introduction of a major reorganization, the process of introducing a planned macrochange programme is examined from the perspective of a senior executive hired to introduce a particular style of management recommended by external consultants. An important dimension was the application of two climate surveys of representative samples of the organization’s management. The findings of the first application, in 1972, were used by senior executives as the basis for action planning and resulted in seven change strategies. Two were modified versions of a macrochange programme introduced in 1950 to a very large American organization. The second application, in 1976, was used to evaluate managers’ perceptions of the change that had occurred, particularly related to the two major strategies. To determine the extent of implementation of the seven strategies, post-evaluation interviews were undertaken in 1980 with present or former line managers and personnel specialists. Some of the major findings were: • Macrochange can be introduced in a semi-public organization under conditions of intense external pressure. • Strategies involving the direct application of participative management are more effective in changing managers’ perceptions than those involving more abstract training. • Sophisticated statistical analysis using clusters and factors can be misleading and may be part of the reason climate measures are considered ‘soft’. It would seem that item-by-item analysis provides a more useful measure of change. The case study concludes with observations on what was learned and a discussion of aspects of planned macrochange which could be addressed in future research.