Modelling individual transition in the context of organisational transformation

The processes of management development within a change management context have mostly been informed by models which assume that individuals can be developed by planned and purposive intervention to perform effectively within a new, forecast, but essentially stable environment. Alongside such shifts at individual and organisational level, the last decade has seen revolutionary change in national economies as the former state socialist countries transform themselves to participate in the global market economy. This paper, based on an in‐depth analysis of interviews with 73 chief executives and senior managers of 61 key companies in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), identifies a model of the individual transition process of managers during the process of state transformation. From this the authors draw lessons for the practice of management development under conditions of transformative change.