Stop the Organization – I Want to Change It! Part 1

The first of two articles, discusses the problems of seeking to introduce organizational development interventions into a major Health Service organization. In particular, the paradox is that the leaders of major change issues are themselves caught up in the instability that the interventions create in their attempts to manage major environmental and political demands. Despite the planned emphasis on regular evaluation and review, senior managers often found it impossible to be objective and impartial in relation to the data being revealed about their own “patch”. Defensive and dysfunctional competitive behaviours were unintentionally created by this formal review process. Offers suggestions about how to make these types of survey process more directly useful to managers and staff.