Towards a culturally sensitive approach to organization structuring: Where organization design meets organization development

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Bate, P; Khan, R; Pye, A
• 署名单位: University of Birmingham; University of Bath
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.11.2.197.12509
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 197-211
• 关键词: culture-structure relationship; organization development; organization design; leadership process; organizational change

摘要

This article describes an holistic model of intervention geared to achieving transformational change by interweaving culture and structure through the warp and weft of leadership processes. That is, it brings together organization design and organization development by advocating a culturally sensitive approach to organization structuring. Our emphasis is on process throughout and our thesis is based on empirical evidence. We undertook a lengthy action research project (which we prefer to call action ethnography) at a large hospital trust in England. In the process of elaborating this field study, we move from an organization which was seen to be gridlocked and to have lost its steering capacity, through one which was bringing development and design together by way of pilot projects and transitional structures, to one where collective dialogue and debate finally led to some collective and sensible sensemaking. Exploring this relationship between culture and structure enables us to put people back into design and with them, their meanings, aspirations and assumptions. It also means that we are careful to avoid detailing specific design choices or offering organizational archetypes: this article is primarily about the process issues that surround redesign rather than organization design per se, as indeed any redesign is ultimately highly specific and context-driven. Instead, however, we articulate a four-phase change model, focusing on the delicate processes by which to reframe the culture-structure relationship, enabling an organization to move towards fundamental change.