ABSTRACT
It is possible for organizational change methods to involve a company-wide programme of management training and development courses. However, they are more likely to use a different set of approaches which are frequently referred to as ‘interventions’. Consultants are brought in to intervene in the way the organization is currently working, and to make changes designed to move it in the direction considered desirable. Frameworks for classifying different organizational change methods can be based on:
the general problem or opportunity being addressed
the form of the intervention itself
the target of the intervention effort
the specific issue at which the intervention is being focused
a combination of any of these.
With respect to organizational change interventions, one can note that a number of attempts have been made by different authors to classify them. The objective of these different frameworks is to help the manager or consultant select the most appropriate change approach. The problem with any classification scheme is that the placing of anything as ambiguous as an organizational change technique will inevitably be approximate. As long as this is borne in mind, the frameworks described in this chapter will be useful.