The need for organizational transformation is a response to a larger
paradigm shift occurring in science and society. It represents a shift from the
mechanistic model to a systems, holistic model. The purpose of this study was
to determine patterns and practices that limit training effectiveness when
facilitating a major organizational paradigm shift. A literature survey
identified major clashes between those values and tools of organizational
models based on the new paradigm and those of bureaucracy, bureaucratic
management and training relationships, domains and dynamics.
Participant observation and interviews were the methods used to collect
data from a study group of 15 upper middle managers involved as a pilot
management team in the first year of TQM implementation at a public
university. The group was closely observed during five months of training
and 10 participants were interviewed at the end of the first year of
implementation.
Their stories revealed four obstacles to transformation: 1) managers were
coerced into complying, change was imposed from above, there were no
appropriate support systems and fear was endemic; 2) the management team
had more difficulty than non-management TQM teams learning the mechanics
of TQM, claiming they didn't have necessary learning skills; 3) managers
protected themselves by rewriting the rules of TQM to fundamentally preserve
the status quo; 4) managers defined the TQM effort a success without
substantive personal change, pushing responsibility down and praise up in the
organization.
These obstacles were inherent in the bureaucratic system that effectively
protected the managers from substantive change. The conclusion was drawn
that four conditions were missing for a major organizational paradigm shift:
1) a willingness to risk, coupled with organizational support; 2) deep learning
skills that provide personal context for learning: 3) shared vision, and; 4)
personal mastery. Training patterns and practices reflected the same missing
conditions.
The training program was powerless in the transformation effort because:
1) it modeled and reproduced the old instead of the new wisdom, values, tools
and ways of thinking and talking, during the transformation process; 2) the
learning capacity implicit in the training program was limited in the same
ways management was, by missing support structures, willingness and ability
to change, and shared vision; 3) it depended on traditional relationships and
dynamics, despite new domain, and was not seen as a credible transformation
agent. / Graduation date: 1994
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35591 |
| Date | 30 November 1993 |
| Creators | Olsen, Brigitta E. |
| Contributors | Stiehl, Ruth |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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