BEYOND THE SINGLE INTERVENTION STUDY: A COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT TO INVESTIGATE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE.

Abstract

A collaborative research project involving Australian public sector agencies and a management research institute is described. Two studies designed to integrate the implementation and systematic evaluation of organizational development interventions are reported. The overall goal of the two studies was to systematically review the factors contributing to successful change across a wide array of business unit driven organization development interventions. Two sources of data provided information on the nature of the interventions occurring in the organization: enterprise development agreement reports and focus group transcripts. The success of interventions was evaluated through their impact on features of the work environment including supportive leadership, employee feedback, workplace morale, and quality of work life. Results revealed that the total number of interventions implemented predicted change in supportive leadership, employee feedback, and workplace morale. The results encourage a stronger role for organizational development theory that specifies the nature of successful organizational interventions. The collaborative research project has implications for the strategies adopted to implement change in complex organizations.