Leadership Change and Action Planning: A Case Study

Abstract

* This article describes the effective use of action planning during a period of changing leadership in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It describes how an action planning process ameliorated the organizational adjustments that can be expected during a major transition in the organization. The article reviews the previously observed organizational responses to change and describes the organizational setting in FDA at the time the action planning effort was undertaken. It then reviews the criteria used to design the agency's action planning process, describes the implementation and some problems encountered, and reviews lessons learned and unexpected benefits of action planning. Action planning contributed to an effective leadership transition by focusing the agency's attention on productive activities, by involving a significant portion of the agency's managers and staff in a highly visible and high priority activity, by increasing the effectiveness of communication between management and staff, and by orienting the new leadership to the agency's operations and responsibilities. The authors caution that the process must be in harmony with the organization's culture and previous experience in planning.