Organizing for Change

Abstract

The implementation of government policy decisions is the responsibility of designated public organizations. Thus the implementation of public policy has always been viewed as a function of internal organizational design and procedures. Until recently, organizational theory generally described this as a simple mechanistic process determined only by the canons of internal operating efficiency. Now, however, political stability, social equity, and policy effectiveness no longer appear to be automatic by-products of organizational efficiency. Depending on which of these concepts prevails in any public agency at any time, different organizational configurations may be identified and reorganization efforts in the public sector may be an exercise in shifting the emphasis of organizational systems from any one of these conceptual approaches to any other. Moreover, no one of these organizational value sets, or the organizational systems each engenders, appears more effective than any other in adapting to the relevant forces of change in every organization's external environment. As external complexity increases, the ability of public-sector agencies to absorb the forces of change decreases. To reverse this relationship, either external variety can be attenuated or the organization's internal capacity to absorb complexity can be amplified: strategies can thus involve either “changing organizations” or “organizing for change.”