Organisational dysfunction and change management

Anyone who has been involved in the implementation of any flexible learning initiative will have realised that some of the greatest challenges in getting things done actually come from the systems you have to work with. Often the demands of a large procedure driven organisation seem directly at odds with the those who are trying to implement any type of innovation. A lot of research has gone into the types of management behaviours that are necessary for the members of an organisation to feel they can risk attempting something new and the sorts of management behaviours that send a clear message that if you make a mistake you will be on your own. Much of this work has been done in the research of the underpinings of service quality improvements, some based on theorists like Rensis Likert and his systems of management and research by Francese on the relationship between service burnout and leadership style in a service organisation. Burns and Stalker describe two competing paradigms as being mechanistic and organic organisations. Part of the rationale of flexible learning initiatives is the need for traditional educational suppliers in the Vocational education arena to compete more effectively with commercial alternatives in an environment where a more and more effective commercial case can be made for the private provision of vocational training simply because elearning has been able to reduce the entry barriers for would be providers. You dont have to have extensive infrastructure in order to get started. It's a little bit like a hotel I was once told about that had a mistake book for staff. If you made a mistake you had to record it in the book. The result: no one ever told management about their mistakes. Karl Albrecht also describes 17 Basic Syndromes of Dysfunction within the organisation. Interesting.