Collaborative Intervention and Participation in Organizational Change

Abstract

Collaborative intervention by providing a mechanism for participation of organizational members in designed changes has been considered extremely important for successful change, but little empirical evidence has supported this generalization. A survey of sixty-seven cases of organizational change provides new evidence concerning collaborative intervention. Collaboration is clearly present in the phases of problem determination, goal setting, and solution in the intervention, but its character changes. In problem deter mination, negotiation is the most important factor; mutuality is most important in goal setting; and consensus is most important in the solution phase. There is a strong interrelationship between each phase of the process of change. However, little relationship is found between collaboration during each phase and the perceived effectiveness of the change or the adoption of the change.