Using a Complexity Theory of Change to Transform the Culture of a Resource and Environmental Management Organization
Abstract
A common criticism in the field of organization change is that
there is no coherent and operationally useful theory of
organization change. Another weakness is the notoriety of
planned interventions for not achieving their stated aims. This
thesis sets out to address these shortcomings through the
development of a complexity theory of human and organizational
change that is both coherent and operationally useful. The
complexity theory of change is then applied to a planned
intervention that was successful in achieving its stated aims.
The Organization that is the focus of this study used to be a
government department that was recently transformed into a
statutory authority responsible for the management of an
Australian natural resource. The way in which the transition
from a government department to a statutory authority was handled
created the conditions for the intervention.
Guided by the complexity theory of change the intervention
methodology was designed to bring about a transformation in the
Organization’s culture, that involved changes to its structure,
strategy and power relations within a twelve-month period, and
successfully to institutionalise the changes. The research
methodology used was predominantly that of action research,
however shortcomings with existing action research methodologies,
often criticised for being rigid and confusing, such as not
insisting on the inclusion of the researcher’s own position,
led to the development of a new methodology: the Intiffegrated
Action Research Methodology (IARM). Utilising triangulation as
the method of analysis the results of the research are analysed
before concluding with a list of factors that contributed to the
success of this intervention.