An analysis of organizational change: a study of the Scottish Special Housing Association.

Al-Qaddo, Hunain Mahmood Ahmed

Abstract

Between 1979 and 1982 the Scottish Special Housing Association underwent a series of organizational changes that deeply affected the purpose, the structure and the management of this Scottish quango. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyse the causes of change, the processes adopted for managing change and the outcomes of organizational change in the Scottish Special; the period studied is from 1970s to 1984, which lets us offer a preliminary assessment of the impact of change. To study these issues a multi-variate framework for analysing change was adopted. This approach examines the contribution of environmental forces, structural factors and of individuals within the focal organization to the causes, processes and outcomes of organizational change. Initially, the Scottish Special provided various kinds of support for the building of community housing programmes in greenfield sites throughout Scotland. The Association quickly developed a structure and a management system that was appropriate to this role. However, changes made by governments during the 1970s and 1980s in the related areas of public expenditure and housing policies revised the purpose of the SSHA. It now became responsible for managing rather than building homes, which, in turn, affected the operations, structure and management of the SSHA. The need, therefore, to change the organizational structure and other features became pronounced. Protracted debate - involving external and internal discussants - led to two different strategies for managing change. The Building Department was subjected to deep cutbacks in staff and building funds, and its structure was revised in order to meet new requirements placed upon it. The rest of the Association was subjected to organizational changes in order to meet the contrasting demands involved in managing different types of housing programmes throughout Scotland. These changes devolved many new tasks to regional offices, and also organized the Association's staff at the centre and the localities into multi-disciplinary teams organized on a matrix basis. It was found that the changes made in the Building Department were largely successful, producing a flexible, commercially competitive unit. By contrast, the reorganization of the other units only partially met its objectives. In overall terms, the study indicated that public sector organizations are not autonomous in managing change because they must be accountable to the policies of the government of the day. This suggests that organizational change is different in public bodies from that in private organizations, and is therefore an issue that subsequent studies might seek to consider and progress.

Citation

AL-QADDO, H.M.A. 1986. An analysis of organizational change: a study of the Scottish Special Housing Association. Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, PhD thesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-1993190

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 28, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 29, 2024
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-1993190
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1993190
• Award Date: Jan 31, 1986