Developing a System's Internal Capacity for Change

Abstract

Working to bring about Planned System Change is a difficult task in large organizations, regardless of the change agents' levels of skill. To bring about the change from the inside, as an internal change agent, increases the difficulty of the task considerably. The effort which we will detail below is further complicated by the nature and scope of the project undertaken. That is, developing a sustained capacity for change within a large governmental public service organization. It is important that the reader recognize that the Michigan Department of Mental Health is a rather typical US governmental agency. Many of the usual images of governmental bureaucracy, red‐tape, entrenched bureaucrats, limited funding, conflicting political influences and pockets of bright, enthusiastic staff are all accurate descriptors of the Department of Mental Health.

Citation

Day, H. and Roth, L. (1980), "Developing a System's Internal Capacity for Change", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb002340