Organizational change as displacement of problems

Abstract

Models of organizational change are discussed from the two following aspects: mode of change (concern with problems vs concern with solutions) and character of coupling (tight, loose, or uncoupled).

The problem-driven, solution-driven, and ideology-driven models of (coupled) organizational change are examined in this perspective, as is the uncoupled “muddling through.”

It is suggested that a fifth alternative — the “displacement model” — may also be theoretically possible. More generally, a picture of organizations seen as “tangles” is proposed to complement tightly or loosely coupled systems. The anomalous case of change in the local government of Täby, Sweden, is given as an empirical illustration.