INTENTIONAL CHANGES OF MIDDLE MANAGERS: DIAGNOSING AND IMPROVING THE ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT CLIMATE

Thirty middle managers of a teaching hospital were interviewed about their intentional changes as managers — both anticipated and past. These data are used for diagnosing the management climate of the organisation and for suggesting interventions that will improve it. Contrary to our preconceptions, intentional change was found to be a very common behaviour among managers. Changes were categorised into: intradepartmental, personal growth and development, environmental, and leadership style changes. The most frequently cited category of intentional changes was intradepartmental, with more changes being made in the social subsystem than in the technical core. The next most frequent category of changes was personal growth and development. The most significant differences between past and anticipated intentional changes was in leadership style, as represented by the number of managers who chose this area of change and by the direction of the change in leadership style. Intentional changes in environment were insignificant. Data concerning the manager's freedom of choice, helping patterns and resources available to achieve objectives were also collected.