Fresh insights into organisational change
The 'Measuring the dynamics of organisations and work: proposed guidelines for collecting and interpreting data on organisational change and its economic and social impacts' (Meadow) project worked to develop a set of guidelines, at the European level, for the collection and interpretation of harmonised data on organisational change and its economic and social impacts. To incorporate the perspectives of producers as well as users, a multidisciplinary consortium of 14 partners from 9 European countries was established to ensure a comprehensive set of experience, skills and proven track records in essential areas. Project partners aimed at delivering a framework for enhancing the comparability of existing European surveys on organisational change and work restructuring, and for providing norms for the construction of new survey instruments. The measurement framework was based on an overview of major theories of organisational structure as well as on practices currently being used in related surveys. This approach ensures attention to the driving forces behind organisational change and the way in which management policies, practices and techniques can affect organisational design, which in turn affects employee performance and outcomes. Meadow disseminated results to policymakers, relevant stakeholders, the global policy and scientific communities as well as interest groups in certain fast-growing developing nations. The Meadow website was used for internal discussion and dissemination of documents across the consortium as well as at an international level. Newsletters were also distributed both electronically and in hard copy to present the project, accomplishments and plans going forward. The project's employer questionnaire has been used for interview purposes, either in its final form or modified, by Statistics Sweden and Statistics Denmark. The two initiatives thus helped to build on Meadow's accomplishments and can be used to demonstrate the feasibility of carrying out such surveys of organisational change.
