The Persistence of Laboratory-Induced Changes in Organization Styles

Changes in interpersonal and intergroup styles in a small managerial population were observed following exposure to a learning design based on the laboratory approach. An earlier report concentrated on before/after changes over a four-month interval. Managerial self-reports on the Likert profile of organizational characteristics were used to gauge change. This report establishes the basic persistence of the initial changes over a period of some 18 months. Despite various inelegancies of the design and methods of this field study, the persisting changes strongly imply that the training design induced the changes. This report also suggests the value of a design element to help reinforce change in programs of organization development. In this case, a mild reinforcement session was held about one year after the initial training.