Centre for the Study of Economic and Social Change in Europe, SSEES, UCL
Abstract
Estonia stayed fifty years under the communist regime. This paper explores the transformation of Estonian organizations within the framework of the Leavitt's model of change where the process is analyzed from the perspective of four organizational elements: people, organizational goals, structure, and technology. In respect with the people the role of individuals is emphasized as well as the polarization of mindsets is discussed. The new era forced to clarify the organizational task because of market economy. The organizational structure does not change as fast as the other elements do and hierarchy considered being important. The formalization tactics (personnel selection and training) have gained new meaning in the process of transformation of organizations. The technology has varied due to the twofold possibilities- advantage to introduce the new informational technology and the usage of the old fashion machinery. Change of the society led to the change of organizations, which had the transformational nature. There was shown that all the elements of the organizations had the pressure to find new forms of existence
