Revue Sciences de Gestion, n 75, p.

83 106

New ways of organization. An organizational change process

Claudia Gonzlez Prez

Professor - Researcher. Universidad Autnoma Metropolitana Xochimilco Mexico

Silvia Pomar Fernndez

Professor - Researcher. Universidad Autnoma Metropolitana - Xochimilco Mexico

People acts according to the way that the interpersonal relationship is given, in the case of the organizations, the relationship is given between pairs, between superiors and between subordinates. The organizational structure will determine the way in which the communication is established, in regards to the rank. When in an organization the structure is not well defined, a bad communication is generated and this might cause serious conflicts, which will be emphasized by questions inherent to the lack of measure tools, as happens in the case studied. The article moves from a natural model, in which the most important thing is the social welfare, to a model in which the importance of the social-economical binomial is evident. A model of efficiency and efficacy which allow a harmonic development of the organization, where the interaction is generated, and the learning is favorable.

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The objective of this article is to show, how an active educational organization which presents conflicts due to the lack of communication and a deficient structure can learn from the Socio Economic Model of Management (SEMM) and how this learning contributes to the transformation and change of the organizational practices. Keywords: Interpersonal relationships, organizational structure, communication, management socioeconomic.

Les personnes agissent en accord avec comme on donne les relations interpersonnelles, dans le cas des organisations, les relations sont donnes entre des paires et entre des chefs et subordonns. La structure organisationnelle dterminera la manire dans laquelle on tablit la communication par rapport la hirarchie, quand dans une organisation la structure sera indfinie, on produit une mauvaise communication, ce qui peut provoquer des conflits srieux qui sont accentus par des questions inhrentes au manque d'outils de gestion, comme il arrive dans le cas tudi. On transite d'une logique o ce qui est prpondrant est le bientre social, un modle o l'importance du binme socio-conomique devient vidente. Un modle efficience et efficacit qui permet un dveloppement harmonieux de l'organisation o on produit l'interaction et on rend propice l'apprentissage. L'objectif de ce travail est de montrer comment une organisation ducative active qui prsente des conflits par le manque de communication et une structure dficiente, apprend partir de l'application du Modle de Gestion Socioconomique (MGS) et comment cet apprentissage contribue la transformation et au changement des pratiques organisationnelles Mots-cls : Les relations interpersonnelles, la structure organisationnelle, communication, gestion socio-conomiques.

En las organizaciones, las relaciones interpersonales, se dan entre pares y entre jefes y subordinados. La estructura organizacional determina la forma en la que se establece la comunicacin en relacin a la jerarqua, si no se identifican adecuadamente las responsabilidades y las relaciones con el puesto se pueden generar

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deficiencias en la estructura, lo que puede ocasionar serios conflictos que se vern reflejados en el comportamiento de los actores y en el desempeo. Se transita de una lgica en donde lo preponderante es el bienestar social a un modelo en donde se hace evidente la importancia del binomio socioeconmico. Un modelo de eficiencia y eficacia que permite un desarrollo armnico de la organizacin en donde se genera la interaccin y se propicia el aprendizaje. El objetivo del artculo es mostrar cmo una organizacin educativa activa que presenta conflictos por la falta de comunicacin y una deficiente estructura aprende a partir de la aplicacin del Modelo de Gestin Socioeconmica (MSG) y cmo este aprendizaje contribuye a la transformacin y al cambio de las prcticas organizacionales Palabras claves: Relaciones interpersonales, organizacional, comunicacin, gestin socioeconmica. estructura

Introduction
Interpersonal relationships in most organizations usually take place between equals as well as between managers and employees. The structure of an organization determines the way communication is established in relation to hierarchy. If relationships and duties are not suitably established within the organization, problems arise and create conflicts that are reflected in the behavior and performance of its employees. This is, in fact, the situation within the organization we are assessing in this essay; where the authority, objectives, principles and functioning are not clearly determined. This has caused changes in the behavior of actors since they ignore to whom they should address in order to receive direction, so they place their personal interests over those of the organization. The objective of this article is to show, how an active educational organization which presents conflicts due to the lack of communication and a deficient structure can learn from the Socio Economic Model of Management (SEMM) and how this learning

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contributes to the transformation and change of the organizational practices The leading hypothesis in this research is that within the organizations where there are more than one owner and where it is not well define who has the authority, there will be communication problems which will derive in personal conflicts; at this point, external intervention is needed in order to help the organization to recognize the root of the conflicts and to generate organizational apprenticeship and help them in making the necessary changes. We will begin our work with a theoretical framework to explain the relationship given in the binomial conflict/structure and its impact on the voluntary organizations. In the second part of our work, we will explain the importance of the socio-economical binomial since in the case study, we go from the logical idea in which social welfare and the benefits for its members are the most important issues. In this binomial relation, an efficiency and efficacy model is generated, which allows a harmonious development of the organization where interaction is generated and learning is favored, this will be developed further in the third part of this work. From the fourth to the seventh part of this study, we will focus on the methodology used for its study, the tools that were used, the changed in the organization will be analyzed and the conclusions will be presented.

1. The structure-conflict organizations.

binomial

and

voluntary

The way in which communication occurs in an organization depends greatly on its structure.1 The structure of the organization generates a management scheme which allows planning, organizing, managing and controlling their activities. If this structure is not established clearly and is not well defined, it will not only affect the performance and the organization efficiency, but will also affect job satisfaction. When a social system does not work, the formal structure can be replaced by an informal one determined by the staff, and the groups of power will be distributed in a different way than the one established in
1. According to Mintzberg (1993:2) the structure of an organization is the entire sum of the forms in which it divides its work in different tasks and how it coordinates these tasks.

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the organization chart. The roles are relevant in a structure, when all the pieces of the puzzle fit, the institution functions efficiently, but it could be that they dont fit if they havent been established, or if there is a bad communication, that is the reason why structure distorts. Such informal structure may gain strength even in organizations where normalization is too weak and freedom space2 for members is too wide. This is the example for non-profit organizations like voluntary associations. Some organizations are for profit3 while the volunteer-based organizations boast to seek only educational, cultural and health benefits for their members. The structures within these organizations are often blurry and permeable (Aldrich, 1971) since many of them involve occasional sponsors and people interested in a passive way. These people can be mobilized in exceptional circumstances to provide financial or political support. This process influences the interpersonal relationships and therefore the structure. The following chart will show the differences between profit organizations and non- profit ones (such as the one in our case study), in relation to members commitment, its structure and its effectiveness.
Chart 1: Comparison of business enterprises and voluntary organization
Environmental conditions

Dimension

Systems of incentives and commitment of the participants

Formal structures

Leadership and authority

Effectiveness

Companies

Incentives focused on utilities Resources of the markets

Complex division of tasks, vertical and horizontal differentiation

Patterns of hierarchic authority Centralized decision making Professional

Specialized structures are favored on the basis of stable environments

Obtaining profits and growth

Quantifiable They occupy central positions of indicators of performance

2. According to Benot Pig (2008), the freedom space is known as the limits that a person has to make a decision, depending on its post. 3. Like specific industrial associations, professional societies and unions.

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leadership

power and prestige in interorganizational networks

Associations

Normative incentives focused on efficiency It depends on the members and the people interested in the benefits of the former.

Division of the work and formal and simple internal structure

Patterns of authority : professional, confederate Ideology and democratic decisions making Amateur leadership

General structures are favored in turbulent environments They occupy peripheral positions , depending on the networks

Goals of aggregation and expression of the members interests Ambiguous and vague measures of goals achievement

Source: David Knoke y David Prensky, 1984, What Relevance Do Organizational Theories Have for Voluntary Associations? Social Science Quarterly, 65 (march) 14.

Communication is important in both types of organizations; through communication you share ideas, information, thoughts, values and norms. However, given the interests and commitment of some members in the non-profit organizations, communication problems may occur and stifle cooperation. This happens especially when the organization has a simple, ill-defined structure and goals are not clearly stated. The structure of an organization is considered inadequate (Furnham, 2001) when tasks and work relationships have not been set with any given job position. Sometimes, members of an establishment will create structures that suit their personal interests and not those of the organization. When an organization is not well structured, there can be various consequences (Chart 2)

NEW WAYS OF ORGANIZATION. AN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS Chart. 2: Consequences in the deficiency of the structure
UNEFFICIENCY It is not clearly determined who has the authority or it does not have the required capacity to perform it There are not valid basis under which the organization must operate CONSEQUENCES

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The employees do not know whom to inform It creates personalities which can cause that the staff place their personal interests and those of their department before the ones of the organization Little motivation, dissatisfaction and low morale Late and inadequate decision making

Not enough delegation in the decision making and not clarity in the position Lack of on time information from the people involved Lack of definition of the goals, inability To integrate team work and lack ofCoordination To have an extended authority hierarchy When there is an excessive administrative Work load Lack of communication information where the

Interpersonal conflict, lack of coordination and failure to fulfill the objectives Visible and hidden costs

Serious problems of absenteeism rotation of personnel lack of interest in doing the job well

Adapted from: Furnham, 2001

The nature of an organization also has impact on the structure and the way its employees understand it. Even though there are differences between the interests of the organizations, the need to relate the economic performance to the social one should always be present.

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2. The assumptions of the socio-economical binomial

Organizations have a fundamental role to play in society. It is important that they fulfill their duties towards their customers on the outside as they do with their human resources and owners on the inside. Both the owner and the human resources develop activities that should be oriented to achieve a good development and in consequence achieve the organizations objectives, with the purpose of improving their economical and social efficiency, satisfying everyones needs (Pomar, 2007). Management is a human process which involves human relationships. Therefore, understanding human behavior is very important in the workplace, especially when trying to reach the goal of becoming efficient. It is in view of this fact and also the importance of economic performance that Henry Savall presented his 1973 socioeconomical approach to business and organizational management. His framework was based, according to Zarder and Krief (2003) on two ideas: Strategies of change based on human abilities are a necessity in business. Change needs economic evaluations, and economic change needs to be renewed.

From the authors point of view, it is important to consider the alife part of an organization, the human factor, which is the base to obtain a good performance. Employees modify their behavior according to the situation they have to live. However, there is another important factor to which the employees contribute, and that is the profitability and economic benefits which if they are obtained will satisfy to everyone. This is why financial resources should be carefully administered to reach any given goal. The main idea of this particular study is to look into the hidden costs and performances of dysfunction in some companies. Henri Savalls theory states that: The activity of a man, a team or an organization, simultaneously produces a proper functioning (orthofunctioning) and anomalies or disturbances (dysfunctions). Every enterprise continuously generates good products that increase their profitability and development, but at

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the same time it also experiences disruptions that partly absorb their energies and financial resources, leading to reduced performances (ISEOR, 2003). The identification of anomalies allows transformation and therefore the generation of new forms of organization. This generates learning that, in the studied case, occurs through the diagnosis and the use of diverse tools that will be analyzed later. This is why understanding how humans make decisions and move into action remains a central issue in the management of the explained binomial.

3. Organizational learning
To understand the transition from the individual to the organizational learning, it is important to understand how organizations learn and the role played by the interactions with others in the process. Shein (2000) makes a distinction between the terms organizational learning and organization that learns claiming that the first refers to individual learning while the second refers to the learning of the organization as a total system. From the outcome of social interaction, learning can be explained as an internalization process of culture, in which each individual gives meaning to what he perceives according to his own possibility of meaning and at the same time he incorporates new meanings. Internationalization occurs thorough the activity that implies reconstructing and giving a new meaning to ones cultural environment. The Intervention-research that has been developed within the organizations proposes the concept of cognitive interactivity as a way to access to the learning, as a group. It is based on the formulation and validation of the hypothesis of inductive knowledge through observation and data gathering (Savall and Zardet, 1972). This is followed by implementing what has been learned through the use of management tools as one of the parts of the virtuous circle through redefining problems from socialization. These assumptions are based on the idea that learning is a social process in which cultural understandings are redefined. Learning is then understood as an interactive process that stems from one given individual but is, at the same time, determined by the outer world.

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We point out then that an organizational learning process is especially a communication process, through which people share and construct common meanings. Let us also assume that the above mentioned cognitive interactivity is both the trigger and the outcome of this learning and that, during that interactivity, decoding becomes an important tool to transmit knowledge both tacitly and explicitly (Gonzlez, 2006). It is through the diagnosis carried out by the intervention-research and with the application of the tools of this research that The Montessori A.C. Educational Community (CEMAC in Spanish) was able to implement the concept of organizational learning. In order to understand this process better, let us explain first some particularities.

4. The particularities of the Montessori Educational Community A.C. (cemac in Spanish)

The Montessori Educational Community A.C. CEMAC was created 39 years ago as a non-profit organization by parents who wanted to give their children an education based on the principles of the right of the individual to grow without the rigidity of strict parameters, stereotypes or given them set models. Once the parents realized that no existing school offered them this kind of education for their children, they decided to create a non-profit civic organization. These parents based their project on the educational system which was first proposed by Dr. Maria Montessori. This Civil Association was headed by a Council Management composed by some of these parents. It all started with the Childrens House where infants and pre-scholars went. With the time it grow up and new sections were created as Workshops (1 and 24), along with High school and CCH5. The High school and CCH sections adopted some models that even when they were not Montessori they were some kind of a follow up to the students work. The educational model in High school was called personalized, while for the preparatory section it was decided to incorporate it to studies of the

4. According to Montessori`s model, these two levels receive, in the case of Workshop I, kids from 1,2 and 3 and in Workshop II kids from 4,5 y 6 grade, in SEP`s scheme. 5. Under graduate studies (Bachelor).

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National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The university transferred its high schools model and added its norms and academic administration. Some important aspects for this research are that through the history of the CEMAC, we can see that its structural organization has been very simple appearing quite similar to a family structure. This fact has influenced the generation of an organizational culture in the community that recognizes itself as a solidarity-type of community basing this solidarity in a program of scholarships. For The Childrens House there is a Coordinator who is also the Technical Director in compliance with the rules of the SEP (Office of Public Education). Even though the educational model does not include the teaching of English per se, the language is still taught every day in small groups called clusters. The section of the workshop has also a Coordinator and a Technical Director who is in charge of all the paperwork for the SEP. While more sections were added and the amount of students was growing, more positions of Coordinators were created for each section to oversee the teachers activities as well as those of the Guides. Furthermore, the CEMAC added Technical Directors just to comply with the rules set by the Public Education Office (SEP) and the UNAM. The Junior High School section was organized in first, second and third grades. The most important difference with the traditional high schools is the way class work is done: through projects and interaction between the traditional methodology and the one established at CEMAC.

5. The intervention-research process

In comparison with other methodologies of organizational intervention or consultancy which impact the organizational performance, the SEAM adapts itself in a better way to the organizations of volunteers, since it does not raise the paradox between the economic and social development. The organizations for charity many times resist implementing models of improvement in the management with the idea that the efficiency criteria and effectiveness do not correspond to the social logics. Nevertheless the SEAM puts in evidence the binomial and builds the sense of the intervention in the

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reduction of the dysfunctions that will result in the improvement in the performance partner: improving the social fusion of the organization expressed in the mission, and generating social wealth. The intervention in CEMAC was carried out through focusing on the socio- economic management approach and the interventionresearch methodology. This starts with semi-guided interviews and in a more depth way with the actors from the Parents Council, who represent the Civil Association, to the General Management and even the base personnel. This process is called horivert since it applies the union of two simultaneous and articulated actions. (Savall and Zardet, 1987, 1995, 2004) A horizontal action that involves the administration team. A vertical action that involves the personnel who executes the job, as well as the management of each unit. The socioeconomic diagnosis implies listening, observing and understanding. In turn, the participant-researcher must also listen to the various operators involved in the process since each worker has a different and particular point of view which is very useful to confront their vision with that of his/her hierarchic superior (Martinez and Gonzalez, 2006). After classifying the testimony phrases into the six scopes of action proposed by Savall and Zardet (1987, 1995, and 2004) which are: working conditions, organization, time management, communication-coordination-cooperation, integrated training and implementation of the strategy, the main ideas are elaborated. Then, the organization is given a mirror effect presentation (Savall and Zardet, 1987, 1995, 2004: 273) in a consolidated and anonymous way, so that the ideas can be validated. The socio economic administration of an organization is based on the simultaneous transformation of its structures and the behavior of its employees (Savall and Zardet, 1995, p. 229). With this purpose, a global change is then set and a deep and progressive transformation method, is put into motion. (Savall and Zardet, 1987; Savall, Zardet and Bonnet, 2000). To achieve this change three main points are proposed: 1. The one of the solution process (decision) based on the compilation of dysfunctions identified by all the participants;

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improvement projects are prepared which will be evaluated after being implemented. 2. The instruments or management tools allow keeping a collective memory record of the interviews, and also serving as means of support and negotiation. They also cover the phase of watching and controlling for the achievement of the solution actions established. 3. The policy and strategy in which strategies are determined to improve structures and rules, related to the behavior of the personnel, are established. (Graph 1).
Graph 1: The three strides of change

Source: (Savall, Zardet y Bonnet, 2000: Annexed I, 9

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6. Application of two tools: The Priority Plan of Action (PPA) and the Competency Matrix (CM)
After the diagnostic we realized two sessions of the PPA were given to following staff: General Management, Coordinators of each section and Management Council. Even when the first two were in charge of developing the plan, it was considered important that the members of the Council also participated since they have a role of supervision. The attendants developed the exercise step by step which was reinforced by council sessions given by the Investigators. Up to today the middle management of both, the academic and the administrative areas review their PPA every month. This practice impacted in the actions of the agreement polices. On the other hand, the Internal and External Strategic Plan of Action (PASINTEX) was developed by the Management Council and was coordinated by the Planning Committee. The result obtained with this work was the re-structure of the mission and the vision of CEMAC and the implementation of 5 strategic dominium. These strategic lines would be developed later, to be accomplished in a five year term, establishing actions, indicators and goals to be sure they are achieved. Two workshops were given to teach them how to elaborate the Priority Plan of Action (PPA); the elaborations of the six and one extra PPAs were fulfilled according to the agreement. For each one of the plans made, strategic main points were developed, as well as concrete objectives and actions, so that the main points established are accomplished. In order to have a tool to measure the results of the plans in a term of 6 months, which is the time in which the PPA actions should be developed, there were meetings with the General Management. These meetings were held with the objective of reviewing the advance and the accomplishment in each area, to see which actions were taken, which ones were in process, and in which ones there was no advance and to know the reasons for the results in each situation. At the end of the agreement established, the elaboration of the PPAs was considered as a permanent action to develop, updating it every six months. It was also agreed to extend the performance of these actions to the following levels in the CEMAC.

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The MC was applied in the whole institution to evaluate the skills and abilities of the personnel in each area, as well as to know their needs of training. 34 matrix were applied which helped to detect some of the employees weaknesses. This matrix was developed to be applied in a continuous way so that the CEMAC can be sure to have qualified personnel to carry out each of their activities. Several counseling sessions were carried out in order to review the drafts and the decision making. The main problem we found was in the administrative area where we detected a lack of knowledge, control and granting of scholarships, fees and processes.

7. Effects of the socioeconomic diagnostic and the change

If action is a means to reach knowledge, there is a virtuous cycle than triggers from implementing the Socio Economic Diagnosis. As a result from the interviews and the mirror-effect affecting the staff and directors, you acquire conscience of the organizations problematic. In this virtuous cycle, the knowledge that comes out and the so-called mirror effect serve to initiate actions. However, a series of energies emerge with the interviews and the awareness of the organization problems. The staff can choose to take advantage or not of these energies. In CEMAC, a diagnosis6 was carried out which unveiled different problems related mainly to the lack of structure definition. This created communication difficulties mainly caused by the scarcity of information, the definition the responsibility of each position and the relationship of authority. It was a consequence of the fact that the organization was set up by parents who function as the maximum authority through an Administrative Council renewed every two years. Because of this, there were duplication of functions and the Director figure, a paid-position, barely had sufficient leadership to fulfill his duties.

6. The results were presented in an academic event in 2007 through a paper by the authors of this article; we only mention here what is related and relevant to our subject. To elaborate the diagnosis, 31 individual and five group interviews were carried out. We also organized 6 sessions of the Mirror Effect with each section members, the coordinators group and the Board.

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The diagnosis of CEMAC showed a number of malfunctioning events: diminishing enrollment, that had an effect in the incomes because the parents decided to move their children somewhere else due to the problems in the organization of the school detected by them. Another problem was the scholarships since they were given to students that did not pay registration nor their monthly fee, in this case there were 59 students from which 20 of them were employees children in spite of the fact that many of them did not fulfill with the academic standards. The vice-president of promotion of the Parents Council was in charge of these scholarships but as she did not have the abilities required and there were not procedure manuals the granted of the scholarships was very flexible. As a consequence the organization became insolvent, they destroyed institutional identity within scholarship students and they created vested interest by parents who threatened to move away in case they lose the grant to their children. The teachers who required photocopies, which were not taken in the school, had to go out taking much time. We consider that the lack of a well defined structure created dead times due to the informal structures; all of this generated over time and thus hidden costs (Chart 3)
Chart 3: Analyses of Qualitative Dysfunctions
Causes Disconformities of students and parents - Non adequate facilities. - Bad communication (rumors about CEMAC closure or moving). - CCH students sent out because of bad attitude. Dysfunctions Repercussions Hidden Costs 69 students abandoned school due to the problems of the organization thus impacting their financial situation since they did not have incomes for the amount of 266,622 Dlls.

Students not enrolled

- Not incomes by concept of fees. - Serious financial restrictions for continuing with the operation of CEMAC - Not creation of potential for the organization

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- Unavailability of the person responsible for providing authorization. - Inefficient communication and coordination among involved individuals.

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Inefficient process of authorizing photocopies

- Over-time. - Delay in academic activities. - Unnecessary expenditures in outsource photocopies

2,015 Dlls yearly paid for over-time

- Laxity in implementing policies and guidelines regulating scholarship allocation. - Manipulation by some parents and staff members in order to get scholarships.

Scholarship granted to families not in need or that do not fulfill regulations

- Not received income. - Financial restrictions. - Financial deficit. - Not creation of potential. Lack of institutional identity by scholarship receivers Uncompromised attitude by parents unwilling to remain in CEMAC in the absence of a scholarship for their children. Total

Not received income amounting to $987,535 per year for the 20 scholarships granted to staff, and 145,945 Dlls for the 59 scholarships granted .

414,548 Dlls.

Source: Elaboration by the authors

The diagnosis in all the groups we worked with, also determined that the disfunctioning related with the problems of coordination, communication and cooperation (ccc) originated severe problems in the organization. This was translated into lack of motivation of the employees due to the bad relationships, which were considered superficial. The lack of communication also caused misunderstandings which were reflected mainly in the quality of the teaching of English. These communication problems impacted the confidence, creating

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conflicts between superiors and subordinates which were reflected in the performance of the organization In CEMAC as in many organizations, there was resistance to change because there were no external references to measure and compare their performance which made it impossible to think in the organization from another view rather than their own. The following phrases are examples of how they see the situation: We are not altering the order this has always been like this, We cannot change because we have always worked this way. There were many other similar statements which reflected the staffs way of viewing the situation. This made it very difficult to bring in any radical change. Nevertheless, change did come gradually, almost immediately after the result of the diagnosis was reported, a change in the administrative level began. One of the problems the organization had to face in the change was a lack of competency at the administrative level. Even when they were respected and knowledgeable specialists of the Montessori educational system, they have not had enough experience to be in a position of management. Besides there were not rules and standards of administrative and organizational processes. However, thanks to the acceptance of the disfunctioning showed as a result of the investigation process, it was possible to implement changes, and make the organizations management more efficient. They also were conscious of the crisis which the organization was going through. Besides those already mentioned we also found that there was an increasing fall in pupils registration, a huge due portfolio, lack of associates loyalty, scholarship holders who did poorly academically, and worst of all, the lack of owned facilities. This was the context in which the socioeconomic intervention took place. We used different tools7 like the Competency Matrix and the Priority Plan of Action. This last tool would have been less effective without knowing the situation within the organization and without the participation of some of its members. As Bayart (1995) states, it is necessary to take the interactions into account: on one side the objects that are produced and put into circulation and, on the other side, the context which gives sense to these objects.
7. Tools in organizations enable people to develop their work more easily, but in regard to organizational elements like management tools, they also allow to mobilize knowledge.

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If action leads to knowledge, the management tools, in this particular case the Priorities Plan of Action (PPA), turned into a bridge between individual cognitive capacities and the collectivity components. The PPA appears as a new means of perception: it makes it visible the intangible and the issues that came across as personal and hidden problems that had to do with lack of planning. The tools of the socio economic intervention were vital in actualizing and sharing knowledge. The tools of socio economic administration were then used to strengthen the staffs knowledge, allowing them to share their points of view with the whole organization. Once everyone learned how to use the tools transmitted by the research team, they served to build new information and knowledge socialization. A PPA format helps shed light on two very important characteristics of planning: the coordination of the people involved in the process, and the time frame. The PPA helps to measure time and brings forward a chain of values such as the existing relationships between individual and collective work. These tools mobilize knowledge in organizations. In the case of the PPA, it also acts as a negotiation and cooperation tool where a concatenation of elements in a negotiated and collective way is necessary. One important factor in bringing on the changes within the organization is that the new Board formed previously by parents and the Management is now made up of professionals of whom some are businessmen who have an ideology of efficiency and effectiveness, something the organization was missing. However the diagnosis and the tools used, also helped to speed up the political decision-making process. This gave way to structural changes in which the committed staff assumed new responsibilities. As we can observe in the chart below, when registration dropped and a new point of balance was established, the group was reduced in order to make the organization more efficient and operational. The number of coordinators went from four to two and full time teachers made better use of their free time. These changes helped the organization to improve and make savings.

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Current CEMAC Organizational Chart

Source: Report of the Associates Assembly. Montessori Educational Community, Period 2007-2008.

Besides the structural transformations in the organization, there were also the following changes: The generation of a new culture of formal written information since at every meeting there are minutes of the agreements and commitments,

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The creation of important administrative and organizational procedures for the management of the institution, The restructuring of the institution and the creation of a new organizational chart, The creation of a 5-year strategic plan (PASINTEX), The creation of a the Priority Action Plan (PAP) for each section and working space of the institution in a short term, The assessment of the skills of the CEMAC`s employees in order to create a Training Plan. The impulse of a new culture in which the social and the economic binomial are clearly related through management tools. With the reorganization of the structure of the school, there was a reduction of personnel, procedure manuals were implemented, and there was a reduction in the and scholarships granted, consequently there was a saving in the costs and increase of funds that have allowed the building of new facilities

Conclusion
As can be seen the diagnosis of CEMAC allowed us to detect malfunctioning such as diminishing enrollment, scholarship misallocation and labor abuses, that is, hidden costs that were producing financial deficit and work delay. We face these problems by using different tools like mirror effect, the Priority Action Plan (PAP), the competency grid (CG), with positive results. So, we can state that this investigation model not only allows carrying out a diagnosis as can be done with other models, but also it generates the change by the mean of knowledge of apprenticeship. Based on the methodology applied, we could detect a number of malfunctioning issues that have to be with the six dominium

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mentioned before, for this work we basically focused in one of them, not less important than the others but which in this case was of a great importance, which is communication since being so deficient, it was creating a lot of conflicts which affected the operation of the organization as was demonstrated in the study of this case. In group learning, there are social mediators that work as tools that embody knowledge. The culture world provides the tools and the language which gives sense to information transmission in a collective way. The socio economic management tools become the social representation of what is important for the members of the organization. From the organizations stand point, the socioeconomic intervention brought out the virtuous circle towards action to generate then the knowledge, and helped the staff to appropriate and apply the management tools. That can be called collaboration tools given that they were developed with the active participation of small groups of equals. This analysis helps to accentuate the interactions and the context in which a tool is used, on one hand by the objects that are produced and put into circulation like in the PPA which were recreated and appropriated by those using it, and. on the other hand the context which gives sense to these objects To mobilize skills and knowledge, the objects have a key role. In any other way, it would have been difficult to socialize the learning. Although a format might appear as a trivial thing, management tools have a direct impact on the structures of the institution and behaviors of the personnel. Moreover, the impact is greater on how the organizational problems themselves are understood. As we were able to observe in our case study, this organization understood the need for change given the level of conflict that existed within it. It was also proven in our study that the tools proposed for the socio economic a substantial change was

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achieved which helped the employees to become more aware of the problems and the appropriation of new knowledge. This model aims to transform organizations in which dysfunctions are identified and the application of the tools allowed the organizational change mainly in the structure and behavior of those involved. Thus, it achieves a balance between the social and the economic aspects, especially in an organization as the one we analyzed where its way of organization is different for the form in which it was created and the interests of its members.

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