Managing change in design and technology

The ability to manage change is now a desirable attribute for those who work in today’s rapidly changing competitive environment. It is especially important for those who manage people and teams in nearly every type of industry and business. The education field is no exception. Placed in this context, this paper considers some of the issues that effect the management of design and technology in an ever demanding change environment. It begins by placing Design and Technology in terms of the macro and micro influences on its change field. A number of models will be examined which relate design and technology to the external and internal pressures. The work then goes on to propose a change model for design and technology. This emphasises the need to focus on team building as a methodology to manage change. To support the theoretical work a number of semi-structured interviews have been carried out in schools in the North West of England. Those interviewed include Heads of Department, subject teachers, newly qualified teachers and trainee teachers. The findings from this work provides an insight into current design and technology management approaches and how effective these are at creating a design and technology department that can adapt to change. The field work has been used to evaluate the merits and demerits of the theoretical change models and how these may be used to develop a department that can cope with change.