Exploring Congruency within Organizational Changes in a Dutch Housing Association

Dutch housing associations are in the middle of making significant changes in their organizations. Triggered by recent economic and political developments, housing associations are shifting from conducting a wide range of activities on the real estate market and related social services to a focus on ‘just’ providing social housing, combined with a highly increased emphasis on efficiency. The associated organizational developments take shape in changes in different organizational elements such as strategies, culture, human resources, leadership styles and ICT systems. In theory, it can be expected that if different organizational elements are adapted in a congruent way, they are likely to reinforce each other and thus lead to increased efficiency and/or effectiveness. Little research, however, has been conducted in the way these elements are currently being adapted. In this paper an analytical model is presented to explore organizational changes in different elements of the organisation is presented and is tested on a housing association.