What is Structuration? 

Structuration, as propoed by Giddens, is a social theory that focuses on describing the foundational elements of a social system: these include teams, organizations, and society as a whole. 

Integral to this this theory is the idea of duality - structures of social systems enable social practices, while social practices also give rise to structures. 

How is Structuration Theory Applied to Change Management?

Structuration theory encourages us to always look behind routines, behaviors, and rituals to determine their structural foundation. Further, how do practices reproduce structures? 

Effective change interventions have to take both structure and practice into consideration.

Structuration theory also informs us about thresholds of change momentum and speed. Structures facilitate and enable practice. The higher the change momentum, the more pressure is put on established structures to change them instead of to simply reproduce them.

In practice, effectively managing change requires reflection on how much change momentum is required to develop an organization into the desired direction. Of course, less change momentum - and thus less pressure to change structures - has a stabilizing effect on an organization.