Hoofdstuk 1 - Joop Vorst

Chapter 5 - Results, conclusions, suggestions and reflection
predominantly assumes a more mechanical picture of securing something by screwing it
into place at some point and expecting it to stay in place and continue functioning after
the interim manager‟s departure.
How does the constrained duration of the deployment of interim management affect
clients' actions?
The literature indicates, almost without exception, that the constrained duration of the
deployment of interim management constitutes a validation of interim management and
an important precondition for its function. The study shows that this precondition is
undergoing a strong devaluation. Clients (as well as interim managers) must use
additional means, quite aside from the constrained duration, to achieve a durable interim
management result. The study shows that acceptance in the organisation of the
deployment of interim management, the interim manager personally, the issues he works
on and his way of doing things are important preconditions for the achievement of a
durable interim management result.
Clients consider the deployment of interim management to be a management tool with a
constrained duration. With it, people work towards specified goals during the constrained
duration of the deployment of interim management. This highlights the trend indicated in
the literature, which is that interim management is losing its identity as a tool for unique
circumstances and is gaining broader applicability in organisations. It turns out that
clients are much further along in this development than the literature indicates. They view
the constrained duration deployment of interim management as a „tool in the hands of the
client‟. They feel that this allows them to quickly provide additional management capacity
or specific knowledge for a period of constrained duration.
Clients attach great importance to the formulation of a clear and concrete assignment,
which they consider to be a basic precondition for a successful interim management
process. In the literature, on the other hand, it is often pointed out that assignments tend
to be vaguely and ambiguously put and only become clear over the course of the
assignment‟s execution.
Clients attach great importance to an explicitly formulated plan of action. What this
achieves is that the constrained duration of the deployment of interim management is
deployed in a focused manner to achieve specific objectives. Clients use this plan of
action as a guideline to help them follow the execution of the assignment and check that
page 215