Community college instructional administrators are faced with an increasingly information- and technology-oriented and decentralized environment; a greater role in organizational change and a concomitant failure by colleges to recognize this phenomenon; and an ever-changing need for new skills. An intervention was sought to deal with the problems of the lack of training, support, and identity for instructional administrators. The intervention, the creation of a statewide Association of Instructional Administrators, was built on theoretical literature addressing the "strength of weak ties," boundary spanning, and "convergent communication." Although the original effort emphasized training and networking, the increasingly political environment influenced the internal development of the organization and the external perceptions of it. Additional interventions to help focus the organization--a needs assessment survey and interviews--failed to reflect sufficiently the changing social context so that the organization could respond with an appropriate mission and goals statement. However, the interventions were found to be inextricably linked the move from a collective bargaining (management-controlled) environment to a shared governance (faculty-controlled) environment. The changing social context negated the value of the organizational intervention. It became evident that the instructional administrator role demands clarification of purpose and worth especially within the shared governance environment, and that instructional administrators might develop a successful role in the system by realigning themselves with faculty issues rather than management concerns. (Author/AC)