Understanding Organizational Change : The Contemporary Experience of People at Work

by Patrick Dawson

• ISBN13: 9780761971603
• ISBN10: 0761971602
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-24
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

Understanding Organizational Change: - offers an overview of change management- brings new case studies to help students understand organizational change- provides a concise overview of the developments in change management with new critical case study material for the use of advanced undergraduate and masters level management students; - presents the contemporary experience of change for people in work and employment, - considers alternative strategies and practical lessons on living with change. Offering a critical analysis of change, Patrick Dawson resists the hype of popular management books which formulate simple change recipes, but uses the views and experience of people holding positions from shop floor operator to chief executive officer to further our understanding of complex change processes. In using the insights and views of those who promote, implement and experience the effects of change, this book moves beyond simple determinist arguments based on economic imperatives to a greater appreciation of the sociological dimensions of change. The integration of theories of change with processes of organisational adaptation is central to the objective of understanding organizational change both for its academic value and its practical worth. Understanding Organizational Change will be essential reading final year undergraduates and postgraduates (MBA//MSc) taking organizational change and change management modules across business and management studies.

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
Acknowledgements	xiii
Change riders	1	(10)
Beyond metaphor and the scientific snapshot	2	(1)
Processual research on change	3	(2)
Structure of the book	5	(4)
Conclusion	9	(2)
Dimensions of change	11	(15)
Perspectives on organizational change	11	(4)
The triggers to organizational change	15	(1)
The concept of organizational change	16	(3)
Why do people resist organizational change?	19	(2)
Flexibility: in search of new ways of organizing and working	21	(3)
Conclusion	24	(2)
A historical overview of theoretical perspectives and change frameworks	26	(25)
Change and the Industrial Revolution	26	(2)
Scientific management and change	28	(1)
The human dimension to change	29	(1)
The Organizational Development model of change	30	(2)
Change and socio-technical systems theory	32	(2)
A situational approach to change	34	(1)
Celebrity professors and consultants	35	(4)
A time to question simple change products and accounts	39	(2)
Making sense of change: a processual perspective	41	(4)
Framework for data analysis	45	(5)
Conclusion	50	(1)
Flexibility, workplace change and non-standard employment	51	(18)
Shifting employment strategies in the drive for profits and flexibility	52	(3)
Management of change and employee experience of work	55	(3)
Full-time employment and the push for flexibility: outsourcing and part-time work	58	(4)
The casualization of work, job insecurity and employee representation	62	(5)
Conclusion	67	(2)
New technology and power relations	69	(14)
Technology and change at work: an overview of conceptual debates	69	(3)
New technology at Dalebake Bakeries	72	(1)
Consumer demand and customer power: a changing market	73	(3)
The Mossdale facility: a factory after its time	76	(3)
The power of the retailing giants and the future of Mossdale	79	(1)
Conclusion	80	(3)
The experience of supervisors and older employees under conditions of change	83	(15)
The `problem' of the supervisor and workplace change	83	(2)
The older supervisor and workplace change	85	(5)
Older employees and workplace change	90	(3)
Change initiatives and older employees: a question of hierarchy and position	93	(2)
Conclusion	95	(3)
Cellular manufacture and the politics of change	98	(14)
Cellular manufacture	98	(1)
Teamworking	99	(3)
Cellular work arrangements at Washdale Manufacturing	102	(1)
Sleepers wake: stamping down on the custom and practice of night shift operations	103	(2)
Management strategy and machine shop resistance to change	105	(4)
Conclusion	109	(3)
Globalization and strategic change	112	(15)
Globalization and organizational change	113	(3)
The company: F.H. Faulding & Co. Ltd	116	(2)
Human resource management and growth	118	(1)
Going global: beyond the local perspective	119	(2)
A global technology forum: the DBL acquisition	121	(2)
Strategic objectives: towards the seamless organization	123	(2)
Conclusion	125	(2)
Trade unions and a shifting industrial landscape	127	(21)
The changing industrial landscape and the decline in union membership	128	(4)
Gender, changing patterns of work and trade unions	132	(2)
Change and trade unions: the case of the Australian Services Union	134	(3)
Gender and trade unions: from male bastion to female friendly?	137	(3)
The politics of union organization: vested interest, gender and trade union democracy	140	(2)
Economic rationalism and the context of change	142	(1)
Trade unions, technology and the geographical dispersal of work	143	(2)
Conclusion	145	(3)
The quality management experience	148	(19)
Quality management: the new competitive advantage?	150	(3)
Complex outcomes: a processual analysis of case study data	153	(6)
Using case study data to identify practical guidelines for change	159	(6)
Conclusion	165	(2)
Living with change in the twenty-first century	167	(13)
Beyond the cookbook approach: the need for critical reflection	167	(2)
Elephant, flea, seal or gazelle? Change and the future of work	169	(4)
Practical lessons on change: beyond stories of success	173	(4)
Conclusion	177	(3)
Appendix: the TQM research programme and guide for interviewers	180	(6)
References	186	(15)
Author Index	201	(4)
Subject Index	205