Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- I Bases of strategic management
- II Realizing strategy
- 5 The complexities of strategy implementation
- 6 Organizational culture and strategic change processes
- 7 The role of organizational discourse in understanding and managing strategic change
- 8 Strategic change processes: an organization development approach
- III Current themes and applications
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
- References
7 - The role of organizational discourse in understanding and managing strategic change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2010
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- I Bases of strategic management
- II Realizing strategy
- 5 The complexities of strategy implementation
- 6 Organizational culture and strategic change processes
- 7 The role of organizational discourse in understanding and managing strategic change
- 8 Strategic change processes: an organization development approach
- III Current themes and applications
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
- References
Summary
Continuing chapter 6's focus on the ideational aspects of the organization and a change perspective, this chapter emphasizes that effective change management is not just about the “hard” structural aspects of organizations; it requires an in-depth appreciation of the cultural, human aspects of organizations, and taking actions based on this understanding. The chapter suggests that organizational discourse can provide access to this conceptual world of organizations and can also be used as an avenue for influencing it. Use of metaphor by change agents is discussed as a prime example of how discourse can help to achieve effective organizational change.
How can change be effectively managed?
Organizations are characterized by both stability and change. While forces such as inertia, uncertainty reduction, minimization of transaction costs, and the nurturing of social capital foster stability, other forces such as the need to adapt to the environment, to control costs, to gain or sustain competitive advantage, and to satisfy impatient capital markets demand continuous change (Leana and Barry 2000).
Even though some organizations are adept at managing change, sustained competitive success for most is fleeting. A study by McKinsey Consultants, for example, found that over a ten-year period, only three out of 208 firms managed to sustain their superior profitability and rate of growth (Ghemawat 2000: 20). This difficulty in sustaining a firm's competitive advantage over the longer term has been termed the “Red Queen” effect, after Lewis Carroll's story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where the Red Queen said to Alice “here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Strategy and OrganizationRealizing Strategic Management, pp. 112 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
References
Aristotle, 1991. On Rhetoric (Kennedy, G. A., Transl.), New York: Oxford University Press
, and , 1993. Creating readiness for organizational change, Human Relations, 46: 681–703CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and 1995. The central role of discourse in large-scale change: a social construction perspective, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 31: 352–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, M., 1979. More about metaphor, in A. Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 19–43
, 1995. Stories of the storytelling organization: a postmodern analysis of Disney as “Tamara-Land,”Academy of Management Journal, 38: 997–1035Google Scholar
Champy, J. and Nohria, N., 1996. Fast Forward: The Best Ideas on Managing Business Change, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
and , 1999. Transforming an organization: using models to foster a strategic conversation, California Management Review, 41(3): 54–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, 1991. Inspiring others: the language of leadership, Academy of Management Executive, 5(1): 31–45Google Scholar
and , 1991. Systems of interpretation and the function of metaphor, Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 21: 171–195CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and , 1996. Organization science as social construction: postmodern potentials, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 32: 356–377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghemawat, P., 2000. Competition and business strategy in historical perspective, Harvard Business School Teaching Note, 9-798-010
and , 2001. Metaphors and meaning: an intercultural analysis of the concept of teamwork, Administrative Science Quarterly, 46: 274–303CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, D., Keenoy, T. and Oswick, C., 1998. Organizational discourse: of diversity, dichotomy and multi-disciplinarity, in D. Grant, T. Keenoy and C. Oswick, Discourse and Organization, London: Sage: 1–13
, 2001. An ethnographic study of culture in the context of organizational change, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 37: 426–446CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, 2002a. The contribution of discourse in understanding and managing organizational change, Strategic Change, 11: 253–261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heracleous, L., 2002b. Four propositions toward a theory of the process of discursive reality construction, Working Paper, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore
Heracleous, L., 2002c. A tale of three discourses: the dominant, the strategic and the marginalized, Working Paper, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore
, 2003. A comment on the role of metaphor in knowledge generation, Academy of Management Review, 28: 190–191Google Scholar
and , 2001. Organizational change as discourse: communicative actions and deep structures in the context of IT implementation, Academy of Management Journal, 44: 755–778Google Scholar
and , 2000. Discourse and the study of organization: toward a structurational perspective, Human Relations, 53: 1251–1286CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and , 1996. Strategic change and organizational culture at Hay Management Consultants, Long Range Planning, 29: 485–494CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, P. M. and Andrews, J. A., 1983. Ambushes, shootouts and knights of the roundtable: the language of corporate takeovers, in L. R. Pondy, P. J. Frost, G. Morgan and T. C. Dandridge (eds.), Organizational Symbolism, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press: 145–155
Johnson, G., 1987. Organizational Change and the Management Process, Oxford: Blackwell
Kotter, J. P., 1996. Leading Change, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
and , 1979. Choosing strategies for change, Harvard Business Review, March–April: 4–11Google Scholar
, 1990. The invariance hypothesis: is abstract reason based on image-schemas?, Cognitive Linguistics, 1: 39–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M., 1980. Metaphors we Live By, Chicago: Chicago University Press
and , 2000. Stability and change as simultaneous experiences in organizational life, Academy of Management Review, 25: 753–759CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and , 1988. The selection of communication media as an executive skill, Academy of Management Executive, 2: 225–232Google Scholar
and , 1997. Assessing the roller coaster of downsizing, Business Horizons, 40(4): 45–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, 1993. Managing the metaphors of change, Organizational Dynamics, 22(1): 44–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, 1980. Paradigms, metaphors and puzzle solving in organization theory, Administrative Science Quarterly, 25: 660–671CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, 1983. More on metaphor: why we cannot control tropes in administrative science, Administrative Science Quarterly, 28: 601–607CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and , 1989. Organizational frame bending: principles for managing reorientation, Academy of Management Executive, 3(3): 194–204Google Scholar
Nohria, N., 1993. Managing change: course overview, Harvard Business School Teaching Note, 9-494-042
and , 1999. Images of an organization: the use of metaphor in a multinational company, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12: 501–523CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and , 1997. Changing the way we change, Harvard Business Review, November–December, 127–139Google ScholarPubMed
, 1987. Context and action in the transformation of the firm, Journal of Management Studies, 24: 649–670CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petty, R. E. and Cacioppo, J. T., 1986. The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, in L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, Orlando, FL: Academic Press: 123–205
Pondy, L. R., 1983. The role of metaphors and myths in organization and the facilitation of change, in L. R. Pondy, P. J. Frost, G. Morgan and T. C. Dandridge (eds.), Organizational Symbolism, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press: 157–166
and , 1979. Beyond open systems of organization, Research in Organizational Behavior, 1: 3–39Google Scholar
, 1989. The role of metaphors in organizational transformation, Human Relations, 42: 463–485CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schein, E., 1992. Organizational Culture and Leadership (2nd edn.), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Schön, D. A., 1979. Generative metaphor: a perspective on problem-setting in social policy, in A. Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 254–283
, 1987. A discourse-centered approach to language and culture, American Anthropologist, 89: 295–309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spender, J. C., 1989. Industry Recipes, Oxford: Blackwell
and , 2001. Teaching old dogs new tricks: implementing organizational learning in an Asian National Police Force, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 37: 361–380CrossRefGoogle Scholar