Introductory description

This module aims to introduce students to an interdisciplinary, cross-national and historically informed understanding of the idea of change and its significance for organisations in the contemporary period. Students will be introduced to multiple perspectives, models and maps for understanding the nature of organisational change and how it is managed.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Section 1: Understanding Change: concepts and perspectives

• The meaning of change: interdisciplinary perspectives on identifying, controlling and assessing the impact of change
• Organisations in an age of uncertainty and change? Historical comparisons and contemporary debates
  Section 2: Organisational change: frameworks and models
• Images and approaches to managing change
• Identifying and diagnosing change: engineering and sense-making perspectives
• Models for managing change: issues of process, organisation and communication
  Section 3: Understanding Change processes: key issues and debates
• Power, Politics and Resistance in the management of change
• The use of language, discourse and culture in the management of change a&nd bsignificance of technological intermediariesp;
• Senior managers and the leadership of change: pressures and processes in an internatio&nal perbspective;
• Middle managers in the change process
  The Change Revolution / Change Fatigue: The dynamics of continuous change in the public and private sectors and its impact

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the major perspectives for analysing the idea of change and how it is relevant to contemporary organisations
• Identify and critically analyse the different sorts of images of change which are used.
• Critically analyse how managers exercise power and engage in politics to influence other employees in order to achieve outcomes.
• Identify the role of language, culture, discourse in organisational change processes.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the way in which senior managers lead change initiatives and the institutional constraints under which they work.
• Identify the distinctive tensions faced by middle managers in change processes and recognise ways of overcoming these problems.
• Recognise the underlying assumptions of the change discourse and identify ways in which it creates its own self-sustaining dynamic and is a force for isomorphic processes across different types of organisation.
• Critically assess a variety of perspectives on the management of organisational change.
• Recognise and critically engage with assumptions underpinning the assumptions of the management of organisational change.

Indicative reading list

Myers, P.; Hulks, S. and Wiggins, L. (2012)
Organisational Change: Perspectives on Theory and Practice
Oxford: OUP Oxford

Hayes, J. (2014)
The Theory and Practice of Change Management (4th edn)
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The following books are relevant to the module:

Argyris, C. (2000)
Flawed Advice and the Management Trap
Oxford: Oxford University Press

Balogun, J. and Hope Hailey, V. (1999)
Exploring Strategic Change
London: Prentice Hall

Brown, S.L. and Eisenhardt, K.M. (1998)
Competing on the Edge
Harvard, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Buchanan, D. and Badham, R. (1999)
Power, Politics and Organizational Change
London: Sage

Carnall, C. (ed.)(2007)
Managing Change in Organizations
London: Prentice Hall

Jick, T.D. and Peiperl, M. (2003)
Managing Change
Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill

Kotter, J. and Cohen, D.S. (2002)
The Heart of Change
Harvard, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Nadler, D.A. (1998)
Champions of Change
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Price, D. (ed.) 2009)
The Principles and Practices of Change
Basingstoke: Macmillan Palgrave

Tsoukas, H. (ed.) (1994)
New Thinking in Organizational Behaviour
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Tushman, M.L. and O'Reily, C.A. (1997)
Winning Through Innovation
Harvard, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Subject specific skills

Present an analysis of organisational change, its problems and dilemmas.
Diagnose change pressures and appropriate management responses.
Identify resistances to change.

Transferable skills

Demonstrate developed academic communication skills.
Demonstrate skills in analysing cases of organisational change.