Richard Dunford

Narrative in Stractegic Change

Sensegiving constitutes a key process in the management of strategic change. Often this takes the form of narratives that provide a portrayal of events surrounding the change. This article reports the findings of research into the strategic change narratives that emerged in three organizations in which the senior management were seeking to respond to deregulation of the economy in which they were operating. The results illustrate both the existence of such narratives and the variation in form that they can take.

Key challenges in the search for the effective management of knowledge in management consulting firms

Consulting firms cite knowledge management as a core capability for achieving competitive advantage. Consistent with this claim has been their increasing investment in systems that seek to formalize knowledge management and allow firms to leverage the knowledge held within the firm. However, despite some successes, knowledge management remains a major challenge. Investigates this situation, using a framework that distinguishes between input and output challenges. Input challenges relate to the production of a knowledge base that is able to be shared within the firm. Output challenges relate to the capacity for effective utilization of any such knowledge base. Concludes with a discussion of the way in which changes in the pattern of consulting services has implications for the sort of knowledge that various consulting firms wish to codify, the dangers associated with codification and the means by which these can be managed.

Organizational Change and the Importance of Embedded Assumptions

‘Managing change’ appears a simple enough term. However, no common ontological assumption underlies either the notion of ‘managing’ or that of ‘change’. In this paper, we identify different assumptions about both what it means to manage and the nature of change outcomes. From these assumptions we derive six different images of managing organizational change: directing, navigating, caretaking, coaching, interpreting and nurturing. We show how each image is underpinned by different organization theories. We then take each image and show how the differing ontological assumptions about managing and change outcomes are associated with different research agendas. We illustrate this by focusing on three elements commonly associated with managing organizational change: vision, communication and resistance.

Changing forms of organizing: dualities in using remote collaboration technologies in film production

A common argument is that organizations should adopt new organizational practices, in order to respond to the hyper‐competitive business environment. The assumption underlying this argument is that such adoption generally entails the replacement of traditional practices. We suggest, instead, that managers are more likely to be managing simultaneously both new and old organizational practices. We explore our position through an investigation of the use of remote collaboration technologies in film production. In our study of US, UK and Australian film production houses we identify seven organizational dualities which characterize remote collaborations: creative work/routines, freedom/constraint, trust/control, artistic excellence/cost effectiveness, collaboration/competition, emotional/rational and closeness/remoteness. One side of each relationship represents organizational practices commonly associated with traditional forms of organizing, while the other represents those practices commonly associated with new forms of organizing. The coexistence of these dualities suggests that new organizational forms are not replacing traditional forms but rather co‐exist with, and become incorporated into, remolded traditional forms.

Managing Discursive Tension: the Co–Existence of Individualist and Collaborative Discourses in Flight Centre

Our study of the travel agency Flight Centre began as a case study of a company that appears to be a ‘success story’ in what is a highly competitive industry. In the course of our study we found that inscribed in Flight Centre were two, differing discourses which appear to co–exist in creative tension throughout the organization. One discourse is competitive individualism and the other collaborative teamwork. Our paper focuses on how Flight Centre has made use of multiple discourses such as these in the process of achieving competitive advantage, and how people manage the differing discursive logics which confront them on a day–to–day basis. The paper proceeds by identifying the social and textual practices which constitute each discourse. It then establishes the discursive co–existence and tension which exists between the two discourses. Study is made of the conditions under which this discursive co–existence is disrupted. We then identify the interpretative routines and practices through which organizational actors maintain and reproduce discursive co–existence. Our paper concludes by considering a variety of implications of studying multiple discourses in organizations.

The diffusion of managerial innovations: A comparison of Australian public and private sector take-up rates of new organizational practices

Abstract Innovative approaches to organization and management are advocated for both public and private sector organizations, yet few attempts have been made to compare the relative take-up rates of these innovations in the two sectors. In this paper we report the results of an Australian study of the use of nine new organizational practices and observe that managers in government-owned commercial enterprises and private sector organizations have a similar view of the nature of their external environment, a similar level of use of these new practices, and a similar level of formalization and centralization. We then discuss the relevance of economic/rational and neo-institutional theories to these findings.

Managing for High Performance? People Management Practices in Flight Centre

The travel industry is characterised by fierce rivalry, high threat of entry by would-be competitors, high supplier and consumer power and a developing threat of substitutes (especially online). However, despite this, Flight Centre, an Australian travel agency, has managed to achieve an exceptional performance record in terms of profitability and share price. In this paper we focus on the people management practices in Flight Centre in the context of the argument that there is a direct relationship between a company’s financial performance and its utilisation of specific practices. The results of the research show that Flight Centre is representative of most of the advocated practices, but its parallel strategies in marketing and operations/logistics raise questions about the appropriateness of people management practices being given priority over other areas of management practice in the determination of performance outcomes.

The Strategic Use of Quality Circles in Australian Industrial Relations

Quality circles represent one of the most interesting employee participation initiatives of the I980s. According to their advocates they improve industrial relations, increase productivity and improve product quality. Quality circles were developed in Japan and embody some fundamental principles of Japanese management. Outside Japan, however, quality circles have had a consistently high failure rate, leading some commentators to suggest that they have a distinct life cycle. This article examines this contention by comparing the operation of quality circles in two divisions of a large manufacturing company in Australia and noting the factors that contributed to success and failure. It concludes that quality circles were used strategically in both cases to help introduce a more participative management style. The impact of quality circles on the existing pattern of industrial relations is assessed, particularly the changes in relations between the major groups in the organization, the response of the unions to the programmes and their effect on the supervisors.

Discussion Note: Strategies for Planned Change. An Exchange of Views Between Dunford, Dunphy and Stace

Dexter Dunphy and Doug Stace have presented a critique of the Organization Development (OD) approach (Dunphy and Stace 1988). OD they portray as being based on both ’an ideology of gradualism’ whereby effective change results from small incremental adjustments, and a belief in the necessity of change being essentially a participative process whereby consensus and support for the change is generated. This approach, they argue, is inconsistent with the rapid and coercive approach to change that is taken in many organizations. Rather than dismissing the latter as aberrations doomed to failure, Dunphy and Stace imply that it is important

Fundamentals of a literature review

1. Is a Thesis Right for You? 2. An International Perspective on Theses 3. Cross-Cultural Issues 4. Choosing a Topic/Supervisor 5. Ethical Issues during Candidacy 6. Developing a Research Proposal 7. The Literature Review 8. Qualitative Analysis 9. Quantitative Analysis 10. Motivating Yourself 11. Writing the Thesis 12. Responding to Criticisms 13. Advice from the Examiners 14. Preparing your Work for Publication 15. Common Problems and Potential Solutions 16. Resources for Thesis Writing