ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3175-1275
Current Organisation
University of Aberdeen
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1987
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2007
DOI: 10.1258/095148407779614963
Abstract: There is a wealth of material on 'how to do' change plus empirical work revealing change process complexity. In health care, the relevance of context is highlighted, but studies of rural health-care change have focused on community impacts. There is little to inform health-care managers of how remoteness and rurality impact upon change processes. This study considered Scottish maternity units and aimed to identify issues in the change process associated with rurality and remoteness. Six units were purposively selected and 131 interviews were conducted with managers, staff and community members over 15 months. Analysis induced themes pertinent to remoteness and rurality. These included: perceived 'distance' between senior managers imposing change and the wider community of staff and residents perceptions of community vulnerability and tensions arising from working in small teams and living in small communities. The study provides useful insights for rural managers at a time of considerable service reconfiguration.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-1989
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2017
DOI: 10.1111/NTWE.12086
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 28-01-2021
Abstract: Gossip is pervasive at the workplace, yet receives scant attention in the sensemaking literature and stands on the periphery of organization studies. We seek to reveal the non-triviality of gossip in processes of sensemaking. In drawing on empirical data from an observational study of a British Media firm, we adopt a processual perspective in showing how people produce, understand, and enact their sense of what is occurring through gossip as an evaluative and distinct form of informal communication. Our research draws attention to the importance of gossip in the routines of daily practice and the need to differentiate general from confidential gossip. We discuss how gossip continuously informs learning as evaluative sensemaking processes that encourages critiques and evaluation to shape future action and behavior. Within this, we argue how confidential gossip can challenge power relations while remaining part of formal authority structures, constituting forms of pragmatic and micro-resistance. This shadowland resistance provides terrain for learning that both criticizes and preserves espoused values and cultural norms. We conclude that confidential gossip as an evaluative and secretive process provokes a learning paradox that both enables and constrains forms of resistance in reinforcing and simultaneously questioning power relations at work.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-1989
DOI: 10.1177/0950017089003002006
Abstract: This paper examines the management of innovation and change in two different operating units on a single site of a UK Division of a high technology US-owned multinational corporation. The transformation of work in changing from `production for stock' to `production to order' is analysed, and the process of changing established patterns of work (as a brownfield operation), and designing new production arrangements from the outset (as a greenfield operation) are contrasted and compared. The key features of Just-in-Time and Total Quality Control principles are identified and the extent to which they represent real inovations in production is assessed. The paper concludes with a critical discussion of the flexible specialisation debate through reappraising the empirical evidence, and concludes by rejecting the view that modern production arrangements signal the general enhancement of working life through a reversal of the ision of labour, increased worker autonomy and greater employee involvement in production.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1988
Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
Date: 2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1991
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-1995
DOI: 10.1108/09604529510104347
Abstract: A key strategic objective behind the introduction of TQM centres on ensuring employee commitment and participation in continuous process innovation for the purpose of improving operational efficiencies and developing a competitive edge within the expanding and dynamic marketplace. Although TQM has many of its roots in the principles of total quality control, the main objectives of many current programmes rest on revising existing organizational attitudes and belief systems. Uses the experience of Pirelli Cables to describe employee responses to the process of establishing a “quality culture” and to illustrate how Japanese TQM programmes may not be well suited to building employee commitment within an Australian workforce which is culturally very erse.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-2008
Abstract: Manufacturers who seek innovative ways in which to differentiate their products and services should not overlook the value of showcasing their production facilities. By careful design, visitors can be exposed to a series of experiences that can help to emphasize the value built into products. This topic has, however, received almost no attention by manufacturing researchers. Therefore, this paper describes a study of six manufacturers and, from this, proposes a set of guidelines for showcasing production facilities. Although exploratory, this work provides both a guide to manufacturers and a platform for more in-depth research. The guidelines and the case studies on which they are based are all described within the paper.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-02-2007
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-1991
DOI: 10.1177/031289629101600102
Abstract: A narrow concept of industrial supervision continues to dominate discussion on the future rôle of the supervisor. Although the nature and purpose of workplace supervision has continuously evolved, there remains a general reluctance to accept the significance of these changes. Substantive shifts in supervisory control indicate that there is a far broader range of policy options available in the development of supervision than is currently suggested in the literature. It is therefore important that management understand what constitutes supervision if they wish to be active and constructive shapers rather than passive observers of tomorrow's front-line management. This paper examines the need to reconceptualise supervision and go beyond the simple dichotomy of technical competency and labour regulation. It is argued that the supervisor is neither an “Industrial Dinosaur” nor simply a “Lost Manager”, but a key organisational player whose position should be realigned to meet current organisational needs.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 1986
Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
Date: 2006
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1994
DOI: 10.1177/017084069401500205
Abstract: This paper formulates a new conceptual framework for understanding profes sional culture in organizational context. Our analysis begins with an attempt to identify the complex interplay between in idual sense-making, group beliefs and culture. The process of professionalization and the development of profes sional cultures is described and the influence of professional belief systems on organizational culture is examined. The inter-relationship between four different types of professional subculture and organizational culture is illustrated in a case- study analysis of an Australian home-care service. The stability of an organiza tion's operating environment is identified as a major factor which facilitates and constrains the propensity for professional subcultures to radically transform or incrementally refine dominant organizational cultures. The paper concludes with a critical reappraisal of the significance of professional subculture as a determin ant of an organization's cultural system.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-03-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-08-2012
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 27-03-2003
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-02-2011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2005
DOI: 10.1002/HFM.20034
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2001
DOI: 10.1002/HFM.1000
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-08-2014
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to explore time dilemmas in ethnographic research and develops a facilitating frame for thinking about temporality. Core concepts developed include: temporal awareness that refers to widening of the understanding and sensitivity to time issues temporal practices which relate to how the researcher learns to deal with, for ex le, contradictory conceptions of time in the pragmatics of conducting fieldwork and in the analysis of competing data and temporal merging which is used to refer to the interweaving of objective and subjective concepts of time, and to the way that the past and prospective futures shape human experience of the present. – An extended case study on workplace change is selectively drawn upon in discussing time and ethnographic research. Two closely related stories are used to illustrate aspects of temporality. These include a discussion of the way that stories in organizing, representing, simplifying and imposing structure (become theory-laden) often compressing the subjective experiences of lived time into a more formalized linear presentation that may inadvertently petrify temporal sensemaking and an examination of how the polyphony of storying during times of change highlights temporal sensemaking and sensegiving through asynchronous features that emphasize volatility and non-linearity in explaining the way that people experience change. – The conundrum that competing concepts of time often present for the researcher is in the juxtapositions that generate loose ends that appear to require resolution. Temporal merging in being able to accommodate the intertwining of objective and subjective time, temporal practices in being able to use different concepts of time without trying to resolve them during the collection and analyses of data, and temporal awareness in being able to accept the paradox of time in the use of a relational-temporal perspective, all open up opportunities for greater insight and understanding in engaging in ethnographic studies on changing organizations. – There are a number of practical implications that arise from the paper in doing longitudinal research on workplace change. Four summarized here comprise: the significance of sustained fieldwork and not trying to shortcut time dimension to ethnographic research the importance of developing temporal practices for dealing with objective and subjective time as well as the interweaving of temporal modes in data collection, analysis and write-up the value of engaging with rather than resolving contradictions chronological objective time is good for planning the research whilst subjective time is able to capture the non-linearity of lived time and the importance of context. – A new facilitating frame is developed for dealing with time tensions that are often downplayed in research through the concepts of temporal awareness, practices and merging. The frame provides temporal insight and promotes the use of a relational processual perspective. It is also shown how stories present in the data, in the writing up of material for different audiences, in chronologies and events, and in the sensemaking and sensegiving of in iduals and groups as they describe and shape their lived experiences of change – are useful devices for dealing with the conundrum of time in ethnographic research.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 11-2003
DOI: 10.1177/13505084030104001
Abstract: This article explores the value of investigating cultural change programmes as exercises in engineering deviance. It does so through a case study of an organizational development cultural change programme at Sprogwheels, a large Australian corporation. Drawing on and extending the classic work of Becker (1966), the article details how the programme combined a moral crusade against what it sought to have labelled as the ‘deviant conservatism’ of the existing organizational culture with social support for ‘deviant radicalism’, in the form of a counter-cultural, self-enterprising set of middle managers promoting corporate change. The article explores the complex and contradictory ideas of deviance that are deployed in such programmes, and examines the implications of a deviance analysis for an improved understanding of the dynamics of cultural change.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 11-08-2014
DOI: 10.1108/JOCM-12-2013-0245
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to examine the early stages of change and the way that stories can open up forms of collaborative dialogue and creative thinking among ergent stakeholders on known but “intractable” problems by enabling multiple voices to be heard in the co-construction of future possibilities for change. The empirical focus is on a project undertaken by two organizations located in Australia. The organizations – AAC, a large aged care provider and Southern Disability Services, a disability support service – collaborated with the researchers in identifying and re-characterizing the nature of the problem in the process of storying new pathways for tackling the transitioning needs of people with intellectual disabilities into aged care services. – An action research approach was used in conducting interviews in the case organizations to ascertain the key dimensions of the presenting problem and to identify change options, this was followed by an ethnographic study of a Pilot Project used to trial the provision of disability day service programmes within an aged care setting. – A key finding of the study centres on the importance of stories at the early stages of change in widening the arena of innovative opportunities, in facilitating collective acceptance of new ideas and in initiating action to resolve problems. The paper demonstrates how stories are used not only in retrospective sensemaking of existing problems but also in giving prospective sense to the possibilities for resolving protracted problems through innovative solutions that in turn facilitates a level of collective acceptance and commitment to opening up new pathways for change. – The paper focuses on problem characterization during the early stages of change and bring to the fore the often hidden notion of time in utilizing concepts from a range of literatures in examining temporality, stories and sensemaking in a context in which future possibilities are made sense of in the present through restorying experiences and events from the past. On a practical and policy front, the paper demonstrates the power of stories to mobilize commitment and action and presents material for rethinking change possibilities in the delivery of aged and disability care.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-08-2016
Abstract: The concept of communities of practice has generated considerable debate among scholars of management. Attention has shifted from a concern with the transmission and reproduction of knowledge towards their utility for enhancing innovative potential. Questions of governance, power, collaboration and control have all entered the debate with different theorizations emerging from a wide mix of empirical research. We appraise these key findings through a critical review of the literature. From a ergent range of findings, we identify four main ways in which communities of practice enable and constrain innovative capabilities as (a) enablers of learning for innovation, (b) situated platforms for professional occupations, (c) dispersed collaborative environments and (d) governance structures designed for purpose. Our conclusion signals the way forward for further research that could be used to improve our understanding of different contextual forms and how they may align with organizations in enabling rather than constraining innovative capabilities.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 03-2011
DOI: 10.5172/JMO.2011.17.2.146
Abstract: The power of stories to persuade in infl uencing the process of change is the focus of this article. Attention is given to the importance of stories in making sense of past experience, of unifying groups, and in presenting options for future engagement and action. Unlike the narrative concern with sequencing, coherence and the need for a beginning, middle and end, it is argued that stories are often partial and ongoing, occur at multiple levels compete, complement and redefine positions. The plurality and political nature of stories are illustrated in an analysis of data drawn from a longitudinal study of six health care sites in remote and rural Scotland. The study concludes by arguing that stories are a powerful political vehicle in influencing sense-making and a critical component in maintaining choice and defl ecting the imposition of a single simple solution (hegemonic influence) over various interpretations of what are complex context-based issues.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 07-2005
Abstract: Corporate narratives concerning technological change are often constructed around a linear event sequence that presents the organization in a positive light to internal and external observers. These narratives often sanitize the change process, and present data from which commentators can formulate neat linear prescriptions on how to implement new technology. In contrast, this article draws on processual-contextual theoretical perspectives to argue that technological change is a more complex political process represented by multiple versions of events which compete with each other for dominance as definitive change accounts. It also calls for an analysis of narratives over time (before, during and after change) in seeking to demonstrate the analytical significance of identifying and unpacking the multiple interpretive frameworks that are utilized in organizational struggles over technology and change at work. These struggles draw attention to the ways in which power is exercised through the construction and management of compelling stories that shape change. It is the contribution of these stories (competing narratives) to understanding the political process of technological change, that is the focus of this article.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-06-2007
DOI: 10.1108/09593840710758077
Abstract: This article sets out to draw on new empirical research to illustrate how the process of technological change is shaped by a combination of contextual elements that relate to the political and social history of Sudan. The developments in infrastructure, relationships with economically powerful industrialized countries, and the attitudes and perceptions of key decision makers are discussed Primary data were collected from fieldwork conducted in Sudan for six months, and this was combined with secondary data that were collected from several conventional sources. The design adopted a dual methodological approach that comprised a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. This article draws mainly on the qualitative data set, although a summary is provided of some of the main results from the questionnaire survey. The findings highlight the need for bank general managers and IT managers to collaborate in the establishment of IT strategies and in ensuring that there are sufficient staff and budgetary resources for successful implementation. There is also a need to develop comprehensive banking policies in Sudan in order to support the replacement of traditional manual methods of banking with more advanced computer‐based systems. Managing this process is not simply a technical issue, but a complex socio‐political challenge that requires management sensitivity to the context within which change is taking place. Fieldwork in Sudan was constrained by both time and limited financial resources, and further frustrated by a number of unanticipated access difficulties. Some of the survey findings may have been affected by missing data, and some of the interview data may have been affected by translation from Arabic into English. However, the multi‐strategy research employed in this study did prove effective in generating useful data. In the case of developing countries, the data sets and literature available are in short supply, and as such the findings contribute to this limited knowledge base in presenting new empirical evidence and analysis. The study highlights the importance of three broad categories – social‐political context, business economic and technological environment, and the historical and cultural climate of Sudan and the banking industry – in shaping the uptake and introduction of new technology in the Sudanese banking industry.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-1996
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2001
DOI: 10.1002/HFM.1006
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-1995
DOI: 10.1108/01437729510095944
Abstract: Summarizes the main objectives of the Australian Best Practice Demonstration Program and identifies a number of key human resource (HR) management issues. Argues that there has been a general shift in HR strategy away from the more adversarial, tightly controlled work regimes towards work structures which allow career development, skill enhancement and facilitate greater employee involvement. Examines some of these HR dimensions in an organizational setting – workplace restructuring at Mobil Adelaide Refinery. Presents a new approach to industrial relations which this company has developed: continual and open discussions between union delegates, employees and management to bring about new methods of work and pay agreements. Concludes with an overview of the process and outcomes of change and an appraisal of HR dimensions. Argues that it is only through consultative processes, which allow real gains for employees as well as management, that long‐term changes towards collaborative employee relations can be sustained.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-1991
DOI: 10.1108/02656719110143590
Abstract: The need for a strategic shift in senior management philosophy which encourages and promotes a culture of total employee involvement towards the attainment of service quality is one of the major competitive challenges facing the Australian banking industry in the 1990s. Some of these issues are addressed through a case‐study analysis of the origin, rationale and implementation of a quality service programme in the State Bank of South Australia. In examining these changes a historical outline of the State Bank of South Australia and an account of the research methodology used in the study form the introduction. This is followed by an analysis of the design and development of a programme of change and an identification of the key factors shaping the implementation of total quality management. In conclusion an assessment of the opportunities and constraints for the successful implementation of service‐quality delivery programmes in the Australian banking industry is given.
Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
Date: 2016
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 02-09-2003
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2003
Abstract: Organisational change stories are often constructed around a linear series of ‘successful’ events that serve to show the company in a positive light to any interested external party. These stories of company success sanitize complex change processes and offer data for change experts to formulate neat linear prescriptions on how to best manage change. This article criticizes this position and argues that change is a far more dynamic political process consisting of competing histories and ongoing multiple change narratives which may vie for dominance in seeking to be the change story. A central aim is to identify and unpack narratives of change in order to highlight a number of theoretical and methodological implications for management research. It is argued that post-hoc rationalized stories should not be used as a knowledge base for prescriptive lessons or theoretical developments, nor should research data simply be presented as a single authentic story of change. The need to study change overtime and to accommodate multiple stories that may be reshaped, replaced and modified raise critical issues of data collection and data analysis, as well as important questions on the place of the conventional case study as a conveyor of research findings. As such, the article calls for the more widespread use of the concept of ‘competing histories’ and ‘multiple change narratives’ in longitudinal studies that seek to explain processes of organisational change.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-03-2018
DOI: 10.1111/IJMR.12178
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-1991
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-03-2014
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 24-02-2004
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-01-2013
Abstract: This article examines the extent to which the storying lens provides useful purchase in understanding the sensemaking processes that occur in the hegemonic struggle over collective identities during contested change. Our interest is in how stories are shaped within the context of workplace change the limitations of existing story types for making sense of the data temporality as it relates to change processes and story types and the use of stories to legitimate identity in the power-political dynamics of change. The empirical material draws on a study of miners’ storied responses to the introduction of a performance appraisal system for underground workers at an Australian colliery.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 26-06-2007
DOI: 10.1108/00251740710762044
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to show that too often decisions concerning change are made on the basis of partial understanding, limited data and unreflective assumptions about people and organizations. In the discussion of the Socratic dialogue the aim is to uncover a useful method for ensuring more reflective decision making that involves active participation of employees on the receiving end of change. Although dialogue is used in management processes today, it is contended that the Socratic dialogue is particularly useful in making sense of complex change processes. Data drawn from research conducted in two UK higher education institutions are used to illustrate how lack of knowledge and understanding often pervades and constrains change, and how techniques of Socratic dialogue can be used to secure higher levels of employee involvement and commitment to change. It is argued that Socratic dialogue can be used as a practical tool to facilitate “participative” change and contend that further research is required to develop the use of this method as a qualitative research instrument for uncovering data on processes of change in organizations. If practised consistently by organizational members, the Socratic techniques can lead to a more concrete understanding of the complexities of changing organizations. It is a collective process of change through critical questioning and, as such, it lends itself to further exploration on the part of both change managers and qualitative researchers for its uses as a diagnostic and research instrument.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 25-05-2011
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Patrick Dawson.