Löwstedt, M; Räisänen, C and Stenberg, A C (2011) How does change happen in a large construction company: Comparing objectified and lived versions of change. In: Egbu, C and Lou, E C W (eds.) Proceedings of 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2011, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
That change is a part of organizational life has been well documented in the literature, but how change emerges over time and is interpreted warrants further research. Much of the existing literature portrays organizational change as detached episodes based on a single perspective, accounting either for the content, the context, or the process. This paper traces the development in a large construction company from 1990 to the present and compares an objectified (documented) version with a lived version of change in order to elucidate the multifaceted nature of organizational change. The data is part of an ongoing longitudinal case study which to date comprises, 27 in-depth interviews with lower- to high-level actors, and documentation covering the period. The analysis is structured around the two versions of change and enhances their main differences. Change seems to be continuous and trend-related in the objectified version and discontinuous and reactive in the lived version. Conclusions from this study are: researchers need to apply an interpretative approach when studying organizational change; and, if the actors in a construction company interpret change to be reactive and discontinuous then those interpretations might reflect and enact a passive company culture.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | change; diachronic perspective; interpretative approach; multiple perspectives; organizational change |
| Index terms: | accounting, case study, interview, organizational change, construction company, documentation |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, organization, business, data collection methods, professional development |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here