A contingency theory of rhetorical congruence

I argue that attempts to adapt structure to contingencies will be unsuccessful unless there is also rhetorical congruence, which has two parts. First, rhetorical congurence exists if rhetoric is appropriate to contingencies. For example, decentralization aimed at increasing local initiative will lead to more requests by headquarters for advice from subsidiaries. Second, it exists if the various rhetorical processes are in balance with one another. For example, as the environment becomes more uncertain and as more differentiation rhetoric is used in response, further integration rhetoric will be prompted to establish balance

Hierarchical order in different organisational forms

Studies of the context in which discourse occurs focusing on hierarchical order in different organisational forms, with implications for organizational theories which make relevant assumptions about structure and constraint

Strategic intent as a rhetorical device

Strategic intent is a useful concept in accounting for purpose and continuity of goals in an organization adapting to internal and external developmental pressures. Yet, extant literature on strategic intent does not account for heterogeneity of goals within an organization. Indeed, there is confusion over who possesses strategic intent. In this paper, we seek to revitalize the concept of strategic intent by exploring its potential as a rhetorical device. Based on philosophical theory of collective agency, we argue that to realize the integrative promise of strategic intent in organizations, achieving coherence between multiple intents is the most viable option. Drawing from rhetorical theories, we investigate the processes involved in diffusing intent and building coherence between multiple intents.Strategic intent Rhetoric Agency Coherence Strategy

Managing false starts: managerial sensegiving and sensebreaking in response to an interrupted strategic change effort

We examine managerial sensegiving in the context of a false start, a planned strategic change that was cancelled. Based on a longitudinal, ethnographic study of an organizational merger process, we examine an early success in managerial sensegiving to the merger and the subsequent failure in responding to its cancellation. We find that the staff's rejection of managerial sensegiving was connected to the management's previous sensegiving efforts. The managers, faced with employees' ambivalence about change, wanted to facilitate strategic change by discrediting the established strategy. After merger cancellation, the managers failed in convincing the staff to return to a strategy similar to one they had discredited. We highlight organizational cynicism as an outcome of sensegiving failure and discuss the problems of 'organizational sensebreaking', the discrediting of prevailing strategy in order to facilitate change. We find that organizational sensebreaking, by dissolving ambivalence among the staff, also dissolves resilience if unexpected environmental shocks are encountered

Getting acceptance that radically new working practices are required: institutionalization of arguments about change in a healthcare organization

This article considers data from a hospital that was introducing an experimental new facility onto an existing site, including the process of institutionalization of the argument 'The new facility requires radically new working practices.' The data are used to test a proposed integration of Barley and Tolbert's (1997) model of the psychological mechanisms involved in institutionalization with a political model of how motives vary during the stages of organizational change. There is some empirical support for a congruence between the two models, namely, that psychological encoding matches with political recognition, psychological enactment matches with political transition, and psychological replication and externalization match with political consolidation

Reversal of Strategic Change

When planned change is cancelled, managers may be tempted to reverse their organization’s strategy. Our longitudinal case study documents a cancelled merger effort and a failed attempt to return to the organization’s widely accepted pre-merger strategy. We trace the failure to contradictions in symbolic change management. The phenomenon of change reversal draws attention to the historical continuity of sensemaking and raises caution about the popular view that managers need to destroy organizational meaning in order to facilitate the realization of strategic change