Organizing reflexivity in designed change: The ethnoventionist approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the role of intervention/oriented scientists in the process of organisation development. The paper seeks to contribute to the growing interest in design studies for organisation development and argues that a focus on reflexivity is missing in current debate. The aim of the paper to develop critical reflexiveness for organization design studies by introducing the ethnoventionist approach. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the ideal forms of clinical inquiry, participative action research, ethnography, and the ethnoventionist approach. The ethnoventionist approach is described by its central aspects: a focus on reflexivity, a management (but not managerialist) orientation, commitment to obtaining a deep understanding, connecting the multi/layered context, and studying in pre/arranged longitudinal intervals. Findings – The ethnoventionist approach uses organisational ethnographies to facilitate intervention strategies intended to improve organisations. An example of such an approach in the design of new collaborative practices in the Dutch construction sector is drawn on. Practical implications – The essence of the ethnoventionist approach is to obtain a deeper understanding of organisational change. The ethnoventionist approach helps to overcome a lack of attention to management in current ethnographic bodies of knowledge and to deepen existing management approaches to change dynamics. Ethnoventionist approaches can be very useful for intervention/oriented studies of change processes which require high levels of engagement and which produce high/quality ethnographic data. Originality/value – This paper explores a new research approach that has not been discussed previously. © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limite

Scheiden doet leiden

Met een hoorcollege in een goed gevuld Groot Auditorium nam professor van Braam op 30 september afscheid van 'zijn' Leidse bestuurskunde

Constructing new working practices through project narratives

In this article we focus on the (internal and external) dynamics of New Public Management (NPM) in the daily life of project management. We concentrate on the ways NPM concepts work out in the realities of project actors. Based on recent research within the Dutch infrastructure sector, we analyse alternative responses to perceived problems in the infrastructure sector by focusing on ‘project narratives’. Next to compliance, these narratives feature deterrence (a strong resistance to the change concept), dilution (blurring of the initial ambitions) and dissociation (confusion over the societal value of the project). The article shows how project narratives provide organisational members with space to make sense of and contest the new managerial initiatives and value systems imposed upon them. © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd