Managing Change: Enquiry and Action

The ability to manage change successfully is an essential part of business. It is a skill that is much valued by employers, and it is therefore one of the most commonly delivered courses. This book helps you to understand three key activities for managing change: diagnosing, explaining and enacting. Both practical and action-oriented, it gives students and managers the tools they need to deal with the messy reality of change. It combines theory and diagnostic tools with practical examples that focus on actions and outcomes. It also includes short vignettes and longer cases, from a range of international contexts, for classroom study or for use on distance learning courses. Managing Change is written for advanced undergraduates and graduate students taking modules on change management, strategy and organizations. Its class-tested approach has been successfully delivered in a wide variety of settings, including over fifty executive short courses with FTSE-listed businesses.

Table of Contents:
Part I. Foundations: 1. Approaches to practising change management; 2. Current perspectives and classic ideas; Part II. Diagnosing: 3. Clarity and ambiguity; 4. Engagement and vitality; 5. Stakeholder positioning and dynamics; 6. Culture, habits and unlearning; Part III. Enacting Change: 7. Changing structure; 8. Identity and change; 9. Choosing customers and competitors; 10. Changing processes; 11. Aligning people and activities; 12. Learning and developing; 13. Change through dialogue; Part IV. Explaining: 14. Developing and interpreting evidence and reflexive learning; 15. Accounting for change; 16. Conclusions; Part V. Extended Cases: Case 1. ABB; Case 2. ITS Canada; Case 3. Island Opera; Case 4. Oticon; Case 5. Admiral Insurance; Case 6. Power Provision; Case 7. Nokia; Case 8. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs; Case 9. Apple; Index.

About the Author :
Nic Beech is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews, Vice Chair of the British Academy of Management and Lead Fellow of the UK Advanced Institute of Management. He has undertaken significant projects funded by the ESRC, EU and industry partners and his five previous books include Human Resource Management: A Concise Analysis (with E. McKenna, 2008) and Managing Creativity (with B. Townley, Cambridge, 2010). He presents regularly to professional and business executives and teaches at undergraduate and graduate levels. Robert MacIntosh is Chair in Strategic Management at the University of Glasgow Business School. He has worked with a range of FTSE-listed businesses, large public organizations and many small to medium sized firms. In recent years, he has co-chaired the Action Research SWG of the European Group for Organization Studies, been a member of Council for the British Academy of Management and has been appointed as a visiting professor at Edinburgh Business School. Originally trained as an engineer, he has over twenty years experience of teaching and researching change management.

Review :
'This is a fresh and exciting look at the theory and practice of managing organizational change. Beech and MacIntosh's enquiry and action approach provides a framework that incorporates both well established and newer thinking and practices used in change management and organization development. The well written mix of theory, practical application, and cases makes the book an excellent choice for practising managers, consultants, and students. An outstanding contribution that could change how you think about and approach organizational change.' Robert J. Marshak, American University 'In these turbulent and uncertain times everyone and every organisation has to manage change. In this wide ranging and thought provoking book Nic Beech and Robert MacIntosh provide valuable insight and guidance into the practice of change. A great read, which I wholeheartedly recommend.' Andy Neely, University of Cambridge 'This book combines conceptual sophistication with a strong concern for practice - an unusual achievement, in my view. Noting that organizing is always unfinished, that organizations are always in process, and that change is ever present and ambiguous, Beech and MacIntosh make a persuasive case for complex ways of managing complex organizational change. As well as writing about the inescapable politics of change and the difficulties of changing culture and habits, they usefully highlight the importance of language and dialogue for engaging people, handling differences, and enacting change. A sophisticated book illuminating enquiry for effective action.' Haridimos Tsoukas, University of Warwick and Columbia Ship Management Professor of Strategic Management, University of Cyprus