Managing Change in Extreme Contexts (Routledge Studies in Organizational Change & Development) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415532809 ISBN 13: 9780415532808

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

Extreme events such as accidents, crises and disasters occur in organizations of all types. Sometimes these hit the headlines, but they also occur regularly beyond the public gaze. What follows is normally an investigation in which ‘lessons will be learned’ and the event ‘must never happen again’. These produce recommendations to limit the damage from a future event, or to prevent it altogether. In many cases, this doesn’t happen, and the changes are not implemented. Why should this be the case?

Containing a unique collection of cross-sector and international case studies, this book investigates the conditions and processes that encourage or inhibit change after an extreme event. There are nine research-based cases including: a re-examination of change in Haringey Social Services in the aftermath of the deaths of Victoria Climbié and ‘Baby P’; a leak at Sellafield Nuclear reprocessing plant; an explosion on an offshore gas platform operated by Centrica Storage, and the multi-agency response to bush fires in Australia.

In providing a comprehensive analysis of organizational change and crisis management, the book identifies a common event sequence and recurrent issues, themes and mechanisms. The cross-case analysis provides both unique insights into organizational change following extreme events and realistic guidance for improving change implementation. The result is a resource that will be vital reading for advanced students, researchers and managers involved with organizational studies and crisis management.

About this title

Review:

‘The field of Organizational Change needs a book dedicated to the nature of change in extreme events. I welcome this book as a great contribution in advancing our understanding of the nature of such changes in a range of contexts, especially as it draws attention to the modes of learning crisis which invites all those involved to engage in.’ - Elena P. Antonacopoulou, Professor, GNOSIS, University of Liverpool Management School, UK

‘Denyer, Pilbeam and contributors have used a set of diverse and affecting cases to give researchers and practitioners a common event sequence that are a powerful set of tools for understanding and undoing the mess of change in extreme contexts.’ - Timothy J. Vogus, Associate Professor of Management, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, USA

'This book focuses on an often forgotten phase of emergency management. I am pleased to see this gap being filled.' - Caroline McMullan, Director of MSc Emergency Management, Dublin City University, Ireland

About the Author:

David Denyer is Professor of Organizational Change at Cranfield University, UK

Colin Pilbeam is Senior Research Fellow in Organization Studies at Cranfield University, UK

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0415532809
• ISBN 13: 9780415532808
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 324
• Editor: Denyer David, Pilbeam Colin