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Final Reminder: PAPER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP ON ORGANIZATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
Sponsored by the Organization & Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management, Academy of Management Journal, and the University of Edinburgh Business School
To be held at:
University of Edinburgh Business School, May 1-3, 2014
Abstract Deadline: February 15, 2014
The ability to design and execute programmes of large-scale transformation has been seen as central to organizational performance. Indeed, changes to the technological, economic, sociocultural and geopolitical environments in which organizations operate have rendered the ability of organizations to negotiate periods of large-scale change an increasingly important characteristic of organizational survival. With that said, it remains something of a truism to note that organizational change is inherently difficult to accomplish with studies of private and public sector organizations suggesting that about 70% of change programmes fail to be implemented as planned (e.g. Amis et al., 2004; Beer & Nohria, 2000; Ford & Ford, 2009; Hinings & Greenwood, 1988). Such difficulties point to the inherent complexities involved in bringing about large-scale transformations, something that has often been lost in many of the apparently straightforward prescriptions of how change should be carried out. Indeed, a failure to capture the cultural, political and social dynamics incumbent in change attempts has been a point of ongoing concern for many change scholars (e.g. Heracleous, 2002; Pettigrew, 1987; Plowman et al., 2007). One body of work has sought to advance our understanding of these change imperatives by focusing on change processes. Such work is well positioned to draw attention to the ways in which organizational imperatives emerge, develop, and/or decline over time (Langley et al., 2013). As yet, however, many questions remain, including: the ways in which change may unfold episodically or continuously; understanding when and why some change programs are more effective than others; and, unveiling how imperatives such as pacing, sequencing, and linearity (Amis et al., 2004), power (Clegg et al., 2006; Greenwood & Hinings, 1996; Lawrence, 2008), or individual agency (MacKay & Chia, 2013) effect change outcomes.
Institutional theorists have begun to assess similar questions. Long considered a theory of stasis rather than change, recent work has problematized the ways in which institutional change may take place. Such work has placed an emphasis on uncovering the ways in which values and meanings, symbolically and technically, affect the ways in which fields, and the prominent entities within them, change over time. Questions have focused on whether change tends to arise from the center or the periphery of the field (Greenwood & Suddaby, 2006; Leblebici et al., 1991), the roles of institutional entrepreneurs in initiating change (DiMaggio 1988; Munir and Phillips, 2005; Maguire, Hardy and Lawrence 2004), the ways in which actors, in various roles, can act to create, maintain and/or disrupt institutions (e.g., Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006; Lawrence et al., 2009)—even when actors are embedded in the very institutions that they are seeking to alter (e.g., Battilana & D’Aunno, 2009 ); how change mechanisms interact across multiple levels in a field (e.g., Wright & Zammuto, 2013); and how multiple institutional logics combine to create a context for change (Greenwood et al., 2010; Thornton et al., 2012). While it remains in a nascent state, such work offers interesting research opportunities in all of these areas.
About the Workshop
This workshop offers an opportunity for scholars to develop their ongoing work related to organizational and/or institutional change. The workshop will be developmental - each paper will have a senior scholar as a discussant. Confirmed participants include Gerry George (Imperial College), Jennifer Howard-Grenville (University of Oregon), Paul Tracey (Cambridge University), Nelson Phillips (Imperial College) and John Amis (University of Edinburgh). Authors will also receive feedback from peers with similar research interests. It should be of particular interest for colleagues recently graduated with a Ph.D., or doctoral students with quite well developed manuscripts. At the same time, the workshop is suitable for any paper that falls within the broad topic areas discussed above. Selection of papers will be done through submission of extended abstracts (maximum 5 pages). The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 15, 2014. Successful authors will be notified of the acceptance of their papers by February 28, 2014. Full papers will be required by April 15, 2014.
Logistics and Support to Participants
The University of Edinburgh Business School is pleased to host and jointly organize this workshop with the OMT Division of the Academy of Management and the Academy of Management Journal. The OMT division will provide travel grants of US$500 for up to 5 PhD students, advanced in their research, who can attend the conference. The conference will consist of around 30 young faculty, student participants and senior colleagues who will discuss papers and offer developmental advice. The atmosphere is expected to be collegial, informal, but centered on progressing working papers. The Academy of Management Journal’s Editor and members of the AMJ editorial board will provide insight on the publication process, and getting your work into leading journals. Some meals will be provided, but participants must make their own travel arrangements and pay for accommodation (we will provide recommendations of where to stay). If participants wish to extend their trip to enjoy Edinburgh and the surrounding area, we can help with advice and arrangements.
Contacts for questions on the conference and submission of abstracts:
John Amis,
john.amis@ed.ac.uk<mailto:
john.amis@ed.ac.uk>
Nelson Phillips,
n.phillips@imperial.ac.uk<mailto:
n.phillips@imperial.ac.uk>
Professor John Amis
Chair in Strategic Management & Organisation
University of Edinburgh Business School
29 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9JS
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (0)131 651 5545 (o)
+44 (0)7758 138971 (m)
E-mail:
john.amis@ed.ac.uk<mailto:
john.amis@ed.ac.uk>
Skype: john_amis
Homepage<http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/about/people/924/John/Amis>
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