This interpretive study of change in a U.K.-based college focuses on the divergent understandings of senior managers and two distinct cohorts of their subordinates in a postmerger situation. The authors found that the senior managers told a narrative of epic change, whereas the two subordinate groups both authored recognizably tragic narratives. The research contribution this article makes is threefold. First, they argue that groups' narrations of their working lives both are influenced by psychological processes (such as categorization, self-enhancement, and uncertainty reduction) and draw on broadly available cultural resources (for example, literary genres). Second, they contend that change in organizations is, at least in part, constituted by alterations in people's understandings, encoded in narratives, and shared in conversations. Third, they suggest that group narratives are not merely exercises in sense making but may be hegemonic and have psychic prison effects.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abrams, D., & Hogg, M. A. (1988). Comments on the motivational status of self-esteem in social identity and intergroup discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 317-334.
2.
Alderfer, C. P. (1987). An intergroup perspective on group dynamics. In J. W. Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behaviour (pp. 190-222). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
Alderfer, C. P., & Smith, K. K. (1982). Studying intergroup relations embedded in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 35-65.
4.
Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
5.
Baty, P. (2000, October 17). Quality boss mars new labour vision. Times Higher Education Supplement,p.1.
6.
Beech, N. (2000). Narrative styles of management and workers: A tale of star-crossed lovers. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 36(2), 210-228.
7.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. New York: Anchor.
8.
Bettman, J. R., & Weitz, B. A. (1983). Attributions in the board room: Causal reasoning in corporate annual reports. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 165-183.
9.
Blaikie, N. (2000). Designing social research. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
10.
Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J. S. (1979). Intergroup problem solving in organizations: From theory to practice. In W. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 19-31). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
11.
Boje, D. M. (1995). Stories of the storytelling organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as “Tamara- Land.” Academy of Management Journal, 38(4), 997-1035.
12.
Bowra, C. M. (1945). From Virgil to Milton. London: Macmillan.
13.
Bradley, G. W. (1978). Self-serving biases in the attribution process: A reexamination of the fact or fiction question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 56-71.
14.
Brereton, G. (1968). Principles of tragedy. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press.
15.
Brewer, M. B., & Miller, N. (1984). Beyond the contact hypothesis: Theoretical perspectives on desegregation. In N. Miller & M. B. Brewer (Eds.), Groups in contact: The psychology of desegregation (pp. 281-302). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
16.
Brickson, S., & Brewer, M. (2001). Identity orientation and intergroup relations in organizations. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 49-66). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
17.
Brown, A. D. (1998). Narrative, politics and legitimacy in an IT implementation. Journal of Management Studies, 35(1), 35-58.
18.
Brown, A. D. (2000). Making sense of inquiry sensemaking. Journal of Management Studies, 37(1), 45-75.
19.
Brown, M. H. (1986). Sensemaking and narrative forms: Reality construction in organizations. In L. Thayer (Ed.), Organization-communication, emerging perspectives 1 (pp. 71-84). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
20.
Brown, M. H., & Kreps, G. L. (1993). Narrative analysis and organizational development. In S. E. Herndon & G. L. Kreps (Eds.), Qualitative research: Applications in organizational communication (pp. 47-62). Creskill, NJ: Hampton.
21.
Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
22.
Bryman, A. (Ed.). (1988). Doing research in organizations. London: Routledge.
23.
Buono, A. F., Bowditch, J. L., & Lewis, J. W., III. (1985). When cultures collide: The anatomy of a merger. Human Relations, 38, 477-500.
24.
Burgess, R. G. (1984). In the field: An introduction to field research. London: Allen and Unwin.
25.
Burke, K. (1968). Definition of man. In K. Burke (Ed.), Language as symbolic action: Essays on life, literature, and method (pp. 3-24). Berkeley: University of California Press.
26.
Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis. London: Heinemann Educational Books.
27.
Campbell, D. T. (1958). Common fate, similarity, and other indices of the status of aggregates of persons as social entities. Behavioral Science, 3, 14-25.
28.
Campbell, J. (1988). The hero with a thousand faces. London: Paladin.
29.
Clegg, S. R. (1989). Frameworks of power. London: Sage.
30.
Coffey, A., & Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data: Complementary research strategies. London: Sage.
31.
Cook, S. W. (1962). The systematic analysis of socially significant events. Journal of Social Issues, 18, 66-84.
32.
Currie, M. (1998). Postmodern narrative theory. New York: St. Martin's.
33.
Czarniawska, B. (1997). Narrating the organization, dramas of institutional identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
Dandridge, T. C., Mitroff, I., & Joyce, W. F. (1980). Organizational symbolism: A topic to expand organizational analysis. Academy of Management Review, 5, 77-82.
35.
Denzin, N. K. (1998). The art and politics of interpretation. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (pp. 313-344). Sage: London.
36.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1998). The fifth moment. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The landscape of qualitative research (pp. 407-429). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Drakakis, J., & Liebler, N. C. (1998). Tragedy. London: Longman.
38.
Dutton, J. E., Ashford, S. J., O'Neill, R. M., & Lawrence, K. A. (2001). Moves that matter: Issue selling and organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 716-736.
39.
Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 517-554.
40.
Elsbach, K. D. (1999). An expanded model of organizational identification. In R. Sutton & B. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 21, pp. 163-199). Stanford, CA: JAI.
41.
Filby, I., & Willmott, H. (1988). Ideologies and contradictions in a public relations department: The seduction and impotence of living myth. Organization Studies, 9(3), 335-349.
42.
Fisher, W. R. (1984). Narration as a human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs, 51, 1-22.
43.
Ford, J. D. (1999). Organizational change as shifting conversations. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12, 480-500.
44.
Ford, J. D., & Ford, L. W. (1995). The role of conversations in producing intentional change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 19, 756-785.
45.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage.
46.
Frye, N. (1957). Anatomy of criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
47.
Fuentes, C. (1990). Myself with others. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux.
48.
Gabriel, Y. (1999). Storytelling in organizations. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
49.
Gaertner, S., Bachman, B. A., Dovidio, J., & Banker, B. S. (2001). Corporate mergers and stepfamily marriages: Identity, harmony, and commitment. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 265-282). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
50.
Gaertner, S., Mann, J. A., Dovidio, J., Murrell, A. J., & Pomare, M. (1990). How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 239-249.
51.
Gagliardi, P. (1986). The creation and change of organizational cultures: A conceptual framework. Organization Studies, 2, 117-134.
52.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
53.
Geertz, C. (1988). Works and lives: The anthropologist as author. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
54.
Gioia, D. A., & Thomas, J. B. (1996). Identity, image, and issue interpretation: Sensemaking during strategic change in academia. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 370-403.
55.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine.
56.
Goody, J., & Watt, I. (1962-1963). The consequences of literacy. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5, 304-326, 332-345.
57.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
58.
Green, A., & Lucas, N. (1999). Repositioning further education: A sector for the 21st century. In A. Green & N. Lucas (Eds.), F.E. and lifelong learning: Realigning the sector for the 21st century. London: University of London, Institute of Education.
59.
Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
60.
Haslam, S. A. (2001). Psychology in organizations: The social identity approach. London: Sage.
61.
Hawkins, P. (1997). Organizational culture: Sailing between evangelism and complexity. Human Relations, 50, 417-440.
62.
Heilman, R. B. (1968). Tragedy and melodrama. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
63.
Heracleous, L., & Barrett, M. (2001). Organizational change as discourse: Communicative actions and deep structures in the context of information technology implementation. Academy of Management Review, 44, 755-788.
64.
Hewstone, M., & Brown, R. (1986). Contact is not enough: An intergroup perspective on the “contact” hypothesis. In M. Hewstone & R. Brown (Eds.), Contact and conflict in intergroup encounters (pp. 1-14). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
65.
Hogg, M. A. (2000). Self-categorization and subjective uncertainty resolutions: Cognitive and motivational facets of social identity and group membership. In J. P. HoForgas, K. D. Williams, & L. Wheeler (Eds.), The social mind: Cognitive and motivational aspects of interpersonal behavior (pp. 323-349). New York: Cambridge University Press.
66.
Hogg, M. A., & Mullin, B. A. (1999). Joining groups to reduce uncertainty: Subjective uncertainty reduction and group identification. In D. Abrams & M. A. Hogg (Eds.), Social identity and social cognition (pp. 249-279). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
67.
Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. T. (2001). Social identity theory and organizational processes. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 1-12). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
68.
Huber, G. P., & Daft, R. L. (1987). The information environments of organizations. In F. M. Jalin, L. L. Putnam, K. H. Roberts, & L. W. Porter (Eds.), Handbook of organizational communication (pp. 130-164). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
69.
Humphreys, M., & Brown, A. D. (2002a). Dress and identity: A Turkish case study. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 927-952.
70.
Humphreys, M., & Brown, A. D. (2002b). Narratives of organizational identity and identification: A case study of hegemony and resistance. Organization Studies, 39(3), 421-448.
71.
Humphreys, M., Brown, A. D., & Hatch, M. J. (2003). Is ethnography jazz? Organization, 10(1), 5-31.
72.
Hyland, T., & Merrill, B. (2003). The changing face of further education. London: Routledge-Falmer.
73.
Isabella, L. A. (1990). Evolving interpretations as a change unfolds: How managers construe key organizational events. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 7-41.
74.
Janis, I. R. (1972). Victims of groupthink. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
75.
Jeffcutt, P. (1994). The interpretation of organization: A contemporary analysis and critique. Journal of Management Studies, 31(2), 225-250.
76.
Jermier, J. M., Knights, D., & Nord, W. R. (1994). Resistance and power in organization. London: Routledge.
77.
Jost, J. T., & Elsbach, K. D. (2001). How status and power differences erode personal and social identities at work: A system justification critique of organizational applications of social identity theory. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 181-196). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
78.
King, N. (1994). The qualitative research interview. In C. Cassell & G. Symon (Eds.), Qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 16-36). London: Sage.
79.
Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in a social science. New York: Harper.
80.
Louis, M. R. (1980). Surprise and sensemaking: What newcomers experience in entering unfamiliar organizational settings. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 226-251.
81.
Lumby, K. (2001). Managing further education: Learning enterprise. London: Paul Chapman.
82.
Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans.). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
83.
MacIntyre, A. (1981). After virtue: A study in moral theory. Paris: University of Notre Dame Press.
84.
Martin, J. (1982). Stories and scripts in organizational settings. In A. Hastorf & A. Isen (Eds.), Cognitive social psychology (pp. 225-305). New York: Elsevier-North Holland.
85.
Martin, W. (1986). Recent theories of narrative. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
86.
Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
87.
McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 295-321.
88.
Miller, D. T. (1978). What constitutes a self-serving attributional bias? A reply to Bradley. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1221-1223.
89.
Miller, D. T., & Ross, M. (1975). Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction. Psychology Bulletin, 82, 213-225.
90.
Mink, L. O. (1978). Narrative form as a cognitive instrument. In R. H. Canary (Ed.), The writing of history (pp. 129-149). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
91.
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of organization (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
92.
Mumby, D., & Stohl, C. (1991). Power and discourse in organization studies: Absence and dialectic of control. Discourse and Society, 2, 313-332.
93.
Orlikowski, W. J. (1996). Improvising organizational transformation over time: A situated change perspective. Information Systems Research, 7, 63-92.
94.
Pettigrew, A. M. (1985). The awakening giant: Continuity and change in ICI. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
95.
Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. (1978). Organizational decision making as a political process: The case of a university budget. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19, 135-151.
96.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human science. Albany: State University of New York.
97.
Pondy, L. R., & Mitroff, I. I. (1979). Beyond open systems of organization. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 3-39). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
98.
Quinn, R. E., & Kimberly, J. R. (1984). Paradox, planning and perseverance: Guidelines for managerial practice. In J. Kimberly & R. Quinn (Eds.), New futures: The challenge of managing organizational transitions (pp. 295-314). Homewood, IL: Dow Jones/Irwin.
99.
Ranson, S., Hinings, B., & Greenwood, R. (1980). The structuring of organizational structures. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 1-14.
100.
Rhodes, C. (2000). “Doing” knowledge at work: Dialogue, monologue and power in organizational learning. In J. Garrick & C. Rhodes (Eds.), Research and knowledge at work (pp. 217-231). London: Routledge.
101.
Rhodes, C. (2001). Writing organization, (re)presentation and control in narratives at work. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
102.
Robinson, J. A. (1981). Personal narratives reconsidered. Journal of American Folklore, 94, 58-85.
103.
Rosen, M. (1985). Breakfast at Spiro's: Dramaturgy and dominance. Journal of Management, 11(2), 31-48.
104.
Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (1995). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. London: Sage.
105.
Salzer-Morling, M. (1998). As God created the earth...A sage that makes sense? In D. Grant, T. Keenoy, & C. Oswick (Eds.), Discourse and organization (pp. 104-118). London: Sage.
106.
Sarason, S. B. (1996). Revisiting “the culture of the school and the problem of change.” New York: Teachers College Press.
107.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2003). Research methods for business students. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
108.
Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
109.
Schopler, J., & Insko, C. A. (1992). The discontinuity effect in interpersonal and intergroup relations: Generality and mediation. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 121-151). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
110.
Schweiger, D. M., & Weber, Y. (1989). Strategies for managing human resources during mergers and acquisitions: An investigation. Human Resource Planning, 12, 69-86.
111.
Silverman, D. (1993). Interpreting qualitative data. London: Sage.
112.
Smithers, A., & Robinson, P. (Eds.). (2000). Further education re-formed. London: Falmer.
113.
Starbuck, W. H. (1976). Organizations and their environments. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1069-1123). Chicago: Rand McNally.
114.
Starbuck, W. H., & Milliken, F. J. (1988). Executives' perceptual filters: What they notice and how they make sense. In D. C. Hambrick (Ed.), The executive effect: Concepts and methods for studying top managers (pp. 35-65). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
115.
Staw, B. M. (1980). Rationality and justification in organizational life. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior 2 (pp. 45-80). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
116.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
117.
Sutton, R. I., & Kahn, R. L. (1987). Prediction, understanding and control as antidotes to organizational stress. In J. W. Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 272-285). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
118.
Tajfel, H. (1972). Social categorization. English manuscript of “La categorisation sociale.” In S. Moscovici (Ed.), Introduction a la psychologie sociale (Vol. 1, pp. 272-303). Paris: Larousse.
119.
Terry, D. J. (2001). Intergroup relations and organizational mergers. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 229-247). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
120.
Tsoukas, H., & Chia, R. (2002). On organizational becoming: Rethinking organizational change. Organization Science, 13, 567-582.
121.
Van Knippenberg, D., & Van Leeuwen, E. (2001). Organizational identity after a merger: Sense of continuity as the key to postmerger identification. In M. A. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 249-264). Ann Arbor, MI: Taylor and Francis.
122.
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
123.
Wallemaq, A., & Sims, D. (1998). The struggle with sense. In D. Grant, T. Keenoy, & C. Oswick (Eds.), Discourse and organization (pp. 119-133). London: Sage.
124.
Waterman, R. H. (1990). Adhocracy: The power to change. Memphis, TN: Whittle Direct Books.
125.
Weber, P. S., & Manning, M. R. (2001). Cause maps, sensemaking, and planned organizational change. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 37, 227-251.
126.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
127.
Weick, K. E., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 361-386.
128.
Witten, M. (1993). Narrative and the culture of obedience at the workplace. In D. K. Mumby (Ed.), Narrative and social control: Critical perspectives (pp. 97-118). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
