Un‐entwining monological narratives of change through dramaturgical and narrative analyses

The concept of a single reality view of social situations has been problematized and deconstructed in recent critical literature on organizations. However, much of the managerial literature promotes concepts and models of unity, and hence much managerial intent and action is still bounded by convergent and exclusive thinking, within a unified and unifying structure. In critically engaging with notions of unity and convergence in an organizational context, we seek to promote divergent thinking that accepts that organizational actors perceive multiple realities, and that these are not unstructured, but are framed by micro‐level structures that are both constraining of, and constructed within these realities. We apply dramaturgical and narrative analyses to elucidate and elaborate organizational actors' complex realities of the experience of change through tracing and deconstructing the various narrative lines which were intertwined in monological accounts that predominated in the organizational situation from which our illustrations are drawn. The illustrative examples for this paper are drawn from a series of longitudinal interventions within a large public sector organization, investigated through multi‐methods including consultancy projects, structured and unstructured interviews, questionnaires and participant observation. The material drawn from the various interventions has been subject to reflection and critical examination over time and from a number of perspectives.     

Impact of a randomized possible selves experiment on new retirees’ physical activity and identity

Background

Retirement is not always associated with greater engagement in physical activity. Previous interventions informed by possible selves, a type of future-oriented self-representation, proved useful to increase physical activity in young adults. We thus wanted to explore if a similar intervention would yield favorable outcomes in new retirees. We also examined whether possible selves could help increase identity relative to the physical activity context. Identity circumscribes the meanings which help individuals define who they are in a given role (i.e., what it means to be a physically active person). The strength of identification as a physically active person increases when individuals endorse these meanings more strongly. Possible selves may be tied to identity as they allow individuals to imagine themselves as physically active, which has been argued to incite changes to one’s sense of self. Hence, the overall aim of this study was to determine whether a possible selves intervention would increase physical activity behaviour and physical activity identity in a group of newly-retired individuals.

Methods

A total of 294 participants were randomized into one of three groups: (a) a repeated group with three possible selves image generation exposures, (b) a one-time group with one possible selves image generation exposure, or (c) a control group. Participants completed self-report measures at baseline and follow-up assessments were taken at weeks 4, 8, and 12 of the study. The measures for the outcomes of interest were the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire and the modified Exercise Identity Scale.

Results

Repeated measures mixed-effects models analyses with maximum likelihood estimation revealed no significant differences between groups on physical activity behaviour (p?=?0.34) or physical activity identity (p?=?0.97) at follow-up time points. However, a time effect was found for physical activity (p?<.01) and physical activity identity (p?<.01), which increased across time (baseline-to-12-week follow-up) in all three groups. Such a time effect (inconsequential to group assignment) suggests that the observed increases in physical activity and identity cannot be attributed to an exposure to a possible selves intervention.

Conclusions

While the intervention failed to significantly increase physical activity identity and physical activity in newly retired individuals, we suggest future research directions for interventions targeting new retired individuals.

     

Managing the process of change in residential child care: A consultancy approach

This article explores the impact of a consultancy undertaken with groups of residential child care staff within a large local authority who were experiencing considerable changes in their working environment as a result of a review of residential care structures. The authors were invited to engage directly with staff on an individual and group basis to help them work through the barriers they perceived to changing their approach to practice. The theoretical underpinning for the work was Charles Handy's [1993, Understanding Organisations (Harmondsworth, Penguin)] belief that change is more likely to have a positive outcome when staff have an investment in and contribution to the change processes. The model of change utilised within the sessions with staff was Kurt Lewin's three stages of 'unfreezing', 'change' and 'refreezing'. The consultancy raised a number of issues about the process of change and how this can be achieved within the residential child care context. In particular, it highlighted the problems of assuming that change is a linear process which can be directly controlled and managed in the flux and uncertainty which characterises this sector.     

Externe Beratung in der Gemeinde-, Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung: Lernen aus der Organisationsentwicklung

This essay discusses the work of external consultants in the context of urban development processes. It suggests that this new field can profit from theories, methods and experiences from the area of organizational development and explores what elements are adaptable. On the basis of the comparison of different approaches to change in organizations and in spatial contexts first conclusions concerning external consultation in spatial development processes are drawn. A neighbourhood development process in the city of Winterthur, Switzerland is analyzed using the case study research method. The evaluation of the case study shows that a similar framework of interventions has been used as in organizational development and points at the need for combining specialist and process consultation in neighbourhood development. Finally, on the basis of the theoretical and empirical findings a conceptional structure for external consultancy is suggested.     

Organizational Careers: An Interactionist Perspective*

The concept of career is both useful and necessary for the study of organizations. Through members' constructions of organizational careers, an organization becomes real and capable of action. Organizational careers intermediate between the programmatic and the symbolic elements of organizational situations. Careers, through their objective and subjective dualism, penetrate both the organization's symbolic order and its objective activity and order, constituting a third and essential element in organizational structure. Careers are highly interdependent upon communication processes, notably as negotiation of joint plans of action and of identity, role and status. Careers, work, and identity are seen as interrelated aspects of the self as a social object. Events and interactions in organizational situations lead to shifts in the moral definitions of the self and others, and to behavior which serves to protect the self from becoming profaned.     

Co-development of Problem Gambling and Depression Symptoms in Emerging Adults: A Parallel-Process Latent Class Growth Model

This study examines whether there are multiple joint trajectories of depression and problem gambling co-development in a sample of emerging adults. Data were from the Manitoba Longitudinal Study of Young Adults (n = 679), which was collected in 4 waves across 5 years (age 18–20 at baseline). Parallel process latent class growth modeling was used to identified 5 joint trajectory classes: low decreasing gambling, low increasing depression (81%); low stable gambling, moderate decreasing depression (9%); low stable gambling, high decreasing depression (5%); low stable gambling, moderate stable depression (3%); moderate stable problem gambling, no depression (2%). There was no evidence of reciprocal growth in problem gambling and depression in any of the joint classes. Multinomial logistic regression analyses of baseline risk and protective factors found that only neuroticism, escape-avoidance coping, and perceived level of family social support were significant predictors of joint trajectory class membership. Consistent with the pathways model framework, we observed that individuals in the problem gambling only class were more likely using gambling as a stable way to cope with negative emotions. Similarly, high levels of neuroticism and low levels of family support were associated with increased odds of being in a class with moderate to high levels of depressive symptoms (but low gambling problems). The results suggest that interventions for problem gambling and/or depression need to focus on promoting more adaptive coping skills among more “at-risk” young adults, and such interventions should be tailored in relation to specific subtypes of comorbid mental illness.     

Interaktion des <Emphasis Type="Italic">als ob</Emphasis>: Privatanleger und Anlageberater

Since the late nineties, stock market investments have become an attractive option for many who want to secure or improve their standard of living, although ?stocks“ are an obscure subject for most of them. They have to rely on investment consultants in banks. Until the stock market crash, there was no reason to complain about the consulting process — shares kept going up in value.But it is remarkable that following the crash, which caused many investors to lose a large amount of money, the relationship between private investors and investment consultants does not seem to have been damaged.In our paper we first show the legal requirements for investment consulting and how these requirements are implemented by banks, and we identify considerable discrepancies between the theoretical and the actual fulfillment of these legal requirements.We then show that it is impossible to meet these requirements in reality because they rely on unrealistic assumptions regarding a consulting process that both adequately covers investment options and addresses the needs of investors. We argue that both sides are more or less satisfied with the situation because they operate on an as if basis: consultant and client talk and behave as if they understood each other.As if the consultant had really informed the client and as if the client had really understood the consultant. This as if which both parties are aware of but which is not openly discussed is the condition of a successful consultancy process and for making the business happen.     

Organizational constructs as predictors of effectiveness in child welfare interventions

Organizational context, including line worker characteristics and service settings, may help explain the equivocal findings of intervention studies in the field of child welfare. Yet organizational context has been largely ignored in studies of child welfare interventions. The purpose of this article is to expound upon the likely role of the organizational context in explaining service effectiveness in child welfare. Several bodies of literature within child welfare and human service organization and administration are reviewed and synthesized. A conceptual framework that can be used to guide future child welfare research is then proposed.     

Are clerical workers proletarian? A case study of the Australian Public Service1

This paper explores whether clerical workers have been proletarianized by using the Australian Public Service (APS) as a case study. It shows that before the late 1980s the market, work and status situations of APS clerks were predominantly proletarian since they were typified by limited career prospects, low skill requirements, restricted autonomy; low organizational status and estrangement from senior management. This proletarian class situation was reflected in an order taker's culture of informality, cynicism, hedonism and alienation. Since the late 1980s however technological change and workplace restructuring have markedly reduced the number of unskilled and lower paid jobs in the APS, thereby belying widespread predictions of deskilling. I conclude that proletarianization is more likely to have arisen from a decline in the status of clerical work during the course of the twentieth century rather than from a process of deskilling. Notwithstanding the fact that their class situations were predominantly proletarian, most clerks have identified as middle class. We can attribute this not only to the fact that their class situations differ from those of manual workers, as noted by Lockwood, but also to a widespread tendency to identify as middle class, the tendency of many female clerks to base their class identity on their husband's occupation and the fact that popular stereotypes tend to equate class with occupation. It is difficult to decide if clerks are proletarian since 1. Their class situations display a mixture of proletarian and middle-class characteristics 2. They exhibit diverse class identities, social origins, marriage partners and cultural attributes and 3. They occupy different positions on different aspects of inequality. We are therefore unable to allocate them en bloc to a single uniform class. I conclude that while a minority of clerks are proletarian most are better described as middle class.     

Urbanization-related distribution patterns and habitat-use by the marine mesopredator,giant Pacific octopus (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Enteroctopus dofleini</Emphasis>)

Urbanization is a process that heavily alters marine and terrestrial environments, though terrestrial urban ecosystems have been studied far more intensively. Terrestrial studies suggest that urbanization can facilitate mesopredators by enhancing food and shelter resources and reducing predation pressure from apex consumers. This in turn has considerable consequences for ecological communities. We evaluated spatial distribution patterns and habitat-use of the marine mesopredator, giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), relative to terrestrial urbanization intensity in Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Using field surveys and citizen-contributed data for E. dofleini, we examined whether: (1) Distribution was related to urbanization, (2) Abundance was related to the extent of benthic anthropogenic debris, and (3) Diet differed as a function of urbanization and den cover. Our results suggest that urbanization impacts may differ with depth. Mixed-effects logistic regression model estimates for the probability of occurrence increased with urbanization in deep-water (> 24 m), and decreased with urbanization in shallow water (< 18 m). Accompanying field surveys indicated that E. dofleini abundance was correlated with the number of benthic anthropogenic debris items, and that E. dofleini diets were not affected by urbanization intensity or den cover. Though E. dofleini may be synanthropic within certain urban environments, the mechanisms driving this pattern likely differ from those affecting common urban mesopredators on land, with den provisioning from man-made structures being more important than altered food resources.     

Fraud survival in nonprofit organizations: Empirical evidence

This study examines the survival of nonprofit organizations after the discovery of a fraud. Literature on nonprofit fraud claims that fraud has a destructive impact on nonprofit organizations. This study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the impact of fraud on a nonprofit organization's survival, and to analyze the significance of underlying organizational and fraud factors. An analysis of 115 nonprofit organizations experiencing a fraud shows that over one fourth of these organizations did not survive at least 3 years beyond the publication of the fraud, a rate considerably higher than the typical nonprofit failure rate. This article investigates the characteristics of surviving organizations and finds that older and larger organizations are more likely to survive, indicating the liabilities of newness and smallness hold in fraud survival situations. In cases where an executive‐level perpetrator committed the fraud, or where the organization victimized the public, the organization was less likely to survive. These findings suggest nonprofit organizations, particularly those that are new or small, could benefit by implementing governance policies and procedures that are consistent with those employed by more established organizations.     

Evolutionary Process of Social Capital Formation through Community Currency Organizations: The Japanese Case

Community currency systems are said to influence the revival of communities by promoting either local economic growth or social capital accumulation. However, no empirical studies have examined the multiple competing mechanisms for providing social support through transactional networks among participants. The current study connects network structural concepts to theories of social capital, transaction costs, homophily, and resource dependency at multiple levels and evaluates transactional relationships for community rebuilding and local economic development. We examine the evolutionary process of dynamic networks among local residents or organization members with network configurations in one of the largest Japanese community currency systems, “Peanuts.” Using longitudinal network data over 12 years for approximately 1400 actors, we conclude that the evolution and achievement of transactional network dynamics and partner selections differ between the two groups of participants: individual members and organization members. We also provide practical implications for sustaining participants’ transactions and commitment.     

Evil Tidings: Are Reorganizations more Successful if Employees are Informed Early?

Organizations represent deliberately designed social contexts that are characterized by multi-level hierarchies. Interests and opportunity structures at each level usually do not overlap. We suggest that one of the reasons why intentional change efforts often fail to reach their objectives is because they are likely to trigger competing social mechanisms at different levels of the hierarchy. In order to illustrate this argument, we analyze the consequences of timely communication of planned organizational changes on perceived success of reorganizations. Two competing mechanisms are derived and tested with data from a telephone survey (carried out in 2003), among a sample of n = 412 Dutch business organizations that performed a reorganization. The commitment perspective predicts that early announcement of reorganization plans to middle management increases the likelihood of reorganization success, since it increases commitment and empowers middle management. The influence mechanism predicts that early information of non-managerial employees decreases the likelihood of reorganization success, because it enables employees to use the information to their own advantage, anticipate on the strategies of management, and organize opposition against the plans. We found that timely communication with middle management indeed increases chances for success, whereas timely communication with employees correlates with reorganization failure. However, not communicating with employees has an even stronger negative effect on reorganization success. No evidence could be found for our argument that the severity of the reorganization’s expected negative effects on the workforce moderates both mechanisms.     

The dual-continuum approach: An extension of the contingency theory of strategic conflict management

This article examines the limitations of using a single advocacy-accommodation continuum when depicting organizational stance and movement in conflict situations (Cancel et al., 1997). The authors argue that advocacy and accommodation can vary independently in response to a variety of contingent factors. To comprehensively capture the locations and motions that are possible in organization-public conflicts, a two-continuum approach is proposed. Separate assessment of the effects of contingency variables on advocacy and accommodation can be used to accurately locate organizational stance along advocacy and accommodation continua. Strategic alternatives that cannot be depicted using a single continuum (such as favorable alignment of organization advocacy/public accommodation or unilateral change on the part of one party) can be captured if separate continua are employed. By depicting initial stances and desired directions of movement for both the organization and public, the dual-continuum approach can also provide practical guidance to public relations professionals in selecting strategies for achieving preferred outcomes and evaluating their effectiveness.     

Organizational Identity in Nonprofit Organizations: Strategic and Structural Implications

Organizational identity is what is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization. This article argues that clarity and consensus about organizational identity are essential elements in setting successful long‐term strategy and making structural choices in a nonprofit organization. Four classes of nonprofit organization are examined here: grantmaking foundations, federated fundraising organizations, nonprofit academic centers, and social enterprises. In each case, alternative identities are described and the implications of each identity for organizational strategy and structure are analyzed. The article suggests that examination of identity should become an integral part of organizational development for nonprofit organizations and a subject for continued research.     

Change and Tensions in Non-profit Organizations: Beyond the Isomorphism Trajectory

Research on the relationship between non-profit organizations (NPOs) and the public sector has been dominated by predictions of isomorphism where change and tensions in NPOs are attributed an imposing institutional setting. This article argues that research represents a selective perspective on organizational life due to its portrayal of organizational change as synonymous with an isomorphic, linear trajectory. The purpose of this article is to illustrate different sources and characteristics of change and tension. The article presents an analytical framework comprising of four components: evolving change, episodic change, inherent dilemmas, and conflicting logics, facilitating an understanding of the organization as movement. The analysis of a case study organization suggests that by identifying different dimensions of changes and tensions we can gain a richer understanding of the complexity of processes underpinning the organization as movement. The analysis reveals how multiple, parallel processes related to change and tensions generate reflections that drive integrity and identity formation at individual and organizational levels.     

Exploring the Nexus of Nonprofit Financial Stability and Financial Growth

Taking a unified approach to studying nonprofit financial health, this research tackles a key question that has remained unexplored in the literature: “What lies at the intersection of the two key dimensions of financial health–financial stability and financial growth?” Specifically, we identify and compare nonprofits that exhibit high levels of financial stability and growth (high financially performing) to those that exhibit low levels (low financially performing)? Overall, we find that high financial performers (HFPs) tend to be older and larger organizations (in terms of unrestricted net assets and total revenue). HFPs are also more likely to report capital assets, and report high levels of compensation. Finally, HFPs tend to contain their overhead spending by exercising efficiency by investing in talented officers (paying more than the rest), but limiting the share of officer compensation, administrative, and fundraising expenses, as a percentage of total expenses. The results of the study should be informative to stakeholders attempting to understand the profile of an organization that is successfully able to achieve both capacity growth and financial stability.     

Organizational Characteristics of Voluntary Associations in Kanagawa, Japan

The purpose of this paper is to define the organizational characteristics of voluntary associations and grass-roots organizations (NPO) in Japan by a quantitative survey and by clarifying their organizational structures. First, with respect to formalization of the organization, it appears that the differences in the scale of the organization are greater than the fields and forms of the activities. If the scale is related to the degree of formalization, we can consider that the "invisibility" which describes the present situation of voluntary associations as a result of being small. However, if we look at the changes in the organizational structure and their activities, one will know such a result is not always true. Over 80% of the organizations have begun new activities. As the structures of the organizations change, we cannot conclude that the voluntary associations are merely immature. More likely, the action of the formalizing process depending on the organizational scale competes with the action of changing the definition of formalization. Second, when we analyzed the actual situation of the innovation, we discovered that the emergence of the new activities was related to whether and how strongly they related externally. Particularly, in the case of providing human and social welfare services, the stronger the relationship with the caretaker (client) is, the more new activities emerge. If so, this leads to the next hypothesis, that the origins of the innovation in these organizations are demanded by what the external relationship should be.