A construal level analysis of organizational change processes

To effectively manage planned change and understand differences in leaders’ and recipients’ responses to it, it is essential to understand how change is cognitively represented by organization members. In this theory-development article, we draw upon construal-level theory (CLT) and conceptually explore the role of change construal level in explaining responses to organizational change. We discuss differences between change leaders’ and recipients’ change construals, and differences in the relationships between change construal level and the response to change as a function of the change activities taking place. Specifically, we argue that high-level (i.e., abstract) construals of change will facilitate the effective initiation of change when the focus is on equilibrium-breaking activities, and that low-level (i.e., concrete) construals will facilitate the effective implementation of change when the focus is on institutionalization of the change. We further propose that leaders’ engagement in visionary leadership increases the likelihood that their generally higher level construal of change will be integrated into recipients’ change construals, elaborating and elevating them, and that recipients’ engagement in upward prohibitive voice behaviors will increase the likelihood that their generally lower construal of change will be integrated into leaders’ change construals, elaborating and concretizing them. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our framework.     

沿边开放与区域经济增长——基于制度变迁的研究

主要关注沿边开放地区的制度变迁对经济增长的影响效应,基于2003—2018年我国8个沿边省份的73个地级城市面板数据,运用双向固定模型、分位数回归、门槛效应模型和中介效应模型进行科学严谨的研究,主要结论有:(1)沿边开放的制度变迁有利于促进区域经济增长,并且在一系列稳健性检验后,该结论仍然成立;(2)分位数回归发现,随着经济增长率分位数点的增加,沿边开放地区的制度变迁对经济增长的促进作用呈现出先变小、再变大的U型特征;(3)门槛效应发现,随着制度质量水平提升,沿边开放地区制度变迁对区域经济增长的作用效果呈现出边际递减的特征;(4)异质性发现,城镇化方面,高城镇化的沿边地区制度变迁促进经济增长的作用大于低城镇化地区。创新水平方面,在高创新水平地区,沿边开放的制度变迁显著促进区域经济增长,而低创新水平地区不显著;(5)中介效应发现,沿边开放地区的制度变迁主要通过外商直接投资和固定资产投资增加,进而促进区域经济增长,其中固定资产投资起到完全中介作用。结论为进一步深化改革开放、加快沿边开放地区发展和构建开放型经济新体制提供一定经验依据和政策支持。     

基层治理中党建引领力的构成及其提升路径——从基层组织能力视角分析

基层治理中的基层组织能力是其“三阶”能力或“两层”能力的集合。从基层组织能力视角来看,基层治理能力来源于基层组织能力,由各基层组织治理能力整合而成。各基层组织在治理中职责与能力的差异形成了基层治理能力的同心圆结构。其中,基层党组织以党建引领基层治理的方式履行职责。党建引领基层治理能力即基层党建引领力,是基层治理能力的核心,是基层治理中制度优势更好转化为治理效能的关键。基于新时代党建六方面要求,基层党建引领力包含六个维度的引领,其功能各异,但相辅相成。为化解当前党建引领基层治理面临的问题,各地基层党组织可根据基层党建引领力评估指标的设计指南,因地制宜制定具体评估指标体系,重点推进、协同推进、整体推进,提升基层党建引领力,从而促进基层治理能力的提高,将制度优势更好地转化成基层治理效能。     

湖北自贸试验区的制度创新:实践特征、理论内涵与政策启示

建设湖北自贸试验区是新发展阶段全面深化改革、扩大开放的系统性探索和战略实践,从动态演进论与制度变迁、制度经济学的交易成本论以及公共经济学的公共物品供需视角,对自贸试验区制度创新的理论逻辑与实践意义予以系统研究。研究发现,湖北自贸试验区围绕加快转变政府职能、深化投资领域改革、促进贸易转型升级、推动金融开放创新、创新驱动发展以及服务国家战略等方面展开了一系列制度创新实践,逐步形成由浅入深、由线下向线上线下协同发展、由共性领域向特色领域逐步延伸、从前项到末端统筹安排、借鉴与创新并举以及集中推广与自主运用相结合的改革创新发展路径。研究认为,推动湖北自贸试验区的制度创新,充分发挥其在破解地方深层次结构性发展矛盾和扩展增长赋能空间上的功能内涵,需要在顶层制度设计方面,加强与国内国际双循环新发展格局相互衔接,通过完善监管体系设计、提升行政服务效率来转变政府监管职能和健全市场监管,构建由法律法规、行政规章、规范性文件共同组成的、与国际规范兼容协调的法制框架和政策体系,统筹为国家试制度、出经验的全局性战略目标与谋求为地区经济发展注活力、添动力的局部性现实需求之间的激励导向; 在具体实施路径层面,持续优化开放平台、营商环境和加强口岸智慧功能建设,着力培育和强化大城市、大枢纽、大口岸、大平台、大产业以及一流的营商环境等,构建开放型经济新体制和多维量化评估指标体系,实现自贸试验区制度创新实践探索、经验成效审视验证、赋能社会经济发展以及长远建设规划目标的有机协调统一,助力湖北建设新时代内陆开放新高地。     

Institutional Ethnography and Experience as Data

Experience, as concept, is contested among feminists as to its epistemological status, thus its usefulness in knowledge claims. Institutional ethnography (Smith 1987) is a feminist methodology that nonetheless relies fundamentally on people's experience. Not as Truth, nor the object of inquiry, but as thepoint d'appui for sociological inquiry. This article offers a demonstration of institutional enthnography using observational and interview data that show experience as methodologically central to a trustworthy analysis. A moment in the work lives of nursing assistants in a long-term care setting is captured by a participant observer. The analysis produces two lines of argument. One is methodological; it is argued that nursing assistants' experiences are an entry into the social relations of the setting that, when mapped and disclosed, make those experiences understandable in terms of the ruling arrangements permeating both the organization and their own experiences. The other argument is substantive; the inquiry uncovers how a quality improvement' strategy in a long term care hospital in Canada is reorganizing caregivers' values and practices toward a market orientation in which care appears to be compromised. Use of experience as data in this approach holds the analysis accountable to everyday/everynight actualities in a lived world.     

Asian Women,Job Training and the Social Organization of Immigrant Labor Markets

This paper examines the entry of Asian immigrant women into a gendered labor market via government-funded job training programs. The focus is on the intake processing of clients into an employment training program operated by a community based organization. The study reveals that women's family responsibilities and the cultural capital they bring function to screen them into or out of training programs and ultimately shape their location in the workforce. The study thus draws attention to how race, class, and gender enter into the organization of Asian immigrant women into the labor market. This investigation is based in institutional ethnography (Smith 1987), a research strategy which displays how activities in a particular setting are coordinated with more extended forms of social organization. The study shows that the overriding concern with successful placement in a job as mandated by government regulations is a critical factor in selecting the women for these programs.     

The Limitations and Opportunities of Business Process Re-engineering in a Politicized Organizational Climate

This paper is concerned with the organizationalchange and project management issues raised by theimplementation of a business process re-engineering(BPR) approach in the politicized hospital context. This is a report of research in progress,focusing on the issues arising at the problem definitionand project planning stages of a BPR application in anoperating theaters department experiencing problems with scheduling and delays. The research designrelies on a case study approach, with the researcher asparticipant observer, as both an adviser to the projectteam and as field interviewer. The paper argues that an ambitious BPR agenda is compromised inat least two regards. First, the lack of precisionsurrounding the focus and methodology of BPR givespolitically motivated actors considerable influence with respect to defining terms of reference in wayswhich will shape potential outcomes in their favor.Second, the complexity and indeterminacy of the businessprocess or patient trail can also diluteredesign attempts. The principal limitations of theapproach thus concern the impracticality of embarking onrapid and radical change working from a blanksheet of paper with respect to organizational and job design. BPR, unlike other organizationdevelopment interventions, is not a contextsensitive approach. The role of project manageris critical in establishing a working balance betweenindividual, occupational, and organizational goals in a manner perceivedto be legitimate in the context. Effective BPR projectmanagement thus requires a combination of political andprocess analysis skills. The principal opportunities of BPR derive from its process orientation,which brings a fresh perspective to a traditionally andfunctionally fragmented organizational setting, andwhich presents a potentially valuable platform for anevolutionary approach to process improvement.     

The 2003 Heat Wave in France: Dangerous Climate Change Here and Now

In an analysis of the French episode of heat wave in 2003, this article highlights how heat wave dangers result from the intricate association of natural and social factors. Unusually high temperatures, as well as socioeconomic vulnerability, along with social attenuation of hazards, in a general context where the anthropogenic contribution to climate change is becoming more plausible, led to an excess of 14,947 deaths in France, between August 4 and 18, 2003. The greatest increase in mortality was due to causes directly attributable to heat: dehydration, hyperthermia, heat stroke. In addition to age and gender, combinatorial factors included preexisting disease, medication, urban residence, isolation, poverty, and, probably, air pollution. Although diversely impacted or reported, many parts of Europe suffered human and other losses, such as farming and forestry through drought and fires. Summer 2003 was the hottest in Europe since 1500, very likely due in part to anthropogenic climate change. The French experience confirms research establishing that heat waves are a major mortal risk, number one among so-called natural hazards in postindustrial societies. Yet France had no policy in place, as if dangerous climate were restricted to a distant or uncertain future of climate change, or to preindustrial countries. We analyze the heat wave's profile as a strongly attenuated risk in the French context, as well as the causes and the effects of its sudden shift into amplification. Research and preparedness needs are highlighted.     

Forest Fire Risk Management and Public Participation in Changing Socioenvironmental Conditions: A Case Study in a Mediterranean Region

Under current conditions of accelerated socioenvironmental change in the Mediterranean forested landscapes, fire is one of the most critical and difficult risks to tackle within the region. This article summarizes the lessons learned from a project based on the participatory integration of qualitative local stakeholders' knowledge with expert GIS fire simulations carried out in the County of El Bages, Catalonia, Spain. First, in this article, a theoretical model--the forest fire circle--is presented in order to explain the reasons for the rise in the damage and frequency of forest fires in this Mediterranean area. Second, it describes the methodology developed and the stages followed during the project. Results show that: (1) the advocacy of old forest reactive management paradigm assumptions and practices based on uncontrolled forest succession can put vast wooded areas of the Mediterranean basin at critical risk; and (2) forest fire management approaches that ignore the crucial role of long-term prevention and local capacity building strategies have failed. In the final section, the content and the specific dimensions of the old reactive paradigm that has characterized forest fire risk management in Catalonia are discussed and contrasted with the possibly emerging preventative paradigm.     

Call My Bluff: Multiple Interpretations of an Organizational Process

This paper attempts to illustrate the value of interpreting organizational processes from a variety of perspectives. It demonstrates that this approach reflects the natural richness of organization and avoids the rather blinkered search for single-paradigm explanations. It does not seek to offer the answer, but rather some possible insights. By combining both actor and researcher frames, it sheds light upon a particular process of social interaction within an organization. Both the context, an NHS trust hospital, and the content, a significant change scenario, brings richness and relevance to the debate.
The paper outlines the macro and micro context before focusing on the interpretative methodological approach. The research involved collecting and analysing over thirty hours of taped, semi-structured interview discourse with senior and middle management and some junior staff. After describing the change initiative, an attempt at multi-skilling and the response of recipient actors to the proposals, the paper outlines three readings which seek to explain the events that occurred. The reader is invited to play the game 'Call my Bluff' and to choose the scenario that represents the most plausible explanation. The three interpretative frames employed are a managerial, a cultural and a political perspective. The paper concludes by raising some important issues in research, organizational change and the NHS.