In addition, when people finish our programsand even five years laterthey report that sensemaking was one of the most valuable concepts and skills they have learned. In the first paper, a qualitative examination of the initial thoughts and concerns of the middle managers about recently announced organizational changes was conducted. The role of outside consultants in shaping hospital. A middle management position is often mistakenly described as a similar to the line management one.
Role in an organization functions of a middle manager. This hindsight can prove to be an expensive mistake if the organization succeeds or grows. Find out more about lancaster universitys research activities, view details of publications, outputs and awards and make contact with our researchers. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise cambridge core to connect with your account. Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies. Jul 01, 2011 middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence rouleau, linda. We identified a replacement pattern of schema development in which middle managers moved from shared through clustered sensemaking, to shared but differentiated sensemaking. Organisational restructuring the case of the learning organisation. Their combined citations are counted only for the first article. The application of organizational restructuring in. T1 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Thus, middle managers enjoy greater salary, benefits and a closer position. The impact of an organisational restructuring exercise on the wellness of middle managers in a mining company is my own unaided work both in content and execution.
The importance of role sending in the sensemaking of change. Request pdf on aug 1, 2004, julia balogun and others published organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking find. International journal of human resource management, 208, 17371752. The culture evolves naturally, devoid of any conscious effort and can be linked to the founders leadership. As weick 1995 explained, sensemaking is an effort to create. A ceo will close departments, drop product lines, lay off managers and sell facilities to keep a company afloat. Organizational capacity for change and environmental performance. Apr 01, 2008 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking.
Our findings provide evidence that different change processes lead to different. Yet, it is unclear how employee sensemaking and leader sensegiving vary across different change phases. This longitudinal, realtime analysis of planned change implementation provides an explanation for this phenomenon. Finally, a temporal model of the change readiness sensemaking process is developed based upon the data. By identifying middle managers as strategists, the strategy research agenda expands beyond top managers rouleau, 2005. In addition, it is relevant to research in the recent field of strategy as practice. Investigating the role of middle managers in strategymaking process.
A middle manager is an employee who reports to executive leaders who make the strategic decisions which shape the organization. In this article, we posit that middle managers are crucial actors in performing this work and maintaining the hybridity of logics. The importance of the strategic role played by middle managers in formulation and implementation of organisational change has been acknowledged by many academics and evidenced by the findings of numerous studies undertaken over the last 40 years see, for example, bower, 1972. Senior managers need to recognize the significant role of middle managers during restructuring, and the corresponding significance of lateral inter middle manager processes of negotiation. Central to the sensemaking perspective is the notion that explanations of organizational issues cannot be. Yet studies have shown that these initiatives, although intended to produce positive results, do more harm than good to the organisation and its workforce cascio, 1993. She argues that whilst we know something about middle manager role content, and something about how middle managers fulfill their different strategic sensemaking roles, we do not know enough about how middle managers draw on their practical knowledge to inform their practice. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking julia balogun city university gerry johnson university of strathclyde and u.
Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking article in the academy of management journal 474 august 2004 with 612 reads how we measure reads. Central to the sensemaking perspective is the notion that explanations of organizational. Contradiction or necessity 1 introduction downsizing is a way of life in organisations today. While top management can champion it, initiatives of middle management explore the idea and help to test, refine, and adapt it over time, carefully leading the organization to a. Most companies draft a skeleton model of essential personnel, materials and facilities to remain in business. How middle managers contribute to strategy formation. Middle manager is a semiexecutive position line managers are promoted to become middle managers. When a new organization is founded, focus on the culture is the last thing on the founders priorities, their main challenge is business success of the venture. However, the middle manager is also directly in charge of the frontline staff who do the work. Communication is easily the most important piece of restructuring and organizational change.
In literature many researchers describe solely one type of restructuring, but often, in practice there are at least two types of restructuring, which are being implemented simultaneously by an organisation. Journal of organizational change management, 226, 635649. Organizational sensemaking is not an established body of knowledge. The impact of change recipient sensemaking julia balogun and gerry johnson abstract the tendency for intended strategies to lead to unintended consequences is well documented. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking article in the academy of management journal 474. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive. The application of organizational restructuring in enterprise.
Advanced institute of management research this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking academy of management journal, vol. Thus, the role of middle managers as an interface between employees and top management balogun, 2007 should be included in this context. Why middle managers, rather than senior leaders, should. These changes altered the very nature of middle management at lego. We build on theories of institutional work and on sensemakingsensegiving to describe the middle managers process of meeting competing demands of the initiative. Balogun, j and johnson, g 2004 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Foster university of alberta this research commentary introduces historical consciousness to studying organizational change. Middle manager sensemaking has a significant impact on the way imposed structural blueprints work in practice. Innovation and entrepreneurship in the american corporation.
Information technology, organizational restructuring and. Role of middle managers in organisational change semantic. Request pdf organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized. The director of nursing perspective how organizational structure impacts on the role. To answer to the purpose, a theoretical model combining balogun and johnsons 2005, nonaka and takeuchis 1995 models and theories of middle management is developed. All organization restructure have to be aligned to strategy. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence rouleau, linda. Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies andrew. It was the seminal work of floyd and wooldridge 1994. The practice of organizational restructuring from design to.
Since the goal is to create an understanding of the case organization, the scientific paradigm of the thesis is social constructivism, which favours qualitative methods. The application of organizational restructuring in enterprise strategic management process organizational operational restructuring. Companies commonly downsize to remain functional during a loss of revenue. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Balogun also argued that interpretation that occurs as part of undertaking personal change is, in fact, the key task for middle managers, since it informs all the other roles ditto. This longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization.
Middle managers sensemaking and sensegiving, knowledge creation, change, communication abstract as a result of organizational restructuring, the role of the middle managers has changed over time. Middle management constraints and enablers for middle managers sensemaking and sensegiving. Lewis university of cincinnati as change becomes a constant in organizational life, middle managers charged with interpreting, communicating, and implementing change often struggle for meaning. The authors highlight the need to empirically examine middle management work in the context of the complexity of changes affecting the job of middle managers and the complexity of reactions to these changes, if further assertions about the future of middle.
Nov 30, 2017 this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization. History and organizational change roy suddaby university of victoria newcastle university william m. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence. As change becomes a constant in organizational life, middle managers charged with interpreting, communicating, and implementing change often struggle for meaning. Research on middle management highlights two major streams. Lancaster university abstract this paper seeks to better understand the way middle managers contribute strategically to the development of an organization by examining how they enact the strategic. An australian mixed method study volume 20 issue 2 tim oshannassy. We identified a replacement pattern of schema development in which middle managers moved from shared through clustered sensemaking, to shared but. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the sensemaking and sensegiving process during organizational change, with focus on middle managers. The role of the middle manager volume 20 issue 2 mari jansen van rensburg, annemarie davis, peet venter.
Middle manager involvement in strategy development in notfor profit organizations. If you are planning to restructure your company or make organizational changes in the near future, here are five things to consider before you begin. Sep 14, 2016 leader sensegivingthe attempt to affect employees sensemakingis a crucial leadership activity during organizational change. Advanced institute of management research this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization. Westley, 1990, floyd and wooldridge, 1992, 1994 and 1997. Some basic principles and strategies you must keep in mind before you plan on restructuring the organizational structure and design. Due to involvement into daytoday running of a business, middle managers have the opportunity to report valuable information and suggestions from the inside of an organization. Although addressing employee needs is key for successful sensegiving, current literature remains vague about how leaders account for different employee needs. The impact of organisational restructuring on employee.
Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking created date. Most theories of organizational change contain within them implicit assumptions about history. Although the majority of literature about the impact of change and downsizing on surviving middle managers paints a pessimistic picture, some researchers found that many surviving middle managers acquired a greater strategic role as the result of change. Additionally, i found that middle managers sensemaking occurred in two stages anticipatory and confirmatory, and that the managers depended on change readiness schemas based on both tacit and explicit cues. Organizational capacity for change and firm performance in russia.
All the resources i used in this study are cited and referred to in the reference list by means of a comprehensive referencing system. A middle manager is a link between the senior management and the lower junior levels of the organization. Management control, social identity, and identification in a knowledgeintensive firm. Issn 00014273 full text not available from this repository. This article examines the impact of information technology as one of the factors affecting the numbers and roles of middle managers.
Mary was promoted as part of the organizational restructuring to the role of technical production manager, general tv sector, which comprises over 500. Micropractices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving. Studies of change processes have increasingly placed focus on middle managers. Through collaborative intervention and reflection, we sought to help managers make sense of issues surfaced by a major restructuring. Change is difficult and can leave the organization uneasy. Nov 16, 2015 the authors consider the role of sensemaking in resolving role ambiguity of middle manager change agents and the consequences of this for organisational restructuring. The practice of organizational restructuring from design. Request pdf organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an.
One project focuses on the transformation of middle managers identity in organizational restructuring see rouleau, 2010. Results transform paradox from a label to a lens, contributing a process for working through paradox and explicating. The role of middle managers in the implementation of a. And yet our 360degree survey data reveal that sensemaking is highly correlated with leadership effectivenesseven more than vision ing.
976 347 551 290 316 504 451 42 247 156 710 1259 1335 126 736 59 1142 1167 624 268 368 670 820 428 789 535 846 1429 1450 606 225 83 1428 254 350 1310 1289 1475 681 590 223 1118 152 361 1157 1060 882