Central to the sensemaking perspective is the notion that explanations of organizational. A middle manager is a link between the senior management and the lower junior levels of the organization. This article examines the impact of information technology as one of the factors affecting the numbers and roles of middle managers. Change is difficult and can leave the organization uneasy. Investigating the role of middle managers in strategymaking process. As change becomes a constant in organizational life, middle managers charged with interpreting, communicating, and implementing change often struggle for meaning. We build on theories of institutional work and on sensemakingsensegiving to describe the middle managers process of meeting competing demands of the initiative. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking created date. This longitudinal, realtime analysis of planned change implementation provides an explanation for this phenomenon. By identifying middle managers as strategists, the strategy research agenda expands beyond top managers rouleau, 2005. The application of organizational restructuring in enterprise.
Journal of organizational change management, 226, 635649. One project focuses on the transformation of middle managers identity in organizational restructuring see rouleau, 2010. It was the seminal work of floyd and wooldridge 1994. 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.
Organisational restructuring the case of the learning organisation. 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. Middle manager sensemaking has a significant impact on the way imposed structural blueprints work in practice. Managing sensemaking an inquiry into how organizational members break, demand, make and give sense to cope with change business administration student. 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. 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. All organization restructure have to be aligned to strategy. 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. Find out more about lancaster universitys research activities, view details of publications, outputs and awards and make contact with our researchers. Balogun, j and johnson, g 2004 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Central to the sensemaking perspective is the notion that explanations of organizational issues cannot be. 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.
Apr 01, 2008 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Middle management constraints and enablers for middle managers sensemaking and sensegiving. An australian mixed method study volume 20 issue 2 tim oshannassy. However, the middle manager is also directly in charge of the frontline staff who do the work. Organizational capacity for change and environmental performance. 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. Strategizing as lived experience and strategists everyday efforts to shape strategic direction.
In this article, we posit that middle managers are crucial actors in performing this work and maintaining the hybridity of logics. The application of organizational restructuring in enterprise strategic management process organizational operational restructuring. Studies of change processes have increasingly placed focus on middle managers. This longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization.
Management control, social identity, and identification in a knowledgeintensive firm. History and organizational change roy suddaby university of victoria newcastle university william m. Their combined citations are counted only for the first article. While delayering results in having to pick up extra workload from immediately above and below, it also can enable middle managers to have. Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies. Issn 00014273 full text not available from this repository. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive. Request pdf organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an. The role of outside consultants in shaping hospital.
Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking academy of management journal, vol. The role of the middle manager volume 20 issue 2 mari jansen van rensburg, annemarie davis, peet venter. The practice of organizational restructuring from design to. 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. Middle manager is a semiexecutive position line managers are promoted to become middle managers. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. 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. We build on theories of institutional work and on sensemaking sensegiving to describe the middle manager s process of meeting competing demands of the initiative. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking article in the academy of management journal 474. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence rouleau, linda.
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. 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. Request pdf on aug 1, 2004, julia balogun and others published organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking find. Through collaborative intervention and reflection, we sought to help managers make sense of issues surfaced by a major restructuring. Thus, the role of middle managers as an interface between employees and top management balogun, 2007 should be included in this context.
Nov 30, 2017 this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization. Sep 14, 2016 leader sensegivingthe attempt to affect employees sensemakingis a crucial leadership activity during organizational change. Why middle managers, rather than senior leaders, should. Advanced institute of management research this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization. Contradiction or necessity 1 introduction downsizing is a way of life in organisations today. 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 director of nursing perspective how organizational structure impacts on the role. Organizational sensemaking is not an established body of knowledge. Keywords middle management, strategy formation process. Companies commonly downsize to remain functional during a loss of revenue.
Most theories of organizational change contain within them implicit assumptions about history. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking julia balogun city university gerry johnson university of strathclyde and u. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise cambridge core to connect with your account. And yet our 360degree survey data reveal that sensemaking is highly correlated with leadership effectivenesseven more than vision ing. Although addressing employee needs is key for successful sensegiving, current literature remains vague about how leaders account for different employee needs. Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies andrew. Westley, 1990, floyd and wooldridge, 1992, 1994 and 1997. International journal of human resource management, 208, 17371752. However, it is also a paper about middle managers and strategic change and is therefore also cited by the growing body of work which explores the strategic role of middle managers.
Micropractices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving. Yet, it is unclear how employee sensemaking and leader sensegiving vary across different change phases. 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. 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. Request pdf organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized. T1 organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking.
Results transform paradox from a label to a lens, contributing a process for working through paradox and explicating. 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. Research on middle management highlights two major streams. Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence. 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. Role of middle managers in organisational change semantic.
Last, it derives a repertoire of activities from which four propositions are inferred regarding the nature of middle manager situated sensemaking during their accomplish. The culture evolves naturally, devoid of any conscious effort and can be linked to the founders leadership. The role of middle managers in the implementation of a. Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Mary was promoted as part of the organizational restructuring to the role of technical production manager, general tv sector, which comprises over 500. This hindsight can prove to be an expensive mistake if the organization succeeds or grows. The practice of organizational restructuring from design. As any significant change in organisational structure also affects the employees psychological contract i. 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. 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. The application of organizational restructuring in. Thus, middle managers enjoy greater salary, benefits and a closer position.
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. 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. Innovation and entrepreneurship in the american corporation. Foster university of alberta this research commentary introduces historical consciousness to studying organizational change.
Changing interpretive schemes and organizational restructuring. Organizational capacity for change and firm performance in russia. 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. In the first paper, a qualitative examination of the initial thoughts and concerns of the middle managers about recently announced organizational changes was conducted. Middle manager involvement in strategy development in notfor profit organizations. Finally, a temporal model of the change readiness sensemaking process is developed based upon the data. 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. Information technology, organizational restructuring and. Advanced institute of management research this longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift. A middle management position is often mistakenly described as a similar to the line management one. How middle managers contribute to strategy formation.
Most companies draft a skeleton model of essential personnel, materials and facilities to remain in business. In addition, it is relevant to research in the recent field of strategy as practice. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the sensemaking and sensegiving process during organizational change, with focus on middle managers. Communication is easily the most important piece of restructuring and organizational change. All the resources i used in this study are cited and referred to in the reference list by means of a comprehensive referencing system.
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 restructuring and middle manager sensemaking article in the academy of management journal 474 august 2004 with 612 reads how we measure reads. Some basic principles and strategies you must keep in mind before you plan on restructuring the organizational structure and design.
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