A window on management training within the construction industry

Scott, Neil; Ponniah, D A; Saud, Ben

doi:10.1108/00197859710171752

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In construction, staff tend to work their way up from the bottom and their survival rests on making a profit (Scott et al, 1997). Typical of construction, Alpha's entrepreneurial talents were countered by a dominant culture of financial, legal and accounting specialists to ensure control (Miller, 1990) and the managers were used to working in a cyclical industry.…”

Section: Failure To Adapt ± Crisis ± the Forces For Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting corporate transformation through failure

Thorne

2000

Management Decision

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There's no success like failure and failure is no success at all (Bob Dylan).Why write a paper about failure? First tò`o ut'' failure an as organisational taboo and, second, because ignoring failure can limit our understanding of the theory and practice of organisational change. This article confronts these limitations working explicitly with failure to illustrate how adopting this perspective can inform both theory and practice. The relationship between theory and practice is considered at two levels and illustrated through the interpretation of a failed transformation in the construction division of a large multinational company (Alpha). Level one identifies the conditions for organisational transformation and questions whether crisis is the best stimulus for successful transformation, while level two captures the human experiences and dynamics of a management workshop intervention designed to support the top down change.The first section defines and evaluates transformation, the relationship between success and failure, and why transformation efforts fail. This is followed by the Alpha case study describing the context, strategy and change processes adopted by the MD and Board. The second section discusses the common themes that emerged from the change management workshops and the article concludes by identifying what can be learned from working with failure. For example should failure feature more explicitly and frequently in the organisational change literature?

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Section: Failure To Adapt ± Crisis ± the Forces For Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting corporate transformation through failure

Thorne

2000

Management Decision

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“…Additionally, DMR is a technical organisation in that civil engineers have traditionally dominated its decision‐making . As such the culture of these types of organisations have been staid and traditional thereby presenting increased challenges to change management efforts (Scott et al , 1997).…”

Section: Introducing a Hybrid Model Of Npmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change management practices

Brown

Waterhouse

Flynn³

2003

International Journal of Public Sector Management

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract During the last two decades the public sector has come under increasing pressure to improve performance and demonstrate greater transparency and accountability. This pressure has resulted in public sector organisations facing shifts in ways of operating. Various corporate change strategies have been adopted by different public sector agencies, many of these cloning managerial practices from the private sector. These changes in public sector organisations have enormous significance for regional economic and social development. While there is a growing body of knowledge dealing with the management of corporate change there are still significant gaps in understanding the process. While there is much written on public versus private corporate change, there is little distinguishing between change in different types of public sector organisations. This paper analyses change management processes and seeks to determine whether a hybrid model of "new public management" delivers more favourable outcomes than a model focused on cost reduction and private sector prejudice for the bottom line.

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