Ambivalence and Resistance: A Study of Management in a Concertive Control System

Larson, Gregory S.; Tompkins, Phillip K.

doi:10.1080/0363775052000342508

Cited by 70 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…To understand this dialectic, it is necessary to explore ''the ongoing tensions and contradictions that constitute the process by which organizational actors attempt to shape workplace practices'' (Mumby, 2005, p. 23) and to examine ''how social actors attempt to 'fix' meanings in ways that resist and/or reproduce extant relations of power'' (p. 24). Recent research on workplace resistance has placed greater attention on the dialectic nature of resistance (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2006) and the use of discursive strategies (Larson & Tompkins, 2005;Putnam, Grant, Michelson, & Cutcher, 2005). Hence, in the case of resistance to ICTs, it is important to understand the tensions through which organizational members form competing meanings of the technology in practice.…”

Section: Organizational Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“Omega is a Four-Letter Word”: Toward a Tension-Centered Model of Resistance to Information and Communication Technologies

Jian¹

2007

Communication Monographs

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The adoption of enterprise-wide information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become a growing trend in a wide range of industries. Resistance has been identified as one of the most common reasons for unsuccessful implementations. Assuming technologies as fixed objects, many existing theories tend to reduce resistance to psychological mechanisms or structural misalignment. The purpose of this study is to retheorize resistance to ICTs by integrating a social constructionist perspective of technology and a framework of organizational tensions. By employing qualitative methods, a case study examined the adoption, implementation and use of an enterprisewide software system in a technology service organization. The in-depth case analysis revealed a tension-centered process model, which shows that resistance to ICTs is constituted in a dynamic, reflexive interplay between the ongoing construction of ICTs and organizational tensions. In this process, an ICT adoption brings into play various organizational tensions, which then shape the interpretations of the ICT in oppositional terms, and reactions to these tensions and oppositional interpretations result in various forms of resistance behaviors. This tension-centered process model offers a useful alternative to existing research on resistance to ICTs in the workplace.

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Section: Organizational Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“Omega is a Four-Letter Word”: Toward a Tension-Centered Model of Resistance to Information and Communication Technologies

Jian¹

2007

Communication Monographs

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“…Studies of organizational change typically focus on the cognitive process of sense making (Bushe, 2009) by exploring the ways top-level management attempts to give sense to the change through the way they structure messages (Stensaker, et al, 2008), the role of individual or collective resistance to change messages (Larson and Tompkins, 2005), and how sense making is constructed prior to implementation (Purser and Petranker, 2005). Few studies explore the way that articulation (the way identities are constructed through first-order positioning), resistance (whether secondorder positioning accepts, resists, or modifies first-order positions), and reflection (thirdorder positioning where people reflect on change messages) intertwine over time during change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discursive positioning and planned change in organizations

Bisel

Barge

2010

Human Relations

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This study uses discursive positioning theory to explore how planned change messages influence organizational members' identity and the way they experienced organizational change. Based on an in-depth case study of a home healthcare and hospice organization that engaged in a multiyear planned change process, our analysis suggests that workers experienced salient change messages as constituting unfavorable identities, which were associated with the experiences of violation, recitation, habituation, or reservation. Our study also explores the way discursive and material contexts enabled and constrained the governing board's change messages as they responded to external and internal audiences. We highlight the importance of viewing messaging as a process of information transfer as well as discursive construction, which has important implications for the way change agents approach issues of sense making, emotionality, resistance, and materiality during planned change processes. Keywords emotion, materiality, organizational communication, organizational discourse, planned change comunication, positioning theory Planned change research has given little attention to the way that employees make sense of messages about change and how their sense making subsequently positions them to act in the future (Bartunek et al., 2006). The dominant focus of planned change research has emphasized the importance of creating messages that enable a shared understanding

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“…Inconsistency in change messages delivered by change agents is related to resistance (Larson and Tompkins 2005). This inconsistency reflects management's ambivalence about the change initiative and thus provides individuals with justifications for resistance.…”

Section: C12 Inconsistencymentioning

confidence: 92%

Theories of Organizational Behavior

Zhao

Hwang

Low

2015

Enterprise Risk Management in International Construction Operations

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Organizational behavior is "a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, and then it applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively" (Robbins and Judge 2007: p. 34). The behavior is collectively influenced by the individual, the group, the organization, and the environment (Mullins 2007).From the perspective of organizational behavior, ERM can be considered as a process of organizational change from the traditional, silo-based risk management approach to a holistic and integrated risk management approach. This change should be led by an individual or a team (a change agent), which is supported by the board and senior management, through motivation, organizational learning, and creation of a risk-aware culture. This chapter reviews the literature on theories of organizational change, organizational learning, organizational culture, motivation, and leadership, under the umbrella of organizational behavior theories. In addition, factors that drive and resist organizational change are identified. Some sources of resistance to organizational change can be directly or indirectly linked to organizational learning, organizational culture, motivation, and leadership. Moreover, the relationships among these theories of organizational behavior are elaborated in this chapter.

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Ambivalence and Resistance: A Study of Management in a Concertive Control System

Cited by 70 publications

References 36 publications

“Omega is a Four-Letter Word”: Toward a Tension-Centered Model of Resistance to Information and Communication Technologies

“Omega is a Four-Letter Word”: Toward a Tension-Centered Model of Resistance to Information and Communication Technologies

Discursive positioning and planned change in organizations

Theories of Organizational Behavior

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