1st Edition
Managing Change in Extreme Contexts
Big mistakes, misconduct, serious accidents and other disasters are normally followed by investigations which explore what went wrong. These produce recommendations to limit the damage from a future event, or to prevent it altogether. In many cases, this doesn’t happen, and ‘repeat crises’ occur. Why should this be the case? Surely, in the aftermath of extreme events, readiness for change will be high?
This book shows how the conventional ‘rules’ of change management do not always apply in extreme contexts. It explores other perspectives and approaches, as well as the challenges of implementing change in the aftermath of extreme events. Disastrous and tragic, such events are also useful in providing an audit of organizations’ systems, procedures, practices, cultures, norms, and behaviours, exposing gaps and flaws. The chapters in this book also establish guidelines for practice, noting that conditions at the implementation phase have implications for crisis management and the conduct of investigations.
In providing a comprehensive analysis of organizational change and crisis management, the book develops a fresh conceptualization of change and change processes in extreme contexts. The result is a resource that will be vital reading for advanced students, researchers and managers involved with organizational studies and crisis management.
Part I: The Context 1. What’s the Problem? (David A. Buchanan and David Denyer) Part II: Incident Analyses 2. Fatal Failures to Change?: The Case of Haringey Social Care (Allan Macpherson and Dominic Elliott) 3. Mayland, Torrens and Mitcham (David A. Buchanan, David Denyer and Ciara Moore) 4. Fire and Rescue Services (David Denyer) 5. Emergency Service Arrangements in the Aftermath of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires (Martina Linnenluecke and Andrew Griffiths) 6. How a Changing Virus Changed a Hospital Change Agenda (Clare Kelliher) Part III: Addressing the Problems 7. Who to Blame: Losing Sight of the Big Picture (Colin Pilbeam) 8. The Successful Management of a Clostridium Difficile Outbreak (Colin Pilbeam and David A. Buchanan) 9. Rebuilding a Nuclear Reprocessing Site after a Serious Spillage (David Denyer) 10. Instilling a Culture of Mindfulness (David Denyer) Part IV: Solutions 11. Safety in High Security Mental Health (David Denyer) 12. Management Development for Post-Crisis Processes (Alexander Fliaster and Albert Angehrn) 13. Approaches to Post-Crisis Change (David A. Buchanan and David Denyer) Appendix I: The Literatures of Change and Crisis Management Appendix II: Research Methods for Studying Extreme Events
Biography
David Denyer is Professor of Organizational Change at Cranfield University, UK
Colin Pilbeam is Senior Research Fellow in Organization Studies at Cranfield University, UK
'This book focuses on an often forgotten phase of emergency management. I am pleased to see this gap being filled.'
Caroline McMullan, Director of MSc Emergency Management, Dublin City University, Ireland
