Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens
© The Author(s) 2020. This study investigates how employees craft narratives of organisational change failure through the lens of their work identity. We analysed change recipients’ retrospective sensemaking accounts of an organisational re-structuring in a university, finding these accounts to...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL160100033 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79821 |
| _version_ | 1848764110162886656 |
|---|---|
| author | Hay, Georgia Parker, Sharon Luksyte, A. |
| author_facet | Hay, Georgia Parker, Sharon Luksyte, A. |
| author_sort | Hay, Georgia |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © The Author(s) 2020.
This study investigates how employees craft narratives of organisational change failure through the lens of their work identity. We analysed change recipients’ retrospective sensemaking accounts of an organisational re-structuring in a university, finding these accounts to be filled with widely varying descriptions of failure – of errors, dysfunction, and loss. We explored how employees’ organisational, professional, and work-group identities were intertwined with, and fundamentally challenged by, their sensemaking about the change and its failure. Our inductive analysis revealed four distinct narrative trajectories – Identity Loss, Identity Revision, Identity Affirmation, and Identity Resilience – each characterised by distinct cognitive, affective, and behavioural patterns. We discuss the unique contributions that this study makes to the literatures on organisational change failure, sensemaking, and identity. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:14:08Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-79821 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:14:08Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-798212023-07-27T06:32:14Z Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens Hay, Georgia Parker, Sharon Luksyte, A. Social Sciences Management Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Business & Economics Social Sciences - Other Topics Change recipients failure identity identity threat narrative organisational change organisational structure sensemaking STRATEGIC CHANGE SOCIAL IDENTITY PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY SENSEMAKING WORK CONSEQUENCES MODEL CONSTRUCTION RESPONSES WAKE © The Author(s) 2020. This study investigates how employees craft narratives of organisational change failure through the lens of their work identity. We analysed change recipients’ retrospective sensemaking accounts of an organisational re-structuring in a university, finding these accounts to be filled with widely varying descriptions of failure – of errors, dysfunction, and loss. We explored how employees’ organisational, professional, and work-group identities were intertwined with, and fundamentally challenged by, their sensemaking about the change and its failure. Our inductive analysis revealed four distinct narrative trajectories – Identity Loss, Identity Revision, Identity Affirmation, and Identity Resilience – each characterised by distinct cognitive, affective, and behavioural patterns. We discuss the unique contributions that this study makes to the literatures on organisational change failure, sensemaking, and identity. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79821 10.1177/0018726720906211 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL160100033 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE170100182 SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Management Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Business & Economics Social Sciences - Other Topics Change recipients failure identity identity threat narrative organisational change organisational structure sensemaking STRATEGIC CHANGE SOCIAL IDENTITY PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY SENSEMAKING WORK CONSEQUENCES MODEL CONSTRUCTION RESPONSES WAKE Hay, Georgia Parker, Sharon Luksyte, A. Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title | Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title_full | Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title_fullStr | Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title_short | Making sense of organisational change failure: An identity lens |
| title_sort | making sense of organisational change failure: an identity lens |
| topic | Social Sciences Management Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Business & Economics Social Sciences - Other Topics Change recipients failure identity identity threat narrative organisational change organisational structure sensemaking STRATEGIC CHANGE SOCIAL IDENTITY PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY SENSEMAKING WORK CONSEQUENCES MODEL CONSTRUCTION RESPONSES WAKE |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL160100033 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL160100033 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79821 |