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Abstract:
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In this essay we will demonstrate that the role of project management in organisational change
processes is a mixture of rational and non-rational features. It is also colourful, difficult, interesting,
and messy.
We have named the paper "An Essay on". An essay means treating a topic freely from different
angles, although not forgetting the sources you used. The implication of this is that we are not able
or willing to make an encompassing study of the literature on project management3. We thus know
that many angles will not be covered. Furthermore we do not intend a make a negative delineation,
indicating what we are not dealing with. We prefer to make a positive delineation, emphasising
what we are going to take up in our essay.
Positively phrased we are inspired by 3 sources that will make the foundation for our different
angles:
1. Decision making theory (Enderud,1976)4. One of the authors has previously with success
applied decision-making theory as an approach for analysing organisation change processes
5. Both authors have followed the same line in analysing organisational changes in
the Danish public sector6. That success has inspired us to re-use the distinction between
rational, political and anarchic processes in this essay 7. Enderud (1976:21-22) excludes
explicitly the role of the actors’ participation in his presentation of decision models. We
find, however this aspect so important that we have decided to include it
2. Buchanan and Boddy´s analysis of the character of change8: The authors characterise the
change project in to dimensions. One pertains to the activities concerned: Are we dealing
with peripheral or core activities of the organisation. The second dimension deals with the
magnitude of the change. Buchanan and Boddy use the scale: incremental - radical9.
Furthermore Buchanan and Boddy makes a useful distinction between "public
performance" (on stage) of rationally considered and logically phased and visibly
participative change and "backstage activity" in the recruitment and maintenance of support
and in seeking and blocking resistance (ibid p.27)
3. We will apply data from our own case studies. We will use a format that we call an
illustration, thereby indicating that we "only" illustrate a point. We do not prove it10. Our
cases are almost all from the public sector or from trade unions. Most of them have been
published elsewhere. |
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