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Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

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Year 2003 
Volume 2 
Issue 4

'Living in the Blender of Change': the Carnival of Control in a Culture of Culture

Richard Badham
Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University

Karin Garrety
School of Management, Marketing and Employment Relations, University of Wollongong

2003 2 (4) Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

Abstract

Traditional structural-functional approaches to organizational change, as well as critics of those approaches, often offer overly structured and rationalised views of how change occurs. This paper attempts to build upon processual studies of change and critiques of overly hegemonic views of managerial control by seeking to capture the complex, emotive and fluid character of organisational 'changing'. In pursuit of this aim, the paper documents these characteristics of change through a personalised ethnography of a micro-incident -- a critical change meeting -- in an Australian steel making plant undergoing cultural change. In conclusion, it is argued that even the more sophisticated studies of the emergent process-like character of organisational change fail to fully capture the ambiguous, ironic, emotional, and uncertain character of events in the 'blender' of change.

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APA style

Badham, Richard & Garrety, Karin (2003). 'Living in the Blender of Change': the Carnival of Control in a Culture of Culture. (2003). 'Living in the Blender of Change': the Carnival of Control in a Culture of Culture. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, 2(4), 23-38. (Original work published 2003)

MLA style

Badham, Richard and Garrety, Karin. “'living In The Blender Of Change': The Carnival Of Control In A Culture Of Culture”. 2003. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, vol. 2, no. 4, 2003, pp. 23-38.

Chicago style

Badham, Richard and Garrety, Karin. “'living In The Blender Of Change': The Carnival Of Control In A Culture Of Culture”. Tamara: Journal For Critical Organization Inquiry, Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, 2, no. 4 (2003): 23-38.