The Role of Managerial Interventions and Organizational Ideologies in Advancing Radical Change

Abstract

This article asks what is the role of managerial interventions and ideologies in fostering organizational change on a large scale and how do they relate to each other? It is based on longitudinal fieldwork in a case company, which has for several years attempted to progress with its radically new and comprehensive business concept, yet with meagre outcomes. Two theoretical lenses are used, Huy's model of managerial interventions [Huy, Q. N. (2001). Time, temporal capability, and planned change. Academy of Management Review, 26, 601–623] and Brunsson's theory of irrational organization [Brunsson, N. (1985). The irrational organization. Irrationality as a basis for organizational action and change. New York, NY: Wiley], focusing on the notion of ideology and its change. This study suggests how these two theories, both insufficient on their own, are compatible and can be integrated into a meaningful theoretical framework to explain organizational change. The analysis suggests that managerial interventions and ideologies are deeply and reciprocally intertwined in organizational change processes. The analysis also highlights how an organizational change process can end in an enduring battle between rival ideologies – social deadlock, sturdy and hard to open. The outcome can easily look like a mission impossible, despite being embedded with some constructive potential.