Organizational Upheaval Research Articles

Volunteering behavioral declines amid personal and organizational upheaval: Recruitment, retention, and barriers in Australia

ABSTRACT Volunteers have faced recent social disruptions which have brought about a new wave of barriers to wash over survivors of an already declining number of formal volunteers in Australia. How the “environmental jolt” of recent social disruption has played out for volunteering is important to understand because less is known about how organizational responses have interacted with changing individual volunteer motives and meanings in the volunteering context. Understanding the impact of this environmental jolt of recent social disruption on volunteering is crucial, especially considering the implications for well-being in communities of volunteers.

The Role of Informal Networks in Sensemaking and Obtaining Power in Post-Acquisition Integration

This qualitative case study examines how employees leverage their informal advice networks to navigate uncertainty in a turbulent post-acquisition integration process at a tech consulting firm over two years. Using interview, network survey, and data, I identified the role of employees’ informal networks in shaping their differential sensemaking process and ability to obtain power and influence during the organizational upheaval. My research shows that individuals’ sensemaking process is influenced by both the openness of their informal advice networks and the strength of their ties with senior leaders at the legacy firm. The openness of informal networks shapes the diversity of information employees receive; and the tie strength affects information access and sponsorship opportunities among acquired employees. Moreover, early movers were advantaged in becoming boundary spanners and gain power and influence. These findings underscore the importance of informal networks in helping individuals adapt to changes and attain status and power inside the integrated organization. Furthermore, by adopting a relational view, the study sheds light on the tenacious force behind employees’ sensemaking processes over whether to stay or leave and their differential attainment of status and power at the acquired firm.

Adjusting to precarity: how and why the Roslin Institute forged a leading role for itself in international networks of pig genomics research.

From the 1980s onwards, the Roslin Institute and its predecessor organizations faced budget cuts, organizational upheaval and considerable insecurity. Over the next few decades, it was transformed by the introduction of molecular biology and transgenic research, but remained a hub of animal geneticists conducting research aimed at the livestock-breeding industry. This paper explores how these animal geneticists embraced genomics in response to the many-faceted precarity that the Roslin Institute faced, establishing it as a global centre for pig genomics research through forging and leading the Pig Gene Mapping Project (PiGMaP); developing and hosting resources, such as a database for genetic linkage data; and producing associated statistical and software tools to analyse the data. The Roslin Institute leveraged these resources to play a key role in further international collaborations as a hedge against precarity. This adoption of genomics was strategically useful, as it took advantage of policy shifts at the national and European levels towards funding research with biotechnological potential. As genomics constitutes a set of infrastructures and resources with manifold uses, the development of capabilities in this domain also helped Roslin to diversify as a response to precarity.

Seeing and believing: Observing desistance-focused practice and enduring values in the National Probation Service

This article focuses on the feasibility of using a desistance-focused approach in the National Probation Service (NPS) in the post-Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) context. Findings are drawn from an exploratory study undertaken in one NPS Division, which used triangulation of three data collection methods: observations of one-to-one supervision sessions, documentary analysis and practitioner focus groups. Findings show that practitioners use elements of a desistance-focused approach, although not exclusively. Values based upon belief in the capacity to change and the need to offer support endure, despite mass organisational upheaval. The article concludes by suggesting that this ‘enduring habitus’ of probation could be an enabler for a desistance-focused approach but instrumentalism in policy and practice is a significant barrier.

Chaos, Bedbugs, and Delayed Starts: Stories of Student Retention During Extreme Organizational Upheaval

Recent world events and the ever-changing nature of higher education mean that colleges and universities exist in a state of near-constant flux. This qualitative study explored the experiences of seven college seniors who persisted to graduation after beginning their college careers when their university was admitting lower-division students for the first time in the institution’s history—a significant organizational shift. Themes identified in the data highlight students’ choice to attend a college making major structural changes, what it was like to be the “first freshmen” when the institution was not fully prepared for their arrival, and the factors that led to their decision to persist at the institution. Using a theoretical framework of mattering, the findings suggest that helping students feel that they matter to the institution and reminding students that their adjustment may not be immediate are important strategies for those seeking to promote student retention.

The moderating effect of trust in management on consequences of job insecurity

Using data from 1071 staff and administrative professionals at a large university experiencing repeated rounds of budget cuts, this article examines the attenuating effect of trust in management on the negative consequences of job insecurity. Results show that job insecurity was associated with increased burnout and psychological distress as well as decreased work and supervisor satisfaction and affective commitment. However, trust in management was negatively related to burnout and psychological distress but positively related to work and supervisor satisfaction and affective commitment. More importantly, trust in management was found to consistently buffer the relationships between job insecurity and these job-related outcomes. Implications for successfully managing job insecurity during times of organizational or economic upheaval are discussed.

Multi-agency working and implications for care managers

Purpose To examine the association between multi-agency working and psychosocial characteristics of work, practitioner time-use and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A comparison of practitioners working in multi-agency (health and social care) and single-agency (social care only) teams, using data from the 2008 evaluation of Individual Budgets pilots in England. Participants worked in care manager roles supporting adult social care service users, and comprised social workers and a smaller number of health professionals. Data was collected using a self-completed questionnaire. Findings Data were returned from 249 respondents (a 29 per cent response rate), with two-thirds working in single-agency teams. No significant differences were found between team type and job satisfaction. Respondents in multi-agency teams reported greater decision autonomy but poorer supervisory support than those in single-agency teams. The latter finding was robust to further exploration using regression to control for confounding factors. Research limitations/implications These data were not specifically collected for the study and response rates were relatively low due to organisational upheaval at the time of data collection, which may affect interpretation. Practical implications Government policy is dedicated to extending integrated forms of working, including multi-agency teamwork. This research suggests that such structures need careful planning for them to work effectively, with particular attention to supervision arrangements. Originality/value This research gives a systematic and objective exploration of the relationship between job characteristics, time-use and satisfaction of practitioners in single as compared to multi-agency teams.

The Crisis of Journalism Reconsidered: Cultural Power

Recent technological change and the economic upheaval it has produced are coded by social meanings. Cultural codes not only trigger technological and economic changes, but also provide pathways to control them, allowing the democratic practices of independent journalism to be sustained in new forms. Even as they successfully defend their professional ethics, however, journalists experience them as vulnerable to subversion in the face of technological and economic change. Indeed, independent journalists and the social groups who support them often feel as if they are losing the struggle for autonomy. Just as current anxieties have been triggered by computerization and digital news, so were earlier crises of journalism linked to technological shifts that demanded new forms of economic organization. Digital production has created extraordinary organizational upheaval and economic strain. At the same time, critical confrontations with digital production have triggered innovative organizational forms that allow new technologies to sustain, rather than undermine, the democratic culture and institution of news production. If news producers are making efforts to adapt professional journalism to the digital age while maintaining journalistic civil values, there are parallel adaptations from the digital side: digital journalism becoming more like professional journalism.

Developing recommendations to improve the quality of diabetes care in Ireland: a policy analysis.

BackgroundIn 2006, the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland established an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) for Diabetes, to act as its main source of operational policy and strategic advice for this chronic condition. The process was heralded as the starting point for the development of formal chronic disease management programmes. Although recommendations were published in 2008, implementation did not proceed as expected. Our aim was to examine the development of recommendations by the EAG as an instrumental case study of the policy formulation process, in the context of a health system undergoing organisational and financial upheaval.MethodsThis study uses Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Theory to examine the evolution of the EAG recommendations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 15 stakeholders from the advisory group. Interview data were supplemented with documentary analysis of published and unpublished documents. Thematic analysis was guided by the propositions of the Kingdon model.ResultsIn the problem stream, the prioritisation of diabetes within the policy arena was a gradual process resulting from an accumulation of evidence, international comparison, and experience. The policy stream was bolstered by group consensus rather than complete agreement on the best way to manage the condition. The EAG assumed the politics stream was also on course to converge with the other streams, as the group was established by the HSE, which had the remit for policy implementation. However, the politics stream did not converge due to waning support from health service management and changes to the organisational structure and financial capacity of the health system. These changes trumped the EAG process and the policy window remained closed, stalling implementation.ConclusionsOur results reflect the dynamic nature of the policy process and the importance of timing. The results highlight the limits of rational policy making in the face of organisational and fiscal upheaval. Diabetes care is coming on to the agenda again in Ireland under the National Clinical Care Programme. This may represent the opening of a new policy window for diabetes services, the challenge will be maintaining momentum and interest in the absence of dedicated resources.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1478-4505-12-53) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Прогрессивное налогообложение: эстетическое и моральное обоснование

The power to tax is at once the power to create and the power to destroy. If the United States government hopes to discharge its primary duty as creator and protector of its citizens’ wealth, it must be willing to destroy wealth, from time to time, by redistributing it. More than any other tool, the means by which government finances and depletes its treasury affects the societal distribution of wealth. Differential taxation and targeted spending are the most significant and most effective means by which government can «gradually and continually… correct the distribution of wealth to prevent concentrations of power detrimental to the fair value of political liberty and fair equality of opportunity». Redistribution and
 the attendant destruction of entrenched wealth serve as society’s ultimate weapons of «creative destruction». Of the many forces that
 have propelled the United States to the economic, political, social, and military pinnacle of the modern world, its willingness to countenance radical technological and organizational upheaval probably ranks first. American prosperity depends on the federal government’s commitment to an economic environment in which citizens are able not only to amass large amounts of new wealth, but also to lose it in rapid and remorseless fashion.

What’s in a name? What leads a firm to change its name and what the new name foreshadows

This paper examines corporate name changes. This paper connects different types of corporate name changes to the reputational concerns that precede them and to the important corporate events and performance changes that follow them. The empirical results suggest that a firm adopts a radically different name to disassociate from a poor reputation, the name of one of its well-recognized brands to associate with a good reputation, or a minor change in its name by adding or deleting a part of its name that identifies it with a particular product to accompany a narrower business focus or a broader business focus. The empirical results also suggest that, except for radical name changes, significant organizational upheaval follows most corporate name changes. The strength of the firm’s subsequent economic performance is tied to changes in the business direction that the type of name change foreshadows.

Promoting older peoples' participation in activity, whose responsibility? A case study of the response of health, local government and voluntary organizations

The benefits for older people of participating in regular activity are well documented. This paper focuses on how publicly funded community-based organizations enable older people to engage in physical activity. The research questions were: (i) What activity promotion schemes/initiatives exist for older people? (ii) Who has responsibility for them, how are they funded and organized and what evidence exists of interagency working? (iii) Who are the older people that participate? (iv) What are the perceived and measurable outcomes of the initiatives identified? To establish the type and range of provision for older people in a sector of London, the strategies and information about existing activity promoting schemes of inner city health, local government and voluntary organizations were reviewed. Key informants were then interviewed to establish the rationale, achievements and different schemes. One hundred and nine activity-promoting initiatives for older people were identified. Most were provided within an environment of short-term funding and organizational upheaval and reflected eclectic theoretical and ideological approaches. The findings demonstrate: (i) the need for organizations to apply evidence about what attracts and sustains older people's participation in physical activity, and (ii) the need to develop funded programmes that build on past achievements, have explicit outcomes and exploit opportunities for cross agency working.

NAPECOR's Risk Management Venture: Note to Instructors

This case illustrates that intrapreneurial ventures, just like firms, proceed through stages and that when the product or service being provided is information based, it creates the impetus for organizational change. This case highlights the difficulties and trade–offs involved in making the transition from one stage of organizational development to another. A complicating factor in this case is the matter of scaling up a new venture involving a novel computer application that promises a significant competitive advantage, but may create large organizational upheaval.

Reflection as a professional development strategy during organizational change

Learning in a workplace is a human activity that demands a special set of circumstances in a supportive environment in order to provide meaningful outcomes for the individual and the organization. In times of major organizational upheaval workplace learning requires a commitment from both the individual and the employer so that desired or required learning will be adequately supported and resourced. The value of structured reflection can enhance individual learning process and contribute to what is often termed ‘organizational learning’. Using an action learning approach, I describe ways in which two groups of staff in one Australian institute of training and further education (TAFE) in the state of Victoria engaged in team based and individual reflective activities to manage change proactively, and reshape their roles and work within a new organizational framework.

Breaking down barriers: integrating health and care services for older people in England

Like many other post-industrial societies, England is facing demographic and political pressures to reduce the fragmentation of services for older people. Moreover, current government policies emphasise collaboration and ‘partnership’, particularly between health and social care services. Recently, two new policy initiatives have enabled the full integration of services to take place, involving formerly separate health and social care organisations—between family doctors (general practitioners) and community health services, and between health and social services organisations. Both initiatives also allow the pooling of previously separate funding streams. This paper presents findings from evaluations of these two initiatives. Drawing on this evidence, the paper concludes that structural integration can transform preoccupations over narrow sectoral responsibilities and boundaries to a ‘whole systems’ paradigm of service planning and delivery. However, major internal barriers to integration may remain: these include professional domains and identities, and differential power relationships between newly integrated services and professionals. Moreover, the success of these new horizontal, inter-organisational arrangements is profoundly influenced by the wider policy environment and by vertical relationships with national government. Together, these pressures exclude the voices of older people, and therefore call into question whether the considerable organisational upheaval of service integration will be able to deliver the changes valued by older people themselves.

Commitment Shift during Organizational Upheaval: Physicians' Transitions from Private Practitioner to Employee

This longitudinal study examines the individual transition journeys of physicians as their private medical practices are acquired by a large integrated health care system. We test the proposition that transition patterns (trends in an individual's commitments to organization and profession over time) are a function of individual differences in years in profession and perceived organizational enabling characteristics (change involvement, openness to ideas, and work discretion). Three years of survey data were obtained from a panel of 48 physicians who transitioned through an organizational change process. Results challenge traditional assumptions that tenure reinforces commitment and cast doubt on the effectiveness of current medical school curricula in preparing medical graduates to practice in an administrative environment. In addition, results strongly suggest that enabling characteristics of organizational change are critical for compatibility between the organizational and professional attachments of transitioning physicians.

“Bridging the Gap”: New Relationships between Primary Care Groups and Local Authorities

Current policy places great emphasis on the development of “partnerships”, particularly between NHS and local authority services, with the aims of increasing service coordination and delivery and improving health. To this end, primary care groups (PCGs), at the forefront of NHS organizational developments, are required to include a social services representative on their governing boards; similarly, primary care trusts (PCTs) have a social services representative on their executive committees. Drawing on a representative longitudinal national survey of English PCGs, the paper evaluates the contribution of these new governance arrangements to the development of inter‐agency partnerships. Despite poor histories of collaboration and some major organizational barriers, there are some signs of progress, with social services representatives playing an active part in PCG affairs and having clear lines of communication about PCG matters with their employing authorities. Equally significantly, PCGs have also quickly established a wide range of contacts directly with other local authority services and departments. However, these early gains risk being limited by traditional professional inequalities between social work and medicine and, in particular, by the prospect of further organizational upheaval as PCGs merge with each other and/or acquire trust status.

A time of cultural upheaval

The Boards of the new NHS organisations must be committed to the development of their workforce and the provision of best possible care. Look after nurses (and others) and the patients, too, will be well looked after. Nursing has always enjoyed a strong partnership with the public; this needs to be exploited during this time of organisational and cultural upheaval. Nurses working in primary care must address community need, continuity of care, co-operation, consistency of care and compassion within a robust system of clinical governance. It sounds easy, but it is tough going, so hopefully most of you will also feel supported, valued, optimistic and, perhaps most important, courageous in our rather exciting, but somewhat overwhelming New NHS.

The Impact of Activity Based Costing on Managerial Decisions at Insteel Industries - A Field Study

In this paper, we seek to provide empirical documentation of the effect of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) information on product and customer-related decisions made by managers in a company. Proponents of ABC argue that when an entity implements ABC, it reaps at least two important benefits: process improvements that promote more efficient use of resources and hence reduce costs, and a set of overhead cost numbers that, relative to traditional volume-based methods of costing, better represent the consumption of shared resources by the firm's products, and enable the firm to target a more profitable mix of products and customers. While there is much anecdotal evidence about the efficacy of ABC and ABM (Activity Based Management), there has been no systematic, statistical investigation of whether ABC really influences managerial decisions. An ABC analysis may not have any impact on a firm for two reasons. (1) It may not reveal any new information to the managers who intuitively know already what an ABC system formally captures. (2) Key managers may reject the ABC numbers and be unwilling to weather the organizational change and upheaval often required for effective ABM. In this study, we conduct a statistical analysis of firm-level data in order to shed light on whether ABC provides new information to managers and whether ABM significantly impacts product and customer-related decisions. We supplement this analysis with interviews with top managers in the company on whether and to what extent the ABC analysis influenced managerial decision making. We do not find much support for the hypothesis that product prices reflect all costs even when a company does not have ABC information. We find that after the ABC analysis, Insteel displayed a higher propensity to discontinue or increase prices of products that were found unprofitable in the ABC study and to discontinue customers that were found unprofitable in the ABC. The changes to the portfolio of customers served were similar but not as striking as the product mix and pricing decisions. This finding is consistent with senior managers' intuition that product level decisions can be made faster than customer level decisions.

Continuing professional development in social work: the Scottish context

In this article, the authors argue that the need for continuing professional development in social work has never been greater than at the present time. However, when they survey the state of social work in Scotland—highlighting financial crises, threats of redundancies, organisational upheaval and ever-increasing service demands—they recognise that this is a ‘harsh environment’ in which to promote continuing professional development. If the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work's framework is to have a fundamental impact on social work organisations, as it should do, then operational managers need to be convinced of its relevance to service delivery. One means of tackling the scepticism of managers is to make more explicit and strengthen the connection between the Post-Qualifying framework and the assessment of competence-in-practice. Other professional groups are struggling with similar issues and are seeking to develop innovative and cost-effective means of assessing competence-in-practice. Social work can learn from these initiatives as well as re-emphasising traditional strengths such as the ‘coaching’ model of supervision and the importance of the team in enabling and supporting professional development.