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The bubble strategy: A case study of dynamic, defensible processes of change in Salford
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to describe a “bubble strategy” to public sector change, based on the principles that a change initiative must be defensible and supportive of an alternative, entrepreneurial culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is developed through an action research case in Salford City Council, through which theory from technology innovation, change management and other sources is explored.
Findings
The paper finds that the managers developed a dynamic process wherein their ability to defend the new change initiative was primary. This required “under‐the‐radar” tactics that allowed different elements of the change initiative to grow before they were assessed or adopted by the wider organisation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper speculates on the ways in which the characteristics of the “bubble” could be adopted elsewhere. However, as an action research case, restrictions on the generalisability of the evidence are noted.
Practical implications
The “bubble” strategy is set out in its constituent parts and is thereby available for adoption elsewhere.
Originality/value
The strategy employed in the case is not documented elsewhere. The paper utilizes technology innovation theory and related literature like “skunk works”, outside their intended private sector context.
... Let me develop further the latter point, as there are unorthodox messages about leadership, design and organisational change to be read in ITSD's renaissance. The conventional model of change in the management literature is characterised by Kawalek as top-down, linear and planned, i.e. a defined "change initiative" (Kawalek, 2007). An idea occurs, a plan is put in place, stakeholders are identified, the ground prepared, work begins, progress is measured, the change is completed and lessons are learned. ...
... Perhaps for radical change to prosper, an unorthodox change strategy is needed if it is to challenge the existing settlement of interests. In this pursuit, my SPRINT co-author Peter Kawalek turned his attention to the history of discontinuous change in business (Kawalek, 2007) and I will now trace out the ideas he developed. ...
... Christensen's argument pivoted on the need to create such new and separate entities serving new goals; if the change is a threat to the prevailing organisational interests, then its future cannot be entrusted to these interests. For change to flourish, it is essential to create a structure outwith the "normal cultural framework of the organisation", an entrepreneurial 'skunk-works' (Kawalek, 2007). Such an entity is liberated from wrestling with the political status quo, enjoying a "free space of reduced complexity and enhanced autonomy"; smallness within the large. ...
... With a research project surveying two large American companies back in 2003 uncovering that 20% of their workforce used third places for an average of 10 hours per working week (Grantham 2003), it follows that the organizational neighbourhood as analysed earlier has correspondingly evolved past the physical workplace. With property representing a top expense for the majority of organizations (Price 2003), third spaces are arguably increasing as many companies promote working from home policies, especially within the public sector (Kawalek 2007). ...
Existing research shows that the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for healthcare development in developing countries is largely dominated by donor and international agencies, but the actual organizational-level decisions are often driven by corporate healthcare managers. The consequences of the strategic-driven healthcare ICT adoption practices are that they fail to match clinician users’ requirements and cause them to disuse ICTs for clinical practices and healthcare development. Prior attempts to bring local and globally-distributed actors together to implement ICTs innovatively for healthcare development have emphasized less on synthesizing the diverse information system approaches that inform our understanding of how to narrow the ‘manager-clinician’ tensions in ICT adoption for development in emergent situations. To fill this gap, this article explains the process of shifting healthcare ICT adoption from top-down planning to collective user involvement to enhance clinicians’ acceptance of ICTs for clinical practices and development in a Ghanaian teaching hospital, using the cohered emergent transformation model. Action research was used to engage the hospital’s corporate managers, clinician managers and clinicians, and elicit their views and experiences of the hospital’s ICT adoption for healthcare delivery improvement. Together with observations and document analysis, the data was analyzed to understand the hospital’s information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) adoption issues and identify ways of managing them. The outcomes provide alternative theoretical and practical ways of adopting healthcare technology systems that shift the excessive use of managers’ powers in ICT adoption towards clinicians’ involvement, to enable technology acceptance for clinical practices and healthcare development.
Prospecter, attirer, localiser et ancrer sur un territoire des projets d’investissements directs étrangers (IDE) est désormais un enjeu fort pour les responsables économiques et politiques. Les acteurs du management public (techniciens, élus, citoyens) s’interrogent alors sur le type de management et d’intelligence économique territoriale à mettre en œuvre en vue de faciliter l’ancrage de ces projets. La littérature sur ce sujet est riche de recherches sur les facteurs d’attractivité et les déterminants de la localisation mais a très peu été abordée sous l’angle des sciences de gestion. Afin de comprendre les raisons du succès ou de l’échec de l’implantation de tels projets, il est alors pertinent d’interroger le processus du management public territorial dans l’objectif de comprendre ce qui sous-tend la mise en œuvre et l’ancrage d’un projet d’IDE durant son cycle de vie. A partir d’études de cas qualitatives, nous étudions les liens entre le processus d’implantation d’un projet d’IDE et son inscription dans l’écosystème territorial pour i) un projet chinois en France dans le secteur des télécommunications et ii) un projet sud-coréen au Brésil dans le secteur des semi-conducteurs. Sur la base d’une étude initiale historique produite à l’aide de sources publiques primaires et secondaires ainsi que des entretiens de confirmation avec des parties prenantes impliquées, nous proposons des analyses secondaires au prisme de la sociologie de la traduction associée au cadre strategy as practice. En remettant en cause une vision classiquement linéaire du cycle de vie du projet et en identifiant les événements et pratiques managériales clés, nous comprenons ainsi mieux le processus et la manière dont les territoires font preuve, ou non, d’agilité stratégique. Les relations entre universités, entreprises et gouvernement sont aussi analysées en termes de soutien à l'attractivité territoriale. Considérer l'attraction des projets d’IDE du point de vue de collaborations fournit ainsi de nouvelles preuves empiriques et explications du phénomène. Nous pouvons alors proposer les implications managériales suivantes : i) l'utilisation d'une stratégie de triple hélice est un facteur attractif pour la localisation d'un investissement exogène, ii) l'université entrepreneuriale est un facteur attractif lors de la localisation d'un investissement exogène et iii) les politiques publiques contemporaines doivent être impliquées dans des réseaux complexes avec la communauté pour réussir à localiser et à ancrer un investissement exogène.
Mots clés : investissement direct étranger, management public, intelligence territoriale, triple hélice, sociologie de la traduction, strategy as practice
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Territorial public management of foreign direct investment projects
A contribution to territorial intelligence
Prospecting, attracting, locating and anchoring foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in a country is now a major challenge for economic and political leaders. Public management actors (technicians, elected officials, citizens) then question themselves on the type of management and territorial economic intelligence to be implemented in order to facilitate the anchoring of these projects. The literature on this subject is rich in research on attractiveness factors and the determinants of location but has been very little addressed from the perspective of management sciences. In order to understand the reasons for the success or failure of the implementation of such projects, it is then relevant to question the process of territorial public management in order to understand what underlies the implementation and anchoring of an FDI project during its life cycle. Based on qualitative case studies, we study the links between the process of implementing an FDI project and its inclusion in the territorial ecosystem for i) a Chinese project in France in the telecommunications sector and ii) a South Korean project in Brazil in the semi-conductor sector. On the basis of an initial historical study produced using primary and secondary public sources as well as confirmatory interviews with involved stakeholders, we propose secondary analyses from the perspective of translation sociology associated with the "strategy as practice" framework. By challenging a traditionally linear view of the project life cycle and identifying key managerial events and practices, we better understand the process and how territories demonstrate, or not, strategic agility. Relations between universities, companies and government are also analysed in terms of supporting territorial attractiveness. Considering the attractiveness of FDI projects from a collaborative perspective thus provides new empirical evidence and explanations of the phenomenon. We can then propose the following managerial implications: i) the use of a triple helix strategy is an attractive factor for the location of an exogenous investment, ii) the entrepreneurial university is an attractive factor when locating an exogenous investment and iii) contemporary public policies must be involved in complex networks with the community to successfully locate and anchor an exogenous investment.
Keywords : foreign direct investment, public management, territorial intelligence, triple helix, sociology of translation, strategy as practice
Hospital settings have an important impact on children harmed by parents and carers. Concern arises from the capacity of these settings to respond effectively to individual needs despite increased NHS policy awareness and actions on safeguarding. Patient safety initiatives have rarely modelled in detail the social and cultural dynamics of child health settings and children’s safeguarding. This study is focused on supporting and evaluating clinician-led service design in an acute trust. A suite of initiatives and artefacts has been designed, based on sociotechnical principles, on the premise that only a thorough understanding of human, social and organisational challenges will afford effective solutions.
Objectives
The study addresses the following primary question: ‘Can a safeguarding culture be designed within the hospital environment that will provide the conditions for the detection of children at risk of abuse and support protective actions before discharge, including collaboration with external agencies?’ Objectives include the development of a sociologically rich understanding of why diagnostic failures and communication breakdowns occur; the design of a suite of integrated interventions for promoting a positive safety culture, following a user-centred approach; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of this package, including its generalisability across sites.
Design
The study took place in two sites: the primary site where the initiatives were developed and a further site with the original intention of transferring developments. The investigation follows a broad
design science
approach. The evaluation of a design intervention relies on a rigorous understanding of the realities of everyday practice, and the study thus draws on mixed methods to examine the impact of service redesign on cultures and practices.
Findings
The data suggest that safeguarding children can become mainstream patient safety business. Board support is vital. In our primary site, there has been a steady integration of learning from serious case reviews and other child protection-related processes with ‘patient safety’-related incidents, with growing recognition that similar systemic issues impact on both domains. Making use of a familiar vocabulary to redescribe
safeguarding
as a
safety
issue, and thus as something fundamental to the functions of an acute hospital, has been part of the success. The data suggest that persistence, resilience and vigilance from the safeguarding leadership and executive teams are crucial. Current policy includes the development of the Child Protection Information Sharing project, which is intended to improve information flow between the NHS, particularly hospitals and children’s social care. The findings from this study suggest the importance of good design, piloting, incrementalism and a thorough empirical engagement with everyday practices during implementation of this and any future information systems based reform.
Conclusions
Safeguarding takes place in a complex system and even minor changes within any part of that system can impact on the rest in unpredictable ways. It is important that managers adopt a ‘design attitude’ and seek to mitigate unintended consequences through careful experimentation. The findings suggest the need for the design of systems to enhance communication and not simply to ‘share information’. Technological solutions impact on everyday decision-making and can have unintended consequences. Attention to forces of change and stasis in health settings, the factors affecting technology transfer and the impact of the configuration of local authority services are suggested as a key priorities for future research.
Funding
The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.
The study of leader traits has a long and controversial history. While research shows that the possession of certain traits alone does not guarantee leadership success, there is evidence that effective leaders are different from other people in certain key respects. Key leader traits include: drive (a broad term which includes achievement, motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative); leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to seek power as an end in itself); honesty and integrity; self-confidence (which is associated with emotional stability); cognitive ability; and knowledge of the business. There is less clear evidence for traits such as charisma, creativity and flexibility. We believe that the key leader traits help the leader acquire necessary skills; formulate an organizational vision and an effective plan for pursuing it; and take the necessary steps to implement the vision in reality.
Although a substantial body of research on community hostility towards the establishment of human services facilities now exists, researchers as well as community practitioners have identified a ne ...
Keywords Information systems, Research, Methodology, Action research
Abstract
Action research (AR) is not without its critics, and those who reject some of the
paradigmatic assumptions embodied in AR maintain that AR is little more than consultancy,
that it is impossible to establish causal relationships, that it is difficult to generalize from AR
studies, that there is a risk of researcher bias, and that generally speaking, it lacks some of the
key qualities that are normally associated with rigorous research. The authors are sensitive to
such criticisms, for although they are committed action researchers, they have elsewhere
voiced their concerns about the quality of AR practice in the field of information systems. The
authors argue that part of the issue concerns the way in which we currently conceptualize AR.
In this article, the argument for a deeper and more reflective analysis of the meaning and full
implications of AR is developed, culminating in a model of AR being developed that explicitly
includes both a problem solving interest cycle and a research interest cycle. Important
implications of this new model are articulated, with examples to illustrate these points being
drawn from a real-life AR study.
At the International Federation for Information Processing Conference last year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, presenters generally agreed that qualitative approaches to information systems research are finally gaining acceptance. Such approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. At the conference, Lynne Markus of Clearmount Graduate University, who for years has advocated qualitative research methods, declared, "We have won the war, let us celebrate." She did not mean, however, that quantitative research, in the form of, say, mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and laboratory experiments, represents an enemy or is bad research and is now defeated, but that qualitative approaches are now accepted as equal in value to quantitative approaches when used appropriately. Whether or not an approach is appropriate depends on the research topic and the research questions being addressed.
Beginning with the consideration that social behavior depends upon attributes of the individual, conditions of the situation, and inputs to a dynamic system arising from their interaction, a theoretical conception relating conformity and status is presented. The major mediating construct introduced is "idiosyncrasy credit,' taken to be an index of status, in the operational sense of permitting deviations from common "expectancies' of the group. Credits are postulated to increase or decrease as a function of the group's perception of the individual's task performance and generalized characteristics, and of his "idiosyncratic behavior.' Though increases in credit are seen to permit greater latitude for idiosyncratic behavior, motivational and perceptual states of the individual, and group-level phenomena, are also considered." 23 references.
There exists in the literature a number of change models to guide and instruct the implementation of major change in organisations. Three of the most well known are Kotter's strategic eight-step model for transforming organisations, Jick's tactical ten-step model for implementing change, and General Electric (GE)'s seven-step change acceleration process model. This paper introduces a framework that draws from these three theoretical models but is also grounded in the reality of the change process at a Fortune 500 defence industry firm. The purpose of the paper is to provide guidance to the practitioner leading an organisational change process. This guidance is grounded in both theory and practice. The guidance is further enriched by the demonstrated use of such methodologies as mind mapping, lessons learned, storytelling and metaphors.
Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work , David A. Garvin , 2000, hardcover, 272 pages $29.95
Businesses hoping to survive over the long term will have to remake themselves into better competitors at least once along the way. These efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, rightsizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnarounds, to name a few. In almost every case, the goal has been to cope with a new, more challenging market by changing the way business is conducted. A few of these endeavors have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. John P. Kotter is renowned for his work on leading organizational change. In 1995, when this article was first published, he had just completed a ten-year study of more than 100 companies that attempted such a transformation. Here he shares the results of his observations, outlining the eight largest errors that can doom these efforts and explaining the general lessons that encourage success. Unsuccessful transitions almost always founder during at least one of the following phases: generating a sense of urgency, establishing a powerful guiding coalition, developing a vision, communicating the vision clearly and often, removing obstacles, planning for and creating short-term wins, avoiding premature declarations of victory, and embedding changes in the corporate culture Realizing that change usually takes a long time, says Kotter, can improve the chances of success.
The viability of an organisation can be compromised by the tribal behaviour of its members. If this is not understood, attempts to reform it will be met with resistance, since the effort will be perceived as an attack against the norms of the organisation. The paper offers examples and evidence for this, suggests source materials for understanding the phenomenon, and practical techniques for overcoming it.
Organizational change and conflict are conceptualized in social movement terms. Using an analogy to social movements in the nation-state, a resource-mobilization approach is employed to examine the range of social movement phenomena in organizations. Three major forms are distinguished-the coup d'etat, bureaucratic insurgency, and mass movements-which differ in their breadth, location in the organizational social structure, goals, and tactics. Major attention is given to the occurrence of social movements in corporate hierarchical forms, although the approach is applicable also to social movement phenomena in federated and in voluntary associatins. A number of illustrative hypotheses are given.
Juxtaposing interview and observational data with written documents concerning three internal corporate ventures suggests that strategy making in the emergent stage can be viewed as a social learning process in which managerial action and cognition are intrinsically intertwined. Strategic action at higher levels in the managerial hierarchy benefits from interpretative efforts of strategic action at lower levels. A social learning model of strategy making helps to elucidate the uses of strategic planning in organizations and provides an extended theoretical context for several major findings in organizational decision making and strategic management theory.
Discussions of action research in information systems (IS) often proceed as if there were one definitive action research method. This paper describes and analyses the different frameworks, assumptions and goals that characterise the diverse forms of action research. A more inclusive action research paradigm is delineated that offers a basis for validating a wider range of IS research. Acceptance of the full range of the diverse forms of action research may enable the IS field to be more explicit about its research methodology, thereby enabling criteria to be improved and applied to a broader range of IS research.
Action research simultaneously assists in practical problem-solving and expands scientific knowledge, as well as enhances the competencies of the respective actors, being performed collaboratively in an immediate situation using data feedback in a cyclical process aiming at an increased understanding of a given social situation, primarily applicable for the understanding of change processes in social systems and undertaken within a mutually acceptable ethical framework.
This paper reports the findings of a survey of 92 managers, from 14 public and 14 private-sector organizations. The aim was to explore the experience of change, extending the findings of a previous study (Buchanan, Claydon and Doyle, 1999). The survey addressed six themes: communication, evaluation, learning, attitudes and relationships, implementation and change and continuity. Overall, the results present a bleak picture of the process and outcomes of contemporary change. Most managers claim that change responsibility affords valuable personal learning. However, recent change has also been accompanied by stress, work intensification, command and control and management–employee distrust. A comparison of public and private–sector responses suggests that the experience of change in the public sector has been more pressured than in the private sector. Comparison of responses by management level indicates that senior managers are more likely to hold positive views of the change process and its outcomes. Explanations for these differences in experience and perception are considered, along with the implications. It is concluded that an adequate theory of organizational change must address the contradictions and tensions in the lived experience of those implicated, and that effective practice should consider the linkage of change implementation with organizational learning mechanisms which, on this evidence, are absent.
Partnership working is becoming an increasingly common methodology in the public sector for addressing complex social issues such as poverty, economic development and crime. Information systems have a vital role to play in enabling such inter-organisational networks and in facilitating the multi-disciplinary collaboration that is essential to joint working. This paper reports a UK-based action research project in the field of community safety. The practical aim was to develop a multi-agency data exchange (MADE) to support 14 crime reduction partnerships in the county of Lancashire in the preparation of their crime reduction strategies, as required by recent government legislation. From a research perspective, the project afforded an opportunity to explore the role of information systems in supporting public sector partnerships, and hence to open up a relatively unresearched element of the broader eGovernment agenda. From a practitioner perspective, MADE has been highly successful; it has provided substantial help to partnerships in the production of their strategies and there is strong demand for the project’s continuation. On the research side, the work has provided valuable insights into the design and development of information systems to support multi-agency collaboration and on the barriers to information sharing. The concept of a “partnership decision support system” emerges from the work, and a number of profitable directions for future research are adumbrated. Methodologically, it is concluded that action research is a valuable research tool for developing relevant and holistic theory in IS.
Innovation is the vital spark of all man-made change, improvement and progress." -Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business Review Oxymoron (oksi-mor-ŏn) noun From the Greek, oxys (sharp, keen) + moros (foolish). A figurative use of language that refers to a combination of contradictory or incongruous words, such as cruel kindness, clearly misunderstood, wireless cable and innovative government. Many citizens believe that the notion of an innovative government is paradoxical. They presume that innovation thrives in dynamic, flexible business enterprises and not in rigid, bureaucratic government organizations. Thus, as a bureaucratic institution that adheres to strict rules, regulations and habitual ways of doing things, they assume that government is far from anything modern. If nothing else, its bureaucratic administration lacks the prerequisites for innovation, namely creative thinking, idea experimentation and inventiveness. In actual fact, this definition of government is defunct. In response to a range of economic, political and ideological demands, the structures and processes of governance are changing and modernizing. The traditional public service is developing creative ways to address fiscal restraints and citizen demands for efficient service delivery; conventional, process-oriented public administration is giving way to results-focused public management; and federal departments are collaborating and working horizontally to overcome the hegemony of central agencies. In view of these developments, innovation is becoming a reality in government.
This article is concerned with the pursuit of radical organizational transformation in information age government. It focuses on three cases, each of which used the SPRINT (Salford Process Reengineering Involving New Technology) process reengineering method. This method was designed specifically for e-government projects with the objective of inculcating radical change. Although each reported case can be described as successful in some measure, this chapter questions why none of the cases seeds a process of ongoing innovation, and why all settle on a set of changes that is less radical than the vision set out within the originating project. Each case sees the remaking of processes within an accepted set of goals, and not the remaking of these goals themselves. This restriction is reported, using the concept of organizational alignment with a declared set of goals. It is shown how in each case the organization favors the less radical amongst a set of alternative proposals. It is argued that in the end, SPRINT, which places great value on its participative ethos, is also constrained by that ethos. This paper reflects the implications for e-government projects more widely.
Analyzes how successful firms fail when confronted with technological and market changes, prescribing a list of rules for firms to follow as a solution. Precisely because of their adherence to good management principles, innovative, well-managed firms fail at the emergence of disruptive technologies - that is, innovations that disrupt the existing dominant technologies in the market. Unfortunately, it usually does not make sense to invest in disruptive technologies until after they have taken over the market. Thus, instead of exercising what are typically good managerial decisions, at the introduction of technical or market change it is very often the case that managers must make counterintuitive decisions not to listen to customers, to invest in lower-performance products that produce lower margins, and to pursue small markets. From analysis of the disk drive industry, a set of rules is devised - the principles of disruptive innovation - for managers to measure when traditional good management principles should be followed or rejected. According to the principles of disruptive innovation, a manager should plan to fail early, often, and inexpensively, developing disruptive technologies in small organizations operating within a niche market and with a relevant customer base. A case study in the electric-powered vehicles market illustrates how a manager can overcome the challenges of disruptive technologies using these principles of disruptive innovation. The mechanical excavator industry in the mid-twentieth century is also described, as an example in which most companies failed because they were unwilling to forego cable excavator technology for hydraulics machines. While there is no "right answer" or formula to use when reacting to unpredictable technological change, managers will be able to adapt as long as they realize that "good" managerial practices are only situationally appropriate. Though disruptive technologies are inherently high-risk, the more a firm invests in them, the more it learns about the emerging market and the changing needs of consumers, so that incremental advances may lead to industry-changing leaps. (CJC)
Los autores de esta obra ofrecen una serie de consejos para que la migración hacia una empresa digital sea exitosa y conveniente, de acuerdo al perfil de cada organización.
Guía para conducir procesos de cambio y construcción de organizaciones que aprenden y hacen del conocimiento una ventaja corporativa, dividida en tres partes: el aprendizaje individual y organizacional y el proceso de aprendizaje; la inteligencia, la experiencia y la experimentación como tipos de aprendizaje y los retos del liderazgo.
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