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Playing the party game: musical careers

Playing the party game: musical careers Purpose – This paper seeks to understand whether significant senior management and structural changes within an Australian university is the result of learning or other influences and how these explain the impact of change on the careers of two individuals within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach – The organisation and the changes are introduced followed by a microcase study of two individuals aspiring to the same position. The cause and effect of changes are considered from organisational learning, structural, political and emotional perspectives. Findings – Organisational learning was not found to be the primary cause of the changes. (Re)structure was used to increase horizontal power and authority. Decision‐making ranged from rational to emotional based on the strengths of one's political affiliations. Research limitations/implications – Limitations exist by virtue of a restricted number of objects of interest being studied. Practical implications – This paper seeks to challenge the individual to understand the dynamics within their organisation and to respond in a rational rather than emotional way to organisational change so that they can benefit from or at least learn from the changes at a personal level. Originality/value – The paper considers a range of organisational perspectives and offers a general model of the relationships between structure, power, rationality, emotions, and the unitary v. pluralist views. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Learning Organization Emerald Publishing

Playing the party game: musical careers

Debbie Richards
The Learning Organization , Volume 17 (2): 9 – Mar 9, 2010
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References (14)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0969-6474
DOI
10.1108/09696471011019844
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This paper seeks to understand whether significant senior management and structural changes within an Australian university is the result of learning or other influences and how these explain the impact of change on the careers of two individuals within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach – The organisation and the changes are introduced followed by a microcase study of two individuals aspiring to the same position. The cause and effect of changes are considered from organisational learning, structural, political and emotional perspectives. Findings – Organisational learning was not found to be the primary cause of the changes. (Re)structure was used to increase horizontal power and authority. Decision‐making ranged from rational to emotional based on the strengths of one's political affiliations. Research limitations/implications – Limitations exist by virtue of a restricted number of objects of interest being studied. Practical implications – This paper seeks to challenge the individual to understand the dynamics within their organisation and to respond in a rational rather than emotional way to organisational change so that they can benefit from or at least learn from the changes at a personal level. Originality/value – The paper considers a range of organisational perspectives and offers a general model of the relationships between structure, power, rationality, emotions, and the unitary v. pluralist views.

Journal

The Learning Organization – Emerald Publishing

Published: Mar 9, 2010

Keywords: Higher education; Leadership; Career development; Australia

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