Description: The ability to manage change successfully is an essential part of business. It is a skill that is much valued by employers, and it is therefore one of the most commonly delivered courses. This book helps you to understand three key activities for managing change: diagnosing, explaining and enacting. Both practical and action-oriented, it gives students and managers the tools they need to deal with the messy reality of change. It combines theory and diagnostic tools with practical examples that focus on actions and outcomes. It also includes short vignettes and longer cases, from a range of international contexts, for classroom study or for use on distance learning courses. Managing Change is written for advanced undergraduates and graduate students taking modules on change management, strategy and organizations. Its class-tested approach has been successfully delivered in a wide variety of settings, including over fifty executive short courses with FTSE-listed businesses.
Brief description: Nic Beech is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews, Vice Chair of the British Academy of Management and Lead Fellow of the UK Advanced Institute of Management. He has undertaken significant projects funded by the ESRC, EU and industry partners and his five previous books include Human Resource Management: A Concise Analysis (with E. McKenna, 2008) and Managing Creativity (with B. Townley, Cambridge, 2010). He presents regularly to professional and business executives and teaches at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Review Quotes: 'This book combines conceptual sophistication with a strong concern for practice - an unusual achievement, in my view. Noting that organizing is always unfinished, that organizations are always in process, and that change is ever present and ambiguous, Beech and MacIntosh make a persuasive case for complex ways of managing complex organizational change. As well as writing about the inescapable politics of change and the difficulties of changing culture and habits, they usefully highlight the importance of language and dialogue for engaging people, handling differences, and enacting change. A sophisticated book illuminating enquiry for effective action.' Haridimos Tsoukas, University of Warwick and Columbia Ship Management Professor of Strategic Management, University of Cyprus