Wednesday 13 February 2008
Professor Mats Alvesson on change programs and their effect on organisational culture
Visiting academic at UQ Business School Professor Mats Alvesson has found that some change programs inadvertently reinforce the existing organisational culture.
Alvesson said his in-depth case study of a high-tech firm attempting to become more market-oriented revealed that the change program itself actually reinforced some aspects of the existing organisational culture.
He said, "In unintended ways, the change program counteracted its own objectives."
"This paradoxical result can only be explained by looking at the deeper aspects of culture - not necessarily what people in an organisation recognise as culture."
Alvesson will present a seminar based on this study at UQ Business School on Friday 22 February.
He said, "The seminar will examine in detail the implementation phase of this particular change program."
Professor of Business Administration at the University of Lund in Sweden, Alvesson is a regular visitor to - and Honorary Professor of - UQ Business School.
While based at the School, Alvesson will also conduct workshops for PhD students and early-career academics on reflexive methodology and problematization - a very effective way to generate interesting research questions.
For more information contact Fiona McLeod on (07) 3365 6501 or f.mcleod@business.uq.edu.au.
Media enquiries:
Cathy Stacey
Phone (07) 3365 6179
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Fiona Sutton
Phone (07) 3365 6748
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Email media@business.uq.edu.au
