New research on managing change

Here are a couple of examples relevant cutting edge research from the CMI Top Management Articles initiative.

‘Rethinking change: downsizing businesses, changing behaviors and still managing to come out on top’  by Dr. Michael J.R. Butler, David Crundwell, Professor Mike Sweeney of Aston Business School. This deals with the highly topical subject of downsizing.   The authors reached three fundamental conclusions from their experience and research in facility closure management within Vauxhall, UK: put your people first, make sure you keep running the business and manage your legacy. They develop the ideas into a new business model linked to the emotions of change.

The second article entitled ‘Think, manage and lead systemically’ is written by Bill Tate a CMI Subject matter Expert attached to the University of Bedfordshire http://www.managers.org.uk/policy/subject-matter-experts/bill-tate-mcmi  The article has proved to be very popular with our members and received no fewer than 10 favorable reviews.   The article is based on the book The Search for Leadership: An Organisational Perspective (Triarchy Press, 2009) and helps managers and developers notice the organisational ‘fishtank’ (aka the system) in which they and other ‘fish’ are required to navigate and perform. It enables them to question assumptions about the leadership culture and their role in this. And it helps them learn how to apply their leadership to the challenge of improving the system, at the same time distributing managers’ leadership contribution more widely.

These and other research articles can be downloaded by going to www.managers.org.uk/toparticles  and clicking the button marked ‘Read an Article.’  If you would like to contribute a review go to the same url and click on the ‘Review an Article’ button, but remember, in this case you will need to login.