Exploring Strategic Change, 4th Edition

‘Exploring Strategic Change is by far the most useful and relevant book available on the vital topic of change management. Written in an accessible style yet drawing on solid theoretical foundations, this latest edition includes up-to-date case examples and new insights in topical areas such as employee engagement. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the realities of managing change.’

Professor Katie Bailey (née Truss), University of Sussex

‘It’s wonderful to have a new edition of this definitive text on strategic change. Refreshed with new examples and contemporary concepts, this classic continues as the most complete and accessible resource in its domain.’

Richard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Oxford

Exploring Strategic Change engages with the dynamic and complex process of developing and delivering strategic and organisational change, from the analysis of context through to the formulation and implementation of effective strategies and solutions. Change management has become a highly sought after managerial competence for senior executives and middle managers. This book is written to help both students and practising managers develop skills relevant to change management, with the focus on enabling executives to implement their strategic agenda through attention to the practice of strategic change.

Using the unique and innovative framework of the change kaleidoscope, the reader will not only develop valuable insights into the practice of managing strategic change, but will also learn to appreciate the need for change approaches tailored to context. Frequent examples encourage both critical reflection and application of theory. A focus on the delivery of change, as well as its design, enables students to supplement their skills in analysis with judgement, translation and implementation skills.

This fourth edition of Exploring Strategic Change provides

• A wide range of short illustrations from both the private and public sectors.
• More attention to the concept of the change path as a critical design choice.
• More coverage of leadership, change agency skills and enabling conditions for change.
• An emphasis on exercising judgement and reading and rewriting the context as key change competences.
• Two new long case studies to explore the complexity of managing change.

Exploring Strategic Change is written for undergraduate and postgraduate students, practising managers and change agents on Strategy, HR and OB-related modules on the management of change.

Julia Balogun is Professor of Strategic Management at the School of Management, University of Bath.

Veronica Hope Hailey is Professor of Management Studies and Dean of the School of Management, University of Bath.

Stefanie Gustafsson is a lecturer and Prize Fellow in HRM at the School of Management, University of Bath.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Exploring strategic change: an introduction
Chapter 2 Understanding implementation choices: the change path
Chapter 3 Understanding implementation choices: the additional options to consider
Chapter 4 Analysing the change context: how context affects choice
Chapter 5 Designing the transition: the implementation path
Chapter 6 Transition management: building enabling conditions for change
Chapter 7 Transition management: employee engagement, trust, justice and voice
Chapter 8 Concluding comments