Pichault/Friedberg: Change management - toward a polyphonic management

This book develops a critical view on the main current theories in change management and leads to a multidimensional grid for assessing change processes. Thanks to numerous case studies, it offers a concrete illustration of a polyphonic management style. This book develops a critical view on the main current theories in change management. Most of them offer partial explanations: the planning model considers change as a linear process, in which design necessarily precedes implementation; the contingent model is essentially focussed on contextual pressures; the political model is mainly concerned with power games, often leading to the dilution of change, etc.The book proposes an original combination of these models by referring to the actor-network theory, a french sociologiclal perspective. Thanks to numerous case studies, it provides the reader with a rich and concrete understanding of the main phenomena linked to any change process. It leads to a multidimensional grid for assessing change processes and pleads for the adoption of a polyphonic management style, in which the interests of the various stakeholders concerned directly contribute to the design of the project.