Rethinking Change Management: A Critical Perspective

Opposing the notion that organisational change can be planned, predicted, or controlled, this timely book offers a critical perspective on change management. Johan Coetsee, Patrick Flood, Steven Kilroy and Teresa O'Hara portray change as a fluid phenomenon shaped by negotiation, tension, and the complex realities of power, politics, and institutions.

Consolidating insights from leadership, stakeholder engagement, and ethics, the authors present a context-sensitive understanding of change. They frame leadership as a shared, relational process and critique the tendency to depend excessively on standard metrics, which can obscure vital issues such as trust, legitimacy, and inclusion. Chapters challenge traditional linear models in contemporary fast-paced working environments, defining change as a psychologically and emotionally complex process. They also provide an analytical overview of digital transformation, revealing related hidden issues including confusion over roles and ethical risks. Underscoring the importance of values-driven leadership, the book ultimately identifies how to integrate environmental, social, and governance factors into transformation strategies.

Rethinking Change Management is an essential resource for scholars and students of business leadership, management and sustainability, and organisational change and leadership. Organisational development professionals and public and nonprofit sector practitioners will also benefit from its promotion of relational and adaptive approaches to transformation.

W.J. Coetsee, Head of Postgraduate Programmes, Liverpool John Moores University, UK, Patrick C. Flood, Full Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Dublin City University, Steven Kilroy, Associate Professor of HRM, Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin and Teresa O’Hara, Senior Lecturer in Management, Technological University of the Shannon, Ireland