Purpose – The aim is to analyse managerial behaviour using narrative analysis to identify stories that are often ignored, silenced or missed by the hegemonic managerialist narrative. Design/methodology/approach – An ethnographic narrative based on an 18 month period of participant...

Purpose – A description of the managerial impact on change processes during a takeover with middle management in the telecom industry. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is to use storytelling as a form of analysis of different positions within an organization, as described in a case...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to give an account of a self‐evaluation process in a change programme within the US Coast Guard. Design/methodology/approach – This is an autoethnographical account as form of reflection on a leadership in position facilitating change within the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a practical conceptual tool for analysing the dynamics of cultural change in organizations. In so doing it seeks to address two concerns in the organization culture literature: issues of time and perspective which underlie the contested...

Purpose – This paper has three purposes. The first is to introduce the concept of fantasy, based on Lacanian pyschoanlysis, in order to link theoretically the role of narrative and affect in organizational strategies of control. The second is to use this concept to illuminate the fantasmatic...

Purpose – Reading the works of Charles Bukowski is a male, and by extension, masculine activity, and as such it can make a female reader feel as if she is trespassing into some male preserve. Arguably, in entering many organisations, women experience similar feelings. The purpose of this paper...

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to report a case study investigating how organizational identity evolves during institutional change within a UK building society. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs an inductive case study, which is appropriate for examining such change...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the way in which health professional (HP)‐based subcultures interpret reform‐based changes. Design/methodology/approach – A three‐phase study is carried out using thematic analysis to examine data from semi‐structured interviews held...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a qualitative study of software engineers' playful behaviors at work. Design/methodology/approach – The interviewed software engineers come from two European and three American companies. The research is based on ethnographical...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the persistent ambiguity of socialization practices in US and Swedish organizations, which promote a mature work identity while infantilizing their employees. Design/methodology/approach – Application of the insights from modernist...