Eighteen shades of grey? An explorative literature review into the theoretical flavours of organizational change research

Abstract

Eighteen shades of grey?: An explorative literature review into the theoretical flavours of organizational change research http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0953-4814&volume=27&issue=1&articleid=17106288&show=html&PHPSESSID=5ocnc4ere0m2ms7ttvjbl2bap5 Author(s): Ralf Wetzel, (Area People and Organization, Vlerick Business School, Leuven, Belgium), Lore Van Gorp, (Area People and Organization, Vlerick Business School, Leuven, Belgium) Citation: Ralf Wetzel, Lore Van Gorp, (2014) "Eighteen shades of grey?: An explorative literature review into the theoretical flavours of organizational change research", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 27 Iss: 1, pp.115 - 146 Keywords: Literature review, Organization theory, Organizational change research, Theoretical antagonism Article type: Research paper DOI: 10.1108/JOCM-01-2013-0007 (Permanent URL) Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank very much the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Furthermore, the authors are very grateful to the Vlerick Academic Research Fund, partially subsidized by the Flemish government, for their financial support to execute this research. Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore, how organization theoretically diverse research on OCR is actually grounded, since insights into the organization theoretical foundations of OCR are completely lacking. Design/methodology/approach - A selection of 85 articles on organizational change was made, published in top tier journals in 2010. The authors conducted a reference analysis based on 18 prominent organization theories and their main contributing authors. Findings - The findings show firstly a very strong theoretical selectivity, focusing on cognitive, learning, and neo-institutional theories. Other theories are almost fully neglected. Secondly, this analysis suggests that current OCR struggles hard with transforming the cognitive frames of topical OT into fruitful accesses to the own object. The resulting theory application appears as a dissatisfying escape strategy, performed to cover theoretical antagonisms and to avoid a deeper confrontation with the underlying assumptions of OCR. Research limitations/implications - The authors are fully aware that the depth of their analysis is worth broadening. A more comparable scope in the amount of the theories, journals, articles, and of the covered time span would help to substantiate their results. Practical implications - Pragmatic change approaches rely strongly on organizational change research. If OCR itself is not topical in terms of using available theoretical knowledge, pragmatic approaches fail to stand on solid ground. The paper therefore provides a background for the link between failing empirical change projects and the usage of available scientific knowledge. Originality/value - An analysis of the organization theoretical topicality of organizational change research is completely missing. The paper therefore not only contributes to the discovery of a blind spot in organizational studies, it possibly helps to explore the reasons for the high percentage of failing change projects.