Abstract
This paper adopts the lens of critical discourse analysis (hereafter CDA) to understand public sector reform by examining three change initiatives within a Swedish government authority. The purpose of this research is to increase knowledge on how, on the one hand, the change management discourse is produced and distributed top-down, and on the other hand interpreted bottom-up. This is relevant since both theory and practice need to expand knowledge on organizations’ ability to manage change successfully. This paper therefore contributes to change management literature within the public sector. This qualitative research adopts CDA to capture the interaction between actors in the change management processes. The empirical data consists of documents and semi-structured interviews which have been analyzed through triangulation and categorized using the CDA concepts production, distribution and consumption of discourse. The results from this study provide: (1) insights into similarities and differences of the three change initiatives, (2) an understanding of the interaction between actors at different levels in the organization, and (3) the structural implications of arranging the change management process.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
CHANGE MANAGEMENT, CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS, HUMAN INTERACTIONS, PUBLIC SECTOR
