Managing Change in Pluralistic Organizations: The Role of Normative Accountability Assumptions

ABSTRACT

Pluralistic organizations face the challenge of managing the co-existence of multiple sets of assumptions associated with each institutional logic. This multiplicity of assumptions problematizes the findings from the change management literature that for successful change management, the normative assumptions of the change initiative should be congruent with the organizational normative assumptions. One of the organizational mechanisms in which the normative assumptions are encoded and enacted is the system of accountability, hence in pluralistic organizations, there is a need to understand the role of the interplay of the normative accountability assumptions of the change initiative with the multiple sets of accountability assumptions representing individual logics within the organization. This study examines the case of a project to renew a strategic framework of a Canadian public university. The project diverged from the existing governance practices and their associated accountability assumptions that represented the institutional logic of managerialism. We found that this project was widely accepted, despite deviating from the institutional logic that supported existing practices, because its accountability assumptions were congruent with co-existing and deeply-rooted, democratic logic within the organization. Our findings contribute to the change management literature by highlighting the role of normative accountability assumptions in change management within pluralistic organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Institutional pluralism
• accountability
• normative assumptions
• change management
• higher education

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Farzana Asad Mir is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Business and Law, The British University in Dubai, UAE. She has completed her PhD from University of Guelph, Canada. Her research interests are broadly within the field of management, and she is particularly interested in the areas of change management, accountability, management control and project performance. Her academic research interests are augmented by more than fifteen years of professional experience in the fields of project management and quality assurance.

Davar Rezania is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management, University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He obtained his PhD from ESADE Business School in Barcelona and his MSc in Computer Science from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He led several IT projects for ABN AMRO Bank, AEGON Insurance, and Rabobank International. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA), and has taught at the undergraduate, MBA, and PhD programs. His research focus is in the areas of leadership, corporate social responsibility, management control and project management.

Ron Baker is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the Department of Management, University of Guelph, Canada. He obtained his PhD from Aston University and his MBA from Athabasca University. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), and has taught at the undergraduate, Masters, and PhD programs. His research focus is in the areas of accounting history, accountability, and accounting education.

ORCID

Farzana Asad Mir http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9378-1800

Notes

1 The position of president and vice-chancellor is one position staffed by one individual.