Tenants of time and context: localised Discourses as constraint on and resource for culture change as a management lever - Dr Marian Iszatt-White

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This paper takes an ‘historically informed’ approach to refining the notion of culture change as a  management lever. From the perspective of mainstream management writing, the repertoire of discursive interventions from which a given leader is able to draw would usually be consisted as constrained by the persistent organisational culture within which that leader operates. Introducing an historical perspective – specifically Suddaby’s work on ‘uses of the past’, ‘rhetorical history’ and ‘invented tradition’ (Suddaby et al, 2010) as management tools for developing brand and reputational assets – this paper considers the alternative perspective of discursive repertoires as resources for leading change. This suggests a more strongly agentic role for leaders in the construction of ‘social memory assets’ (Foster et al, 2011) and the ‘strategic appropriation of the past’ (Carroll, 2002: 557) to further organisational goals. It draws on a unique body of interview data, spanning 20+ years within each of two case study companies, to examine the discursive repertoires of senior leaders over time and within enduring organisational contexts. In showing strategic leadership discourses to reflect persistent cultural repertoires unique to the organisational setting, it demonstrates the existence of meso-level ‘localised Discourses’ within a specific organisational setting, across different leaders, facing different challenges, over an extended period of time. The application of temporal perspectives thus enriches existing organisational theory and refines our understanding of culture change as a management lever.

International Journal of Management Reviews (IJMR) Publishing Guide Workshop

Please note that Marian has kindly offered to provide a guide to publishing in IJMR for academic staff and PhD students between 1.30pm and 2.30pm in the Church Lane Building Boardroom, also on 21 November.

Dr Marian Iszatt-White, Lancaster University Management School

Marian Iszatt-White is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS). She entered academia after a successful career in financial risk management, latterly as Group Treasurer of Top 100 plc Enterprise Oil, having also worked in the specialist engineering and hospitality industries. Since joining LUMS, she has served as Director of the School’s Executive MBA, and as Director of their doctoral programmes. Her research interests revolve around the practice turn in leadership and its implications for ‘aspirational’ forms of leadership (such as Authentic Leadership) and leadership development. Her most recent work centres of ideas of stewardship as a successor to our hopes and aspirations for the leadership construct. This has also led her to explore historical perspectives within her research, particularly as a resource for practicing leaders. She has published in journals such as Leadership, Management Learning, Organization Studies and Journal of Business Ethics, and has published four books, including a post-graduate leadership textbook (now in its third edition) and an edited volume on leadership as emotional labour. She is currently working on a book entitled Stewardship as leadership: Honouring our past while securing our future for the Edward Elgar New Horizons in Leadership Studies book series. She is on a number of editorial boards and is Co-Editor in Chief for the International Journal of Management Reviews.