Towards a Polyphonic Approach to Change Management

This book develops a critical view of the current main theories in change management, showing that most offer partial explanations for change: the planning approach, for instance, considers it as a linear process, while the contingent approach, another renowned view, is essentially focused on contextual pressures.

It proposes an original combination of these various theoretical approaches via a comprehensive model, referred to as the five forces model, and suggests using actor-network theory, a French sociological perspective, to guide the change management process. Thanks to numerous case studies, the book provides the reader with a rich and concrete understanding of the main phenomena linked to any change process. This approach leads to a multidimensional grid for assessing change processes and pleads for the adoption of a “polyphonic” management style, in which considering the interests of the various stakeholders concerned directly contributes to the design of change projects.