Departmental News
Maddux Co-Authors Analysis of Dualities in Planned Change Initiatives
Assistant professor Kristy Maddux is co-author of a new study published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Entitled "Managing Dualities in Planned Change Initiatives," the article appears in the November 2008 issue of JACR.
Abstract: Dualities play an important role in creating the conditions for change and managing planned change initiatives. Building on Seo, Putnam, and Bartunek's (2003) work, this study focuses on the dualities associated with managing change processes. A case study of a planned change process called the Circle of Prosperity Initiative, a multi-stakeholder dialogue designed to bring information technology to Indian country, was analyzed. Three dualities emerged regarding the structuring and management of the change initiative: (1) inclusion-exclusion, (2) preservation-change, and (3) centrality-parity. The findings suggested that these dualities were managed using Seo et al.'s (2003) strategy of connection. Notably, the strategy of connection relied heavily on the ability of change agents to set context within and between the different phases of the initiative and involved three specific practices for setting context setting: (1) commonplacing, (2) bounded mutuality, and (3) reflexive positioning.
Citation: Barge, J. Kevin, Michael Lee, Kristy Maddux, Richard Nabring, & Bryan Townsend, "Managing Dualities in Planned Change Initiatives," Journal of Applied Communication Research 36 (2008): 364-390.
