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Reframing the Organization: Why Implementing Total Quality Is Easier Said Than Done

Item

Title
Reframing the Organization: Why Implementing Total Quality Is Easier Said Than Done
Abstract/Description
This article presents a cognitive theory of why planned organizational change efforts, such as total quality initiatives, often fail. The theory suggests that employees resist total quality because their beliefs about the organization's identity constrain understanding and create cognitive opposition to radical change. We propose a dynamic model in which successful implementation of fundamental organizational transformation is partly dependent on management's ability to re-frame the change over time. Implementation may best be accomplished through a series of middle-range changes that are large enough to overcome cognitive inertia and relieve organizational stress, but not so large that members believe the proposed change is unobtainable or undesirable.
Author/creator
Reger, Rhonda K.
Gustafson, Loren T.
Demarie, Samuel M.
Mullane, John V.
Date
1994
In publication
Academy of Management Review
Volume
19
Issue
3
Pages
565-584
Resource type
en Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
en Published Text
Scholarship genre
en Theoretical
en Synthesis/Overview
Keywords
ADAPTABILITY (Psychology)
COGNITIVE learning theory
CORPORATE image
CORPORATE reorganizations
CORPORATE turnarounds — Management
FORMAL organization
INDUSTRIAL management
ORGANIZATIONAL change
ORGANIZATIONAL structure
TOTAL quality management
Open access/full-text available
en No
Peer reviewed
en Yes
ISSN
0363-7425
DOI
10.5465/amr.1994.9412271815
URL
Official Publisher's Webpage (Academy of Management)
Citation
Reger, R. K., Gustafson, L. T., Demarie, S. M., & Mullane, J. V. (1994). Reframing the Organization: Why Implementing Total Quality Is Easier Said Than Done. Academy of Management Review, 19(3), 565–584. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1994.9412271815
Cited in
Cross-Sector Research on Continuous Learning and Improvement
Abbreviation
AMR
Item sets
OB Citations - Cross-Sector Research on Learning and Improvement

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