Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation

Citation

Dawson, P., & Andriopoulos, C. (2021). Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation (4th ed.). Sage Publications.

Chapter Summary

The fourth edition is a 608-page textbook in sixteen chapters divided into three parts. The publisher describes it as taking the view that change, creativity and innovation are interconnected, and as pairing a strong theoretical understanding with practical guidance for organisational change and development. Chapter titles below follow the publisher's contents list; the descriptions are limited to what the titles and the publisher's account show.

Part One: Setting the Scene: The Changing Landscape of Business Organizations (Chapters 1–3)

Chapter 1, "Introduction", opens the book. Chapter 2, "The Process of Change, Creativity and Innovation", takes up the processes named in the title and the book's claim that they are linked. Chapter 3, "A Brief History of Management Thought in the Development of Concepts, Theories and Business Practice", gives the intellectual background that later chapters draw on.

Part Two: Change and Innovation in Organizations (Chapters 4–10)

This is the longest part and covers the theory and practice of change management.

• Chapter 4, "Classifying Theories of Organizational Change", organises the field of theories.
• Chapter 5, "Change Management Practice: Choices, Lessons Learned and Key Considerations", turns to practice.
• Chapter 6, "Human Dimensions: Readiness, Communication, Sensemaking and Culture", and Chapter 7, "People and Change: Power, Politics, Resistance, Time and Temporality", deal with the people side of change. The publisher notes that the fourth edition added a chapter on these aspects, including culture, sensemaking and temporality.
• Chapter 8, "Conventional Frameworks: Planning, Diagnostics and Sequence", and Chapter 9, "Interpretative Frameworks, Dialogical OD, the Learning Organization and Appreciative Inquiry", contrast planned, sequential approaches with interpretative ones.
• Chapter 10, "The Processual Turn: Politics, Context and Time", presents the processual perspective on change.

Part Three: Creativity, Innovation and Change in Organizations (Chapters 11–16)

Chapter 11, "Creative Industries, Innovative Cities and Changing Worlds", widens the lens to sectors and places. Chapters 12 to 15 move up through levels of the organisation: "The Individual: Promoting Critical Thinking", "The Group: Nurturing Teamwork", "The Contextual Environment: Structure, Systems, Resources and Culture" and "The Leader: Promoting New Ideas at Work". Chapter 16 is the "Conclusion".

Key Concepts

Part One

• Interconnection of change, creativity and innovation: the book's organising premise.
• Management thought: the historical background of concepts and theories.

Part Two

• Classifying theories of change: sorting approaches to organisational change.
• Readiness, communication, sensemaking and culture: human dimensions named in Chapter 6.
• Power, politics, resistance, time and temporality: the people-and-change themes of Chapter 7.
• Planning, diagnostics and sequence: the conventional frameworks of Chapter 8.
• Dialogical organisation development, the learning organisation and appreciative inquiry: interpretative frameworks of Chapter 9.
• The processual turn: attention to politics, context and time in Chapter 10.

Part Three

• Creative industries and innovative cities: the setting of Chapter 11.
• Individual, group, contextual environment and leader: the levels at which creativity and innovation are promoted in Chapters 12–15.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear architecture. Three parts move from context to change theory and practice to creativity and innovation, and the late chapters follow a ladder from individual to group, environment and leader.
• Coverage of competing perspectives. Separate chapters deal with conventional planned models, interpretative and dialogical approaches, and the processual view, so a reader sees how views differ rather than a single method.
• Supporting materials. The companion site offers recommended journal articles and video links for each chapter, and instructors have a manual, slides, a test bank and Sage Business Cases.
• Updated in this edition. The publisher lists new case studies and examples from around the world, extra content on innovation and technology, and an additional chapter on the people aspects of change.

Limitations

• Length and density. At 608 pages, with sixteen chapters, the book is long for a single module; teachers will need to choose parts.
• Theory-heavy in places. The chapter titles show a strong theoretical component (interpretative frameworks, the processual turn), which suits postgraduate study more than a first encounter with the subject.
• No independent reviews located. The sources available for this guide do not include published reviews, so judgments about readability rest on the publisher's description rather than on third-party evaluation.

Where It Fits in the Course

In organisational psychology this is the specialist title on change, creativity and innovation. Fineman, Gabriel and Sims's Organizing and Organizations and Furnham's The Psychology of Behaviour at Work are broad textbooks, the first with a critical and conversational approach and the second with an individual-focused psychological one, and either is a sensible base before Dawson and Andriopoulos. Chmiel, Fraccaroli and Sverke's Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology and the OpenStax Organizational Behavior are introductory texts.

Hayes's The Theory and Practice of Change Management covers a similar topic. Weick's Sensemaking in Organizations and Morgan's Images of Organisation are theoretical works that connect with the interpretative chapters, and Schein and Schein's Organizational Culture and Leadership relates to the culture and leader chapters.

How to Use This Book

The book is a university textbook for students of organisational change management or of creativity and innovation, and the publisher calls it engaging and accessible. A general background in organisations or management helps but is not stated as a prerequisite.

A practical plan is to read Part One quickly, then Chapters 4 and 5 for the map of theory and practice. Choose among Chapters 6 to 10 according to your interest, using 8 and 9 together to compare approaches. For innovation courses, go straight to Part Three. Use the companion journal articles for each chapter, and test each framework against a case from the book or from your own organisation. Check whether a course assigns the fourth edition or the earlier third edition, which had a different chapter division.