Journal of Organizational Change Management

Citation

(2006), "Journal of Organizational Change Management", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 19 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jocm.2006.02319aaa.002

Journal of Organizational Change Management

Journal of Organizational Change Management

Special issue: "Managing the career, and control and commitment in knowledge intensive firms during periods of organizational change"

Co-editors for this special issue: Pauline Gleadle and Graeme Salaman, the Open University Business School, UK; Nelarine Cornelius, Brunel University, UK and Eric Pezet, Ecole des Mines, Paris

The focus of this special issue is on managing the control and commitment of knowledge workers, particularly during periods of substantial organizational change. In practice, the term knowledge worker covers a wide range of individuals from those employed in the media, advertising agencies and accountancy practices (Deetz, 1994) to those engaged in high tech Research & Development (Kunda, 1992). What these apparently diverse workers have in common is that not only are they the subject of much debate in the management literature, but they also tend to be viewed as quite different from other employees. These differences lie in their supposedly highly privileged position as workers who enjoy a substantial degree of autonomy and who also invest an extraordinarily high measure of their identity in their work. Indeed, according to this perspective, organizations have to be cautious in the management of knowledge workers or they will haemorrhage these valuable staff at a very real cost to their firms (Alvesson, 2000). HR practices including the management of the careers of knowledge workers therefore assume great importance.

Career patterns of knowledge workers range from the partnership model of professional services firms, a model which is changing, to the media where there is a tradition of outsourcing to mini businesses. Similar developments are in progress in the pharmaceutical industry where large firms are increasingly managing the tension between exploitation and exploration (March, 1991) by outsourcing R&D activity, thereby raising again issues of control of these key workers and of their careers. Notions of enterprise (Salaman, 2004) play a role in these developments which varies for different types of knowledge worker. In accountancy firms, there is evidence of professional staff being expected to embrace notions of enterprise in order to become a partner whereas in the relatively recent past, it had been enough to be a competent ifhard-working subject specialist (e.g. a tax accountant). In the media world of outsourcing to mini businesses, notions of a career appear obsolete but instead workers have to engage notions of enterprise in acting as an entrepreneur of the self if they are to survive in this sector. In so doing, they may conclude that the job market in which they operate is unfair and so that "enterprise'' is not working properly here.

We welcome papers that address these issues and the dynamic context in which these changes are occurring. In order to build upon this body of work exploring issues around the management of knowledge workers, we would encourage theoretical and empirical papers as well as reviews of the literature. While this list is not meant to be exhaustive, we welcome interesting papers on knowledge workers from sociological, political, historical and psychological perspectives exploring agency, multiple identities and the importance of social roles. More specifically, we particularly welcome contributions from the following areas and angles:

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  identities, resistance and control;

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  discourse and narratives of identity; and

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  emotional labour and discourses of enterprise.

Questions about this special issue, including expectations, requirements, appropriateness of topic and the like can be directed to Pauline Gleadle on m.p.r.gleadle@open.ac.uk.Submission guidelines: Information for contributors to JOCM can be obtained from www.emeraldinsight.com/jocm.htm

Submissions must adhere to the requirements for authors of JOCM. All submissions will be subject to double blind review per the journal review policy.