International Centre for Research in Organizational Discourse, Strategy & Change

  
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National Competitive Research Grants


Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (2008-2011)


Steve Maguire and Cynthia Hardy have been awarded $(Cdn) 127, 970 to study Technology Evolution and the Environment: A Discursive Perspective. Much of the existing work on technology evolution has emphasized the role of technological discontinuities – the appearance of new artifacts with functional or economic benefits that trigger the substitution of incumbent artifacts. As environmental issues have become central to the strategic agendas of firms, however, the substitution of polluting technologies with cleaner ones is driven by the identification, assessment and management of environmental risks. The growing importance of the discourse of risk in our society suggests that technology evolution results from discursive discontinuities i.e., the appearance of new arguments from non-market actors – NGOs, scientists, government departments, international agencies, etc. – about the risks posed by artifacts. This research program examines the role of discourse in the substitution of incumbent technologies associated with the generation of environmental risks, as well as the emergence of new “green chemistry” technologies associated with the alleviation of environmental risks.

 
Australian Research Council (2008-2010)

 
Leisa Sargent and Bill Harley have been awarded $118,000 for an ARC linkage project with the Victorian Branch of the Australian Nursing Federation to examine the effects of job changes and human resource practices on nurses' well-being, employee retention in the sector, medication errors and the quality of resident care. This research will provide much-needed empirical evidence on a sector which has largely been neglected by management researchers. The study will collect data over a number of years thereby providing a unique picture of changes in aged care and their outcomes. The study will contribute to the development of policy and practice aimed at enhancing the quality of working life in aged care as well as ensuring that older Australians receive high quality care and can live with dignity.

 
Australian Research Council (2007-2009)

Cynthia Hardy and Steve Maguire have been awarded $43,000 for a Discovery Project on Managing Transformational Change: A Discursive Approach. This project uses discourse analysis to study instances of transformational change in the agricultural and industrial chemicals sector. It focuses on change initiatives associated with the emergence and abandonment of products in response to evolving environmental policies and health concerns. It will help to answer the question of how managers can effectively initiate and implement change initiatives in and across organizations by: developing longitudinal and comparative studies of change processes in an environmental/health domain; providing an understanding of the role that language and discourse play in change; and making a contribution to the work on organizational change, inter-collaboration and institutional entrepreneurship.
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (2004-2007)

Cynthia Hardy and Steve Maguire have been awarded a grant of $(Cdn)120,000 from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada to study Institutional Entrepreneurship and Technology Evolution: Innovating for Health and Environment in the Global Economy. The proposed research draws on historical as well as real-time case studies, and employs discourse analysis techniques to explore the social construction of technologies and, especially, the way in which actors such as NGOs, governments, and scientists can act strategically to influence the fates of innovations.

Discovery Project Grant (2002-2006)

Members of ICRODSC have been awarded a Discovery Project Grant of $131,000 by the Australian Research Council. The grant will fund research into: The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems on Australian Organizations. ERP systems are computer-based technologies designed to increase efficiency and achieve major cost savings across the entire organization. ERP implementation is one of the most pervasive sources of technological change in contemporary Australian enterprises. It has significant implications for the structure, nature and management of organizations. This project's innovative application of an organizational change model to eight detailed case studies across a range of organizational types will generate important new insights into the effects of ERP implementations at Australian organizations and help to explain why some implementations are more successful than others.

Chief Investigators:
  • David Grant
  • Cynthia Hardy
  • Richard Hall
  • Bill Harley
  • Nick Wailes
  • Chris Wright
 
Linkage International Grant (2002-2005)

ICRODSC was awarded a Linkage International Grant of $63,370 in 2002 by the Australian Research Council to conduct research on Organizational Discourse and to help build the network that constitutes ICRODSC. This grant has been invaluable in supporting our activities and expanding the number of participating institutions.

Chief Investigators:
  • Bill Harley
  • Cynthia Hardy
  • Graham Sewell
  • David Grant
  • Nick Wailes
  • Grant Michaelson
Partner Investigators
  • Nelson Phillips
  • Steve Maguire
  • Tom Keenoy
  • Cliff Oswick

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Created: October 05, 2004
Last reviewed: November 16, 2009
Authorised by: Head of Department, Department of Management and Marketing
Maintained by: IT Unit, Department of Management and Marketing