A Machiavellian Analysis Of Organisational Change

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm JOCM 19,2 A Machiavellian analysis of organisational change David McGuire Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and 192 Kate Hutchings Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake a Machiavellian analysis of the determinants of organisational change. It aims to present a model of how power, leaders and teams, rewards and discipline, and roles, norms and values, serve as drivers, enablers or inhibitors of organisational change. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts the sixteenth century Machiavellian text The Prince as a lens through which to examine organisational change. Findings – The paper concludes that Machiavellian thinking provides a valuable guide to the challenges and obstacles in negotiating organisational change and identifies the individual as occupying the central role in determining whether the change intervention will be accepted or rejected. Originality/value – The longevity of Machiavellian thinking underlines the constancy of human behaviour and the relevance of age-old thinking in understanding and negotiating change in a complex fast-paced business environment. Keywords Organizational change, Strategic management, Management power, Individual behaviour Paper type Conceptual paper Journal of Organizational Change Management Vol. 19 No. 2, 2006 pp. 192-209 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0953-4814 DOI 10.1108/09534810610648906 Introduction As management practitioners and academicians have sought to comprehend, and address, the challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing complexity of modern business organisations and rapid change within the international business environment, they have increasingly sought guidance from the wisdoms of political and military strategists of past centuries. The treatises on government and political power by the sixteenth century political scientist, Niccolo Machiavelli, are writings to which political administrators and business leaders turned their attention in the latter half of the twentieth century. Used by scholars to understand political dynamics in organisations, the discourses of Machiavelli have been adopted as leadership guidelines for politicians, administrators and managers, and Machiavelli’s most famous work, The Prince, has been widely utilised as a handbook for strategic action. Though Machiavelli wrote 500 years ago, his political world has much in common with the modern political and business world that is also beset by change, turmoil and challenge to the status quo. Indeed,