Discourse of transformation in organizational change management

This study examines the discursive construction of ideological change and identity within the practice of organisational control in organisational change management. The focus of the study was to examine how the organisation through its large-scale reengineering process to implement organisational change initiatives appropriated discourse of transformation to effect change among its organisational members. The organisation’s focus is to change mindsets and persuade members to embrace characteristics, traits, attitudes and behaviour that are deemed to be beneficial to the organisation. Discourse of transformation is used as an object of discursive construction of reality in the construction of an ‘ideal’ member identity and ideological change. The theoretical framework for the study is informed by theories of identity and ideology in discourse, theories of power and language as articulated in the field of critical discourse analysis. The data consist of transcripts of ‘Sharing Sessions’ which were transcribed verbatim. The analytical framework for the textual analysis of identity and ideology is developed on a basis of a combination of concepts and methods namely, [1] analysis, intertextual analysis, Antaki and Widdicombe’s principles for analysing identity in talk and [2] modes of identity regulation