Purpose -To explain how an organization has been able to use seismic changes in its wider external environment to transform its performance without the need for radical internal restructuring or coercive forms of leadership. Design/methodology/approach -This paper utilises a three year case study from elite sport, an under-represented sector in the management literature but one that offers a fascinating view of change.Findings -Whilst the change management literature typically emphasises dramatic and rapid coercive restructuring accompanying open-ended environment change, this study found that known routines and historical ways of working existed alongside innovation, risk-taking and learning; the paradoxical foundation upon which performance flourished. Research limitations/implications -Although the dangers of single cases are noted, difficulties regarding access and comparability with other similar organizations prevented a similar degree of focus on multiple cases. Future research either within elite sports teams or other organizations facing similar environmental change is needed to extend and enhance the asset maximization model presented here. Practical implications -This analysis and the development of an asset maximisation approach questions the traditional processual or design-based approaches towards managing change and argues for the capture and incorporation of business and strategic decision making within such accounts. Originality/value -The paper is a rare account of change within elite sports. The asset maximisation approach developed within this case study illustrates how holistic value creation in turbulent times is achieved. As such, its conclusions will have much to offer organizations as well as academics interested in the management of change.

This paper uses panel data from New Zealand from the years 1995 and 1999 to examine the impact on those organizations, size fifty and over, that engaged in repeat downsizing during this period. It was found that, during the panel period, approximately 20 per cent of the 322 organizations in the survey had engaged in the permanent reduction of their workforce in both periods. When compared with organizations in the survey that had not engaged in downsizing in both periods, it was found that the repeat downsizers exhibited characteristics that were little different from those that had downsized only in the later period, who reported the greatest decline in performance. However, those who had downsized only in 1995 had, by 1999, largely recovered from the initial negative effects. The repeat downsizers appear to have created a long-term concession climate that is associated with negative workplace performance.

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This article reviews the literature on computer-mediated communication (CMC) in organizations and as a medium for postsecondary education, and describes a teaching- and-research design that linked Boston MBA students with undergraduate organizational behavior students in Nova Scotia. The results of this CMC project are reviewed. Suggested future research on the topic is proposed.

The general study of institutional arrangements that are designed to impact on managerial prerogatives is typically cast in the genre of forms of industrial democracy. While the last few decades have seen a decline in interest in this area of study, developments in the European Union have enabled an ongoing dialogue specifically on the topic of consultation. Although consultation is generally seen by scholars as a modest form of industrial democracy, formal European Directives have provided the opportunity to assess the representative strength or otherwise of initiatives such as European Works Councils that are explicitly designed to address social policy and inequality in the workplace. Drawing on 41 case studies, we examine the determinants of European Works Councils morphology, activities undertaken and general outcomes. We note that it is important to presumptively inquire as to what is being theorized rather than simply take the implicit position that European Works Councils are the prime institution of influence. This leads us to establish the primacy of management and in particular, the vector of management decision-making as the primary independent variable that predicts much about the operation and robustness of European Works Councils. Accordingly, we find that strong centralized management, rather than the usual suspects of differing national industrial relations systems and cultural differences, typically account for much of what we understand in terms of the role that European Works Councils play.