A case-study into change influences within a large British multinational

This paper evaluates how obvious the concepts of internal, external, planned and emergent change were within a UK based manufacturing company. It tracks multiple change programmes over several years across two company sites. The implementation of change programmes based upon common constructs as defined by management writers and consultants formed the foundation for the research. It is argued that an interpretation of the change process has to take into account multiple and varied forces and that specific influences do come into play. How these forces interact over time has a direct impact on perceived success. The intent of this paper is to reveal the underlying rationales that drove the change programmes, through an analysis of whether initiatives were internal, external, planned or emergent. Moreover, it identifies the principal influences upon organizational change for the case sites.