Sociology, Equality and Education
In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 11, Heft 2, S. 391-392
ISSN: 1469-8684
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In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Band 11, Heft 2, S. 391-392
ISSN: 1469-8684
In: Journal of educational administration & history, Band 46, Heft 3, S. 244-269
ISSN: 1478-7431
In: Public administration: an international journal, Band 90, Heft 4, S. 974-999
ISSN: 1467-9299
The potential of an ironic perspective for understanding public service change is portrayed through a re‐analysis of data on a merger between two English primary sector schools, an extreme change involving organizational termination alongside phoenix‐like emergence. The ironic perspective focuses on synchronic dissonance and diachronic divergence in meaning underlying verbal and situational forms of irony respectively, endemic sources of organizational ambiguity, its exacerbation by change which creates conditions favouring irony, and the dynamics of their relationship. The case illustrates how ironic consequences flowed iteratively from diverse sources of ambiguity for those managing the merger, often recursively generating further irony. It is suggested that an ironic perspective can deepen theoretical understanding of the relative unmanageability of public service change, within structural parameters delimiting its scope. This perspective also offers a generic heuristic for organizational analysis with potential to inform efforts to cope with ambiguity and consequent irony in the change process.
In: Public administration: an international quarterly, Band 90, Heft 4, S. 974-999
ISSN: 0033-3298