Changing Organizations from Within examines the pulls on role and identity that can easily undermine competence and practice. It provides practical advice to help insiders navigate organizational space, make sense of tricky situations, and make best use of an insider perspective to help organizations change.
'This impressive work deepens our understanding of this basic, yet insufficiently considered aspect of organizational change, engaging in the change process as an insider. This work is indispensable for managers, consultants, students and others who want to understand the change process while functioning in a role that has a physical or psychological attachment to the organization. Susan Rosina Whittle and Robin C. Stevens have collected readings that cover an array of the psychological pitfalls and psychodynamics that change agents experience. This is a must read for those wanting to look at the process of organizational change, not from the outside, but from the inside.' William Czander, St. Thomas Aquinas College, USA 'Changing Organizations from Within is a great book and is bound to be of interest to all practitioners as well as anyone interested in getting under the skin of many of the challenges in changing organizations. The insights and understandings developed here about the relationship between consulting and leading, as well as the increasing importance of the internal consulting role, are particularly rewarding.' Sarah Kemp, Chief Executive, Trinity College London, UK 'This clear and insightful collection takes us through the key dilemmas in the consulting process from the challenging perspective of the internal consultant or change agent working on the boundary of an organisation. The light touch approach to relational and psychodynamic theories makes the readings widely accessible, will help the consultant to (re-)conceptualize themselves in role, and others to understand the complex processes at play from a different viewpoint. The engaging range of experiences recounted in the book provides a hugely valuable resource.' Camilla Child, The Tavistock Institute, UK
