Richard Badham

Phone (direct): +61 2 9850 9021
Phone (switch): +61 2 9850 7800
Fax: +61 2 9850 9019
E-mail: Richard.Badham@mgsm.edu.au

‘Most men would die rather than think, many do!’ - Bertrand Russell

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Norman Schwarzkopf

Professor Richard Badham
Dip Sociol Warwick, BA/Pol. Warwick, PhD Warwick

Introduction

Identity is a matter of social permission. In our daily organizational lives, we draw on and shape ourselves as people – as friends, colleagues, relatives and lovers. Management theory often reflects formal organization speak in ignoring, repressing or stereotyping such matters. My research is concerned with surfacing such issues. It explores the emotional and political underworld of how we live our lives in organizations. Why? - Because self-knowledge and authenticity lie at the heart of effective leadership as well as a meaningful life.

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Introduction

Identity is a matter of social permission. In our daily organizational lives, we draw on and shape ourselves as people – as friends, colleagues, relatives and lovers. Management theory often reflects formal organization speak in ignoring, repressing or stereotyping such matters. My research is concerned with surfacing such issues. It explores the emotional and political underworld of how we live our lives in organizations. Why? - Because self-knowledge and authenticity lie at the heart of effective leadership as well as a meaningful life.

Focus

My enduring research interest has been the politics of innovation and change in contemporary societies and the organizations within them. In the late 70s and early 80s, my research focused on the controversies surrounding the emergence of what was then termed post-industrial societies. My first book, Theories of Industrial Society (Sage, London, 1986), explored the political issues surrounding post-industrial innovation, issues that were neglected and repressed by traditional one-dimensional views of industrialism.

During the 1980s, I wanted to get a greater understanding of the detailed dynamics of the authoritarian control and democratic potential of particular technologies. I undertook research on nuclear power, video technology, computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) equipment, to computer-integrated manufacturing (Badham, R, 1991, Computers, Design and Manufacturing, AGPS.). My focus returned to broader social themes in contributions to academic and policy debates over the nature and direction of post-Fordism (Badham, R and Mathews, J., 1989, ‘The New Production Systems Debate’, Labour and Industry), European government programs to promote work humanisation and human-centred systems (Badham, R. and Naschold, F., 1990, “New Technology Policy Concepts’, in G.Aicholzer and G. Schienstock, Technology Policy, De Gruyter), and the nature and potential of teamwork in late modern organisations (Badham, R., 1996, Images of Teamwork, Scandinavian Journal of Management).

Following a period in West Berlin as a Von Humbold Research Fellow (1989-91), I spent the next ten years working as an action researcher on innovation, teamwork and culture change projects in a number of large companies. This included obtaining and leading the largest organisation grant ever awarded by the Grants for Industrial Research and Development for the introduction of team based cells in Ford, Hoover and James Hardie Irrigation (McLoughlin, I. and Badham, R., 2000, Rethinking Political Process in Technological Change: Socio-technical Configurations and Frames, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management). From 1996-2002, as the Foundation Professor of Management in the BHP Institute for Steel Processing and Products, I ran a series of action research projects on user-centred innovation, leadership development and cultural change (Badham, R. et.al., Designer Deviance, Organization; I.McLoughlin and Badham, R., Cultures of Ambiguity, 2007, Work, Employment and Society.)

Since joining the MGSM in 2004, I have concentrated on translating this research and experience into educational support for managerial reflective practice. A central focus has been on managing change, extending previous research on power and politics in change (Buchanan, D. and Badham, R., 1999 & 2008, Power, Politics and Organizational Change, Sage, London), and examining the phenomenon of ambivalence and irony in culture change (Badham, R. and McLoughlin, I., 2005/6, Ambivalence and Engagement, International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management). Current research interests undertaken in collaboration with doctoral students include: change meetings as transition rituals (Meade, A and Badham, R.,), confidence and self-efficacy in change (Carter, R. and Badham, R.), managing uncertainty in innovation (Attar, H., and Badham, R.), and the use of film, theatre and dramatic narrative in entertainment-education (Darief, T. and Badham, R.).

My research today, as well as education, consulting and presentations, focuses on three main areas:

Firstly, leading change. There are multiple ‘N step’ theories and process for change, and many change pundits, but much less real thought and reflection on what it really takes to achieve change in yourself and other people. My focus is on the practice and lived experience of change, as a performance and as a discipline. A central concern is with moving beyond traditional management, or even leadership, of change, to inform and inspire a more authentic and effective change practice. Current research is based on in depth interviews and ethnographic research into change, and executive education organized around a ‘5M’ framework for leading change.
Secondly, power and politics in organizations. Politics is as pervasive and influential as it is difficult to talk about. Our technical mindset encourages us to believe that work can be done without politics. Standard leadership theory supports the playing of a statesperson role that is either above politics or is an ethical positive political stance. My research and interventions aim to get behind such illusions, to address the real lived experience of power and politics in organizations. It extends the Machiavellian tradition of ‘brutal honesty’ in looking at what it really takes to succeed, and what it means to be effective and ethical in such a context. A particular interest is in the pressure and requirement to be more ‘entrepreneurial’ or ‘intrapreneurial’ in playing a proactive institutional politics, and explores what this means for our work and relationships.
Thirdly, irony and performance in organizations. Everyone living and working in organizations is aware of the masks that they wear and the performances that they give. This is often discussed and commented on ‘backstage’, particularly the politics, the emotion, the showmanship, and the drama. It is something that is regularly and openly commented on in films, drama and novels. My research and presentations on irony encourage more of a playful, humorous and sceptical look at the masks and the performances. As we are pulled in different directions, both within our work and between our work and our personal lives, an ability to effectively hold things together in an authentic matter is a major challenge. It requires, in Milan Kundera’s phrase, a ‘lightness of being’, or for Muhammed Ali the ability to ‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’. In modern society, irony is often stigmatised as negative, lightweight or disengaged. My research is, however, exploring its basis as a foundation for a more effective and authentic lifestyle inside and outside organizations.

What ties these areas of research, education and intervention together is an underlying commitment to management education and organizational studies as a reflective professional practice. In contrast to views of management research and education as a technical discipline, my view is that it is an exercise in what the Greeks called phronesis, a practical art that seeks ‘wisdom in the doing’. This is, at one and the same time, an approach that is pragmatic and political in exploring what it really takes to get things done in organizations.

Contribution to Academic Knowledge

This research contributes to organizational behaviour and human resource management studies of power and politics in organizations, the dynamics and leadership of organizational change, the reflexivity and performance in light modern organizations.

Relevance

My work aims to help managers and employees better handle their lives, careers and projects in the stressful context of high failure rates in organizational change. It seeks to do so by uncovering and supporting reflection on the often unacknowledged and undiscussable emotional, political and cultural dimensions of change-in-practice. A particular focus is on working with people in grappling with two paradoxes of life in light modern organizations: firstly, formal commitment yet informal barriers to innovation and change, second, pluralistic organizations that seek to impose conformity. Issues of authenticity are addressed in public presentations, executive courses and collaborative action research projects.

Plans

My current plans are threefold. Firstly, to use MBA and executive courses on managing change to set up reflective action research projects, and use this experience to pilot new educational methods (use of video, gaming, drama and theatre) and both refine and make more accessible critical sociological knowledge, insights and methods. Secondly, to work with Doctoral students to publish absolute top-tier journal articles on practice and performance in innovation and change. Thirdly, to further promote two strands of research: ´short change´ (popular critical management books on organisational change); and the ´ironic manager` (novel treatments and presentations of reflexivity, irony and performance in light modern organizations). My commitment to critical reflective practice has led to my current role as Associate Dean (Research).

Timeline & C.V.

Recent Publications

Refereed Articles (Peer-reviewed Journals)

Zanko, M., Badham, R., & Couchman, P. (2008). Innovation and HRM: Issues, Absences and Politics. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19 (4), 562-581.

Sense, A. & Badham, R. (in press, 2008). Cultivating Situated Learning within Project Management. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.

Badham, R. J., Garrety, K., & Zanko, M. (2007). Rebels without applause: time, politics and irony in action research. Management Research News, 30 (5), 324-334.

Badham, R. & Down, S. (in press, 2007). A (Bi)Polar Night of Icy Darkness? Ambiguity and Ambivalence in the Rationalization of the Organizational Self. Organization Studies.

Non-Refereed Journal Articles

Badham, R. J. (2007). The Irony of Recruitment. Business Review Weekly, 56-57.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

Full Paper

Attar, H., Badham, R., & Couchman, P. (2008). Converting Uncertainty into Risk. EGOS Conference.

Attar, H. & Badham, R. (2007). Opening up the Black Box of Unreflexive Modernisation. APROS 12, Delhi, India, 1--17.

Badham, R. J. & Mead, A. (2007). Learning to Waltz with Multiple Partners: A Goffmanesque Approach to Interaction Work in Change meetings. APROS 12, Delhi, India, 1-33.

Badham, R. J. & Claydon, R. (2007). The Power of the Irony and the Irony of Power. APROS 12, Delhi, India, 1-23.

Couchman, P., Badham, R. J. , McLoughlin, I., Santiago, B., & Zanko, M. (2007). Lost in Translation: Localised Innovation Spaces as Arenas for Novel University-Industry-Government Relationships. APROS 12, Delhi.

Garrety, K., Badham, R. J. , & Down, S. (2007). Organisational change, power and agency in an Australian Industrial plant. APROS 12, Delhi, India.

Mead, A. & Badham, R. (2007). Meetings Bloody Meetings! A Goffmanesque Approach to Interaction Work in Change Meetings. APROS 12, Delhi, India, 1-15.

Badham, R. J. & Attar, H. (2007). Politics of Risk and the Risk of Politics: Opening Up the Black Box of 'Unreflexive Modernisation'. 23rd EGOS Colloquium, Vienna, Austria, 1-20.

Badham, R. J. & Claydon, R. (2007). The Dance of Identification: Ambivalence, Irony and Organisational Setting. 23rd EGOS Colloquium, Vienna, Austria.

Books

Badham, R. J. (2008). Power, Politics and Organizational Change, Australia: Wollongong University Press.

Buchanan, D. & Badham, R. (2007). Power, Politics and Organisational Change: Winning the Turf Game, Second Edition, London: Sage.

Badham, R. (2007). Short Change: An Introduction to Managing Change, London: Palgrave/Macmillan (under contract). Acceptance Date: 2006

Not Refereed Book Chapters

Badham, R. J. (2008). Organisational Politics. International Encyclopedia of Organisational Studies, (pp. 1156-1160). ISBN: 978-1-4129-1515-1.

Badham, R. J. (2008). Post-Fordist Economy. International Encyclopedia of Organisational Studies, (pp. 1278-1280). ISB: 978-1-4129-1515-1.

Presentation of Refereed Papers

Funded-Internal

2007 - Badham, R. J., "2 X $25,000 PhD Scholarships", MGSM, ( $150,000).

Working Papers

Carter, R., Parker, K., Badham, R., & Nesbit, P. (2008). "Improving Employee Engagement & Performance: A Self-efficacy Based Intervention" targeted for MGSM.

View all Publications

Projects & Partnerships

Be Learning Partnership:

On the basis of earlier work together, I am currently working on developing formal partnerships with Be Learning (Sydney), the Institute of Work Psychology (Sheffield), Henley College (UK) and Australian profit and not-for-profit clients of the MGSM.

Performances and Irony in Light Modern Organizations:

In the words of Clifford Geertz, ‘man is a creature suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun’. The idea that institutions are purposive-rational entities organised for the delivery of goods and services is a part, but only part, of that web. But what is the significance of this fact for practicing managers? This project draws on contemporary performance studies and interactionist views of identity, self and society to seek a relevant answer to this question.

The project focuses on how an ‘organization as theatre’ perspective can illuminate and inform the lived experience of managerial life. Are organizations really theatre, like a theatre or something else? In particular, the project explores the degree to which an ironic engagement with the roles and rituals that make up management ‘performance’ is a key to success. Can we be distanced and engaged at the same time? Is this necessary, and desirable or undesirable? Three key areas of project investigation are: leadership effectiveness; organisational sustainability and individual authenticity in what Zygmunt Bauman characterises as ‘light modern’ organizations.

The project is currently developing the theoretical framework in interaction with three other sub-projects: leading change and the handling of ‘masks’ in the exercise of influence; drama, performance and reflective practice in management development; and public presentations and reflections on the ironic manager. For the latter see the website www.ironicmanager.com. The project also draws on and contributes to three full time PhD studies of the ‘ironic temper’, ‘interaction-work in change meetings’, and the role of Brecht’s ‘V-effect’ in management development.

MGSM: Richard Badham, Amanda Mead, Richard Claydon, Temi Darief

Short Change: An Introduction to Change Management

An experiment is being undertaken in collaboration with Palgrave/Macmillan and the Executive Programs division of the MGSM to prototype a new approach to education in change management. The experiment involves the development of new content and new pedagogic methods that go beyond what Bertolt Brecht characterised as ‘culinary’ approaches to drama and education i.e. dishing up pre-packaged offerings and encouraging students and audiences to ‘leave their brains with their coats in the cloakroom’.

The experiment uses action research as an investigative tool and as an educational method. It is currently being prototyped in MBA modules and Executive Programs, and is being published as a website and a UK based educational text. Sub-program activities include: creating a narrative Alice in ChangeLand as a tool for reflective education; the use of Brecht’s ‘V Effect’ as a means of stimulating intellectual reflection and social change; the employment of Augusto Boal’s radical ‘forum theatre’ methods to encourage individual and organisational development; and the development of pedagogic methods and content that draw on narrative, film and theatre to support personal transformation at work. In its focus on theatre, the project is part of a developing collaboration and partnership with the drama based education company, Be Learning.

MGSM: Richard Badham; Temi Darief; Amanda Mead

The Partnership Project: Action Research in Management Development

Most business schools espouse commitment to practice, soft-skills, leadership capabilities, action learning and ongoing development. This is far too rarely achieved in practice. The purpose of this project is to address this issue at the MGSM by establishing genuine dialogue through ongoing organisational learning and development partnerships between the MGSM and leading Australian organizations.

The projects are centred on the delivery of education and training courses but locate these within a broader action research program. Courses are objective driven research-intensive interventions. Individual and organisational outcomes are rigorously evaluated in quantitative and qualitative terms. Programs are updated and redesigned in the light of these outcomes. In a sense, each partnership is a practical learning laboratory. The output will be high quality management research and successful individual and learning outcomes.

Prospective project partners include the main industry clients of the MGSM, the Institute for Work Psychology (Sheffield University), and Be Learning.

MGSM: Richard Badham, Richard Carter

Self-Efficacy and Employee Engagement: Collaboration with George and National Australia Bank

This project, driven largely by my PhD colleague, is a collaboration between MGSM, Be Learning and both St George and the National Australia Bank to use an ‘open theatre’ learning and development initiative to enhance employee perceptions of self-efficacy. A key focus of the project is a longitudinal study of the measurable effects that increased self-evidence has on employee engagement and performance.

MGSM: Richard Carter, Richard Badham and Paul Nesbit.

Humanitarian Supply Chain

This project is a collaboration between MGSM and Variety, exploring measures of well being as criteria for assisting in setting up a humanitarian supply chain. This project, driven largely by my PhD collaborators, is an innovative exploration in supply chain management in the not-for-profit sector, and is also being used as data for one of my PhD students exploring change meetings as transition rituals.

MGSM: Kate Hughes, Amanda Mead and Richard Badham.

Doctoral Students

Principal Supervisor for:

Richard CARTER
Richard CLAYDON
Temi DARIFF
Deborah ELLIS
Peter FUDA
Amanda MEAD
Sara ZAEEMDAR

Associate Supervisor for:

Ching Yan (Allan) WU
Andreas OBERECKER

Completed Doctoral Students:

Hooman ATTAR
Andrew SENSE

Courses

Managing of Innovation

The objective of this unit is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the process of innovation and its management within the Australian and international context, a private sector corporation or government instrumentality, an “old economy” or “new economy”. The unit takes a senior/middle management perspective in covering the management of the “fuzzy front end” of the innovation process where problems are identified and new ideas are generated. It examines the innovation process and new technology-based ways of speeding it up, reducing its cost and improving its success rate in the development of new processes, services, software and physical products. It also examines how effective innovation is achieved through a style of project management and organisational structures that involve the collaboration of individuals and the cooperation and coordination of the groups and functions of the organisation.

Managing Change

This unit has been designed to provide the framework and skills for managers who are likely to be involved in strategic initiatives within their organisations. This is a particularly important area of expertise, linking the concerns of strategic management with those of the more directly “people-focused” side of management. The basic premise underlying this unit is that the capacity to implement strategic change is a critical complementary skill to the capacity to conceive new strategic directions.

Miscellaneous

What’s the good of a story, without conversations and pictures?”, said Alice. She might have added, like the Duchess’ cook, ‘a dash of pepper’. We all need mystery and intrigue, foolishness and humour. Without these things, the world is a bland and boring place indeed.

Alice in ChangeLand is a cheat. It leads you on a journey through Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but it has twisted the story around, missed out on much, but added a whole lot more. In the following pages, you will find elements of Carroll’s Alice through the Looking Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, and Sylvie and Bruno. But Lewis Carroll is used to all of that. One can hardly imagine a film of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that does not use the now more popular term Alice in Wonderland, or existing without Tweedledum or Tweedledee, yet they were both from the Looking Glass. We all know about the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, yet Carroll never used the term ‘Mad Hatter’. So, the story is a cheat, a work of fantasy about a world of fantasy. It is an idea that Lewis Carroll might well have approved of.

Alice in ChangeLand uses and extends Lewis Carroll’s fantasy tale to illustrate the challenges, absurdities and foolishness that surround how we manage change in our lives and organizations. In a sense, this continues what has already become commonplace. Many books quote passages from Carroll’s Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Humpty Dumpty or Queen’s Croquet game to illustrate change themes. In another’s sense, however, Alice in ChangeLand does something very different. Stories of change are often preached as parables or dished up as packaged take-aways. The charm, warmth, intelligence and sense in the nonsense and chaos of Alice is lost.

It was in 1865 that Charles Dodgson, under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, the Oxford Mathematics Don first published the story of this nonsensical fantasy land, from tales he had made up to amuse a little girl Alice in summer trips down the river. In 1884, the Victorian schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, wrote a science fiction story about a two-dimensional world called Flatland, in which the inhabitants were either unable to think in three-dimensions or were punished for doing so. It is probably no surprise, that the world prefers the playful nonsense of Wonderland to the more serious nonsense of Flatland. Alice in ChangeLand welcomes you to play in this world for a while, before returning to the dull reality of the Flatland that our organizations and educators do so much to impose.