2 The discourse of change: from

theory to practice

Objectives of this chapter:

By the end of this chapter, you should:

1 Be familiar with the scientific management approach

2 Be familiar with the human relations approach
3 Be familiar with socio-technical systems theory
4 Be familiar with contingency theory
5 Understand what is meant by the discourse of change
6 Understand the types of change and levels of change
7 Be familiar with different job design strategies

Air Canada and change

Between 1940 and 1970, Air Canada, the flag carrier of Canada, oper-
ated reservations offices in a number of different cities. The job was a
popular one because of the higher than average pay and benefits, yet
once hired, many of the agents found the work itself monotonous,
repetitive and restrictive. The initial three-week training course taught
agents how to make air, hotel and car reservations. This included pre-
liminary training on how to calculate domestic and international fares.
Agents who showed an aptitude for doing these fare calculations could
be selected for more in-depth training and might be transferred to one
of the specialized departments. But for the majority, they were assigned
general telephone sales duties. Productivity was measured on the num-
ber of calls answered during an eight-hour shift. These calls were peri-
odically monitored by quality assurance agents to ensure that customers
were being given information in a courteous and efficient manner.
In the early 1970s, a new computer system was installed and Air
Canada implemented a variety of job redesign strategies designed to
 From theory to practice 23

enhance customer service and help to increase sales. These techniques

included ‘customer care programmes’ and management training courses.
During the mid-1980s, the airline restructured their ‘special accounts’
departments to give agents more autonomy and ownership of the
accounts of frequent flyers and travel agency bookings. Instead of one
agent doing the air booking, one doing the hotel booking, another doing
the car rentals and another handling the ticketing, one agent would be
responsible for all the steps of a passenger’s travel arrangements,
including the follow-up after the journey was completed.
Privatization in 1989, followed by deregulation, increased competition
and technological advances forced the airline to once again re-evaluate
its strategic direction. In 1991, this led to the closure of most of the
reservations offices and the centralization of the remaining three offices.
At the same time, a number of employees were offered either early
retirement or severance packages. In late 1999, Air Canada merged with
Canadian Airlines, in what some described as a hostile takeover on the
part of Air Canada. More lay-offs occurred, along with pay cuts. Efforts
were made to merge the two distinct cultures and to sort out seniority
issues amongst the various unions. Change initiatives, such as Six Sigma
and the Balanced Scorecard were some of the ways that Air Canada
tried to address their problems. But events such as September 11 and
the SARS outbreak in Toronto led to a decrease in travel and the airline
filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
By 2005, a newly restructured Air Canada emerged from bankruptcy
protection. The new airline was more focused on profitability and cus-
tomer satisfaction, as indicated in the opening remarks of Robert
Milton, CEO, during their 2005 annual meeting: ‘You shared our vision
of a new air services company. You shared our vision to capitalize on
Air Canada’s restructuring, seize new business opportunities, unlock
shareholder value and generate profitability in the aviation services sec-
tor’.1 This means more change initiatives for Air Canada in the coming
years as it, like many other companies, continues to engage in ongoing
change at a number of levels throughout the organization, according to
current change fashions.

In order to make sense of how the notion of organizational change, in par-

ticular programmatic change techniques, has become a panacea for organiza-
tional effectiveness and survival, we first need to have an understanding of
the theoretical underpinnings of what currently constitutes change manage-
ment literature. We then need to understand the forces that have driven