Change and the Bottom Line

Citation

Crann, M. (1998), "Change and the Bottom Line", Library Management, Vol. 19 No. 7, pp. 436-437. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.1998.19.7.436.1

This book is an example of that unlikely genre, the management novel, whose inspiration and benchmark are The Goal by Goldratt and Cox. The Goal put management theory into a fictional setting in order to communicate the technicalities of an approach to production control and accounting that might have been less understandable and approachable in a conventional textbook. In the process the authors managed to create quite an engaging narrative that took the reader gradually through several levels of enlightenment. How does Change and the Bottom Line compare?

The theme here is the management of change, dealt with through the story of Phil Moorley, a successful executive with an American company, whose career is cut short to make way for younger Turks. He returns to an England in recession and his prospects are bleak until he is offered a challenging new position. A northern company, in which members of the owning family occupy most of the key positions, is in decline and in need of urgent revitalization. Moorley accepts the post of chief executive, despite the failure of several predecessors. The rest of the narrative, related by Moorley in the present tense for immediacy, tells how, with the support of consultants, he successfully pulls the organisation round, despite the distractions of ex‐mistress, rebellious teenage son and a disaffected wife.

If the novelistic treatment provides the opportunity to bring theory to life, it also presents a number of dangers for the writer. Warner occasionally succumbs, with risible passages such as this one, where the protagonist is in conversation with his wife:

I pause when I have the feeling that Jean has stopped listening.

“Am I boring you, love? I’m sorry if I’ve gone on too much.”

“Oh no, Phil. It’s fascinating ‐ I wish you’d told me about the change cycle before.”

“Why’s that, love?”

“Philip,” she says. “Do you have a vision for the future of our marriage?”

A large amount of dialogue in the book takes place while Moorley and the management consultants are standing in front of flip charts. This permits the regular inclusion of diagrams relating to the management of change. By this method many analytical models are dealt with, including classics such as Lewin’s Force Field analysis and McKinsey’s Seven S framework, as well as less familiar ones, in particular the potent Thirteen Phase Composite Change Cycle which so stirred Moorley’s wife in the passage quoted above.

The form of the book is clearly (perhaps too clearly) based on the template provided by Goldratt’s book. The justification for the novelistic treatment is less clear, as the content here is not technical or in any way difficult to follow. As a story it lacks some of the grip and vigour of The Goal, but there is no denying the intrinsic fascination of accounts of managers struggling and succeeding in difficult circumstances (a fact recognised by the many bestselling management writers who leaven their guidance with liberal doses of narrative examples of executive dynamism). It certainly makes for easy reading: I completed the book in one sitting ‐ not the norm with management texts.

The narrative form provides the opportunity to re‐iterate and develop the elements of the Change Cycle model. The other change management frameworks are dealt with much more briefly. The obvious benefit should be the integration of theory with the “reality” of a richly realised version of organisational life. In this respect the book is less effective than it might have been. The characters who initially resist change are quickly and effectively dealt with by means of commonly advocated remedies (listening, communicating, involving) and become valuable supporters of the new vision; nobody is a real loser, there are no resolute resistors or fundamentally embittered characters. The bandwagon of enlightened change management rolls irresistibly to the terminal of success. Does this resemble life?

Library managers will probably fail to identify with the degree of power and freedom which this CEO exercises, but the focus of the change process is on dealing with people, a universal and central concern in bringing about change in organisations and as relevant to the LIS context as any other. For experienced managers, however, the extent of the benefits of reading the book are uncertain: easy absorption of management ideas which they have been too busy to catch up on? The most promising use is for students studying management who do not have much experience of organisations. In such a situation management theory can be both puzzling and tiresome; here the experience is vicariously provided. Beyond the Bottom Line is no substitute for more conventional treatments, but has its place as a readable and entertaining supplementary text.