Exploring the Hidden Aspects of Organizational Change: The Constellation of Controls at a Fiat-Chrysler Automotive Plant

Titolo Rivista STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI
Autori/Curatori Mario Pezzillo Iacono, Ernesto De Nito, Marcello Martinez, Riccardo Mercurio
Anno di pubblicazione 2018 Fascicolo 2017/2
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 21 P. 69-89 Dimensione file 214 KB
DOI 10.3280/SO2017-002004
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This paper examines and interprets the concept of organizational change using a critical (post-structuralist) approach. The authors aimed to investigate the ‘hidden’ aspects of change, understanding this process as a specific combination of material and discursive practices used by management to regulate employee behaviours. The study explored the relationships between the process of change and the design of the constellation of controls - material controls and discursive regulations - used at the Fiat-Chrysler Automotive plant in Pomigliano D’Arco, in Italy. It found that new rules, organizational solutions and discursive practices often reproduced traditional systems of control. The rationale for organizational change was oriented towards improving flexibility, autonomy and empowerment, but in practice, the changes extended standardization and self-regulation, and made them more comprehensive.

L’articolo analizza ed interpreta il concetto di cambiamento organizzativo attraverso un approccio critical di matrice post-strutturalista. Gli autori investigano gli aspetti "nascosti" del cambiamento, interpretando questo processo come una combinazione di pratiche discorsive e materiali impiegate dal management per regolare i comportamenti dei lavoratori. Lo studio esplora la relazione tra processi di cambiamento e progettazione di una costellazioni di controlli - controlli materiali e regolazione discorsiva - nello stabilimento FCA di Pomigliano D’Arco, in Italia. Emerge che il nuovo sistema di regole, di soluzioni organizzative e di pratiche retoriche riproducono, in realtà, sistemi tradizionali di controllo dei comportamenti degli operai. Il fondamento stesso del cambiamento organizzativo apparentemente orientato all'incremento della flessibilità, dell’autonomia e dell’empowerment degli operai rappresenta, in realtà, una forma pervasiva di standardizzazione e di auto-regolazione dei comportamenti organizzativi.

Keywords:Cambiamento organizzativo; costellazione di controlli; regolazione discorsiva, automotive.

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Mario Pezzillo Iacono, Ernesto De Nito, Marcello Martinez, Riccardo Mercurio, Exploring the Hidden Aspects of Organizational Change: The Constellation of Controls at a Fiat-Chrysler Automotive Plant in "STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI " 2/2017, pp 69-89, DOI: 10.3280/SO2017-002004