The Infinite Storm: An Ethnographic Study of Organizational Change in a Bank

This dissertation is based on a longitudinal ethnographic study of organizational changes in a Nordic bank. Taking as a point of departure, an empirical observation of lower-level organizational members consistently identifying other organizational changes as radical than those indicated by top management, this study pursues how organizational members construct organizational changes through an emic approach. The field of organizational change has historically been characterized by a number of dominant dichotomies, such as ‘planned – emergent change’, however, this study explores and challenges the existing dichotomies. With an aim of going beyond the existing dichotomies of the field, the study draws on process philosophy. Grounded in the assumption that phenomena are always in a state of becoming, this dissertation contributes to the field with a study of organizational changes which are not a priori determined organizational changes such as mergers, acquisitions, or reorganizations. Instead, organizational changes are viewed as fluid phenomena that are part of everyday work activities, constructed by the organizational members themselves.