Organizational change in history museums

This dissertation research is a comparative retrospective analysis of major change processes at history museums during the last two decades of the 20th century, based on long interviews with 77 informants. It presents emergent patterns across seven organizations in the study, rather than focusing intensively on one or a few case studies. The analytical framework provided a systematic way to ascertain whether 12 themes that emerged from a review of multiple literatures were salient and, in particular, whether these museum change experiences elucidate or build upon change experiences described by other organizational researchers and practitioners. The themes articulated concepts about the nature of change, the role of stakeholders in the process, the role of leaders and change agents, and the value of organizational learning as an analytical construct for understanding change and development in organizations. The interpretive narrative summarized the emergent patterns in the data, comparing, where appropriate, the perspectives of four major stakeholder advocacy groups in these museums: the overall organization, content and collections, programs and audiences, and community. There were many thoughtful, honest, and emotional reflections from informants about real change issues and the human side of change, which collectively created a rich description of the change processes in these organizations. The exploratory nature of this research covered a broad sweep of topics and issues that can add to existing knowledge and theory. The change experiences of the seven history museums in this study confirm and build upon much previous work of organizational researchers and practitioners. They can provide insights for people who are leading or experiencing change, as well as for those who study and teach about change processes. This research offers multiple dialogic entry points to help museum field colleagues gain a larger sense of perspective on their own current change experiences. The research methodology of this study may also provide some useful tools for researchers and practitioners who are interested in doing similar grounded inquiry qualitative work. There are a number of potentially worthwhile avenues of future research that can build upon this dissertation study.

If you would like to edit a resource, please email us to submit your request.