How Ideas Move Theories and Models of Translation in Organizations

This book builds on research in translation studies of change in organizations and demonstrates the implications and application of these findings for managing innovation and change. When implementing ideas into practice in order to carry out innovative change, translation is key. From strategic and leadership changes to policy and health management decisions, abstract ideas such as ‘LEAN’, ‘CSR’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Public-Private Partnerships’, ‘Clinical Pathways’ and ‘AI’ are introduced to improve organizational processes. However, in any company and organization, miscommunication and misinterpretation can lead to these ideas being modified, added to and appropriated in ways that make them unsuccessful. This book presents a case for change ideas in organizations being translated rather than “implemented” and offers a profound understanding of the translation processes needed in order for this to succeed. This vital study is a must-read for researchers, students and practitioners including change agents, general and health care managers, public servants as well as strategic managers and policy decision-makers.

Part one: Introduction 1.Introduction Part two: Moving ideas – theories and models 2. Introduction to part two 3. Diffusion of Innovations 4. Actor-network-theory 5. The Travel of Ideas 6. Symbolic interactionist models 6.1 Translating to manage knowledge across boundaries 6.2 Cooperating in the absence of consensus 6.3 Knowledge translation between center and periphery 7.0 The theory of action nets 8.0 The linguistic model of translation 9.0 An instrumental theory of translation 10. Translating strategy 11. Policy translation 12. Knowledge translation in health care 13. Translation through design 14. The middle manager as translator 15. The consultant as translator 16. The knowledge translation value-chain 17. Translation studies – focus points, research themes, research questions and gabs. 18. Part two: Conclusion Part three: Translation in the meeting between idea and practice 19. Why develop the idea-practice translation model? 20. How are ideas materialized – Assumptions of the idea-practice translation model 21. Drawing it all together: The idea-practice translation model 22. Effects-driven socio-technical systems design as a method of translation Part four: Consequences for researchers and practitioners 23. Scientific, humanistic, actualist and design approaches to the study of movement of ideas 24. Practical consequences of a translation perspective on the movement of tokens Appendix 1. Moving translation studies forward through cross-fertilization Appendix 2. Moving translation studies forward through critical realism Appendix 3 Making citation-networks and lists using Web of Science and CitNetExplorer

John Damm Scheuer, Master of Science in International Business, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Denmark.