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Achilles Armenakis

A Journey of Discovery: Seeing Change Through New Eyes

The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers

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Abstract

The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, once wrote that “the best laid schemes o’ mice and men, gang aft agley” (as cited in Crawford and MacLachlan 2009, p. 48). The journey Achilles Armenakis has taken perhaps can be best described as a journey to understand why the best laid change schemes of men have “gang aft agley.” This chapter describes his personal journey along with those of his colleagues to not only understand the problems that arise when organizational leaders try to implement change initiatives but also to offer a framework by which organizational symptoms impacting organizational performance may be recognized, causes of those symptoms discovered, and solutions to “fix the causes” may be proposed. Understanding the process of diagnosis and evaluation, while identifying diagnostic bias, initially drove much of his research. However, during his voyage of research and discovery, Armenakis focused on change readiness or readiness for change in an organization. Along with his colleagues, and those doctoral students he so much influenced as a teacher, he has sought to answer the critical question of how change impacts organizational members, or change recipients, and what motivates them to not only accept but embrace a change initiative. I was one of those students fortunate enough to have the opportunity of studying under him and being along on part of that voyage. A favorite quote of his over the years has been that of Marcel Proust (Proust, Remembrance of things past. New York: Vintage Books, 1981 edition): “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” Somehow, this has always seemed appropriate.

Dennis R. Self has retired.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorrell College of Business, Troy University, Troy, AL, USA

    Dennis R. Self

  2. Department of Human Resource Management and Law, Sorrell College of Business at Troy University, Montgomery, AL, USA

    Dennis R. Self

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Correspondence to Dennis R. Self .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The George Washington University , Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    David B. Szabla

  2. Columbia University , New York, New York, USA

    William A. Pasmore

  3. The George Washington University , College Park, Maryland, USA

    Mary A. Barnes

  4. Columbia University , New York, New York, USA

    Asha N. Gipson

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Self, D.R. (2016). Achilles Armenakis. In: Szabla, D., Pasmore, W., Barnes, M., Gipson, A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_66-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_66-1

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  1. Latest

    Armenakis, Achilles: A Journey of Discovery – Seeing Change Through New Eyes
    Published:
    28 November 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_66-3

  2. Achilles Armenakis: A Journey of Discovery – Seeing Change Through New Eyes
    Published:
    30 September 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_66-2

  3. Original

    Achilles Armenakis
    Published:
    22 February 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_66-1

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