‘Push people’s balls and push people’s balls and push people’s balls until something comes out’

The configurational practice model has been developed to help conceptualise and explain the dynamics of complex socio-technical change initiatives such as total quality management and lean production, cellular manufacturing and group-based production, business process re-engineering and valueadded manufacturing, socio-technical work redesign, high performance organisational redesign and so on. It emerged out of an attempt to understand the nature and impact of cross-functional technology initiatives such as the introduction of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) (Badham and Wilson 1993; Badham 1993a). The discovery of the complex dynamics of local configurational processes in shaping CAD/CAM and its impact was found to be equally applicable to the introduction of self-managing work teams and cellular production (Badham et al. 1998). In seeking to understand these dynamics, insights from new approaches to implementation and change management were either helpful or confirmed the analyses being undertaken (McLoughlin et al. 2000). In

contrast to much of the literature on change management and implementation, however, the configurational practice model focuses on the interdependence and integration of technological and organisational innovations, and seeks to draw on both research traditions in providing a more adequate explanation of the dynamics of local configurational processes and the nature and impact of initiatives to intervene in these processes to achieve either business or socio-political goals.