ABSTRACT
Organisation renewal and innovation culture fuels growth and assures sustained success. The chapter explores the drivers of organisational change and identifies three key levers: routines, incentives, and talent. By taking a deep dive into a single case study, the work presents how change is initiated and achieved in large, established organisations. Further, by focussing on the middle layer of the organisation, the chapter brings to fore one of the overlooked dimensions of change – the agency at the middle of the organisation. It identifies how middle management enables the right routines and incentive structures to hire and motivate the talent to bring about organisational transformation, even when there is no apparent sense of urgency.
The chapter borrows from the work of routines and capabilities, managerial choices and actions, nudge theory, and behavioural economics to propose how middle management introduces a change in large, established organisations. The case organisation is Anand Group, one of India’s largest auto-ancillary makers. A total of 11 organisational practices, initiated over 60 years, from 1961 till 2020, are studied and identified around the dimensions of talent, routines, and incentives. Our findings bring forward the under-explicated role of the middle layer of the manager in the discourse on cultural transformation and the chapter offers a model of innovation culture and organisation capability creation. The salient contribution is in offering a practically relevant and research-backed model of change that is deeply rooted in new capabilities creation and is suitable for large, established setups where the middle management, with its empowerment, can be the agent of change.
