Recent transitional developments in the former communist countries have aroused considerable interest among economists and political scientists alike. Yet relatively little attention has focused upon the ways in which these significant changes have impacted the micro realities of life within the transforming state-owned enterprises. Organizational Change in Post-Communist Europe provides a unique and detailed examination of the complex processes of transformation in former state-owned enterprises in the Czech Republic. Drawing on in-depth case studies of organizational transformation, this book adopts a social-institutionalist approach to the study of organizational change, applying it in order to develop an explanation of organizational restructuring and management redefinition during the early transition period of 1990-1996. In particular, the authors highlight how these processes have been shaped by continuing historical state-socialist legacies and the powerful role played by senior managers in their efforts to fashion the new privatized organizations in their own interests.
By successfully re-balancing the prevailing disposition towards macroeconomic research into the post-communist transition in Central and Eastern Europe, this volume constitutes an important work for all those interested in human resource management, organizational behaviour and the management of change.