Repositioning Organisational Change: From Agency theorisation towards Social Resilience

Despite the plethora of Organisational Change research focusing on agency, there has been no study to date which has developed a framework called ‘Social Resilience’ to fill the gap between the espoused role of change agents and how their experiences could be channelled for societal and organisational benefit. By using a combination of qualitative case study materials from autistic employees, Change Agency and Positioning Theories and a participatory design methodological approach involving 24 autistic jobseekers, this research found that 1) ‘employment brick-walls’, 2) ‘marginalisation’ and 3) ‘discrimination’ were key thematic experiences that challenged the agency role of autistic employees and jobseekers as they transition into or retain work. Their abilities to be resilient against the odds led to the development of the study’s key contribution, namely a ‘Social Resilience’ framework. By developing this novel framework, I contribute theoretically to the repositioning Organisational Change agency theorisation by introducing the practical relevance of social resilience to address employees’ potential loss of agency. The value of Social Resilience, the implications and limitations of the study’s findings and an agenda for future research are considered.