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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel approach to the analysis of individual and co‐constructed change management narratives, utilizing a framework derived from the theory of complex responsive processes.

The research project explored change management through the analysis of narratives arising from participation in group conversation. This comprised a six‐month intervention with a group of six leaders from the Church of England. An action research method was employed that required the leaders to bring a case study from their work that required a change management intervention. The focus of the research study was not to “solve the problem” but to practice a particular method of conversation. Transcripts of the conversations were analyzed for change or continuity in the organizing narratives. The analytical framework employed comprises three paired categories of organizing narrative themes, namely Legitimate/Shadow; Formal/Informal; and Conscious/Unconscious.

The analysis focuses on both the interactions between these organizing themes and upon the iterations, over time, in the narratives. Following the theory of complex responsive processes, the practice of change management and its consequences are understood not as cause‐effect but rather as participation in emergent narratives. It is suggested that such narratives do not merely contribute to change management within an organization but that from the perspective of complex responsive processes theory such conversational life is change management.

The action inquiry method employed and the approach to data analysis from the perspective of complex responsive processes theory, together constitute a novel approach to researching and understanding change management.

Previous research suggests that service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in clinical psychology training may have an impact. The purpose of this study was to develop a validated questionnaire to enable trainee clinical psychologists to rate this.

A collaborative project was carried out with service users and carers and trainee clinical psychologists. The principles of questionnaire design were followed. The authors developed and validated a trainee self-report questionnaire, based on focus groups and relevant literature indicating potential impacts of involvement on practice. A draft 60-item version was piloted with 15 trainee clinical psychologists. Then, 133 trainees from 22 UK clinical psychology courses completed it (estimated response rate of 13.2%). The sample was representative of UK trainees in gender and ethnicity, but slightly older.

The principal component analysis produced a 36-item questionnaire with four factors: human communication, carer perspectives, empathy and challenging/changing. The questionnaire showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Stakeholder consultation suggested face and content validity and there was some indication of construct validity.

The project has resulted in a usable co-produced questionnaire, which is now available to clinical psychology courses to assess the self-reported impact of SUCI in training, and which may also be used in future research.

The purpose of this study is to examine records management practices as factors influencing the administration of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

The study adopted the causal-comparative research design of the ex post facto type. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study. A four-point Likert scale questionnaire that ranged from strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree was used to collect data. Three research questions were raised and answered. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The outcome shows the various records management practices that the Church engaged in which include the creation, maintenance, ease of access to, use, preservation and final disposal of the records. Other findings of the study also revealed the joint influence (positive relationship) of records management practices (records creation, use, maintenance and retention or disposal) on the administration of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) to be significant which follows that there is a significant positive relationship between records management practices and administration of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Also, it is only record use (β = 0.27; t = 5.53; p < 0.05) that has a significant relative influence on the Church of Nigeria’s (Anglican Communion) administration. Others like record creation or received (β = 0.02; t = 0.28; p > 0.05), records maintenance (β = −0.06; t = −0.93; p > 0.05) and records retention or disposal (β = 0.11; t = 1.76; p > 0.05) have no significant influence on the church administration. Therefore, it is only records use that can predict or influence the administration of Anglican Church positively.

The study is the original findings of the authors.

In his later works Charles Tilly extended his analysis of contention by scrutinizing the dynamics of contentious performances and the enactment of identities through them. Complementing these investigations he analyzed the centrality of trust networks in sustained challenges to authority. On a somewhat detached track Tilly developed an examination of reason giving in social life and more particularly the ways in which people do critical transactional work through stories, often with the assessment of credit and blame. In this chapter, we quilt these various pieces to offer an analysis of how storytelling is vital to the construction of trust and blame in contentious performances, both in the face of threat and opportunity. We explain how these later works on storytelling, identities, and trust can be integrated fruitfully with his many writings on contention to expand the analysis of its culture dimensions. We draw on three years of field work with a chapter of the Voice of the Faithful, an organization of Catholics that formed in the wake of the priest sexual abuse crisis, to exemplify this integration of Tilly's work. Using data from field notes and interviews we demonstrate how chapter members engage in the telling standard stories of origin, legacy and transformation, and trust in their pursuit of change and in maintaining internal solidarity. We conclude that our integration of Tilly's later work can be added to other perspectives on narrative to broaden the cultural analysis of contention.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

The purpose of this paper is to present a research from a study undertaken with Methodist circuit ministers in the UK and those that work closely with them. It considers in what way and to what extent ministers think of themselves as managers and to what extent and in what way they are expected to perform as managers by those they work with.

The research that informs this paper was gathered through a qualitative study which involved in-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 participants both Methodist ministers and those who worked closely with them.

The study shows that, whilst those who work with ministers typically do not problematize management and expect managers to be able to perform management tasks, the ministers themselves are ambiguous about or rejecting of the discourse of management.

The relatively small sample size limits generalizability.

The study challenges trainers in this context and in other contexts where the “language” of management is contested or rejected to find a discourse of management which is acceptable.

The study contributes to the small body of literature on management and the development of managers within religious organizations. It contributes to the literature on managerial identity and the importance of management language in becoming a manager by presenting an example where this language and identity is contested or rejected.