Research approach

The research setting in this study is a longitudinal qualitative case study. There is one case in this research which is a university organisation. The management change and trust development process is examined by using the speeches of the rector as the primary research data. The ceremonial speeches of the rector are analysed over a period of 17 years from 1998 to 2014. There is also an interview with the rector which is further used as primary research data. The secondary data consists of the written histories of the two university organisations, adminis-trative, planning and strategy reports of the university reform in Finland as well as project reports of the merger process.

This study is related to the tradition in social constructionism and the linguis-tic turn in social sciences which emphasise the subjective dimension and context-based interpretation. Knowledge is seen through social actors. The interpretive approach pursues knowledge gained through interpretation (delanty 2005, 42, 54). In this research, the interpretation of the qualitative research material is an essential part of the analysis.

The social world is seen here as being socially constructed and based upon subjective perceptions and experiences in time and space and as being context specific. Constructionism is defined by Crotty (1998, 42) as follows: “...all knowl-edge, and therefore all meaningful reality as such, is contingent upon human practices, being constructed in and out of interaction between human beings and their world, and developed and transmitted within an essentially social context.”

In social constructionism the social origin of meaning and the social character with which it is inevitably linked is taken into account (Crotty 1998, 52).

The rector’s speeches construct reality through the use of language. The knowledge gained by analysing the speeches is seen as a form of social construc-tionism (Berger & Luckmann 1966). Knowledge is to be found in the everyday world where social actors creatively construct their world using cognitive struc-tures (delanty 2005, 139). The use of language in the speeches examined in this study is seen here to constitute the management transformation in the university.

The constitution of trust in the new organisation is based to a fairly large degree on the use of language in the rector’s speeches.

The research method used in this study is based on content analysis and critical discourse analysis. The textual data (speeches) is categorised into four logic types used by the university management, using content analysis. The main themes were summarised within these management categories. This was followed by the identification of management discourses of: bureaucracy, professionalism, democracy and managerialism. The themes concerning each discourse are de-scribed and analysed. The meanings that are produced and mediated within the rector’s speeches are explored by using critical discourse analysis. Management change at the university is discussed in Chapter 5.

The process of the merger and the rector’s role as a manager are traced from the speeches and from an interview with the rector. The trust development pro-cess is captured and interpreted discursively. The university management is changed and the trust in the new organisation is developed through discourse.

The trust development process in a transforming university organisation is dis-cussed in Chapter 6.

The constructive nature of language is emphasised in this research. The speeches are analysed, using critical discourse analysis aiming to discover how language, ‘a structured system of signs manifested in discourse’ (i.e., the practices of talking and writing and texts), constitute social reality, including organisations (demers 2007, 193). In line with Fairclough (2005, 919), the speeches are seen with their contingent effects as texts ‘bringing organisationally related objects into being’. The speeches are not investigated in a rhetorical manner, because the

rhetorical expressions themselves used as persuasive management talk are not the focus of this study.

The social reality to be found in this research is the management change and trust development process in the context of organisational transformation. The turbulence of change starting from the 1980s followed by an acceleration of eco-nomic cycles, driven by competition, entail new organisational forms providing the flexibility required to succeed in a contemporary era. The dominant discourse shifts from a concern with the management of change to an interest in increas-ing the organisation’s capacity to change. In this context the process view of or-ganisational change takes centre stage. While the link between strategy and the environment remains strong, strategic change is seen less as a matter of radical transformation than as a long-term process of organisational renewal, a more proactive perspective (demers 2007, 116-117).

A process view is adopted in this longitudinal case study covering a period of 17 years – from 1998 to 2014 (see Figure 4 for a timeline of the university reform process and the merger process). I explore the unfolding of the trust develop-ment process in a changing university organisation. When trust developdevelop-ment is studied as a process in an organisation over time, one common denominator would be, as Savolainen (1997, 80) notes, organisational change. Organisations are continually changing, driven by external and internal forces.

Figure 1: Theoretical research setting and context

Figure 1 illustrates the theoretical setting of the research. The context of the case study is a merger of two university organisations.

RESEARCH APPROACH Longitudinal qualitative

case-study Process view Social constructionism Critical discourse analysis THEORY

Management change Organisational transformation: Merger

Trust at organisational level

Management change discourse and trust development process in transformation of university organisation in the context of a merger

of two universities

When two university organisations merge, the benefits from the merger, such as the competitiveness and effectiveness of a bigger organisation, should be ex-pected. There is a possibility that the intended benefits of the merger may not be achieved. One of the key elements in achieving the benefits of the merger is in knowing how to integrate the two organisations into becoming one (Pinheiro et al. 2016, 5; Vaara & Tienari 2002, 280). By applying a process view this study produces knowledge on how the discourse of the rector influences the trust de-velopment process.

1.4 RESEARCH qUESTIONS, RESEARCH MATERIAL ANd