Heresies to orthodoxies: organizational renewal in Australia 1966-1996

This paper traces the emergence of a social movement that has attempted to transform the fundamental character of organizations in Australia. Unlike many other such social movements, this worldwide social movement has been largely unresearched and even unnamed. We refer to it as the organizational renewal movement. The story we tell here demonstrates how this new social movement gained momentum and influence and eventually contributed to today's prevailing management orthodoxy. We present the case that change initiatives moved from being heresies to orthodoxies. In particular we trace the movement through three phases. The first phase traces the foundations and acceptance of humanistic change interventions. The second phase traces the challenges to the humanistic agenda and the emergence of new directions. The third phase demonstrates the process of strategic alignment, where heresies became accepted as orthodoxies. The paper concludes with some observations on future directions for the movement.