The importance of enabling change-processes over time has been documented by Huy & Mintzberg (2003). Latham described how management in several steps could promote behavioral change within an organization (2003). He emphasized the importance of goalsetting. Some organizations use goalsetting as a way of driving a dramatic change lead by top management. However the article is focused on the leadership-perpective with the downside of not including long-term strategic and tsructural perspctives. Lathams findings can hardly be described as sufficent for effectice long-lasting change and an equlibrium of dynamic stability as advocated by Huy & Mintzberg (2003).
How can we achieve the goal of organic growth/change in any organization? Brown & Eisenhardt (1997) suggest that semi structured organizations (Where border areas of responsibility/goals are defined but how to achieve those is up to the person responsible) are the key for continuous and organic change. The structure has not to be very rigid or very lenient. It should be a flexible structure for organizing change. It is also important to create “Links in time” (Past, present and future (activities in external environment)) for the organization in order to have continuous change process. I believe that in order to have successful quantum leaps, the dramatic change is the key but it should be triggered by the organic and systematic change. A way of succeeding with such a task is to apply the findings from Burgelman & Grove(1983).
Now what do I mean by the lenient structure? I am not proposing a single structure for any organization because I believe that “same size never fits all”; however the lienent structure means that organizations hae to work on developing such a structre where there is not a lot of hierarchy involved and the open communication is easily possible. This can be done by designing the office space in such a way that where employees work in a large room and can communicate easily. Also in terms of responsibility, the responsibilities should be defined clearly through job descriptions, and the widely applicable rules and policies of the organization should be efined. Then it should left on the employees that how they achieve the goals defined in teir responsibilites. This will lead to an enviorment where employees will be able to point out the errors in the system and hence the process of organic change will start. This will trigger the process of proactive change in the organization which will have te concent of the employees at all levels and hence it will be eas for te organization to stear itself in a new direction. The employees will be supporting the new process instead of opposing it and hence the long term change process will be sustainable.
BUT, you should be aware of the external environment at te same time. When you creat links in time, it gives you a clear picture that what was the time frame in which the process of discontineous innovation was triggered. So if u are anticipating such an innovation then may be it’s the time to go for the dramatic change in order to remain competitive in the industry. However, apart from the technological and computer industries, usually the time period between discontinuous innovations is huge and hence the organization has to focus more on the organic and systematic change I order to trigger the dramatic change process.
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Burgelman, R. A.” Corporate Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management: Insights from a Process Study. Management Science”. Dec 1983, Vol 29, No 12. pp. 1349-1364
Brown, S...L & Eisenhardt, K.M (1997) “The Art of Continuous Change: Linking Complexity Theory and Time-Paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations”. Administrative Science Quarterly; Vol. 42, pp 1-34.
Latham, G.P. (2003) “Goal Setting: A five step approach to behaviour change; Organizational Dynamics”. Vol 32, No. 3, pp 309-318
Mcallaster, C.M. (2004) “The 5 P’s of Change: Leading Change by Effectively Utilizing Leverage Points within an Organization”. Organizational Dynamics, Vol 33, No. 3, pp 318-328
Nguyen Huy, Q & Mintzberg, H. (2003) “The Rhythm of Change”, MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol 44, No. 4, pp 79-84
Burgelman, R. A. & Grove. A. S. (2007) let chaos reign, then rein in chaos—repeatedly: managing strategic dynamics for corporate longevity, Strategic Management Journal, pp 965–979
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