This chapter discusses the nature of organizational change, including the different types and paces of change. It describes four types of change on a scale from fine-tuning to corporate transformation. Change can be predictable and follow typical lifecycle patterns, or it can be complex and unpredictable. The chapter also provides guidance on diagnosing change situations by looking for breakpoints in areas like competitors, customers, and technology shifts that indicate change is needed. It notes that change problems can vary in difficulty, from well-bounded difficult problems to unbounded messy problems.

1. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE (4TH ED.)
Barbara Senior & Stephen Swailes
Chapter 2: the nature of organizational change

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
 describe and discuss the multi-dimensional nature
of organizational change;
 analyze change situations in terms of the different
types of change experienced;
 explain limitations to the ‘common-sense’ approach
to managing change arising from cultural, political
and leadership influences;
 critically evaluate the theoretical perspectives
relating to the types of change that organizations
experience.

3. TYPES OF CHANGE

4. PACE AND SCOPE OF CHANGE

5. FOUR TYPES OF CHANGE

6. FINE-TUNING TO CORPORATE
TRANSFORMATION
Defining the scale of change
Scale type 1: Fine tuning
Scale type 2: Incremental adjustment
Scale type 3: Modular transformation
Scale type 4: Corporate transformation

7. PREDICTABLE CHANGE

8. A TYPICAL LIFECYCLE PATTERN
Illustration 2.8
1. The entrepreneurial stage
2. The collective stage
3. The formalization stage
4. The elaboration stage

9. COMPLEXITY THEORY
1. Chaos Theory
2. Dissipative Theory
3. Complex Adaptive Systems
Three implications of applying complexity
theory to organizations:
1. Need more democracy in equalization of power
2. A continuous approach based on self-organization
to improving products and process
3. Need the presence of order-generating rutles.

10. DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS
Looking for breakpoints: Typical indicators
 Competitors
 Customers
 Distributors
 Suppliers
When several of these are in place, all that is needed is a
player, or event, to trigger the breakpoint.

11. DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS
Looking for breakpoints: Divergence
Divergence is more difficult to anticipate because it is
based on new offering that does not yet exist. If the
following are in place, the industry is ready for a new
offering that breaks with the past.
 Customers: restless customers
 New entrants: restless customers attract new entrants
 Competitors: experiment with new offerings or look
elsewhere for profits
 Suppliers: new resources and technology a source of
divergent breakpoint
 Distributors: lag behind because they have to adapt to the
new offering

12. DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS

13. DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS

14. DIAGNOSING CHANGE SITUATIONS
Hard (difficult) and soft (messy) problems
Difficulties are bounded
Messes are unbounded