16 Managing change
This is a huge topic but here are some of the main issues when moving the strategy to adapt to the
environment.
Continuity
Incremental
Flux
Transformational
Fig 17.1 Change types
Continuity
Daft (1998) describes several features of this kind of gradual change over time:
• Continuous progression.
• Maintains equilibrium.
• Affects only one organisational part.
• Effected through the normal structure.
• New technology.
• Product improvement versus new product which create new markets.
Incremental or Step change
‘Step change’ describes a situation where the trend line for a particular factor stops becoming smooth
and there is a significant and unexpected jump in direction upwards or downwards.
There have been significant step-changes such as political coups or elections, storms and environmental
disasters which have changed the environment organisations must work in forever.
Because step change is impossible or at least difficult to spot in advance, strategic planning has moved
from trend analysis towards scenario planning.
Flux
This represents turbulence in the environment where trends are destroyed and existing cyclical activity
is interrupted in a random way, possibly by civil war and strife, which ebbs and flows as power changes
hands.