Organizational change is an important construct for management theorists, yet organizational research is being hampered by inconsistent and incompatible operationalizations of the construct. This article presents a proposal for improving clarity about how the types and characteristics of organizational change can be operationalized and measured. In particular, the scope and pace of organizational change are examined and a common approach is developed to measure the impacts of these two factors on patterns of organizational change.
Amis, J., Slack, T., & Hinings, C.R. ( 2004). The pace, sequence, and linearity of radical change. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 15-40.
2.
Antonelli, C. ( 2007). The system dynamics of collective knowledge: From gradualism and saltationism to punctuated change. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 62, 215-236.
3.
Appelbaum, S.H., Henson, D., & Knee, K. ( 1999). Downsizing failures: An examination of convergence/ reorientation and antecedents-processes-outcomes. Management Decision, 37, 473-490.
4.
Arbel, A., & Woods, R.H. ( 1988). Shark repellent: Anti-takeover measures for the hospitality industry. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly , 29, 28-40.
5.
Bartunek, J.M. ( 1984). Changing interpretive schemes and organizational restructuring: The example of a religious order. Administrative Science Quarterly , 29, 355-372.
6.
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, 42, 1-34.
7.
Cardinal, L.B., Sitkin, S.B., & Long, C.P. ( 2004). Balancing and rebalancing in the creation and evolution or organizational control. Organization Science, 15, 411-431.
8.
Chiles, T., Meyer, A., & Hench, T. ( 2004). Organizational emergence: The origin and transformation of Branson, Missouri’s musical theaters. Organization Science, 15, 499-519.
9.
Christensen, C.M. ( 1997). The innovator’s dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press.
10.
Churchill, G.A. ( 1979). A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. Journal of Marketing, 16, 64-73.
11.
Corley, K., & Gioia, D. ( 2004). Identity ambiguity and change in the wake of a corporate spin-off. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49, 173-208.
12.
Dahlin, K.B., & Behrens, D.M. ( 2005). When is an invention really radical? Defining and measuring technological radicalness. Research Policy, 34, 717-737.
13.
D’Aveni, R.A., Canger, J.M., & Doyle, J.J. ( 1995). Coping with hypercompetition: Utilizing the new 7S’s framework. Academy of Management Executive, 9, 45-61.
14.
Drazin, R., & Sandelands, L.E. (1992). Autogenesis: A perspective on the process of organizing. Organization Science, 3, 230-249.
15.
Dutton, J.E., & Dukerich, J.M. (1991). Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 517-554.
16.
Dyck, B. ( 1994). Build in sustainable development and they will come: A vegetable field of dreams. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 7, 231-250.
17.
Ehreberg, E. ( 1995). On the definition and measurement of technological discontinuities . Technovation, 15, 437-452.
18.
Eisenhardt, K., & Tabrizi, E. ( 1995). Accelerating adaptive processes: Product innovation in the global computer industry. Administrative Science Quarterly , 40, 85-110.
19.
Ford, J.D., & Ford, L.W. ( 1994). Logics of identity, contradiction, and attraction in change. Academy of Management Review, 19, 756-785.
20.
Gersick, C.J. ( 1991). Revolutionary Change Theories: A Multilevel Exploration of the Punctuated Equilibrium Paradigm. Academy of Management Review, 16, 10-36.
21.
Gould, S.J., & Eldredge, N. ( 1977). Punctuated equilibria: The tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered. Paleobiology, 3, 115-151.
22.
Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C.R. ( 1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. Academy of Management Review, 21, 1022-1045.
23.
Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. ( 1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929-964.
24.
Hargadon, A.B., & Douglas, Y. ( 2001). When innovations meet institutions: Edison and the design of the electric light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 476-503.
25.
Haveman, H.A., Russo, M.V., & Meyer, A.D. ( 2001). Organizational environments in flux: The impact of regulatory punctuations on organizational domains, CEO succession, and performance. Organization Science, 12, 253-273.
26.
Hinkin, T.R. ( 1998). A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires. Organizational Research Methods , 1, 104-121.
27.
Hinkin, T.R. ( 1995). A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21, 967-988.
28.
Huff, J.O., Huff, A.S., & Thomas, H. ( 1992). Strategic renewal and the interaction of cumulative stress and inertia. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 55-75.
29.
Ibaraki, N., Lin, L., & Reddy, V.N. ( 1995). Effects of growth factors on proliferation and differentiation in human lens epithelial cells in early subculture. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 36, 2304-2312.
30.
Jick, T.D. ( 1979). Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: Triangulation in action. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 602-611.
31.
Lee, T.W. ( 1999). Using qualitative methods in organizational research . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications .
32.
Linder, J.C. ( 2004). Outsourcing as a strategy for driving transformation . Strategy & Leadership, 32, 26-32.
33.
Masuch, M. ( 1985). Vicious circles in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 30, 14-33.
34.
McKelvey, B. ( 1982). Organizational systematics-taxonomy, evolution, classification . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
35.
Meyer, A.D., Brooks, G.R., & Goes, J.B. ( 1990). Environmental jolts and industry revolutions: Organizational responses to discontinuous change. Strategic Management Journal , 11, 93-110.
36.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, Inc.
37.
Miles, R.E., & Snow, C.C. ( 1978). Organizational strategy, structure and process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
38.
Nadler, D.A., & Tushman, M.L. ( 1989). Organizational frame bending: Principles for managing reorientation. Academy of Management Executive, 3, 194-204.
39.
Plowman, D.A., Baker, L.T., Beck, T.E., Kulkarni, M., Solansky, S.T., & Travis, D.V. ( 2007). Radical change accidentally: The emergence and amplification of small change. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 515-543.
40.
Rindova, V., & Kotha, S. ( 2001). Continuous morphing: Competing through dynamic capabilities, form and function. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 1263-1280.
41.
Rogelberg, S.G., Church, A.H., Waclawski, J., & Stanton, J.M. ( 2002). Organizational survey research. In S. G. Rogelberg (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 141-160). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
42.
Romanelli, E., & Tushman, M.L. ( 1994). Organizational transformation as punctuated equilibrium: An empirical test. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 1141-1166.
43.
Rungtusanatham, M., Ogden, J.A., & Wu, B. ( 2003). Advancing theory development in total quality management: A ‘‘Deming management method’’ perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 23, 918-936.
44.
Sabherwal, R., Hirschheim, R., & Goles, T. ( 2001). The dynamics of alignment: Insights from a punctuated equilibrium model. Organization Science, 12, 179-197.
45.
Saundry, R. ( 1998). The limits of flexibility: The case of UK television . British Journal of Management, 9, 151-163.
46.
Siggelkow, N. ( 2002). Evolution toward fit. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 125-159.
47.
Siti-Nabiha, A.K., & Scapens, R.W. ( 2005). Stability and change: An institutionalist study of management accounting change. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 18, 44-74.
48.
Stace, A.D., & Dunphy, D.C. ( 1994). Beyond the boundaries: Leading and re-creating the successful enterprise. Sydney: McGraw-Hill .
49.
Tushman, M.L., & Romanelli, E. ( 1985). Organizational evolution: A metamorphosis model of convergence and reorientation. In L. L. Cummings & B. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 7, pp. 171-222). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
50.
Tushman, M.L., Newnam, W.H., & Romanelli, E. ( 1986). Convergence and unpheaval: Managing the unsteady pace of organizational evolution. California Management Review , 29, 29-43.
51.
Veenswijk, M.B., & Hakvoort, J.L.M. (2002). Public-private transformations. Institutional shifts, cultural changes and altering identities: Two case studies . Public Administration, 80(3), 543-555.
52.
Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J.H., & Fisch, R. ( 1974). Change: Principles of problem formation and problem resolution . New York: Norton.
53.
Weick, K., & Quinn, R. ( 1999). Organizational change and development. American Review of Psychology, 50, 361-386.
54.
Yin, R.K. ( 1994). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
55.
Zucker, L.G. ( 1987). Normal change or risky business: Institutional effects on the ‘hazard’ of change in hospital organizations, 1959-79. Journal of Management Studies, 24, 671-700.