ABSTRACT
Never before in the history of business have organizations been subjected to as much change – or so some argue. The drivers of this change are both complex and various. Stewart (1993) suggests that there are four large, unruly forces of revolution: the globalization of markets; the spread of information technology (IT); the birth of the information economy; and the dismantling of hierarchy. These forces are simultaneous and inter-reactive. Not only have these forces threatened the very survival of many great corporations such as IBM (Chesbrough and Teece, 1996) and General Motors (Drucker, 1994), but they have also caused the disintegration of traditional organizations and their once untroubled environment:
Global competition wrecked stable markets and whole industries. Information technology created ad hoc networks of power within corporations. Lightning-fast, innovative entrepreneurs blew past snoozing corporate giants. Middle managers disappeared, along with corporate loyalty. (Huey, 1994)
In response to this challenge, a wide range of management approaches and techniques have emerged. Outsourcing, business process re-
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use the word ‘fad’ – became a powerful metaphor that fired the imaginations of large numbers of academics, futurists, consultants and managers. Nevertheless, it is argued that they all seem to capture only part of the picture. Even when successfully implemented, these techniques for driving organizational change seem to bring only marginal or short-term returns. In a business environment that is increasingly volatile such techniques seem incapable of sustaining organizational survival – let alone longevity.
