ABSTRACT
How are changes generally perceived in work organizations? Characteristic statements regularly encountered in the literature and in practice include examples like this:
Companies and institutions are encountering radical changes more than ever, several of which usually emerge simultaneously. Moreover, changes are alternating at an ever-increasing rate and are becoming almost unpredictable. The globalization of the scale on which companies operate entails that no area of policy remains unaffected. In addition, flexible adaptation of the company is always a requirement.
This requires some qualification, of course: Future developments have always been hard to predict, also in those (few) cases in which systematic research lay at the root of making predictions. Who reviews the past, on the other hand, will observe patterns in changes occurred and assign meaning and sense to them. Consequently, the impression that the future is particularly difficult to predict in the present time may be reinforced. Another issue is whether all those changes are really so essential—that is, concern so-called “deep structures”—or merely mark more superficial problems of adaptation.