ABSTRACT
A series of revolutions have taken place within the global economy, transforming the theoretical basis for organizational coalignment and thus all information and communication processes. This essay tracks the principal bases for that transformation. It then explicates a new theory of organizational communication: high-speed management. High-speed management has as its goal the achievement and maintenance of sustainable competitive advantage through innovative, flexible, adaptive, efficient, and rapid response to environmental change. This essay then details the transformation high-speed management has made in small group communication processes by exploring organizational continuous improvement programs. Continuous improvement programs aim at establishing and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage through four communication processes: (a) negotiated linking, (b) New England-style town meetings, (c) cross-functional teamwork, and (d) case studies in world-class benchmarking processes.
