Linking Complexity Theory and Time-Paced Evolution - Article Example

Short Paper Assignment The article that has been studied for this research paper is “The Art of Continuous Change: Linking Complexity Theory and Time-paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations”, written by Shona L. Brown and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt. In the dynamic world, identification of ways to change continuously has become essential for a company to remain competitive. The paper is a critical review of the facts and findings of the research conducted on identifying the techniques of management that lead to continuous change. It has identified the pros and cons of the previous research done on the topic and has recommended ways for improvement in the future. The paper has taken certain issues like the inclusion of strategy and identification of disruptive innovation which are an essential aspect of change management for an organization. The review of the article has come up with certain traits that management follows to sustain growth and remain competitive in the ever changing business environment. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Importance of the Article 4 Key Points in the Article 6 Level of Convincing Capability of the Article 8 Strengths of the Article 9 Weaknesses of the Article 9 Current Working Environment in Relation to the Article 10 Recommendations 12 References 14 Importance of the Article The industry is becoming competitive on an ongoing basis and to sustain and grow in this environment, innovation of products and business processes are very essential for a company. The article focuses on the ways by which companies strive towards changes and sustain in the market. Many companies compete in this market through continuous changes. The organizations that endure continuous change have the ability to grow according to the prevailing demands of the market by developing new and innovative products (core competencies and culture driven) (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997). Business innovation means focus of the business on process which again includes product improvement, procurement, production and selling and distribution. In order to meet the changing demands of the customers, the companies need to bring a shift in their competencies (Kampas, 2003). The article has focused on thinking beyond the traditional punctuated equilibrium model of change which assumes “long periods of small, incremental change are interrupted by brief periods of discontinuous, radical change”. Thus in this model, change is assumed as an unusual and intermittent element which occurs radically in a short period of time. But in the modern world, changes are continuous and organizations that manage this continuous change effectively only succeed. The objective of the article is to make its readers clear about the functionalities of business mechanism when it tries to keep pace with the changing external environment. The purpose was to present to the readers an understanding of the trend that supports the organizations to change on a sustainable basis by discovering various features and circumstances. The study described in the article identified certain properties that organizations possess for maintaining flexibility in order to bring changes. The properties are: semi-structures, links in time and sequenced step. Semi-structured form of organizations is becoming the ‘paragon of virtue’. It means that performance of semi-structured organizations which instead of following the hierarchical form, follows flattened structures is valued more in the dynamic global market. The concept now is of managing and insisting on formation of groups in organizations and leads them to sort out problems in their own innovative ways. Management of performance in organizations that follow this flexible structure leads to enhancement of core competencies within that organization (AllBusiness, 2010). The second aspect is the ‘links in time’ which deal with the past, present and future time periods and the transitions between them. The successful organizations focus not only on the management of current projects but also on the future aspects of the projects. At the same time, they also track the past performance of the projects in concern. This particular behavior of the organizations helps in exploring the future beyond the reach of the present scenario. The organizations that successfully operate in the market with continuous changes in the business process are observed to be following sequential steps in their business operations. The managers design sequential steps in conducting every operation that not only lead to desired implementation of them but also the most desired outcome. Key Points in the Article The article has primarily focused on the means by which companies exhibit continuous change and manages to remain competitive in the changing world. The first issue on which organizations focus is product innovation. Through product innovation, organizations lead to changes. The integration of products provides a broad framework to organizations for leading changes and thus managing innovation of products. Development of integrated products has emerged in the last decade and includes a number of process and quality management by organizations. Leading change by integrated product development includes use of sophisticated methods and techniques (Rainey, 2005). The second observation from the article about the methods which organizations follow to change continuously is through exploring the future. The concept of ‘links in time’ is evident in this process. The managers evaluate the past and present and then try to explore the future with resource-based view. The concept behind resource based view is to capitalize on the areas where the organizations feel they are competent enough. Thus identification of core competencies becomes essential. The successful organizations which have effectively managed on their products and have enjoyed success are observed to have a clear futuristic view. They not only focus on the present capability of their organization but also they visualize their future organizational perspective. The third observation in the article is transition which successful organizations depicts while moving from the present project to the future. Successful organizations effectively manage change and make the transition procedure as simple as they can. Studies reveal that organizations fail because either they do not recognize the need for transition or even if they recognizes, they do not manage the transition efficiently. The difference between transition and change should be understood very clearly by the managers. This is because transition is more critical than change and organizations that understand this difference are more likely to sustain in the market. The arrangement of sequential steps for transition is also important for producing the result. Changes resulted due to transition can be irresistible due to the effects they will produce on the employees and the management. Thus organizations need to be effective enough to manage all the transition phases in organizations (Green Leap, 2010). Level of Convincing Capability of the Article The article was designed to evaluate performance of firms that develops and executes methods to sustain growth by bringing continuous changes. It is evident that firms which have a greater alignment towards resource based view operate better. In the article, questions on how companies gain and sustain the competitive advantages have been addressed (Olsen & Et. Al., 1998). The article seems quite convincing to the readers as the content is written according to its purpose and various data related to the study have been presented as a matter of evidence. Proper understanding of the article justifies its purpose as the article not only generates ways to generate methods for continuous change but also it focuses on the identification of certain traits of organizational capabilities to remain competitive (OOPSLA, 1995). The most important feature in the article that has been observed is the provision of real data from the research. The article has presented evidences for every point that it has mentioned and thus leaves no scope for the reader to doubt and question any aspect of it. There are certain visible strengths of the article along with a few weaknesses. In the following section of the paper, those strengths and weaknesses will be presented. Strengths of the Article The author has presented a comprehensive overview of the entire research process that had been conducted with respect to the topic. The article is in connection to the present market scenario and thus influences readers to go through it. The following are the distinctive strengths in the article: The author has categorically mentioned the need of managing continuous change and the subsequent evolution linking with the identification of core competencies of the organizations The ways to remain competitive by enhancing competencies have been analyzed The article has completely focused on the innovative standards to remain competitive Most importantly, all these are explained in relation to and with evidences from real life companies Weaknesses of the Article Though everything in the article have been presented in a very lucid manner, yet there can be modifications in certain areas. The few areas have been mentioned in this section: There could have been a more vast discussion on the issues of core competencies Involvement of certain views of famous approaches like the ‘Resource Based View’ could have been made The author in the article has provided evidence of the data collection by mentioning different views of the companies’ managers which can be easily manipulated Current Working Environment in Relation to the Article There are certain relationships to the mode of business in the organizations mentioned in the article with the kind of business operations that used to be conducted while I was working as the Finance and Administrative Manager in a medical equipment company in Saudi Arabia. The job responsibilities of a finance and administrative manager involve complete formulation of jobs and assigning goals to each department within the organizations. From the article, the structural formation of the companies can be implicit that resembles the kind of structure in the medical equipment company (Finance and Administrative Manager, 2001). The fundamental nature of identifying methods to remain competitive in the market requires innovation from time to time and this concept has been well supported in the article. In the medical equipment company as well, the most crucial factor that used to be followed was innovation. The medical and surgical equipments require technological innovation to remain competitive; and the kind of organizational structure that was followed there was semi-structured in nature (Gelijns & Et. Al., 2010). The organization where I was working concentrated on innovation and utilizing available resources to the fullest. Innovations relate to development of products and processes for the organization and thus increase the knowledge from the perspectives of each and every individual. Recommendations The management of change is essential for organizations that strive to remain competitive in the dynamic market. The article has focused on the issues related to the continuous change and the different aspects of the organizations to remain competitive. But the most important aspect to implement continuous change in the organization has not been technically dealt with in the article which is ‘the management of change’. The process of continuous change has an implication of contradictory views within the organization and for dealing with internal situation; organizations must have to initiate the process of change management (Business Performance, 2010). The above diagram depicts the process of change management. The management needs to focus on the comprenensive process of managing change in order to possess the quality of continuous change. Inclusion of the process in order to find out how successful organizations manage changes and sustain growth in the changing world could have provided an extra dimension to the article. The author could have discussed in details about the two contradictory issues of identifying core competencies and disruptive innovations with continuous change management in the back drop. Disruptive innovations include identification of future innovations predicting the future market conditions. This concept can produce worst results if it is identified based on the traditional standards of quality. Disruptive innovations can only produce good results when measured by the modern organizations. This factor of modern business has not been properly taken care of in the article (Dombrowski & Gholz, 2009). The inclusion of these aspects could have presented the article in a more lucid and complete form. The dimensions of the article could have been made vast and integrated by inclusion of these interrelated issues to the topic. Moreover, in the article inter firm comparisons have only been made whereas a comparison of the past and present aspect of the business of each organization could have been prepared. This would have presented the article in a more concrete form and future prospects of the research could have been evaluated. References AllBusiness, (2010). Flexible Organizations: Using Organizational Design as a Competitive Advantage. Champions of Small Business. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www.allbusiness.com/management/change-management/614560-1.html Brown, S. L. & Eisenhardt, K. M., (1997). The Art of Continuous Change: Linking Complexity Theory and Time-paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations. The Cornell University. Business Performance, (2010). Organizational Change Management — the New Imperative. Change Management in Organization. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www.businessperform.com/change-management/change_management.html Dombrowski, P. & Gholz, E., (2009). Identifying Disruptive Innovation. Innovation. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://web.mit.edu/ssp/people/gholz/INNOVATIONS-4-2_dombrowski-gholz.pdf Finance and Administrative Manager, (2001). Definition. IIACWD. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www.acwd.org/dms_docs/7f092fdf07e0e54630a251f18d66da6c.pdf Gelijns, A. & Et. Al., (2010). Implantable and Surgical Medical Devices. The National Academies Press. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9191&page=33 Green Leap, (2010). Shifting To Sustainability? The Transition May Be Your Company’s Biggest Challenge. Article. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://greenleapbusiness.com/article/shifting-sustainability-transition-may-be-your-companys-biggest-challenge Kampas, P. J., (2003). Shifting Cultural Gears in Technology-Driven Industries. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/ereserves/Pena/Bus%20760/Shifting%20Cultural%20gears%20in%20technology.pdf Olsen, M. D. & Et. Al., (1998). A Model for the Development and Implementation of Core Competencies in Restaurant Companies for Superior Financial Performance. Hospitality and Tourism Management. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-92898-15721/unrestricted/Submission.PDF OOPSLA, (1995). How to Get Your Paper Accepted at OOPSLA. Introduction. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www-plan.cs.colorado.edu/diwan/7900-05/HowToOOPSLA-Snyder.htm Rainey, D. L., 2005. Product Innovation: Leading Change through Integrated Product Development. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved Online on December 11, 2010 from http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/news_and_events/news05/drainey_bookinfo.pdf Read More