Organisational change 2 - Essay Example

one were to google-search the phrase “what is change?” close to 20 million book entries would align themselves in his computer screen as if one could have the luxury to get to the 20-millionth entry. But indeed, as Stickland (1998) observes as early as in his writing time, change would be a subject that could swiftly expand in treatment and in scope due to the speed with which it would show itself in human activity. In the two decades preceding Stickland’s book publication, the word “change” has more than doubled its appearance in literature titles (Stickland, 1998).

Most book publishers and authors, it is observed, get deep into serious treatment of the subject of change, its nature, its effects and anything it can do, yet miss out on its definition. In fact, Ly (2009) notes that change is a “phenomenon for which there is no agreed-upon definition.” It is just like saying it is just there; it just happens. It assumes the characteristic of time, that the more people attempt to define it, the more it confuses, making description the easiest way towards understanding.

But of course, a few authors made some sincere attempt to define it, if only to have some sense of it. Ly (2009) was resourceful enough to feature some of them. Hanelock defines change as any significant difference in the status quo. Linquist refers to it as a modification of, deletion of, or addition to attitudes and behavior. Morgan defines change as a process or condition of being different between time 1 and time 2. Of course, the most common reference for definitions, Webster, calls change as an act of becoming different.

(Ly, 2009). And if man sees change as part of himself and his evolution, never has change been more obvious, pronounced and ubiquitous in organizations than now because of the constantly varying character of the environments they are in. Zimmerman (2011) notes very profoundly that in view of these highly charged surroundings, organizations need to change