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Survival in the coming decades for many large, complex companies depends on their ability to "reorient" or "re-create" their identity, values, and mission. Those companies that succeed will be change capable--the leaders recognize change as a constant element of the landscape, and in some cases, deliberately create change so that they can capitalize on it. This is the thesis of Discontinuous Change, a new book by David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A. Elise Walton, and other associates of Delta Consulting Group, a firm specializing in the management of strategic organizational change. As a framework for their discussion, the authors suggest that there are two types of change: incremental change, which occurs during periods of environmental stability or equilibrium and is part of a pattern of ongoing change to improve or modify the fit among the components of the organization, and discontinuous change, which occurs during periods of disequilibrium in which there is a radically changing environment and the organization must build a whole new configuration with a new strategy. Discontinuous change, they write, is:
... more traumatic, painful, and demanding on the organization. By its very nature, discontinuous change means that a certain degree of shock will be administered to the organization. It is often a radical departure from the past, and therefore carries with it all of the challenges associated with discontinuity. People, groups, and whole organizations not only have to learn new ways of thinking, working, and acting, but they also have to "unlearn" the habits, orientations, assumptions, and routines that have been baked into the enterprise over time. This unlearning can be difficult and even confusing for individuals.
According to the authors, most change management approaches have drawn on models of incremental change. Participation by organizational members is solicited in order to create ownership and lessen resistance for the change....