Short description
Provides an overview of change and organisational theory, leading in particular to the author's definition of 'input' elements of the high performance organisation, based on extensive research into UK and international organisations.
Long description
Change is now so commonplace that people no longer talk in terms of the "whitewater epoch". Every sector of the economies of the developed world has experienced huge swathes of change in the last decade of the twentieth century alone. Increased global competition, aided and abetted by technological advances, has led many organisations to seek to re-invent themselves in the hope of being able to survive and thrive. In mature sectors in particular, where the pace of consolidation is accelerating, organisations have had little option but to grow through acquisition or be absorbed. Whether the change is labelled "continuous process improvement", "restructuring", "downsizing" or re-engineering", to employees, change usually brings with it added pressures, job insecurity and a consequent loss of commitment to the organisation. "Change and Organisational Theory" argues that strategic change in the new millennium will be geared increasingly to achieving sustainable high performance, rather than just short-term gains. Most theorists now agree that the real challenge of change lies in gaining employees' willingness to commit to the change effort. Change leaders at every level need to be able