Thursday, December 04, 2008 Cortez: The Permanence of Organizational Change By Jaime V. Cortez
AMONG the few things that are considered permanent in the life of organizations is change. Organizations - business, political, social, religious - all of these exist in an environment that can at best be described as dynamic. This dynamism springs from the demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and socio-cultural settings of organizations.
Demographic variables such as population size, geographic distribution, age distribution, sex distribution, birth rate, mortality rate, migration trends and the like do affect market composition, market size, and the quantity and quality of the labor force.
Income and its distribution, taxes, price volatility, inflation, foreign exchange rates, interest rates, exports, imports, trade policies, fiscal policies and a host of other economic variables influence organizational revenues, costs and expenses; hence, profitability, liquidity, growth and long-term sustainability.
Topography and terrain, natural resources, climate, natural calamities, location and various characteristics of the physical environment all impinge on the manner, timing and place of business processes and operations.
Inventions and discoveries involving new products, materials, machinery and methods, as well as other scientific and technological breakthroughs can make sophisticated gadgets obsolete or currently used production systems, inefficient.
Political stability, peace and order, levelness of the business playing field, predictability and reasonableness of economic policies, and a business-friendly governmental bureaucracy can make or break organizational success.
And the deeply-ingrained values, beliefs, customs, traditions and mores of the community and society can, in many instances, catapult organizations to prosperity or bring them down to total wreck.
The issue then is not whether organizations change in response to environmental changes around them; the issue is how organizations should view change.
The key is to be proactive, not reactive. Being proactive is to act before-the-fact; anticipate changes before they happen and act accordingly. It is the opposite of being reactive; that is, to act after-the-fact, moving only when changes have already occurred.
Moving things to a higher plane, organizations can also benefit much if they not only anticipate changes but create the changes that they want. It is a new mindset... a more progressive one which, if applied properly, can break the old cycle of business-as-usual.
