Define and describe the three types of change and provide an example of each.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Whether organizational change is administrative or technological, it can be adaptive, innovative, or radically innovative, depending on (1) the degree of complexity, cost, and uncertainty and (2) its potential for generating employee resistance.

Adaptive change is the reintroduction of a familiar practice—the implementation of a kind of change that has already been experienced within the same organization. This form of change is lowest in complexity, cost, and uncertainty. Because it is familiar, it is the least threatening to employees and thus will create the least resistance. For example, during annual inventory week, a department store may ask its employees to work 12 hours a day instead of the usual 8. During tax-preparation time, the store's accounting department may imitate this same change in work hours. Although accounting employees are in a different department from stockroom and sales employees, it's expected that the accounting employees wouldn't be terribly upset by the temporary change in hours because they've seen it in effect elsewhere in the store.

Innovative change is the introduction of a practice that is new to the organization. This form of change involves moderate complexity, cost, and uncertainty. It is therefore apt to trigger some fear and resistance among employees. For example, should a department store decide to adopt a new practice of competitors by staying open 24 hours a day, requiring employees to work flexible schedules, it may be felt as moderately threatening.

Radically innovative change involves introducing a practice that is new to the industry. Because it is the most complex, costly, and uncertain, it will be felt as extremely threatening to managers' confidence and employees' job security and may well tear at the fabric of the organization. For example, a department store closing some of its brick-and-mortar operations and converting them to e-commerce—selling its goods on the Internet—may encounter great anxiety among its staff, especially those fearing being left behind.