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What Is An Organisation Can Plan For Change

Decent Essays

How Organisations Can Plan for Change in an Uncertain Environment

Various academics agree that organisations operate with ever increasing uncertainty due to a rapidly changing environment (Burnes, 2004; Senior and Swailes, 2016; Lowell, 2016; Öner et al., 2014). Although the changes in the environment can be triggered by a variety of internal and external factors, it is suggested that the most significant changes impacting uncertainty have been caused by technological advances and globalisation (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010; Dawson, 2003). The reason this is significant to organisations is that it is suggested that they risk failure unless they have the capacity to adapt within a continually changing environment (Daft et al., 2010; …show more content…

Therefore, this essay will discuss the implications for organisations operating within an uncertain environment and critically analyse the emergent approach and planned approach to change management within a climate of uncertainty to evaluate each approaches effectiveness.

The implications for organisations operating within a trend of uncertainty mean that they are more at risk of failure than ever before. As an example, a study by Govindarajan and Srivastava (2016) found that 63% of organisations listed between 2000 and 2009 would not survive the next five years compared to 92% listed prior to 1970. Furthermore, Anthony et al (2016) indicate that large companies listed on the S&P 500 in 1990 have a 20-year lifespan compared to a 33-year lifespan in 1965. Both authors agree that it is uncertainty and the speed of change that is the main factor for the change (Govindarajan and Srivastava, 2016; Anthony et al., 2016). This trend seems to cast doubt on whether organisations can stand the test of time in the current climate, however, there are many examples of organisations that have stood the test of time. One example of this is Nike Inc. which was founded in 1964, operates globally with approximately 25% market share (Myers et al., 2012; Statista, 2017). Furthermore, The Office for National Statistics (2016) show that of UK organisations first listed in 2010, 41.4% were still trading in 2015; and interpreting

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