"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" : An Essay on Exploration, Exploitation and Dialectic Change

Informações

Código: ESO2069
Divisão: ESO - Estratégia em Organizações
Tema de Interesse: ESO-A - Estratégia em Organizações

Autores

Flavio Carvalho de Vasconcelos, Isabella Francisca Freitas Gouveia de Vasconcelos

Resumo

Early work by James March shows some of the reasons why organizations are oftenconservative regarding change processes. In this perspective a central concern in studies ofadaptive processes is the relationship between the exploration of new possibilities and theexploitation of old certainties. This article explores the lead set by March developing thecontours of an strategic change theory based on discussion of the mechanisms organizationsdevelop to foster dynamic equilibria between change and stability. Equilibria between changeand stability, chaos and order, innovation and improvement innovation are important issues,mainly because if change is important to achieve adaptation, prolonged, pervasive neverendingchange means anarchy and loss of efficiency. In this article we suggest the propositionthat organizations develop paradoxical mechanisms to cope with change, enacting processesof social change that in reality are devices for keeping organizational order. The example ofthe change management effort in an European advanced technology research laboratory isused to illustrate this theoretical proposition.

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