Organizational Discontinuity: Integrating Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change Theories

Abstract

Facing an age of tremendous change and transformation, the ability to cope with such radically, i.e. discontinuous changing contexts is not only a major challenge in present organizational practices, but also a “true test” for organization science. Thus, the pa- per pursues a critical study of the organizational change discourse and provides an in- tegrated view of organizational discontinuity by linking evolutionary and revolutionary theories of in a model of “constructive destruction”. Furthermore a “re-evolutionary” perspective is presented, conceptualizing the delicate interaction between evolutionary (structural) and revolutionary (political) processes. Finally some implications for the- ory and research on organizational change are also provided.