Change and adaptive behavior in organizations: Innovation in non-competitive environments as typified by United States county and local governments

Abstract

This is an experience report that evolves into a survey of applicable theory that might be used for additional steps in the diffusion of artefacts into noncompetitive environments. The non-competitive environment in this case is county and local government in the United States. The particular case is the office of the County Register of Deeds/ Recorder, which has not seen a major change in the way business has been conducted since the 1950's. The background of the decision to develop a document image processing system being is provided, and experiences in introducing this technology are discussed. There is a discussion of how business is conducted today, the barriers to adopting new technology, and how change management methods such as Kotter, Rogers, and Tushman and Romanelli apply. There is also a discussion of different models for characterizing culture such as Meyerson and Schein, and how these apply; theories of development and change such as Van de Yen and Poole, Zipf, and Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw; and the need for additional research in this area. © 2001 by Springer Science+ Business Media New York.