As the globalization of the economy accelerates there is increased pressure on organizations to change to adapt to new conditions. Organizational change reconfigures the components of an organization to increase efficiency and effectiveness usually in response to change in the organization's external environment. New competition, new technology, shifts in consumer preferences, or alterations in government policies are among the factors that can trigger change.

Some organizational change is planned and controlled by management. However, a significant amount of organizational change is a response to events beyond the control of management, such as the emergence of new competitors.

Culture affects organizational change because some cultures revere traditional values and behavior and resist change while other cultures view change as desirable. However, even in cultures that favor change, there is often resistance to it, particularly when proposed changes are complex.

The rate of organizational change is accelerating. But some recent changes may prove to be fads or fail because of implementation difficulties or the inability to improve organizational performance. For this exercise consider the following questions and use the Web sites listed below to explore for answers.

• Why is there interest in the 1990s in organizational change?
  
  
• According to the Web sites listed below, what factors are creating pressures for organizational change?
  
  
• What are some examples of current planned change efforts in U.S., Japanese, and German corporations?
  
  
• Do these Web sites contain suggestions for issues such as managing resistance to change or dealing with cultural obstacles to change?
  
  

1. 3M Innovation Network
   http://www.mmm.com
   This site contains information on organizational change at 3M.
   
   
2. Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century
   http://ccs.mit.edu/21c/
   This site is maintained by the Sloan School of Management at MIT. It contains a wide variety of information on research activities at MIT dealing with the new types of organizations emerging in the 21st Century.
   
   
3. MIT Organizational Research Center
   http://www-sloan.mit.edu/ccs/21c/prop.html
   This site is maintained by a research center at MIT. The center's objectives are to answer questions related to the drastic change which business organizations are having to face, particularly those related to downsizing, technological advancement, the necessity for rapid learning, needed changes in accounting methods, more rapid communication, and other issues.
   
   

• Discuss your findings in an e-mail to a friend in your class.
  
  
• Using e-mail combine your findings on change emphasizing the influences of national and organizational culture on the successful management of change.