Organizational invariants and organizational change

Existing conceptualizations of organization form in organization theory have led to viewing organizational change in two opposite ways: either it is assumed that organization cannot significantly change - and therefore change is driven predominantly by selection-based evolutionary processes - or it is assumed that organization can and should change altogether - as they shift from one form to another, due to complementarities among organizational elements and fit with context. This paper points out the limitations of these views (as well as of intermediate 'incremental change' views) based on the degree of change deemed to be possible and effective. The paper then outlines a more general model, overcoming those limitations, and conceptualizing change as a combination of organizational variants and invariants, intended as qualitatively different organizational elements. The increased predictive, explanatory, and prescriptive power of the proposed approach is illustrated using a longitudinal case study of organizational changes in Pilkington. European Management Review (2008) 5, 232-244. doi:10.1057/emr.2008.29