Innovative Cultures and Organizations

Abstract

Abstract Both students of organizations and managers are today increasingly concerned about the capacity of organizations to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions. The rate of change in the technological, economic, political, and sociocultural environments is picking up speed, and organizations are, therefore, finding it more and more important to figure out how to adapt. Adaptation in turbulent environments requires more than minor adjustments to the present way of doing things. It often requires genuinely innovative ideas-new missions, new goals, new products and services, new ways of getting things done, and even new values and assumptions. Most important, adaptation means the developing of the capacity to manage “perpetual change.” Organizations must “learn how to learn” (Argyrols & Scion, 1978; Schein, 1980) and must become “self-designing” (Weick, 1977).