| An alarming gap exists between the modern organization's need for continuous organizational strategic adaptation, required to maintain competitive advantage and the capacity of organization development (OD) technology to operationalize the timely, sustainable organization change required. It is postulated that this shortfall in OD theory and practice is based on a misinterpretation of organization culture-change theory. This study challenges the prevailing view that organization culture change is inevitably a slow, long-term project. It does so by reinterpreting organization change theory in light of innovation diffusion theory for a more detailed explanation of the phenomenon. A strategic adaptation model is offered to illustrate a potential bridge between "fast-acting" OD technology and expedited strategy operationalization designed to mitigate the gap.; This study extends the theoretical "high-velocity" consulting paradigm work of Head, Sorensen, and Yaeger in pursuit of a fast-acting OD intervention methodology to effect accelerated organization change. It provides a contemporaneous quantitative analysis of a field experiment within a 2500-member engineering division of a large Midwest energy utility. In the wake of an "intentionally violent transformational change" that downsized and reorganized the engineering division, a fast-acting OD organization culture change intervention was conducted to assist the survivors in quickly building a new positive organization culture. A time-1, time-2 survey methodology was used over an intentionally short four-month period, employing a highly reliable survey instrument for measuring change in organization culture. Findings from this exploratory study yield insights for OD theorists, change agents, and management educators interested in pursuing the development of fast-acting interventions aimed at producing expedited organization culture change. |
