The Dynamics of Organizational Development and Change: How the Past Shapes the Present and Constrains the Future

Abstract

Organization theory is, as the title of this special issue suggests, at a crossroads. At a time when the world of and around organizations is changing very fast, and when the need to invent new approaches to organizations and their management is apparent, organization theory is challenged either to encompass these changes and contribute to their elucidation or be viewed as a quaint, but largely irrelevant, enterprise. This paper is one response to the challenge defined above. In it, we seek to analyze how and why one particular organization, characterized by a highly unorthodox management approach and strong performance, developed as it did. The innovative approach to management coupled with high performance is central to the question of relevance.