Page 60 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2020

2020 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

traditional forms of strategic change on the basis that digital even begun. Reactive change generally arises in response to
technologies have accelerated the speed of change, resulting unexpected environmental events or pressures (e.g., strategic
in much more environmental volatility, complexity, and initiatives by a competitor). Typically, it comes toward the
uncertainty [10, 11]. Meanwhile, the emerging new digital tail end of periods of industry upheaval.
technologies are continuing to impact these interactions. A
change in the interaction between dynamics at the business 3.1.2 The scope of the change
landscape and enterprises may transform the structure of
social relationships and create pressure (arrival of new Regarding the scope of change, there is incremental change
technologies, market change, competitive threats) on the and radical change [17]. Incremental (or continuous) change
organization, leading to the emergence of potential problems involves adjustments needed to keep an organization on its
and opening a window of opportunities for innovations. chosen path. The change may not necessarily be small, even
Opportunities and threats have been mentioned several times significant commitments of time, people, and money can be
because the awareness of discrete problems is often critical involved, but it has not fundamentally altered the
to start a DT process. Associating with the concept of organization’s structures and operating environment. It is
“interpretative flexibility” [12], when changes emerge, part of an orderly flow with a step-by-step continuous
different actors in the business landscape have different improvement. Radical (or discontinuous) change refers to
problem definitions and interpretations that can lead them to complex, wide-ranging changes brought on by fundamental
explore different solutions and pathways. shifts in the environment. Typically, it requires dramatic
changes in strategy and abrupt departures from traditional
3. TYPOLOGIES OF CHANGE work, structures, job requirements, and cultures, which in
turn necessitate a complete overhaul of the organization [18].
Any suggestion to expand the number of variables in
explaining social phenomena raises the concern of the trade- 3.1.3 The result of the change
off between accuracy and parsimony. Including more factors
might allow for a better description of reality, but it will From a change implementation perspective, the nature of
come at the cost of giving up useful and generalizable change is how change is implemented, either in an all-at-
simplifications that help us understand common societal once, big-bang fashion over a relatively short period of time,
processes [13]. We think this logic also applies when or in a more step-by-step incremental fashion [19]. It was
developing a typology. There are many ways to classify argued that assessing whether the change should be
different types of change. We will briefly discuss the main implemented rapidly or slowly is simple: either the
typologies of change found in the literature, and choose the organization is in a crisis (big-bang change) or has time on
most appropriate and precise terms to develop our typology, its side (incremental change). Besides, two types of change
avoiding any potential misunderstanding and ambiguity results are suggested. Realignment is a change to the way of
associated with these terms. doing things that do not involve a fundamental reappraisal of
the central assumptions and beliefs within the organization.
3.1 Changes in general Transformation is a redefinition of mission and purpose to
reflect a new direction. Therefore, it encompasses a
From a theoretical perspective, we can look at different fundamental shift in the organization’s business model,
changes from three perspectives: the timing of the change, touching all cultural, structural, and processual aspects.
the scope of change, and the result of the change.
3.2 Organizational changes while “going digital”
3.1.1 The timing of the change
DT has come into wide use in contemporary business media
Acknowledging the punctuated equilibrium paradigm that to signify the transformational or disruptive implications of
explains fundamental changes in patterns of organizational digital technologies for businesses (e.g., new business
activity [14-16], organizations experience two types of models, new types of offerings or customer experiences) [6,
change: incremental change and transformational change. 19]. Customer experience, operational processes, and
Incremental change occurs during relatively long periods of business models are three pillars that should be the focal
equilibrium and is associated with the extrapolation of past points of DT initiatives [20]. Therefore, thinking about how
trends, doing things better, and securing efficiencies from the to redesign operations, so that digital technologies add value
path dependency perspective. Transformational change by making offerings and processes more effective and
occurs during periods of disequilibrium when the efficient, more convenient and agile may be the most
organization becomes so misaligned with its external common reason for going digital. We will briefly discuss two
environment that it cannot continue to operate as before. frequently mentioned types of change in organizations in the
context of “going digital.”
A slightly different way to look at the timing is to add the
organization's intention [17]. Proactive change, is any 3.2.1 Change in the business model
systematically planned change intended to take advantage of
expected situations. It is made early in the disequilibrium A business model describes the value a company offers to
cycle, and often before a period of industry upheaval has one or several customer segments and the architecture of the

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