ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTATION

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Change Management MGMT625

Lesson # 23

ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTATION

The word adaptation is a metaphor that captures the endeavours of organizations to be fitted better to its

environment. Two things remain prominent with organisation in this process:

1) It has an articulated purpose

2) An established mechanism for achieving it.

Most organizations are constantly evaluating their purposes, questioning, verifying and re-defining the

way of interaction with their environments. Effective organisations maintain alignment with its

environment, and ineffective organization fail to maintain the alignment with environment. These

effective organizations also constantly modify and refine the mechanism by which they achieve their

purposes and are re-arranging their structure of roles, relationships and managerial processes. Hence the

essence of management is coping with external environmental change by changing objectives, changing

structures and changing processes

We will discuss here the same as the concept of organisation adaptation frame-work or model as proposed

Miles and Snow. The model contains two major elements:

1. It specifies the major decisions needed by organization to maintain an effective alignment with its

environment.

2. This also highlights an organisational typology which portrays different patterns of adaptive behaviour.

The Adaptive Cycle:

Strategic Choice theorists argue that organization behaviour is only partially ordained by environmental

conditions and the choices made by top managers are the critical determinant of organization structure

and processes. The adaptive cycle is present in all organization, according to Miles & Snow, and it is

more visible in new or growing organizations

Now the question is what is meant by adaptive cycle? This has been defined by the two leading scholars

as under:

The Entrepreneurial problem

An entrepreneur must give a concrete definition of organization domain: a specific good or service and a

target market or market segment, and the entrepreneurial problem is an added dimension. In either a new

or on-going organization the solution to entrepreneur problem is marked by management's acceptance of

a particular product-market domain, and this acceptance becomes evident when management decides to

commit or allocate resources.

Second is to achieve objectives related to the entrepreneur domain. In many companies entrepreneurial

solution is sought by through the development and projection of an organizational image, internally and

externally. Therefore in this phase two important phenomena are the identification of a new opportunity

and the initial impetus for movement toward it. Engineering problem begins to appear at this stage.

The Engineering Problem

The engineering problem involves the creation of a system which operationalizes management's solution

to the entrepreneurial problem. Such a system requires management to select appropriate technology

(input-transformation-output) for producing and distributing the chosen product, and further need new

information, communication and control linkages. (Job-order, batch or flow production) As solution to

the problems are reached through initial implementation of the administrative system but final

Change Management MGMT625

configuration of the organization will be reached as management consolidates relations with the

environment (final shape of the organization will be settled during administrative phase)

The Administrative Problem

Administrative system is to reduce uncertainty within the organizational system. Therefore in this phase

management establishes process for coordinating and controlling internal operations and rationalizing the

system already developed. It also involves formulating and implementing those principles which will

enable the org. to continue to evolve (innovation). This phase is termed pivotal by the author in the cycle

of adaptation owing to the followings:

Rationalization and Articulation

Management must be adept at two conflicting functions: first, to create an administrative system

(structure & processes) for monitoring and controlling current activities and second, at the same time

allowing the system not to jeopardise the future innovation. This has been identified as lagging and

leading variable in the process of adaptation. The lagging variable suggests organization must rationalize

through the development of appropriate structure and processes, strategic decisions made at previous

points in the adjustment process. While the leading variable the administrative system must facilitate the

org. future capacity to adapt by articulating and reinforcing the paths along which innovative capacity can

proceed. Therefore an administrative system is such to deal with past and future. The same dilemma can

be identified in the classical principle of Henri Fayol; especially when he talked of maintaining stability

and initiative in the organization. In terms of marketing management of an organization the same problem

persists as revenues from existing product and at the same time the need to develop new products and

businesses. The dilemma is, how can we get both out of the same structure one needs innovation and

creativity while the other demands tight discipline and regimentation?

Having dealt with adaptive cycle as given by Miles and Snow the question then arises how organisations

move through the cycle. For this we need to understand the typology presented by them in the form of

different set of organizational strategies. The question is what strategies organizations employ in solving

their entrepreneurial, engineering and administrative problems. The research of Miles & Snow shows that

there are essentially three-strategic types of organizations:

1. Defenders

2. Prospectors

3. Analyzers

Each strategy has a distinct way to engage or interact with its environment. Each type has its own unique

strategy for relating to its chosen market. Each has a particular configuration of technology, structure and

process that is consistent with its market strategy. Besides the fourth type of organizations exist known as

Reactor, which is identified by Miles & Snow as a form "Strategic failure" owing to inconsistencies

among its strategy, structure, technology and process.

1. Defenders

The defender deliberately enacts in an environment for which a stable form of organization is appropriate.

Stability is achieved by the defender's definition of, and solution to its entrepreneurial problem. The

defenders define it as " how to seal off a portion of the total market in order to create a stable domain, and

they do so by producing only a limited set of products directed at a narrow segment of the total potential

market. With in this domain defender strives aggressively to prevent competitors entering its turf, but also

ignores developments and trends outside of their domains. Over a time he is successful in carving out its

own niche which is difficult for competitors to penetrate.

The engineering problem for the defender is how to produce and distribute goods as efficiently as

possible? The defender does so by developing a single core technology that is highly cost efficient out put

Change Management MGMT625

on continuous and predictable basis. Some defenders follow vertical integration strategy by incorporating

each stage of production from raw material to distribution of final output.

The defender's Administrative problem is "How to achieve strict control of the organization in order to

ensure efficiency. So this is resolved through structural-process mechanism described as mechanistic

bearing the following features:

i) Top management group heavily dominated by production and cost-control specialist

ii) Little or no scanning of the environment for new avenues.

iii) Functional structure characterized by division of labour, centralized control, communications

through hierarchical channels

Such administrative is suitable for generating and maintaining efficiency but have adaptive or adaptability

problems. Therefore this system operates well for stable industries and is ineffective for turbulent

industries (where market environment changes quickly)

For example this view of strategic adaptation is popular amongst managers in developing countries e.g.

electronic industries in context of Pakistan split air conditioner may be different from traditional

manufacturers of window air conditioning units. The question then is why traditional stable business in

this industry was un-able to realise and adapt quickly in the changed environment. Or it is the

organization who acted like defenders of the Miles & Snow's typology.

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