Companies that are able to compete successfully in today's rapidly changing business environment—characterized by globalization of the economy, exploding information technology, downsizing, restructuring, and new employeremployee relationships—must be ready to make significant changes in the way they operate. Changes can be realized in a number of areas; they can, for example, be observed in attitude or behavior. Many major organizational changes, however, are technological ones. Sometimes these changes are not intended to change behavior, but they almost always do in some respect. Another type of change is replacement of personnel; when top management is impatient with the pace of productivity, they often replace key individuals. Changes also occur in organizational structure, formal roles and jobs, control systems, work processes, and other elements of the organization's internal environment.

The motivation for change typically stems from the fact that something isn't working—for example, continued negative...