Forces For Change.

 

No company today is in a particularly stable environment. Even those with dominant market share must change, sometimes radically. Almost every organization must adjust to a multicultural environment, demographic changes, immigration and outsourcing. So what are these forces that stimulate change?

 

Technology is continually changing jobs and organizations. It is not hard to imagine the very idea of an office becoming an antiquated concept in the near future. The housing and financial sectors recently have experienced extraordinary economic shocks, leading to the elimination, bankruptcy of some of the best known U.S companies followed by the global recession.

 

Competition is changing. Competitors are as likely to come from across the ocean as from across the town. Successful organizations will be fast on their feet, capable of developing new products rapidly and getting them to market quickly. In other words, they will be flexible and will require an equally flexible workforce. 

 

Social trends do not remain static. Consumers now meet and share information in chat rooms and blogs. Companies must continually adjust product and marketing strategies to be sensitive to changing social trends. Consumers, employees and organizational leaders are more sensitive to environmental concerns.

 

World politics. Not even globalization’s strongest proponents could have imagined how world politics would change in recent years. We have seen the breakup of the Soviet Union, the opening of China and Southeast Asia and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. Through the industrialized world, business (particularly in banking and financial sectors) have come under new scrutiny.