Description

The rapidity of change taking place in the social, political and economic environments is creating a marked impact on organizations as well as individuals. Organizations are facing multiple challenges and threats today; threats to effectiveness, efficiency, and profitability; challenges from turbulent environments, increased competition, and changing customer demands; and the constant challenge to maintain congruence among organizational dimensions such as technology, . strategy, culture, and processes. Keeping organizations healthy and viable in today's world is a daunting task. Individuals in organizations likewise face multiple challenges, finding satisfactions in and through work, fighting obsolescence of one's knowledge and skills, maintaining dignity and purpose in pursuit of organizational goals, and achieving human connectedness and community in the workplace. Simple survival-continuing to have an adequate job is a major challenge today in the face of constant layoffs and cutbacks. Although new jobs are being created at record rates, old jobs are being destroyed at an accelerating pace. "Knowledge" work is replacing "muscle" work. In his book Future Shock (1984), Alvin Toffler argued that humanity is now a part of an environment so unfamiliar and complex that t is threatening millions with 'future shock'. Future shock occurs when the type of changes and the speed of their introduction over-power the individual's ability to adapt to them. This is also true for organizations.