Change without pain

Change or perish is a corporate truism, but so is its unhappy corollary: ma ny companies change and perish. The process of change can tear an organizat ion apart. Drawing on his research over ten years, the author suggests that companies alternate major change initiatives with carefully paced periods of smaller, organic change, using processes he calls tinkering and kludging (kludging is tinkering on a large scale). The result is dynamic stability, which allows change without fatal pain. Citing examples from General Electric to Barnesandnoble.com, the author des cribes dynamic stability as a process of continual but relatively small rec onfigurations of existing practices and business models rather than the cre ation of new ones. As they tinker and kludge, successful companies would be wise to follow the se four guidelines: reward shameless borrowing; appoint a chief memory offi cer who can help the company avoid making the same old mistakes; tinker and kludge internally before searching for solutions externally; and hire gene ralists, because generalists tend to be more adept at tinkering and kludgin g. As a paradigm of successful pacing, the author cites the efforts of Lou Ger stner at IBM, American Express Travel Related Services, and RJR Nabisco. In itially, Gerstner engineered rapid, disruptive change at each company, but he had a genius for knowing when it was time to rest. He was alert to signs of cynicism and burnout. Oscillation between big changes and small changes helps ensure dynamic stability in organizations. More important, it paves the way for change that succeeds.