Incremental Change Initiatives

Roll the clock forward to 2018 and new and recurring strategic and operational challenges have emerged that BA must manage. These include issues related to Brexit, aggressive competitors, labour challenges, data security, and other IT related issues (e.g., the IT failure that grounded 75,000 people for days in May 2017). These mark the continuance of their change journey, marked by both strategic and incremental change initiatives.

Nadler and Tushman raise this question: “Will incremental change be sufficient or will radical change be necessary in the long run?” Suffice it to say that this question has not been answered. However, the Japanese provided a profound lesson in the value of incremental, daily changes. Interestingly enough, it was a lesson the Japanese industrialists learned from North American management scholars such as Duran and Deming. If one observes employee involvement and continuous improvement processes effectively employed,97 one also sees organizational team members that are energized, goal directed, cohesive, and increasingly competent because of the new things they are learning. Such teams expect that tomorrow will be a little different from today. Further, when more significant changes have to be embraced, these teams are likely to be far less resistant and fearful of them because of their earlier experiences with facilitating change within group structures. Organizational change is part of daily life for them.