Built to Change

Organizations must be built to perform and change. But, in today’s highly competitive business environment the focus on performance often overshadows the ability to change and change frequently. Organizations cannot sustain excellent performance unless they embrace change.

In this groundbreaking book, organizational effectiveness experts Edward Lawler and Christopher Worley show how organizations can be “built to change” so they can last and succeed in today’s global economy.

Built to Change focuses on identifying practices and designs that organizations can adopt so that they are able to change. As Lawler and Worley point out, organizations that foster continuous change

Are closely connected to their environments
Reward experimentation
Learn about new practices and technologies
Commit to continuously improving performance
Pursue a string of temporary competitive advantages

Built to Change is filled with illustrative examples from companies—Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Limited Brands, and Toyota—that have been able to change time and again to meet changing business demands. The book outlines what it takes to become an organization that continuously and rapidly changes. It includes information about creating strategies, structures, reward systems, communication processes, and human resource management practices that are designed to facilitate the ability of an organization to change.