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Explaining Development and Change in Organizations
Abstract
This article introduces four basic theories that may serve as building blocks for explaining processes of change in organizations: life cycle, teleology, dialectics, and evolution. These four theories represent different sequences of change events that are driven by different conceptual motors and operate at different organizational levels. This article identifies the circumstances when each theory applies and proposes how interplay among the theories produces a wide variety of more complex theories of change and development in organizational life.
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“Like technology-based organizations (Kazanjian, 1988), DPEs undergo stages of creation, growth, persistence, and decline (McIntyre & Srinivasan, 2017;van de Ven & Poole, 1995).”
From Digital platform ecosystems in flux: From proprietary digital platforms to wide-spanning ecosystems (2023) · cites this paper as van de Ven & Poole, 1995
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Metadata
- Authors
- van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Venue
- The Academy of Management Review
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 1995-07
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 510
- ISSN
- 0363-7425 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2148940838
- Cited by
- 3,762
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 100 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 133 · 2023: 125 · 2022: 143 · 2021: 191 · 2020: 201 · 2019: 151 · 2018: 174 · 2017: 177 · 2016: 171 · 2015: 183 · 2014: 193 · 2013: 200 · 2012: 201
- FWCI
- 29.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academy of Management Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Change and Leadership
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Management and Change
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Keywords
- organizational change, organizational development, life cycle theory, teleology, dialectics, evolution, organizational theory, change processes, levels of organization
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