Organizing radical and incremental changes in SMEs

This project focuses on the organisational effects of incremental and radical change processes. Many companies involved in innovation processes experience a need to respond quickly to shifts in markets, customer demands and new forms of production. Many of the difficulties arising from these change processes revolve around the ability to involve employees in the development of new products, work processes and production concepts. These challenges are further complicated in SMEs, where developmental resources are often limited and company traditions often predominate daily work practices. Building on empirical data material from small and medium sized Danish manufacturing companies, the project attempts to identify how major development efforts are carried out and how they are managed. Among other tings to be studied are motivational factors and mind-sets of managers with respect to continuous improvement and radical change processes. Financing: LOK Research Center. Project duration: Fall 1999 to Fall 2003. (Merete R. Sørensen, Christian Nørgaard, Jens O. Riis, Frank Gertsen, Jeppe Gustafsson, Anders Drejer)