Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Adaptation in Organizations:
The Future of Organizational Leadership
Amy Gade
Fort Hays State University

In Fulfillment of the Mid-term Exam Requirements for

LDRS 600 Seminar in Organizational Leadership: Supervisory Leadership
Mr. Karl Klein

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Leadership is a key component of any organization. A great leader can contribute to the
success of an organization, likewise, a poor leader can be responsible for its failure. Mosley,
Mosley, and Pietri (2011) defined leadership as a process of influencing individual and group
activities toward goal setting and goal achievement (p. 227). Some of a leaders biggest
responsibilities include understanding the organizations values, visioning the organizations
future, and coaching and empowering staff to commit to achieving that vision. Because of these
responsibilities, leaders are also often responsible for change. Whether that be change in the
mission or function of the organization or change in how they help the staff develop the
knowledge or skills necessary to achieve that vision, change is inevitable in organizational
leadership.
Due to the fast-paced nature of todays global economy, organizations must change and
adapt with increased frequency. Organizational leaders are responsible for more now than ever
before. Glover, Friedman, and Jones (2002) said, communities, governments, and corporations
constantly seek new and better ways to transfer technology, develop mergers and joint ventures,
improve performance, manage diversity, develop economically, sustain natural resources, protect
the environment, create globally appropriate organizations, and develop new markets (p. 15).
The leader is at the forefront of all of these new and ever-changing demands faced with the
challenge of ensuring its organization can survive. Hacker (2012) noted that many organizations
remain almost stuck in their current state, frozen in old-mindsets, paralyzed by resistance to
change, and fighting each major wave of change as if it was a special cause (p. 18). This leaves
the leader wondering if they personally have the skills necessary to facilitate change and/or if
their organization has the resolve to transform to a new vision which is capable of meeting the
ever-changing needs of a more global consumer.

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Now more than ever, creating organizational environments and staff that are adaptive to
change is and will continue to be essential in todays increasingly demanding society. As Glover
et al. (2002) noted, as the complexity and speed of change has increased, it has become
apparent that just leading change initiatives without adaptation is not enough (p. 15). Change
alone is not enough, because change implies a finality. Once the change has happened, the
organization moves on with it in place. An adaptive organization is making changes necessary
while continuously looking for the next opportunity to improve. Glover et al. (2002) defines
adaptation as, the process by which leaders continuously both assimilate information from the
context of the world and then accommodate their organizations to specific contexts in which they
are imbedded (p. 17). An adaptive organization is able to work through change quickly and
successfully in order to continue functioning at high levels, all while anticipating other future
changes necessary for continued success.
But an organization isnt likely to be adaptive on their own, so they will need someone
who knows what it means to be adaptive and how to make that happen. This is what has been
labeled an adaptive leader. Glover (2002) defines adaptive leadership as being based on being
open to changes going on around us and then making effective decisions in harmony with these
pervasive changes, including implementing these in appropriate ways (p. 17). Loren (2005)
also noted an important feature of adaptive leadership, in that its not just about change. Its also
about identifying what you want to hold on to. He goes on to discuss that a lot of leaders forget
that an adaptive change process involves a lot of consideration about what from the
organizations history can be discarded and what should be preserved in moving forward.
Likewise, he notes that it is still different than transformation as well, in that transformation

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

connotes creating something altogether new, rather than grafting an innovation onto the best
from our history (Loren, 2005, p. 46).
In order to be successful in adaptive leadership, employee participation is key. Because
an adaptive leader is often calling to question the way things have been done in the past, it is
possible they could be marginalized within the organization. Mosley et al. (2002) notes, however,
if your people are empowered to evaluate the past and explore new ideas and ways of operating,
they will be more motivated to implement the changes (p. 242). Loren (2005) also noted the
importance of mobilizing staff for what will be innovative experiments with a goal of graft onto
the best of the organizational DNA so that the organization can thrive in the future (p. 47).
While being adaptive typically involves reflecting on the past of an organization,
adaptive leaders do not let their past experiences and limitations block their perceptions of new
contexts (Glover et al., 2002, p. 17). The challenge of adaptive leadership becomes figuring out
how to capitalize on history without being enslaved by it (Loren, 2005, p. 46). So, a successful
leader must instead think about adaptation in terms of the context necessary. Evaluating the
current place of the organization, while reflecting on the new needs of the consumer and the
organization, the skills and abilities of its members, and the resources available will allow the
leader to better understand the context for which it is making decisions. Loren (2005)
acknowledges that this requires a different type of leadership then most are used to, one full of
people with the willingness to give managers the latitude to tailor the companys procedures to
suit the demands of those local contexts (p. 48). The leader needs to be supported and trusted to
think freely, widely, and deeply about the issues that they organization faces (Glover et al.,
2002). It is important to discover whether these challenges are new or have been plaguing the
organization for some time, which may help the leader determine how quickly a solution needs

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

to be identified. This may also help the leader understand and identify potential future issues that
the organization could make some simple adaptations for now in order to respond more
successfully.
Likewise, adaptive leadership requires someone willing to try things outside of the status
quo of the organization. Loren (2005) notes, adaptive leadership requires an experimental
mindset approach, not an Ive got the answers mindset (p. 47). It isnt enough for the leader to
be a visionary for the future or to have identified said path for moving the organization forward.
Adaptive leaders have to understand that todays plan is simply todays best guess (Loren,
2005, p. 47). A truly successful adaptive leader will be willing to deviate from their original plan
if/when they discover new realities that werent originally anticipated. Best defined, someone
successful at initiating adaptive leadership is flexible and ingenuitive.
To create an adaptive organization, the leader should help their members align to the
groups vision, values, and purpose, whether those things have stayed the same or are slightly
altered (Hacker, 2012, p. 19). Their visions need to be holistic and sustainable (Glover et al.,
2002). Leaders who are successful in creating an adaptive environment understand that
organizations are dynamic systems which contain multiple parts that interact amongst each other
(Morel & Ramanujam, 1999). Therefore, if the process by which adaptation comes is done
through practical framework that also incorporates solid processes for planning and
implementing change and measuring results, it is more likely to be implemented successfully,
sustained completely, and repeated if and when necessary (Hacker, 2012, p. 19).
So, why do some leaders fail at creating an adaptive organization? A myriad of reasons.
For one, some leaders simply desire to change for the sake of changing (Glover et al., 2002).
These are the leaders who make changes, not adaptations. They completely ignore the idea of

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

reflecting on the past to determine good points and bad points, the very nature of what is
adaptive leadership. Instead, they simply discard it all. These leaders dont typically have a lot of
buy in and, therefore, can start to segregate themselves from their team. Because their team has
likely been a part of the history of the organization that is being discarded, the leader is missing
out on the opportunity to tap the knowledge and staff of his/her own members. A good example
of this was James Wolfensons time as head of World Bank. He viewed his leadership
opportunity as a chance to lead a revolution, instead of an evolution. It left him devaluing the
hard work and dedication of those who had devoted their careers to the organization. Instead of
acknowledging the good parts of what had been happening at World Bank and asking staff to
discard only portions, Wolfenson did the opposite, which ultimately lead to his own demise
(Loren, 2005). Like Wolfenson, unsuccessful leaders can actually initiate changes that are more
maladaptive than adaptive, sapping the organizations energy and resources (Glover et al., 2002,
p. 16).
Sometimes an adaptive leaders good ideas wont be adopted simply because they
represent a challenge to the status quo. Likely, a status quo that many members of the
organization are quite comfortable with. An example of this is Xeroxs Palo Alto Research
Centre, who in the 1970s developed the computer mouse, graphical user interface and Ethernet.
But because they were already being used by other companies, Xerox discarded them because
they did not have the adaptive capacity to take on these new innovations, which would have, in
turn, required them to discard some of their original organizational DNA (Loren, 2005).
Other times, leaders fail at creating adaptive organizations because they attempt to
implement one-size-fits-all initiatives, as quick fixes instead of fully exploring the issue and the
organization (Glover et al., 2002). While it aims to restore balance with the least amount of

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

headache in the shortest amount of time, treating adaptive challenges with technical solutions
does not work. Because adaptive challenges so often involve the people of the organization, you
cannot just take the problem off of them. Their involvement in the problem means the solution,
too, typically lies from within them (Loren, 2005). Someone successful in adaptive leadership
understands that there are countless people throughout the organization willing to ask the tough
questions, even without knowing the answers. Therefore, they encourage those people to
generate innovations to answer those questions. A great example is the company, Nokia, who
originated as a lumber company. It was their use of walkie-talkies to coordinate work in the
forests that allowed people within the organization to suggest that the company might be more
successful foregoing the lumber business to focus on the walkie-talkie business (Loren, 2005).
Ultimately, Nokia grew into a successful technology company all thanks to the innovativeness of
their members.
We know that leaders today, more than ever, are faced with the responsibility of seeing
their organization through a constantly changing and demanding society. A leader must be able to
focus on the present, while reflecting on the past and preparing for the future. In order to be most
successful, a leader should look to build and develop an adaptive organization with members that
are willing to learn from their past in order to embrace changes that will best catapult them into
the future. Hacker (2012) notes, the goal is not to learn how to adjust to what the world delivers
to our door, but rather to become an active force in shaping a new reality and a new future from
among unlimited choices (p. 20). Adaptive leadership seems to be the way.

Running head: ADAPTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Works Cited
Glover, J., Friedman, H., & Jones, G. (2002). Adaptive Leadership: When Change Is Not
Enough (Part One). Organization Development Journal, 20(2), 15-32. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/198000121?accountid=27424
Hacker, S. K. (2012). Change Ability. Quality Progress, 45, 16-20. Retrieved from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fhsu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=06c1f
49a-2c23-469c-a776-7532c0bce77c%40sessionmgr198&vid=8&hid=112
Loren, G. (2005). THOUGHT LEADERSHIP; Ronald Heifetz - The challenge of adaptive
leadership. New Zealand Management, 46-48. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/201650812?accountid=27424
Morel, B., & Ramanujam, R. (1999). Through the Looking Glass of Complexity: The Dynamics
of Organizations as Adaptive and Evolving Systems. Organization Science, 10(3), 278293. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213835405?accountid=27424
Mosley, D. C., Mosley, D. C., & Pietri, P. H. (2011). Supervisory Management: The Art of
Inspiring, Empowering, and Developing People. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage
Learning.