Christensen Meeting The Challenge Of Disruptive Change HBR 2000
Meeting the Challenge of
Disruptive Change by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael Overdorf
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
March-April 2000
T
HESE ARE SCARY TIMES FOR MANAGERS
in big companies. Even before the
Internet and globalization, their track record for dealing with major, disruptive change was not good. Out of hundreds of department stores, for example, only oneDayton Hudson-became a leader in discount retailing. Not one of the minicomputer companies succeeded in the personal computer business. Medical and business schools are struggling-and failing-to change their curricula fast enough to train the types of doctors and managers their markets need. The list could go on.
67
Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change
It's not that managers in big companies can't see disruptive changes coming. Usually they can. Nor do they lack resources to confront them. Most big companies have talented managers and specialists, strong product portfolios, first-rate technological know-how, and deep pockets. What managers lack is a habit of thinking about their organization's capabilities as carefully as they think about individual people's capabilities.
One of the hallmarks of a great manager is the ability to identify the right person for the right job and to train employees to succeed at the jobs they're given. But unfortunately, most managers assume that if each person working on a project is well matched to the job, then tbe organization in whicb they work will be, too. Often that is not the case.
One could put two sets of identically capable people to work in different organizations, and wbat tbey accomplisbed would be significantly different.
Tbat's because organizations tbemselves-independent of tbe people and otber resources in t b e m bave capabilities. To succeed consistently, good managers need to be skilled not just in assessing people but also in assessing tbe abilities and disabilities of tbeir organization as a whole.
Tbis article offers managers a framework to
Disruptive Change by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael Overdorf
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
March-April 2000
T
HESE ARE SCARY TIMES FOR MANAGERS
in big companies. Even before the
Internet and globalization, their track record for dealing with major, disruptive change was not good. Out of hundreds of department stores, for example, only oneDayton Hudson-became a leader in discount retailing. Not one of the minicomputer companies succeeded in the personal computer business. Medical and business schools are struggling-and failing-to change their curricula fast enough to train the types of doctors and managers their markets need. The list could go on.
67
Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change
It's not that managers in big companies can't see disruptive changes coming. Usually they can. Nor do they lack resources to confront them. Most big companies have talented managers and specialists, strong product portfolios, first-rate technological know-how, and deep pockets. What managers lack is a habit of thinking about their organization's capabilities as carefully as they think about individual people's capabilities.
One of the hallmarks of a great manager is the ability to identify the right person for the right job and to train employees to succeed at the jobs they're given. But unfortunately, most managers assume that if each person working on a project is well matched to the job, then tbe organization in whicb they work will be, too. Often that is not the case.
One could put two sets of identically capable people to work in different organizations, and wbat tbey accomplisbed would be significantly different.
Tbat's because organizations tbemselves-independent of tbe people and otber resources in t b e m bave capabilities. To succeed consistently, good managers need to be skilled not just in assessing people but also in assessing tbe abilities and disabilities of tbeir organization as a whole.
Tbis article offers managers a framework to