An Executive Transition: A Management Development Case Analysis Available to Purchase

The need for a top management transition is a situation that eventually faces all ongoing organisations. While some replacements require quick and decisive actions necessitated by the death or serious illness of the chief executive officer (CEO), a major corporate blunder, or some other catastophic event, the more typical scenario involves a longer transition period. The former mode of transition (catastrophic event) has generally been considered a “revolutionary” change, while the latter has been classified as an “evolutionary” event (Bigelow, 1981). Yet, the differences between these two extremes appears to be based far more on the duration of the change, perhaps intensity as well, and not on the general process of change involved.