Based on this journal, there are 3 levels of managing change.

The lowest level of

managing change is reacting. It means competing with other competitors by
producing a better product. It is a defensive tactic and unlikely to create new
opportunities. The next level is anticipation where it creates more opportunities and
it is a better way to change. Leading will be the highest level of managing change
where they create the change that force others to react such as creating a new
technology.

Moreover, Brown and Eisenhardt mentions that there are three concepts which are
the edge of chaos, the edge of time and time pacing.

Edge of chaos

Life is caught in the tension of order and chaos. If there is too much order,
everything becomes repetitive and the same giving no room for creativity and new
innovations. But on the other hand, if there is too much chaos nothing can be
predicted from one moment to the next, with nothing lasting long enough to be
effective. Between these states complexity reveals the edge of chaos; the point
where there is enough chaos for creativity but also enough order for consistency
and patterns to emerge. In business, this is a where innovation is at its highest and
unimaginable properties can emerge. By looking at the key complexity terms of
organizations as complex adaptive systems, when organizations/businesses are
confronted with unpredictable economic (and external) problems, they are most
likely to exhibit creative, innovative responses and new patterns and structures
most likely emerge.

Organisations like other Complex Adaptive Systems perform best when they are at
the edge of chaos. It is a place where the organisation has just enough structure to
stay cohesive, preventing it from being pulled apart by competing internal and
external forces. They often Emphasis on just enough because the openness to
chaos, the ability to dismantle existing structures, to change shape rapidly, they all
precede the ability to innovate and to explore new performance peaks in the ever-
changing competitive environment.

To stay at the edge of chaos requires energy and conscious effort. Complex Systems
have a natural tendency to swing either to the chaotic (i.e. to fall apart), or the
static (to become stagnant, controlled, and bureaucratic). Organisations need to
maintain activities that are purposefully designed to disrupt the existing
behaviour. Activities such as experimentation, or the continuous effort to test what
works and what does not work, resulting in learning, and the discovery of new
opportunities and new performance peaks.

Time pacing

Another concept is time-pacing. Time pacing refers to creating new products or

services, launching new businesses, or entering new markets according to the
calendar. Even though time-paced companies can be extraordinarily fast, it is
important not to confuse time pacing with speed. By definition, time pacing is
regular, rhythmic, and proactive. For example, 3M dictates that 30% of revenues will
come from new products every year, Netscape introduces a new product about
every six months, British Airways refreshes its service classes every five years, and
Starbucks opens 300 stores per year to hit the goal of 2,000 outlets by the year
2000. Time pacing is about running a business through regular deadlines to which
managers synchronize the speed and intensity of their efforts. Time pacing also
creates a predictable rhythm for change in a company.