Critique a Journal Article Roberts, J., & Armitage, J.

(2006), From organization to hypermodern organization On the accelerated appearance and disappearance of Enron , Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol 19 No. 5, pp 558-577. Organization is a unit of society and change is essential inside an organization, as our society is changeable in the pace of time. Previously, researchers and scholars classified organizations as premodern, modern and post modern organizations as per their production process and technology they adopt. Thereafter, question is raised if these categories can fully incorporate all the characteristics, activities and nature of current type organizations. The main issue raised in the paper is that the categorization of organization in the given three types is inadequate and there is an omission in the extent debates surrounding the management of organizational change. The issues raised by authors in the concept paper about the new form of organization i.e. hypermodern organization is important for the literature of organizational change management because it will recognize new set of characteristics of organization in the current developed, speedy changing societies. Moreover it will contribute to the contemporary understandings of organizations and organizational change management. The main argument in the concept paper is that the current consumer societies of the leading nations are characterized by hypermodernity. It further states that one of the results of hypermodernity of society is the emergence of hypermodern organizations. However they argue that organizational change management had so far failed to recognize such organizations in its literature. Although the academic literature in organizational change management had identified the three types of organizational forms, as premodern, modern and post modern organizations, they were inadequate to understand the hypermodern form of organizations, which are emerging in recent societies. The authors highlight various facts and opinions to differentiate the characteristics of hypermodern organizations with other forms of organization. The first one is that hypermodern organizations are hyperflexible i.e. size of such organizations can change rapidly to match market opportunities. Moreover such organizations operate with series of innovations in operation and productions. They can exploit the opportunities from the change in environment like social, legal, political, technical environment etc for fresh business openings. Although they get benefit from the innovations, such advantages are often short-lived as they can be easily copied by competitors. Similarly, employees are connected with such organizations at all times through information communication technologies so that they can make the optimum mobilization of their resources. Unlike to the other forms of organizations, the key assets of

hypermodern organization are reputation, brand name and business models. With such opinions, the authors strengthen their arguments of hypermodern organization which almost wholly determined by its relationship to excessive speed at which it operates in relation to its environment. The case study of Enron form establishment, accelerated development to dramatic disappearance, explored in the paper, also play an important role to enhance the arguments. So, these facts the authors presented and opinion they expressed are important to support their issues and arguments. They provide enough distinct characteristics of hypermodern organization then that of other forms of organizations which were previously identified by the theory of organizational change management. To address the questions and issues raised in the paper, authors first review the three forms of organizations as per organizational change management literature. The paper clearly states each form of organizations with characteristics and present the time period of change from one form to other. Then the paper introduces new form of organization as hypermodern organization and elaborated the distinct characteristics. To show the importance of hypermodern organizations in the field of organization change management theory, accelerated appearance of Enron and its disappearance in the speed of light is analyzed as an example to prove the nature of hypermodern organizations. The circumstances of the establishment of Enron, how it s management and employees were prepared to cope with the change in external environment, the speed of change inside Enron with respect to the change in external environment is merely focused in the paper to justify the hypermodernity of organization. So, the distinct characters of hypermodern organizations and the consequences of Enron presented as case study, addressed the issued raised in the paper effectively. Moreover, by focusing on the significance characteristics of accelerated hypermodern organization, the authors have addressed an important omission in the debates surrounding the management of organizational change. The authors in the paper introduced a new form of organization as hypermodern organization which makes a contribution to add a dimension in the literature of organizational change management. The paper introduces a new conception of organization and organizational change. Different characteristics for the hypermodern organization have been explored and it is suggested that one of the result of hypermodern organization is the accelerated appearance and disappearance of business organizations. So, this concept paper will also be important for managers who are practically involving in managing the organization. They can judge themselves whether the change they are implementing inside their organizations tend toward hypermodernity. The paper will equip manager with the knowledge which provides them capacity to recognize accelerated organizational change. Hence managers would have an

opportunity to consider the future sustainability of their organization and strategies for its survival before collapse becomes an inevitable outcome. However the concept paper is silent to which extent the accelerated change inside an organization is beneficial and it does not suggest the turning point in the speedy change management so that organizations could be saved from the dramatic disappearance like Enron. The conclusion drawn by authors in the paper is that contemporary environment is stimulating the development of hypermodern organizations. Even though there are real short term benefits from the acceleration of organization s performance, permanent acceleration is not sustainable. So, the authors suggest that the organization to diversify organizations activities between modern, postmodern and hypermodern forms. Moreover, management could also organize temporary hypermodern projects rather than taking the whole organization to hypermodern characteristics. These conclusions drawn in the paper has made change in the concept of disregarding the significance and impact of hypermodern organization in the existing approaches to organization and organizational change management literature. Similarly, the conclusion also states that the disappearance of Enron in 2001 was in part an inevitable outcome of its hypermodern characteristics. Moreover the suggestions provided in the paper are important for managers of organizations to get benefit from the hypermodern characteristics and to save the organization form dramatic disappearance. The paper introduces a new conception of organization and organizational change. It also explored the accelerated appearance and disappearance of Enron and tries to justify the concept. However other researches also point various reasons behind the dramatic end of Enron. Now almost one decade has been passed after Enron and we face severe financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. During the period, we saw the elimination of large business tycoons like Lehman Brothers from the scenario. More than that, in our region also, rapidly growing large institution, Syatam Computers had been bailed out in India. Similarly, in Nepal, the characteristics of Unity Life Assurance can also be studied as one of the hypermodern organizations. So, there is urgency for the further conceptual and empirical research to elaborate the concept of hypermodern organizations.