What is Organizational Agility: A Conversation with Chris Worley

This is the 36th video produced in the ‘Just in Case…’ mini-series sponsored by Quality and Equality. In this video we are joined by Chris Worley, the research professor of management at Pepperdine University’s business school. Prior to his current positions, he was a Professor of Strategy at the NEOMA Business School in France and Director of the Master of Science in Organization (MSOD) program at Pepperdine University. He served as past chair for the Academy of Management’s Organization Development and Change Division. Professor Worley has been a prolific writer – always putting out critical thinking to provoke the community to scale higher. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, chapters, and articles. His most recent books include Becoming Agile, The Agility Factor, Assessing Organization Agility, Management Reset, and Built to Change.

Today, Chris generously shares with us his deep insights about agility. He unpacks systemically the difference between Adapting and Adaptable, the basic idea behind agility, its characteristics, and a definition for us to share. Building on this, Chris details the fundamental framework of Agility and outlines the routines and design elements to bring agility alive in an organization. His range of examples from current organizations that are successfully agile helps to bring his teaching alive. His concluding tips about how you could design and implement some of these ideas within your organization helps us to have a glimpse how to apply them.

Articles, Books, and Resources

• Worley, C., Williams, T. & Lawler, E. (2014). The Agility Factor. Jossey-Bass.
• Worley, C., Williams, T. & Lawler, E. (2017). Creating management processes build for change. Sloan management review, 58(1), 77-82.
• Teece, D., Peteraf, M., & Leih, S. (2016). Dynamic capabilities and organizational agility: Risk, uncertainty, and strategy in the innovation economy. California management review, 58(4), 13-35.
• Sull, D. (2008). The Upside of Turbulence. Harper Business.

Biography

Chris Worley is the Research Professor of Management at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business. He is also an affiliate researchers at USC’s Center for Effective Organizations. He is a recognized leader in the field of organization development. Prior to his current positions, he was a Professor of Strategy at the NEOMA Business School in France and Director of the Master of Science in Organization (MSOD) program at Pepperdine University. He served as past chair for the Academy of Management’s Organization Development and Change Division.

Chris has authored or co-authored numerous books, chapters, and articles. His most recent books include Becoming Agile, The Agility Factor, Assessing Organization Agility, Management Reset, and Built to Change. In addition, he is series editor (with Sue Mohrman and Rami Shani) of Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness that explores the organization design implications of environmental and social sustainability. With Tom Cummings, he has co-authored seven editions of Organization Development and Change, the leading textbook in the field. His articles on strategic change and organization design have appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, the Sloan Management Review, Organizational Dynamics, and the Journal of Organization Behavior, among others. He was awarded the Larry Porter Communicating OD Knowledge Award by the ODNetwork in 2011, the Emerald Literati Network Outstanding Author Award in 2011, and the 2011 Douglas McGregor Memorial Award for the Best Paper in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. He has made presentations to scholarly and practitioner associations such as the Academy of Management, OD Network, Organization Design Forum (US and Europe), and the Conference Boards of the U.S. and Canada.

Chris’s applied research and consulting practice is complemented by more than fifteen years of management experience in academic, for-profit, and government organizations. His consulting clients include organizations in high technology, health care, energy, financial services, fast-moving consumer goods, the public sector, and natural resources. The primary focus of his efforts in these organizations has been on the development of agile capabilities, strategy implementation, organization design, and organization development.

Chris received his Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in organization development from Pepperdine University, an M.S. in environmental psychology from Colorado State University, and a B.S. from Westminster College. He is a member of the Academy of Management, the Organization Development Network, the European Organization Design Forum, and the National Training Laboratories (NTL).

Contact
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @TheAgileOrg