When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton

Within the (organizational) change literature there is a distinction between change that is episodic and change that is continuous. Even though both types of change may seem fairly identical to the unknowing observer, there are structural differences between them. When examined up close, it becomes clear that episodic change is discontinuous and intermittent, while continuous change is evolving and incremental.

Many of the concepts that will follow rely heavily on the works of Karl Weick and Robert Quinn, presented in the book "Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning (2004)." Similar to organizational development, SEO can be seen as a change process as well. What follows is a short review of each type of change and how this information can be applied to SEO projects.

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/lbpuppy/2595466344/

Episodic Change

Change made in this category is characterized by bursts of highly goal-directed changes, aimed at short term improvements. In SEO this would be actions like 'buying links from some major PR websites' because the corporate website is dropping in the SERPS. Even though this can be seen as a valid attempt to increase the rankings of this particular website, it is unlikely this solution will resolve the dropped rankings on a longer term.

As seen in the example above, episodic change is usually made from a distant perspective and triggered by a specific event (in this case the dropped rankings). After the rankings have returned to their normal (or perhaps temporarily higher) positions, the company will look away from their SEO activities until another issue arrives. The actions used to solve their imminent problems can thus be seen as discontinuous and aimed at short term solutions.

Interventions in episodic change are aimed at the resolution of problems, are created by intention, and often require outsider intervention. These interventions are largely structured in three steps:

1. Unfreeze: un-confirmation of expectations ("paid links won’t harm our rankings")
2. Transition: new standards of judgment ("companies that buy their links aren't practising bad business")
3. Refreeze: create supportive social norms ("we will not report other companies anymore that buy links")

In episodic change the SEO professional is usually the one who creates change by speaking about new systems, revolution and commitment to the new plan.

Continuous Change

In this category change is characterized by a pattern of endless modifications and social practises aimed at preventing problems from emerging. In contrast to the short term solution described above, the company might instruct some of their employees to devote some time to learning SEO. Perhaps blogging on the corporate blog can be encouraged, which might later turn out to become a key facet of the organization. In this case, the problems of the dropping rankings might not even appear because the company has pro-actively worked to prevent this from happening.

Continuous change does not require a trigger as it is initiated from within the company. There is a lot of improvisation, and learning can be seen as a key concept. Rather than enjoying the status quo of high rankings, the company will continue to encourage their employees to pursue ways of improving their rankings to ever higher regions, thus aiming at long term solutions.    

Just like episodic change, continuous change is largely structured in three steps. However, these steps are seen as re-directions of what is already underway.

1. Freeze: make sequences visible ("a successful blog creates links to our site, which create higher ranking in the SERPS")
2. Re-balance: reinterpret concepts ("linking out isn't bad for your PR")
3. Unfreeze: resume improvisation ("keep reading that SEOmoz blog, it might help us prevent future problems")

The SEO professional in continuous change is a sense maker who redirects change. He re-frames current patterns and shows how intentional change can be made at the margins. Furthermore, he encourages improvisation and learning.

Discussion

What are your professional or personal opinions on the above? Would it be wise to teach our clients "to fish and feed them for a lifetime" or should we just hand them some fish in hopes of seeing them back next month when a new problem arises?

Thetjo is getting his Masters Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University. At the same time he builds up his own company Tweepixels in Holland.