When we talk about organizational change, we are referring to many different kinds of changes that occur at many levels. Changes can occur at the individual level when people learn new skills or develop new ways of working through mentoring, coaching, or education and training. Changes can occur at the group or team level as teams develop new ways of working with one another, define their goals and objectives, and learn ways of addressing conflict.

Changes occur at the organizational level through the development of new strategies and processes, visions for a new desired future, and major system practices that affect all organizational members. Practitioners and scholars have noticed that organizational changes differ on a number of dimensions.
Changes vary in several ways:

Planning. Organizational change can be planned, often due to environmental factors, strategic or market needs, or other influences. Changes can also be unplanned, perhaps in response to an immediate threat or crisis. Magnitude. OD literature differentiates between first-order, incremental modifications that make sense within an established framework, and second-order change that is transformational modifications in the frameworks themselves.

Implementation of a computer system that simply automates existing work practices is an example of first-order change. First-order change reflects an evolution of existing definitions rather than a revolution or redefinition. Continuous change, on the other hand, reflects the idea that the organization is never truly out of a state of change, and that even in minute ways, change is always occurring.