Unseen Disruptions and the Emergence of New Organizations

This article develops the theoretical process of organizational speciation to explain how certain new organizations are able to emerge and subsequently disrupt the organizational ecosystem by leveraging the blind spots of existing organizations. The process of organizational speciation addresses the means by which new organizations develop, compete for resources, and survive over time. As a theory of organizational communication, organizational speciation is particularly useful for understanding how rapid disruptions emerge. Changes in a number of industries are utilized to illustrate the process of speciation. This article lays a foundation for research examining how organizations understand and respond to rapid change.