Various definitions around the web- qualitative change, marked change, radical change, change from one state to another.
As with any word that gets overused, transformation in the context of organizational change has been watered down. Organizational Transformation is often languaging to give importance to a technology, to rally resources, to give projects that have….transformed (good use of the word) into programs the significance they need to move forward etc.
The term is not going away and when change really is transformational in culture, structure, process or behavior (or all of the above which truly is transformational) it is nice to have the power of language as a tool.
The reasoning, I think, for the overuse is to make things important. The more important ,the more people will want to be involved and participate. Change that truly transforms actually does have better participation than the kind that overlaps something onto current status quo. And stakeholders are wise to the difference.
