Complexity List LO28145

From: Roy Greenhalgh (rgreenh@attglobal.net)
Date: 04/03/02


Replying to LO28136 --

Ross wrote:-

> If I were to identify the key value it would be increased understanding
> of the high failure rate of most change efforts and the inability to
> control social systems with many relationships representing many
> different vested interests.

I have to agree with Ross .. more than I can say!

The company I currently work with researched ISO9000 in the 1980's and
early 90's along with the EFQM (known in the UK as the BEM) .. both
Excellence models. They found a very high .. yes almost 90 per cent
failure rate in most change initiatives.

The model they have developed demands that it be lead in an LO fashion,
i.e. management are responsible for leading, and they will lead by trying
to understand what happens within the systems they own. They will lead by
instigating small controlled changes .. with accompanying criteria for
knowing if the change is an improvement or otherwise. Simple Systems
Thinking - events, patterns and underlying causes/structures seems to work
well in the early stages. The managers learn by simple hands-on finding
out .. a bit like kids and construction toys. (Actually .. a LOT like
kids and construction toys). And they will entrust staff to continue doing
the same thing.

Those who take up the challenge get good results: those who don't add to
the failure list.

Secondly, I would ask Ross for a basic primer into complexity. I have
usually got lost in the detail of most books I have tackled.

Roy Greenhalgh

"Wirth, Ross" wrote:

> I have been studying complexity theory for the last couple of years and
> the more I learn, the more I see its application in organizational change.
> For me this has been a slow paradigm shift as I have come to see my
> assumptions challenged in how organizational change can be accomplished
> (or not as is most often the case). If I were to identify the key value
> it would be increased understanding of the high failure rate of most
> change efforts and the inability to control social systems with many
> relationships representing many different vested interests. Many of these
> problems are jokingly referred to by "the law of unintended consequences,"
> where one problem is pushed down, only to have another problem pop up
> elsewhere as the result of the earlier action. Another area where my eyes
> have been opened is the concept of influencing change versus trying to
> control change. To me, organizational learning is a key tool in
> influencing change.

-- 

Roy Greenhalgh <rgreenh@attglobal.net>

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