Replying to LO29530 --
I like the term "evolving" organizations. I have been looking for a good
word for a long time.
I've distinguished between three types of change:
First order change is change inside the "box", i.e., change that is
consistent with existing beliefs and paradigms. An example would be a
service technician who learns to use a new tool.
Second order change is a change that requires a different belief. An
example would be a service technician who is asked to focus on taking care
of customers, who would have to change his belief about his job to be a
"customer satisfier" in order to do that. A service technician would say
taking care of customers is not my job.
Third order change is a meta-change, it is recognizing that there isn't
any correct belief about one's job, that the belief needs to change as the
demands of the environment change. It is constantly evolving as required.
An organization capable of continual third order change is a third order
organization, or a learning organization, an adaptable organization, or an
evolving organization.
What I do in my work with organizations is to get them to realize there
isn't any "the truth" about anything in business. There are only "a
truths" that work at any given time, and they must be ready and able to
create a new "a truth" as the environment requires. They must build the
ability to evolve naturally and easily into the very essence of the
organization.
Morty Lefkoe
>From: "AM de Lange" <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za>
>
> Greetings dear Jan,
>
> Just out of curiosity I decided to use Google's advance search engine
> with
> evolving organisations
> to see what Internet has on it. I got 377 hits which surprised me.
[..snip by your host...]
--"Morty Lefkoe" <morty@decisionmaker.com>
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