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Ain't Broke? Don't Fix Break it! |
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The new paradigm characterized by rapid change. Edgar Mitchell tells us "[f]or the first time ever the period of doubling of all human activity has been reduced to less than a human generation." Tom Peters tells us that "...[t]he world has not just ‘turned upside down’. It is turning in every which way at an accelerating pace." Products have shorter life spans, consumer tastes and needs change more frequently, populations increase. Kriegel and Patel explain, "[t]he one thing we can count on as we approach the twenty-first century is the certainty that rip-roaring change will challenge our understanding and shake up the basic foundations of the world around us...workstyles, economic conditions, technology, corporate structures, global communications, lifestyles, environmental responsibilities - everything is changing at a dizzying rate."
Yet we fear change. The status quo is "safe". Members of an organization may display territorial, risk-adverse behaviors based on socialized fear when organizations introduce change initiatives. Leaders must learn how to soothe these fears and help organizations embrace change as a positive opportunity instead of a negative event. |
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Change and the new paradigm These two books and one short article will provide an overview of what, how, and why we are experienced an accelerated rate of change. Alvin Toffler, POWERSHIFT, Bantam Books (1990). Edgar Mitchell, As the Paradigm Shifts: Two Decades of Consciousness Research, NOETIC SCIENCES REVIEW (Winter 1992) at 7. Peter F. Drucker, THE NEW REALITIES, Harper & Row (1989). |
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John K. Kennedy, Strategic employee surveys can support change efforts, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct./Nov. 1994) at 18.
Using an employee survey as a catalyst for change.
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Living with Constant Change/ Harnessing the Power of Chaos Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patel, IF IT AIN’T BROKE...BREAK IT!, Warner Books (1991). Messing with success, changing the game, turning sacred cows into burgers...Kriegel and Patel reveal valuable strategies for maximizing responses to change. Stanley M. Davis, FUTURE PERFECT, Addison-Wesley (1987). Davis tells us why industrially modeled organizations should not be running post industrial businesses. Daryl R. Conner, MANAGING AT THE SPEED OF CHANGE, Villard Books (1993). Conner’s solution to Toffler’s futureshock - stress caused by too many transitions happening too quickly - is to increase resilience in yourself and those you manage. Peter Senge, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE, Bantam/Doubleday/Currency (1990) Senge explains how organizational change is resisted through balancing loops, resistance to "soft" ideas, cynicism, fear of loss of status quo, and fear of disorder. He suggests that identifying the source of resistance can help overcome conflict. Tom Peters, LIBERATION MANAGEMENT: NECESSARY DISORGANIZATION FOR THE NANOSECOND NINETIES, Knopf (1992). Peters tells us to "[b]e prepared to continually change. In today’s marketplace, the average company may need to completely reconfigure itself every two to three years." (reviewed by W. Kay, A Third Way). Tom Peters, THRIVING ON CHAOS: HANDBOOK FOR A MANAGEMENT REVOLUTION, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1987) at 55-56. Find out why Tom Peters dedicated himself to exploring what it means for an organization to succeed by loving change. Thomas Crum. THE MAGIC OF CONFLICT: TURNING A LIFE OF WORK INTO A WORK OF ART, Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (1987). How to turn conflict into opportunity through the principle centered approach of Aiki. A stress reduction strategy based on akido, the Japanese martial art and mind-body discipline, Aiki is a useful technique for turning stress into constructive energy. Peter B. Vaill, LEARNING AS A WAY OF BEING: STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL IN A WORLD OF PERMANENT WHITE WATER, Jossey-Bass Publishers (1996). Vaill counsels that the secret to harnessing the power of unpredictability is to change our subjective reactions to its objective force. Learning is a tool we can use to adapt to our changing environment. Daniel R. Tobin, Reeducating the Corporation, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (August 1994) at 11. Overcoming functional myopia. Jack Miller, Argue With Success, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (Sept. 1994) at 14. Success is not an end in and of itself. Robert E. Staub, Trust: Taproot of Innovation, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (Nov. 1994) at 20. The role of trust in innovation. Kyle Dover and Joan Kofodimos, We’re being empowered but fear is still our workmate, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Dec. 1994) at 12. How to handle lingering organizational fear-eliminate a mastery orientation that insists on status, control, distance and work-personal life imbalances- in the midst of organizational change Janet Cegelka, Yes, people will really have to change, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1994) at 72. Cegelka explores the psychological effects of change; overcoming resistance to change; intrinsic motivation. Good reference list. Michael Beer, Russel A. Eisenstat and Bert Spector, Why Change Programs Don’t Produce Change, HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW (Nov/Dec. 1990) at 158. This article addresses the reasons why some change programs fail and how to avoid making these mistakes. Discusses the fallacy of programmatic change, sets forth six steps for effective change based on bottom-level informal efforts to solve business problems, and the role of top management. Psychology Today editors, Tom Peters and the Healthy Corporation, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, (March/April 1993) at 56. A revealing interview with Tom Peters focusing on the need to break up hierarchical structures. Stephen R. Covey, The Strange Attractor, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (August 1994) at 5. Finding the common mission admist seeming chaos. Peter Kline & Bernard Saunders, TEN STEPS TO A LEARNING ORGANIZATION, Great Ocean Publishers (1993). On the advantage of chaos. Dan Stamp, Socratic Strategy, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (August 1994) at 19. Chaos and socratic strategy: learning managed tension. Donald J. Wheeler, UNDERSTANDING VARIATION: THE KEY TO MANAGING CHAOS, Statistical Process Controls, Inc. (year?). Also Understanding Variation Instructor’s Kit available from SPC Press, Inc. (800) 545-8602. (See JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION, June 1995). Not available for review |