Re: Change vs. Development LO71

MALHOTRA@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Sat, 11 Feb 1995 10:47:16 -0400 (EDT)

Would agree wholeheartedly with Stever Robbins concept of change versus
development. In the same thought, "paradigm shifts" occur only when we
can look back at what has already been accomplished over time and try
to make sense of it given the reality of "now." The vision of "now"
may define whether the next phase of transition needed is "incremenntal
change" or "radical change." Furthermore, over the "incremental change"
phase, the learning curves tend to flatten and the mental models become
"congealed" while "radical change" may shake up the existing mental
models and involve a shift to newer (and faster growing) learning curves.
The concept of change is not necessarily negative, it could be negative
or positive. Would think of development as a continuous process with
change (incremental or radical) defining what the shape of "development"
is in retrospect. In any case, whether we reaffirm our existing
assumptions, or subject them to the validity of the "present," [regardless
of whether we continue on the same course, or plan to change our course],
both the processes: of change and learning are involved. Of course,
incremental changes would invovle incremental learning [and in most cases,
only a temporary shift in behavior => from a psychology perspective no
learning took place], but radical changes may involve accelerated
learning (and / or adaption) and a reorganization of the mental models.

-- Yogesh Malhotra
University of Pittsburgh
malhotra@vms.cis.pitt.edu