From: Richard Karash <rkarash@world.std.com>
One of my recently certified instructors for our Systems Thinking course
asked me, "I've been thinking about reinforcing and balancing processes
in the human body and in nature. I can find lots of balancing processes.
"I can think of a few reinforcing processes in the body -- spreading an
epidemic for one -- but the only examples I can think of represent
sickness and disease."
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Reply
Another equivalent to re-inforcing and balancing processes is positive and
negative feedback in enginnering. Positive feedback systems are out of
control, while negative feedback systems are in control, or are balanced.
I have always been concerned about the rhetoric of organisational change -
it has concentrated on overcoming resistance to change, and gives very
little attention to understanding whether any of the resistance is valid.
Perhaps the people resisting change have a contribution to make to improve
the change strategy. Perhaps they should be listened to rather than
overcome.
Mintzberg writes about the limitations of strategies that are precrafted
and then just implemented. There must be an interaction between the
development of strategy and the implementation, and this must involve
those who see problems with the strategy.
[Mintzberg, H., The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning, Harvard Business
Review, Jan-Feb 94 pp107-114]
So organisation change managers must listen to their negative feedback.
Gray Southon
gsouthon@ozemail.com.au