Corporate Change (Complexity) LO8802

Keith Cowan (72212.51@CompuServe.COM)
01 Aug 96 13:22:52 EDT

Replying to LO8713 --

Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk> makes an insightful
contribution of stability and change.

I would add one other element and that is time. The rate of change as
perceived by human beings is a major factor. In high tech companies,
people tend to become anxious when things slow down because they have been
conditioned to a rapid pace. In larger more traditional organizations, the
rate of accepable change is considerably slower.

It strikes me that it is the mismatch between the rate and the general
expectations of the people affected that generates instability. Time lapse
photography can illustrate how many changes are really going on all the
time but we are used to them. The underlying rates of change are
accelerating. Space photos of earth show the disappearance of forests
accelerating. The growth of the ozone "hole" is documented. Olympic and
world records are being set continuously.

As related to LO, two aspects come to mind:

1) The rate of change would be higher than other places, and
2) The people need to be conditioned to accept this rate for it to
remain stable.

So would anyone else agree with this assertion that an LO would sustain a
higher rate of change? Is this a measure of an LO? It is not clear from
Senge's work to me....Keith

-- 

Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>