> My experience is that incremental and step change can be synergistic, but
> their ability to be so is dependent on how they are used. Attempts at
> incremental change are great little experiments, but you have to make a
> determined effort to learn from them.
and
> Through the experiments of incremental change, one can understand the
> outlines of the constraints in the current business model. Once you reach
> a point of sufficient understanding, then it is time for a step change.
> As Drucker said, any step change before this is unlkely to yield the
> needed gains.
Dear organlearners,
Rol. If I have to argue with you, it is only to insist that you have put
it too soft "that incremental and step change can be synergistic"!
More and more people are becoming interested in the topic Chaos- Order.
For many centuries the search for order was taken for granted. Only the
past 25 years the realisation grew that order does not happen on
indefinitely on its own, but that it is born out of chaos. Yet few try to
understand how what the chaos refer to and how it arises. Even less are
interested in what gives rise to chaos.
I think it is almost impossible to understand the topic Chaos- Order
without incorporating the quantity "entropy". The quantity entropy is
closely related to the quantity energy. Whenever energy has to be
transformed from one form to another form, this transformation is driven
by the quantity entropy and in a very well defined manner: entropy has to
be created (poduced) whereas energy cannot be created or destroyed.
The incremental change which you refer to, is when the time rate of the
production of entropy is constant. This happens, for example, when we are
driving in a car at constant speed by keeping the accelerator peddle
pressed in at a constant level. The step change which you refer to, is
when the time rate of the entropy production increases. In the example of
the car it happens all the way when the car is increasing its speed. With
a four cylinder engine on a road which we travel almost every day, the
acceleration might be nothing to get excited about (except for the novice
driver). However, with a turbo charged V12 engine it may become a
frightening experience on the very same road (except for the formula 1
driver).
Although the car is a good example to illustrate experiencing the
difference between constant and increasing entropy production, it is not a
good example to illustrate the source of entropy production and its
consequences. The simple reason is that we think too little about the car
when driving it. For example, we buy the fuel at some gas station and have
no second thoughts on how it came about. The fuel molecules have a
chemical structure, produced through the chemical emergences AND
digestions in plants over many millions of years. Every emergence (like
when a flower is pollinated or a seedling germinates) is the result of a
step change in entropy production. Every digestion (like when the
pollinated gamete matures into fruit or the seedling matures into a tree)
is the result of an incremental change in entropy production. Both
emergence and digestion are needed to secure a sufficient amount of fuel
molecules.
Furthermore, we seldomly open the bonnet to feel the heat (chaos)
generated by the entropy production. We know that the car has a radiator
and an exhaust, but we care little why they are there, so long as we are
able TO ORDER ourselves along a prescribed route. The hidden fact is that
the entropy production in a car's engine manifest itself as chaos of
becoming. The radiator and exhaust are there to get rid of this created
chaos so that a new order can follow!
How does the new order follow. We use the car emergently (step- wise) to
visit new gratifying places or to make new business contacts. We never use
the car simply to burn up the fuel so that we can visit the gas station
again. This what I mean by the asymetrical-transitive rather than
symmetrical-reflexisive nature of any emergence. We also use the car
digestively (increment-wise) to visit again the known gratifying places or
business contacts to let our structures (relationships) grow in strength
until they become mature. What happens then?
It is then time for yet another new order to emerge and then to mature.
>From our strong, mature structures, we derive the forces to create even
more entropy. For example, the gratifying places or business setups may
cause us to feel that our political organisation is not good enough. Our
politicians allow gratifying places or business setups to become impaired.
So we begin to create entropy, manifested as chaos, on the political scene
by writing letters and making phone calls. We endeavour to make our voice
known for ecological and social policies, seemingly driving the
politicains nuts with the ckaos of it all. Eventually these policies
emerge and ........ the spiral changes as previously.
We have to name in these two phases (step change or incremental change) in
such a manner that our dialogue make sense to the widest possible
collection of participants. Thus I prefer to call the "step change" phase
the 'revolutionary phase' of creativity. We may also refer to it as the
'aha phase' of creativity. I call the "incremental change" phase the
'evolutionary phase' of creativity. We may also refer to its as the 'hmm
phase' of creativity. We should never forget that the dynamics of these
two phases are vastly different.
Finally, consider the tenet 'to learn is to create', meaning that learning
is a subset of creating (in my mind its most important subset). This means
that we should be able to recognise the revolutionary and evolutionary
phases in learning. In fact, if somebody gains a completely new insight in
this contribution of mine, it is nothing else than revolutionary (aha)
learning. Furthermore, if somebody already has some insight like you Rol
has, but now also gains understanding in the detail of this insight, it is
nothing else than evolutionary (hmm) learning.
Best wishes
-- -
At de Lange
Gold Fields Computer Centre for Education
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South Africa
email: amdelange@gold.up.ac.za
--"Mnr AM de Lange" <AMDELANGE@gold.up.ac.za>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>