CHANGE AND ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

As you prepare to embark on a journey of change, it would be well to reflect on the implication of several vital concepts:

• Change is closely related to development with both concepts having to do with raising the purpose, state, and capability of a person, organization, or thing to a higher and more useful level.

• Development implies that possibility for change exists within the reality of a given situation and within the capacity of a person, organization, or thing to become something better than they presently are.

• Non-living things (products and technology) are developed only in response to external forces.

• Living things, other than human, develop through a process of evolution which is quite accidental and has a very low probability of a successful outcome on an individual scale.

• Human systems, (individuals and organizations) require development in order to achieve their potential and as a condition for survival in a changing environment.

• Development must proceed in response to intentional design or its products will be the result of accident vs. purpose and not sustainable.

• In order to produce desirable and sustainable outcomes, developmental efforts must be led from within the person or organization being developed, in order to tap the primary source of will and energy for the process. When external sources attempt to impose development on human systems the result is invariably unsatisfactory and often leads to an end-state worse than initial state. This does not surprise people who understand the true nature of development.

• Many things in a process of change and development require capable managing. The overall effort however must be led. Attempts to manage change in individuals and organizations reduce them to the status of things, and will cause them to misunderstand, resist, and/or be indifferent to the process.