Skip to main content

Large System Interventions - my first understandings

I would like to use this post and the further threads to help us get a clarity on the Term LSI and a bit into what interventions are?


Large system intervention, why do we call it as such?

Large - The term large here refers to groups or units that are beyond the scope of an individual's understanding. When we say Large it means that it is not the capability of one person to work on the unit/entity because one person cannot grasps its magnitude,


System - we use the term system here because large units or entities interact wth their environments and also interact internally with their parts. In large entities there are two aspects that become part  of the change
1) The interaction with and balance with the external environment
2) the fit of all its internal parts
A large system intervention aims to take up two  key aspects,the organisation environment relationship and the interaction of its internal components



Interventions - Intervention means to identify the pain points that the entity is facing and looking at how to help overcome that pain point. What we should remember though about interventions though is that they need to help the organisations learn. As an interventionist our aim is to equip organisations to learn thereby helping them become their own change agents .




What is unique about large system interventions?
  • They are triggered by environmental changes
  • They nudge the organisation to make large scale changes
  • they will always be led by senior executives
  • They require the organisation to develop a learning system




Diagnostic and Dialogic Approaches to LSI
within the OD literature there is a lot of work on the Dialogic and Diagnostic approaches.
Dialogic intervention lay moe emphasis on using the entire system and its members. The consultant is part of the intervention, and the change is aimed through bringing about a change in mindsets and thoughts. 

Diagnostic on the other hand is a more rapid intervention. here the consultant is keen on working as the expert while he guides the organisation to the change. The consultant isn't an active participant and he/she will drive the change rather than guide the change.

Whether dialogic and diagnostic approaches can wrk together or not is a mater of discussion that we can take forward here




Complexity theory
Complexity theory has in recent time taken over form systems theory. it will be interesting if we can bring this to discussion in class and understand what exactly is the complexity theory and complex adaptive systems

Comments

  1. AnuAugust 12, 2019 at 6:25 AM

    Adding to the uniqueness of Large, System and Interventions as explained in the class, In case of Large: complexity increases as people cannot see the big picture and past success and habits constrains unlearning.
    In case of System: Effectiveness is not a function of one individual or department or process but, it is sum of individual characters
    In case of Intervention: It is surgical or/and Evolving, Internal or/and External, Top down or/and Bottom up or/and Horizontal, Big band or pilot, Reactive or/and Proactive

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shashank Vihari_MSVSeptember 2, 2019 at 8:48 PM

    An interesting point that came up during the discussion was if - dialogic and diagnostic follow a continuum. That idea implied dialogic OD is something that keeps happening in an organisation, but when it becomes insufficient(due it being incremental and its need to bring about a change in mindsets and thoughts) Diagnostic OD comes into play with its ability to enable rapid transformation.
    While I was reflecting on this idea post the class, I felt that is not the case. The examples of Adobe and Microsoft who moved away from the Annual Performance Cycle to Continuous Performance Cycle is an example of how dialogic OD, wherein small steps like Donna Morris(CHRO of Adobe) posting a blog with the title "Its time to radically rethink the annual performance review" which started off the mindset and perspective change within the people in the organisation. People started posting their concurrence and ideas to implement this thought. Encouraged by this within few months, a new system was launched, now called the"Check in".
    The idea that a bog could really be the start of radical transformation and that we are starting out this intervention of putting our thoughts on a blog makes me wonder where this dialogic OD intervention(of writing a blog) is going to take us.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Foundational Structures of Systemic Thinking: Reinforcing and Balancing loop

A  reinforcing loop  is one in which an activity creates an outcome that impacts business as usual activity in this manner bringing about development or decay. The reinforcing loop is one of the two basic structures of systems thinking, the other being the Balancing Loop.  Because of the manner in which this structure reinforces itself it generally produces exponential growth or decline. This exponential change may be unnoticeable for a period of time until it reaches a certain threshold. The structure then seems to change very rapidly causing one to wonder how it began all at once, when in fact it really didn't. The growth just wasn't substantial enough to be noticed. A  balancing loop  tries to move things from the current state (the way things are) to the desired state (goal or objective) through some action (whatever is done to reach the goal). A balancing loop is representative of any situation where there is a goa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reinforcing Loop in Action

A system represents a complex dynamic between its various sub-units. One of the most visible parts of a system is the reinforcing loop. The reinforcing loop is perhaps most visible because it works on an incremental basis. It is that fundamental element in a system that defines growth and increment. As defined by Senge, a system is said to be in a reinforcing loop when each small action builds on the other. This snowball effect of each action building on the previous one can either lead to a virtuous cycle or can actually lead to decline of the system. Most often reinforcing loop, perhaps because of it name, generates a perception of it being that element of the system that fosters growth, thus giving it a positive connotation. In systems thinking however, the concept is far broader. It refers to those elements or actions within the system that lead to amplification and maintenance of certain behaviours. This amplification does not necessarily mean that the behaviour that is gen...
2 comments
Read more

Open Space technology: Benefits and Barriers

Open space technology Open space technology was founded by Harrison Owen in the 1985 out of a desire to “open the space” for people to self-organize around a purpose. It is a methodology that helps meetings, conferences, community summit events of individuals and groups, focussing on a specific, important purpose or task however at the onset no formal agenda is placed. The concept therefore, thrives on ambiguity and thus is challenging. It has 5 to 2000 players and may be organised for a day to up to three days. Ideal conditions  Open Space Technology works best when four conditions are present: High level of complexity, such that no single person or small group fully understands or can solve the issue. Diversity, in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of people (from different backgrounds & experiences) required for a successful resolution. Real or potential conflict, which implies that people genuinely care about the ...
Post a Comment
Read more