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Understanding Large System Intervention


To identify the symptoms through various interventions and defining the pain areas of large systems or units beyond the scope of an individual, due to environmental or internal changes, is the Large System Intervention.

But are we looking at the right system?

The way to go about it is, to discard first and foremost the solution and focus on the pain areas. Looking at the pain dispassionately helps to intervene every day at a mindset level and helps to bring about the change.

How to intervene the systems?

Diagnostic Intervention is a revolutionary approach, whose premise is that the change agent acts as catalysts, making a difference but is not a part of the system.

Dialogic Intervention is an evolutionary approach whose premise is to equip people with the capability to take decision, sensing the change, where organization is continuously learning and unlearning. The consultant here is a part of the system.

Kodak, failed because of asking wrong marketing question, the strategic frame became a blinder, it could not adapt to new marketplace and new consumer attitudes . It became resistant to change.

Kodak made a classic mistake: it didn’t ask the right question, such as, what business are we in?” and not “how do we sell more products?” It focused on selling more products, instead of the business that it was in, storytelling.

 For both of the cases a diagnostic model would be rightfully used, to navigate the patterns in complexity rather as your confirmation bias.

What are the conditions to change the organisation?

  • DVF change formula

Dissatisfaction x Vision x First action > Resistance to change and how it plays out in different scenario.

As rightfully explained by 009, this also helps us to understand organization in two scenarios

  • How Transformation can happen in a successful organisation?
  • How transformation can happen in a stable organisation?


The key message of the formula, the condition , that when met, will move an individual, group, or a whole system. That is, everyone from the CEO down to the shop floor people, need to be aligned with each variable of DVF, else the model won’t work .For example. If the bottom-up problems are not acknowledged by the top leaders, it’s not a true D.

To paraphrase Ackoff (1981), a pioneer in the field of Systems Thinking, everyone’s world view is horribly distorted by being their own. People are quite often in touch with their perceptions while understanding or caring bare minimum about anyone else’s. An excellent implementation of the change formula means being inquisitive to others contribution towards collective understanding of each of the variable as well as advocating for the value you add from your point of view.

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