Skip to main content

Why Whole System Interventions? What Whole System Interventions?

We are in a world economy where we need to create change almost instanta­neously. The changes at a geopolitical scale have prevented even successful organizations from taking their success for granted. These changes have also forced organizations to reassess how they function, right from organization structure and design to the way customers and employees are engaged.

Consultants(internal and external) have been consistently challenged to assist organizations to manage in this turbulent and changing landscape. Equipped with methods like survey feedback, interviews, and team organizing initiatives consultants have experienced a fair share of success. But with the pace of change stepping on the accelerator leading to shortening of duration between each version of the industrial revolutions themselves, an evolution of the approach used to assist organization is requisite.

Whole System Interventions allow the whole system(different stakeholders) to get into a place at one time and take action towards improving the organization. According to Weisbord and Janoff(1995), everyone needs to be included due to the impact the change has on them and their part in executing the change. It is more holistic, enables collaboration and allows reflection at a systemic level. Whole System Interventions. Due to the inherent benefits of this approach organizations tend to develop the capability to change fast enough to keep up with the pace of change in the outside world and face the complexity inside the organization.

Whole System Interventions is an approach. While there are some common assumptions form the conceptual foundation for large group interven­tions, methods of intervening are multiple. Some of the well-researched methods with proven success are as follows
  1. Future Search
  2. Search Conference
  3. Open Space
  4. Large Scale Interactive Process
  5. Simu-Real
In the next post, each of these methods will be described in brief by exploring the process, their fundamental assumptions and the role of a consultant.


Reference Article: Michael R. Manning Ghazi Faisal Binzagr, (1996), "METHODS, VALUES, AND ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS INTENDED TO CHANGE WHOLE SYSTEMS", The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 4 Iss 3 pp. 268 - 284

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb028852 


Comments

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