It's where your behavioral change finally begins. For example, a person who is commited to lose weight will begin exercising and changing his eating habits during this stage.
Maintenance — Two days into the action stage, you may be tempted to declare victory and think you're well on your path to success. But, if you don't consider how to maintain change over time, you may struggle with obstacles along the way.
For example, a person looking to maintain a healthy diet may need to plan ahead for the holiday season where it may be tempting to skip workouts and indulge in high calorie foods. If you are trying to get someone else to change, whether it's a family member or an employee, don't assume other people are ready for concrete behavioral change right away.
Identify what stage of change the other person is in and help them move through each stage. For example, if you want your employees to start doing something new, don't just expect them to spring into action. Instead, talk about the pros and cons of change versus the risks and benefits of staying the same if they're not yet ready to implement the change.
Show other people how change will be helpful before expecting them to behave differently. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. May 13, , pm EDT. Feb 5, , pm EST. Jan 14, , am EST. As the German quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg put it, "the world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole.
The science of complex systems offers some intriguing parallels between the natural and the social world. Just as the notion of direct causation has been found to be faulty in dynamical systems, it is now widely recognized that so-called "prime movers" such as strong leadership or economic dislocation, once largely unquestioned in sociology, are impossible to isolate from the other causal factors that prompt social change.
Social philosopher Alvin Toffler has expressed the emergent view this way: "I think more in terms of process, interrelationships, rhythms, non-equilibrium, and fields than individual causal vectors; more in terms of mutually interactive systems, than of one-way causality. As sociology has adopted a less deterministic approach, one that acknowledges the inherent interdependence and reciprocity at work in social systems, the emphasis has shifted from the causes of change to the conditions that are most conducive to change.
As sociologist Bruce F. Ryan put it, "if cause is to be sought for change, it is to be found through the analysis of the conditions and processes giving rise to the particular sequence of events.
Each of these conditions leads to the kinds of social tensions which ultimately manifest in change. By way of comparison, it's interesting to review the characteristics of social systems which are relatively stable over time. Typically these societies have been 1 small in size, 2 isolated from contact with other cultures, 3 technologically unsophisticated, 4 unable to store or transmit knowledge through writing, 5 highly respectful of tradition, and 6 bound to a shared and consistent value system.
Another condition at the root of social change is the oft-cited theory of cultural lag developed by William Fielding Ogburn in the s. He explained that when different systems within a society are out of sync with one another, different rates of change affect different social sectors in varied ways. The result is that institutions struggle to adapt to the time-pacing of other institutions. For example, in the business world innovation and renewal tend to occur very rapidly, whereas public schools and government bureaucracies typically change very slowly.
These lags in adaptation create powerful tensions in society. Alvin Toffler, who has been much influenced by Ogburn's theory, attributed the condition of "future shock" in part to this phenomenon of cultural lag. The literature on social change focuses to a large extent on the dynamics of social interaction — how groups are formed, how minorities deviate from established norms, how conflict is born and resolved, and the fluctuations in collective behavior.
A growing body of research also looks at the process of "diffusion" — the process by which innovative ideas are spread and ultimately take root in society. The trouble with much of the academic research on change is that, on its own, it's not very useful. In the words of one observer, "sociologists put primary emphasis on attempting to build a body of verified theory about social behavior, including social change, rather than themselves trying to induce change.
The practitioner, on the other hand, although likewise interested in understanding, is principally concerned with inducing change, rather than merely accounting for it. In fact, a subfield of sociology has emerged in the past few decades devoted to "planned change. In their analysis, change strategies fall into three categories: 1 rational-empirical, 2 normative- reeducative, and 3 power-coercive. The rational-empirical approach assumes that men and women are rational and practical and will change on their own given the appropriate conditions.
These strategies include:. The second category of strategies — the normative-reeducative — is predicated on the view that change begins from the bottom up, not the top down. That is to say, it focuses on changing the individuals that make up a social system. It is the preferred method of counselors, trainers, and therapists. Two strategies characteristic of this approach are to:. The power-coercive approach to effecting change is the one most commonly associated with political movements and social activism.
In the words of Chin and Benne, "these strategies are oriented against coercive and nonreciprocal influence, both on moral and on pragmatic grounds. Another taxonomy of change strategies is offered by Roland Warren, a sociologist who has devoted much attention to social change at the community level. His list of community-based change strategies include: consensus planning, bargaining, protest movements, research- demonstrations, social action, non-violence, organizations of client populations, community development, conflict, elite planning, organization of indigenous groups, and civil disobedience.
He classifies these under four headings: 1 collaborative strategies, 2 campaign strategies, 3 contest strategies, and 4 a combination of strategies. What this literature shows is that there are at bottom two modes of viewing change: the reactive and the proactive. From one perspective, individuals and groups are the objects of change. They are at the receiving end, in the sense that change happens to them.
From the other perspective, individuals and groups are the initiators of change and change follows from human volition. Both perspectives have their validity, of course, and they are closely interrelated. For instance, when one social group actively tries to bring about change, there are invariably other groups who feel put upon and try to resist the change. One field of inquiry that has taken a particularly proactive approach to the subject of change is management theory.
This is not surprising, perhaps, given the competitive pressures confronting many organizations today. In a world buffeted by change, many organizations have learned that the only way to survive is by innovating, that the only stability possible is stability in motion.
The reason, according to a Business Week study: 'failure to react and respond to change' That 'change' and 'innovation' have become the bywords of organizational management in the s is reflected in a myriad of business books with titles like Mastering Change: The Key to Business Success , Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change and The Change Masters.
As Common Cause founder John Gardner has said, 'perhaps the most distinctive thing about innovation today is that we are beginning to pursue it systematically. The large corporation does not set up a research laboratory to solve a specific problem but to engage in continuous innovation. Senge believes that the greatest challenges confronting organizations today involve fundamental cultural changes.
Addressing these challenges requires what he calls collective learning. Organizations must be able to learn in order to survive. The traditional approach to dealing with complex problems is to break them down into smaller, more easily managed problems. But this approach could be fatal to organizations, according to Senge.
When we reduce complex problems and try to isolate their various parts we "can no longer see the consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole," he writes.
When we give up this illusion, we can then build learning organizations. According to Senge, the fifth discipline — systems thinking — ties all the other disciplines together. This kind of thinking involves "a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality.
Senge notes that the really significant and enduring innovations he has observed have grown out of people from multiple constituencies working together. In education, for instance, "it's been a few committed teachers with some bright ideas, in concert with a principal who has a particular view of his or her job, in concert with a superintendent who is in line with that principal, and in concert with people in the community who are very much part of the innovation process.
They focus on how organizations learn to change, emphasizing "the sad fact The importance of systems thinking and creating a common vision also figures prominently in the organizational approach of Gary Frank, David Angus, and Bob Rehm. In what they call "future search conferences" or "visioning meetings," they bring together a diverse group of people to create a shared vision, innovation, and joint planning.
The rationale here is that meaningful, deliberate, consensual, and preferred change must involve as many people with a stake in the issue as possible. It also recognizes that any organization is a part of a larger environment. The emphasis on systems thinking is a recent development in organizational thinking and has yet to be embraced in the mainstream management literature.
The same might be said about the role of individual change, or what Senge calls "personal mastery. Is a person prepared to open up to new inputs, insights, and understandings? Is he or she prepared to be changed in the process of effecting change? From this perspective, social change has a great deal to do with individual motivation. Effective strategies for change must build on the caring and personal commitment of all the players involved.
Robert Theobald has spent the better part of three decades organizing communities for change. In his book The Rapids of Change , he notes that people often ask him whether a particular change is possible.
Once we are committed, we will find ways to be effective. As this brief survey of the literature suggests, a considerable amount of research has been done on how and why change occurs and the methods people use to consciously bring it about. But much of the literature consists of post hoc explanations and tentative theories which have a limited usefulness unless they can be translated into effective action.
The question, therefore, is what practical wisdom can be culled from the ever-expanding body of research on change. By way of conclusion, I would like to outline a number of practical strategies that may be taken to consciously effect change as well as successfully negotiate conditions of flux and uncertainty — be it in communities, organizations, or groups. This is not intended as a comprehensive step-by-step approach — after all, there can never be such a thing as a blueprint for change.
Instead, what I have tried to do here is bring together a number of key insights from the literature on change and extrapolate some of their practical applications.
Build new relationships. A crucial first step in any process of effecting change is what David Mathews calls "banding together. This can range from highly organized community town meetings to a few neighbors getting together in someone's living room to discuss their concerns.
In some cases, building new relationships may only be possible by fundamentally changing relationships that are already in place. The key is to develop a sense of group identity as well as a sense of agency. Banding together generates "a sense of the possibility for change," Mathews writes.
Discuss and deliberate. All effective change strategies hinge on discussion and deliberation. At a minimum, discussion allows the issues to be named and framed. It also helps individuals develop a shared perspective. As Robert Theobald points out, "most fundamental change activities break down because those involved in them do not take the time to gain a shared model of reality. The result is that we can't talk with each other about things that are really important.
Develop shared visions and goals. Setting new directions for the future is one of the most powerful ways of effecting change. When people come together "in such a way that their individual visions can start to interact," as Peter Senge puts it, a creative tension is established that gives focus, direction, and context to changes as they occur. Some techniques for developing common visions include futures commissions, search conferences, and visioning meetings in which participants develop "best case" scenarios and articulate common goals.
As Senge says, "we communicate our individual visions to one another and eventually start to create a field of shared meaning where there really is a deep level of trust and understanding — and we gradually begin to build a shared vision. It often involves a great deal of reflection, listening, and mutual understanding.
Foster social capital. Robert Putnam and others have used the term "social capital" to denote the networks and norms of trust and reciprocity that characterize healthy social orders. The term suggests that capital can be measured in social as well as economic terms, that relationships have an inherent value. Ensure broad participation and diversity. Fundamental change is impossible without the participation of everybody with a stake in the problem or issue.
Without the full participation of all concerned, perspectives will be missing and there is a good chance that some of the issues involved will go unaddressed. A change leader needs to constantly breathe new life into the initiative. For example, after Bossidy helped Six Sigma take root at AlliedSignal, he ensured that new generations of black belts individuals who can explain Six Sigma philosophies and principles were trained. He also recommends celebrating achievement of key implementation milestones.
Leading initiatives will never be easy. But by applying a few potent principles, you can sweeten the odds that your initiative will survive the most common hazards. But put your own stamp on it. Assembling the right team to carry out an initiative is the most difficult yet most important imperative for change leaders, Bossidy maintains. And help them find ways to reassign responsibilities.
Initiatives require people to think and act in new ways. Your message? You have 1 free article s left this month.
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