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Whole-Scale Change

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Whole-Scale Change

Unleashing The Magic In Organizations

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Whether you’re changing your existing organization or merging it with another, sooner or later you’ll have to manage your company’s multiple realities.

Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

If ever there was a book that sounded like it was written by a bunch of consultants it’s this one. And - surprise - a look at the cover reveals that the author is none other than Dannemiller Tyson Associates, with about 15 people connected with the firm credited as contributors. With origins like these, it’s no wonder that the book is chock full of phrases like, "If you facilitate a paradigm shift among enough microcosms, the entire organization will share the experience." But don’t let the lame language scare you off. If you want to learn change management strategies, sooner or later you’re going to have to pick up consultant-ese. Once you do, you’ll be intrigued by the concepts set down in this book about whole-scale change and the use of microcosms in bringing about organizational change. In fact, getAbstract strongly recommends this book for its innovative ideas, in spite of its tortured prose.

Summary

Thinking Whole

Today, companies have an overwhelming need to depart from 20th century organizational models. Already, major corporations have successfully used large group interventions to change their strategic focus. Today, leaders need to go deeper. Now, you should address your organization’s day-to-day process issues and organizational design problems. The challenge is to get people to "think whole," despite their tendency to get caught up in balkanized interests and perspectives. You can build a common database to help your company bring about significant change, and you can do it without gathering everyone in the same place at the same time. Using whole-scale processes, you can motivate people quickly toward a common strategic focus.

The Power of Microcosm

A microcosm is a subset that represents all of the voices of your organization. Microcosms allow you to see the whole system, rather than its parts. To borrow from biology, the microcosm contains the "DNA" of the entire organization. Your goal is to use the microcosm - the representative sample - to engage the whole system, as you study how it operates in real time. The moment where the participants...

About the Author

"Whole-Scale" is a trademark of the consulting firm of Dannemiller Tyson Associates, and as such, the book is identified as the work of the "whole" organization. Although it is not written as an anthology, individual contributors are listed: Kathie Dannemiller, Paul Tolchinsky, Roland Loup, Sylvia James, Jeff Belanger, Al Blixt, Kathy Church, Mary Eggers, Allen Gates, Leigh Hennen, Henry Johnson, Lorri Johnson, Stas Kazmierski, Ron Koller and Jim McNeil.

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