"Organizational" resistance to chg LO717

Stuart A. Umpleby (umpleby@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu)
Sat, 8 Apr 1995 23:41:47 -0400 (EDT)

The discussion of resistance to change, as I read it, focuses on
resistance in individuals or perceptions of resistance in consultants.
Another interpretation would be to look at how _organizations_ resist
change. That is, large successful organizations tend to become
complacent. How can a manager, or consultant, create a shared perception
of the need for change? So far no one has mentioned in this context
Ackoff's book _Creating the Corporate Future_. (I mentioned it in a
different context.) Ackoff defines a multi-step process for strategic
planning:

1. Define the mess; 2. ends planning; 3. means
planning; 4. Resource planning; 5. implementation and control.

By a "mess" he means an interrelated set of problems. The idea is that
the future is contained in the present. If any organization continues
doing what it is doing long enough, it will sooner or later "drop off a
cliff." The task is to learn what the cliff is. Then, when everyone (or
most people) in the organization is convinced that the organization cannot
continue as it is, engage in planning to redesign the organization so as
to avoid that cliff. Of course the organization will drop off some other
cliff farther out in the future. So the exercise is repeated at suitable
intervals.
This is essentially a bit of psychological judo to convince people
that change in needed. Does this "dissolve" the problem of resistance to
change? (Ackoff claims that some problems need not be solved; they can be
dissolved.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
S.A. Umpleby, Dept. of Mgt. Science, GWU, Wash. DC 20052 USA
tel: 202/994-7530, fax: 202/994-4930, e-mail: umpleby@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
URL: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~umpleby