Large Systems Change

How to create a corporate identity to which people like to subscribe

There are a couple of well-known reasons why initiatives to change a large system often fail to produce all intended results. You will find that, for example, whenever customer orientation is to be introduced into public service, or two mega-companies are to be merged. The causes might be lack of management commitment, lack of sufficient resources, and others that apply for all kind of large projects. However, there are root causes that are a consequence of the features of systems that are often not considered in change projects.

What are the main characteristics of systems? They have rich interconnections, redundancy, and frequent constructive feedback. Think of the nervous system as a model - through these features the system maintains its integrity, even if parts of the system are lost (no single point of failure). It is a matter of self-protection. Haven't you ever wondered that the human body maintains its shape although cells are constantly replaced? Now try to transfer this example to a large organization. How can those exist and maintain shape, although there is a constant exchange of personal? Another obvious example is the architecture of the Internet.

On the other side, systems are always at the edge of chaos, in which emerging phenomena can suddenly cause the system to change its direction or to collapse. Remember the fall of the Berlin wall. The East German system was quite destabilized through the high number of people who fled the country through Hungary and Czechoslovakia over the summer of 1989. But it was a small incidence in a press conference, which caused the system to collapse. A party official announced that in future, East Germans will be entitled to receive exit visa for travelling to the West. This was cabled to all major news agencies and suddenly everybody knew: "The wall is open." Consequently, tens of thousands flooded the borders to the West on November 9, 1989, and the border police lost control. After that night, the East German system was not able to return to normality and within 11 months, East and West Germany were united.

How can we deal with these features of systems? As a consequence for change projects, we have to create critical mass of people who want to change and want to change in the same direction. And all of that simultaneously, because otherwise the self-protecting mechanisms of the system will cut back any initiative to change - like the autoimmune system of the body.

Over the last 20 years, a couple of new methodologies have been developed, to help large systems to change. They rely on the self-organization of the system and attempt to create common ground among stakeholders. Among the various techniques, these are the most frequently applied:


Open Space Technology:
I don't know any other tool which creates such an excitement among participants. Open Space, developed by Harrison Owen, can be applied for groups from 5 to 2000 (or more? we don't know yet). Of all methods, it has the highest the degree of self-organization among participants. Learn more about this technique in our text.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI):
AI seems to be the tool of the 21st century. It is increasingly applied in a variety of change initiatives. Bernard Mohr and Jane Watkins have called it, "Change at the Speed of Imagination". Developed by David Cooperrider, it concentrates on what gives life to an organization. Instead of presenting a general introduction to AI, our text is a concrete fapplication of AI to the field for monitoring purposes."

Future Search Conferences:
Future Search is a fantastic tool, if you have a diverse group of stakeholders, and you want a joined vision as well as concrete action. It is largely self-organized and you cannot predict the outcome (like in all other large stakeholder approaches).

The World Café:
The World Café is a methodology developed by David Isaacs and Juanita Brown to create meaningful dialogue in large groups.

The Change Handbook:
Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady, in their fabulous Change Handbook, have described exactly 61 methods to facilitate Large Systems Change, 57 more than what we have described above. With the permission of the authors, we are opening this treasure chest for the vistors of the Change Management Toolbook. Please have a look at the wealth of methods and find out what you would like to explore deeper.