A New Approach to Change

Abstract

If change is what we have to get used to, we had better look for a new way of building and managing our organisations. Many of our organisations are like tin sheds in the face of a hurricane. As soon as the wind blows they fall apart, they cease to function. Although much has changed, and is still changing, there is one thing we stubbornly refuse to change — the way we manage. We might take on fads such as TQM, business process reengineering (BPR) and the rest, but they have had little impact on the fundamental processes by which we manage organisations. The dynamic organisation however focuses on a different set of management processes. This chapter begins by looking at how most organisations are managed and then suggests a different approach to the process of management; one that focuses on building change into the organisation.

If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.

(Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking Glass)