The Unshackled Organization: Facing the Challenge of Unpredictability Through Spontaneous Reorganization

Rating:
Summary: ...Or, How to REALLY Bring About Organizational Change...
Review: Jeff Goldstein's 1994 book "The Unshackled Organization," is considered one of the "must reads" by complexity folk who are in the organizational development business, and it is easy to see why. Little new has been said about the actual practice of facilitating organizational change and development since Kurt Lewin's work in the 1940's, save for perhaps Chris Argryis' and Peter Senge's works. Goldstein's prescriptions for facilitating change tap into the energy of the organizational system itself, and it's natural transformational qualities, leading to self-organization.

Goldstein is a business professor at Adelphi University, and serves on the editorial boards of Emergence and Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Science. Goldstein has been at the forefront of applications of chaos and complexity in business and management for 15 years. He was one of the founding members of the Chaos Network, the first formal professional society to devote itself to these ends, and was one of first presidents of the academic group Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences. Goldstein's current work is focused on the history of the concept of emergence, and its implications.

Goldstein states, "this book presents a practical approach to organizational change derived from state-of-the-art scientific research on how systems change". The book is "practical" in that while it does draw heavily from complexity theory, it does so in a user-friendly yet scientifically valid way. Each chapter introduces the theory behind the concept, and then discusses specific approaches and activities that the leader or facilitator could use to implement the concept; the chapter also has numerous short stories to make application of the concepts clear, and cartoons by Hannah Bonner that ground the concepts in everyday life.

Goldstein's work theoretically draws most heavily from Prigogine's concepts of self-organization, and Maturana and Varela's concept of autopoiesis. He describes the characteristics of self-organization as "radical reorganization of the structure of a system; the spontaneous emergence of novel patterns and configurations; the amplification and incorporation of random events; the discovery of creative alternatives for functioning; and the arising of new coherence and coordination amongst the parts of the system". Self-organization is induced by pushing the system to a state far-from-equilibrium; at such a state, the system can be nudged into a different mode (attractor pattern) of behavior by small, random fluctuations from the environment. The environment does not change the system, and the system does not unilaterally change the environment; rather, the environment triggers internal mechanisms that are the source for transformation.

Goldstein demonstrates how self-fulfilling prophecies are commonplace in today's organizations, and how such expectations act as equilibrium enhancers--barriers to change. Goldstein then makes explicit the different ways in which leaders and facilitators can bring about far-from-equilbrium conditions: work with organizational boundaries, connect systems to their environment, difference questioning, purpose contrasting, breaking self-fulfilling prophecies, challenge assumptions, represent the system nonverbally, take advantage of chance and serendipity, and use absurdity.

Let me momentarily step out of the typical role of a book reviewer to give some further credence to Goldstein's contributions. Having been basically mentored into this subject area by Goldstein, I have had the opportunity to "practice" what is being preached here. I have had dozens of opportunities over the past decade to facilitate organizational change efforts, and the list above has quite literally emerged as my strategic game plan. Every one of my successes in facilitating change can be traced to the application of one of these concepts.

Especially noteworthy is Goldstein's method of "difference questioning", which draws from a tradition in family systems therapy. Difference questioning seeks non-concensus by highlighting where differences exist in group attitude and perception; it seeks to "generate differences that make a difference." Difference questioning, in the hands of a skillful facilitator, can be an enormously effective tool for instigating far-from-equilibrium conditions. As an example, I reflect upon one situation where I was facilitating a quality improvement team and we were in our very first session. I asked the group to verbalize what "project success" meant for them--what were the end conditions that would be achieved if we were to be successful in our efforts. Everyone went around and chimed in what might be considered a "standard" response. I noted however slight discrepencies between two members responses. Intuiting that such a difference might make a real difference, I "exploded" the viewpoints of the two to a point where a heated discussion ensued about why the team was put together in the first place. After a tumultuous two hours, the group was in concensus about their mission and purpose and what it meant to "succeed".

In summary, I can only give this book my highest recommendation, as it has very personally and positively affected the way I practice organizational development. Equally important as a scholar, it has showed me the way in which we can transform the physical science of complexity into social science and practice.

Rating:
Summary: ...Or, How to REALLY Bring About Organizational Change...
Review: Jeff Goldstein's 1994 book "The Unshackled Organization," is considered one of the "must reads" by complexity folk who are in the organizational development business, and it is easy to see why. Little new has been said about the actual practice of facilitating organizational change and development since Kurt Lewin's work in the 1940's, save for perhaps Chris Argryis' and Peter Senge's works. Goldstein's prescriptions for facilitating change tap into the energy of the organizational system itself, and it's natural transformational qualities, leading to self-organization.

Goldstein is a business professor at Adelphi University, and serves on the editorial boards of Emergence and Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Science. Goldstein has been at the forefront of applications of chaos and complexity in business and management for 15 years. He was one of the founding members of the Chaos Network, the first formal professional society to devote itself to these ends, and was one of first presidents of the academic group Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences. Goldstein's current work is focused on the history of the concept of emergence, and its implications.

Goldstein states, "this book presents a practical approach to organizational change derived from state-of-the-art scientific research on how systems change". The book is "practical" in that while it does draw heavily from complexity theory, it does so in a user-friendly yet scientifically valid way. Each chapter introduces the theory behind the concept, and then discusses specific approaches and activities that the leader or facilitator could use to implement the concept; the chapter also has numerous short stories to make application of the concepts clear, and cartoons by Hannah Bonner that ground the concepts in everyday life.

Goldstein's work theoretically draws most heavily from Prigogine's concepts of self-organization, and Maturana and Varela's concept of autopoiesis. He describes the characteristics of self-organization as "radical reorganization of the structure of a system; the spontaneous emergence of novel patterns and configurations; the amplification and incorporation of random events; the discovery of creative alternatives for functioning; and the arising of new coherence and coordination amongst the parts of the system". Self-organization is induced by pushing the system to a state far-from-equilibrium; at such a state, the system can be nudged into a different mode (attractor pattern) of behavior by small, random fluctuations from the environment. The environment does not change the system, and the system does not unilaterally change the environment; rather, the environment triggers internal mechanisms that are the source for transformation.

Goldstein demonstrates how self-fulfilling prophecies are commonplace in today's organizations, and how such expectations act as equilibrium enhancers--barriers to change. Goldstein then makes explicit the different ways in which leaders and facilitators can bring about far-from-equilbrium conditions: work with organizational boundaries, connect systems to their environment, difference questioning, purpose contrasting, breaking self-fulfilling prophecies, challenge assumptions, represent the system nonverbally, take advantage of chance and serendipity, and use absurdity.

Let me momentarily step out of the typical role of a book reviewer to give some further credence to Goldstein's contributions. Having been basically mentored into this subject area by Goldstein, I have had the opportunity to "practice" what is being preached here. I have had dozens of opportunities over the past decade to facilitate organizational change efforts, and the list above has quite literally emerged as my strategic game plan. Every one of my successes in facilitating change can be traced to the application of one of these concepts.

Especially noteworthy is Goldstein's method of "difference questioning", which draws from a tradition in family systems therapy. Difference questioning seeks non-concensus by highlighting where differences exist in group attitude and perception; it seeks to "generate differences that make a difference." Difference questioning, in the hands of a skillful facilitator, can be an enormously effective tool for instigating far-from-equilibrium conditions. As an example, I reflect upon one situation where I was facilitating a quality improvement team and we were in our very first session. I asked the group to verbalize what "project success" meant for them--what were the end conditions that would be achieved if we were to be successful in our efforts. Everyone went around and chimed in what might be considered a "standard" response. I noted however slight discrepencies between two members responses. Intuiting that such a difference might make a real difference, I "exploded" the viewpoints of the two to a point where a heated discussion ensued about why the team was put together in the first place. After a tumultuous two hours, the group was in concensus about their mission and purpose and what it meant to "succeed".

In summary, I can only give this book my highest recommendation, as it has very personally and positively affected the way I practice organizational development. Equally important as a scholar, it has showed me the way in which we can transform the physical science of complexity into social science and practice.