BM Thinking Out Loud

In this course, we read about and discussed several different theories and models of organizational change. We also read about and experienced three large group interventions. As I reflect now, I find that there are a few ideas and concepts which have helped to influence both my understanding and point-of-view about organizational change.

Two concepts that have helped me to structure the way I interpret organizational change are transactional change and transformational change. Beyond the definition of these are the related concepts which help to describe and identify the manifestations of these two distinct forms of change. Transactional change is evolutionary, planned, incremental change that is continuous in nature. It affects the climate of an organization rather than the culture. It usually involves changes in operational practices related to structure, systems, and task requirements. It is also usually management driven. It impacts individual needs and values, and motivation (Burke, 2008). Transformational change is revolutionary, strategic, and discontinuous in nature. It influences the culture of an organization, usually involving changes in mission and vision and is driven by leadership.

Armed with that information and having had the opportunity to examine an organizational change within my own company, I feel I am better equipped to recognize and interpret organizational changes around me. I will also be better able to offer a more informed opinion when I do have the opportunity to participate in planning and implementing change strategies at work.

The Burke-Litwin model of organizational change has helped me to understand the different dimensions that affect and are interrelated in the change process. This model also helped to impress on me the importance of the external environment as a catalyst for change in organizations. There is also a cyclical relationship between the output of an organization (products and services) and the external environment which in turn, informs change within organizations.

I have learned that just as a person’s basic assumptions influence their behavior, an organization’s culture is built on shared basic assumptions of the leadership and employees. These shared assumptions influence norms, values, and behaviors within an organization. This course has helped me understand the resistance that most often follows change, as it is the result of wanting to hold on to the familiar ways of doing things that employees have come to ‘own’ and to identify with. I found the way that Burke (2008) distinguishes between the three levels of organizational change helped to clarify my understanding of the complex and overlapping manifestations of organizational change. This will be especially useful as I learn to understand and identify different forms of resistance to change.

With all of the difficulty associated with implementing organizational change, it has been reassuring to learn that it can be thoughtfully planned and managed in ways that will benefit the organization and minimize resistance. To this point, an idea that was an ‘aha’ for me is the fact that, in order to change attitudes and values you must first begin with a behavior. A related idea that I learned is that you cannot change the culture of an organization by focusing on changing it. Rather, behavior will gradually influence culture. I know the leadership of my own organization has tripped over this point in their efforts to change the culture. Burke (2008) points out that it is important to establish links between the vision (the end point) and actions (behaviors) that will create that change. He also shares the ideas of Wegner & Wheatly which include the notion that behavior is followed by cognition.

In this course we reviewed Lewins’ ideas on organizational change that include ‘unfreezing, movement, and refreezing’, which has to do with moving from the current state, learning a new behavior, and reinforcing and maintaining the new behavior. Burke (2008) mentions that Schein, among others, has offered a more expanded version of this process. His version relates to creating motivation and readiness to change, cognitive restructuring and the need to act differently, as well as personal and interpersonal integration of the change by organizational members.

The three large group intervention strategies that we learned about and experienced in class were examples of creative ways for people to work together to prompt Schein’s ‘cognitive restructuring’ by involving whole systems. These strategies included Future Search, Open Space, and Appreciative Inquiry. All three use whole systems thinking, involving everyone in making meaning together. I know I will look at organizational change differently because of my exposure to these strategies. In my experience, only those who are directly involved or affected by a change are ever consulted and even then it has usually been a member of leadership that makes the decisions. These large group strategies are dependent on everyone having input and making decisions. I believe involving the whole group is the only way to bring about appropriate and meaningful change.

I especially like the purposeful removal of barriers that is inherent in these strategies. Because they all depend on people being self directed and pretty much self-organizing, everyone has equal footing and status during these events. I also like the way Appreciative Inquiry and Future Search are vision-oriented. Participants get to share what they believe would be a desirable future state and work on those things for which they personally have a passion. It would seem just common sense that if a person really cares about a topic or an issue they will be that much more dedicated to working towards a solution and then maintaining that desired condition. I am already thinking of ways to incorporate one or more of these large group change strategies in my own work place.

Another aspect of these large group interventions that I have found enlightening is the great forum they provide for people in an organization to ‘think together’. As opposed to the structured and time-bound meetings that usually surround ‘brainstorming’ sessions, these strategies provide people with options to address those things they have a passion for and to have real conversations about those topics. This allows people to share and learn from each other and to make meaning, address differences, and at the very least gain some insight into what others think. I think this last aspect and the diversity of idea sharing is what attracts me most to these whole group interventions.

I must also point out that what I have experienced in this course, as well as throughout the adult learning program, has taught me a great deal. However, this knowledge only takes on its greatest effect when I am able to place it in the context of what I experience in my career. It’s the work of application and synthesis of the learning from both that creates the most meaning for me and has the greatest promise of leading to the discovery of new connections and relevance.

End of Program Blog Post

            I hardly know where to begin to describe my experience in the adult learning program. My first course was ADLT 601, The Adult Learner. This course set the tone for things to come. We participated in activities that I had never experienced in a college course. We created a timeline of our life experiences around all the walls of the room and shared with the class the events that shaped our lives, both educationally and personally. We sat on the floor in a group and created a web with yarn as we tossed it from person-to- person and shared what we learned. This type of involvement in class was very new for me.

            In addition, the type of work has been different from what I was used to. Many of the discussions and papers were synthesis of different ideas, theories, and application experiences we had in class; not at all the fact-based recall that I was used to in other college classes. In most of my classes in this program I experienced the principles of adult learning at work in the classroom and not just in the text book. Experiential learning, reflection, metacognition, and corporately and independently creating meaning are some of the most important concepts I take away from this program. In addition, working in groups and teams has been a large part of this program and for that I am most grateful. I am in a position at work where I need to influence people all across the organization, yet I have no real authority to do so. Much of what I have learned and experienced in this program has prepared me to do just that. I have learned about process consulting and action learning through actually applying those skills in real world situations.

            This form of learning has had a great impact on me. I have experienced every part of the different processes, worked through the difficult and uncomfortable situations, and dealt with people at various levels in their own development in order to accomplish sometimes quite daunting tasks. I have learned to look at where others are in their understanding and motivation and consider what their needs are, in addition to the needs of the project I am focused on. I have also learned that sometimes it is important to let people run into a wall or even fail at a task in order for them to experience ‘real learning’. It is the learning that is the point, rather than the particular project. This was impressed on me during our capstone class where the point of our work was our action learning experience and the learning that the set gained, not the solution of the presenting problem or even the ‘work’ of the project.

            Another important concept this program has taught me is the meaning of a learning organization. In my workplace, that term means that the organization has lots of training courses to offer and that it supports its employee’s educational endeavors. I have learned that a learning organization can develop as employees learn together in real world situations, through application, practice, and reflection and as they then share their learning throughout the organization. I have also discovered that a learning organization can not be ‘created’ in a short time by any action of the leadership. Rather, it has to be nurtured, encouraged, supported and demonstrated over time and that ‘behavior begets behavior change’. People have to experience this type of learning in order to understand it and an organization is the same.

            I have especially appreciated the emphasis on reflection as a part of the learning process. This has been both taught and required in each adult learning class. The use of the blogs for this purpose has been very effective for me. I am usually the last one to journal or write my thoughts and feelings down. However, somehow the forum of the blog made that process less painful for me. The fact that it was required course work didn’t hurt either. I know that my experiences in this program have changed my behavior in this area. I now make a point of taking the time to reflect on experiences and new information. Again I must refer to my experience in the program with the many group projects. I have learned to enjoy working in groups and I believe I learn more effectively when I have others to share with and from which to gain their perspectives. This is something I have learned to incorporate at work as well. 

            It was very helpful to learn to consider and pay attention to the basic assumptions from which people operate. Before this program I had only a vague understanding about the fact that people have different perspectives which are created by their knowledge and life experiences. As I learned in this program, reality is created based on the basic assumptions that people and organizations hold. The fact that these assumptions are so ingrained in one’s thinking and the culture of an organization that they are just taken for granted was enlightening to me. I was really struck when I read that these assumptions are so much a part of the fabric of behavior that if someone does something different it would seem completely inappropriate and out of place that everyone would notice and would not be able to understand that behavior. It was as if a light turned on for me at that point.

            I have always wondered why social behavior among different groups can be so distinct and how people of different groups could be so convinced that certain ideas and behaviors were right and others were wrong. Now when I look at the behaviors of people and organizations I find myself wondering about the shared basic assumptions that lie beneath behavior and culture and about what behaviors serve to reinforce those basic assumptions. I also think about how to help people begin to consider these things as well, in both themselves and in others. I now think about how to help people learn to take an objective look at these assumptions. Another change in me that I have noticed is that these days I at least think about the basic assumptions I hold and that inform my own behavior and perspective. I also am more aware of the fact that I need to be willing to separate my emotional attachment to my own way of thinking and find ways to be more objective about those basic assumptions and behaviors.

            There were a couple of other pivotal events that happened in the program that strengthened some of those basic assumptions and beliefs that I knowingly and purposefully hold. One of these events was seeing the movie Mind Walk. Because my beliefs are so contrary to many others, I won’t go into detail about this except to say that that movie helped me understand, at least to some degree, how people can get so far away from truth that they no longer believe there is any truth. This is the greatest deception perpetrated among men.

            A few courses were especially relevant to the work I do including ADLT 610- Consulting Skills, ADLT 620-Human Resource Development and ADLT 602-Adult Program Planning, Management & Evaluation. Often the projects in these classes enabled me to have authentic experiences as they matched up well to things I was working on in my job. This made the learning that much more relevant for me and gave me concrete evidence of the effectiveness of the skills I was able to practice.

            Another important change in me as a result of this program is my awareness of adult learning and organizational development theory. I have been exposed to, read about, researched, and written about the people and events that have shaped these fields. In addition, I have developed a strong interest in researching these topics on my own. There is a long list of books I want to buy and read in my Amazon shopping cart, all of which are about those two topics. I also fully intend to review many of the textbooks we used in this program to refresh my memory. As I mentioned, I find that being able to put the concepts and ideas we learned in authentic situations is the best way to learn and to stretch my understanding.

            I am also more keenly aware of what others around me have to teach me. I now make it a point to not only listen to other’s ideas, but to observe their actions and ask them questions. It seems that my experience in this program has served to awaken my senses in regard to the give-and-take that we can take advantage of if we pay attention to our own learning and take an interest in the learning of others. This may seem odd for a former teacher to say, yet it is true that I used to only look for this type of learning to take place in a classroom or when gathering new information was a designated purpose. This program has helped me to pay attention to the learning that happens in me and around me all the time.

            I recognize there is yet much to learn about adult learning and organizational development, however I feel that this program has certainly given me a frame of reference from which to move forward. It has also provided a foundation on which to build as I continue to gain knowledge, reflect on and make meaning of experience, and share with others. If I had to choose one word to describe what this program has given me, I think the most suitable word would be ‘awareness’. I know I am not fully aware and I will never be in this life, but I am definitely more aware, having had the great fortune of being in this adult learning program.