"This short book introduces the Generative Change Model, a way to approach organizational change more aligned with today's needs for an agile and engaged workforce than planned change methods. We follow the case of Consolidated Construction Materials Supply, 200 poorly engaged employees inside a large, traditional construction company. Organized into three fragmented units, this low-tech warehouse and distribution operation transformed into a highly engaged, collaborative, agile and fully digitized one in a little more than two years after the first phone call between the consultant and the Director. They accomplished this without a vision, without a plan, without training and only 1 external OD consultant. They did it through an emergent, generative change process. The story follows the phases of the generative change model. Each chapter begins by describing what took place in the case, followed by a commentary on the theory and perspectives behind the OD consultant's actions. The book provides the novice Dialogic OD consultant with a clear example, as well as providing the experienced Dialogic OD consultants with some new ideas and a model that will help clients better understand the Dialogic OD approach to transformational change."--

A Dynamic New Approach to Organizational Change Dialogic Organization Development is a compelling alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid, socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images. Leaders and consultants can help foster change by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new organizational conversations and narratives. This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to Dialogic Organization Development with chapters by a global team of leading scholar-practitioners addressing both theoretical foundations and specific practices.

Generative Emergence provides insight into the non-linear dynamics that lead to organizational emergence through the use of complexity sciences. The book explores how the model of Generative Emergence could be applied to enact emergence within and across organizations.

The authors of Make Just One Change argue that formulating one’s own questions is “the single most essential skill for learning”—and one that should be taught to all students. They also argue that it should be taught in the simplest way possible. Drawing on twenty years of experience, the authors present the Question Formulation Technique, a concise and powerful protocol that enables learners to produce their own questions, improve their questions, and strategize how to use them. Make Just One Change features the voices and experiences of teachers in classrooms across the country to illustrate the use of the Question Formulation Technique across grade levels and subject areas and with different kinds of learners.

From Physical Place to Virtual Space describes the insights and conclusions of a highly experienced Dialogic Organization Development practitioner bringing her skills to a new client, all online. From initial contact, designing and sequencing the interventions, to a series of online events for a large multi-divisional corporation, Gwen Stirling-Wilke takes you through the differences that make a difference in doing Dialogic OD in virtual spaces. The book is in two parts. Part 1: Preparing The Virtual SpaceThe first part of the book has new models, tools, and insights for using virtual platforms like Zoom - useful for anyone, from beginners to seasoned experts. Gwen guides in how to design differently for virtual space. The book provides new tools and models, as well as adjusting some foundation stones of your practice: -The Virtual Space of Participation to aid you in understanding how participation is different in virtual OD and how to plan for that.-Organization Maturity Levels for Virtual Working to help you to quickly assess what will and won't work with any client system.-Design Options for Virtual OD outlines the four main design options, to be used as stand-alone, or mixed and matched, that are the foundations to designing transformative spaces online.-Building psychological safety online sharing ways to adjust some of the key foundation stones of your practice in a virtual setting.Part 2: Mastering Virtual ConsultingThe second part of the book goes into detail on virtual consulting, covering topics like: -Effective group work online - how to track and intervene in group process online.-Working with group energy - Monitoring and intervening into the group's energy -Use of Self - Enhancing your "use of self" in virtual consulting. -Adapting Dialogic OD methods - how to utilize some common Dialogic OD methods online, like Open Space, World Cafe, and Appreciative Inquiry.A virtual consulting case study: The book concludes with a full description of a case of virtual consulting with a new client at the start of the pandemic, one that was not familiar with working through virtual platforms. The client wanted to embark on a cultural change process and create greater integration between five distinct businesses within the company, and decided they could not wait for the pandemic to be over. Detailing the reasoning behind design decisions and the results of various virtual events, we watch the emergence of new and novel groupings to explore a shared topic in ways they hadn't before. New narratives traveled through the formal and informal networks within and between businesses. These included stories of people being invited to take part whose voices were not normally heard, opening up to the possibility of a different way of leading. The entire process generated new ways of working, new relationships, and new possibilities for future collaboration across the company, as well as a new image of leadership that was attractive and stimulated new actions. A collective experience of previously unimagined ways of thinking, creating, and acting together stimulated an explosion of innovation.Who Is This Book For?-External and internal consultants, facilitators and change leaders wondering how to deliver great results with virtual consulting, transformation and culture change.-Those who are interested in taking a more participatory and collaborative approach to their work and aren't sure how to do that using virtual platforms.-Consultants wanting to create engaging and safe online spaces for dialogue and exploration.-Change leaders wanting to create a program of change using virtual platforms.

Introducing the principles of complexity science, this innovative text illustrates how different kinds of organizational can become more effective, democratic and sustainable by using these powerful ideas.

Our leadership models are stuck in an Industrial Age, top-down mentality. But in our complex, data-drenched, 24/7 world, there is simply too much information coming from too many different directions too quickly for any one leader or group to stay on top of it. Hierarchy is breaking down everywhere—why should leadership be any different? Inspired by the peer-to-peer model of computing used in social networking and crowdsource technologies, Mila Baker shows a new way to lead. Organizations, she says, must become networks of "equipotent" nodes of power—peer leaders. The job of the leader is now to set the overall goals and direction and optimize the health of that network, not tell it what to do. In these organizations, leadership roles shift rapidly to fit the needs of any given situation. Information flows freely so those who need it can find it easily and act on it immediately. Feedback becomes an organic part of the workflow, enabling rapid course corrections. Baker shows how companies like Gore and Herman Miller have achieved long-term success practicing these principles and provides a structure that any organization can adapt to build flexibility, resiliency, and accountability.

A comprehensive introduction and overview of research in Routine Dynamics written by the central researchers in the field.

Using revealing stories from complex situations he has been involved in all over the world - the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and the United States - Kahane reveals how to dynamically balance power and love....

How can boards and members of boards reach their full potential? The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) has been at the forefront of thinking about organizations since its inception in 1947. Today, as then, the corporate world is undergoing increasing pressure to demonstrate a sustainable, generative and meaningful impact on society and employees whilst delivering improved services and products. These tensions and others are explored in this important new book, Dynamics at Boardroom Level: A Tavistock Primer for Leaders, Coaches and Consultants. In this book, the reader gets a useful framework of theory and practice that broadens vision and deepens thinking about what is happening in boardrooms. The book opens the door to the reader to a new world of board dynamics, edited by those who really understand the deeper workings of the complex human system and its work at board level. This edited volume brings together the insights and contemporary case studies from participants on the Tavistock Institute Dynamics @ Board Level programme that draws on the thinking of Tavistock scholars and practitioners and their work on the dynamics of task, role, authority and power. Edited by programme co-directors Dr Mannie Sher and Dr Leslie Brissett and their fellow Tavistock Associate Tazi Lorraine Smith, and with contributions from senior leadership practitioners and board evaluators from the government, international consultancy firms, FTSE 100 and global UN institutions, this book speaks directly to issues of our time. It represents essential reading for leaders of organizations and businesses, as well as leadership coaches and mental health professionals.