Change Management

Organic Models

An emerging approach uses natural phenomena as metaphors for understanding how organizational change takes place. This approach has come in various forms, but it is based on how decay, growth, and adaptation take place in the physical and biological worlds. This approach can be seen in the work of Erich Jantsch, who examined the connection between biological concepts and their link to socio-cultural levels (1980). A related approach was used by Margaret Wheatley (1992), Lawrence G. Hrebiniak and William F. Joyce, which applied variations of evolutionary concepts to organizational life (1985). What have these models contributed? First, they have emphasized the complexity of change processes and the impact of interrelated systems. Second, they have served as metaphors or images to help leaders approach change management processes. For example, to entertain the notion that an organization or an industry might have a self-organizing capacity or to understand how cellular matter transforms itself by activities at the outer boundaries of the cell structure might influence how a leader approaches the change management process within an organization. This approach has also led to the introduction of complexity theory, as illustrated by Ralph D. Stacy (1995). Complexity theory emphasizes an open systems approach to thinking and focuses on the complexity of interaction between system components.

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