Organisational transformation
Chapter 5 - Organisational futuring
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Welcome to the Organisational transformation page
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Transformation on liminal ground
In times of transformation, individuals, groups, and the entire society experience three phases: a division phase in which we first stop and let go, a transition phase in which we look for new ways, and, in the end, an integration phase in which we make intentions concrete and shape the new reality.
Anthropologists call this transition phase 'liminality', from the Latin limbus, meaning between two boundaries. It is the messy time between what was and what will be, between fact and fiction, fear and desire. Existing hierarchies and established norms, sacred symbols and ancient rights are questioned. It is a search for new paths and stories.
Liminality offers opportunities for improvement and innovation, but there are also dangers:
- If we don't break with old habits and don't dare to make new choices, we get stuck in the meantime. We know somewhere that we have to change, but we can't. Failure to address structural problems causes long-term uncertainty and stress.
- Our society also remains stuck for another reason. By focusing on limitless value and fixating on infinite economic growth, we encourage limitless behaviour and have made constant boundary-touching normal in our culture. "The sky is the limit" and "fake it till you make it." In a limited world, sooner or later, this will go wrong, and the earth and people will become exhausted.
- We prefer to avoid change. It should all be fun and inspiring. As a kind of 'experience junkies, ' we want the rush of an exceptional experience, but we prefer not to experience the pain of actually achieving change. There is a lot of talk about and little action, which means underlying problems persist.
- When common ideas about right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, true or false, are challenged, it is unclear who or what we should believe. Emotions, behaviour, and stories are contagious, and we are tempted to believe in bizarre explanations and new dichotomies. Without a straightforward narrative, we make one up.
- Playing with boundaries and obviousness challenges people to decide whether something is desirable or undesirable. One of the favourite boundaries is that between fact and fiction, which threatens to make playing with words and images more important than the factual content of reports and files. The greatest threat comes from people who do not resist enough half-truths, false promises, and outright lies. Beware, we are all sensitive to it.
Interests and the intense power struggle
Fundamental changes inevitably involve power shifts that can lead to intense and sometimes violent struggles over who sets the new course and who will feel the consequences of changes.
The incumbent power must also be prepared to change and peacefully transition to a new situation. This isn't easy because they often have significant interests in the old situation.
Unfortunately, the dangers of liminality are a good business model for many organizations to achieve transformations.
We must dare look in the mirror and free ourselves from lies and patterns. Don't split but connect, ask questions, listen, doubt, and choose with leaders who carefully guide this emotional process. Otherwise, there will be rebellion against those who fail. That's how it's always been, and that's how it always will be.
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| Jitske Kramer |
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What science tells us about what works
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| Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions - Dolores Albarracin - Nature Reviews Psychology - Review Article - 03 May 2024 |
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| Unprecedented social, environmental, political and economic challenges — such as pandemics and epidemics, environmental degradation and community violence — require taking stock of how to promote behaviours that benefit individuals and society at large. In this Review, we synthesize multidisciplinary meta-analyses of the individual and social-structural determinants of behaviour (for example, beliefs and norms, respectively) and the efficacy of behavioural change interventions that target them. We find that, across domains, interventions designed to change individual determinants can be ordered by increasing impact as those targeting knowledge, general skills, general attitudes, beliefs, emotions, behavioural skills, behavioural attitudes and habits. Interventions designed to change social-structural determinants can be ordered by increasing impact as legal and administrative sanctions; programmes that increase institutional trustworthiness; interventions to change injunctive norms; monitors and reminders; descriptive norm interventions; material incentives; social support provision; and policies that increase access to a particular behaviour. We find similar patterns for health and environmental behavioural change specifically. Thus, policymakers should focus on interventions that enable individuals to circumvent obstacles to enacting desirable behaviours rather than targeting salient but ineffective determinants of behaviour such as knowledge and beliefs. |
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