We are becoming more skillful about bringing about planned change in most organizations. This very fact, however, makes it imperative that we document these efforts more carefully and systematically. Only when changes can be related to a systematic understanding of an organization can we have a clear rationale for selecting specific developmental strategies.
Selecting Between Change and Stabilization
Within any organization there is always the option to initiate stabilization rather than Level One change. There is even the option to question the need for Level Two change. This option is rarely considered, in part because stabilization is not as attention-getting an activity or as exciting as change. A great deal of public (or at least scientific community) attention is directed in contemporary life toward the sciences and technologies devoted to dynamic systems that are constantly changing and evolving; conversely, the sciences and technologies associated with the converse—the field called statics—is given scan attention. Yet, statics is concerned with very important matters, such as the design of a bridge or building that will not collapse under stress (wind, earthquake, terrorist attack), and the construction of highways and monuments that will endure for many years.
Unfortunately, it is not only a matter that stabilization (and statics) is viewed as boring and frankly ultra-conservative; it is also the matter that stabilization is frequently viewed in the negative — as the absence of change or as inaction. Effective stabilization must instead be conceived, like effective change, as a proactive, planned process. Ironically, some form of Level Two change is often required if leaders of an organization are to be reflective about the stabilization option. A specific stabilization strategy is explicitly selected as an appropriate means of achieving a specific goal in an organization. It is not to be equated with resistance to change. The latter is rarely either systematic enough or explicitly or practically linked to central goals of the organization. The former requires reflection and systematic planning.
