Organizational Change

“Collective Impact,” by John Kania and Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011. The authors pose a powerful new model for creating social impact through cross-sector coordination and collaboration. They discuss the problems with the current model of isolated impact and discuss types of collaborations and the five conditions for success: a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone support organizations. Finally, they point out the need for shifting the current thinking of funders away from funding organizations toward leading a long-term process of social change.

“Creating an Extraordinary Group,” by Geoff Bellman & Kathleen Ryan, Training and Development, September 2010. This article was based on a three-year study of 60 extraordinary groups and outlines eight performance indicators common to great groups of all kinds. These eight performance indicators are illustrated through a case study.

“Moving From Top-Down to All-In,” by Suzanne Vickberg, The Conversation – Harvard Business Review, November 16, 2010 (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/11/moving_from_top-down_to_all-in.html). The author makes a case for how moving from a corporate ladder organization to a corporate lattice organization creates opportunities for great participation and creativity.

“Relationships: The Basic Building Blocks of Life,” by Margaret J. Wheatley, 2006. This essay discusses the importance of relationships in building organizational capacity and how every time an organization restructures, productivity is lost because people need to spend time rebuilding their networks.

“The Hard Side of Change Management,” by Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan, and Alan Jackson, Harvard Business Review, October 1, 2005. This article outlines a tool called the DICE framework that can be used to gauge the likelihood of success of any change initiative. In a study of 225 companies by the authors, four factors – duration, integrity, commitment, and effort – have been shown to consistently predict success. The article includes an outline for calculating DICE scores.

“Winning at Change,” by John Kotter, Leader to Leader, Fall 1998 (http://www.leadertoleader.org/knowledgecenter/journal.aspx?ArticleID=161). This article outlines four mistakes that organizations typically make which lead to failure of a change initiative and then suggests three key tasks for changes leaders to avoid those fatal mistakes. Kotter also outlines his eight steps for organizational transformation.

Updated December 1, 2010