Balancing Acts : A Human Systems Approach to Organizational Change

James Conklin

ISBN 10: 1487540272 / ISBN 13: 9781487540272

Published by University Of Toronto Press Okt 2021, 2021

About this Item

Neuware - Balancing Acts presents an iterative, democratic, and inclusive approach to social change that is suited to the complexities of the twenty-first century.

Seller Inventory # 9781487540272

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Balancing Acts : A Human Systems Approach to Organizational Change
• Publisher: University Of Toronto Press Okt 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1487540272
• ISBN 13: 9781487540272
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 231W x 157H x 33D millimeters 231 millimeters width by 157 millimeters height by 33 millimeters depth
• Weight: 676 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Balancing Acts offers consultants and managers a simple, powerful way to think about change, and ascribes a four-phase iterative process for implementing change. Reviewing change initiatives from different types of organizations, Balancing Acts confronts the problems and pitfalls head-on that often arise during workplace transitions. Conklin explains why organizational change can be so difficult, and shows that by balancing a set of competing psychological and systemic challenges, interveners will increase their chance of success.

Conklin shows that human groups function as complex systems, and that a change initiative is not a linear progression toward a predefined result. Instead, change is an iterative process that involves a search for feasible and useful solutions. The book’s central argument is that while leading or supporting this search, consultants and leaders must balance four critical concerns: confrontation and compassion, participation and observation, assertion and inquiry, and planfulness and emergence.

About the Author

James Conklin is an Associate Professor at Concordia University who conducts implementation science research out of the Bruyère Research Institute. For over two decades he operated a consulting company and led engagements throughout Canada and the United States in the health, finance, manufacturing, and technology sectors. His current research looks at social change and decision making during the pandemic.