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W. Edwards Deming, father of systems thinking, stated:
"Effective transformation of a system is not possible without
profound knowledge". He went on to identify four key
interacting elements of system transformation, namely:
Appreciation for
a system
Any business organisation, its total infrastructure, the
shareholders, employees, vendors, customers and the markets in
which they operate constitute a system. Appreciation of the
whole system and how it delivers value to its customers and
indeed its customers' customers is a prerequisite of
transformation.
Knowledge of
variation
No two things are exactly alike and no process can deliver a
product or service without some sort of difference. This is
due to the inherent variability in the world around us.
Deming recognised that only management had the power to affect
change over variation inherent to the design and
implementation of business processes. Transformation is thus
not possible without knowledge of variation.
Theory of knowledge
Theory of Knowledge addresses
three key questions: What is knowledge? How is knowledge
acquired? What do people know?
Knowledge is
essential for creating value in an organisation, therefore an
understanding of what knowledge is and how it can be acquired
is of utmost importance, as is a means of deducing exactly
what people already know. Many organisations have recognised
this fact and are now focusing on knowledge management as a
means of ensuring long term viability. Transforming a system requires a means by which you know
how you know what you know – this is the theory
of knowledge.
Psychology
of people, society and change
We are naturally conditioned to view change with a plethora of
responses, some emotional, some rational. Organisational
change is viewed with deep suspicion, ambivalence; or great
interest, depending on the perspective of the viewer and
correlated to the perceived local effect that change will
bring. People will universally resist a change that they do
not fully comprehend (see
6 layers of resistance). Systems thinking is the key. In
seeing a system, people are more likely to be psychologically
driven towards the positive goals rather than dragged towards
perceived negative effects.
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