Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
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some <strong>for</strong>ces may come into balance, or annihilate one another - the sum vector becomes zero at<br />
these points, <strong>and</strong> does not determine a direction in any corresponding dimension. But the process<br />
cannot be stopped because there are other <strong>for</strong>ces to move it <strong>for</strong>ward. At the points of unstable<br />
balance (or the surface of unstable balance), the direction of motion may be determined by any<br />
small influence. These points are bifurcations (see Chapter 1.1). Thus, the basin of attraction will<br />
branch in alternative creods, the last will branch further, <strong>and</strong> so on – the picture of the l<strong>and</strong>scape<br />
would not show a line – it would be more similar to the inverted tree (see Picture 18).<br />
Picture 18. Points of bifurcation<br />
The actual process will go along the creods, where they are, <strong>and</strong> chose one of the alternatives at<br />
the points of bifurcation. The choices may be accidental, influenced by any small fluctuation, or<br />
may be controlled in one way or another. In general, the lack of predictability in development of a<br />
system does not mean that development is uncontrolled. In most cases, development can be<br />
controlled due to some controllable factors in the l<strong>and</strong>scape, or due to small sharply targeted<br />
impacts at the points of bifurcation.<br />
Conscious change of the l<strong>and</strong>scape <strong>and</strong> the path of development, or ‘smart’ control over the points<br />
of bifurcation, constitute the art of strategic management of change, or strategic change<br />
management. We will come back to this topic in Part II of this <strong>Manual</strong>.<br />
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