"A Systems Approach to Organizational Culture," by Gerrit Van Wyk. ISBN 978-1-60264-759-6 (softcover). $12.95. 94 pages.There are many books about implemented strategic plans, yet only 5% of plans are implemented as planned or meet their objectives. No-one seems to have asked why this is until now.
It is the thesis of this book that the implementation of strategic plans fail because the paradigm we use is wrong. The solution to the problem is to acknowledge that collective human behavior occurs in complex socio-cultural systems, and secondly to change the method by which we inquire into and solve organizational problems by using a Systems Approach.
In terms of such an approach the key to organizational change is to change an organization's culture and the key to changing culture is leadership. There should be an appropriate fit between how activities in the organization are structured, the organization's culture, and its leadership function.
The leadership function initiates change by creating a vision of the organization's future to which people may aspire, and drives change by enabling and aligning people to the vision. The most effective way for changing beliefs and assumptions is by action learning and facilitative leadership. Leadership is not a simple unitary concept, but is itself a complex social function and System.
ABOUT THE AUTHORGerrit van Wyk's interest in complex social systems and how they function started with a Masters dissertation in Systems Thinking in 1996. He realized after a subsequent MBA that the business world is in dire need of reconceptualizing the nature of organizations as socio-cultural entities and also that it needs new methods for dealing with an increasingly complex work environment. The Systems Approach is an ideal candidate for resolving both issues.
Gerrit's main interests are health care as a complex socio-cultural system and making sustainable change work, on which he published previously. He is married to Debbie and lives and works in Canada.
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