Organisational change does not take place in a vacuum. The social systems surrounding an organisation seeking to change interact in ways that form a reality of social interaction which can help, hinder, or even stop change. Developing awareness and ability to explicitly manage social systems intertwined with a change effort requires a shift in paradigm from a rational to an interpretative perspective. A shift to an interpretive perspective paradigm rests on three key principles:
- life world that persons and real world are inextricably intertwined through lived experiences;
- social construction that knowledge of reality is results from communication and interaction with others;
- and understanding drives behavior and people act according to their understanding of the world.
The workshop will explore what is involved in such a paradigm shift and how change management efforts must be adapted to develop organisational ability or “collaborative competence”. The concept of collaborative competence represents a collection of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to manage the shared understanding of an organisation or the organization’s reality. A key to both change management and collaboration is that very ability to manage shared understanding or reality of an organization.
