Developing a Sustainable High-Commitment, High-Performance System of Organizing, Managing, and Leading: An Actionable Systems Theory of Change and Development

Abstract

This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action and field research presented in my books and articles. It operationalized and makes actionable the ideas of Lewin and systems theorists. Its features are three organizational outcomes that must be achieved simultaneously, features of the system that must be targeted for change, six silent barriers to change, a governance system for continuous learning, change in large complex systems, and elements of a system that needed to immunize it against ultimate destruction.

Citation

Beer, M. (2023), "Developing a Sustainable High-Commitment, High-Performance System of Organizing, Managing, and Leading: An Actionable Systems Theory of Change and Development", Noumair, D.A., (Rami) Shani, A.B. and Zandee, D.P. (Ed.) Research in Organizational Change and Development (Research in Organizational Change and Development, Vol. 30), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 95-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0897-301620220000030006