Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic in Organizations (Paperback)

~ Dannemiller Tyson Associates (Author) "Our ever changing environment combined with the warp speed of technology has placed unparalleled demands and expectations on each of us both where we work..." (more)
Key Phrases: gap analyzer, internal consulting team, key stakeholder time, Star of Success, True North, Core Team (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

People in organizations of all typespublic and private, large and smallhave for years had to wrestle with the formidable challenge of successfully planning and implementing changes in how they do business. Today, the demand for faster approaches is increasing across a broad spectrum of organizations in business and society, as they are faced daily with an array of change mandatesnew business strategy development and deployment, merger and acquisition integration, work re-design, community organizing, and more. Traditional command and control structures and processes no longer enable and mobilize people in organizationsthe rapid rate of change in the environment demands new and different ways for organizations to respond.

Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic in Organizations combines systems theory and practical methodology to offer a proven, flexible approach that leads to aligned action by hundreds, even thousands of peopleand creates powerful processes for change. Shattering the old paradigm about how long it takes organizations to change, the book shows how to rapidly engage the whole system in meeting organizational agility and flexibility demands. It offers adaptable, repeatable strategies for different settings and convening issues through the authors unique Whole-Scale approachwhich has been successfully applied in diverse businesses and industries, the service sector, health care, education, government, other nonprofits, and communities throughout the world.

Imagine everyone in your organization pulling in the same direction, everyone with the same information, acting quickly to solve the problems and confront the issues facing your organization. Whole-Scale Change provides not only the theories and principles underlying the approach, but also the practical methods, tools, and road maps for unleashing the energy and combining the power and wisdom of all the people in an organization.

From the Publisher

"The Whole-Scale approach shrinks multiple-year change projects to weeks and months. The models in this book revolutionize organizational change by unleashing all human capital. Ive seen it work. To me, Whole-Scale is not magic, its a miracle."Richard L. Daft, coauthor of Fusion Leadership

"If readers truly heed the advice in Whole-Scale Change, resistance will cease being a major impediment to successful change."Rick Maurer, author of Beyond the Wall of Resistance

"An important book in showing how the principles of systems thinking and process consultation can combine to create a change program that truly draws on the wisdom of the organization itself. Helping an organization to help itself is the key principle, and it is thoroughly embodied in the various programs and tools that are described and illustrated." Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management

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Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576750884
• ISBN-13: 978-1576750889
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #331,296 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This process really works -- the book shows you how!, September 2, 2001

By	Jeffrey A. Lebow (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Relevant to my review is the fact that I was fortunate enough to intern with the late Kathie Dannemiller 20 years ago, when she was developing and applying her processes to improving student services at the University of Michigan. With this perspective, I can really appreciate the value of Whole-Scale Change, and attest to the reader about its worth, as I have personally experienced it.

The book is full of the authors' collective wisdom, and rich material that walks the reader through their model for changing the whole organization. Their concept of "One Mind, One Heart" is a great metaphor for getting everyone in an organization aligned with Purpose, and is really the "magic" behind Whole Scale Change. When everyone is aligned, the entire organization pulls together in support of each other to achieve its purpose.

Another huge benefit of Whole Scale Change is that the organization automatically achieves team building at the same time it is re-creating itself.

Organizational development practitioners and human resources professionals should be very interested in this book. Add to that any management consultants who are trying to effect a "culture change."

For those who would like to apply this process -- your own personal style & integrity are so fundamental to success that unless you can "walk the talk," don't even try it. Loving the work more than the money is a fundamental concept that a practitioner would have to have. Kathie Dannemiller especially was so real with clients that it helped them overcome barriers to openness, and enabled the magic to happen.

A few other key concepts that resonate throughout the book:
"Action Learning" is another way of saying you have to "trust the process" to get the right results, even though the steps to get there might change along the way. Life is like that.

Remember that in large-scale organization change, none of this has been done with these people, under these conditions, which means you will have to also make adjustments in real-time (also known as "improvisation") to deal with realities and learnings from the group events. Whole Scale Change does an excellent job by allowing for this, and cites many examples to show what it looks like. Also, "Everyone's truth is the truth" - to believe this you have to have a sincere & abiding respect for people - that may not be possible for every organization's leaders, which will limit the results.

The book includes excellent references for further reading, and also great discussions on how Whole Scale was influenced by other practitioners (a thinking bibliography) that were very valuable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, June 1, 2001

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If ever there was a book that sounded like it was written by a bunch of consultants it's this one. And - surprise - a look at the cover reveals that the author is none other than Dannemiller Tyson Associates, with about 15 people connected with the firm credited as contributors. With origins like these, it's no wonder that the book is chock full of phrases like, "If you facilitate a paradigm shift among enough microcosms, the entire organization will share the experience." But don't let the lame language scare you off. If you want to learn change management strategies, sooner or later you're going to have to pick up consultant-ese. Once you do, you'll be intrigued by the concepts set down in this book about whole-scale change and the use of microcosms in bringing about organizational change. In fact, we [...] strongly recommend this book for its innovative ideas, in spite of its tortured prose.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Turning on the Magic: It's Possible, December 29, 2000

By	Richard M. Dougherty (MI (USA)) - See all my reviews

Amazon book review

I'd like to recommend two titles that I recently acquired. They are the two Dannemiller Tyson Associate titles The first title is "Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic in Organizations." The second is Dannemiller Tyson Associates "Whole-Scale Change: Toolkit. Both are published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in San Francisco.

The Unleashing the Magic is the title I think those interested in organizational change will find most useful. It combines a lot of practical techniques and suggestions with explanations about the underlying theory on which "whole-scale change is based. For me a practitioner who has used whole-scale change techniques for several years I've used the book to reinforce techniques I already use; it has also served as a source of ideas. The second volume is also helpful in that it provides a lot of tested designs. However, I suspect that the Toolkit will be most useful to those who are already versed in the whole-scale techniques. I think it would be very difficult for a person not familiar with whole-scale change techniques to apply the designs. I should note that the variety of designs clearly underscores the power and flexibility of whole-scale change.

These are definitely worthwhile purchases.