Paradox of Organizational Change: Engineering Organizations with Behavioral Systems Analysis

excellent way to meet basic research expectations with intervention!it may interest from the newcomer analyst to the corporate policy maker.

The main paradox? Complexity vs. simplicity. The truly complex phenomena observed in organizational change are the complex results of simple principles. The book opens with a story about a wise lady, a child, and a kaleidoscope. The child peers into the kaleidoscope and sees a vivid, bright, and complex pattern. Turning the kaleidoscope again and again, she sees many different patterns. She marvels, the wise lady explains that simplicity can generate complexity.Dr. Malott draws on her own experience as a consultant and Executive Director of the International Association for Behavior Analysis to show, again and again, how simple principles of behavioral systems analysis yield complex patterns of organizational performance. She even "takes the kaleidoscope apart" to show details of how she works her magic of understanding and managing complexity.The kaleidoscope story, a folk tale, is delightfully told. The lessons one can learn from it are worth the price of the book--even if one does not read past the first chapter! But reading beyond the first chapter is amply rewarded with detailed and practical insights about organizational change. The clarity and sophistication of the book illustrates why Dr. Malott is widely recognized as one of the rising stars in her profession.