Levels of Intervention

Approaches to Forcing Change

The primary use of the Taxonomy is to assist with change. That means intervening in a situation judged unsatisfactory. There are three distinct approaches to intervening constructively in a social situation, as shown here:

Level C: Axiomatic Assumptions
(A Pure Framework of Universals)
Level B: Practical Understandings
(A Neat Model of a Situation)
Level A: Effective Activities
(A Concrete System in Practice)

Problems in the social arena  are rarely simple or elemental: technically they should be named a «mess» i.e. a system of inter-linked problems. The mess is usually hard to describe fully and is typically referred to in terms of the most unbearable feature.

Level-C Assumptions constrain and shape any Level-B Understanding of situations, and are distant from and dissimilar to the Level-A Activities.

Imagine that a firm has a problem of delayed and inaccurate invoicing leading to customer discontent and payment delays.

Level A: The intervention is activity targeted directly at relieving the obvious problem e.g. the manager comes in on weekends to check and code invoices; or an outside firm temporarily provides qualified staff.

Level B: The intervention is an understanding of the problematic situation, articulated so as to indicate what should be done. e.g. the understanding might propose that the mess is due to the absence of a proper system for handling invoices; or that the supervisor is aggravating staff who are responding by working slowly.

Such understandings are practical. While they do not specify any action precisely (as at Level A), they do channel and constrain whatever is done.
ClosedMore…

The deeper issue is whether the Level-A relief activity or the Level-B design recommendations are good and right in principle (i.e. ethical). To appreciate this, it is necessary to clarify the underlying values and assumptions.

Level C: The intervention identifies implicit assumptions that are relevant to the problem. Such assumptions apply across situations and are potentially universal: e.g. the relevant assumptions here might relate to accountability, authority, capability, motivation, or something else.

How a Framework Helps

THEE-based intervention is about introducing new assumptions as a coherent framework at Level-C.

Many people strive to intervene at Level-C. Politicians, pressure groups, academics, editorialists, journalists and management gurus often exhort people to follow worthy ideas. However, moralizing with beliefs is a confronting intrusion, not helpful design. While pithy quotations may be inspiring and gratifying, and well-meaning advice may be encouraging, someone in difficulty needs more.

If that is you, then you need two things: 

•explanations supporting your experience-based beliefs, not devaluing or ridiculing them;

•alternative perspectives that meaningfully apply to your problem and make sense to you.

Only a framework that is rigorously developed ...

• with a constant focus on issues of responsibility,
• with an effort to accord with human nature and social existence, and
• with a concern to be practical as well as intrinsically right and good,

... is likely to meet your requirements. The ethical quality is attached as a bonus.

THEE frameworks are like this, so they can be introduced in good faith and explained in an appealing manner. Recipients are likely to feel strengthened and validated rather than humiliated and persecuted. Once the required framework is accepted, then an understanding (Level-B model) can be developed with greater confidence.

Assumptions may not be geared precisely to the nature of the situation and the people. Often they were developed with a focus on just one person ("hey! it worked for me!"), or on one firm and then applied as a «best practice» recipe.

If a person loses confidence in their own implicit assumptions, they get confused. Because this is unpleasant, people hold on to ideas long after they have been proven invalid.

  • If you intervene as a professional, then you will have a special relationship with THEE frameworks. Read more.

  • See the bigger picture of usefulness.

Originally posted: August 2009; Last amended: 14-Oct-2016.