Installing Systemic Values

Unknown Territory

Never having reached the Systemicist Stage in any organization, or read convincing accounts by other, it is only possible to conjecture.

Aspects of systemicist values resonate with values of previous stages, partly because systemicism deliberately seeks to be encompassing. In Stage-7, core systemicist values will need to be asserted, explained, and developed from the perspective of the organization as an entity, co-evolving with other organizations and wider society.

The requirement is to develop a picture (model) of the organization-in-context such that staff can use it to govern their aspirations, and to justify and solidify shared values and objectives.

The inherently systemic nature of the whole process of cultural transformation should help: any organization that has lived this process so far has been slowly, surely and simultaneously encultured with systemicist values. 

If you have engaged intently with this part of THEE, you have been part of a systemic intervention as well as reading about one. In describing the strengthening of management, it was impossible to avoid using systems terms and systemicist values. If this was not obvious to you, then read the next section and note that the phrases in bold come from the list of systemicist values.

This Framework as an Example

The account started with a sharable and socially desirable vision of «strong management», and gave this vague but appealing notion substance by reference to recognizable ways of achieving—the decision approaches.

The dynamic interconnection of the modes (value systems) for achievement has been the force behind the story. Appreciating the inter-connection of individual/personal and organizational/ corporate dimensions has been a feature.

The significance of evolutionary development has been emphasized throughout, with each new stage launched by focusing on triggering pressures, often including exhaustion of benefits and decay in the previous mode.

The need for synergistic strategic intervention has been evident and was exemplified with details in the handling of culture change projects.

Reflective team learning within the organization is essential for each of the cultural stages to take hold. The SMC book was originally written to enable this. Each Stage requires senior managers to reflect on that particular mode using its own terms and labels.

The account provides a common language for talking about management cultures. It is based on decision approaches, which are the universal essence of human action. The seven decision methods must be understood through reflecting on practice and discussing in small groups.

Ethical concern has been evident in all stages by explicitly recognizing the tendency to degraded (unethical) management values.   Degenerate values not only harm the organization but also every participant; and this harm spreads more diffusely to wider society.

Finally, the self-development of managers is fostered because they must master modes of working which are not wholly natural to them. The amount of inner change required is probably too great for most people, especially leaders, to handle without assistance.

Originally posted: 17-Jun-2011