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25 Good Books
on Change
Our Favorites
The Age of Paradox,
Charles Handy -Harvard Business School Press, 1994.
Handy's book is a reflective piece, and a joy to read. In it he steps
back to look around, describe what is going on and suggest some things
to think about and some things to do in order to make change, if not easier,
at least a little more understandable. His stories and examples are substantive,
witty and clever. He focuses not so much on chaos, stress and action --
the hallmarks of much of the literature of change management -- but on
the new environment as a paradox -- i.e. something to be understood
on its own terms. Finally, he invites the reader to attend to matters
of patterns and frameworks: the search for a mental means to take in all
the change that is going on in hopes of flowing with it rather than fighting
against it.
Managing the Unknowable,
Ralph Stacey - Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1992.
To begin, a warning: I have a penchant -- call it a bias -- for chaos theory,
iconoclasm and action. So, you will forgive me if I get up
on my soapbox to praise this book. First, Stacey is the only author I
know who has made explicit actionable links between chaos theory
and management skills. Most writers invoke chaos only as a theme -- an
analogy -- or spin new age musings into vague and obtuse applications.
Not so, Stacey. He avoids telling us more about chaos theory than we want
to know and cuts right to the chase. Organizations, he observes, tend
to strive for stable equilibrium -- which they will never achieve -- but
will keep on pursuing so long as there is no apparent alternative. What
Stacey invites us to accept is what he calls "bounded instability" -- an
environment which will never lay down and lie still, but one which is
also not totally random. Chaos does not mean randomness. Rather it refers
to an environment which, despite its constant state of flux, nevertheless
has patterns and even order. To discern this order and recognize these
patterns requires a new set of attitudes and practices. Sound pretty heady
and esoteric? Not really. Stacey presents a simple but intellectually
compelling conceptual framework and follows it with applications focusing
on such specifics as pattern recognition, encouraging positive contention,
breaking frames of reference, developing non-linear feedback systems and
working from action to strategy. And all this in only 203 pages! For my
money, it's still the single best book on change, -- but remember, I'm
biased.