Those Who Make A Difference: Developing Businesses Through Developing Individuals
The imperative for businesses and organisations
to develop the capacity to adapt to continuous
change in a highly competitive environment
has never been greater than it is now.
Every indication is that it will become, if
anything, more important in future. Greater
demands for performance, global interdependence,
fast-paced change, and the complexity
of the issues facing societies across the world
mean that for every organisation the stakes are
very high.
Managers inside organisations have been
grappling with these pressures and seeking
new ways forward. The holy grail of the
“learning organisation” – capable of continuous,
and “double-loop”, learning has been for
many a compelling and ephemeral goal.
Despite considerable scepticism from those
managers who are all too aware of its limitations,
organisational development continues
to intervene first and foremost at the “organisation”
level – through corporate campaigns
and initiatives such as customer care, quality,
JIT, business process re-engineering, and
more. The individual is, of course, part of this
equation (after all, who is it who has to
change?), but only in line with the corporate
“roll-out”. The development of individuals is
seen to occur as a latter stage of the process,
through the “filtering down” of the grander
ideas and themes which drive the campaign.
Ultimately, however, it is the extent to which
individual development is effective which
determines the success of top-down organisational
development.
Many organisations fail to recognise and
capitalise on the critical role that individual
development plays in organisational development.
What if the traditional approach were
turned on its head, and individual development
...
Please login to view the full essay...