Factors Critical to the Implementation of Second Order Change

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Introduction

Change is inevitable. Different scholarly sources define change in over thirty different ways. According to Nayar (2010, p. 2), change can also mean transformation, turning to a different format, to replace or to substitute. Leaders from all fields including, academia, business, and politics are increasing touting changes in the various systems that they represent.

The message driven across here is that change is important and urgently needed. The changes that these leaders are highlighting are not only needed but also necessary for the continuity and survival of these organizations. Change has also become a way of life and those that do not adopt risk being left behind or stuck in the old order of doing things.

The transformational change that is engulfing the world right now represents a paradigm shift that is systemic and global and cuts across the whole social, cultural business and political spheres. Change can fall within the first order or second order. This paper will mainly deal with second order change but for purposes of understanding, there will a little comparison and contrast with first order.

First order change

First order change involves doing more or less of the action that is being done currently in any situation. Additionally, first order change does neither challenge nor doest it contradicts the existing system of doing things (Collins & Beer, 2008 p. 3). The people who operate in this system are comfortable and do not at any time feel threatened by the first order change.

This change is always reversible. Because of its reversible nature, some scholars liken first order change to treating symptoms of an illness rather than the illness itself. Because the real problem is not addressed, the symptoms of the illness are likely to continue to manifest themselves. First order change when critically looked at is a sum variation of the procedures and processes that characterize a system.

More often than not, these processes aid the system to remain the same while undergoing minimum changes over time. First order change for instance may involve improving existing procedures to perform the same tasks. Characteristics of first order changes include adjustment within the same or existing structure without making significant changes.

As said earlier, it may also involve doing more or less of the same thing that has been in existence. First order change is reversible and easily restored to balance. This change is normally non-transformational and more often than not, no new learning is needed. It is important to note that first order change happens within the core procedures of an organization.

These processes are supreme and rarely do they challenge the existing order. The existing culture, mission, vision and core values, and organizational paradigm are never called to question. The basic operation of the organizational machine is stuck in a comfort zone that contemplation of a paradigm shift is almost unthinkable. Instead, first order change encourages people to do better what is already existent.

Second order change

Second order change is making a radical shift from the ways things are normally done. This change involves a significant or fundamental shift in doing things from how they have been done before even if it means by use of coercion. Given the efforts and the changes the radical measures that accompany second order change, it is safe to assume that this process is irreversible (Wheeler, 2005, p. 2).

Once it is set in motion, it is impossible to stop or reverse it. Second order change is evolutionary and most of the time it alters the status quo and in its place introduces new ways of doing things. Many scholars agree that a second order change with its revolutionary characteristics normally threatens and challenges leaders.

When it takes place second order change changes the whole system. The causes of this change mostly are strategic changes or crises that may engulf first order changes that threaten their survival. The change is always accompanied by a redefining of the of the core businesses of an organization and the way its run.

The changes carried by this order challenge the long held beliefs, shared assumptions, and widely held practices. Second order change seeks to break the reigning trends and disintegration of organizational systems. The normal outcome of second of second order change is the reframing of the social, political, cultural, and business system.

The disruption caused by second order change is so deep that at times it generates discontinuity, anxiety, frustration, conflict, and temporary dysfunction (Watkins, 2009, p. 4). It is therefore correct to say that second order change can also be referred to as change of change. Concisely, therefore, first order change is an extension of the past, is incremental in nature, consistent with existing values and norms mostly implemented by experts who utilize existing skills and knowledge.

Second order change can be characterized by complex changes that threaten the whole system. The changes require new and different skills and knowledge that was not existent before. There is a lot of conflict with existing norms and values. Second order chance also tends to exists outside the prevailing paradigms and most importantly, it is characterized with a break from the past. Second order change is implemented by the owners or stakeholders who are active participants of the process.

Second order change and its implementation

This section will include an in-depth look into second order change to help understand the most critical factors that affect its implementation. The above two orders represent two extremes in any context that they be applied. The first order change involves what people already know and comfortable with while second order change fundamentally alters the way business is done or permanently changes the business itself (Butler, 2007, p. 3).

There is some literature on the existence of a middle order change that represents more or less of a compromise between the two changes but that is yet to be debated exhaustively to a logical conclusion. When second change occurs within an organizational context, it is likely to cut through the different departments. It is important to not that organization here is used to denote any setting that can be conducting any kind of legal business, not necessarily business in conventional terms.

A number of organizational scholars assert that second order change is inevitable and it is a continuous process. Organizations therefore have no choice but to adapt to it. Organizations therefore need to foster the creation of supportive and collaborative cultures that understand the importance of second order change.

The ability of organizations to adopt to change and appreciate its effectiveness in addressing the needs of their clientele is necessary for their success. Such acknowledgement of second order change processes will help organizations move from being dinosaurs to self-appraising and responsive organizations that effective in their work and keen on delivery of services.

Second order changes challenge the organizations to move beyond the simple approached that they have been used to a new way of doing things that is beyond simplicity of cause and effect approach to one that is characterized by quick and faster response and stimuli (Yemen & Horniman, 2009, p.5). Contrary to what many leaders believe, technology has little to do with second order changes.

Rather culture and structure that is laced with new thinking is the basis of this second order changes. Technology in most cases is just an enabler to the success that second order changes bring. Depending on their nature and the nature of operation of an organization and its department, there can be operational changes, strategic changes, cultural changes and political changes.

Operational changes affect the day-to-day operation of the organizations. These operations normally form the backbone of the company and re crucial to the day-to-day running of the organization. Strategic changes on the other hand affect of organizational strategic directions for instance changing the core business for instance from micro finance loan offering to deposit taking organization.

Cultural changes tear through an organizations believes, philosophies, core values, mission and vision by which the organization is run. For instance, an organization may decide to implement a radical quality assurance policy that will be quarterly instead of the regular one a year. Political changes will mainly occur in organizations where government has interest in this may include the mode of appointment which mostly skewed towards the politically correct employees or top manager of an organization.

Its important to note that first order changes that in many organizations may include the change in the technical bit can never be successfully be implemented and institutionalized. One of the most important aspects of second order change involves the abandonment of outdated mental models. The people who work in these organizations need to embrace new thinking that will do away with old ideas while adopting new radical ideas (Schlesinger & Kotter 2008, p. 4).

Some scholars believe that over time, some organizations institute models that insulate their workforce from examination leading to the development of a skilled pool of workforce. When looked at critical such skilled workforce is in other words skilled incompetence that does nothing new and as a result, the organization is left mark timing.

The point here is that structural changes that characterize second order changes may be implemented but they also need to be complimented with a change in ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of the workforce of an organization to change the workforce from being skilled incompetence to revolutionary thinkers.

According to Coyne et al (2007, p. 1), adoption of second order change may not necessarily bring instant results. In fact, the drastic nature of the change may mean the newly acquired solutions may present challenges of their own. The new solutions may be the problems in their new setting. In a case where second order change has become a problem, collaboration is necessary to ensure the problem is solved.

Because of the absence of collaboration in first order change, there tends to be persistence of nature of the system. On the other hand second order system alters the rules that of how components of a system work and relate with each other. From the above discussions, therefore, it is correct to categorize first and second order changes as technical and cultural.

Technical change involves fixed structures, roles, schedules, protocols, bureaucracies, different types of professional development, and accountability systems that only work top stagnate the system. Structural change involves distributed leadership, natural accountability, beliefs about betterment of the organization and its core business or services and the establishment of new group norms and values of the organization.

Organizational business improvement therefore must involve the movement from first order change to second order change that will more or less involve a drastic change in its culture. Concisely, culture change is synonymous with second order change. The entire culture of an organization changes and though it may be revolutionary, dialogue and collaboration must be presented to ensure meaningful results are achieved.

Cultural change also involves unlearning of the deeply rooted behaviors that are replaced with new thinking the takes into consideration the dynamism that characterizes the world today (Kotter, 2007, p. 2). Second order changes do replace old thinking new mental maps as well as relevant responses to problems posed by the first order changes. When the above is done, perceptions are reframed and behaviors and changed.

In many organizational settings, the rules and assumptions reign supreme to an extent that they even cloud the judgment of the leaders. These leaders fail to identify the new models and patterns hence leading to the stagnation of workers in the old way of behaving. Understanding organizational culture is important to overhauling the system that runs an organization.

When organizational leaders acquire new knowledge skills or attitudes, an organization is better off because it can easily detect errors and formulate remedial measures that facilitate second order change. Additionally, changing the mental models of its workers and members as well as its information systems, policies and procedures, will ensure the entrenchment of second order changes into an organization.

Implementation

One of the most challenging problems that organizations face when second order magnitude change occurs is managing the change. The world today is overly competitive and organizations can only ensure success by ensuring the rapid changes brought about by the rapidly changing and competitive world do not disorganize the running of the organization.

Better yet it is imperative for the organizations to learn to adapt and accept the changes that are needed and that come in whatever magnitude that they come.When second level change occurs, different levels or organizations get affected. More often than not, when second order change occurs, it overhauls the entire system. It may be chaotic or orderly.

Many scholars however have consensus on one thing; that implementation of these changes is critical to the survival of the organization. Careful and planned implementation of second order change is necessary to avoid power struggles and due to the mega changes in structure and operations. Implementing second order changes requires people in leadership to consider carefully the steps they have to take to ensure transition is peaceful and the eventual survival of the organization is ensured through smooth implementation.

For smooth implementation to occur, it is important for organizations and their leaders to identify the roles that the leaders are supposed to play. It is also important for the organizations to acknowledge the participation of other people in the process together with their roles. This is crucial since alienating them will culminate to a disastrous implementation and possible collapse of the organization.

It is also important for leaders to eliminate ambiguity in the case of the leaders that play multiple roles. Finally, it is important to pay attention to any role change that may occur during the process as well as the causes of that role change. From the above literature, it is clear that some element of second order change is critical to its survival and implementation.

Without them second order change will plunge an organization to hole where it may not be able to achieve its goals. These factors include, culture, willingness to change, organizations committed to dispensing quality service and open to change, capacity building that facilitates collaboration and sound leadership.

Leadership

The leadership of an organization is an influential factor in the implementation of second order change. In fact, it is the most important element as far as success of second order changes is concerned. First, it is important for organizations to realize that the culture of entrusting running of organizations to managers is outdated. In todays world, organizations and led by leaders.

There is a big difference between leaders and managers involving their management styles. The leadership role of leaders directly affects the performance of workers and that of the organization. To understand their influence, its important to understand the ways through which organizational leaders formulate the programs that bring second order changes by actively working together with the staff.

When there is effective leadership, there is better conceptualization of the abilities of the leaders and that leadership is in the hands of many. Organizational with strong and influential leadership are normally characterize by innovation and effectiveness. For the second order changes to take place, collaborative leadership and mission oriented management of the organizations policies and operation has to be present.

The organizations leaders have to show initiative in convening and sustaining relationships that are crucial to the success of the organization. These leaders as a result are seen as agents of influence in their quest to entrench second order change. Collaborative leaders in the second order change need to display emotional intelligence, persuasion skills, conscientious and resilience in the course of their duties.

Collaborative leader keen in implementing second order changes acknowledge and appreciate the importance of shared leadership. Shared leadership distributes roles that ensure growth within the ranks of the staff. When the above is done, new thinking and perspectives are incorporated into the running of the organization effectively eliminating the one-man show that characterizes organizations in first order change settings.

A collaborative working culture is natured through shared leadership. In the implementation of the second order change, leaders play a critical role in providing guidance and helping organizational workers keep their eyes on the ball. Their guidance, support, and encouragement initiatives for the success of the second order change cannot be underestimated.

Coyne et al (2007, p. 2) believes that the mediation role that is played by leaders among their organizational employees is crucial to the implementation of this second order change. Further, more these leaders enhance buffering and filtering actions effectively binging in increased understand and coherence to organizational improvement.

Given the turbulent nature of second order change, its import ant that leadership of organizations be prepared to productively manage the turbulence. Organizational leadership is demands a multi tasking role that over time needs to change to be prepared for the reform periods presented by the second order change. Within the context in which its exercised, good leadership must be sensitive.

The leadership must be prepared for the change on the nature of their work within the anticipated changes. The leadership needed in implementing second order change should focuses on building an organization that believes and enhances capacity within the organization with the sole goals of improving delivery of its core services to its clientele and ensuring active stakeholder participation.

Finally, for second order change to be successfully implemented, leadership must foster and encourage the culture and climate of risk taking and demand for accountability. Current leadership should ensure that those that are nominated to the helm must be people of integrity who do not believe on first order change principle rather reformists who will tailor organizational strategies and climate for the continuation of second order implementation in the long-term.

Explicitly put, the individuals who should be promoted to leadership positions should exhibit high tolerance for ambiguity, and lust for experimentation and not allergic to uncertainty. The complexity of the leadership factor as presented above underlines the critically instrumental importance that it plays in transforming and helping organizations to successfully implement second order change with the aim of achieving stability of the organizations in the long-term.

Capacity Building and Collaboration

Capacity building is normally used to describe organizations that are increasing being de-privatized and opened to collaboration from other stakeholders and interested parties. A dynamic and complex process needs careful understanding by the leadership that is implementing second order change.

Capacity building aims at creating the conditions necessary, availing opportunities and enabling experiences needed for collaboration and mutual benefit. This factor helps organizational leaders to participate in decision making, to come up with a unified sense of purpose while engaging in collaborative work to produce results and taking responsibility for their actions and the results of their work.

The two most important aims of collaborative work in implementing second order change is ensuring inclusion and empowerment of the stakeholders who are critical in taking the organization to a higher level. These are necessary in the long-term systemic improvement.

(Yemen & Horniman, 2009, p.5) suggests the development of three different capacities to ensure success of second order change. Personal capacity, interpersonal and organizational capacities need to be developed simultaneously in the course of the implementation. The development of these capacities will seek to foster an organization as one that is suited for its primary purpose and core service provider besides enhancing the larger system where it belongs.

Under capacity building, collaboration seems to carry the weight of the reform that is envisioned by the second order change. Organizational workers experience collaboration differently every day through avenues such as organizational leadership teams, boards of directors and committees, learning and de-learning teams and action research initiatives whose work is to enhance collaboration.

The nature of activities that the organization carries out lie at the core of capacity building. Through this perspective, implementation of second order change involves collectively working together with members with the sole intention of increasing interaction. Collaboration is achieved through the collective tasking that is carried out by organizational leaders and lower cadre employees.

It includes sharing ideas, knowledge, and jointly developing plans for the achievement or organizational goals. Organizational improvement initiatives in the second order change need to be supported by collaborators to root out first order change culture while entrenching second order principles for organizational improvement and achievement of organizational goals.

Effective collaboration will involve of influential outsiders or colleagues who form a different perspective must carry the critical change agent. Capacity building is important to implementing second order change as far as organizational leaders, and other organization employees manage the complexities associated wit interpersonal relationships and the differences that may come up due to the different working cultures those collaborators may have.

There is also the element of trust. Trust from the clientele inn the leadership to deliver the critical changes they are expected to deliver and trust on the part of collaborators as prerequisite for cooperation. This is because the collaborator will mostly come from within the organization. In cases where there is going to be collaboration for peer review and compliance as well as commitment, organizational structure within the organization will likely be an impediment, hence the need for deep seated trust.

The development of relational trust will eliminate the hurdle imposed by mistrust hence fostering the development of deeper forms of communication among collaborators as well as becoming a neutralizing factoring the limitations imposed by the organization. It is imperative therefore to encourage the cultures of collaboration since they are crucial to the implementation of second order change in organizations

Culture

An organizations culture is central to the long-term functioning and survival of that organization (Butler, 2007, p. 2). Butler further says that the culture has across the board influence on all other organizational factors such as learning, unlearning and adoption and retention of new practices. The last one is the most important in this context of implementing second order change.

Without proper change management, there is bound to be cultural conflict whose complexity is compounded by the nature of diverse groups that characterize second order changes. There is therefore need to enhance dialogue and discussion on the group level in a bid to harmonize the cultural differences.

Achievement of consensus among the different cultures is the main goal of the dialogue initiative. In a group setting with many collaborators, the different views that are generated lead to development of new courses of action. The conflict that is brought by a controlled clash of cultures is beneficial to organizational implementing second order change.

The dialogues generate free flow of ideas needed in critical thinking and that are used in the formulation of new solutions that individuals cannot come up with. Cultural reform takes place within individual organizational departments where leaders develop a culture and structure that encompasses and encourages trust (Nayar, 2010, p. 3).

While looking at culture as a critical element in the success of second order change its important to acknowledge that the change that is presented in a second order setting of major and complex in nature. This complexity generates concerns that lead to dynamic tension. Because no one human being is like the other, the important element of collaborative work is highlighted here.

Tension therefore is necessary and part of collaborative working within an organization. Because no productive working can take place within a tension-filled environment, the element of trust comes in to ensure professional practice is practiced and restored while enhancing the positive integration of conflict and collaboration. In essence, the culture of collaborations is adopted by all existing and new members of an organization.

The culture of collaboration may not work immediately since the transition from first order to second order change is great. Introduction of new workers or members to the organization will provide a perfect opportunity to test the culture that could have been developed.

Besides the collaboration, it is important to make sure that all beliefs, mission, and values of n organization are share by all member of an organization. This forms a culture crucial to the successful implementation of the second order change.

The common position on the above elements ensures the organization easily steer to a common direction with minimal or no objections. It is safe to say the culture element of implementing second order change depends on the reculturation of an organization that will drastically how all members of the organization relate with each other.

Willingness to Change

For second order, change to be successful there is need for willingness to change the first order change. According to Kotter & Gabarro (2005, p. 3), this involves reculturation, learning and unlearning on the part of organizational members and drastic alterations of the core relationships in the organizations.

Many reformers do agree with the observation that, the system in which these organizations operate is very tedious and designed to wear out even the most aggressive reformer. For change to occur in an organization, massive transformation is required in the culture that drives it. Organizational governance that represents first order changes are somewhat easier compared to changes in the fundamentals of an organization, which represent second order changes.

Second order changes will need the active participation and commitment of all members of the organization if any meaningful change is going to take place. Leaders of the organizations should be willing to create environments that offer abilities to learn and unlearn necessary principles for survival. Interpretive frameworks that will crucial for implementing second order changes will need unlearning abilities for them to succeed.

It is important for organization leadership not to use resources to manipulate the environment for the success of the organization. Rather, the organization leadership should reflect and working towards changing the reason for the challenges they face, which more often than not is the behaviors and cultures that they have embraced.

Additionally all members of an organization from the top to bottom should be willing to change the relationship patterns, rules of engagement as well as assumptions that underlie their organizational activities. For second order change to be, successful it is therefore important to make changes that are beyond the present situation assumptions in the organizations concerned.

Committed organizations

An organization is not the physical assets that characterize it. Rather it is who is who is in charge and makes major decisions. The decisions by these organizations have a direct impact on what the organizations are going to be, their quality of the services dispensed.

The constituent dimension of an organization greatly influences the willingness and commitment of an organization to implementation of second order change (Kotter & Gabarro, 2005, p. 2). This constituent dimension may vary form the present and desired structure, shared commitment, collaborative activity, shred skills and leadership, and the culture of accountability and feedback.

Conclusion

The above factors are just among the many that determine if second order implementation is going to be successful or not. There are many more depending to the specific of the industry or field that an organization falls in. its important to note that achievement and implementation of second order changes is not easy. A lot of work is requires and willingness from all the participants.

Because second order changes tend to uproot the status quo, many leads of the first order change may be unwilling to sanction the changes. It is therefore not farfetched to consider an element of a slow painful struggle to introduce and implement second order change.

References

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Kotter P. J. & Gabarro, J. J. (2005). Managing Your Boss. Harvard Business review. Web.

Nayar, V. (2010). Trust Through Transparency: Creating a Culture of ChangeHow Open Communication with Employees and Customers Enables Transformative Change. Harvard Business review. Web.

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