Vision-Based Diagnosis

Public organizations in the 1990s are under new and substantial pressure to change and reinvent themselves. In addition to a series of federal legislative actions most notably the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA; Public Law 10362) the executive branch, in the recommendations from the National Performance Review (NPR), has initiated an era of governmental reinvention. If this new effort is to have more lasting impact than earlier cycles of governmental efficiency and restructuring, new ideas and ways of organizing and managing change will be required.

Our overall purpose is to explore transforming an organization and promoting change that is fundamental, radical, or discontinuous. This approach to change has existed for some time in terms of general ideas, but only recently are these ideas emerging from successful practice. We will examine concepts and practical theories that have helped organizations in the private sector engage in successful transformation. At present, these ideas exist in a fragmented way; we will review these individual elements and synthesize them in the form of a general but nevertheless practical model.

Beyond Teams

A practice model of organizational transformation is presented and illustrated by a case history. Self-management here goes beyond the team level to authorize and reward employees as co-creators of the organization. An invention culture is created to generate commitment to unreasonable aspirations. The key process is extra-rational, transcending the familiar rational and nonrational models of OD. As a result, breakdowns are viewed as opportunities for breakthroughs in re-invented the corporation.