Achieving Quantum Change: Incrementally!!
The Art of High Leverage Change

by Gareth Morgan and Asaf Zohar York University, Schulich School of Business Research Program

Abstract:

Morgan and Zohar demonstrate the power of this approach to change by examining the pattern of successful reengineering projects in companies such as Ford, Taco Bell, IBM Credit, Hallmark and Bell Atlantic, and in the successful corporate transformation steered by Ricardo Semler in the Brazilian company, Semco. They show that despite the widely different philosophies and approaches underlying these projects, the principles of success are exactly the same. Large scale change is not the product of large scale change programs, or pat formulas. It unfolds as the result of crucial small scale initiatives that succeed in creating novel contexts that break the status quo and allow new streams of innovation to occur.

The authors demonstrate how managers can find these critical initiatives by targeting doable, high leverage actions within their "15% sphere of influence" and create quantum change incrementally, even in situations where people have extremely limited power. Their approach uses the implications of modern theories of chaos and self-organization to recognize that while the days in which leaders can mandate, control and direct change are long gone, there are alternative leadership and management strategies that can cope with the flux that's drowning so many organizations. This new perspective on change brings a message of hope, optimism and practical good sense that places the possibility of creating substantial change within everyone's grasp - from the CEO's office to the shop floor.

Table of Contents:

• Achieving Quantum Change Incrementally

• The Myth of Total Solutions

• Organizational Success Stories are Stories of 15% Change:
  • IBM Credit
  • Ford Motor Company
  • Taco Bell
  • Capital Holding Corporation
  • Bell Atlantic
  • Hallmark Cards, Inc.

• Richard Semler's Rapid Transformation at Semco

• Key Principles for Managing Change
  • 1. Find ways of creating quantum leaps through well-chosen 15% initiatives.
  • 2. Recognize the connection between the "15% principle" and the art of high leverage.
  • 3. Mobilize the effects of "critical mass."
  • 4. Be open to spontaneous and random changes that can produce unanticipated breakthroughs.
  • 5. Recognize how spheres of influence interact.

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