APPLYING THE TIPPING POINT PHILOSOPHY TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE BY MARY DUGGAN
“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Jack Welsh
Many people are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s best selling book ‘The Tipping Point’ first published in the year 2000. Drawing on epidemic theory, Gladwell provided insights into how social trends and programs tipped from a small beginning to widespread adoption. In doing so he popularised the term tipping point, that ‘magical moment when ideas, trends and social behaviours cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire’.
Less well known is the work of Andrea Shapiro who has applied the same concepts to create a simple model of organizational change. Shapiro’s model provides a common language for those engaged in implementing change enabling dialogue on the actions required to help move people from being disconnected to being committed to a change.
The end point of a change is sometimes defined in technical terms e.g. the project is complete, new equipment or technology is installed, training is complete etc: however change is successfully implemented only when people have adopted the new ideas and are using the new ways of working to do their jobs.
The tipping point model of organizational change postulates that the spread of a change is analogous to the spread of an epidemic. The spread of a flu epidemic is dependant on contact with a carrier of the flu, the virulence of the flu strain and the environment in which the epidemic occurs. In an analogous manner, the rate at which a new change is adopted requires contact with advocates of the change, a compelling content of the change itself and appropriate environmental support for the change. These factors interact and either reinforce or compete against each other.
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