A Great Reference: The Change Handbook

It appears that the Nexus for Change is in part an offshoot of the publication of this new edition of The Change Handbook and The Handbook of Large Group Methods. Many of the editors and chapter authors of both will be in attendance at the Nexus.

A few weeks ago Nancy White, an author featured in The Change Handbook, offered a copy of the second edition to the first five commenters to a post on her blog. Since my comment was among the first five, Nancy forwarded a copy to me. (Thanks, Nancy!)

Saturday I opened the book and started reading - it was tough to put down. There are 61 different whole system change methods detailed in the handbook. The format makes the information readily accessible (what else would you expect from people passionate about organizational learning?) and eminently browsable. One-page descriptions and a longer chapter describe each method. The methods are presented in a consistent format that makes them easy to compare.

If that isn't enough, there are chapters that provide an overview of the emerging "field" of whole system change methods, as well as thoughts about what aspects are shared among the methods and what makes each unique. All in all, it's a great reference for organization development practitioners and community change activitists.



Tags: nexusforchange, changehandbook

AOM ODC Reviews Due Tuesday

So I'm back to reading and reviewing the paper for the Academy of Management Organization Development and Change division. I've been through the paper at least five times now, and it's finally becoming more understandable. It is clearly the work of someone who has mastery of a lot of knowledge that I'm just beginning to tap into.

I wish I could write more about the content of the paper, but that could undermine the double-blind reviewing process. So you'll just have to read all of the ODC papers when they are presented at the meeting in August!

Sunday I spent a good part of the day reading. I started with good intentions - I would begin reading the paper I have been assigned as a reviewer for the Academy of Management Organization Development and Change Division.

I thought I would read through the paper once without making any marks or comments - you know, just to get an overall sense of the meaning and the flow. It didn't work out that way. From the abstract forward, I needed Wikipedia open at all times so that I could make sense of the philosophical references. I like to think I'm somewhat intelligent and relatively well read in my field - this paper made me feel not so much!

Of course, being an academic paper, the author made reference to many other works. Some of these I have in my own library. One I had been meaning to read for over a year. So when I got to page 17 of the paper (about halfway through after 2.5 hours of "reading"), I set the paper aside and picked up that book.

I didn't get back to reviewing the AOM paper that day. I will. But thank goodness that the AOM has the sense to assign 3 (differently abled) reviewers per paper!