We are always engaged in a process of relating to others. The sociologist Norbert Elias observed that we live in patterns of interdependence that enable and constrain how each of us act. It is the social patterns that are created and maintained as people interact together than we tend to think of as ‘culture’.
As the pressure on organisations to change increases, many are turning to internal change agents to lead change initiatives and engage employees in the change process. Internal change agents often come from a range of specialist departments, such as OD, Organisation Effectiveness or Quality Improvement – or support functions, such as HR.
Emergence is often referred to as “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Many interactions at a local level gives rise spontaneously to a system wide pattern that gives the system itself a form of order. In other words, order emerges out of chaos.
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