Understanding the new organizational paradigm: Pillars

#systemicchange #consciousness #organizationdevelopment #organizationaldesign #organizationalculture #paradigmshift

The emerging paradigm for organizations reinvents the very definition of an organization, its objectives, its role in the economic and social sphere, the role of the people that form it, its structure, and how it relates to other agents and the planet. In short, it changes everything. And it does it for a good reason.

It began decades ago, with small geographically dispersed movements led by visionaries [1] who understood that the traditional paradigm of organizations was generating an alienated society headed for an unprecedented social and economic collapse and even the planet's destruction. Over time, they have been increasing in number and size, and currently, their growth is unstoppable. A new paradigm emerges from them, still diffuse but undoubtedly incompatible with the current one.

The new paradigm is an evolutionary change that you cannot escape. Either you change, or it changes you. Therefore there will be organizations that will adapt and shine by bringing a new type of economic, social, and environmental prosperity. But there will also be many who will succumb. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the new pillars that govern this new paradigm.

The pillars

The first thing to explain the pillars of the new organizational paradigm is to clarify its meaning. The Cambridge Dictionary meaning for the word paradigm says:

"A set of theories that explain the way a particular subject is understood at a particular time"

Considering this definition, changing the paradigm is a revolutionary process since replacing the theory that defines and governs an activity with a new one implies visionary leadership and a complicated transformation.

On the other hand, the Cambridge Dictionary, in its first meaning for organization, says:

"A group of people who work together in an organized way for a shared purpose"

I use the term organization and not company to not limit it to activities for profit. However, I will use it to also refer to any company regardless of its size or corporate form. In addition, the definition of organization emphasizes the association of people, which, as we will see, is a relevant point.

Uniting the previous definitions, we could say that the objective of a new organizational paradigm would be:

Change the set of theories that explain the way a group of people who work together in an organized way for a shared purpose is currently understood.

Having clarified the scope of the change to a new paradigm, the next thing to ask is, why is it necessary to change? To explain it, I will analyze it from two pillars: systems theory and consciousness.

Systems theory

Systems theory belongs to a branch of science called General Systems Theory, whose objective is to study the principles applicable to systems at any level of abstraction in all research fields, especially in the integration of natural and social sciences.

Although the study of the theory is extensive, we could simplify it and say that a system is an entity with the following properties:

• Purpose. It was born to fulfill a pursuit through the synergy of the components that make it up.
• Components. It is made up of elements that carry out actions consistently and determinedly.
• Organization. It has an organization that establishes the actions that the components must perform.
• Process. It works based on methods that define how to combine the components' actions.
• Structure. The relationships between the components form structures that bring order to the system.
• Context. It coexists or is related to other systems to create more complex systems.

How all organizations are structured depends on the interpretation of the previous points, which is highly conditioned by the dominant paradigm's beliefs and models. Although all properties are beneficial for understanding how organizations work, for this article, I will focus on the last one: context.

From a composition point of view, if we study the components that make up the systems, we will see that they can also be subsystems. Likewise, if we abstract ourselves further, we perceive our system as a component of another, more complex system.

If we use systems theory to analyze organizations, and we assume that an organization is a complex system, the main characteristic of the new paradigm is precisely this duality that makes them both:

• Ego-system: the inner dimension that focuses on the survival of the system.
• Eco-system: the external dimension that focuses on the relationship with other systems.

However, although both roles are always present, they evolve differently. In fact, they do it sequentially. The system will initially allocate all its effort to the ego-systemic dimension until it finds balance and sustainability. Once survival is guaranteed, the system begins to be aware of its relationship with other systems, with which it must necessarily find a relationship and balance. From this moment, it can start to allocate part of its energy to the eco-system dimension. I will call this double ego-eco vision a systemic vision.

What has characterized the current organizational paradigm has been precisely the lack of systemic vision. The systemic vision appears when a system evolves until it is sustainable and begins to be aware of the interdependence of the world around it. Instead, the modus operandi of the organizations of the current paradigm has been mostly ego-systemic, driven in the second half of the 20th century by a series of economic theories that became unquestionable and supposedly would generate prosperity for all.

From a systemic point of view, when a system is not in equilibrium with the others, it becomes parasitic and, in one way or another, collapses. Admittedly, this process is slow in organizations, but many internal and external signs indicate that the paradigm needs to be fixed.

In this scenario, the new paradigm provides a theory to continue advancing the knowledge of people's associations. Moreover, it offers disruptive ideas on the role of organizations in the economic, social, and environmental. As well as a new conceptual base to design future organizations.

In summary, the new paradigm calls us to adopt a systemic vision, where organizations must modify their theoretical base to reinterpret their ego-systemic dimension and evolve through the eco-systemic, that is, cooperation, co-creation, and sustainable practices.

At this point, the question would be: what drives organizations to embrace this systemic vision and adopt the new paradigm? The answer is consciousness.

Consciousness

Consciousness is the yardstick by which human evolution is measured. For this reason, it is also one of the most complex and most studied terms from sciences as diverse as physics, psychology, medicine, biology, and philosophy, to name just a few.

To simplify the term as much as possible, I will use a definition; although it does not cover all its complexity, I think it summarizes the essence of the concept for this article:

"Consciousness is the ability to perceive. From perceiving oneself, the surrounding reality, and the relationships between the two."

It is easily understood when we say that someone is unconscious. In that state, nothing is perceived. Instead, as soon as consciousness is restored, one recognizes himself and his surroundings.

But the fact of the matter is how deeply can we perceive? Just as there was an effort to map the human genome, there is also a multitude of research trying to map consciousness. Although it has not yet been possible to unify all the models, there is consensus on the following aspects:

• Consciousness evolves by levels, where each level transcends and encompasses the previous one. This means that reaching a level does not discard the previous one but integrates it into a richer vision.
• People go through these levels as they respond to their existential needs, after which new ones appear.
• The levels are divided into three stages. The first stage levels are subsistence oriented. Those of the second stage, to self-discovery. And those of the third, to the transcendental advance.
• When we are at a level of the first stage, our entire psychological world, beliefs, feelings, behaviors, motivations, values, preferences, and attention, operate limited and subordinated by that level.
• All people have the potential capacity to reach all levels.

As people progress through the levels, we learn that the psychological world that was once appropriate for a given conjuncture is no longer so, and a broader view is necessary.

If we make a chronology from when we are born to our middle age, we can map childhood, adolescence, coming of age, and the beginning of adulthood, to the first stage in which the levels of consciousness are divided. In it, we forge the feeling of belonging, trust, respect, recognition, self-esteem, identity, security, stability, etc. That is, we develop the ego. We all go through this stage. If everything goes well, we will have our basic psychological and physical needs covered and enjoy some personal and economic stability, allowing us to move to the next level.

From this point on, we experience the need to make sense of what we do, to discover the things with which we genuinely feel identified, and to align what we feel and think with what we do. This search produces a leap in our consciousness that leads us to the second stage. And here, something exceptional happens. In the first stage levels, consciousness is limited by the psychological world of each level, completely rejecting any different vision. However, from the second stage, with a broader perception, it is understood that the previous levels are necessary because they are essential in specific contexts.

This new level of consciousness entails shifting attention from personal development to the development of the common, that is, moving from the ego to the eco. This attention shift is the condition for moving on to the third stage. And this is important because the problems humans have generated with ego-systemic decisions for millenniums manifest in the eco dimension. And today, these problems emerge as global challenges that can only be addressed from the common.

Therefore, from a systemic view, people are systems that evolve from the ego to the eco dimension. And what allows us to make this leap is our level of consciousness, which in turn is determined by our life experiences.

Conclusions

The universe is constantly evolving. This implies everything is continually changing, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, including people and, by extension, all the organizations created by them.

?The outstanding contribution of systems theory is that this evolution follows an eco-systemic pattern. To evolve goes through the ability to transcend the ego and integrate with the eco in harmony and balance. The important nuance is that evolving becomes synonymous with surviving in continuous change.

If consciousness is the capacity that allows people to have a systemic vision and evolve, it seems necessary to massively increase efforts in its education. Therefore, it is not surprising that multiple movements are already popularizing the term [2], all proposing a reinterpretation of these concepts in eco-system terms [3].

Since organizations and society are made up of people, they will be as conscious as those who make it up. And the greater the consciousness, the greater the ability to make decisions that bring prosperity to the common, from the smallest systems that we people are, through organizations, society, humanity, and the planet. The opposite is also true, with less awareness, which entails ego-systemic actions, a greater probability of economic and environmental crises, wars, etc. Therefore, being more conscious becomes the highest priority to continue evolving sustainably.

Curiously, all this formal knowledge now provided by science about how social structures and consciousness work has been with us in the form of human principles and values since immemorial time. With this popular, intuitive, and empirical format, humanity has managed to evolve throughout history. Indeed, isn't love the infinite expansion of consciousness?

Links:

[1] Some of the pioneers:

• General pioneer list: https://www.corporate-rebels.com/bucketlist/pioneers
• Ken Wilber: https://integrallife.com
• Otto Sarmer: https://ottoscharmer.com
• Richard Barrett: https://www.barrettacademy.com

[2] Movements driven by a new consciousness:

• Theory U: https://www.u-school.org/aboutus/theory-u
• Conscious Capitalism: https://capitalismoconsciente.es
• Enliving edge: https://enlivingedge.org
• Corporate Rebels: https://www.corporate-rebels.com
• BCorp: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification

[3] Alternative governance models:

• Teal: https://reinventingorganizationswiki.com
• NER: https://www.nerbyk2k.com/en/
• Fabrika: https://www.fabrika.eus
• Sociocracy: https://www.sociocracy.info
• Holacracy: https://www.holacracy.org
• Enspiral: https://www.enspiral.com