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Intentional change from a complexity perspective
Professor Richard Boyatzis
Change is constant. It's an age-old adage that applies to individuals and organizations. People and systems can change in desired ways, but change is not sustainable without intention (Boyatzis article earlier in this issue ([11] Boyatzis, 2006)). It's the intention or direction that leaders, managers and change agents employ that puts them in the driver's seat of change in their lives and in their organizations. Intentional change theory (ICT) provides them with a platform to understand and deliver just that. ICT, as described by Boyatzis earlier in this issue, but also by him as early as 1970, applies to all levels of human or social organizations. Most of the work using ICT in the last three decades has focused on individual change. This article focuses on the application of ICT in organizational change. A case study of Roadway Express, an organization which has embarked on a journey of cultural transformation since 1999, illustrates a view of ICT at the organizational level. In Roadway's case, the company approached the goal of organizational change through a process called appreciative inquiry (AI). AI is a methodology for achieving positive, sustainable change to facilitate a cultural transformation ([5] Boyatzis et al. , 2003; [4] Boyatzis and Van Oosten, 2003). The Roadway story provides us with a persuasive example of how and why change occurred and was sustained through observing the characteristics of ICT at the organizational level. And it offers us perspective as to why the change method, known as AI, was so successful.
Intentional change theory
Intentional change theory presents a window to view and interpret how individuals and organizations achieve desired, sustainable change (Boyatzis, earlier article in this issue ([11] Boyatzis, 2006)). ICT outlines both the process and the phases of the process that are central for sustainable change to occur. The process is shown graphically on p. 610 in the first article of this journal. The model includes five phases or aspects of learning, called "discoveries" ([10] Kolb and Boyatzis, 1970; [1] Boyatzis, 1999, [2] 2001; [9] Goleman et al. , 2002).
In considering ICT at the individual level, the discoveries represent various stages that a person cycles through in his/her journey toward desirable, sustainable change. "The...