(6.1.2.3) Otto Scharmer's patterns of change

Otto Scharmer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management is interested in what causes the change. He interviewed 130 innovative leaders and found a common pattern from their actions. That is the U theory. (*11)

He proposed the U-curve model consisting of seven steps.

• ❶Downloading: You do not observe the outside world because you caught up with your belief
• ❷Seeing: You are observing the outside world, but you are clinging to your existing mental frame and not accepting information from the viewpoint of others
• ❸Sensing: You are accepting and empathizing information from the viewpoint of others, and releasing your existing mental frame
• ❹Presensing: You see the possibility of change that becomes real by your action
• ❺Crystallizing: You are crystallizing your idea
• ❻Prototyping: You are creating a prototype based on the idea
• ❼Performing: You are embedding the prototype into the existing system and verifying it works

Each step of the U-curve model corresponds to a mental state. The seedling phase is the state transition from ❹ to ❺. The plowing phase is ❶ ~ ❹, and the growing phase is ❺ ~ ❼.

The U theory is the theory of business administration, and its target includes the transformation of the organization. The emphasis on the viewpoint of other people is unique in comparison with other two ideation methods. (*13)

Jiro Kawakita prohibited to classify pieces by your existing mental frame and encourage to find new structure by bottom-up grouping. It is related to the transition from ❷Seeing to ❸Sensing In the U theory.

Footnote:

• (*11) #TODO add citation
• (*12) My U-shaped figure of "Plowing/Seedling/Growing" is inspired by the U theory.
• (*13) Organizational theorist Ikujiro Nonaka said we need socialization before going through the PDCA cycle. The phase is to share the information which we can not verbalize clearly, by having a common experience with others.

Executive scholar Kojiro Nonaka argued that socialization phase is necessary before going through the PDCA cycle. This phase is sharing information that can not be verbalized by having a common experience with others. The ❶～❹ of the U theory corresponds to the socialization phase. The ❺～❼ corresponds to the PDCA cycle.