UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SYSTEM CHANGE - AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

The paper seeks to open up a debate on the nature of change at a conce ptual and theoretical level. It argues that the abundance of methodolo gies and strategies for managing system change belies an acute lack of any clear understanding of the very nature and essence of change itse lf, whether it be institutional, technological, environmental or organ izational. The paper calls for a greater comprehension of the fundamen tal dynamics of change, and highlights the considerable need for a sol id theoretical basis from which to explore the complexities of system change. A cross-discipline approach is suggested, involving the analys is of change phenomena drawn from across the natural and physical scie nces, deriving common characteristics and principles for abstraction i nto a general change framework. Several examples of the approach are d escribed briefly, using change phenomenon taken from a range of discip lines. The paper concludes by outlining other subject areas which cont ain conceptually useful change phenomena worth investigating.