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How to Survive as a Change Agent in Hostile Territory: “Principles of Process Improvement Terrorism”
Author(s) -
Garcia Suzanne M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1996.tb02056.x
Subject(s) - terrorism , champion , process (computing) , power (physics) , face (sociological concept) , work (physics) , computer security , adversary , public relations , political science , law , sociology , engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system
Prophets have always run the risk of being disregarded in their own land. Many champions of organizational change face the same problem as the prophet–their message is clear, but it is not attended to by those in positions of power to make the necessary changes. I call these prophets of change “process improvement terrorists”, not because they are physically violent, but because they are often forced to work underground, outside the conventional power and communication channels of the organization, their weapons are obtained from unconventional sources and are applied in unconventional ways, and their situation is much like that of the terrorist – often in hostile territory, needing to take drastic but often subtle actions to get their message heard and acted upon. Terrorism is used as a “processmorph” for process improvement (see body of paper for a definition). This paper provides survival and (hopefully!) success strategies for the change champion who has had to go to ground and become a Process Improvement Terrorist (PIT).