Paradigmatic metamorphosis and organizational development

Paradigms metamorphose when they develop a new frame of reference. Two examples of paradigmatic metamorphosis are examined that together can be argued to formulate an evolutionary approach to managerial cybernetics. Organization Development (OD) is a well‐established soft methodology used extensively to engineer cultural change in organizations. OD can be set within Viable Systems Theory (VST), itself a conceptual development of the managerial cybernetic theory that underlies the Viable Systems Model (VSM). To illustrate this, a frame of reference is created that looks at systemic transformational processes. VST can operate as a general framework for this within which OD, VSM, and indeed the principles of Habermas's theory of communicative action can be embedded. A result of this exploration is to show how a managerial cybernetic form of OD can be developed to improve the way organizations can be diagnosed in complex change situations that must be managed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.