Group Dynamic - Organizational Tipping

José Luis Roces – Vice Rector ITBA

Andrés Agres – Profesor ITBA

10h15 – After some minutes the auditorium is full and the speakers are introduced to their audience.

10h18 – José Luis Roces greets the audience and presents a short video where many balls, different sizes, tap rythmically on metal pieces creating a perfectly tunned melody. He explains that this is an example of complexity and let us know that in the role play that we are about to play under his directives, we’ll see that due to several factors, it could be complex to make changes.

Andrés Agres explains the game to the audience: Everyone received the explanation of the role they have to play in a closed envelope. They are sent outside, to the main hall, to have a coffee and “play the game”.

10h25 – Downstairs there are groups of people avidly discussing, they look concentrated and excited!

1. Undecided/hesitant individuals
2. Go for it
3. Against
4. Drivers

And the “case/situation” was to decide against or in favour upon the government’s intention to create a tax of 15% for an environmental cause (really needed at the time, since the place where the game is supossedly taking place is hit by a natural catastrophe).

11h05 – Participants come back to the auditorium and a slide shows under the subject “Organic Change”, the following question: How are social changes and infections produced?

There are 3 essential components in the Infection Process: 1) Healthy individuals 2) Incubators, and 3) Infected Individuals, Mr Roces explains. Furthermore, there are some interactive factors such as sickness virulence, contact frequency, etc. that have to be taken into the process’ consideration, too.

The Infection Process can be matched, he continues, to the Transformation or CHANGE Process, with its 3 components: 1) Apathetics 2) Incubators, and 3) Defenders.

The speakers expose the theory behind the game and explain the different ways in which the 3 components react to change,  according to their characteristics (i.e. 40-80% of the total of the individuals will be incubators and they will fall in a “wait and see” status, waiting for the appearance of a leader to convince them to take a decision).

The idea is to let the participants aknowledge (through the theory) and feel (through the game itself) how change occurs, and how it could be driven or altered, according to the behaviors of the 3 different players and taking advantage of such behaviors, said the lecturers.

11h50 – A session of Q&A is open and the participants give their points of view and feedback on the game, at this point, the speakers develop a bit more on the theory by describing to the audience the three  Change Factors:

1. Contents – Change intensity (value/virulences/intensity factor)
2. Context – environment where change/ infection takes place
3. Contacts – Critic mass of infected/healthy individuals. The Law of the Few: big changes are generated by few people.

And with this last explanation, they conclude that by knowing these theories and the way the process works, it’s possible to find more effective ways of making the changes happen, because, Mr Roces commented, most of the times the problem preventing change would not be technological or financial but convictional. If we know how the factors interact and what are the characteristics of theses agents of change, we can quickly react and adjust the path to not only promote and facilitate change, but to boost it!

As a closing line, Mr. Roces encouraged the participants by saying: We do hope that it’s people like you that become boosters and leaders of these changes!