Spirit transformation in organizations

Transformation is the organizational search for a better way to be when old modes of action are no longer appropriate. Although the results of transformation appear with the emergence of new organizational form, the essence of transformation lies in the odyssey or passage of the human spirit as it moves from one formal manifestation to another. The process is a movement through form, whether the organization links two individuals or a complex institution. Development needs to be distinguished from transformation both in effect and in function. Transformation consists of making an organization different because the environment is so unstable and/or radically altered that the earlier form is no longer viable. Development is a matter of making an existing organization better and presumes a reasonably stable environment. Organizations in transformation are confusing in that forms appear and disappear. This is characterized, as experienced intuitively, by the very complex and often turbulent energy flow, namely the flow of the spirit as it moves from one manifestation to another.